Monday, 14 June 2010

Space (not the intergalactic kind)

Lately things have been getting a little bit messy in my studio. Its all creative messiness though...well that's my excuse. I always struggle to be productive in a messy environment even though its me that makes the mess. So at the end of every project or order I finish I have a ruddy good tidy up. To make room in some of my cupboards I tried to maximise the space in my boxes.

I started off with my very "free and flowing" ribbon box and some scraps of cardboard.

And with a few spare pins ended up with this lovely organised box of ribbon! The only thing now is that I look like I hardly have any ribbon supplies at all :( but then that does mean I can make ANOTHER visit to here to replenish my stocks :D Yey!!!
P.S. If you were wondering how the soup turned out, it was delicious and I've posted the recipe here enjoy!

Sunday, 13 June 2010

Oh weekend where did you go?

One minute it was Friday and before you know it its Sunday and almost time to go back to the day job :( I felt rather exhausted this weekend, most likely the last few weeks catching up on me some and there wasn't much planned in for bagladee. I had a couple of visits from friends and managed to get 4 items under way for an up and coming order.

We had planned to get some practical things done, like go looking for a new washer and dryer, go to look at a car, tidy the garden, tidy the house. Well the last one got done but as for the others they will have to wait.

As I'm writing this post I am actually making some dinner and some soup for work tomorrow!! Yes shock horror I am attempting to make my own soup. A master with a sewing machine I am, one with the cooker I am not ;) its celery and onion and I found the recipe on the Internet. So far it smells good, that has to be a good sign right?

Must go and set the table.....I'll be back tomorrow with some photos of my sewing achievements this weekend. x

Friday, 11 June 2010

Green swap goodies sent

Now that Jane has received her swap, I thought it only fair that I showed you what I made.

If you were wondering what all the little felt leaves were for, well now you know. Each little leaf was sewn on one by one and is hopefully in the shape of the recycle symbol. I find hand sewing very therapeutic so even though it looks like a lot of sewing, I really enjoyed it. I used felt scraps out of my scrap box....I always keep all my scraps, although I never make anything out of them because they are a little small. Since my tub was over flowing I thought I'd better get my thinking cap on as to how I could use them.

This tiny little pin cushion is what I came up with, obviously using some more of the leaves. Oh and a cute little button on the top for the centre of the flower.

Keeping with the Eco/green theme, I made these 3 veg sacks.....Potatoes, onions and carrots. Made from hessian sack I had left over and had no idea what I could make with it and some more felt scraps.

And for some little extras I included: re-usable cloths by Sally Smith (I use them and they're great, you can wash them over and over), Eco-friendly deodorant, organic face scrub, fair trade cotton wool, fair trade chocolate and some fabric squares that I had from an old Sanderson swatch book.

I really enjoyed this swap, it was definitely a brain teaser. It really made me think about what I could send and was quite difficult at first but lots of fun. If you want to see what everyone else made pop over to TLBG where we will be posting all the links.

Tuesday, 8 June 2010

Green Swap Goodies arrived

Its quite some time since I participated in a swap through blogland. I made this promise to myself late last year, things were incredibly hectic (still are) and I have a habit of being distracted from the up keep of bagladee by joining swaps. This however was a totally different kettle of fish as Rachel and I from our TLBG blog decided to host our very own "green" swap. Guide lines were, recycled, re-purposed, Eco friendly, up-cycled....green things basically.

I was very lucky to be partnered with the lovely Jane over at Hooked Yarn and she was extremely organised (which put me to shame) as always I was lagging behind and was late to post!! Tut tut!!

I was bursting to see what was inside and it was wrapped in giant sized poppy paper (bubble wrap to normal people).....had great fun popping a couple of circles, not too many as I like to reuse any wrapping.

Two lovely handmade boxes, a sewn packet, some gorgeous braided, mirrored ribbon, a scrummy bar of fair trade chocolate (and I can def vouch for it being yummy as I scoffed it last night all by myself!) and a lovely handmade card.

I really loved the way Jane had packaged her goodies, we had to be green and Eco friendly. What better way than making your own colourful boxes and using some fabric strips as pretty ribbon.

Wrapped up in one of the boxes was a little trinket box and some very gorgeous buttons **sigh** Oh how I love buttons.

In her card Jane explained that the trinket box was crocheted from a cassette tape (an old Prodigy tape if you're interested what cassette it was), yes that's right crocheted from Cassette tape!!! Genius or what! It is standing proud on my desk in the studio with some pretty crystal beads kept safe in side.

And lastly in the other box was this totally fantastic scarf made from a fair trade t-shirt, so not only is it fair trade its been up-cycled. And I love the colour, I cant wait to wear it.

A huge thank you to Jane for being such a fab swap partner I was truly spoiled and I cant thank her enough. It was so much fun hosting our first swap, if you're not a follower you should pop over and check TLBG out. We don't preach or claim to be Eco warriors.....just a bunch of crafty people trying to be that little bit greener :D

Friday, 4 June 2010

Thank you

....for your lovely comments and well wishing for Nelly. I'm pleased to say that after a long anxious wait we collected her from the vets yesterday evening. She's OK, looks like she managed to pop it back in herself as her x-rays didn't bring up anything bad. She now has 2 bald legs (where they shaved them) and plenty of pain killers/anti inflammatory.

Today she has been lying in the shade while I cut the lawn. After a manic couple of weeks there wasn't a lot of crafting to be done this weekend, so I took a little time to chill out this afternoon. The photos are something I'm making for my green swap, I always wondered what I could do with all the little bits of felt that were too small to actually make something????

I'll be back with some more photos tomorrow, enjoy the sun. x


Thursday, 3 June 2010

My dear sweet Nelly

Nell, my little sweetie pie has to go to the vets early in the morning for an xray as she has a suspected dislocated hip. I had to rush her there tonight to have it checked out after she jumped down from the kitchen bench and landed very awkwardly on her right leg. She was not a happy bunny. But after a painful examination she was given a pain killer which has helped immensely.

There have been lots of cuddles tonight and no doubt I will anxiously await her return tomorrow. I'll keep you posted.

Wednesday, 2 June 2010

Cumbria Tragedy

My thoughts are with all those in Cumbria at such a sad time.