... Christmas countdown Day 3

Day 3  and today's bag has a lovely new treat of Hershey kisses, these are not readily available in the UK as they are from the US, so I was chuffed to bits when I found them in B and M for only £1.99 for a big bag, I don't think my waist line will be quite so happy!

I did ponder the idea of trying to craft with them as they often appear on my Pinterest feed in many different guises but I already have too many unfinished projects that I need to concentrate on, not to mention a growing to do list!


Photo challenge today is "spots" so I will start with the bag from my Advent calendar, I must have had something in mind when I put this on the list but can't for the life of me remember what! so I have gone for a very brief walk round my house and I didn't have to look too far to find spots!

My Winter Cath Kidston handbag in a lovely cranberry colour with the classic white spot, I have personalised it with a homemade flower brooch.  The brooch is fairly easy to make and I will post a how I did it at some point in the new year.

Puddle tested pink spotted wellies, I think they will be seeing plenty of action this weekend if the weather forecast is correct.

I still have plenty of spotty sweet bags left and you can be sure that you will be seeing more of these before the end of Advent

I couldn't resist having a little bit of fun with these cute little picnic plates, they are so useful for buffet meals as their shape allows them to slip between round plates.  I purchased them from dotcom online gift shop I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with this store as it has so many lovely items that are very reasonably priced, however, some of the sizes and the quality can be a little disappointing, they are worth a visit at this time of year as there are loads of little "stocking filler" type pressies that everyone seems to love.

OK I now this is what you really dropped by for its joke time.....


"Who hides in a bakery at Christmas?"

" A mince spy!"



Right I am off to dig out the Christmas cards so that I can cross at least one thing off my list!  How are your preparations going? Have you sent any cards yet?

Sewing 30 minutes a day in October - week 1

How hard can it be to fulfill the challenge of sewing 30 minutes day in October?

A little harder than I had initially thought.  Of a potential 3.5 hours I succeeded with 2.5 hours and only one of these was a 30 minute stint. I found that once  I had started something I wanted to finish it or I had to get to a point where I could walk  away and easily just pick it up (not that there is anything complex about these makes).

One of the things that ate into my time was that I didn't think through the whole process of what I was making so I was running round getting buttons and trimmings and string and things.  There was of course the creative process of deciding what to use and how I wanted the finished item to look.

Grey felt heart

This was my first make, I blanket stitched the edge with embroidery floss using 1 white and 2 red strands I was trying to get a bakers twine type effect which is not quite there, maybe 2 and 2 might be better. I raided my vintage button collection and thought that the proportions of the little button were perfect.

Red felt heart

The second one took a little less time as I had everything to hand and I had learnt from the first make to include a hanging loop!

White felt heart

 
For the last one I broke out one of my Cath Kidston heart buttons, I have had them for a while and these seemed like the perfect project.


I am happy with my makes in the first week of this challenge and I am looking forward to next week.  I think I need to dedicate a little time to planning so that I do more sewing and less running around!

Grey, White, Red felt hearts

Did anyone else take up the challenge?  its not too late to join in, you could always do a mini challenge and join in for the week.

... Simplicity 2373

With my dress project completed I had time to spare in my sewing class to start something new.  I have decided on Simplicity 2373.  It offers a choice of sundress, a camisole top, short sleeved jacket and wide legged trousers.  I am interested in making the sundress for my holidays but wanted to be sure that I could get a good fit and that the straps would cover my bra so I decided to make the camisole top to test the pattern as the only difference is the length of the body.

I had brought this cotton fabric from myfabricplace last year with the intention of using for wearable test pieces, it cost about £2 or £3 per metre so I am not too concerned if it doesn't end up as something I wear.  There is a lot of trim on this pattern which I felt was a bit too fussy for me so my plan is to use some vintage ric-rac (approx 1960's)  that I had in my vintage haberdashery collection.


I am going to run a line at the top and the bottom of the top band and two or three rows towards the bottom where the lace is shown on the illustrations.  I love this colour combo and you can see how well this is going to look when it is complete.

As class time is limited and I am fairly confident at cutting out I chose to do this at home beforehand which is just as well as finishing the dress took longer than I had thought.  However, I did have enough time to make a start, but all my good preparations were in vain when I took everything out of my bag and found that the page containing the first instructions was missing!  Disaster was averted by our wonderful tutor Lisa who is very experienced and just looked at the pattern pieces and said start attaching the bodice top pieces together.


When I got home from class the first thing I did was check in the dining room where I had done my cutting out but I just couldn't see the instructions anywhere.  I finally found them hooked over the horizontal bar of the chair leg, no wonder I hadn't spotted them.




It seems that I am bang on trend with my ric-rac trimming as I spotted these lovelies on the Cath Kidston website.

What do you think of the ric-rac trend?  Are you planning to use it on anything you are making?  Have you ever lost your pattern instructions?

..a weekend in St Ives

Wow what a weekend!

We took the night train down to Cornwall on Thursday, arriving into St Ives on Friday morning in plenty of time to pick a prime location to watch the solar eclipse.  I had gone armed with a couple of pieces of A4 paper one with a pinhole carefully placed in the middle but on the day it was a big fat fail and was swiftly consigned to the bin.  There were plenty of people around each with their own methods of viewing including colanders, special glasses and a welding mask, all with varying degrees of success.

  It got extremely cold when it reached it's peak so we used this as a good excuse to nip off and get a cuppa.

I couldn't get a decent shot of the eclipse but I was fascinated by the way the light played on the sea and wet sand



We were staying at the Pedn Olva hotel and had paid a premium for a room with a balcony, it was nice to have somewhere to sit out and the view was glorious. Overlooking Porthminster Beach it is a view I could be happy to enjoy everyday.

view from the balcony at the Pedn Olva

Pretty much every time we go away one of us will have forgotten to pack something, this time it was my turn, I had forgotten my PJs.  A quick trip to the Cath Kidstonshop  found a smashing pair in their half price sale.

http://www.cathkidston.com/under-%C2%A350/kingswood-rose-long-pj-set-1013235




If we were writing a tick list of things to do at the seaside it would look something like this

• walk on the beach
• cream tea
• fish and chips
• play on the penny slots
• watch the sun go down
• take lots of photos
• walk along the pier

and I am happy to say we ticked off the lot

On Sunday morning I was blessed by one of the local seagull population, right down the sleeve of my coat. Obviously we rushed to the nearest newsagent to buy a lottery ticket! However, it doesn't seemed to have brought any good luck so far!



Sunday night we eagerly boarded the sleeper train dropped our bags off in our berth and headed for the buffet car. We were chatting away when we realised that the time had passed for us to depart but there was no sign of us going anywhere.  With that a member of staff announced that there was a problem with the radio system in cab that meant it was not being tracked properly, clearly a serious issue and it couldn't be repaired quickly. the sleeper train was not going to run that night.  A replacement service was to be run but it was just a normal train and would not offer the sleeping berths, it would arrive into Paddington around 5 o'clock but unlike the sleeper train we would not be able to stay on board.  The majority of passengers were happy to go with this but it was not suitable for us as our connecting train was not until much later so the staff organised a hotel for us.

Sleeping berths on the Night Riviera

The following morning we took a revised route opting to avoid changing in London and chose to change at Birmingham instead.  This was a decision we regretted a few hours later as a goods train had derail outside of Birmingham causing a number of trains to be cancelled, re-routed or delayed. We eventually got back to Nottingham at 6 o'clock, 25 hours after leaving St Ives.  I could do with another weekend away to get over my weekend away!



What would be on your list of things to do at the seaside? Are there any places you always visit in St Ives?