Some recent Cloth pads, soon to be available at www.earthwisegirls.co.uk

My Sewing Space

Call me nosy but I love to see where other people sew, what they use and how tidy (or messy) there workspace is! So I thought I should show you mine :)

This is my 'sewing corner' It's actually a corner of my dining room as I don't have a dedicated sewing room, but I have all my bits and pieces to hand and I can sit by the window as I sew, benefitting from daylight and a view of the garden.

Please excuse the mess, I suppose I could have cleaned it up a bit first, but in reality this is what it usually looks like, work on the go and bits of thread everywhere!

My lovely industrial overlocker - not the most attractive item to have in one's dining room but so much more handy than I ever thought it would be! I wouldn't be without it now.

My 2 sewing machines, Silvia the Silver Viscount and Jilly Janome! I use Silvia most of the time, now she is working properly - we had a difficult time for a while when she was suffering electrical faults, but now she has a new circuit board - had to send it back several times, including a dvd of the faults but we got there in the end - long story! Jilly is a back up machine, and sometimes it's handy to have one machine fitted with the walking foot so I can work between the 2.

So that's where your Angelpadz are made - and whatever else I get time to sew. I've been making wetbags lately too, also leggings, PJ's and curtains. There are allways projects on the go - so I'd best get back to work! See you soon x

It's about time...

I wrote another post!

I've had a bit of a 'blogging holiday' as life has again got in the way of blogging, and TBH I have felt I did'nt have enough interesting things to write about.

It's a new year tho, and I reckon a new start for me, in several ways! Firstly, for those who don't know my nappy website 'Angel Tots' is no more and in it's place is a shiny new website 'AngelPadz'. When I say shiny, it still needs a bit of work doing and I really need to take some more stock photos but I'll get there - I seem to spend so much time sewing now I don't have time for doing stuff on the PC. So if you havn't seen it yet go have a look - http://www.angelpadz.co.uk/ the Angeltots addy will still take you there for a while yet.

Another new thing, I have a new allotment! I have moved just over the field just a few plots way so not far, but this one came up and it apealed to me as it is ever so slightly bigger, with a nice hedge down one side, and much better soil. It's a blank canvas right now, we were up there at the weekend doing a bit of clearing, but there's not much else we can do till the weather warms up a bit. I can't wait to get planting!

I guess I should also change the name of this blog! Any suggestions gratefully received. And I promise to write more this year, and to read more, so if you have any good blogs out there, particularly sewing / allotment related let me know :)

New Bag

Made a bag for Dd for her new school year - burgundy fair trade denim, with Gnomeville green spots and lined with pink PUL for semi-waterproofness!
This was a 'make it up as I go along' bag, I had some idea of how I wanted it to look but not really sure how it would turn out - I'm pretty pleased with it, could have been a bit tidier around the top but kelly likes it, she had complained her Very hungry caterpillar bag from last year was too big, so this is more lightweight and just big enough for books!
I fancy one for myself, so I think that will be my next project :)

A couple of recent upcycles

Just a couple of recent revamps on some pre loved clothes:
These used to be my favourite baggy jeans, but with a hole in the crotch that had been repaired several times they were looking a bit sad. So I chopped them up and made them into a skirt! The fraying took a while but it's also a bit thereaputic... took me back to the days when I used to chop the legs off jeans and wear them with black stripy tights and Docs!
And a school dress - school blouse conversion for Kelly, with a bit of fabric leftover for a hairband (and a tear stained face to go with it - she wasn't up to modeling today)

The weekend before Easter

Being last weekend, as I have only just got around to sitting down and blogging about it! My folks had all 3 children for the whole weekend - never happened before! The reason was me and DP had a busy weekend planned at the NEC. Saturday we were at the Memorabillia event, which had stalls selling all things Star wars, old movie, anime, etc, people dressed up and celebreties, most of which i didn't recognise (tut tut) allthough I did glimpse Burt Quock and Anna Poplewell from Narnia.

We were there with the UK Garrison, a costuming group Dave belongs to, and I was roped along to help out, so Saturday there was a lot of this:
Yes, I know. They were scaring the poor ladies coming out of Hobbycrafts, taking place on the same weekend.

Which brings me to Sunday. This time I managed to get to the Sewing for pleasure / hobbycrafts event for a walk round by myself :) I was there early, so managed to plan my day so I got a place on a workshop, learning how to sew an invisible zip, and attended the catwalk show and a couple of talks. There was some amazing work on display... I was particularly taken with the felting, so much so I bought some merino wool tops and a felting needle so I could have a go myselfI also bought a procion dye kit, looking forward to having a play when the children go back to school!And I picked up some lovely sewing magazines and a book, including a subscription to Sew:
And picked up some bits and bobs, some lovely buttons, thread, ribbon, card toppers and freebies:
Some of this has become great Easter makes for the kids while they have been on holiday. I apologise for all the pics, but you know what it's like when you've had a great shopping spree and you just want to show it off, and your family just doesnt see what all the excitment is about?!

This weekend, Easter weekend is time for sewing and planting! But that's a whole other blog post, so will fill you in soon enough.

The Very Hungry Bag!

This was my half term project, done in bits and bobs while the kids were off school - it's a school bag for Kelly, allthough it wasn't until it was finished she decided she wanted it!
The bag is made from the Hot Mama Diaper bag pattern from Wired Up Designs, it's actually a changing bag pattern, so I omited the changing mat, changing mat holder and one of the large inside pockets, and trimmed the height down an inch and a half to make it suitable for a 6 year old.

The fabric is organic, fair trade denim from Ecoearth fabrics, and of course Eric Carle's fantastic very hungry caterpillar!