I had sworn to myself to blog regularly, well that’s gone out of the window! But I will try harder : )

Working on 12 new bags, also hoping to list the new unseen ones soon, just getting the time and good light to combine at the right moment!

Yes that is corduroy you see above, and yes you may be remembering that I said I would never use it again, never let it darken my door again, but how could I resist that colour? It is wonderful, and going well so far, no swearing at all!

Also bought some lovely fabric this week,

just loveliness! And it is all the result of Twitter! Karen tweeted about some fabric she had ordered from M is for Make, and the next thing that happened, so had I! Wonderful fabric, and really good service too, a big thumbs up : ) I hope to use some of these in my new bags, fingers crossed.

that’s what it feels like, over the past 6 months I have barely blogged, didn’t use my sewing machine for 5 months and making felt seemed like a long way off.

So even though I’m not doing that much, I do feel like I’m picking up speed!

I bought some tiny mother of pearl buttons,

they are teeny tiny! And more importantly I have put my Etsy shop back online, and filled it with stock I would like to sell to clear the way for new designs. So I have a summer sale! Whooo!

Today I want to make/create, work on ideas, and do some of the boring sewing stuff, but definitely moving forward!

On another matter, we went and saw Inception a couple of nights ago, and blimey charlie it was AMAZING!!! I want to try and go and see it at the IMAX cinema in Southampton this week, I can’t wait!

I thought you might like to see a terrible photo of me, looking scruffy, but with my new bag : )

This was taken in the boys room, so therefore I hope explains so many other things in this photo : )

Getting the hang on doing more than one blog, and so I’m hoping that the thing I will next find more time for is sewing, fingers crossed!

er, I think is to say, hello I’m here, actually it is not as long as I thought since I last posted, oh well, it feels like a loooooong time!

and whoooooo, well that is all about these,

and these,

what do you think?? John designed these for me to use, and maybe to sell as well if there is a demand for them. We will be working on new designs within this range, so we will have a selection to use together! All very very exciting!

Hopefully I will make something with these soon, working on new stuff at the moment, going slowly, but at least my sewing machine seems to be behaving itself a bit better!

Lots going on at my ‘farm’ job, and I’m proud to present my new blog, Laverstoke Farm a couple of posts so far, and that will be building all the time, hopefully you will get to learn more about the whole farm, field to fork, and all of that business!
Please leave a comment on there, trying to drum up some people on there, so when we have some exciting promotions and giveaways(!) you will know all about it!

more blogging soon, and maybe this time I won’t feel like I have been away for so long!

proper post, well when I say proper I mean lovely things for me to use!

some of my my favourite fabric and some lovely mother of pearls buttons, very happy : )

Away for a few days, so hopefully a nice post on Monday or Tuesday, and I hope by then the rest of the snow will be gone!

Saturday morning I had a mission, a mission that would end up with me covered in silky fluff!

Once a year, Wingham Wool Work come down south to Shawford, and then onto Petersfield for the Sunday. I went to Petersfield one year, and well it is much easier for me to go to Shawford, as that is only about 16 miles away, and a lovely drive!

Now, the one at Shawford is really for the Hampshire Spinners Guild, and you have to pay to get in, now I’m not saying anything about the members of the guild, but I would say that the average age is probably early sixties from the ladies I saw there, and before : ) So after my experience last time I decided that there would be no faffing around, military operation, in and out, and that is exactly what I did, and covered in fluff!

All I wanted really was their selection of the merino silk blend, and they had a pretty good range, none of the silvery black which I got last year, but I may have found another supplier for that, so I now have a pretty big bag of wool rovings to felt!

And last night I listed some corsages, including this one,

I do have more to list, but, you know what it’s like! I have taken on-board comments about a felt tutorial and doing a felt making kit, but so much is going on, that I haven’t done it yet, but I will be!!

this week has been a goodie filled week, yay!

these lovelies are from Laura, aka Lupin/Bugs & Fishes, I was her 2300th sale on Etsy, what a number! So I got a few more little goodies to play with : )

Getting these are helped with my ideas of things I can do at craft fairs and on my Etsy shop, of offering little felting kits. While I did Open Studios this year, it was something that I really wished I could have offered, as I think I would have sold quite a few! So this is something to add to the list, another thing!

Currently listening to Mariachi El Bronx, we saw them at ATP in May, and they were great, and for some reason it had a really profound effect on me, we were right at the front, and it was a great experience.
In a weird way it made me appreciate what I have with John, and being there with him and without the boys was a fantastic experience, and one that I think all couples with children should try to have, that you are first a couple, before a family, and that everyone needs time together. Sometimes that has to be away, my Mum and Dad used to have weekends away, and my Nana would come and look after us, and it was really great. We had a change of scene with Nana, and Mum and Dad had some time for themselves without constantly being bugged by us.

So don’t forget how you came to be a family in the first place!!

and I almost forgot!

Tra-la my pattern is now available to download : )

so yes, the answer was large, and a big one at that!

So a large thank you to you all for helping me with this. I have taken on-board all the comments, your opinions, and I have to say, it does all makes sense! So when I have re-done them all, I will let you see them!

So the winner is……………….. Julie! What is it with variations of that name?? But as always I used the random number generator to pick no.31 : )

So if you could let me know if you have a favourite colour, and I will see if I have a suitable corsage to match it!

I’m really only now feeling like sewing with any passion, the cold I have that started last Saturday is now on its last legs thankfully, though I have managed to pass it back to John, oops : )

I’m working on some new adjustable strap bags, this time in a range of coloured canvas, really nice, some pouches, more corsages etc!

The threads above were my bargain of the week, from our local charity shop, 16 reels for a fiver! Very pleased with myself, I now want to get some vintage large cotton reels to use as props, so boot sales and eBay here I come!

that is how our spare room/sewing room now smells!

Yesterday William and I went to Ikea to sort our some desk issues, with my earnings from Open Studios : )

We came back with a pair of these,

adjustable trestles, with storage underneath, so somewhere for sewing machine covers, sewing machines and irons to sit, and then on top of that I have one of these, a nice solid piece of pine, so nice, at the moment I don’t want to even put my sewing machine back on it!

Having this will really help, as I have started to get back ache when cutting out, and it is nice to be able to stand and work sometimes as well. We used to have a great farmhouse kitchen table which was great to stand at and work, so having the ability to change height is fab!

Also the top is longer, so more room for cutting out!

My old desk has gone to the boys to use, as they now need a normal height desk, so tomorrow will be tidying and organising in their room, joy!

Hopefully new piccies tomorrow, probably taken on some still clean pine desk!

it is cold here, last night it dropped to almost -10 C, and today it has probably got to about 2 C! I know there are plenty of you out there who would probably laugh in the face of that, but not me!

Thank you for the lovely birthday wishes, very much appreciated : )
The last of my pressies arrived today, including this,

now some of you may not be very excited by this, but it is very very exciting for me! I love Inspector Morse, and when I worked in London, I had the honour of being able to supply equipment to the shoots and meet the crew. Getting this is fab, and I can’t wait to watch all 49 and a half hours!

I also got some packaging supplies that I have ordered over the past couple of days.

Very nice red soft twine, and some great buff cardboard labels for me to use from now onwards, I’ve also ordered some more red tissue paper. So now to finish some stuff to be wrapped and sent!