Christmas Robin Cushion Giveaway

I have recently been trying to create a wider Christmas range, however the ideas have had to remain in my head as I have been so snowed under with orders, not to mention a mass of deadlines at work that are hard to meet at the best of times.

However, I managed to create this little beauty, my cute christmas robin on a small cushion, perfect for adding that little bit of festive cheer to your home.

The cushion is made of polycotton, with acrylic felt applique design, yarn legs with 2 small plastic button eyes. It is stuffed with soft toy filling, brilliant for safety, and is approximately 20cm x 20cm. To be in with a chance of winning this item, just leave a comment somewhere on my blog letting me know what you think, follow and RT me on twitter, or add at least 10 people to my facebook group (If you do all 3 your name will go into the hat 3 times, and it's a super cute knitted bobble hat too if that makes you want to do it anymore). 

Go on, its free and easy enough just follow the links below:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/Charlie_sews

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/271699299536585/

Closing date 10th December 2011 Winner will be announced on Dec 11th, just in time for last Christmas post. 

Good Luck!

UK entries only please!

The first craft fair...

So I spent all day a week ago on Saturday sewing, I made cushions, I made decorations and I packed them all up into a washing basket to cart with me to Ticknall Village hall for my first craft fair, I went with my crafting friend Natalie of Bespoke Name Paintings and our products seemed to work really well together, although perhaps we could have done with a bigger table...

Bespoke Name Painting on facebook http://www.facebook.com/groups/143427215675724/
on the web http://bespokenamepaintings.webs.com/
Nat will be guest blogging for me very soon, so keep your eyes peeled folks!

I had no reason to be nervous, the people were really lovely and very complimentary on my items, the robins and hearts went down especially well. The small initial cushion was snapped up by a lovely little girl called Elise, who popped it straight into her dollies pushchair.

We were sat on a table next to a lady with lovely stuffed sock rabbits, cats and squirrels, amongst some of the creatures she had created, they were fab, but unfortunately cut into our takings somewhat as a few did end up coming home with us. They look great though so I really want to have a go myself. Apologies for the blurry photo, my computer took this one!

The only disappointment of the day was the low footfall for the venue, we had so few people coming in which was a real shame... We'll be back there early next year, so hopefully the weather will be brighter and more people will head on down to see us. Until then we have our next event at Bedworth Rugby Club on the 9th December from 7pm-9pm, it's going to be very festive and there is even talk of mulled wine, so if you're in the area, let me know!

http://www.gumtree.com/p/community/festive-fayre-pamper-evening/88617802

Having SEW much fun!

Sorry its been a while folks, things are really taking off!

When I first started sewing stuff, I thought it would be a nice little hobby for me, I never had any idea how popular my items would be, with a full time job as well it's pretty frightening seeing my order book filling up, but mostly very exciting!

I originally just though the whole idea of this would be me sewing stuff, but when a friend asked me if I would be happy to show her how to sew it sparked a whole new angle to my hobby!

I asked my facebook group who would be interested in paying a small fee to come sew with me, four people opted in (just the right size for my house), so we had a little session on Thursday of this week making some of my Christmas decorations. I usually make my items by machine, however, this has its obvious limitations within a group, and lets be honest, my house is not my classroom!

http://www.facebook.com/groups/271699299536585/

So I put together a little goodie bag for each of my guests, containing the patterns and fabrics for a christmas heart, christmas tree and my lovely christmas robin. I also allowed them free access to my button box... crazy I know!

So with our materials ready, a fresh pot of tea and biscuits and mince pies (thanks Jules and Amy) we got into the christmas spirit and started to sew. 

First thing we had to do was cut out our pattern pieces... 

Jules cuts stuff

Once we had done this we could then cut out our little felt shapes, we started with the hearts as I felt this would be easiest, so 2 squares or red felt pinned together and with a white blanket stitch the two sides became one (did you get the retro christmas number one pun there!) 

Finish with some light stuffing, a star shaped button, a piece of gingham ribbon and voila! 

(Apparently the star at a jaunty angle is the way to do it!)

Charlotte and Amy sew stuff

Next item on the agenda was the robin by popular request, so we cut out our little red breasts and armed ourselves with 2 tiny black buttons and a length of yarn we got ready to make him! Using a small whip stitch with standard thread we attached his breast, before assembling the two sides together...

Katie sews stuff

3 hours later we each had 2 christmas decorations (well not me I was busy making sure my guests did) and we were all very pleased with the results, unfortunately we ran out of time to make the tree, but my guests were able to take away their bag of goodies and the skills to make them, and hopefully they will post the finished items on the group wall.

Charlotte, Jules, Amy & Katie sew stuff

Can't wait to see your trees when they are finished ladies, and I would like to take this opportunity to say well done on such a fab job, and also a huge thank you to my lovely guests for letting me make this happen, and for allowing me to photograph you through out and use these photographs here. It was a great night and I can't wait until we all get together again! 

A spot of window dressing...

This is an old post from the blog I no longer use 'Miss G Loves Tea', but I thought I would share it again, as it really reflects just how much I love felt, and I am pretty proud.... Have to continue to thank Design Sponge online for this one, I just love the DIY tutorials on there... 

So having moved into a new build house from an old victorian property, it was a bit of a shock and it never really felt like 'home' for the first few months. So over time I am aiming to use my powers of research to help me personalise my house so it becomes a home... as we don't have kids yet, there are 2 whole rooms going spare in our house, 1 of which is J's hideout where records are enjoyed and stories (and magazines) are read, the other is my room, dedicated to crafting and allegedly marking... although this tends to occur on the sofa in front of the telly.

Anyway, my craft room needed some personalisation and I felt inspired to get back onto the making things myself wagon after stumbling upon this websites DIY section http://www.designspongeonline.com/ , however I am sure you guys are already aware of this gem!

This blind design by Chela Edmunds http://2x2innyc.blogspot.com/ inspired me to make my own! As this was a project I completed last summer, unfortunately I have only photos of it complete.

The first thing was deciding on a colour and after much consideration I felt pink was the right colour for me, despite not being a girly girl (debatable) I loved the vibrant shade of this pink the second I saw, although I did consider an array of multi coloured dots a la Damien hirsts drugs paintings and also the idea of assembling in lines to echo the op art of Bridget Riley. However as you can see I settled on bright pink with white thread to assemble as a nice contrast.

Step 2 was to measure up, math is certainly not my strong point so I randomly decided these would be 7cm in diameter and I would go from there as to how many I needed.

Step 3... the tricky part. I bought myself 2m of felt to allow plenty of room for mistakes and bad math. Then came the circles, so I tried drawing around a glass of about the right size and cutting, but after 4 circles realised I do not have the patience... so I turned to the laser cutter at school, programmed it to do 64 circles on a sheet each time and voila... well after various tests and speed changes anyway to ensure a smooth unburned cut!

Then step 4, thread up my machine and sew all 322 circles together, I used a small straight stitch as I though this would hold better and folded each circle in half before feeding it through the machine to find the centre of each circle...

5 1/2 hours later (no break either - I was in the zone) I had stictched every circle together and my machines motor breathed its last breath ( it was a £40 from aldi which had served me well so I felt I had gotten my moneys worth, oh and I could still fix it....

Anyway 5 1/2 hours later I had this....

...After all that sewing, I simply used a glue gun to affix the blind to a short piece of dowel and screwed some hooks into the wall to hold it up. The finishing touch was a short length of bobble trim to add a little detail and help let some light in.

If you want to make one yourself the best instructions are from the designer, http://www.designspongeonline.com/2009/10/diy-project-chelas-fabric-screen.html

Christmas is almost here... Pt.1

I have been busy sat in my sewing room almost all weekend, singing christmas songs to my hearts content whilst working on some decorations to take to my first craft fair next weekend. 

Firstly, I can't quite believe how quickly christmas is coming, although I haven't yet seen the Coca-Cola advert yet, so in my world, there's still time to prepare. I'm thinking of getting a lot of my gifts from Folksy this year, support the local craft community, whilst getting some lovely one off gifts... but I better get my act in gear.

Secondly, I can't believe the fact that despite 'Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer', being my ultimate song choice for this weekend, I have not yet made any reindeers, and I have tons of red buttons just crying out to be privileged enough to be his nose... he will be here soon, I'm sure.... 

So here's a peek of what I have completed already... (some of you may have already seen it on my fb page http://www.facebook.com/groups/271699299536585/) 

At first I was super excited about my wreath idea, but 5 hours later, I wasn't feeling it so much, however I am happy with the overall effect. How could I not be, look at all those buttons!

I love this little fella however, I had the idea of putting yarn legs onto birds ages ago, and am so glad it worked out well...

 The christmas tag that doubles up as a decoration, I'm a fan of anything that is 

dual purpose for prettiness!

Trying to be arty... it didn't succeed...

...but I do like the overall effect, I probably won't be stuffing the letters in future this one is a one off, but I love the snowflake sequins, they look so pretty when they catch the light. Am currently working on a 'merry christmas' version, but thought I would save that for part 2. 

I am currently making these to order, any colours catered for. If you want something that you don't have to take down in January, why not think of a word that means something to you? 

Remembrance Sunday...

Sorry I've not updated recently but work has been very busy of late, but Sunday night seemed like a great time to update.

The date November 11th is one etched into every Britons mind, as we remember our fallen heroes. What better way to remember than to support The Royal British Legion by wearing your poppy with pride. The charity does amazing work, supporting the whole of the Armed forces Family.

It is so easy to support them, just pin a poppy to your chest. It makes me angry when I hear of all the companies that have banned their staff from showing their support for this cause.

I always make sure I wear my poppy with pride each year, until of course it falls off as they quite often do. So this year I decided to remedy the situation by making my own brooch version that would stay on no matter what. Sorry that the photograph is a little blurry (my camera is playing up!), but next year I aim to get in touch with the charity and donate some of these, or sell them with all proceeds going to the charity. Don't worry, I myself have made a generous donation to The Royal British Legion and will continue to do the same each year.

Why not make one yourself online if you haven't already...

https://donations.britishlegion.org.uk/RBLDonation/?gclid=CLOArefkoqwCFUsZ4QodIjyY_A

http://www.britishlegion.org.uk/