"Suzie and Lyn's Home-made Fair"

The day of the "Home-Made by Suzie and Lyn" has been and gone and we raised an amazing £745 so far! Half will go to BMS India and the other half to Romanian Summer Camps for children. We sold lots of cards like the ones above, quilts, Christmas stockings, bags, serviette holders, and numerous other bits.
We reckon if we feed the husbands with cake and tea/coffee thier wives are happy to browse and spend the money! So lots and lots of cake was made......and consumed! I spent the previous evening icing 120 fairy cakes plus 3 victoria sandwiches, 2 lemon cakes, 2 fruit cakes, 3 mini cakes and 200 biscuits.

A few bits and bobs on a table

And more stuff, people just came and seemed to enjoy the home-mades.

Cards sold well,

and the little bags, but not the pincushions. People from both our Churches and the Hospice where we work and neighbours came too. We still have a few orders to complete which will bump the overall total up.

I am so tired now....I need to lie in a darkened room for about a week I think!

Excuses for my absence!

This is why I have been away, I am having another sale of handmade stuff next Saturday and these are some partly made cards for it.

I have been making pictures, quilts, cards, potato sacks, tea cosies, serviette holders, bags, pencil rolls and numerous other bits and bobs. This time I am not alone, the friend above and I have joined forces to hopefully raise more money for the causes. Last time in summer the end total was £4oo, so I aim to beat that. The money is again going to India, in particular Koltata where my daughter went in summer to work with the street children in a school.

I have alot of sewing to finish off this week and alot of cakes to bake for the day, I'm on holiday this week but sadly have 2 funerals happening, one is my Aunty and the other a friend, both to cancer. Not the way I saw my holiday! Anyway here's hoping next week will raise alot of money to make a difference in childrens lives.

Inspired by Kaffe Fassett...but not as good!

I have long been inspired by Kaffe Fassett and his wonderful colourful designs, and while on holiday this year I picked up a book of his in a second hand shop called 'Glorious Interiors'. There is a chapter about mosaics and I had an old garden table that was crying out for something to revamp it. I had a great time doing it...but I think I have made it into a useless piece of furniture!

It's not grouted yet but it's so bumpy and uneven you will never balance a cup or plate on it again! I have even put cup handles upright on it...click on the pictures for a better look!

My son's girlfriend suggested I saw the legs off and hang it on the wall as a piece of art, and I might just do that!

If you click on the label 'mosaic ' on the side of the blog you can see the original I was inspired by!

Finger painting

Last week we had a "Family Fun Day" at our Church. About 90 children and their families turned up and I was hosting a table doing finger painting. I had done a few sample ideas but once the children started there was no stopping their creativity......I loved the dinosaur above!

I had done a catapillar as an idea but isn't it funny how children leave gaps between each red fingerprint where the original was joined to each other!

Mum's had a go too and as you can see face painting was also on the menu! There was chess for the adults, a quiz, musical instruments, origami, skipping contests, and tea and home-made cake for the adults to enjoy.

Windmill flower cot quilt

Here's a picture of a cot quilt that I completed last night. It's an order for a baby due in September, I was given a free rein on what to do so here it is. I am trying to make sure I take a photo of all completed items now so I can keep them for posterity!

In the past I have made and given away alot of stuff that I have made and have forgotton what they were like!

I didn't enjoy this pattern very much and probably wouldn't do it again, I think my favourites are strippy quilts.

Here , is the little kingfisher I had for my birthday this year. It's hand made by a man who lives on Purbeck. He made the bird from Yew and the base from Oak, my two favourite woods. We went to pick him up from Knitson where he carves them and he looks very handsome in our lounge I think. (the bird, not the man!)

Next to his famhouse is this old barn and it just shows that creativity can anywhere, even in a rural working enviroment. The cows, cat and churn are all painted on the wall. Click on the picture for a better look.
This is just a peek at the latest quilt I am making, it's an order for a new baby that is due in September.

Stained glass in a old fashioned shop

There is a shop in the small town of Portmadog in North Wales called Kerfoots. It's an old-fashioned type shop with a bit of everything in it. For the millennium they commissioned this stunning stained glass dome in the center of the shop which you see as you climb up the stairs, if you look up and try not to fall back down the suspended staircase! It depicts the local area and shows the cottages, mountains and landscapes of Wales....Oh...and they serve a very good meal at lunchtimes too.

We have just had 2 weeks holiday and the first week was spent in North Wales, partly to visit the Welsh side of the family who are Welsh speaking and partly just to have a break. Fantastic weather and a cottage to stay in that was OK but not as good as we had hoped. The second week in Derbyshire, however was much better, cottagewise!

Spent a bit of time sewing, alot of time reading and walking too.

Little house cards

This is one of the cards mid way through it's making, some done on the machine and some hand embroidered. If you look in the bottom left hand card in the next picture you will see I had added roses round the door and a window in the next-door house.

Click on the picture if you want a detailed look.

This wool is so nice and just right for it's earthy colours and will be used on the landscape cards and pictures, it's mohair so it feels very soft. I have used the white bit of it for smoke coming out of the chimney pots.

Finished after 5 years!

This quilt was finished this morning. I cut it out about 5 years ago for no particular reason except I liked the colours! Recently I remembered it and have just the person to give it to, so I got on with it.

It's quite basic and just the few 9 patch squares to give it some softness.

Now I need to start on a cot quilt which I have been commissioned to make.
This is how the next lot of 6 cards start, I haven't embellished them yet. I will add smoke from chimneys, nests on chimneys, flowers and pots, doors and windows, birds and anything else that enters my head! One of my family has suggested making it into a long picture which I must admit would be quite nice.

This is quite a bright and bold quilt that I recently finished. It's not to everyones taste but I do like playing with colour and it's entirely made from scraps which makes it a bit cheaper! Most of the quilt is hand pieced and it's hand quilted too so it took quite a while to make.

What NOT to do when you have a craft fair in your lounge!

1. DON'T put a card near a candle...or this happens, as in the photo!
2. DON'T bake too many cakes!
3. DON'T choose a rainy day!
Actually I never did like the card in the above picture as I'm not keen on the painted flowers on the card! I think I can save the embroidery and sell it as smoke damaged!

I sold a lot of cards so have started restocking again. as it's summer I'm well into beach huts and summer scenes.

Garden Party...indoors!

The garden party day arrived after days of cake baking and chaos in the kitchen! The cups and saucers were ready, the gazebo up, garden tables laid with embroidered cloths and jugs of wild flowers on the tables.....and then the rain came down! So we had to hastily regroup, move furniture around and have the party indoors!A bucket of flowers by the front door.

The lounge became the craft table, ably manned by my son's girlfriend and the dining room had the cakes.

Despite the awful weather we made £328 and money is still coming in for the poor and street children in India where my daughter will be going to do some voluntary work in the summer. I had aimed to make £200 so my target was well exceeded. Just as it ended...the sun came out!!!!! Grrrrrrrrrrrr!

P.S. Since I wrote the total has risen to £358!

Losing sleep about tomorrow!

HELP...why ever did I choose to have a garden party to raise money for an Indian volunteering trip my daughter is doing this year! Am I mad!
The crafts are made and ready, 200+ cakes are made and waiting to be iced....but the weather forecast is awful............
Major panic...my house is not big enough so it will have to be in the garden, please pray for dry weather!

Charity shop bits I meant to buy...and some I didn't!

I went purposely to the charity shops today to look for embroidered tablecloths and china tea cups and I found these. They are for a garden party I am having in 2 weeks time here at home. I will be selling tea, home made cakes and hopefully my textile landscapes!I blogged about the idea back on March 7th 2010 on my snowgoosey blog . Anyway, as you see I found a couple of nice little tea cups and saucers, a nice plate and a beautiful tablecloth that I got for £2! It's sad that something that has taken someone so long to make ends up in a 2nd hand shop for next to nothing.

This, if you squint and look carefully is one corner of a linen tablecloth with the crinoline ladies on each corner. It's a bit faded but there is enough left for me to embroider it. I love this design.

A cushion cover, again printed ready for me to sew!

A large piece of linen, I shall remove the blue bit and reuse it for something else and use the linen as I need it. Linen is really expensive so this is a good way to buy it.

So, a bit more spent than I needed but the summer evenings are taken care of with all that sewing to do!

Beach Hut themes!

I seem to be on a bit of a beach hut thing at the moment....summer must be on it's way! The first two pictures are works in progress both pastel and bright.

The next one is a completed card, the stripy fabric was from a pillowcase and the white bit which is the roof came from a charity shop....I got a bag of lace and trimming and there was 139 metres of this one....all for £1! I have given some away and swapped some as well.

This quilt is a work in progress too, I'm onto the quilting bit now so sit in front of the TV in the evening quilting away.

Lastly this is my very good friend, Sylvia standing in front of her art work. We went to a private viewing last night at a local Arts Centre. I have never been to anything like that before and was a bit unsure about it as I was sure I would not be making intelligent comments! However it was fine and we really enjoyed it, catching up with friends and seeing Art in a very different way.

Latest textile pictures and a late Christmas present!

This is the latest completed textile picture, inspired by a photo of a sunset. Completed by hand yesterday evening.

This morning, a fresh start. Even though it isn't very warm I feel inspired to do a beachy summer picture! This is only a start and I will no doubt change this alot before the final result.

At last, it's arrived! The postman knocked the door, Wrecks went crazy but my book is finally here!
My son gave me a book token for Christmas but the book has been a long time coming but at last it came.
I ripped the packaging off, ......but didn't open it until I had made a cup of tea, went into the lounge with the book and a cuppa, sat by the window and lost myself in all the gorgeousness of the book.