Those who I have met along the way....

In my last post I was in the process of re-capping over my year of blogging.  I mentioned that I had met some lovely people along the way.  One of the most important things I have learnt along my business journey is to network.  As someone once said 'no woman is an island' (I paraphrase here) and I do believe that without the help and support of a few people along the way my journey would have been a lot harder.  However, before I start the list can I just say that this list is not a complete one there are lots and lots that I would like to mention, however, for the sake of time here is a few.

First up is Marie from Vintage Inspired Accessories, she makes wonderful creations from recycled bits of broken jewellery, I like to think that she is my equivalent in jewellery as she takes pieces of jewellery and puts them into the jewellery protection programme giving them new identities and a new lease of life!

Next up is fellow bag maker and fabric addict Beverley from Miss Creativity, I suspect that Beverleys fabric addiction is nearly as bad as mine!

Followed by the fabulous quilting and all round sewing smarty pants that is Tracey over at Tracey Pereira.com  You might already know Tracey from her previous name of Chubby Mummy which has now gone into retirement to be replaced with a new look blog, go have a look.  Having recently started quilting myself Tracey is the benchmark to which I aspire one day!

I will mention a few more inspirational blogs, however, I am running short of time again, is it September yet?  I have children hovering around moaning about my use of the laptop when they need their fix!  I will leave you with a couple of my latest creations which will be hot footing it to Lytham with me next weekend for the fair.  I have got the details through and the theme is 1940s so sounds like it will be a good weekend.

More crazy quilting, I think I have the bug now, some chic wool plaid and the results of an afternoon spent burning chiffon!

Crazy Quilting Bag

Just a quick post to show you what I made with my section of crazy quilting.  I took Laurraine's advice from Patchwork Pottery and chopped it up and sewed it back together this gave me a long strip and I then attached it to the front of a linen tote bag.  I must say I am very pleased with the outcome and because of the size of wadding I have used it is very squishy in texture and if stranded somewhere would make an excellent pillow as suggested by G!

This week is unbelievably busy with all end of term activities, we had little one's Leavers Assembly yesterday which was quite emotional as a couple of her friends who she has had since first day at nursery are not going to the same high school.  So on the final song there were quite a few misty eyed parents, end of an era.  Today we are going to J's prize giving ceremony where she is receiving her first prize for PE.  We are soo proud of her as she had a tricky start to high school, she drifted away from her old friends and lets just say that her new ones were every parents nightmare.  Luckily, we managed to get through this period and she returned to her old, more suitable, friends and she has also turned her academic studies around and we are so proud.  Of course when we keep telling her this, being a typical teenager she says 'shush you are embarrassing me!'  So when she goes up to get her award I will have to be very restrained or risk her wrath when she gets home.

It is coming up to nearly a year since I started blogging and the time has flown so my new few posts will be recapping on everything that has happened in this first exciting year and everything I have learned.  I hope you all have a wonderful summer holidays and thank you soo much for enjoying the journey with me! Elissa x

New Bag & How I made my banner

First of all thank you for all your kind words about my banner.  A couple of you asked how I made it and the t ruth was it was very easy.  I used t-shirt transfer paper, printed my design onto it and then cut out image and words and ironed onto fabric.  However, couple of tips I will pass on when printing make sure that you tick mirror image on printer properties bit, especially important for wording!  You will not believe the amount of sheets of transfer paper I have ruined by not printing it properly the right way around.  I may keep them all and make a big fabric collage! ok back to the instructions... The other tip is make sure that your iron is really hot and no steam.  When you think it might be ready just lift a tiny corner up and check if it doesn't come away cleanly simply iron back over it again for a few more minutes.  Also, check your measurements and layout with tape measure and just be careful when ironing as sometimes the paper has a tendency to slip.  If any of this doesn't make sense contact me and I will help.

So for todays creation I discovered this book Quilted Bags & Totes by Denise Clason and chose to have a go at a quilted creation for myself.  Must admit enjoyed spending the afternoon yesterday whirring round in circles!  However, it turned out a lot larger than anticipated so if you are going on holiday soon and don't fancy a case this is the bag for you!  However, I love the combination of the fabrics and I have made the bow a brooch just in case it can be used on another bag or a blazer.

Let me know what you think................