Simply a moment

It's early morning. Well early for me.
That autumn cold has crept in and as usual my feet and hands are taking a while to warm up.
I can still smell the smoke from the wood burner on the air. We lit a fire last night. The first of the year. 

I turn to my task. I am spread out on the floor, squares of material around me pins at my side.
I like this process of quilting. The different steps, the contrast between fabric.
Brushed cotton in one hand, canvas in the other.
I pin them together, lining them up, seam to seam.
The room is quiet except for the audio book playing from the laptop.
I don't like sitting in silence. I hardly need listen to the words as I know the books so well. Harry potter. My guilty pleasure.
The voice in the room is comforting somehow. I have always enjoyed having stories read to me. 

I pick up my newly joined pieces. 

Again I am struck by the contrast of quilting. Going from the soft quiet task of piecing and pinning to the clatter and hum of the machine.
Foot on the pedal I feed the material through.
My hands brush against pins and material in turn. Softness and pin pricks in equal measure.
I study the fabrics I have chosen and feel pleased with my choices.
Strong colours sitting with neutrals. 
Materials picked up in a French market. They already hold stories. 

I come to the end of the row. The clatter of the sewing machine is replaced by the snip of the scissors.
The moment of truth, do the corners meet?
Some do but others are gloriously off centre. I don't mind. Beautiful handmade imperfections that they are. 

I look out of the window. The dew is nearly gone. The sun is bright and the autumn crispness lingers. In this odd month of limbo before term starts I need days like this to feed material through the machine, to create something to snuggle in in the winter months.
I am nesting and preparing the best way I can. 

Today I am joining in with Alexa's beautiful meme, "Simply a Moment." Do stop by her blog to read both Alexa's words and other bloggers as they record their moments. 

the student makes - diy marble paper

Welcome to another post on my mini series "the student makes". I am trying to create a collection of simple and cheap DIY's that use many things you may have on hand already. 

This DIY has been floating around the web recently and I was itching to have a go. I almost feel like it is cheating to post a tutorial because it is just so easy! 

Supplies: (I have estimated cost because you will probably have a lot of these things lying around at home) 
Three or more different coloured nail polishes: free or you can probably pick some new ones up for a £1.00 a bottle.
Cocktail sticks: £1.00
Card, paper, tags or anything you want to marble.

An icecream tub or similar and some old newspaper to dry your creations on.

1. Fill your plastic tub up with a few inches of water. Unscrew the lids of your nail varnish. You have to work quickly with this DIY so preparation is the key.

2. Drizzle your first colour nail varnish across the surface of the water. The first colour will spread the most so it will be the most dominant on your finished piece.
Quickly drizzle your second and third colours across the water.

At this stage if you want to create a very swirly effect grab a cocktail stick and swirl the nail polish. You have to be quick to do this though or the polish will just stick in a clump.

3. I found it best to fold my card in half, then holding one half of it, making sure it is flat against the water, dip. The nail polish will cling to the paper and when you pull it out you end up with patterns like this. 

Leave your cards to dry and keep on experimenting!  

This project is so versatile. You can try different colours of polish, dipping the paper in more than once or dipping other objects into the paint. 

There are also a hundred and one things to do with the finished paper. I chose to cut some of my mine into tags to wrap onto presents. I also made some into gift cards and tied them up with twine to give as a present. 

Super simple and cheap project, if a little bit messy!

Project Life week 36- a short film

Week 36 and I am shaking some things up!

I thought I would play around with this weeks project life and try and record my digital process. I sped up the recording, put it to some cheery music and voila, a little "in the process" short film. This is definitely not a tutorial video- it is far too speedy for that- more of a, this is how my afternoon looked! I hope you enjoy it! (It is best viewed small as the quality is ok but looks yucky when made big!) 

This week I joined in with Alinor's challenge to use just eight photos and eight journalling cards. Admittedly I cheated a bit and may have used more than the eight photos but I had great fun trying to stick to a rule and it really livened up project life for me this week.

Thank you for the inspiration Alinor. 

The spreads featured in the film are below.

One photo & twenty words

This is us. In September. Autumn light and an iPhone. I can't quite remember why I laughed. I love him.
..............................................................................................................................

My little challenge for you today. Find a photo and try and tell its story in just twenty words. Suddenly twenty words aren't very many and each one takes on a bit more importance!

Learning to be a grown up

This is a story of numbers

3 weeks. In 3 weeks I am learning how to be a grown up. 

In 3 weeks I will move into my first house. 

A house with 3 hilarious, silly, kind and generous girls. 

I have spent 1 week learning how to cook. 

In truth though I have known how to cook for many years. I have spent this past week learning how to follow a recipe, how to time different dishes so they arrive on the table at the same time and how not to fry onions to the bottom of the pan. 

This has happened 2 times already. 

There have been at least 5 soaked pans on the draining board this week. 

The longest one was there for was 3 days. Welded might be a better description of the food stuck to it. 

There has been only 1 emergency run to the supermarket. 

So far I have cooked 2 different types of meat, done potatoes 2 different ways and made 1 batch of bread dough. 

I have also figured out the perfect plastic tub in which to store meal leftovers. 

The best figure of all though is that from Monday to Friday there were 5 hot, edible and tasty meals on the table each evening. 

This grown up lark...we're getting there! 

The photos are from the party we held this weekend and the food is therefore not my creations but my mums- I have the best teacher! 

the student makes- DIY sewing tidy

With the nights closing in, the children back in school and the students lazing around at home I thought I would kick start my mini series!

I ran "The student makes" last year and had so much fun trying to come up with fun projects that could be made with a couple of pounds/dollars. 

As a student I have little spare cash but strongly feel this doesn't stop me trying to create beautiful things. These are therefore projects for everyone, student or not, whether you have cash to splash or just change in your pocket. I'll try and create a bit of a mix too, some decor projects, some paper, some photography. Enjoy! 

So first up, a little sewing board....

I hate having my spools of cotton and bobbins littering my desk. When I am sewing I need to have things to hand so I made this little sewing board that can sit against my desk and tidy my things away. 

Supplies: (I have estimated cost. I had most of these things at home already)

Salvaged wood. Mine was 12 x 8" but work with what you've got: If it's salvaged it's free! 

Acrylic paint sample: £2.00

18 Tacks or small nails: £1.50

Hammer, sand paper, paintbrush, ruler. 

1. Grab your piece of wood and give it a good sand. I made sure the edges were smooth and free of splinters and that it was dirt free. My piece of wood had previously been treated so if you want to give it an aged look now would be the time to stain it. 

2. With your ruler mark where you are going to hammer in the tacks. I placed my nails approx 1.5 inches away from each other. This seems to be the right distance to hold a spool of cotton. 

I marked six nails for each row and did three rows. 

3. Hammer in your nails where you have marked. Try not to hit your finger ( not that I have done this!).  I find it helps to get low so you can see how far you need to hammer the nails in. It doesn't matter if it is a bit wonky! Don't hammer in the nails too far though as you need them to provide a shelf for your cotton. 

4. Turn the wood 90 degrees and write freehand a word of your choice. I chose "sew" and then painted over it in white paint. 

5. Add your cotton reels and stand back to admire your creation! When I moved this to my desk I added bobbins and a pair of scissors to some of the nails too. 

Enjoy! 

Gauging some interest

Because I like autumn and I like the feeling of being organised and uncluttered I have started clearing out my desk. 

In the process of doing this I have found a huge amount of mostly cardstock and patterned paper that I am not intending to use. 

I was planning on running a garage sale out of my blog to try and sell some of this stuff on. There is loads and it is good quality! I wouldn't be asking much, a couple of pounds and postage costs. 

If I sold packs of cardstock and patterned paper would this interest you? This is no pressure to commit to anything I merely want to see if it is worth me putting these things up for sale. 

Thank you!