...new arrivals!

I dare not even try to work out just how long it has been since my last post......I suspect that many weeks (and possibly even months - eeek!) may have passed.

However, one of my New Year resolutions (not that I believe in such things, of course) is to think less and do more so, without further pause for thought or regret, I shall move swiftly on!

The last few months have been a time of extreme excitement in my household as we have had a little addition to our small-but-perfectly-formed family of two - no, not the traditional pitter patter of tiny baby feet but rather the mad scrambling of furry paws. That's right, we have adopted our very own cat, Derrick Bostrom! Now I appreciate that this is possibly the most ridiculous name ever to be given to a cat, and indeed it attracted a few raised eyebrows at the Vets, especially when Mr Kat insisted that both names be added to his record (in addition to my surname!) when the poor blighter was chipped. However, the original Derrick Bostrom is a very popular drummer in our household and Mr Kat saw this as the perfect opportunity to make the ultimate accolade to one of his musical heroes. Personally, I think its ridiculous and try to refrain from using his full name wherever possible - Dez Boz suits me just fine.

So here we are, my new furry baby.........

And what a handsome devil he is.

In other (more creative) news, I have been hard at work trying to develop some new ideas for a jewellery/accessories range that I want to bring out later this year - hopefully with a view to finally setting up my very own stall at a local craft fair, something which I have talked about for many years but which I have never quite gotten around to. I find it quite daunting to think about just how much stock I would need to make to fill even the most humble of trestle tables and have always just settled for making things for friends or for sale on E Bay. However, it is my most sincere intention that 2011 will be the year when I finally grab the bull by the horns and try to carve myself a place in the local craft community!!

I have also been working on various functional items for around the home, including this curtain for my boiler cupboard:-

(with bonus Dez Boz...)

And these cushions for...well, anywhere really:-

Here's to 2011, a year full of promise, intrigue and (fingers crossed!) fulfilled resolutions!

Happy New Year one and all!

Kat

X x

...recycled buttons

This is something I have been meaning to post about for a while now and, after a manic few weeks of home renovations (photos to follow as soon as I've wiped the sawdust and polyfilla from my camera lens!), I am finally able to do so.

From a crafting point of view, these button rings were quite possibly the simplest project I have undertaken for some time. A handful of vintage buttons, a few ring mounts and a good tube of superglue and hey presto! That said, I have definitely come to realise the importance of good preparation when it comes to bonding plastic and metal together with superglue - its quite a brittle thing, superglue, and some of my efforts were quite short-lived as a result. However, after a bit of sanding & "roughing up" and a more specialist glue (this one comes highly recommended), I think this is a rather thrifty and effective way of expanding ones jewellery collection!

Kat

X

...more fabric jewellery

I would love to tell you that the past 19 days have been spent in some kind of Jelly Roll frenzy, which has rendered me completely incapable of updating my posts; that my every waking hour has been spent knee deep in gorgeous strips of fabric and that I have created a mountain of spectacular new items to dazzle you all with. This, sadly, would be a lie. Yes, there have been moments of extreme fabric joy and, yes, I have had a brrrrilliant time playing with my new stash and coming up with some new ideas to inspire my ever-growing fabric jewellery obsession. However, there have also been moments of extreme laziness where I could quite easily have turned on the computer and put some of my exploits down in writing…..but didn’t. How do people do it! Routine is key, I feel.

So, whilst I go away to consider the best way for me to get my Blogging Groove on, I shall leave you all with some pictures of the little pretties that I have been crafting out of the majestic Jelly Roll. And, honestly, I haven’t even scratched the surface of it yet!!

The first items I came up with were these hair barrettes, which I made out of a very sweet brown and pastel fabric. I really love the five-pointed flower with the lime green button – don’t know if I can quite pull this off myself, being 28-years old woman and all. But I know my 8-year old self would have loved something like this. The Suffolk-puff barrette also worked quite well, I think, but maybe a bolder fabric would have worked better with such a small-scale item.

I think these next items might be my favourite. The red dotty fabric is just so pretty and works really well with the rose design. And I think it definitely makes the difference using a bolder/more detailed fabric for the small suffolk-puff ring.

And last but by no means least, these little lovelies:-

I am in two minds about the barrette – one part of me thinks it might be a bit too “squished together”, having the two roses side by side like that, but, as time goes on, it is starting to grow on me a bit. I really love the rose ring but would possibly use a lighter fabric next time so the folds are a bit more obvious – I want it to look like a rose, not just a random bundled-up piece of fabric!

Maybe one day I will make a whole batch of these sorts of things and endeavour to sell them on my very own craft stall somewhere – I can just picture them scattered across a trestle table and heaped into big decorative bowls for people to rifle through. I would love to see what people really think of my humble creations and whether anyone would part with their hard-earned pennies for them. Obviously, it’s always lovely to get positive feedback from friends and family but it must be utterly brilliant to know that someone is willing to buy something that you have made with your own fair hands – the real acid test!

X

...Jelly Rolls!

For anyone who goes slightly weak at the knees at the sight of a beautifully presented bundle of fabric...get a load of this!!

This, my friends, is what is known as a "jelly roll". How lush does that sound? Perhaps there are other, more enlightened, souls out there who are already perfectly well acquainted with this lovely term, but I wouldn't have known my "jelly rolls" from my "arctic rolls" until just a few days ago.

I decided that, before investing in a new stock of fabric for my ever-growing collection, I would purchase a collection of various different samples and choose my favourites from there. After spending some considerable time perusing this most brilliant website, I decided to plump for one of Beyond Fabric's Moda Jelly Rolls. And boy did I make the right choice!

As you can see from these pictures, there were easily 30 or 40 different types of fabric folded together, in ridiculously beautiful colour-co-ordinated sections, within the one Roll. Quite how this was done, I will probably never know - it was just too pretty for words.

I could barely bring myself to undo the ribbon and destroy the gorgeousness, but when I finally did begin to unravel the Roll (after taking many many "before" photos), I couldn't believe just how many beautiful strips of fabric were waiting patiently inside! It was like the Mary Poppins handbag of fabric bundles!

And, for those of you who might have been wondering, here's what it looked like from above. Awesome....just awesome.

So now I must delve deep into my vast and varied collection of new fabric samples and create something which will do them justice!

This is going to be fun.......

X x x x

P.s. Not quite sure why my first photo has such a pinky sunset hue to it - must have been my rose-tinted glasses! X

...wonderful birthday surprises!

It was my 28th birthday recently and it delivered not one but two wonderful surprises, which I have been able to cleverly display for you in this one post.

The first was a beeeeeeee-eautiful bunch of long-stem white roses, which a darling gorgeous friend of mine had arranged to be delivered to my office from her hospital bed. The roses were hand-delivered by said friend's sister, who also came bearing a slice of M&S Victoria sponge cake! Really - is there a more perfect package of goodies to receive on a birthday when you're stuck at work? And all from a lady with many more things to be thinking about than ensuring I have something to pretty to look at on my birthday. But then I guess there are just some people who will always manage to brighten up your day and put a big smile on your face, irrespective of the other trials and challenges that they might be going through at that particular time. A sign of true character, if ever there was one.

My second surprise gift of the day was from Mr Kat, who bought me a brand new Canon Ixus 130 camera. I wasn't even aware that there was anything wrong with my current camera until I gave my new one a whirl and, well, I think these photos probably speak for themselves. Its a true piece of camera wizardry if ever I saw it and it makes it virtually impossible to take a bad photo!! Which is nice.

Kat

X

...my wedding clutch!

So here it is, some four weeks after my last post (eeek!)......

......my long-awaited wedding clutch bag!

[Hurrah! Fanfare! Cartwheeling giraffes etc etc.]

I'm very pleased to say that the final version of my clutch came together almost exactly as hoped (which hardly ever happens for me!) and I was over the moon with the end result. The gorgeous Amy Butler fabric worked so much better with my purple dress than I even imagined and the 5 hours spent stitching individual seed beads and sequins to the front panel really paid off I think.

The only last-minute change which I needed to make was the addition of a pearl necklace as tuckable-inable strap - very important for freeing up one's arms for photo-taking and disco duties!

As mentioned in one of my earlier posts, I also very sensibly decided to ditch the velcro strip in favour of a much more appropriate and discreet magnetic clasp (see below).

All in all, a triumph! I suspect this may be a pattern which I will be re-visiting again in the future.

And as for the wedding itself, it was just lovely; everything that a good wedding (in my humble opinion) should be - relaxed, fuss-free and very very smiley, with the obligatory sprinkling of inebriated guests stumbling around on the dance floor under the apparent misapprehension that they are Beyonce/Justin Timberlake/Michael Flatley! Perfick!

X

...quilting

Amidst my various other ongoing projects of the moment, I am steeling myself up to attempt my first quilting exercise! I am quite terrified by anything which requires more than a modicum of accuracy as my sewing technique tends to be, at best, a bit 'slapdash', but I am very excited to try something new.

By the way, when I say 'slapdash', I don't mean that I'm not completely obsessive and perfectionistic (new word) at the same time - I am in fact a very weird and wonderful combination of the two. The trouble is, I strive for perfection with every little thing that I do and yet find myself so excited and impatient to see what the finished product is going to look like that I end up bolting through all of the important preparatory stages (pattern cutting is my nemesis!) and end up with something which frequently looks a little bit....well....homemade. So, if this were an end of year Appraisal, I think my goal for next year would have to be to slow down a bit and take more time over the finer details.

So anyway, after much dithering, I have bought myself some cotton batting and am ready to set about my first quilting project, the Quilted Purse from this very marvellous Cath Kidston book. Love it.

I'm going to use some fantastically juicy red cherry fabric from my little stash, with matching red lining and rick rack edging.

In terms of the quilting process itself, one of my biggest concerns is how I am going to mark out the lines nice and evenly (and not at all slapdash-ly) without having to turn to my much-loathed fabric chalk. I just can't use fabric chalk - it either rubs off too easily, before I've finished what I'm doing, or else I can't shift it from the fabric after I'm done! I keep reading about these magical washable fabric pens which are apparently much more accurate and visible, but I am yet to invest. I have also read somewhere that masking tape can be a useful way to mark the lines on a quilting project and this is sounding a bit more appealing to me at the moment.

In terms of having the right machinery for the job, again I have my reservations. I'm going to have a go with my regular sewing machine foot, although having read this fantastically informative article by Florence of Flossie Teacakes (one of my first and favourite crafty blogs to visit) I fear that this will be a fools errand and that a walking foot may be the only the tool for the job. Still, its got to be worth a go with the regular foot, if only to see whether it is essential or just preferable to use the walking foot (SLAPDASH ALERT!). Heeeey, isn't that what seam-rippers are for anyway?

Wish me luck!

Kat

X X

...an actual clutch bag!

Hurrah! I did it! I made a clutch bag that I might actually take out with me in public without fear of people asking me "say, why have you brought all of your belongings out in your soap bag tonight?"

This is still just a prototype/practice piece though - the real deal, which I will be making before my bridesmaid duties next Friday, will be made from a different Amy Butler fabric altogether (shown below, next to a snapshot of my lovely dress) and will be modified and embellished slightly from this more straightforward version.

Now, time for a quick post-mortem of the prototype. Some likes and dislikes if you will.

Likes:-

1. It's very roomy - excellent for those of us that can't seem to leave the house without most of the contents of our dressing table crammed into our handbags.

2. The simple style of the bag is perfect for showcasing some nice bold prints such as these geeeeorgeous Amy Butler ones.

3. I like the cheeky bit of gathering just beneath the band at the mouth of the bag (hmmmm, not sure 'mouth' is quite the right term for bag anatomy).

4. It's really quite easy to make - this first one took me a couple of hours to pull together, including all of the ironing and pattern-cutting etc. That's not bad for a slow coach like me!

Dislikes (or "slightly less likes"):-

1. The velcro fastening. Doesn't really scream "classy evening bag" does it? And I can't imagine I'll be able to discreetly retrieve a few Kleenex from my bag during the wedding service if I've got to rip open 8 inches of velcro just to get into it! No, I think it will be a nice simple magnetic clasp for my final version.

2. Although I do love the simplicity of the pattern, I think I would be tempted to jazz it up a little bit next time. Perhaps with a nice trim beneath the band at the.....top....of the bag. Or maybe a nice big ribbon to fasten it with at the top. The options are indeed endless.

3. The main body of the bag is still a little bit floppy - I might have a go at some heavy-weight interfacing next time (I used medium-weight on the facing fabric only for the prototype), to make it that little bit more robust.

All things considered.....a success!

I'll be back again, with pictures of my final fully-developed wedding clutch, as soon as I can get my hands on a fresh stash of heavy-weight interfacing!

X X

...a beautiful home

So its been nearly a full year since Mr Kat and I moved into our first home. We've rented various places (one together and numerous shared - with other housemates/Uni friends etc) but this is our first, proper, bought-with-our-own-money house, and very happy we are with it too.

It's something of a 'quirky' little house - definitely not to everyones tastes. It is spread out over three floors (nowhere near as grand as it sounds, I can assure you) - the kitchen and bathroom are in the basement and the two bedrooms on the top floor. This means that, not only is the toilet a mere three steps from the cooker (mmmmmm, hygeinic!), but we have to run down two flights of stairs just to go to the loo if nature calls during the night. Not ideal.

So, as you can imagine, we have one or two small renovation projects in mind for the future (Bathroom Relocation is definitely at the top of my list!) and, as soon as we've saved up a few extra pennies/won the Euro Millions, we'll be All Systems Go.

In the meantime, we (Mr Kat and his Dad) have just been furiously slapping paint on the walls and trying to brighten the place up as much as our micro budget will permit.

Mr Kat has also taken it upon himself to build shelves in just about every alcove/stairwell/stationary object in our house, frequently out of old off-cuts of slightly soft wood that he found under the stairs (see left).

Still, its amazing what a good few coats of white Satinwood can do!

So, whilst Mr Kat continues to thrive in the role of Head Painter/All-round Mr Fix It, I have promoted myself to House Stylist and taken it upon myself to adorn the multitude of shelves and freshly painted walls with any pretty artifacts I can lay my hands on.

This gorgeous thing on the right is a tea towel which my best friend in the world printed as part of her final year collection in her Fashion degree in 2004. It sat alongside a fabulous range of homeware products, including some beautiful retro-housewife style aprons which I have long-since coveted. She was kind enough to let me have one of the tea towels after the exhibition and I love it so much I just had to keep it somewhere safe (I couldn't very well use it to mop up spillages in the kitchen could I?).

So now it sits pretty on my bedroom wall and makes me feel very smiley and nostalgic whenever I look at it. It is quite possible that I am the only person in the world who has a framed tea towel in her bedroom!

So day by day our house is being transformed into a little home filled with our own personal touches and slightly scruffy oddities which we are becoming rather fond of.

There's a real money-can't-buy pleasure in knowing that everything we are creating has come out of our (Mr Kat's) own hard work and effort - it's so tempting these days just to whip out the credit cards and buy a readymade home, complete with brand new furniture in every room and pictures to go on all the walls, but where's the fun in that!

Our third-hand sofa goes quite nicely with our third-hand TV and our £11.99 coffee table. We will get around to upgrading some of these items eventually but, for now, they serve us well and remind us that we're really just starting out in this big home-owning adventure. Who wants to rush ahead and miss out the "roughing it" stage altogether!

Ahhhhh, what an old hippy I appear to have become. Who knew!!

Happy Friday-eve everyone!

X

...making corsages (part 2)

Here it is everyone - the much-anticipated follow up to my first "...making corsages" post, "...making corsages (part 2).

They're back...and this time they're made of wool!!

Those of you who have read my earlier post, which focused primarily on the fabric corsage family, will already be familiar with my slight obsession with corsages. These little babies here were inspired by the knitted corsage recipe in this fantastic book. Everything in this book is amazing (there are endless gorgeous and original projects which are very easy to follow and beautifully presented) but I was particularly excited to find a new method of making corsages - knitting them!

Given that my knitting exploits have not yet advanced beyond a trusty scarf (albeit the biggest scarf in the north east of England) and one pair of leg-warmers, I was slightly nervous about tackling something which looked so intricate. However, I am pleased to report that this knitting recipe was jargon-free enough for even the most inexperienced knitter to understand and it produced an end product which actually resembled the beatiful chenille corsage pictured in the book. Bonus!

So pleased was I with the result of my beige wool corsage (with crystal sparkles) that I immediately set to work on a second one, this time in a metallic red wool.

Not even the heckle from Mr Kat's friend of "What exactly are you knitting? Another ball of wool?" could dampen my sense of achievement after finishing these little lovelies. That said, I'm not sure I'll be revisiting my knitting needles again any time soon - I end up with really achy hands after gripping the needles for too long. I suspect my technique may not be up to scratch - must seek the advice of older learned knitters such as my Grandma.

Now finally for a small update on the clutch bag front - with just two weeks to go until the big day, I may finally have found my pattern of choice. I think I shall attempt a prototype this weekend and, all being well, will work on the finished article next week.

Until then!

X

...new cars and broken cars

No pretty picture today I'm afraid - mainly because the only picture which could possibly be appropriate given today's turn of events would be a picture of my slightly wonky looking car or a picture of my very sad face, neither of which are going to inspire that Friday Feeling in anyone!

The reason for the sad face is that, in the same week that I win the Lottery Bonus Ball draw at work (£96!!) and my little brother buys his first car, I discover that a fairly minor (so I thought) 'bump' into a kerb last week may have left me with quite a significant and costly amount of damage. After a few days of fairly persistent - but not too alarming - squeaky brake noises, I decided to take my little car into the local garage for the car doctor to take a look at. Expecting nothing more than some minor alignment issues and a bit of brake dust, I was rather taken aback to discover that I have a "big problem" and that "the steering really shouldn't do that, you know".......actually, no, I didn't know. Turns out I've been merrily driving my car all around the North East of England without the faintest suspicion that there was anything wrong with it despite the fact that - "now you mention it..." - there is a slight pull to the left when I'm driving and the front passenger side tyre does look a bit wonky. Fast-forward a few days and I'm now being advised to take her to a bodyshop garage asap and that my "big problem" aint gonna be cheap to fix!

Poo pants!

Why does life always seem to throw up these crazy symmetries? I just wanted to be able to celebrate the day my brother buys his very first car, and perhaps treat myself to a few creamcakes with my little windfall, and now I'm going to spend the day sulking petulantly about all the money I'm about to fritter down the drain just because I couldn't park next to the kerb like a normal person!

Aaaaaaaand........relax.

If anyone else has some horrendous car tales, please do share them. I would take great comfort in knowing that I'm not the only person who seems to spend more money repairing her car than actually running it!

Time for me to slink off into a darkened room for a few hours. When I return, I will bring tales of colour and sparkle and joy!!

Thank you for listening.

X X X

P.s. I hope you're all having a truly Fantastic Friday and looking forward to a blazing hot weekend of BBQs and trips to the seaside!

P.p.s. I do realise that this is not a huge problem in the grand scheme of things. I really do. But, for now, I could definitely weep a little at my own misfortune (stupidity).

...Antipasti!

One good thing about Mr Kat going to Glastonbury (and they're aren't many - sniff....) is that I get to stock up the fridge with all kinds of wonderful and indulgent non-vegetarian treats. It's not that my semi-vegetarian diet causes me any great hardship - I'm actually quite fussy about meat products these days anyway - it's just that, as an all-round appreciator of food, it's nice to be able to eat exactly what I fancy once in a while, meat or no meat. And so this is exactly what I did last night. Sitting on my back step in the sunshine, I devoured the biggest plate of parma ham, olives and mozzarella cheese I think I've ever seen. 'Twas bellisimo!

The only thing to hamper my al fresco dinner was the sight (and faint smell) of a wheelie bin approximately 3 ft from my dinner plate (we have a very small back yard). However, this is something I am hoping to attend to over the course of this Summer. There's not much I can do about the size of the yard, but I have many grand plans for prettifying it up a bit. This is going to involve lots of pots, brimming over with bright colourful flowers, a couple of small troughs for Mr Kat's vegetable selection, a spot of decking to cover the rather grim-looking exposed manhole cover in the corner of the yard, a nice wheelie bin store to disguise our ugly old wheelie bin and a lovely new table and chair set, which I hope to adorn with all kinds of beautiful handmade things (a nice tablecloth and napkin set might be a good place to start).

We moved into the house last September and, what with the unpredictable British weather and the mountain of other jobs that we needed to do around the house, the yard has pretty much been ignored until now - I can't wait to get stuck into it! I'm going to try and keep a photographic record of our progress (something that I wish I'd done more of in relation to the house itself) and will post some pictures when they're available.

In the meantime, I will continue to eat my dinner off my knee on the back step in the sunshine and just try to ignore the big green monstrosity which lurks in the corner......

X X

...pretty things for my hair

Happy Monday one and all!

I can't believe I've left it so long to make another post - time really does fly by in Blogland doesn't it! It seems I am constantly thinking about new projects I want to try and lovely things that I want to tell you about and yet, try as I may, they never seem to make it into a post as soon as I would like them to. Darned life getting in the way again.

This week's distractions have included:-

1. Helping my younger brother to find his first car, including assisting in test-driving duties (it's quite scary for a brand new driver to go out onto an actual road at actual rush hour with an actual stranger sitting next to him - so I agreed to do the honours, with him closely monitoring any ominous-sounding rattles and squeaks from the back seat)

2. Going out for fantastic World Cup-avoidance drinks with friends on Friday night. Unfortunately, the only thing which equalled the brilliance of the evening's festivities was the brilliance of my subsequent hangover. This completely obliterated my Saturday.

3. Taking part in the Midnight Walk (a 10km fundraising walk starting at, you guessed it, midnight). Said walk took place on Saturday night/Sunday morning and actually nearly killed me. Never again will I drink to such excess and then attempt to participate in a 90 minute hike the following night.

4. Assisting Mr Kat with Glastonbury preparations - although, in fairness, this mainly involved lending him a backpack and dropping him off at the bus stop. Can't really use this as an excuse for anything. I reeeeeaaally wish I was going with him this year. Nowhere near as much as I wished I was there last year mind, when Bruce Springsteen tore the place apart with a display of pure rock magnificence- the man's a pro.

Anyway, I am determined to continue in my quest to become an Ultimate Blogger, and to try and avoid taking on too many other things which may detract my time and attention away from more creative pursuits.

The most recent of my creative pursuits are show in the picture above. I recently stumbled upon this wonderful blog and found a very crafty way to combine my love of all things flowery with my love of good grooming. Actually, that last bit is a complete lie - truth be told, my hair is usually somewhere between 'devil-may-care unkempt' and 'atrocious mess'. However, that's not to say I don't appreciate a good hair accessory when I see one and these beautiful handmade barrettes instantly piqued my imagination. Aren't they gorgeous?

So, with my collection of fabric scraps laid out before me, I decided to have a go at making my very own rose hair accessories. I currently have no felt in my collection so I plumped for some scraps of cotton instead. To try and make the cotton as rigid as possible, I decided to cut out two of everything from the pattern and stitch the two pieces together (right sides out) with a piece of interfacing in between them. Once I had all my stitched together pieces in front of me, I set about building them into a rose as so expertly illustrated by the Purl Bee.

My 'stitched-together' approach lends quite a shabby-chic feel to the end product, one which I actually quite like. I also slightly adapted the pattern by gluing a nice round bead in the centre of the rose.

I attached my first rose to a barrette...

And my second to a hair bobble...(is there a more grown-up name for hair bobble, does anyone know? Hair elastic perhaps...?)

I was quite pleased with these when I finished them and would definitely like to have a go at the original felt version once I have replenished my stock.

But for now, its back to my blessed clutch bag conundrum. What to do, what to do......

X

...making a clutch bag

A very good friend of mine is getting married in July and I shall be proudly taking on the role of bridesmaid for the second summer in a row (she says smugly). Now, although this is of course a very lovely thing, it does throw up some very important questions:-

1. Shall I attempt to make a wedding gift for my friend and her husband-to-be and, if so, what? (Perhaps I should have been asking myself this question a bit sooner than four weeks before the wedding date.......probably a bit late now to be coming up with any grand ideas for a handmade wedding quilt.)

2. Where am I to find a sophisticated yet very 'me' bag to match my (nice) purple bridesmaid's dress?

I suspect my answer to Question1 will end up being "maybe for the first anniversary instead......"

My answer to Question 2 is considerably more waffley and (rather selfishly) is causing me the biggest headache! For a while now I've been toying with some ideas for a new clutch bag and I really thought this would be the perfect opportunity to bring my ideas to life. I have even picked out the perfect Amy Butler fabric from my little stash, which has exactly the right shades of mauve, lilac, indigo and mint green for my dress. Sadly, I am yet to come up with a design for the bag which will do this fabric justice and so, for now, it remains folded in a neat little square in my fabric box.

The problem is, I cannot seem to come up with a design which is formal and dressy enough for a wedding. Is this even possible with cotton fabric? I think the secret ingredient, which I am sorely lacking at the moment, is structure. I appear to be incapable of producing anything which doesn't just look like a glorified make-up bag! Case in point.....

Now admittedly this floral fabric is very make-up bag-esque but, still, it looked so much more versatile in my imagination! I was really hoping that the very simplistic and fuss-free design would make it look quite chic and understated. But no, it just looks like something which belongs on the dressing table. Don't get me wrong though, as make-up bags go, its really rather useful - tons of capacity and lots of rummage-room, which is always nice. And I absolutely LOVE these colours together - red and aqua truly are a match made in fabric heaven.

So there we go. A pretty enough make-up bag but not something which I will be re-creating for the wedding.

I based my design on a simple cotton book-bag design that I had - but, instead of adding straps, I added a second magnetic clasp so that it locks into place when folded over.

So where does all of this leave me and my gorgeous Amy Butler fabric? I think I am going to have to ponder this some more and get back to you.

My spidey senses tell me to look for a pattern or tutorial for a more structured clutch bag. Perhaps something a bit more boxy in shape, rather than a floppy little envelope like all of the other ideas I have come up with. I have been through my three favourite sewing books (pictured above) from cover to cover but nothing quite fits the bill. There's a very sweet looking quilted purse in Cath Kidston's Sew! but I'm not sure that this would be dressy enough for my wedding needs.

If anyone should stumble upon my little message in a bottle, and has any ideas or links which you think I might find useful, please do leave me a comment to help me on my way. I'll be your eternal servant!

Failing that, I shall keep you posted on my continued efforts!

X

...making corsages

If there is one item of clothing/accessory which is synonymous with me, it has to be the humble corsage. I just love 'em! I think it's because I'm also a big fan of the scarf (the chunkier the better) and find the two to be a most decorative, and indeed practical, coupling.

I love corsages so much that it became a bit of a running joke with my friends at one point as to which part of my person I would be adorning with a corsage next. As already mentioned, the scarf-corsage combo is a frequent winner but I do also love to fix one on the side of a trilby or maybe clip them to my handbags. The options truly are endless and they will always add a nice individualistic twist to the most unoriginal of outfits.

So, in view of my slight preoccupation with these pretty accessories, I have taken it upon myself to begin researching some of the techniques which can be used to make your own. Honestly, I never knew there were so many lovely variations.

I don't want to bore you with flower talk for too long today so I'm just going to show you a couple of my favourite first efforts. This first one is probably a bit too 'groovy' for my usual tastes but I just wanted to have a go at the technique first and perhaps worry about colours later.

That said, I actually quite like the contrast between the mega-bright psychadelic fabric and the vintage-esque button that I've sewn on the centre. Not sure I would wear this one on my person but it could be a nice centrepiece on a summer clutch bag or perhaps a nice bright coin purse....I shall ponder this some more.

Generally speaking, I'm more of a 'big and fluffy corsage' kind of person and this one is one of my favourites out of all of the ones I've made so far.

I made it quite simply by stitching together loads of scraps of fabric into one long beautiful patchwork ribbon then revisiting one of my childhood pastimes of pom-pom making! I had forgotten just how much fun that can be! I hope I'm not the only one who used to spend whole afternoons quite merrily wrapping ball after ball of cheap wool around cardboard hoops and wondering why no-one was quite as impressed as me at the end result...?

Anyway, this technique seems to work really well, especially with nice flimsy fabrics like the ones in this picture. I'm still not sure what I would use as a brooch-back though as a simple little stitch-on finding would get lost amidst all those layers of fabric! I need something which would hold the back of the pom-pom nice and flat - I'm sure there'll be something suitable out there amongst all these clever haberdasheries and specialist internet shops. It must have been so much harder to source clever craft materials and gadgets in the days before the Internet became such a huge part of our lives. But I bet people didn't spend their pocket money quite so quickly!

Well that was rather more rambling than I had intended to inflict on you at the start of this post so I think I'd better leave it there. More corsage talk another day.

Wishing you all a most lovely Thursday - hope the sun is shining where you are cos it seems to have well and truly deserted us here in the North East! Fingers crossed for a brighter weekend.

X X

...starting a blog!

Hello all and welcome to Dreaming of...

After many months of silently slinking around Blogworld and peering into the lives of so many wonderful bloggers and creative-types (really not as sinister as it sounds), I have decided to try and carve out a little corner of this world for myself.

I'm not altogether sure what is going to come of all of this yet, or indeed what type of Blog this will end up being, but here is a short list of things that I will be striving for:-

1. To reduce the amount of time I spend watching TV by at least 50% (this may require a small miracle).

2. To massively increase the amount of time I dedicate to making things, reading about making things and talking to other people about making things (this will also prove difficult, due to stinky 9 - 5 job which often turns into 9 - 7 job, but I am the master of my own destiny and, in the immortal words of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, I will "make it so").

3. To use this slice of Blogosphere to bring some focus and discipline to my currently slapdash approach to crafting (oooh, sounds exciting doesn't it!?), with a view to this becoming much more a part of my day-to-day routine rather than something I dabble at on a weekend if I have time.

4. To meet as many other like-minded people as possible and to learn as much as I can from all of you!

5. To create a colourful and descriptive account of my day-to-day life, which may prove to be quite interesting and insightful for any mini Kats that may come along in the future.

6. To find more ways to display and utilise the gorgeous collection of buttons which Mr Kat's grandma left to him (so far, they've made their way into my Banner, the photo on my first post and one of them even sneaked its way onto this knitted green corsage which I made a few weeks ago)...

To summarise:- I love making things and I want to get better at it. In an Ultimate Mega Perfect Ideal World, I would love nothing more than to be able to do it for a living. However, sadly, this has not been possible up to now. I live in hope!

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my first post - here's to many more to come!

Kat X