Holiday bliss

Well Hello there!!

I do hope you're all well and that you've had a lovely Christmas? Ours was quiet but nice, I ate way to much but it was really nice just to kick back and relax. No day job and no deadlines!! Bliss!

Everyone needs a break now and then, right.

I bought a little note book just before Christmas and made a promise that over the holidays I would write in ideas and sketches for new projects and plan what I would like to do in 2014. There are lots of filled pages already. Where it will take me I don't know but I'm excited at the prospect of change.

I have a mountain of photos to edit of pre-Christmas makes which I will get round to this week and schedule in some posts, I don't want to overload you all with a barrage of photos ;)

Just about to go and pour myself a glass of wine and catch up on some blog reading.....now this is the life!

Christmas Market - the Riverbank - Sunday 8th Dec

Next Sunday I will be here at the Riverbank, selling at their Christmas Market, open from 11am-5pm. 

This will be your last chance to get your hands on some fab handmade Christmas gifts in person.

See you there :D

Love Patchwork and Quilting issue 2

In amongst all the crazy prep for Christmas I was asked by the very lovely editor of Love Patchwork and Quilting magazine Jen, to make and write a tutorial for my very popular fabric boxes. Even though I was super busy I said yes, I love to write tutes and relished the fact that it was a new challenge as I had to make part of the project patchwork.

As I'm no quilter or patchwork artist, I stuck to quite an easy format but I think they turned out rather well. I love the photos they staged and love how retro they look. The fabric I used is by Melody Miller and was supplied by the Eternal Maker.

I also had to provide a high res photo of myself *gulp*. As I don't have any 'recent' photos I asked Chris if he would take one of me especially. So after a little bit of make up application and a change of clothes we came up with this. This is me *waves* Helloooooooo

Christmas Market - Tom Browns Brasserie - Sat 7th Dec

Next Saturday I will be here at the Tom Browns Brasserie, selling at their Christmas Market, open from 10am-4pm. 

Why not pop down, I will be there will all my goodies and would love to say Hi :) Mulled wine, mince pies, a brass band and lots of lovely boutique style stalls what more could you ask for??

See you there :D

1st Christmas Market of 2013

This was me last weekend at the Farndon Boathouse Christmas Market. I thought that since I've been absent from my blog for a little while you would all understand if I showed what I'd been up to.....making all this lovely lot for my fairs.

It was a lovely day and the fair was quite busy, there was a brass band, mulled wine and mince pies, lots of fantastic stalls and Santa was there too :) I took a large selection of products, some new clutch bags, mini clutch bags and purses.

I also took along some of my new felt swirl brooches that I've been keeping under wraps, these proved to be popular and they come in these cute gift boxes.

I also made a selection of these felt rings, in large and small I was sporting one for most of the day but as it was a little chilly I did give in and put my gloves on a few times :)

I love the new animal print fabric I bought in just before Christmas, my favourite is the blue print at the top.

I also made a large selection of my fabric boxes but this time they come as a set of two, large and small.

My felt flower hair bands made an appearance don't they look cheery all stood in a line together.

I've missed doing craft fairs, I love being able to chat to other stall holders and getting to chat to customers. Although I always give the best customer service I can through my website and etsy store, I don't think you can be actual face to face interaction.

Make up bags were also popular, they make great Christmas gifts.

My little ginger soldiers were with me again, don't they look cute on this little stand (which was actually a mug tree).

And their smaller counter part, the mini gingerbread men brooches were also there, proudly displayed on their very own stand.

We're all packed and ready for this weekends fairs, Tom Browns Brasserie on Saturday 10-4pm and the Riverbank Sunday 11-5pm.

Aaaaannnnd STAMP!

Ta Dahhhhh!!! Here I am again....

Its Friday and I'm ready for the weekend. This week I've been motoring through my to do lists at a respectable rate for a change. I've managed to make 9 sets of fabric boxes, 4 large clutch bags, 5 mini clutches, 8 purses, a whole bunch of gingerbread men decorations and even found the time to have a bit play around with my new stamp from Serious_stamp to make these.....

I was so pleased with my new stamp I literally wanted to stamp EVERYTHING!!!!

I still have a lot to do before the Christmas Markets so I cant just sit around all day stamping things....best get back to that list!! ;) 

Just words....

This time I'm here with words no pictures, but I feel like I have to explain why no pictures. I decided quite sometime ago that my time was precious and with lots to get done everyday (including a full time job) my time needed to be managed more productively.

This meant concentrating more on quality rather than quantity, so in times past I used to be here often chatting away about this and that, this fell to the bottom of my list. Sadly I feel like I've lost touch in the blogging world. I'm still popping by and reading all the blogs I follow through Bloglovin and do sometimes comment. But I dont feel like I'm 'connecting' anymore.

I love to post photos of the things I make which I am still doing, but I think trying to keep my blog 'business' related only I have lost what I set out to acheive when I started this blog. I wanted to connect with like minded people and be part of a community, now although I still do connect with some of you out there and mainly through emails and facebook, I miss here. Does that make sense?

I used to come here to call on you all for advice and constructive critisim or mainly just to rant about daily goings on.

If you're still reading this post I thank you :)

I've decided I'm going back to what I do best.....waffling and faffing. So here goes, want to know what Emma has been up to?

Well I still dislike my day job, not hate any more as personal circumstances have made me appreciate it for what it is, I kinda class this as an epiphany as I was so angry at the fact I was doing a job I hated. It was quite honestly making me miserable. I got over that and boy has it made things easier!!

We moved house almost exactly a year ago, cant believe its been a year! The journey to buy this house has not been easy by any mean feat and were still not 100% there, cant say much about it all yet but I'm hoping there will be some resolve soon. Nell made a full recovery from having 11 teeth removed and is brighter and more active than ever. What felt like the worst thing to do at the time turned out to be the right thing to do.

Tomorrow will be 11years since C and I had our very first date and yes *blushes* our first kiss :D I have bought him the most adorable card (I'll share that with you later) and we are going to our favourite curry house "The Bridge and Bay leaf" for a meal. I dont know where I'd be without C he's been so supportive and encouraging with Bagladee. At times where I've felt overwhelmed by everything he's been there to say don't give up! He's even said he's looking forward to keeping me company at the Christmas Markets this year.

Best update you on Bagladee too ;) as you will have seen there has been and is a lot of making going on at the moment. Prep for the Christmas Markets and orders are certainly keeping me busy. And as usual the gingerbread men are flying out the door. I've even been able to squeeze in some new products, more about that coming soon.

Right well I think I've bored you all enough for now....hope you agree its good to have the old me back?

Ooooh and one more thing, painted my nails lime green today ;) more waffle.

xx

For the boy

After my initial drawing and cutting out all the pieces I've now made the background piece ready for sewing all the felt pieces to :) cant wait to get it finished and ready to give to my Nephew and his wife for their little bundle of joy Elijah.

Into flowers

Remember when I showed you these felt circles? 

Well with a little help from my new glue gun, those felt circles were transformed into these!!!

I've had so much fun experimenting with them I made a whole bunch of them in different sizes.

I have many ideas of what I can use them for....watch this space.

I even invested in some new templates so I can make lots more :)

Mojo - do you have yours?

I always go through stages where I feel like my I've lost my 'mojo'. I dont think its actually lost, just gone on vacation for a short while. This last week it seems to have come back with a vengeance and there are so many things I've been making and there has been lots of frantic scribbling on bits of paper of more new projects I want to start. They do say its all or nothing! 

(the photo above is the bag I gave away when I reached 500 likes on my FB page, I plan on having another when I reach 1000)

Secrets

As well as the felt circles I'm also working on another secret project with these gorgeous linen fabrics and co-ordinating polka dot ribbon. Ooooh I'm so excited for this one!! Where's my scissors?

Circles

I've been busy chopping up these tiny felt circles. What do you think I've been making with them? (Go on have a guess!)

Little one part 2

So here I am with the letters/numbers and bear cut cut out. I plan on using a plain baby blue cotton for the background and edging it with a micro polka dot print in a darker shade of baby blue. I bought a lovely silver frame at the weekend to mount it in. As you know I love hand sewing and as its something for baby Elijah it will make it even more of a pleasure to make.

Little one...

After the birth of my Great Nephew last month I wanted to make something special to welcome him into the world. It took me a while to decide but after umming and ahhhing I decided on a framed textile piece with his name and date of birth. Cant wait to get it cut out to see what it will look like.....

Hot ideas

I am now the proud owner of my very own hot glue gun :) the last time I used one of these I was at college. After seeing a tutorial on a blog somewhere (I will try and find it again and post the link) I thought 'Oooooh I bet I could make something cute for the Christmas markets I'm doing' and to be honest I wanted one to wear myself. 

So I popped over to Hobbycraft and bought one of their mini glue guns and the glue sticks were buy one pack get one free. I also stocked up on some gingerbread men coloured felt. Unfortunately I bought the wrong trick markers, dont ask me how I managed this, my brain must have been somewhere else other than inside my head. And whilst I was rummaging through the clearance bins I managed to cut my finger on a rotary cutter which had fallen out of its packaging. Well it was Friday 13th. 

Hope you all made it through Friday 13th without any drama?

The little things...

Some people are great at it, some people hate it, some find it boring, I, love to do a bit of hand sewing. There is something about it that just calms me, when I want all the chaos of everyday life to stop I fill my work tray with some pieces of felt, some of my card templates, some pretty threads and my tools and park myself on the sofa.

I can spend hours sitting stitching, sometimes it can be a welcome break from machining. I love to create all of the things I do with my sewing machine but its nice to mix it up a little every now and then. 

Since I'm busy making orders and trying to make some stock for this years Christmas markets it was a perfect time to start making some of my monogram felt cushions again. So far I've made a K, A, R, H, E, M & S. I'm trying to make the more popular initials so if you have any suggestions please shout up and I can get making those next.

Right back to making orders :)

Blue...

This little (or should I say large) beauty has been dominating my make time over the last couple of weeks.

I made it especially for my Nephews wife who was expecting my Great Nephew Elijah who arrived last week.

As always very roomy with lots of internal pockets for bottles, wipes or anything else you need to stuff in :)

Wider strap for comfort when carrying it and an adjustable strap to be worn across the body or on the back of your pushchair/pram.

Huge front and back external pockets for yes, more stuff!!! :D

These bags can even be used as travel bags/overnight bags.

£50 + postage.....you pick the fabric and I turn it into one of these.....nice huh?

Catch up time

Blogging seems to be less now, maybe that is because of the growth of my facebook page or maybe its just because Summer time is a busier time for me all round.

I have been catching up on blog reading on my phone through Bloglovin so I have been keeping up to date with all that's been going on in your lives. I miss the interaction though I cant remember the last time I commented....not because I don't want to but because it doesn't work too well on my phone.

I've been spending my time (outside of the day job) working on some new design bags, including the 'Mama' bag and a new baby/changing bag which you have seen me post photos of the last couple of months. I've also been planning 3 Christmas craft fairs organised by the same chain of restaurants in Nottingham.

These will be:

The Boathouse @ Farndon November 30th

Tom Browns @ Gunthorpe December 7th

The Riverbank @ Trent Bridge December 8th

Custom orders are still coming thick and fast so there is a little bit of a waiting list at the moment. Hopefully by the end of next weekend I will have caught up and ready to fit the next barrage of orders into my diary :)

The bank holiday (UK) has been spent catching up on house stuff, normally I would find house chores boring and find myself itching to finish and go and do something more beneficial to me but this weekend I've found it quite therapeutic. Everything Bagladee, day job and home-life is quite hectic....constantly, so whilst I've been cleaning the windows/moping the floors/mowing the grass I've found myself almost day dreaming, planning what I would like to do and how I will do it or just thinking random thoughts. There's been lots of doing lately and not much thinking.

I did last week go off and finally buy some paint to paint one wall in my studio, I new what palette of colour I wanted it just too me a long time to decide what shade. The colour I did pick in the end is somewhere close to these.....

Cant wait to see what it will look like. As always I will show you some before and after shots.

Hope you're all having a fab weekend and doing something more exciting than house chores :D

Let me introduce....

....my Mama with her 'Mama' bag :) isn't she lovely!

'Mama' bag...

Things have been a little slow here at the moment, RSI is limiting how much time I can spend sewing :( this makes me sad. Hopefully with a bit of rest I'll be back to my normal speed. Last week I managed to finish this sample for my new design the 'Mama' bag, this one has found a new home with my Mama (which I thought was very appropriate). More in the making soon.

A bag for Sarah

A big, big thank you to Sarah from Blooming Felt who commissioned a custom Saddle bag and chose this gorgeous duo of fabrics. This is the largest polka dot I think I've ever seen!! It took me a while to find a spot big enough (Sarah was very patient with me) but we got there in the end. I was so pleased that Sarah suggested this huge red button for the front of the bag, thats what custom orders are all about. Making something personal to the customer.

Sarah was very pleased with her new bag....

"Thank you SO much. I immediately tipped out my other bag straight into my new bag and then headed out to the shops !!! Lots of admiring glances I noticed. Thanks again lovely xxxx" - Sarah

OK, now dont all rush at once to place your order ;) please form an orderly queue. x