Back to school!

Which I have discovered also means back to productivity! I was so relieved – after a very busy, but somewhat underachieving summer (at least in terms of sewing) I was beginning to worry that I would never be able to complete a project again.

Apparently all it really took was space to work in again (now the lounge/dining room is back) and a severely reduced number of children around the house during the day. Matthew and Piper were back in school for 2 days during which time I was able to set up my work area again and actually make a long overdue birthday present – just in time for needing to actually give it to my sister in law at the weekend.

I am now working my “big project” which I have been organising for months, but have just got to grips with (which is just as well, because my deadline is the end of this month).
More to follow once it is complete!

August…

You might have thought from my extended absence on my blog that I had been enjoying the summer holidays and making the most of the sea-and-country-side in which I live. Not so.
Our August project (while the children had a holiday with their grandparents) was to strip out our lounge and repair all the damp related damage before redecorating. In our plan this was going to involve about a week of very hard work. Instead, having done all the prep and most of the remedial work (replacing joists and floorboards) it turned out we were also going to have to re-plaster immediately.
What with the plastering (which is beautiful) and Robert having to go back to work it took until the 31st August before we had the new laminate flooring down in this room, and properly September before we actually had furniture in it. This meant lots of eating in the garden or in the kitchen, and cosy rainy afternoons, snuggled up on my bed with the children, watching “Herbie Rides Again”.

We still need to paint, but that is going to have to wait for real life to recede again (and for us to make our minds up!).

Holiday anyone?

About 47 practice buttons holes later I finished off my cushion commission. Apparently I didn’t photograph the finished articles before sending them off, but they looked like this, but with more cushion-i-ness (and slightly greener).
	After that I rushed to complete my niece’s birthday bag, which I also forgot to photograph, but it was great.

Then I had a holiday, so of course I travelled around London with cake making paraphernalia and produced this (with a little help from my sister).
And now we are home, and resting. Kind of.

Summer is here

Well, the holidays are anyway (3 hours and counting). And the sun has been out (interspersed with cloud) for nearly two days now!
However, in our final mad dash before the end of term Matthew and I finished our projects for his TA (teaching assistant). I am not normally a gifts-for-the-teacher kind of person, but Matthew’s teacher left at Easter and they have had about a million supply teachers since then, so the TA has been really important to the class (besides being lovely, and really good with the children).
Out came the reversible shoulder bag again, just in a different colour way.
And Matthew made a Thank You card too. (Shown tied up with string to the bag).

Button It!

Or be careful what you wish for…
This whole doing sewing for other people and getting paid for it notion seems to be coming together, which is brilliant, but frankly terrifying.
I made Sue's tea towels a couple of months ago, which was a good and non-complicated start. But now somebody to whom I am not related (and is also my husbands boss) wants work done!
Mostly it is all straightforward, and essentially things I have done before… straight lines to adjust a tablecloth (Done!), and some cushions (which I made LOTS of for Christmas). Except that these ones need buttons. Which means buttonholes. And that is all new to me.
So I spent a lot of time reading about buttonholes. And being told how an automated machine does this really easily. And then looking at again for completely manual instructions. After reading lots – some of which made sense and some of which was a bit of a reach – I found this photo tutorial which really brought it all together!
So then I started practising:

	Not bad for a first go, but a bit rough and far too wide
	Quite a good fit, but not enough stitching and my spatial awareness with the direction of the zigs and zags was completely off.
	Again, not too bad, but too close to the centre line so I managed to cut the stitches while opening the hole.
	The tension was utterly wrong for this one – which is why the white bobbin thread is visible all down one side. I am blaming the small money who insisted on sitting on my lap for this stage.
	Better… apart from the really wonky bit. Time to try with the “real” thread (i.e. NOT PINK). The key improvement here was that mum suggested making the bar tacks (the long stitches at the top and bottom) first, and then the side stitches. It all balanced much better after that
	Better again! Spacing is right; just needs a little more practice and refinement. Also not sure it is the right colour thread. Hmmm.
	Nailed it! Now I just need to stop procrastinating and make the real ones. (Oh, and learn how to take photos that all look the same colour when finished.)

Bookmark this!

It has been a month of sorting and planning rather than undertaking large projects. I have made myself new “byGaenor” tags to sew into my products, I invoiced for my first commission and I made a big list of all the things I need to make over the next month or so.
Starting with these for the school fete.


Robert was kind enough to say they even tempted him to put down his kindle and read a proper book, just so he could use one. Think these too might make a good addition to the shop, especially as they were so easy to make (once I put a sharp needle in my machine and solved the knotting thread problem).
Here’s to the next three weeks of making – before the school holidays start and I get nothing done.

Back in business!

It has been a while, but I have now (finally) updated my Folksy shop. We managed a photo shoot back at Easter and it has taken me until now to get focussed on putting the photos, descriptions and shop all in the same place.
It looks like this:
(models not for sale)

There are a couple more things to come later this week (tea towels, a reversible bag in Amy Butler Love Sunspots) and in between birthday presents I intend to add some Baby Bunting. Hopefully I can work on getting word out there and people will want to buy something.