29 October 2010

tangled up!

Hi all!

Sorry for the longish absence! Mad mad week! Wednesday I went up to Durham to visit the uni. It was magical! Confirmed my wish to study there. The only downside is the journey up! It took about 5 hours on the train! eeeep!

I didn't bring my camera but wished I had because it is stunning. We poked around the sweet little shops and the cathedral which is just amazing. I also visited the school of education where I would do my degree (I'm thinking of combining history and education). The admissions tutor was fantastic and told us that he was looking for the person rather than an academic genius! So nice to here this sometimes as so many univerisites are just looking for the grades. So... positive experience and well worth the trip up!
(Oh and the accent....I sounded so posh!)

Back to the title of the post. I am (much to my mothers horror) having a go at knitting a patterned scarf! It is so tricky. All the wool gets tangled up, dropped stiches. I swear you need twenty fingers to knit with three balls of wool!

 This is my progress so far! If any one has any tips on how to knit with different colours, it would be much appreciated!

Back to school on sunday so last few days with the family! Thanks for stopping by,

Loves xxxx

25 October 2010

Monday Sequence

Happy Monday

Todays sequence is according to my brother obvious! but my challenge today is to draw something extra out of it. What speaks most, the lack of colour, the contrast, domesticity, home? Whatever it is, have a go at taking three sequence pictures realting to these and post a link so we can all enjoy looking at them!

Thanks for stopping by!

Loves xxx

23 October 2010

Making Christmas gifts.

Hi I know it isn't Christmas yet but you have to be prepared right??! Yesterday I made gifts for four of my friends and I am praying they aren;t reading this! If you are, go NOW!

I wanted something really pretty, a touch of homemade but also not too expensive as its 18th birthdays this year so I have to get a present for each of them then as well!!!

So.. I decided to make these:

A jar of cupcake mix. Its so easy but looks really effective. I printed out my own labels with designs from here.
Stuck them to the jars and filled each one with a layer of flour, sugar and chocolate chips.
I then cut a circle of fabric for each jar and zigzagged the edge on the sewing machine.
I secured it with a piece of ribbon and then wrote the recipe onto a tag downloaded from here.
I secured the tag with a twine around the top of the jar and voila! A quick, easy and pretty present!

Oh and it made my day to see something very similar in John Lewis for £9.99! I think I should go into business and make a nice profit! ha ha!

Hope you are all having a lovely weekend!

Loves xxx

21 October 2010

Autumn fun

Happy Thursday!

Just a quick visit to share a few pictures I took on our walk today. It has been lovely and sunny and cold at the moment so each day we go for a walk. We are lucky enough to be surrounded by countryside so try and get out the house each day.

These first few were taken in the woods and after editing I love how the colours have come out.



The pictures below are from our walk today when we surprisingly came across this swing. It would be madness not to have a go right??!!



Jumping off logs never loses its fun!

Beautiful autumn leaves.

What do you enjoy most about Autumn? Thanks for stopping by!

Loves xxxx

19 October 2010

Owl Tutorial (photo heavy!!)

Hi All

I'm afraid I didn't do a monday sequence this week as I was busy with something else. I have been meaning to do this tutorial for yonks! Literally! But due to school and not having a sewing machine it had to wait. So... Please give a hand to Mr Owl...
He is rather wacky but really sweet and due to the way he is stuffed works well as a paper weight! He is also very simple to make! So...


1. Choose the material for the main body. I used ordianry cotton but it needs to be fairly durable as you don't want the owl to break when you stuff him! Fold your material so right sides (pattern) are together and pin.

2. Cut out the template at the bottom of the page. I'm afraid it is quite rough but it does the job! It needs to be printed at A4 size. Pin it or draw around it onto the material.


3. Cut through both layers of fabric so you have a shape like the one above. Pin the two pieces together again with right sides together.

4. With a simple running stitch on the machine sew around the whole owl about 0.5cm from the edge. Be careful around the ears as this defines the shape. REMEMBER to leave a hole at the base!!


5.Now using the hole you have left turn the owl inside out so that the pattern is now the right way around. If it helps use a lollipop stick to push out the ears as they look so much better with sharp corners!

6. We now need to fill the Owl. I used dry rice which works really well. I guess lentils would do the job just as well though! The best way to do this is to make a cone like in the picture, put this into the hole at the base of the owl and spoon the rice in! Far less messy! Make sure the rice is tightly packed as you don't want a saggy owl! Lol!


7. Make the owl as full as you wish and once you are happy pince the hole closed and fasten with a pin.

8. Using hand stitch sew the hole closed whichever way you find easier. It doesn't have to be too neat as the feet will cover the join!


9. The eyes are really down the personal preference and as such I haven't made a template for them. The basic idea is to cut two circles of different sizes and layer them up. I find it is easiest if you push a pin through them and then before you sew you can adjust the position to your liking.

10. for the centre of the eye I used a flat glass bead glued on but a small button works just as well. To sew the eyes on I used handstich again. This is quite tricky as the owl is full. One easier way is to sew on the eyes before filling.


11. Cut out the template for the wing twice onto thin cardboard. Using a different fabric fold it right sides together again and pin.

12. Cut about 0.5cm from the edge of the template. Glue the cardboard to one of the  material wing pieces and sandwich it between the other fabric wing piece. This just stiffens the wings a bit and means they hold their shape a bit more.


13. Using a small zig zag stitch with the machine, run it around the edges of each wing. It holds them together quite well and gives a fluffy kind of feel.

14. Again with the template or freestyle it cut out the two feet. I cheated and glued these to the bottom of my owl but you could sew them!


15. Handsew the wings at the base of the ears. I just sewed at the top so the wings had a bit of movement.

16. Finally using a toggle or another suitable button attach a beak to your owl. Play around with him until he stands up nicely and voila!!! One owl!

Feel free to adapt these instructions, make him bigger or smaller. Just to stress though, he's cute but isn't a toy as depending on your sewing skills he is a little bit fragile! Oh and below are the very rough hand drawn templates that may or may not come in use!!!
Hope you enjoyed the tutorial, I had so much fun making this little fella! Thanks so much for stopping by!

Loves xxxx

17 October 2010

A finished Skirt!

Hi!

Half term is here! Two whole weeks just to chill and spend time with the family! As soon as I got home I couldn't wait to make up the skirt so yesterday afternoon was spent with the sewing machine!

It was so easy to make up. Just a rectangle with a tube at the top for the elastic and then hemmed! My Mum is insane at sewing so didn't need a pattern, she just gave me instructions and I got on with it!

 I love how it turned out. Its so simple but is nice to wear with thick grey tights and boots! I have already planned the next skirt with possibly buttons down the front! ahhh excitement! Lol!

I have another picture but blogger is not working with me today! grrr...! Thanks for stopping by. Hope you are all having a nice weekend!

Loves xxx

11 October 2010

Monday sequence

Happy Monday
Monday sequence is actually on time this week! Its far more ambiguous than last week but really there is no correct answer. Take what you will from the pictures and then if you want play along, take your own pics and post a link in the comments so we can all admire them!

Thanks for stopping by

loves xxxx

10 October 2010

Happy sewing!

Happy Sunday!

I have had a VERY productive weekend! essay out of the way, a sunny day and lots of time to shop! He he!
Also half term is very soon so I am working towards that and two weeks off to go home!

So...as you know I got a sewing machine for my birthday. A little while ago my mum and me made a skirt for me to where to a fancy dress party. It was so simple, a rectange hemmed and gathered along a thick elastic waistband. I really liked it but as it was red and white spotty, perhaps not so good to wear around town! Lol! (guess what I came as to the party!) Anyway, as I now have as sewing machine of my own I thought I would visit my local fabric shop!

Well..it was like dying and going to heaven. It was a tiny shop but literally floor to ceiling was packed full of bolts of material all sorted in colour! I spent a good half hour just browsing and eventually came away with this...

Isn't it pretty!? I wanted a simple pattern so I can wear the skirt with grey tights in the winter! Very excited to make this one up! Anyway, it gets better. Took it to the till along with the elastic for the waistband and the grand total for it...£8.00! Yep thats right! eight quid to make a unique skirt in lovely material! Baragin me thinks! But.. I then looked at the label and it said..VINTAGE! Oh yes, I had stumbled on some beautiful vintage fabric from guess where...

eeeeeepp! And the date...1979! Not only will my skirt be unique, it will also be vintage! happy smiles all round!

 So..making the skirt up is a happy prospect for half term! During my wandering around town I also found a lovely second hand book stall and got a book for 60p! It was such a bargain that I treated myself to two! I had one of those days where I foraged around little independant shops that sell such sweet stuff. I am much more prepared to spend money in a small unique shop than a big chain! Do you have any lovely little shops you visit?

So, I am off to read my book and drink some more of this...good times!

Hope you have all had a lovely weekend, Thanks for stopping by!

Loves xxxxxx

5 October 2010

Monday sequence

Ok, so...I know it isn't monday. This was planned for yesterday but monday had other ideas!

 I thought I would start a little weekly post called "Monday Sequence". Basically i am going to take a sequence of three photos that all relate to one another in some way. I'm not going to specify what it is that links them so today or rather yesterdays's is...


 So, you could take this as footwear or feet or socks or shoes or comfort or fashion. Get the idea!
I would love you to join in if you want. Take what you gather from the pictures and then take three pictures yourself on the same theme and post a link in the comments so I can come and look and we can all get lovely photo inspiration!

I'm going to try and post a sequence each week. This week the link between the photos is pretty obvious but next week it will be something a bit more ambiguous!

And guess what will happen to this little sequence of three..oh yes they will be scrapped! :)

Have a lovely day! Loves xxxxx

3 October 2010

Autumn editing

Hi all.

Just come to the end of a very manic week at school. This time of the year we have a house music competition. Each house has to put on a performance that lasts 20 mins consisting of if possible an ensemble, soloist, choir and the infamous house song where everybody gets on stage and sings their heart out complete with actions! As you can imagine, helping to organise a housse of around 70 girls and get them all singing in unison, in tune and smiling was pretty tricky! The atmosphere of the night was incredible as it is all highly competitive! We didn't win but we had so much fun!

So what with that and random things for head girl I have been running around all other the place. Thankfully next week is quieter so hopefully more time to blog! he he! One of the perks this week though was a dinner in oxford. It was really beautiful and I manged to snap this picture of the buildings. They really are this colour!

Back to the title of the post ( I always seem to go off on one!). I love this time of year when autumn is setting in and the leaves are all crispy. I actually don't even mind that it is getting colder. I look forward to the pretty sunsets and the incredible colours. The only thing I don't like about Autumn is the rain! (which is what it did most of today! hmmm!)

I thought I'd give the camera a work out and take a few pics. I edited all of these in picnik and love how they turned out!

Sorry for the short post, thanks so much for stopping by. Hope you all had a good weekend?

Loves xxxx