Handmade Monday - trying something new

Well it is time again for Handmade Monday, the opportunity to see what great ideas other people in the crafting world have been having.

By contrast in this house we are still suffering a little from the lurgy - and the walk to the bottom of the garden at 7pm to make wirework jewellery seemed a very long one, so I settled down with a hot water bottle!

Despite my aversion to Halloween, I did buy a pumpkin this weekend which the children set about with relish. OH was tasked with carving the face and between them I think they did a very good job.

Pumpkin

 I allowed my children to use the pumpkin as a nightlight when they went to bed -I won't bore you with the H & S precautions I took, but I think they might have been noted, because within two minutes of leaving the bedroom, I was called back 'when will you blow it out?'
'when you are both asleep, oh, and your brother is already asleep',
I left the room, just sat down on the chair in the room next door
' mum, I'm asleep now'!
so I went in blew out the candle and I never heard another sound!

Alongside this I thought I should try a new recipe.  In my cookbook is a recipe for tomato and raisin loaf, sounds nice doesn't it?  Probably lovely warm with soup?  But oddly at the end at the end, it says, ' store in an airtight tin for 2-3 days, before slicing'.  This has been bugging me, and today it got the better of me, I just had to bake it.

Tomato and raisin loaf

Now I just have to wait until Wednesday to announce the results!

WOYWW - It WAS tidy, it really WAS

What's on your workbench Wednesday?

I tidied up, put all the fabric into piles (classified as: bag sized, small bag sized, handle sized and scraps (you never know when you will need those scraps)).
Cleared the desk with the exception of the sewing machine, and then... I let my children in the room.

They wanted to play buttons.  In my daughters case this is threading buttons onto a necklace, in my sons case this is driving a bus along an obstacle course of buttons ( I didn't stereotype my children, they have managed it all by themselves!).

Now to achieve these games you need the button board - a green board that has been dumped on my side of the room, with a small rim all the way around that stops buttons from escaping.
Unfortunately this was underneath all my fabric, so off it all came, and the best place to put it was back on my desk.
Would you believe I even did some sewing on it last night - yep even in that state!

I'm off to desk hop with WOYWW , but I've been relegated to the old computer, and I don't think blogger is letting me comment from this one, but we will see...

Handmade Monday Bucket Bag

Well what have I been up to this week?  Handmade Monday always helps me see what I have achieved each week - but in truth I'm beginning to realise I may have been on a work avoidance for the last few weeks.  You see I'm still playing with fabric when in truth I should be back at the jewellery drawing board by now!

So here is my final make with fabric.  I really wanted to make a bucket bag in minature, I think it is more of a flower pot bag!

just 20cm across and 15cm tall!

Or perhaps a cup cake shape.

My wirework jewellery along with my newly completed bags are at the RSPB Ynys-hir craft fair.  This runs for a fortnight in the Visitor Centre - you set up your table and then leave it for the staff to run. 

Way back in April or May I decided I couldn't do craft fairs and ensure childcare so I have only done a couple of events since then.  But what have I been missing out on?

Talk about a moral boost!  I couldn't set up my table as other crafters kept dismantling it to inspect things!  I eventually came away with a bag commission but on a very big high!


By Saturday morning my emotions came crashing back down to earth - I have lived in Wales since 1993, and I am mad on sport, so my Saturday morning was organised around THE GAME (rugby world cup semi-final to you disinterested others).

Fairbourne beach

However Saturday afternoon allowed me a reality check of what is really important in life, and I spent a wonderful hour at the beach with my OH, and two children, and reminded myself that it really was the 15th of October!

WOYWW - Back to bad habits.

I seem to have lots of un-answered questions from last weeks post for Whats on your workbench Wednesday.  So I will try to keep this brief, but I'm sure I will slip into bad habits.

Oh good grief - why can't I see the chaos when I'm there, it is only in the photos that I spot it!

I am always looking for new ways to display my jewellery, I've even experimented with beer bottles in an attempt to attract / keep more men at my stall.  What ever I do, colour seems to be the key.

On Saturday Polly Polkadot jewellery will be at RSPB Ynys-hirs annual craft fair.  It runs for a fortnight, and I just have to set up my stall and then the staff run the shop and take a commission at the end.

So what am I doing with all that fabric? Well, I thought I would make a few bags to go on my stall.  But then I realised the shoulder bags are too big.  So now I have two stalls at the craft fair: Polly Polkadot jewellery and Polly Polkadot Textiles!

Did I buy the cloth labels for the bags? No I decided not to make more than a few bags, and then immediately set about making hundreds!

Poor light sewing at night? I don't start sewing until the children go to bed (7pm), so I just have to cope with the lighting!

The Pfaff machine? I could probably dedicate a whole blog to my Pfaff machine.  My parents bought it when I started my GCSE Textiles at 14 (yep, I am qualified to make a bag!), and when I left home, they gave the machine to me. 
Last night saw me with the instruction manual as I could not remember how to make the needle sit on the left hand side of the foot - no doubt tonight I will have to read it again to put it back.

Not too long?  Well certainly an earlier post than usual for me (OH home sick, so he can look after the youngest whilst I sit at the computer).

Handmade Monday - the herbal option

Well, I had a great idea last week.  I would plan my Handmade Monday posting well in advance, this would not only mean I could get my photos taken in the daylight of the weekend, I could write the blog on Sunday night too.  Heck I might even try out the timed posting option.

Well?  Do I need to bother telling you what really happened? Lets face it, you know me by now!  So here we are at 8.30pm Monday.

Herb Shopping Bag

This week I have been a bag lady. I have made three types of bag, but today I am only revealling my herb shopper bag.  I thought it would give me a warm up routine before embarking on more complicated patterns.

The lining

A lined shopper includes all the options you need on a more challenging bag, but in a less confined working environment.  I pressed my seams, turned my handles, practised my edge stitching (still up to standard), double stitched the stress areas, and fitted my lining.  Before awarding myself the 'Fit to Continue' Award and moved on to my next shape!

I am currently in the process of re-stocking the range at Polly Polkadot and decided to return to textiles myself.  I am hoping over the next few weeks to manage to keep both the Polly Polkadot website and Handmade Monday up to date with my progress (if you see me beginning to talk about gardening etc. you'll know I'm avoiding work)! 

WOYWW - Keeping it simple

Last week at Whats on your workbench Wednesday hosted by stamping ground, Julia reminded us all to keep it brief.  So with this in mind here goes:

The clock has its own time zone, it was in fact around 9 pm, see the darkness at the window?

Sewing machine still taking centre stage, as I try to jusify all that outlay on fabric that has been going on for the last few months.

Right back in May I bought this fabric for myself, and I had plenty of suggestions from my blogging friends as to what I should make.  However I passed it over to Polly Polkadot instead and made the predicatable shopper bag.  But most definately with an elves and shoemaker attitude...when I sell one, I can buy  a few more pieces of fabric!