Lace and buttons and ribbons and stuff!

Hello again.
Firstly, a big thank you to all of you who
wished us well for the Craft Fair.
It was really lovely, and very well
attended for our first attempt too.
For anyone struggling to find Craft Fairs close to you
I would really recommend trying to do you own.



I have been trying to get back into the
swing of things, catching up with sewing etc.
I started last week by making
myself some fabric boxes to keep
my ever-growing stash of trim in.
( I'll do photos for another post)
But this week didn't go to plan.
Sadly, my lovely Poppy dog took poorly,
and yesterday morning she was taken to
the vets for the last time.
She was getting old (14&half)
and what we thought was simple old age problems
was actually much worse.
She was so poorly bless her,
but, thank God, she went down hill very fast
so she didn't suffer too long.

So today I threw myself into making broaches
with my new lace stash.
I've been saving covered buttons for sometime too
so put together with a few other bits
and this is what I came up with.



I'm thinking of putting a few in my blogshop
but mostly they are for the festival
my daughter is doing in a few weeks,
and a fete we're doing a week later.

I've been making these too


Well not actually "making" as such,
but covering them, so spending
far too much time on my derry air
doing the cross stitch ;)

And I have been catching up with swaps etc,
just not posted them yet *doh*
And I have an award from the lovely Mitmot,
but I'll sort that in my next post too.
Hopefully by then I'll be a little bit
more with it!!!

With love and blessings in Christ
Elaine
xxxxxxxxxxxx

It seems a long time........................

It seems a very long time ago since
we started holding open days to
sell our makes from home,
sometimes I quite miss those days.
I don't "miss" the cleaning LOL
but I do miss having the house
clean and tidy (ish)
because at least it got a
good going over once a month.

As I said in my last post, this Saturday (13th)
is the first Craft Fair we've hosted.
We've gone from making and selling
at home occasionally, to selling party style
in other peoples homes
while having monthly sales.
Then to taking the sales to the
Church hall every 2-3 months,
and now to hosting Craft Fairs.

We've also bought a "shop" in the
form of a gazebo
(did I already tell you this???)
Anyway, our old one died a while back,
so now we have a gorgeous
elongated hexagonal one
(sounds posh don't it *wink*)
which means we can do outdoors again too.

Funny though, I kind of miss our
little home sales.
Sometimes I could sit here all day
and see no one at all,
but I was always content that I wouldn't
need to clean for at least 3 weeks LOL

BTW, I've got my stock in a muddle
so I'm hiding my blogshop for a few days,
just until after the Craft Fair,
so I don't unwittingly sell
something twice!!!

Love and blessings in Christ
Elaine
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Craft Fair Delights

Just a week and a few days away,
we are hosting our first Craft Fair.
It's getting very close, very quickly,
and it seems like there is still so much to do.
In between printing posters, letters, leaflets,
running to the pooter shop for yet more ink,
trying to rent out the tables...................
I've been trying to make some new goodies too.

I've had the patterns for these aprons for some time.
Actually there is a bit of of saga attached,
I might have blogged about it ??? not sure ??

Anyway, I bought them.............
and they promptly went missing for about a year!!!
Eventually they turned up but still sat in their packets
for a further year *blush*

Then I found some wonderfully
bargainous bias binding from Alcatrazzzz
(actually it's Abakhan, but the place
holds me prisoner until I pay a ransom)
So out came the patterns at last!!


The Globaltex "Sweetie" fabric came from Alcatrazzz too,
it's looks so yummy with the blue gingham binding.

This apron tells a tale too.

The main fabric is a gorgeous reproduction from RJR fabrics,
part of a limited addition range.
I got this piece about 2 years ago,
and always planned to make something kitcheny with it.
It's part of the Mama's Feedsack range,
this (obviously) being the blue teacups.
It's so pretty, I've tried to get more
but can't, sadly :(

I've teamed it with some lovely fresh gingham,
sent to me by Heather, bless her.
And the binding is another Alcatrazzz one,
sweet tiny red flowers,
the odd tiny blue flower and little creamy-biege butterflies.

The apron is put together by
completing the outer side panels first,
and then work inward, the centre being last.
Imagine my disappointment when
I got to the centre panel I was
about 10" short of bias!!!!!!!!
Then I thought "get a grip gal",
and "invented" the little fold-over panel at the top,
finished off with a little appliqued teacup.

I really like it now, problem is I made it up as I went along
so could I do it again !!LOL
Love and blessings in Christ
Elaine
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx