Tuesday Treasures

Gawjus Clare came up with the fabulous idea for us to share our treasures!! Not the obvious ones, like our much loved families, or our sewing goodies …. the ones we’ll be sharing are the precious objects that mean so much to us. Now I know I’m a day late for this first one, but I want to play along, so here’s mine …….

My Mum bought me a chain bracelet when I was in my teens …. I think I was about 15 or 16, I really don’t remember. But ever since then she has bought me a charm to put on it that would mean something to me when I look back on it. Each one holds a precious memory….

This one was the year I fell and tore the ligaments in my ankle … OUCH!! These are of course because of my love of sewing …

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and some for very special times - like my wedding and the births of my gawjus babies …

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This bracelet now has 50 charms on it … so you can imagine, Mum was having a bit of a dilemma towards the end trying to find ones that I hadn’t got. No problem though, she found this… he he he …. it’s a kitchen sink!!! She figured I had everything on it but that LOL. So now I guess I’ve got *everything* on it he he :o)!!!

A teeny tiny peek!!

I admit, this piccy really doesn’t show you much at all. It’s just that I was feeling like a bit of a slacker cos I haven’t shown any Early Bird Chrissy pressies that I’ve made yet. The problem is … the recipients read my blog!!!! I couldn’t spoil their surprises. So this is all you get … and you’ll just have to take my word that there really are 7 pressies there … which is also another 7 finishes for the month WOOHOO :o)!!!!!

They’re here!!!!

Only 93 sleeps to go and I’ll be hugging my DD1 in London!!!

The tickets are paid for.

The passports are here.

Just a bit excited now :o)!!!

Another handy item…

I don’t know if I mentioned that I’m going on my first retreat in August … and I’m so looking forward to it. My friends Lynn & Valerie are coming too, along with another 25 or so from the quilting group I’m in. So……… to get ready for this fabulous event you might remember last week’s project – the cutting/ironing boards …… Well this week we decided we should get a nice little iron to take with us too …… Ok, it doesn’t look so small in the pic … but it’s actually a travel iron ~ slightly larger than the mini irons on the market – and about half the price too!!! Here it is up against my normal iron, you can see it’s much smaller.  It also came with a little carry bag … not very pretty though is it???!! So what’s a girl to do??? Well make another one of course :o)!!

I wondered how I’d go about it then I remembered my friend Dawn had a lovely pattern for one in a recent “Homespun” magazine (No. 83 if you’re wondering) ~ isn’t it gawjus!! So using Dawn’s lovely design as inspiration … cos mine’s nowhere near as pretty as hers … I set about making one on a much smaller scale … AND it matches the cutting/ironing board too :o) …..Pretty pleased with how it all turned out :o).

We’re making one more matching item for this little set … I’ll show it to you next week ;o).

In very nice company :o)!!

There was certainly a big smile on my face when my latest issue of Creating Country Threads arrived last week!!! There was my “Under Lock and Key” project ….. in the very same issue along with Cheryl’s beautiful “Sophia’s Quilt” …… and Jenny’s pretty “A Gift of Roses Bag”, which I was lucky to have my project pictured beside too :o)!!!!! Feeling very pleased to be in such lovely company :o).

I knew this would happen!!!!

A couple of my friends and I got together yesterday and made some terrific things … and I’d just LOVE to show you them all but – long story short … I forgot the little card that goes in my camera so the pics I took were only saved to the camera memory. No problem there you say?? Well it shouldn’t be … only trouble is … SINCE I TIDIED UP MY FLAMING CAVE I CAN’T FIND ANYTHING ANY MORE!!!!! When everything was messy I knew where to find stuff!!!

The cord that connects the camera to the ‘puter has disappeared!!! Into thin air!!! It’s G-O-N-E!!!!

Actually, I’ve probably put it somewhere really safe so that I don’t lose it. But unfortunately for me, I’ll probably never remember just WHERE **sigh**!!!!

So you’ll have to put up with a pic of just mine. Which is a shame cos Lynn’s and Valerie’s are really t’riffic too and I would have loved to have shown you.

So here it is. Looks like a pretty bag doesn’t it??!!?

It even has a cute little Giggle button on the fastener {{look closely ;o) }}…

But no …. it’s not a bag (gasp!!!) ….. it’s a travel size cutting mat and ironing board!!!!!

Ta daaaaaaa………… Cool huh :o) !!???!! So that's finish number 3 for June ... YAY :o)!!

Oh, and Lynn came up with all the measurements and how to's for this fab project ... isn't she clever!!!??!

I’m gonna keep searching for that camera cord. I’ll probably find stuff I didn’t even know I’d lost ;o)!!!!!

I love this pattern!!!!

Those of you who’ve been reading my blog for a while would know that I simply LOVE this pattern…… Gawjus Cath Baynes from Willow Valley Store has taken the fear out of zippers for me with this adorable little pouch design. I’ve made LOADS of these handy little guys and this week I’ve made yet another, this one is a little ‘thank you’ for a lovely lady from my quilt group who lent me a fabulous book :o) …..Honestly, you can whip up one of these in an hour or so …. so easy peasy :o). Oooh, I might make some of these for my "Early Bird Christmas" gifties!!! This gives me 2 finishes for June now – YAY :o)!!!

Oh Dear!!!!

I spent ages yesterday … absolutely ages tidying and decluttering my cave sewing room – I was inspired by Vikki’s post. I even took before and after piccies. Trouble is … there seems to be hardly any difference between the two **sigh**…… so, just to help you out … “before” is on the left!!!

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Ok, well I can see a bit of improvement here, clearly the desk is tidier. But if you look closely you can see that the bulletin board has been cleaned up too and the stuff on the shelves is tidier too …. honest!!! Can’t you see it??? Look closer!!!!

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See…….??!!!

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Looking at these piccies I’m beginning to wonder if I did anything at all yesterday, or if I was dreaming!!!!! Oh Dear … again you need to really closely to see the difference … **sigh** … before is on the left again.

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I have come to the conclusion that I simply have too much stuff.

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Sad but true.

I guess I’m just going to have to learn to live with it ;o).

Mmmmm, YUMMY :o)

I made this slice today from Peg’s recipe …. You’re right Peg …. it’s delish :o)…… Luckily I managed to save a few pieces for DH and Bear (DD2) :o) 

My “craft” ladies came over today (even though we don’t do much craft any more). We also had freshly baked scones with jam and cream … All served on pretty china plates with pink napkins…. I like Fridays :o).

“My first finish for June” OR “A quick tutorial by Sophie”!!

Well here it is, my first June finish!!! Now I know it looks like a quilt with handles, but Sophie, my very capable assistant, will take you through a short step by step tutorial on how to turn it into a bag :o)!!!

First you gather up the ties on the one side ……then you do the same on the other side …..if you can’t remember how you did the first side then go back and have another play look :o). then go back to the second one for another go …..Once you finish playing with tying the ties … Then you’ll have a great big bag!!!!!So now you can hop inside and check for comfort ……Close it up and ensure that it’s nice and roomy too :o) …Once you’ve established that all is well with the world, you can have a little nap :o). Cos turning quilts into bags is tiring ya know!!!

By Sophie (Meow-purrr) ;o).

If anyone else would like to make one of these lovely big bags for their kitty for carrying their quilts n stuff, then you’ll find the pattern in a book called “Jelly Roll Quilts” by Pam and Nicky Lintott :o).