Monday 24 May 2010

slow progress






Apologies for not having updated my blog for so long - its been a busy & hot week!

Tuesday - my order from Saints & Pinners arrived - very quick indeed so I received my Amy Butler fat quarters & stash bag pattern (I had decided to have a go at these before attempting some of the clothing patterns that I have my eye on!). During the day I took the Twins to Bluewater - HM needed a new school summer dress & the Twins needed swimming trunks for holiday. I took the opportunity to pop into John Lewis whilst I was there to have a look at their range of fabrics. I was pleasantly surprised to see they stocked Amy Butler & Tanya Whelan fabrics....an Amy Butler tunic pattern happened to find itself a new owner & came home with me too :-)

So got home but no time to play but I did manage to fit in some jam making - my best raspberry jam got made whilst doing dinner for the Twins....yummm.

Wednesday came and I took the boys over to see my sister & her two monkeys. She lives near to Ikea so we went there to have a look at the fabric. Unfortunately the fabric that I had liked the look of was not on the shelf but the range of fabric was a fair size and some of it was rather nice. I purchased some grey and some off-white patterned fabric which I intend to use for the napkins and table runner for Grandma. The pricing was also good - about £4 per metre but they have an odd system there - you choose the fabric - cut the amount you want off the bolt itself and then a member of staff weighs it and prices it up!

Thursday came & went - it was not very memorable but I think that was the day I made some chocolate cupcakes (see pics)...I also ordered the Sewing book by Alison Smith (I had a flick through it in WH Smiths over at Bluewater on Tuesday but I didn't want to pay £25 for it). Amazon had the book available for £15.

Friday - I managed to cut the fabric for the napkins and pin them - this was a big job in itself & took ages as the pieces were so large. I think it took me nearly 2 hours to cut the 12 squares required! In the evening I managed to get out into the garden and plant up some of the summer plants which had been growing happily in the mini greenhouse.

Saturday was a family day - we all went to Homebase to get compost & more plant pots & also to Pets at Home to get the cat some food. After that we went to see Nanny & the children played with their Cousins in the garden. Our Mr J terrified us all by standing up and letting go on the top of Nanny's big slide! There was more gardening to be done once we got home but then we had the treat of going out for dinner (minus children) so no time for sewing.

On Sunday we were blessed by really hot sunny weather....we spent the day with my sister & the children splashed around in the paddling pool. By the time we got home they were all tired out but once they were in bed I set about continuing the napkin project. I sewed the napkins using the same method I had for my trial run. I got the seams all sewn, turned them the right way round and then got the stitching done around the edges - job done...now I need to plan the table runner...I shall have to get a bit more fabric to contrast with the Ikea fabric but that is for another day.

So far to day I have had the pleasure of cutting out the fabric ready to make the Amy Butler coin purse from the stash bag pattern. P is out tonight so once the boys are in bed I can start sewing...yes, it was hard but I did cut through the beautiful fabric...sigh....xxx