New Creations

I recently went on a shopping spree to buy some materials for my new creations. I wrote a list of things I could make, got excited and hit the shops! The first thing that I have tried to tackle is the soft toy, baby block. I decided to have a go at making one for my nephew, Elijah, last year as a Christmas present. So I found a local upholstery place and

went in to enquire.

I wanted just a couple of cubes to start with, around 10cm squared. The guy in the shop very generously gave me two for free as a tester. So I set to work to make the personalized toy. Each side was to have a letter of his name and a different fabric. I made a few mistakes, and it was definitely a trial and error process. Eventually I came up with a fool proof system that would work every time, made the pattern piece to go with it and now, almost a year on, I have finally got round to making some more.

Unfortunately the shop I got the foam from last time, has gone. However, in an effort to continue to support local businesses, I have discovered another upholstery shop nearby, called B O'Hara Upholstery and have recently managed to buy 20 cubes of foam from them.

Great service there, as it is an unusual request, and I will hopefully be using them more often if my efforts pay off.

After buying a LOT of felt, I have several ideas for 'felt projects', as it is such an easy material to work with. The soft toy was one idea that I wanted to try with the felt. In the batch that I bought from local sewing shop, Superior Sewing, there were some smaller squares. These squares worked perfectly for the cubes, when quartered they had 1/2 cm seam allowance, which was just enough to work with. So with two squares of 6 different colours, I have made 8 blocks as you can see in the photo below. They are currently plain, but with the potential to be customised to have letters, numbers or pictures on them. I will post some more photos when I have some examples.

Sew...what's new?!

Since I got my dream job...then realised it wasn't at all my dream job and left...I've been in what feels a bit like 'no-man's land'. So the sewing machines have been fired up and I'm on a mission to make some things to sell!I've registered on Etsy and Misi (two websites that run kind of like ebay but are specifically for homemade items) so now I just need to get some stock together! So the next few posts will be about some of the things I've been making. I will try and remember to take lots of photos throughout the process and so you can see what goes on in my little world of sewing!

Things to do at some point in my life!

So we're coming to the end of our first winter season out in the French Alps. We've been here since the end of November and it has been an amazing experience. We've been out snowboarding an average of 5 days a week, sometimes more, sometimes less. The progression that we've both been through during the season has been incredible. Personally I could not have imagined that I would be doing the things I'm doing. I have gone from barely being able to make turns...to confidently coming down black runs, throwing myself off blue kickers, boxes...even been in the halfpipe AND enjoyed it (after my legs stopped shaking and my heart stopped pounding!) But it has to be said...this progression business is addictive. So much so that we're thinking about our options for coming back out next year even if it's just for a few months. But that's for a different blog altogether...

Now we're thinking about life after the season...getting back home to my lovely puppy who I have missed so much and can't wait to see again! (Thanks again Uncle G for kindly looking after our daft dog for so long!) However, I've been doing a lot of thinking about things I want to achieve in my life and I decided I should write a life goals list...so here it is. I don't expect anyone to read this, but it will act as a great reference in the future to see how much of it I have done!

In no particular order:

1. Learn French
2. Learn one other language (Italian/Spanish or something?)
3. Improve my clothes making skills
4. Learn how to make sewing patterns from scratch
5. Learn how to breakdance
6. Record a CD
7. Pass my BASI Level 1...maybe Level2 and become a Snowboard Instructor
8. Write a Childrens book
9. Create and sustain a Dance Co (probably Youth...but we'll see)
10. Raise a family :)

Well...that's it for now...I'll add more when I think of them...and tick off the ones I do...

Ciao x