family name cushions

we were invited to a friends UK wedding back in may (they actually got married in South Africa - but had a party when they got back) and as there was no gift list, and it was a fairly informal affair I wasn't sure what to get as a gift........

so i decided to make them a family name cushion, after much practicing of my cursive hand writing, and many attempts at drawing it out, i was finally happy with it, and set about embroidering in a lovely soft charcoal, onto white fabric from ikea.

i even managed my first ever zip!

then i had quite a bit of interest from friends as was commissioned to do a few as christmas presents, and finally got around to making one for my brother and sister in law. i forgot to take a picture but the back is made up of these great prints i bought way back one, half is italian (my sister in law is half italian) and had london/british fabric

i'm quite pleased with the look of them, and might add them to my etsy shop which i might one day get around to stocking and opening!

flashback friday - teachers presents

i have so many craft/sewing projects which i haven't blogged. time just flies by and other things take priority over blogging. so i'm going to try to blog about a past project every friday.....

in july last year, no. 1 finished her first year at big school. i wanted her teachers to have a hand made thank you present.

for her teacher i made her a make-up bag, i used anna from noodlehead's open wide zippered pouch tutorial (she has so many great tutorials and patterns - i really must make a few more)

i made a patchwork panel for the bottom and embroidered her initials on the front

i used some long stashed amy butler dots for the lining. i really wanted to use a chunky jean style zip, but couldn't find any long enough which didn't cost an arm and a leg.

and for the teaching assistant i was reliably informed she received an iPad for her birthday, with some careful detective worked i discovered it was an iPad air and set about making her a cover.

some prized liberty appliquéd initial, and some sneaky gnomes for the lining.

mine-crafty

no.1's very good friends are twin, and they turned six today.

as their gift i wanted to make them something, but what do you make for a six year old boy (unless you work in a toy factory in china - then you could make loads of stuff they'd like!) they are completely and utterly into minecraft - so a minecraft cushion it is!

i ordered the fabrics from plush addict after school on tuesday and they were through the letter box on wednesday! very impressive.

i did all my maths to calculate what size squares i would need for a 30cm cushion insert, cut some squares out and decided my maths must have been wrong and cut lots and lots of squares a bit smaller...... turns out my maths was right, so this one has a black border to make it a bit bigger.

then i went back to my originally calculations and made this one....

in a way i quite like that they are different as they are for twins, it's nice for them to have things not exactly the same.

2015 + resolutions

hello 2015, and hello poor desolate, neglected blog.

i find it astonishing how quickly the years fly by. i remember being at school and the six week summer holidays felt like an eternity, and you'd forgotten how to write when you got back to school! now six weeks fly by without me even noticing. i guess that's kids and motherhood for you.

usually i don't really go in for new years resolutions (probably because i know i'm so flaky i'll never stick to them) but this year i have a whole array of resolutions and i thought if i come here and write them down it will make me a little more accountable for them, here's hoping anyway.

so here goes....

blog more - an oldy but a goody, i have said this so many times, and i'd like to say "but this time i'll stick to it" but you know what, i probably won't but i'd like to try a little harder to blog more consistently. i have so many projects which i'd love to blog about, but never seem to get around to it. in fact i never blogged about the quilt i made for my oldest daughter four years ago! maybe i'll go through all my old projects (which i still have or remembered to take a picture of before i gave it away!) and show you.

open my etsy shop - i started fifi & florence as a proper business last summer, with a shelf in a lovely little shop in Olney, Northants, called Afterglow. the shelf pays for itself and makes me a little bit, but some of my products i think are much more suited to online purchasers, so this year i will (finally) stock my etsy shop.

sort my back out - i've had problems with my lower back/hip since i had my first child, and after 11lb number three came along, it just hasn't gone away. i think it all stems from a weak core, so i'm gonna get my shizzle together and sort it out!

wave good bye to my mummy tummy - as mentioned above, i had an 11lb (yes 5kg) baby two years ago, and being 5ft 2 in this really took it's toll on my body. i still look about 5 months pregnant, and regularly get asked when i'm due, or i can see people look at my tummy in a kind of "oooh, is she pregnant again" way (this is probably all in my mind but hey) i've tried the tupler technique on and off for the last two years, but I just can't stick to it. you have to wear a splint day and night, which in all honesty isn't that comfortable. it's an 18 week programme and i've only ever made it to week five (see flaky), i've seen a difference after the five weeks, but then i fall off the wagon and after a few days it's back to hello big belly. so i've done some research and come across the mutu system, which deals with a weak core and poor body alignment, it's a 12 week programme with core and overall body workouts as well as an clean eating plan. so i'm all signed up, started watching some of the videos and plan to document my progress here.

be more organised - another oldy but a good. i'm so disorganised and i'm always late. this is definitely a part of my character and something which won't change completely, but i'd like to be a bit better. my mantra - "be more like MIL, be more like MIL" who is a cleaning up and organising whirlwind!

oh, and remember birthdays and send cards on time!!

so there we have it my resolutions for 2015 - lets see how we get on........