I'm gocco-ing mad!

Today I tried out my gocco printer for the first time. I thought I'd go with an easter theme as it will be here before we know itThere was a bit of trial and error in the form of an unexposed bulb, which meant a wasted screen, but you can't expect things to be perfect first time. I used 2 screens for this one, although possibly could have done it on one screen (? still learning).
I've left the birds wings deliberately blank, so I can infill them with some of my scrap book papers.
What do you think? I'm pretty chuffed with my first attempt.

Today I also made a crown for the bunny from yesterday - She's called Elizabeth - a very regal name - to go with her not too regal looking pink crown

For Lucy Locket - here are a couple of pics of my printed fabric from my uni days. I didn't get around to chopping it up today - maybe tomorrow? although I am a wee bit obsessed with gocco right now
Finally after an anxious few days on my part since I posted it, Heleen has received her valentines swap gift from me. Phew!
He's a little pic of what i made for her
You can check out her blog here to see the finished/final piece. I'm really pleased that she loves it - after all valentines is all about the love!

bunny rabbit (of sorts)

Well today was maybe not quite as good as yesterday, but not a bad day all in all. I made the fatal mistake of checking my work emails (well I really had to - something that I needed to check/sort), and found myself feeling grumpy for about an hour afterwards - probably because I'm on holiday and as much as I like my job I don't want to think about it this week when I'm having a holiday from work. So a remedy of a funny film was in order. It worked, we watched 'knocked up' and it made both me and Mr Monda laugh out loud, so I would recommend that you see it - maybe just don't watch it with your kids though - too much adult humour/swearing etc.

I've signed up for the easter 'bunny hop bunny swap' organised by Lucy Locket. I am slightly scared about this as I've never created a bunny softie before, well before today that is. This is my first attempt at a bunny - its looks vaguely like the picture I drewI didn't bother with a pattern, I just cut the fabric and away I went. I'm going to try to few more bunnies over the coming weeks too - this one incidentally is not for the swap.

Today I dug out one of the fabrics I designed and printed on my degree course. Looking at it now, I'm not particularly impressed with the entire design (I completed my course 10 years ago, and I liked it at the time) - it has nice elements though, so I washed some and will cut it up to use in some of my work. Might try that tomorrow...

Yesterday I found this magazine in WHSmith:
It was fairly expensive at £8 but it is pure eye candy and even the paper smells and feels great. This is one mag I'm sure I'll be reading from cover to cover.

such a good day

I've had such a good day.
It started with my valentines swap parcel arriving from the Heleen in the Netherlands. I was secretly hoping that the sneak peek on Heleens blog was one of the little matroushka that she has been making - well it wasn't just one - it was two!Heleen also sent me a stash of brightly coloured fabric, some embroidery silks, a piece of braiding, and some dutch chocolates which Mr Monda has reliably informed me was very nice (I'm saving some for later). Thank you very much Heleen - I hope you like your swap gift as much as I as like mine
As soon as I know Heleen has received her parcel, I will reveal what I made to send to her.

Next was my opticians appointment. As I suspected, I needed a slightly stronger prescription than last time (which was in 2003!). I only really wear glasses for about 40% of the time (for driving mostly, but also when my eyes are tired) but I'm seeming to rely on them more and more of late, especially at work. I spent a long time choosing new glasses - I tried on loads, and me and Mr Monda had a real laugh when I looked like either Nicky Hambleton Jones (a harsh look I think) or Alan A Allen (Rupert Grints character in the film Thunderpants)The opticians must hate people like me.
Anyway, after narrowing it down to three pairs, I was stuck for which to choose. They were buy one pair, get the second free, so I was planning on getting 2 pairs. After much deliberation (and a nice 50% discount from the optician) I bought 3 pairs of glasses! I'm not really a frivolous person, but today I threw caution to the wind, and it felt really good. Now this must say something about me mustn't it - probably that I'm a sad individual who gets her kicks from buying 3 pairs of glasses.
I'll pick them up next week, and may post a pic of my eyes with specs if I feel brave enough.

Another good thing about today was that the pesky time stealer was nowhere to be seen and I got so much done.
This monster is for another swap I'm doing (I'm swap crazy at the moment)
Quite a departure for me because this one is much bigger than my usual monsters and he was sewn mostly by machine. I usually hand sew my monsters right side out, but this one was done inside out and then turned out (does that make sense? I'm not really good at this technical speak).
Here he is with his smaller cousin:
I'm hoping for an equally productive day tomorrow. I'm off to eat my valentines swap chocolate now...

the time stealer

I've decided that there is a little creature out there called a time stealer. He nips into your home when your back is turned (probably whilst you are emptying the washing machine) and runs away with your time. He has been here on several occasions this weekend.

I spent some time with my mum yesterday/today as she was visiting her mum (close to where I live) and also it is her birthday. We went out for a wagamama, then we ambled around the shops in Windsor for a while and bought huge chunks of chocolate cake for everyone on the way home - sadly no pics though. My poor mum didn't get her handmade present from me yet - I bought her a couple of other gifts and she'll now have an extra special gift on mothers day instead. I blame that time stealer I mentioned earlier.

I'm not at work this week (phew) and I plan to do a fair bit of crafting/making. With this in mind I decided not to do very much today, although I did spend about 2 hours tidying up my workspace in readiness all the planned work.
Last night my mellie cat snuck onto the table to sleep on a pile of felt that I had got out and left, so I decided a cool wash in the machine was in order. Well lets just say, it's all twice as thick as it was before, and of course half the size - never mind, I know I'll use it for something eventually!
I have some boring stuff on the agenda this week too - I've booked an eye test for tomorrow - I hope I don't end up needing a massive pair of new glasses like this little fella:
ciao for now.

happy valentines day

the thing that I don't like about valentines day is that it is so commercial. I couldn't think of anything worse than going to a restaurant full of couples staring at the other half of a couple opposite them.
Buying handmade/making presents for valentines is perfectly acceptable, and indeed I did get a couple of handmade gifts for Mr Monda, and Mr Monda got me nice flowers yesterday as a 'it's not a valentines' gift
In a valentines day protest I'm staying in tonight and making a broccoli and cauliflower cheese, with bacon and tomatoes. Tasty good.this pic is a sneak peek at my valentines swap
and these flowers are for anyone who didn't get some today

For my birthday, Mr Monda bought me a print gocco. It arrived yesterday and I'm itching to get my hands on it, but I'm being good and waiting until next week when I actually have some time to commit to doing it properly.

a short while ago, I found Abigail Brown's website. She makes some lovely stuff, like this little rabbit:Go and have a look at her cool website, and her etsy shop.

and also, once again, just a quick thanks to all the peeps who have left comments for me recently. It is so nice to hear from all of you :o)
The sick child from my last post belongs to my sister. My sis and her hubby were in the hospital with him whilst I looked after my other nephew. He is doing much better now - thanks for all your well wishes.

strange birthday

a bit of a long story, but my birthday was a bit strange - It involved a very sick child, a hospital, anxious parents, and more sick. A hectic day, but you can't really expect too much when you get to 32 can you.

Birthday presents amongst other things were one of these which hasn't yet arrived (and i am very excited about this one), a Silver pendant, a glass heart charm for my charm bracelet, an amazon voucher, some chocolate, a sudoku game, a half knitted handmade scarf (from my sister - she took it away with her to finish it so I have no pics) and a little knitted brooch (made by my sis, which she said was rubbish, but I like it):I ended up making my little cakes at a late late hour last night with the commotion of the day, and took them into work with me today. They have strawberry flavouring in them, they were quite tasty (if a little sugary):
I've almost finished my valentines swap - it just needs a bit more work tonight and I'm done. Pics will follow in a week or so (so as not to spoil the surprise)
I've got lots to do this week. My mum's birthday present (for Sunday), and a new softie for the swap I'm doing over at the needle
Sometimes I just wish I didn't actually have to go to work, I'd get so much done if I didn't just have evenings to do stuff. That said, I have a week off next week - and I hope to do some serious sewing :o)

101 and 32

101 is the number of posts on my blog and 32 is the number of me!

Firstly to the 100th post freebie.
Once again in a non technical fashion - the draw took place this morning and the winner is Lina! Congrats Lina - egg cosy's will be on their way to Canada very soon. Lina as I already have your address, there's no need to send it again.

Now to other things. Finally I can reveal a little of my valentines swap - which will be on its way to Heleen in the Netherlands at the end of this week. I can't show you more yet because I don't want to spoil it
Lastly, today is my Birthday. I'm having a tea party (along with my nephews) I hope the cupcakes I am about to make will look like these lovely specimens from crumbs and doilies I may post a picture of them later/tomorrow if they are worth a photograph!

Have a nice day!

Eggselent!

Groan. Bad title I know.
Still, something much better is this, it's my 100th Blog post! and to celebrate I have made this egg cosy prototype (one of many more to come) to give away as a freebie. Now one egg cosy is nice but surely 4 would be better, so I have selected fabrics and felts for 4 egg cosy's and will make 4 for the freebie (they will all be different)


If you'd like to win this freebie, then please leave me a comment in this post between now and Sunday at 9am when I will draw the winner.

For Lucy Locket - Sunday is also my Birthday.

the fabric

the fabric stash has arrived (imagine drooling in a Homer Simpson style - this is me right now)I need an early night so I won't be doing anything with this today, maybe tomorrow after I have finished making pancakes - because tomorrow is pancake day (shrove tuesday). I'm not a religious person but I do like an excuse (and a day) to eat pancakes!

Note - pancake image comes from google images - my cooker top is much cleaner that this :o)

monsters in love

I've been busily sewing away on some monsters over the last day or two.
Firstly, the monsters in love - Clarice and Clement (Isosceles monsters). They come as a pair - with a felt love heart to prove that love is in the airand then Zeb, who is a Zesty little fella and one of my fave monsters I've made actually. I chose the colours for him because we were told we would get snow (it was a lie) and also I noticed the other day that the trees have started to bud too

I've had one of those weekends where I've had too many ideas for my head to cope with. I need to write everything down or I won't be able to sleep again tonight.
I've ordered a stash of new fabric which will hopefully arrive tomorrow and then I can get cracking on some of these ideas of mine (when I'm not at work of course).

I also wanted to mention a fab website I found. It's called much ado books and they make fab journals/sketchbooks out of old book covers (books that are too old to salvage)
Nice!

the birds and the apple tree

It's been a lovely sunny (if a bit chilly) day here today (where was that snow???). This meant that I could take some photos of 'the birds and the apple tree' and pop it in my shop
Proof of the sunny day meant that I was able to take one the the nicest photos ever (I think). This is Stevie in shadow on the wall:
I'm in full sewing swing and have 3 monsters on the go, so I'm off back to my desk to carry on sewing.

Happy February btw :o)

oh my goodness

tomorrow is February! How quickly did January happen? but it's not all bad because I like February as a time of year. I'm more winter than summer really, although I have to say, today it is absolutely freezing.
I drove to work in winds that made the car wobble, then I heard the rain lashing on the windows at work, and now it's just freezing cold. I heard a little rumour that we might have some snow - that would be most exciting, especially as I'm not at work tomorrow :O) Also in February it is my birthday - I'll be just a bit older and 31 and not as old as 33 (so just whisper the number that comes in between).

I wasn't really at home yesterday so couldn't take a pic of my finished fabric collage, however I cunningly instructed Mr Monda to take some pictures for me. He kindly also photoshopped off the glare from the glass too. Bonus! I'm really pleased with the finished version - I'm usually self critical but had nothing to say to myself about this, so I take that as a good sign.


For Lina, Yes I will pop this is my shop - will probably do it tomorrow afternoon as long as I can get enough light to take some good pictures of the various elements of it tomorrow.

apple tree

this evening I put the finishing touches to my fabric collage - the backing is on, and it's in a frame ready for photographing tomorrow when we have some decent light.
In the meantime, the last sneak preview before the big reveal:

shameless self promotion alert!

These 3 didn't go to the shop at work. They're on etsy now if you want to purchase...

It's all about the cards

making cards can sometimes be a bit of a chore. I find I have to be in the mood for a good card making session and today I wasn't in the mood but progressed nonetheless, as the people who requested customised cards from me are expecting them tomorrow, and valentines day will also have been and gone if i didn't at least make some valentines cards today. This is one of the reasons why it would be nice to be a designer sometimes (and not a designer maker). I like the designing bit, but it's the making bit that is so time consuming.
The light was a bit crappy so I haven't taken many pics of my efforts but I will scan a few cards this week and pop them on etsy
Whilst I was in Windsor at the weekend I specifically wanted to look in the charity shops for bargain fabric/old curtains etc which I could use in some of my projects. Windsor has plenty of charity shops, but seemingly the charity shops there are a bit supreme compared to some, and I think anything looking like a decent bargain had been well and truly snapped before I got there.

For Lucy Locket, here is a pic of my wagamama - it's not the best pic because it was taken on my phone (and it does look a bit like worms!)
This was a tasty vegetarian noodle dish (which I did eat with chopsticks) and I felt like it was as much as I could do to manage the walk back to the car after eating it all!