Just for me

It seems I am rubbish at shopping, at least that's what Mr P says and I hate to admit he has a point. I don't really enjoy shopping, I did as a teen. I loved going out with my allowance or wages and treating myself to clothes and shoes but then I got out of the habit. When the children came along they became the priority and once I became a single Mum anything I bought for myself had to be a real need, usually reduced and often from one of the supermarkets clothing departments.
For my last job I had (ghastly) uniform and would come home from work most days, shower and get into something comfy (also known as pyjamas!) It's fair to say I have gained a little weight and more and more of the clothes I chose to wear were black. I'd slipped back into the old habit of living in jeans or leggings, which to be fair, does very little for my look or my self confidence. When talk turned to the shop, I decided that I wanted to wear dresses, not just any old dresses, but nice dresses that would fit in with the feel of the shop and create a good impression. So I started to look in lots of the high street shops. I spotted a few dresses, but not enough to create a nice working wardrobe.
When we were at a food festival at Walton Gardens in Warrington, we went in to the craft section inside Walton Hall hoping to find some potential suppliers for the shop. We'd like to have a small selection of handmade goods to sell and seemed like a great opportunity to meet people face to face and ask if they'd be interested in putting some of their work in our shop. There were some lovely crafts on offer, but not all of them were the sort of thing we were looking for. There was a very cute little stall selling handmade jewellery all in the shape of teeny weeny sweets and cakes, that seemed like an obvious choice and also a stall full of gorgeous accessories. There were facinators and hair clips, bows and headbands all in really great fabrics, as well as a beautiful deep purple dress on a mannequin. I got chatting to the stall holder, Lindsey James, who was wearing in a fabulous red 50's swing style dress. She was really friendly and explained that like me, she had lost her job before Christmas and was hoping to turn her hobby/sideline into her future career. She explained that she had studied fashion at university and worked in the industry for several years and the dress on the mannequin was one of her own creations. I told her about the shop and how we'd like to have handmade goods on offer and got the contact details for her business Violet Flamingo. As we walked away I was saying to Mr P how much I liked the dress on the mannequin, when he suggested I go back and ask about having a dress made but me being me, I did my usual "oh no, it's fine" and home we went. I would have left it there but Mr P got me to email Lindsey with an enquiry about having a dress made. We exchanged a few emails and the more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea of dresses (yes plural) made to measure and in a style I loved but couldn't seem to find on the High Street.

So on Friday I took a drive over the Lindsey's studio, a lovely old building in Littleborough to discuss all things dressy.

 We had a really long chat, over a cup of coffee, discussed styles, fabrics, likes and dislikes, food, cakes, the shop, the proposal........It was a very sociable morning! Then we got down to business. 
We went through fabric samples

Lindsey took all sorts of measurements and had me trying on some of her creations, she made suggestions and did a little sketches. It was all very enjoyable and very exciting.
I felt very happy leaving a lot of the details to Lindsey, as I felt she had a really clear idea of my tastes. I've sent her some images of some dresses I like and based on those and our discussions she's going to draw up some proper designs and send them back to me with her fabric suggestions.
The great thing about all this is I get to pick and choose different bits from different dresses and I'll end up with some one-off designs. When I put on a dress it really lifts my mood, so I can only imagine how it will feel to wear a dress that I know has been made just for me.

I can't wait to see what Lindsey comes up with, but like my ring I, and you, will have to be patient! Bespoke things don't happen over night, but I'm confident they will be worth the wait!
Why not take a look at the Violet Flamingo site to see some of the lovely accessories available. I was lucky to get a sneaky peak at some of the items that will be coming soon and if you're lucky enough to be local to me, once we're open you'll be able to see them displayed in the shop!

The Snowball effect

When we made our move up North my lovely friend N sent us a gift that has caused a snowball effect not only with my gift giving but also with my crafting. This one gift re-opened a whole area of my life that I had pretty much forgotten. That might sounds a tad dramatic, but really it's not. I really had forgotten how much I enjoyed sewing and making gifts for people, how it feels to see someone's face light up upon receiving something that you have sat and lovingly made, just for them.
This gift was a cushion to mark the start of a new chapter in our life, and I don't mind telling you that when I opened it I cried buckets! I was so genuinely touched that N had sat and made it just for us.

Our 'Family' Cushion

It soon became a treasured item and one that would often be fought over, not what N had in mind I'm sure!

One day it occurred to me that I could actually make a cushion like that. True, it had been a very long time since I'd used my sewing machine, but I did have one. I'd even left it at my sisters when we moved as I didn't think I'd ever use it again. So I collected the machine from my sister on my next visit and started planning cushions I could make for my family. One each, so there would be no arguing. I decided that I would make them and not give them out until I had made them all so that no one got theirs 'first'. I ordered fabrics to suit the individual personalities of the family members and took inspiration form N's Blog post about Cushions she'd made. Being the good friend she is she also gave me advice on embroidery and things I might find useful to have/know.
I was all set. I'd even managed to track down a little Sewing Machine Shop in Warrington who ordered a replacement cotton reel spool holder thingy that had snapped off the top of my machine.

Here are the results..........

This is M's cushion. Butterflies, shoes, bags and gardening themed fabrics

This is L's Cushion. Butterflies, bright flamingo's, flowers and garden themes

MB's Cushion Very Bright and a patch with a little red head in the bath!

R's London cushion was a little larger and made up of pre-cut patches. It was the only way to get all the fabrics I wanted to use without breaking the bank!

Mr P's cushion had to have this Campervan Fabric. I chose the other fabrics on a 'Natural ' theme as at the time he was studying a Natural Sciences course

This is the back of Mr P's cushion. I usually keep them plain but I just loved this fabric and cutting it into patches would just have been wrong somehow.

A family of cushions

No more arguing over cushions. All these new cushions meant that the original cushion made my N became mine by default! (Sneaky, I know!)

A fair few people have since received cushions as gifts from me. Friends, family and last week I was actually asked to make one for a friend of a friend to mark a special event. More on that another day.
I do make other things apart from cushions like the Notebook Covers here and Roll ups, which I'll also save for another day.
I'll leave you with a few more cushions that have been given as gifts. I doubt any of them have had the same effect that N's cushion had on me. So much more than a cuddly cushion, it was a bundle of inspiration, a truly priceless gift x

For My Sister

A friends significant birthday

New baby in the family 3 become 4

A new arrival to another friends family 5 become 6

Purple cushion for my BFF

For a nephew

and another nephew

for my friends daughter

For my niece

and another nephew!

I made two cushions last week and have a few more planned too, along with some other projects. All this snowballed from that one gift. Amazing!

RBOK - Chocolate Orange Marble Cupcakes

RBOK or Random Bakes Of Kindness is a lovely idea that was started by Vanessa Kimbell. The idea is quite simply that you bake double of whatever you are making, keep one half and gift the other to someone you feel deserves a treat, for whatever reason. I loved this idea and I already quite often share my baking with the neighbours on either side of our house, as a thank you for taking a parcel in or just because I've made something I know the little ones or indeed the big ones will enjoy. I wasn't sure I'd officially take part, until the other day.

I think it's fair to say I've been having a tough time of things lately. I'm dealing with some very difficult family issues and I have been poorly for about three weeks. Work is......uncertain to say the least with potentially more uncertainty to come. Our aged cat took a turn for the worse (glad to say he's now fully recovered) and the fridge freezer is dying a slow death. Add to this three children with birthdays and it gets pretty stressful!

So can you imagine my horror when, whilst driving M to her theatre group a warning light started flashing on the dashboard of my car and to my dismay it started spluttering as we drove along. Once we'd arrived at our destination I looked at the manual and it seems it was something to do with the emissions or exhaust. I know nothing about cars but I knew this could not be a good thing and would probably be very costly, as cars tend to be. I was also worried as without my car I cannot work and if I don't work I don't get paid. Arghhh!!
Seriously......how much more could I take?
The following day I wasn't working as I had to attend court. I was meeting Mr P before hand as he was coming with me. Next to his work there is a garage. From the outside it's like a car grave yard, there are whole cars and parts of cars piled up and lining the drive. The owner is an older man, who under his overalls wear a shirt and tie. Walking into a garage, knowing I know nothing about cars, would fill me with dread, but this is the garage that has been looking after my car since the move north so I went in with Mr P. There was no sharp intake of breath, no muttering or tutting that you sometimes get in these situations, just a simple " leave it with us and we'll take a look" The owner had even agreed to lend me one of their cars if they needed to keep mine for more than the day. We left it there and headed off for our appointment. We came back less than two hours later and the lady from the garage waved us over as we passed by. My car was ready! Fixed and running like new, they had dropped everything  to look at my car. It turns out it was something quite simple, a part that needed replacing and they'd done it straight away. I was so relieved.

That's when I decided to do my first proper RBOK.
So this morning, just under a week later I baked a large batch of chocolate orange marble cupcakes, not something I'd made before, or had a recipe for, but that's what popped into my mind. So after the school run I whipped up a batch.
The recipe I came up with was this

200g unsalted butter
200g light soft brown sugar
200g self raising flour
4 eggs
4 tblsp milk
2 tblsp cocoa powder
zest of an orange
1 tsp natural orange essence

Place all the ingredients into the food processor, apart from the cocoa, zest and orange essence.
Once everything is combined put half of the mixture in a separate bowl. To the mixture that is left in the food processor add the cocoa and mix. To the mixture in the bowl, finely grate the orange zest and add the essence. Mix well.
I used 24 cake cases. They're an odd size from Ikea, not as big as muffins but bigger than fairy cakes. I might only make 18/20 in future.
Put a large teaspoon of each mixture into the cake cases. Take a skewer and swirl the two mixtures slightly.
Bake on 180c/gas4 for about 15-17 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.
I topped some of the cakes with a little melted chocolate, but they're nice left plain too.

Marble cupcakes

Once cooled I popped nine cakes into a cake box and six into a plastic tub. I drove to the garage and found the owner in the office talking to his sister who also works there.I gave them the box of nine cakes and explained that I simply wanted to say thank you. I don't think I've ever seen two people more surprised to receive a gift! They really were genuinely delighted and a little taken back!
Next stop was Mr P's work, just next door. I was collecting some hedgehog boxes that he's made to donate to Warrington hedgehog rescue. I swapped him two hog houses for six cakes to share with his colleagues. He seemed happy with that and a few minutes after leaving I got a cheeky text asking what I'd be dropping off tomorrow!
 There are still some cakes left at home for the children to have after school or in their lunch boxes. It felt really nice to be able to make so many people smile, it could get addictive!

The lady in the garage, who I now know is called Barbara made a really good point. She said "So often you go out of your way to help people and it's so rare that they really appreciate it" At least they know I did!

Click here

Gifts to go!

So I asked the children what they would like me to make for their teachers this year as end of term gifts. I gave the a choice of a couple of possible, not too time consuming, items that I could make once I'd finished work before the end of term.
They asked for notebook covers. I ended up making five! M has two teachers, L and R have one each and a teacher they all like is moving on so it seems he needed one too!

I don't mind really as I have a fair amount (*cough-cough*) of fabric sitting in the loft and the notebooks are inexpensive. Also they're pretty quick to make, even for me!

All it takes is

2 pieces of fabric 24x34 cm (contrasting or coordinated)
2 pieces of matching fabric 24x24 cm folded in half & ironed
1 length of ribbon approx 28cm
1 piece of iron on facing approx 20x30 cm

The plain material will be the inside of your cover. The patterned material will be the outside of your cover.
The 2 pieces 24cm square, folded & ironed will hold the notebook in place. The ribbon is your page marker.

Iron the facing onto your plain piece of fabric (or whatever you want for your inside)
The lay that wrongside down, rightside facing you.
On top of that position the two folded squares at the edge to form the flaps that will hold the note book in place. Pin.
Position your page marker ribbon to the right hand side, about 1cm from the edge of the folded piece. Secure in place with a pin.
You should have something that looks like this........

This is how it will look once completed

Make sure you also pin the loose end of the ribbon out of the way, so when you stitch it all together it doesn't become trapped in the sewing!

Tuck the end out of the way

Next. Lay the outside cover on top. Rightside down, wrongside facing you and pin in place.

all rightsides will be on the inside, all wrongside will be facing out.

Next sew on the machine. Sew all the way around EXCEPT for the bottom in between the two edge flaps. Leave this open for turning out your finished item.
I always backstitch a little at the start & finish and over where the ribbon is at the top.
Before turning out. Clip the corners & trim any excess fabric from the edges except from the bottom edge as you will have to turn this in to finish the item.

Clip your corners

Turn out with care. Fold in open seem and press, all over with an iron

Stitch closed on the machine

Add an A5 notebook

Finished! This one's for Mrs Downie

Oops! Ribbbon on the wrong side!
Pink sparkly swirls for R's teacher

Butterflies for Miss Hamilton, with purple lining,
as requested by M

Bright oranges & yellows for L's teacher

Bold tribal type patterns for Mr M who's
off to pastures new

The children were quite pleased with my efforts when they came home from school. I just hope their teachers like them. I see so many 'Best Teacher' mugs when I go into schools, piled high in communal cupboards in staff rooms. And from speaking to staff I know they often dread the boxes & boxes of chocolates they receive. So hopefully these will make a welcome change & last a little longer too!

Cover to cover

Piled up and ready to go