Everything's Rosy...

Well, all the soggy floss was rescued and will live to stitch another day and my ticklely bug is all but gone. Last weeks low points are forgotten and everything is come up rosy for this week... 

Quite literally rosy in the craft room too.

The little swirl flower pins have grown nicely...

...to become blooming rose corsages with leaves just peaking through...

...and sweet little minitotes so you carry a flower where ever you go.

All have been planted in the little shops, ready to be picked. 

The little folksy shop in particular is looking quite the summer flower patch at the moment.

Hope you have a lovely rosy week too!

xo

Happy List

Thank you so much for all the nice comments about the little fish... I'll pass them on to him when I see him tonight :)

This week I have had leaking pipes, tickling tonsils and I just accidentally spilt an almost full glass of water over my desk and into my flossbox so I think I'm in need of a list of things to be happy about so....

*Pretty parcels wrapped and ready to go*

 I'll share whats inside the larger two next week but I'm especially happy about the little one as I get to give that in person at the weekend to someone I've not seen in way too long...

*New food-with-smiley-faces goodies from Paperchase*

That place is heaven to me already but I am such a sucker for foodie stuff... just had to buy!! 

*Patches of daisies and new shoes*

I challenge anyone to feel sad while wearing yellow shoes on a sunny day...

It always feels so good to think of small things that make you happy. What's making you smile today? 

Hope you all have super happy weekends!!

xo

Birthday Fishes

Yes, that's 'fishes' not 'wishes'

Some people may prefer Birthday wishes, but when the question "what present do you wish to receive?" was asked, all was very quiet....

...and he stayed very quiet.  

Two days before the Birthday and still no wish! 

And that is about the time the fish came about... 

It was quite possibly last year, when I asked the same question to the same person, the answer was "Perhaps a fish"

After a hour looking in the pet shop at fishes of all shapes and sizes, it became clear the fish we were looking at were going to be a little high maintenance. It sounds daft to say that of a pet fish, but factor in heaters, air pipes thingies, the size of a tank and a lack of space... 

Whatever happened to goldfish in plain old glass bowls? 

So two days before, a present was needed and I remember the fish!

Felt, needles, floss and a little sketchbook help from Barack Obama (the goldfish) to get me started and a few hours later, a very low maintenance pet!

I presented the felt goldifish in an plastic bag carnival style (an idea I borrowed from this etsy genius) to a very amused Birthday boy

I can't help but think that a tank of felt fishes would be quite a lovely sight....

xo

The End of the Evening

Yesterday evening ended very late as I challenged myself to get my hand stitching done before I could go to bed. Not surprisingly, little was done while the Conchords were on as I was watching the tv and not my hands - v. important while drawing! :)

Before the stitching came the Black Apple update. I had kinda hoped to grab a Helpful Hannah doll but they were gone in a click literally! I'm not too disappointed as

 1. I expected the quickness of clickiness as I have snatched in many an update before and 

2. because one such snatch last year was a doll, whom I have not yet shared...

...well now I will. Ain't she a cutie?

She is one of the lucky ones who got to sit behind Emily and Martha Stewart as they made the dolls. (you can spot her in the video here). Generally I don't buy into that reality tv celebrity thing, but I am crazy happy to have my own little celeb sitting on my shelf :)

Her picture was found in during yesterday's photo sort (I'm really not surprised at the computer's grumpiness as there is a lot to be sorted/deleted)

And from cute to not-so...

 ...incredibly ugly in fact! (but thats ok as Nigella said they would be)

Before stitching, updates and telly came the ping! My mini meatloaf was cooked, chilled and made a tasty lunch. I've never tasted meatloaf before and it was fun to try something new... especially in a tiny picnic style. At the weekend I cooked burritos at home for the first time too - fresh salsa, guacamole and all. I mainly followed this recipe with a couple of extras chucked in.

 I didn't take any photos but I do have a burrito doodle from my sketchbook. 

I miss drawing food with faces...

Well, I think I've rambled enough now...

Enjoy your evenings!

xo

Today's to do's

Today I have:

1.Finished a secret birthday project

2. Sorted through a few photos (on the insistence of the computer shouting "I'm full!" and acting quite grumpy in general) 

-where I happen to find this poppy bag from Xmas that has not been shared

3. Made a start on tidying and sorting the craft room (no before pictures as its just too shocking)

4. Have a batch of Nigella's mini meatloaves in the oven about to ping any minute

5. and a handful of handsewing and drawing to be doing while watching the new series of Flight of the Conchords after which I'll be running back here to the little laptop to have a nosey around the Black Apple update...

...phew!

Happy Tuesdays

xo

One of those fabrics...

I bought this great summer flower print fabric a couple of years ago, but I never really knew what to do with it.

I was thinking it would make a cute shift dress, but when it came turns out it was thick upholstery canvas (the curse of online fabric shopping!) 

Bags seemed the way to go, so I want to make myself a big summer bag.

Finding the right detail to add is proving tricky. So far I have:

Embroidered with the pattern (above left)

Appliqued a print cutout (above right)

Bows (below left)

Fabric flowers (below right)

...all with a healthy spattering of vintage buttons

All cute, but not the one for me.

Without knowing how it looks I do seem have a certain bag in mind. After all the experimenting I am down to my last 1/2 metre and the next one has to be 'The me summer tote'

Any ideas? Mainly my problem seems to be the 'something added'. How would you decorate a tote this fabric?

xo

p.s. I did kind of make the print into a cute shift dress, albeit as an embroidered doodle doll.

p.p.s. it's Randi of Squishy Cute Stuff's birthday Sunday and all she wants is a little voting action... go make her day!

Little Not-so-Tough Guy

My 1st finished crochet piece!

and its an odd one...

So I'm trying out more little sample squares and one lumpy one reminds me of those spiked dog collars. I couldn't help myself...

It looks kinda cute in real life, but most the pictures make him look a little village-people-esque hee hee

(no dogs were harmed, just sleepy so still picture could be taken)

To make the soft tough guy collar, (I think) I made a chain of 49 in black, then a row of double crochet stitches. The second row was 2 single crochets then 5 double crochet in the 3rd stitch all gathered at the top and 3 single crochets before doing the 5 dc and 3 sc again and repeating that all the way to 2 before the end, then 2 sc at the end. The third and final line was all double crochets again. All the gathered 5 dc were in white, which I guess is obvious, but hey I'm a newbie. I hope that makes sense!

xo

Little Showers...

...bring lovely flowers!

A late April shower for you.

This idea popped up in my sketchbook weeks ago, when the weather wasn't so nice. I had the cloud embroideries I did last year hung on the wall above my desk and seeing them every day really made me want to do something more with those little clouds.

I think they look sweet as softies too...

I'm hoping to get the stitch picture in the little shop this evening before I get too distracted, it been a week full of them...

xo