Custom shoulder/lap top bag

Back in Feb a lovely fellow designer/maker Fi Mehra asked me if I would design and maker a lap top bag that was big enough to carry her lap top, ipad and other bits and bobs. She loved the design of my saddle bag so I offered to sketch her a design and once agreed set about constructing the pattern pieces. 

This was the sketch we agreed on.....

 ...and this was the final bag, what do you think?

It has box corners which are on a curve, something that I hadn't tried before, I think it worked a treat.

I used these gorgeous nickle O rings, I bought them quite some time ago and wanted to use them on a bag and thought they would be perfect for this commission.

Fi picked two of my favourite fabrics out of my stash, don't they look great together, I teamed these up with a gorgeous Klona cotton from here. 

Plenty of room with one large pocket especially for Fi's ipad and two medium pockets for bits and bobs (big enough for a note book, mobile phone, purse, keys.....and lots of other knick-knacks (love that word).

And of course it was....made in England :)

I will be adding these to my website (once I get round to making some more). 

Spring has sprung

Hasn't it??? I do hope so. It was warm enough at the weekend for us to be able to get the garden sorted, the flower beds filled, our new garden furniture varnished and my veg planters started. We're doing potatoes, carrots, parsnips, peas, red onions, tomatoes and peppers this year. I'm hoping for a warm spring and summer so that we'll be able to get a decent crop. There's nothing more satisfying than eating veg you planted yourself. I'd love to say I grew these daffs and tulips but alas no, they were an Easter gift from C's Mam (instead of a chocolate egg - my choice). I did however find a couple of hours to make these 'spring' inspired cupcakes. They were scrummy!!!

Wild thing

As you all know I love bright, patterned fabrics......so I couldn't resist buying a FQ of each of these!! Grrrrrrrr! What do you think? I know they're not every ones cup of tea but not everyone likes the same thing, it would be boring if we did :) There's more coming next week.....Zebra and more leopard print (of which I already have an order for). 

*sings* "Wild thing, you make my heart sing! You make everything gggrrrooooovvvyyyyy".

Catch up

I think I might have to admit that I'm a binge blogger, is there such a thing? I seem to go weeks without posts and then I have weeks where I want to post every day. Do all crafters go through this? Is it that we have spurts of creativity?

I always have lots of projects on the go at once, this time it was saddle bags, before this cosmetic pouches. I just need to put their bows and rhinestone flowers on and these will be ready to be sold. I've found getting back into a routine difficult since we moved but finally I'm starting to feel as though its all slotting back into place.

Blooming Felt - logo cushion

Remember a little while ago I showed you a sneak peek of something I was working on? 

Well now I can reveal what I was making, admittedly I am a little behind showing you my recent makes but the main thing is that I'm here now :)

My lovely friend Sarah who is 'Blooming Felt' was planning on moving into a new 'Shedquarters' and I thought that one of my felt cushions would make a very appropriate moving in gift. So I nipped over to Sarah's website and borrowed her logo.

I then made some templates and began cutting out the felt letters and flower.

The smaller letters were quite fiddly, probably the smallest text I've attempted with felt. As you can see from the photo above I've just about managed to use pins to keep them in place.

In no time at all (as I love hand sewing) its was all ready to have the back sewn on and a Bagladee tag popped in place.

I waited until I went to the Knitting and Stitching show at the Birmingham NEC to give Sarah her cushion in person as we planned to meet for some lunch. I'm pleased to say that she loved it :)

I couldn't resist taking some photos of it against my favourite chair.

If anyone would like a felt cushion with their company logo on it please do shout up, not expensive at £15 (incl p+p) I have a mini grey one with my 'B' logo on it in my studio.