Time marches on

It has been ages and i've missed the quiet thoughts. Life is, as always, moving at hyper speed. The summer was spent with my lovely horse and as the seasons changed I had to start sewing and craft fairs abound. I blame my lack of chat on this flipping ipad, which is super blogger unfriendly. I hope to post more soon but I will leave you with this cutey.

Fabric for sore eyes

A little bit japanese yummy fabric to keep you going, which dropped through the letter box.

Coursework is over

Hoorah, I finally got my coursework marked - as some of you may know I moonlight as a teacher during the day. It has been sitting mocking me for weeks, months, even.

I'm the sort of gal who works well best under pressure(!) generally out of necessity, due to the fact I leave marking my coursework until the last minute.

The problem is even though I wasn't doing it, I was thinking about it and feeling guilty about doing everything else. Well it's done. I'm happy. Sewing inspired even.

Pondering a Panda

I made this little guy from the felties book. Just so I could practice some hand sewing and trying to get back to sewing work.

I'll show you a couple more characters from the book when they are done. I think he might make a lovely keyring, or bag charm. But he's cute whatever he is used for, even if it's just to be something cute to look at.

Sewers Block

I have the bad case of sewers block. I want to sew but just can't bring myself to do it.

This has been going on for a while and is somewhat of a problem for someone who makes sewn items. I have been keeping up with my orders and custom work, but nothing "new" has appeared just for the sake of it.

I have tried just taking a break from making and that didn't work, so now I am trying to work on some new skills and doing some nice stuff (one of which I will post about tomorrow). I have also been spending some time just pondering and looking at my lovely fabric collection lately. I do feel the sparks of inspiration starting, but I also feel really frustrated. God bless writers, how do they cope. I am frustrated because I love sewing and making bags. I think I may have just suffered major burn out at Christmas, which is worrying as it is a busy time, which isn't going away. I'm off next week on holiday and I really hope that will give me some time to get going because my poor sewing machine feels very unloved at the moment.

New Book

A new book to drool at has popped through the letterbox.

I am not only a fabric-aholic it seems but also a sewing-book-aholic, is there any hope for me?

St George's Christmas Craft Fair

I will be attending St George's Christmas Craft Fair in Belfast this year again. Last year it was our first ever craft fair, so we are looking forward to going back.

It is on

Saturday 5 December: 9am - 5pm

Sunday 6 December: 10am - 5pm

If you are in the local area stop by and have a chat.

***Update - Having just looked at photo's from last year it has suddenly occurred to me I didn't have much stock and this year I have tonnes.****

Disappearance

While my disappearance should have been down to sewing my fingers to the bone for my next craft fair, but it has been down to the fact that life is even busier than normal. I finally got a weekend of last week to catch up on much needed sleep.

I have been sewing like mad this week, for Saturday and Sunday. I do I have a decent amount of stock, I'm just at this stage making bags I know are good sellers.

& So 2 Sew

With my first big fair of the Christmas season 7 weeks away the time has come to start some serious sewing. My approach this year is very different, it is more structured and ordered.

At the beginning of each week I plan exactly what I want to have done by the end of the week and then break it up into smaller tasks. This has streamlined my processes and is allowing me to have a set work period every day. Some may believe that this stops the creativeness of the process, but really it allows me to focus on choosing fabric combinations. My bags are not "cookie cutter" but to fit the frames they do have to be cut to a specific shape so there are some limitations for creative freedoms.

Having tasks planned for each day means I come home from work, with my mind already switched on to what I need to do, so I spend less time ambling and more time working.

I am hoping this new approach will enable me to increase my productivity while keeping my sanity this year but I suppose only time will tell :0)

Watch this space for updates.

Lazy Summer Days

I heard on the radio today that the summer has passed us by in Northern Ireland. I was a little surprised by this comment as I thought we still had a full month of summer left but then again the radio was also complaining a few weeks ago about the heat wave we had in June :0)

Anyone who is familiar with Northern Ireland knows it rains often and a lot and it's been doing that to monsoon standards of late.I have to admit the rain is something I love about living here, weird I know - It gives us a rich green landscape, hence the term the Emerald Isle.

You may well ponder the path my thoughts are leading.

I often just let the days float past in the summer.

I know I should be sewing as much as I can, preparing for Christmas, but I like to chill out. Sometimes this is drinking coffee with friends (decaff of course), meeting my mum for lunch and a spot of shopping or just watching some of my favorite TV. Lately I have been doing rather a lot of all of the above. It's great but I do hear the sewing machine calling. More later, but for now back to a box set of "Sex and The City".

My Creative Space

After a short (!) sewing hiatus, I now have a long list of custom orders to complete, like yesterday. As a result so I have been confined to my cutting area, which occasionally doubles up as my breakfast bar :0). It is a perfect space as it is large enough to spread the material out on and is just the right height to work at.

Ready for the next steps of ironing and attaching interfacing, then to the sewing machine.

For more creative space, nip over to Kirsty's

New Bag

I have been toying with the idea of making a tote for a while. They are the most useful things, great for magazines, shopping or just for all those things a girl needs for during the day. This is my first attempt.

I am thinking of introducing these for Christmas craft fairs.

Lovely fabrics

Usually when I buy fabric I never buy more than 1 yard, unless I use it for linings.

These 2 fabrics are some of the exceptions.

The top one is Disco Dot by Michael Miller. I just love it in ink and have reordered it several times. I do have it in a variety of colours, and each one is fab and vibrant.

The bottom one is a strawberry damask. It was one of those unbelievable finds. It retailed at over £50 per metre and I managed to get it for a fraction of that price. It was a bargain (relatively) and I got over 7 metres. I love it and dread the day I have to use the last bit. When it gets close to the end I may just hoard to for personal use, but then I do hate using the end of any fabric.

Check out what they look like when made up into bags here, here and here

My Creative Space

My creative space is filled with these little pretties today.
They are waiting to get their frames put on them for a craft fair this weekend. I always feel I never have enough of these for fairs, so I made some more just for this weekend.

I made a batch of my new zipper pouches/ pencil cases. I still have some more of these to sew tomorrow. I am hoping these will do well as they are a slightly lower price point. The rest of my space is a little cluttered at the mo. We have plans to revamp the space in the next few weeks, watch this space..... sort of speak.

For more creative spaces amble over to Kirsty's place

Etsy Finds - Finland

While in search of some lovely Finnish fabric I found some treats from Finland, which I felt I had to share.

The first is a lovely zip pouch is by syko. Kajsa has created some stunning creations and I am very jealous of her appliqué work - only because I can only appliqué when I hand sew. I am really drawn to zip purses at present, especially since I have been having a go making them. What I really like about Kajsa's work is that it's all original from her hand-drawn drawings. Her birds are especially lovely.

This bunny, from InnofHeart is so cute and reminds me I really must finish the bunny I started a long time ago. I also quite like that pink striped cushion he's sitting on.

This little Scottie dog brooch from vietto has given new life to an old piece of gingham

My car boot is filled with non plastic carrier bags, as so many shops now charge you for them. Some are bought, some are handcrafted in rare moments of down time. The ones I like have witty slogans or comments. An this one from 2ndlife caught my eye. I like it green or in yellow.

Craft Fair - An update and a ponder

As regular readers will know I was attending a craft fair at the weekend. It was situated in the lovely grounds of Mount Stewart, which is a national trust property. It was an outdoor craft and garden fair, with the option of trading in a marquee. I opted for a marque stall.


To say the weather didn't work in our favour was a little of an understatement. It rained most of the first day and when it wasn't wet it was so windy, we thought the marquee might take off. This did not encourage visitors. The second day was so cold in the morning it was like a winters day in November, certainly not like a day in late spring. I spent most of the morning wrapped up in a fleece and my waterproof coat (even my husband was cold and he's a polar bear), clutching coffee. Of course our thermos flask decided it wasn't going to keep the water warm, so many trips to the coffee stand was required. It did eventually brighten and warm up a little.

Trading on both days was slow for all, with some of the traders complaining it hadn't been so slow for over 7 years. I would admit that although my bags would be considered a luxury item, I sold enough to just about justify being there. I did meet lots of lovely people (& many pretty dogs). I made a few contacts and even got an invite or two to a few other craft fairs.

It is one of the big problems about doing a craft fair for the first time, you don't know what to expect or what products will sell well. I feel that after people had paid a hefty £7.50 ($11) to get in, they wanted to look around and only make smaller purchases. I did go home on the Saturday night and make another 10 mini clutches to boost that group, which sold well.

Whether I would go again or not, I'm not sure. I don't really want to misjudge it on one wash-out of a weekend but I did put a lot of work in preparing and I'm not sure from that point of view if it was worth it. I am left with a lot of stock, which while it will not go to waste and many pieces have already been listed in my shop, is unusual. I don't usually like to have so much of my resources tied up in stock. Upside is I have already had a little rush of sales.

A return to Mount Stewart is one that I will have to ponder over for a while.

Etsy Finds - Umbrellas

All it has done here lately is rain (including the whole weekend of my craft fair, but more of that later)..... & while that is not unusual for Northern Ireland, the type of rain we have been getting is a little odd for mid May. It's the sort of rain if you get caught in it, you feel like you have had a shower with your clothes on. So this recent odd weather inspired this week's Etsy Finds - Umbrella's - a girl (or guys) best friend.

This pretty scrabble pendant is made by intelligent design and has a nice summery appeal to it.

This lovely cat print by artractions makes me think of Mary Poppins, wouldn't it be great to be able to travel by umbrella - no more traffic. Check out their fab notebooks as well.

This cheeky little pin by Kelly Zarb is called Rain Go Away and is how we all feel about the rain.

This super cute little zip purse made by Madame Cupcake is made with lovely Japanese material.

I have this lovey colourful umbrella fabric, makes lovely bags and always begs for the comment "rainy day purse", it is available from karaku

My Creative Space

This is my current creative space, in preparation for a major craft fair. There is frames and bags everywhere. Every little hole has bags jam packed in.

This is my *tiny* fabric stash, it's not in a great place but it keeps it out my way. The little workhorse, which is sounding a little cranky these days.

A pretty little collection of threads. I like the colourful ones visible.

This current state will be short lived and I have major tidy plans in the very near future. For more creative spaces check them out with Kirsty.

Sewing Crazy

I have been sewing crazy over the last 2 weeks, there has almost been "smoke" coming out of my sewing machine, thankfully not real smoke.

My bag total for the craft fair now stands at 142 plus my shop stock. My spare bedroom has once again turned into a bag holding area, although my kitchen, isn't as bad as in the run up to my big Christmas fair, as it's not quite a fabric warehouse...yet. I still have some bags to sew, but my stress levels have dropped because at least now I have enough bags to take with me. I have made some truly fab bags, sadly most will not reach my shop, for a while at least. I have taken a note of the really lovely bags so I can recreate them.

I am almost at my sewing capacity, although with every sewing-thon I do, I find new ways to improve my sewing technique and stream-line my process. Some people have the view, that "mass production" of handmade things steals the creativity, I find quite the opposite. I often get a bit stuck in a rut of working with materials that sell well, but when I am making larger amounts of bags I am more inclined to dig deep into my fabric stores to get variety. I also match fabrics in more interesting ways.

Well back to sewing, and then maybe if i'm lucky some sleep.

Craft Fair Target

As you all know I have been sewing like crazy over the last few weeks, getting ready for my up coming craft fair. I have decided to do weekly targets for the next three weeks to make sure I get a good selection.

This week's target is 40 medium bags
Bags made since Monday 20 medium bags