Gone To Earth

Something for you ..... Something for me

That's fair isn't it?

...gratuitous fabric photograph .... pretty Darla roses and ginghams

Quite regularly I receive photographs from customers who want to show me what they've been making. You'd be amazed at some of the pure creativity and skill some people have. I've also had conversations with other crafters, who sell their work and designs who are finding it difficult to get the attention they need to be able to make their craft business work.

I love to see pictures of your 'makes'; quilts, bags, hats, dresses, skirts and art works (Did I leave any out?) all created with fabric. Quite amazing some of them. I would also like to be able to help other crafters gain a little more attention. Does that sound smug? But, anyway, you have to try these things. So, two birds with one stone as the saying goes. I've set up a Flickr group which you'll find here. There's only one picture in there at the moment, which is my little flower, so please be brave (Can you see the pleading smile?) and add some of your own pictures. All fabric related photographs are very welcome. (Please respect Flickr rules regarding anything that looks like advertising; watermarks that kind of thing.)

What I'd like to do with the group is feature a few of the 'makes' each month (Maybe more regularly than that if it gets really busy. (Fingers crossed!)) and write a sort of blog/feature type post about them. I'd email you and ask for permission first because I know not everyone wants that kind of attention. But, if you do then please make sure that your details are upto date in your Flickr profile so that I can contact you.

I suppose only time will tell if this is a good idea or a bad idea... what do you think?

A round up....

I've been on holiday.....

....a beautiful Dales Barn...

.. in the Yorkshire Dales. Swaledale to be precise. It's my favourite Dale and we've visisted a few. It's rugged and quiet,

lots of flat bedded rivers to

... walk beside and skim stones into. Waterfalls to admre and picnic beside.

... just don't mention the midges.... polka-dotted arms just aren't attractive....and believe me they itch!

Haymaking was in progress when we arrived...

Can you see the tiny, little people ?

Apparently, it was the first opportunity they'd been to get the hay in and did they work..... from first light until quite dark, getting the hay into the barns before it was forecast to rain on the Friday. (It didn't! Horray for weather forecasts!).

Farmers often combine through the night here to get the oilseed rape and wheat in but Swaledale is the only place I've seen people actually out in the fields raking up the crop as well as the tractors too-ing and fro-ing. Some of fields were on impossible gradients too, you could easily imagine the tractors just toppling over and descending down the slope.

Whilst we were away the allotment went beserk... before we went away we picked, pounds and pounds of runner beans. Loads of courgettes, peas..... Shall I just say that I'm pleased that I have a jam pan so that I can make chutneys, pickles and jams. I'm also quite excited about being able to make cakes with courgettes.... we haven't tasted it yet. I'll let you know!

I need to say a BIG thank you to everyone who placed orders in the shop even though I wasn't going to be able to despatch anything until the following Monday (... and I'm afraid it took me slightly longer than Monday to catch up - but everything is back to normal now. (Allowing of course for the unforeseen.)

I also need to need to say thank you to everyone who joined in the giveaway and I'm sorry if I didn't get to reply to everyone. But, according to the 'Random Number generator' the winner of this ;

is;

and number seven (according to the order they were received in my mailbox) is; Kelly. So, congratualtions Kelly and if you'd like to e-mail me your address I'll get this pattern sent off to you. I hope you enjoy making it.

Updates.... and a little giveaway

I'm sorry to do this when the weather seems to have forgotten that it's summer and it was doing so well. All those weeks of uninterrupted sunshine whilst the children were at school and now that there's the opportunity to enjoy the lack of school routine and go out on picnics and walks in the woods, the good weather seems to have left us.

This is pretty though;

It's so shouts 1960's/70's to me....

Amy Butler's latest Mini dress, tunic and short and long tops pattern.

Such pretty flowing lines which I suspect would flatter most body shapes. The pattern, will make a mini dress, tunic and short and long tops. The sizes are for both girls and for women and the tunic and the dress have optional pockets should you want them.

....pretty Daisy Chain fabrics

If mini dresses aren't for you then I think it'd look good over leggings or jeans. I'm definately not a fashion guru, so what do you think?

Her other lastest pattern release is the 'Field bag and tote'. The Field bag is a BIG bag. It's a zippered top to hold everything safely inside and stands 15 1/2 inches tall, that's a large 25 inches tall if you include the handles. Plus, it's 5 1/2 inches deep, so it big enough to hold a great deal.

The Field tote has the same height, width and depth as the field bag but doesn't have the zipped closure and has a narrower opening at the top of the bag. Another roomy bag for those summer outings to the park or the beach.

lovely soft ripple stripes of MidWest Modern and Daisy Chain fabric

Plenty of internal pockets are included too so that you can organise those little bits and pieces that are inclined to sneak away into bag corners and take an age to retrieve when everything is getting desperate!

I've also added some Heather Bailey sewing patterns;

Her Fresh Picked Pincushions, with options on creating a pear, apple, tomato or strawberries in two sizes.

Then there's the 'Happy Stacker', which is a ring toy designed to keep the small people in your life entertained. ... my children used to love these kinds of toys when they were small.... hours of fun..

For those who cook, garden or craft there's the 'Daily Spice Apron' with a halter neck. Apparently, and I quote it's for that "Come hither while I bake us some cookies" look.

What more can I say!

When you're not flitting around the kitchen baking sweet temptation you may be thinking of going out. Out shopping, meeting friends for lunch or both and Heather Bailey has designed this for just those adventures. This is the 'Marlo Bloom handbag'.

It's designed to be reversible so you get two handbags effectively for the sewing work of creating one. It has instructions to create an optional flower pin to embellish the bag, but isn't it a pretty shape?

O.K., so that's been a lot of patterns to look at and as is usual when something new comes into the shop I thought I'd have a little giveaway of the the Amy Butler 'Field bag and tote' pattern, just in case the rain is keeping you locked up in doors with not much to do.

...a little giveaway..

As it's summer time and people are going away on holidays I thought I'd leave annoucing the winner until the 19th of August. All you have to do to join in is leave a comment on this post.