Catch a Ride on a Blog Train - Garden Party

Oh wow, this is so exciting. My very first blog train! For those of you that don't know me, welcome to my blog. I use this as an incentive to finish all the projects I have started. Not just digiscrapping but knitting, paper craft, sewing and random other things. Feel free to have a look around.

For those of you that know me but don't know about blog trains - the idea is that a group of designers have a common palette and they create digiscrap supplies with that palette. The plan is that as you head around to all the different 'stops' you can collect a huge kit that all matches. This time there were actually a number of palettes, because the theme is Garden Party, and there are lots of colours in the garden, so therefore there are lots of colours in the kit. I just picked three colours to work with though.

Here's my preview:


And here's a page I made up with the kit, using a template from Kelly Jo's Scraps

Isn't Megan just the prettiest! Gotta love her.

To download my part, click here and get it from 4 shared.

Ok. so now that you've seen my bit, go have a look at the other stops on the train. I'm the first one (because I call my digiscrapping stuff 'Relliurad Supplies'. Long story).

Relliurad
Badgirlz Stuff
Best Kept Memories
Kez Creates
Designs By: Kelly
Crazy-4-Monograms
CU Freebies
Karen's Scraps & Graphics

If any of the links don't work, let me know. I may have coded them wrong.

Oh this is so exciting! :D *squeals like a complete girl!*

Picnic in the Botanics (CAUTION - Lots of photos)

This post isn't about craft stuff I've made, it's a whole bunch of photos I took. So I KIND of created something right?

Last week was a pretty rough week for me. On Monday I fell over and really hurt my shoulder, and then once that had been sorted out and stopped hurting it seemed every joint wanted to go out in sympathy so I had to take Friday off because I was too sore. By Sunday I was able to leave the house, and after some encouragement from my Marvellous Moogi I headed off to the Botanics for a picnic.

Note for future reference. I really shouldn't leave the house without a map! I ended up hopping off at the wrong bus stop, turning right instead of left, and walking all over the place before I finally got to the gates of the garden. But it ended up OK, and I got into the Gardens and had a lovely picnic, with lots of photos.

My food

I made a big salad with lots of yummy things and no dressing, so it was probably even healthy! Go me.


I had raspberries for dessert and they were delicious! Sooooo scrummy.



I made a thermos of tea and brought a proper mug to drink it from. Tea tastes better when it's not in a plastic cup.

The view

I was lying in the grass, surrounded by little daisies. This is a view from eye level.

And this was the view looking up.

I briefly had a dining companion, but he only stuck around long enough for a photo and then left. There was also a squirrel but it was camera shy and I didn't get a shot.

The Gardens
After I ate and did some puzzles I'd brought with me (I'm getting better at Code Words! My parents will be so proud I'm sure), and eaten a bag of sweets (oops), I decided to have a bit of a wander around.

























The Gate
One of my favourite places in the Botanics though is the gate. It's just amazing, and looked so beautiful in the sunlight.


While I was taking those photos I got chatting to this Kiwi lady from Gisborne on the East Coast. That was fun. Then I headed off, and decided not to bother waiting for my bus, and headed for another bus. Sitting at the bus stop I got to chatting to two women from Bavaria (didn't practice any German. I couldn't remember anything!). We chatted for about twenty minutes before we realised that the bus we were waiting for wasn't actually running. I looked at the wrong time table. Oops! So they headed off another way and I decided to walk home.

After all that exercise I was quite happy to sit at home and just do nothing, so I did! I was going to go to the closing event at Leith Festival, but once I was home I didn't want to go out again. But it was good to get out, so the weekend wasn't a complete waste.

I just wish I could have done some knitting!

Oh, and Daniel, the baby I knitted the daisy toy for, seems to like his present. His mother, Kathryn, certainly likes it. And after Mass yesterday I was given LOTS of lovely cuddles from Daniel. Such a cutie.

Now if only he hadn't decided my breast was a great place to wipe his face, but oh well.

What have I been doing lately?

I was thinking that I didn't really have much to blog about because I'd not really finished anything lately, but then I was looking through photos and I realised that wasn't quite true. I've done a few things here and there, and I figured it was time to share them.

Knitting

There is a lovely lady, Katherine, who I see at Church sometimes. She had a baby boy, Daniel, about 6 months ago. A couple of weeks ago I saw her again and she told me that she knitted (I was knitting at the time). When I got home I found this pattern and used some wool I had lying around to make up this toy for her son. I've not had a chance to give it to her yet (I really should phone her or something, we swapped numbers) and find out when she'll be at Mass again. I'm pretty chuffed with the way this came out though. It's meant to have eyes on it but I wasn't sure I could do them very well, so I gave up. He can be a blind flower right? I just hope his leafy limbs stay attached.

Sewing

After the success of my spotty bag, I decided to make another one. I made a couple of changes to this one, including curving the front flap and adding a zip.

I was going to also add a press stud to the front flap, and I had sewn it on before I sewed the lining to the front flap. I didn't want the stitches to show through you see. I was trying to be neat and tidy.

It wasn't until I'd finished everything and was ready to sew on the other half of the press stud that I realised I'd sewn the first side on upside down, and there was no way I could fix it without the stitches being visible. :( *insert lots of swearing here* So I removed the bit I'd sewn on and decided not to bother. I'd like there to be a clip though, so next time I will think more carefully about the way I sew things together. Also, I think I really should fold over a little seam or find an overlocker to finish the edges, because the fabric frays. I zigzag the edges, so they won't fall apart, but I still get the occasional thread threatening to jam the zipper. Still, I'm learning as I go.

Now I just need to find a fabric that can withstand knitting needles.


Bags aren't the only thing I've been sewing. I actually made myself a dress! OK so the photo might not be the best, but it was the clearest one I had.

This dress is actually a singlet top that I had already, and an A-line skirt that I drafted the pattern for and attached. I could have just made a skirt, I know that, but the singlet is too short. It's comfy around the arm holes, but not long enough to stay tucked in (and let's face it - asking ANYTHING to cover my stomach is probably a bit unfair!). So I made the skirt and attached it, and it's really comfy. Much chuffed! Now I just need to make myself a scrunchie to wear with it! (When I was a kid and my Marvellous Moogi made me clothes, she'd make me a scrunchie for my hair with left over fabric. It became a bit of a running joke if we ever had left over material. Of course, me being me I rarely managed to find both the scrunchie and the clothes that matched it at the same time but meh!)

Cooking
I also made cupcakes!

There they are ready to go into the oven. They're just plain vanilla but they were really scrummy.


Seher sent me the silicon cases. They're brilliant. I don't need a cake tin. I usually just cook them straight in the cases, but I decided to try and put paper liners in this time. Unfortunately I've not been able to find liners that are the same dimensions as the cases, so the cupcakes turned out a bit small. Oh well.


I had fun icing them. I made up some butter cream icing, and then some royal icing that went fairly runny because of all the red food colouring I added to them. But what's the point in cupcakes if you can't have bright toppings right? And yeah, my icing skills aren't really the best, but I'm only just beginning. You should have seen some of the things my mum has done in the past. She is amazing!


Anyway, they were yummy, so that was alllllll good! And yes, I may possibly have eaten them all myself. But not in one sitting!!

Wow this is a long post! I've done more than I thought.

Digiscrapping


I made this kit for a Deviant art colour challenge. I did heaps of papers and a bunch of elements as well.


It was good fun, and hopefully people will like it and use it.

I've made a couple of pages, to show how it can look. What do you think?


I'm not a big fan of Pink but my Marvellous Moogi (Mum) is so, since she's in this picture, I figured I'd use the pink stuff I made. Hopefully she likes it OK.


Angela (the pretty blond on the right) is a woman I know through work. She works in our London office, but I have a fair bit to do with her because she does a lot of the design and style stuff for the documents we produce. She's from South Africa and is awesome.

If you're interested in downloading this kit to play around with yourself, here it is. This link should take you to 4shared.com. You can download it there. You need to wait a bit, like 20 seconds, but meh. It's free, so what's 20 seconds right? If you do use it then please let me know. I'd love to see what other people do with it.

OK. I really should go do something more productive now. So I'll talk to you all soon. Hopefully I'll be able to talk about finishing some of the big projects I've had for ages. I am so close to finishing my grey Aran jumper. I'm pretty sure that even if it's 30 degrees (In Scotland? Yeah right!) I'm going to wear it when I'm done. And I'll probably get some champagne too. I've been working on that thing for YEARS!!

Ta ta for now. Have a good day.

Spotted bag

I've not had that much to blog about, mainly because I've been trying to finish off a few things. But today I did some sewing, and I'm pretty chuffed with the result.


I've had this bag for a few years and I like it, although it's getting a bit ratty. It's a good size, I can fit my knitting in it, and a lot of other things, and it's a good length. I like bags that hang around my hip level, they are close enough for me to grab things out of, but stay out of the way at other times. Plus I don't have to hold on to them when I'm walking, so a long strap is essential.

So today I went for a bit of a walk and finally went into the fabric shop that I go past on the bus every day. I'd taken some measurements of my trusty grey bag and then, at the shop, worked out how much material I'd need.


I bought 0.8m of furnishing fabric, a really heavy twill. I was originally going to go for plain black but I thought this spot was cute. The buckles are actually for kilts. They're leather and only cost £2 for the pair, so I figured that would be fine. Plus - Kilt buckles for a bag made in Scotland. I thought that was sweet.


I drew up the pattern, on a roll of brown paper that I bought the other day from a birthday card shop. Brilliant for patterns. As I was cutting out I realised that there were some pieces that I needed more of, but that was ok. I'd allowed a little extra fabric, so it was not at all stressful. I hate having to fiddle around with pattern pieces to make sure that I can fit everything in.


I must admit I was a bit scared of taking that first cut though. But at least I knew I just had to cut straight lines.


The first thing I did was sew up the strap and then turn it back the right way around. It took me about half an hour to turn that strip around! So frustrating. But I got it done, and then I started to sew the sides.


Here's the bag sewn up, with the flap closed. I just needed to add the strap and the buckles.


The front flap is lined, and so are the small flaps at the sides. The grey bag is like this, and it just worked out well, so I figured it made sense. Gives the flaps a bit of body. Hopefully it will stop knitting needles poking out!


The strap should be fairly secure. I sewed over and over this square and cross. If the damned thing comes undone I'll be annoyed. The grey bag had a buckle on it, a slide sort of thing, so you could adjust the length. But the shop didn't have them, and I've kept the grey bag's strap the same length pretty much for the entire time I've had it, so I figured I didn't need the ability to adjust it.


I was nervous about sewing the leather straps. But it was actually pretty simple. I bought some leather needles, and they were fine. I glued the buckles on first, and then sewed them down. To be honest I'm not sure if they're leather or vinyl, but they feel like leather, so that's good enough for me, and they look pretty schmick!


Here's the bag all finished up. What do you think?


Only the front flap is lined, the rest is just one layer. Hopefully the fabric won't fray too much. I zig zagged the edges, but depending on how it goes I might try French seams next time, or bind them with bias binding.


The old and the new. I'm sure I'll still use my grey bag, but tomorrow the new one will be taken out for a trial run. It was pretty simple to make too.

If you're interested, I could do up the instructions for you. Measurements and so on. Let me know. Ok. It's 2:30am, I'm going to bed now. I just wanted to finish this bag. But how is that for a totally unRoswell project? I came up with the idea, drafted the pattern, bought the fabric AND finished the bag all in the one day! Go me! Does a little dance

Okies. Good night. And please let me know what you think. Ta Ta for now.