Oh dear - not such a success today!

 

 

Hello Everyone how are you all. I do hope everyone of you is happy and well.  It has been a glorious sunny day here in my part of the world so I hope you are all enjoying some good weather, wherever you are.  Do come in and make yourself at home - would you like a cuppa?  One day when technology has moved on you will probably be able to answer me!

 

Last weekend I was in Manchester and completely forgot to show you some of my purchases.  My lovely granddaughter who is in university has a birthday this month and I wanted to get her a new pen case as one of her little gifts. 

I found what looked like a new shop selling loads of little fripperies such as tiny erasers of all designs which were just so cute and pens, books and pencil cases as well as small bags.  I don't know about you Folks but I do love little notebooks and pencils/pens. The shop was called Blott but I couldn't tell you where it was now as I don't know Manchester that well and tend to go to Birmingham or Liverpool for big shopping and London of course when I can!  They also have stores around Great Britain and their website is www.blottshop.com.

They had pens which had lovely smells attached to them - this one is called pizza but it does smell rather nice!

There were literally hundreds of these little erasers of all shapes and colours.  They were £1 each and the children in the shop were going wild choosing them all - I was good and kept to three although I wanted to buy loads more. The cute little box is for storing the erasers - I got one for myself for beads, it is a such a pretty little thing.

And a cute little book to go with them......

Finally, here is the pencil case - they also sold smallish bags which unzipped - they were amazing. Ages ago, in one of the craft magazines, I saw that someone had made brooches out of zips which I thought was really clever and cute.  I have always wanted to have a go at making one.    The team in the shop weren't that keen on me taking photographs so I couldn't get a picture of one of the bags for you.  I bought this little pencil case which cost £5 but would be pennies to make using up old zips.  Anyone else seen anything about up-cycling zips?  I would love to hear from you all.  Anyway I am going to have a go at making one when I find enough old zips.  As you know I struggle with zips so maybe this will be a form of therapy for me...........

 

 

Last night I couldn't sleep as it was so hot and one of those nights I could have stayed up all night.  I had found some fabric in the back of the cupboard which I thought would suit the crinoline lady cushion cover.  I am getting quicker and quicker with this Folks, thanks Lillyblossom (|www.etsy.com/uk/shop/LillyBlossom) - Many apologies Everyone but the link is still not working for some reason - is anyone else having problems?  It is such a nuisance.

 

 

I thought the fabric worked quite well and I just had enough to make it go around as it was a bigger cushion than the last one.  I do hope you all like it.

 

 

 Last night I also got it into my head to make one of the lovely Helen Philipp's (www.helenphilipps.blogspot.com bunnies which I adore as you know.  I had found this magazine buried under all the bits and pieces on my sewing room floor which had one of her patterns in!  Goodness knows what else is under there..... 

 

 

 

 This is the cuddly bunny in question - I decided to make a little girl as the bits of fabric I had left over for the outfit were all pink.

 

 

 

 Above is a photograph of the lovely Helen Philipps - she is such a talented lady and so helpful, I am a big fan of hers.

 

 

 

If you remember I wanted to use one of the tea towels I had bought from Marks and Spencer on Wednesday.  I particularly liked this design and am sure that I have seen small teddies made in a similar design somewhere.

I traced off all the pieces straight on to the tea towel and machined around them all, not cutting anything at this stage.

 

 

 

 

These are the ears with the pink fabric which I am going to use for her dress.
 

I cut her out and started stitching her together and then came to make her dress which is pretty basic I have to say.  I wanted a full skirt so had another go at the gathering foot for my machine.  I think Jo from Three Stories High (joeeveryday19.blogspot.com) had commented that these were pretty expensive.  Apologies if it wasn't you Jo.  I bought it from Amazon from a company called 60 degrees (sorry can't find the degrees button on my computer!).  As you can see from the price it was very reasonable at £3.60p.

 

 

 

It did come with very clear instructions which even I could use and the foot can also be used for smocking.  Apologies to all of you very talented people who are good with the machine, as you can tell I am still very much a learner.  The foot will also attach another piece of fabric to the gathering - very clever in deed.

 

 

 

 

 

 Here we go - the finished piece which I thought was pretty good overall and a lot quicker than when I usually do it by hand.

 

 

 

 

 Now for the not so clever part of the day.  I didn't like the pattern on the tea towel at all when I had finished it - it didn't turn out the same as I had it in my mind.  I also made a lot of mistakes - for example I filled up the arms and legs too much and should have left gaps at the tops so that they could easily be sewn on using a machine.  The ears didn't really match Helen's photographs so I was disappointed with these.  Also, I do find the faces so hard - my husband says thank goodness I am not a cosmetic surgeon as good knows what my patients would look like after facial work.  I know that my embroidery skills are not up to scratch yet and didn't want to make a complete mess of the bunny's face so I used a fine pen instead. 

Helen you are a genius - I look at your lovely books all the time and do so love the bunnies you make but you can rest easy that I am not going to take over the retail world of bunnies and soft toys at this rate.

 

 
I was pleased with her little outfit and hat and like to think she is on her way to a grand wedding somewhere.  Haven't got a name for her, bless her little heart. 

I have been thinking that I would like to have a giveaway to one of my lovely readers - please don't worry the prize isn't the little nameless bunny!  Perhaps you could offer some names and I could put these in a hat and pull out the winner.  I need to get a prize together so will write more about this later on in the week. 

Well lovely Folks I will leave you with our little friend up here - have a wonderful evening or day depending on which part of the world you are in.  Keep safe and happy, I love having you all visit, you make my day and I will speak to you all very soon once again.

Just one last comment Folks, have a look at the lovely Lauren's blog on www.guthrie-ghani.co.uk which shows my two bags - just a little disappointed that my name wasn't on them but they are the two side by side - red and blue seaside fabric.  Never thought one of my creations would ever be shown on a website gallery so thank you Lauren, cheered me up no end.  Also big thanks to LillyBlossom for the wonderful pattern for the seaside bag and Vicki from Rowan for the great workshop where I made my red bag.  Team effort I would say!

Thank you for stopping by and see you very soon.  Lots of love, a big hug, Dorothy :-)xxxxxxxxxxx