Some recent creations

As promised, here's a few pics of stuff I have made in the last couple of months:
Some Bandana bibs, I started selling these locally recently and they have proven really popular. I do them with a bamboo fleece backing and cotton knit or flannel on the front. This particular batch have gone to a bricks and mortar shop in Shepshed called Beginings.

A rainbow fleece wrap for Daniel :) This was made using the sweet baby soaker pattern from Wired up designs. I need to make him more as he's outgrowing all his night time wraps!
These are a couple of the dolls nappies I made for Cloth nappy addicts buy British month back in November. I really enjoyed being a part of it and am looking forward to the next one!

That's all the photo's I can find at this point, will blog again when I have located them!

New year blog!

It's goodbye 2009, and hello 2010 :)
Hopefully this year I'll be a bit moreproactive with my blogging!
2009 was an interesting year, full of ups and downs. A big down earlier in the year was Dave going from a 5 to a 3 day week... it has improved since then, thank God, and we are still catching up, but financially it was looking very bleak. Allthough I have been very busy with the business this year, it's not enough to pay the bills.
Angel Tots has done ok, again ups and downs... summer holidays went very quiet, although I suppose its just as well as I can never got much done with the children at home. I learned what not to spend my money on... this year I didnt pay for any advertising at all, as I have wasted money on it in the past, and had no major decline in sales. On the plus side, the wholesale side has gone from strength to strength, and I have been busier sewing this year than I have ever been. So much so that I wore out my little Singer and had to upgrade my machine! I really enjoy the sewing and hope to continue long into the future :)

I put in one visit to the allotment on a sunny day, just before Christmas and before the snow came! Its all tidy(ish) up there, the last of the leeks have been pulled, green manure sown, horse poo delivered and seeds ordered and arrived:) So now I'm leaving it to rest under the snow while I plan for this year.

So what are my goals for 2010? To blog more for one! To keep on top of finances would be good, and do my accounts on a regular basis, jobs I find very unmotivating. Daniel starts school in September (sobs), my last baby, leaving me on my own all day :( I'm going to make the most of having him at home, but when he does start school it will give me more time for the business, and sewing, so my goal is to up production and make my WAHMing viable and bring in a bit more money.

I have been taking photo's of my recent makes, as best I can in the limited winter sun, so with my next blog post I'll pop them up.
Till then, thanks for reading and enjoy the snow!

Sooo busy!

That I havn't updated my blog in too long! Christmas is creeping up far too quickly and I'm not ready!
I have been very busy with my sewing lately, mostly making Cloth San Pro for my own and my Stockist's shops, and making lots of Stuffie nappies :) I have been experimenting with putting different fabrics on the outside of Stuffies and made some lovely red and green ooga booga ones for Christmas:
My Basic sewing machine was struggling with all the work I was making it do, so I recently upgraded to this: http://www.silverviscountdirect.co.uk/silver-model-9000e-p-43.html
It has been fantastic, so smooth and quiet, and electronic and modern, and I've had lots of fun trying out all the different stitches and letters (yes letters!)

I have lots more to blog, but that will have to wait :)
Sarah x

Halloween and pumpkins

Another Sunday afternoon spent on the allotment, there's still lots to do, including harvesting our 3 pumpkins, just in time for halloween!
The ground has been ideal for digging, so I've dug over most of the plot, including the little 'paths' in between each bed, so now we have a large bed, rather than lots of little ones. Should be able to fit even more crops in next year.
So what's left? Leeks, ready as soon as we want to eat them, sprouts, a few small cabbages, romanesco's look like they are doing what the cauli's were and running to seed before they get to size. I've just plucked the last few corncobs (which were delicous!) and the last marrow, and the last tomatoes. The plastic greenhouse finally died in the high winds, which was no suprise, and I put in my seed order for next year.
One pumpkin was made into soup, another was carved by DH:

Which looks very simalar to DH?

A few recent creations...

It's been a while since I uploaded any pics of my sewing so here's a few recent makes. This is an extra large Stuffie nappy I made for a special needs girl who loves pink! I made a pink wrap to go over it too, with fold over elastic binding. I'm currently making another batch for her.




I have made quite alot of these recently too as I've been sorting out all my leftover odds and ends of fleece. There's lots of different patterns on my website


This is a brooch made for a friends birthday, and as part of a challenge on CNA It can also be worn with a hairslide :)

Thats it for now... some new patterns arrived this week so have more sewing planned at the weekend, if the family lets me that is!

Allotment life - pic heavy!

This weekend saw the annual weigh-in at the allotment site with prizes for the biggest onion, marrow and cabbage! Andrew has been looking forward to this for weeks, and has been carefully tending the onoins on his own patch, selecting quite a decent specimen for the event.

Allthough there was some tough competition, so he did'nt get a prize this year. This one weighed 4lbs! The owner kindly let us keep it. Onion pie anyone?



We took these home too.... massive marrow and colossal cabbage!

We have 3 little pumpkins growing ready for halloween


And the corn is just about ready. I love this time of year... all our hard work is paying off. I'm now tidying up, digging over and preparing for winter, there is still lots more to be done.

Back to crochet

I did'nt get much sewing done this summer, but I did pick up my hooks again! I'd been wanting to make socks for ages, but struggled with dpn's - I'm all thumbs! In the end I picked up my crochet socks book up, and the pattern I found too complicated before suddenly became clear :)

So I've made a sock! Just the one for now! It's not perfect by a long shot, it's a bit loose round the cuff and the toe isn't quite the right shape, but I have a better understanding of how a sock is made up. I have also started on a hat, crochet again, as I couldnt manage circular needles either. It feels great to just get back to doing something I can do, as struggling for so long was just making me loose confidence.