Origin - The London Craft Fair

It was only a couple of days ago that I realised that it was that time of year again, so despite having a massive to do list, yesterday I went into the big smoke to Origin at Somerset House.
I always enjoy Origin (used to be Chelsea Craft Fair) - there are some really inspirational makers and crafts people exhibiting each year. This year, I particularly liked the work of Lucy Adamson (no website):Jane Moore: and Hanne Rysgaard:I did actually buy some of Lucy's and Hanne's work but will save the pics for another day as I didn't manage to get any decent pics today.
Origin is on for a further week (although with different exhibitors in week 2) if you fancy a visit. Somerset house is a really lovely location too - especially when the sun is shining as it was yesterday.

I did manage to get a couple of pics of some new stockings I have made however - I've had the purple sparkly jumper for some time and hadn't really found anything good to do with it, until nowThe green and pink one kind of reminds me of rhubarbIt's late, but I have a stack of bird decorations on my desk calling my name...

stocking up!

pardon the pun.
It's so hard to get decent photo's when there is no natural light, but I managed to snap this one when I got home from work today - it still needs some trimmings, but it's almost there.
I must mention at this point that this stocking is from a Betz White pattern - just before you go thinking that I'm really clever.
Just for comedy value, I tried it on for size - you'll be pleased to know that it was way too big for my foot - Mr Monda thought I was attempting to make an Inuit fancy dress costume :o)
I have 2 more stocking wips waiting for me on my desk which I would like to finish up before the weekend, so more pics to come...

trees and towers

Don't fall off your seats people - I am indeed blogging on a Monday. My recent form of weekend blogging may well just be behind me - I'm coming to the end of my manically busy period at work and I may just have a bit of energy left on week nights for making - which is a relief because i have a to do list as long as Mr Monda's arm - which is much longer than my arm, but really it could be as long as both our arms put together!

The lighting was shocking yesterday, but I did manage to get a snap of some of the tree's that I madeI've also made a start on some of these - pictures tomorrow perhaps if I can get them finished up tonight.

On a slightly different note, if you were in Vienna this weekend (unlike me) then you may well have seen this:A world record breaking LEGO tower - all 29.48 metres of it. Cool indeed (click on the pics for more detail)

multi-tasking

Today I have been multi-tasking. I have way too much going on in my head - and the best way for me to cope with this is obviously to do a little bit of everything all at the same time.

Here are a couple of jumper monsters which I have made for a commission (pre stuffing) - they are already on their way to their new home The spotty monster was commissioned as a baby gift for a friend - I'm not sure whether it is for the parents or the baby - but had to make sure it was baby friendly - so no buttons and nothing that can be chewed off. I was asked for an Indian theme as the baby was made in India! I decided to go for colours that reminded me of Indian spices - and a tag on the reverse - just so there is no confusionI've also been drawing up some Christmas card designs for gocco-ing and have drawn up a few Christmas themed hanging accessory designs tooThe first of which has already been made into this treeI have also been thinking about my upcoming fairs, and how I might display my items for sale. This 'tree' was purchased this week. It even revolves - how swanky!I'm now preparing a load of hanging Christmas tree accessories for hand sewing this evening whilst watching 'strictly' - oh yes - it is that time of year again. I love watching this - it makes me get goosebumps when someone has danced a really good dance. In another life, I like to think that I might have been a dancer.

the sofa and the studio

That title sounds like it should be a book or a film.
Apologies now to anyone who doesn't find this remotely interesting, but my new sofa arrived today. When it was installed (?) into the lounge it looked huge - much bigger than it had seemed in the sofa shop, and I looked at Mr Monda and said, 'what shall we do' and he said 'nothing we can do' and that solved the matterMuch to Mr Monda's annoyance we need to move the lounge around to fit the chair in which is currently residing in the hall. He is annoyed by this because in all my wisdom I told him that we needed the rearrange the lounge yesterday to accommodate our new sofa, when if fact we should have left it where the old one was as it would have fitted much better. Humble pie - I'll have an extra helping please! Of course we do now also need to decorate the lounge so that our new sofa has a stylish home to live in.

The studio cum spare room is going to be a big job. I need to spend a good few days in there to get it organised. This is a before pic for the sake of being able to look back when I have finished it It is actually much less messy than this now, although this is just a temporary fix. A trip to Ikea for good storage solutions is definitely on the cards very soon.

the weekend blogger?

I am becoming a weekend blogger - not really by choice and I don't think it was last forever, but weekends are the only time I seem to have to blog at the moment.

When I woke up this morning it was a really misty morning, and quite eerie outside - It was really quiet too. I popped outside with the camera and took lots of pictures of spider webs. I think I may have frightened the postman in my black PJ bottoms, blue hoodie and bright pink slippers, not to mention my bed head and unwashed face!
The spider webs were literally everywhere you look. They are probably always there at this time of year but we never see them unless they are fresh with morning dew, helped along by the mistat 8.30am I was reading some emails, and making a start on my blogger reading list - after this the plan for the day was to make a start on my 'to do' list, especially as the 2 fairs that I am taking part in are rapidly approaching.
At 9.10am I got a call from the shop where I purchased my sofa to tell me they were ready to deliver tomorrow (i.e.Sunday). I was really shocked for a couple of reasons - we were told it would take 7-10 days, but imagined this would be more like 3-4 weeks, as these type of things usually take longer than you are told they will take. It had only been 7 days since we bought it! Wow! I was also really shocked because we still had both of our old sofa's and hadn't arranged for them to be taken away yet. eek. My plans for the day were well and truly scuppered.

Today we have spent the day dismantling the sofa - we had to dismantle it as we live in a first floor flat, and the two of us had no chance in getting it out the door and down the steps - getting it in was a trauma.
We stripped off all the cushions - keeping a bit of the stuffing from the cushion pads for me to repurpose for my softies, then we sawed our biggest sofa in half right down the middle. Thankfully we didn't need to saw the smaller sofa - we managed to get it out the house in one piece. It's times like this we wish we had a house with big patio doors.
I had to move all my work, fabrics, sewing machine etc into the spare room (after dismantling my spare bed, which went to a new home today too). The spare room is now a makeshift studio (very makeshift, it needs a BIG sort out).

Dismantling, cleaning and moving furniture has taken us all day, and we are now sitting in the lounge on the floor, with all of our bones and muscles aching.
Mr Monda is also suffering from a cold, so is feeling extra knackered, but on the bright side, we achieved a lot today, and we will sleep very well tonight! (and I have a makeshift studio)

I took a break this evening to take this pic - a real contrast to the cold eerie misty morning of the start of the dayI'll be back tomorrow no doubt with pics of my makeshift studio and my new sofa, and perhaps some of the things I have made. There just isn't enough hours in the day sometimes is there.

S is for Sunday, softies, sofa's and singers!

I haven't blogged for an entire week. I'm suffering from the same thing I was suffering from this time last year. This is my busiest time of year work wise (day job) - I have deadlines to meet which are crucial to the success of the business - no pressure then. This means that all my energy and time is going into work and not a lot else. I'm not really moaning - just explaining my absence from my blog and from making.
Today, I have managed to steal some time, and have made a first draft 'to do' list, cut some patterns, and started to make some softie prototypes - my plan being to have 5-6 different softie designs in my shop at any one time, and something that people would recognise as being a monda creation.

This little bunny prototype was a reworking of something I made earlier this year. He will be hopping off elsewhere very soon. I do quite like him, although I think he needs to be a bit fatter (or I just need to allow properly for seam allowances when I cut patterns from my drawings!).

Now for something completely different. I think I have a bit of a problem, as I am just a little too excited by this:This weekend was the first time I have ever been to a shop and purchased a sofa in my life. All the sofa's I have owned so far have been second hand from family members.
I was initially planning to buy a red leather sofa, but after seeing them in the shops yesterday I just wasn't sure that my lounge was big enough for a red sofa, as it's quite a statement really.
I will need to make some new cushions for my sofa of course and I think I'll stick with reds, but maybe also throw a few browns into the mix too.

and finally a Sunday treat for you. Mr Monda has been listening to this today. He's a Yorkshireman and he identifies with this - a lot! I can't get it our of my head and will probably wake up with this in my head tomorrow. What do you think?

and the winner is...

I've been so swamped that I haven't had the time or energy to blog this week. I feel bad about this because blogging is something I really enjoy, but I fear if I had of blogged, it wouldn't have been worthy of a read anyway, as I would have just been moaning about feeling tired.

Anyway on to much better things. I know I promised that I was going to find a creative way to pick a winner of my 200th post giveaway, this creativity took the form of a shout to Mr Monda who was in the next room, to 'pick a number between 1 and 22'. Mr Monda picked no.13 - so Lucy Carlson, you are the winner of the Monda goodies - please email me (email address in my profile page) with your details and I will panic frantically to get something made and sent off to you :o)

Whilst I haven't been particularly creative myself this week, I have succumbed to a bit of creative indulgence. I am now the owner of these lovely specimens:
A new fabric stash - including some hand printed fabric from Lusummers
and this lovely little piece of textile art by Hens Teeth
Last and by no means least - a couple of pics of Stevie, who is doing really well. We have just started to let her go back outside and she's loving it. When she is inside - she likes to crawl into snug spots - like getting between the layers of this folded up quilt

I'm back, and I survived!

I'm back, and despite the weather, I survived my first ever camping at a festival experience. For the last 4 days, this is where I have been:Bestival - or perhaps now renamed Worstival - and really this was just down to the weather, which was frankly foul. This was the order of the day: - It was like this every day, for 4 whole days, with plenty of wind and rain thrown into the mix.
Pitching the tent was like flying a kite - the wind was so strong and the rain was so heavy, and we were soaked to the skin and freezing cold. I just wanted to pack up everything and come home again, but frankly I was a bit too stubborn to give in.
Spending days wading through mud in various stages from sloppy to clay-like, I have found muscles that I never knew I had.

Some pics of our time away: a novel/eco way to charge your mobile phone. These people were peddling away for about 30 mins at a time:I would probably say I was enjoying myself 50% of the time - but the mud, wind and rain did make it very hard to enjoy the whole experience. I have worn nothing but wellies for 4 days - and simple things like shoes, warm dry clothes, hot showers and a warm dry bed really do seem to be a luxury now that we are home. I haven't been put off camping, but I'd definitely think twice before going to another festival.

Also, on a slightly more positive note this is my 200th post. If you'd like to get your hands on some monda goodness (as yet unmade - although I could cobble together a pair of soggy muddy socks - I have these a plenty!) then just drop me a comment on this post by Friday at 6pm (UK time) and I'll find some kind of creative way to choose a winner at random.

and then there was more rain!

I've been a bit of an absent blogger this week. I'm going through a particularly busy spell at work and it's sapping all my energy. One evening this week I just got home and went to sleep on the sofa. I was woken up with food by Mr Monda and then promptly went back to sleep once I was fed.
It's a good job I have a weekend of pampering and relaxation to look forward to. Did I say pampering and relaxation? What I really meant was camping in heavy rain and wind, and if you don't believe me, just take a look at this!Wish me luck, and warm, rain free thoughts.

weddings and rain

I've been absent for a few days because our friends were getting married this weekend and it involved a few nights away from home. We set off on our 5 and a half hour car journey on Friday afternoon to the far away distant lands of the north. The north of England in all it's grim and grey glory!
I actually don't think it is 'grim up north' as is so often called - I have quite a liking for northern people and places. I studied in Carlisle (for those without vast UK knowledge, this is about as far north of England as you can get before reaching Scotland) and many of my friends are nothern too. Mr Monda is also from the north, so we really felt quite at home and had a really nice time catching up with friends of old.
This is one of the best pics I took of the bride and groom - just one of those 'catching the moment' pics really - the poor things were totally covered in confetti and glitterWe drove back home today, and I must say, it's nice to be home. There is nothing quite like your own bed is there.
Thankfully we managed to get home missing most of the torrential rain. As I type this the rain is now washing down my road like a river - it has burst the drains and is pooling at the kerbs.

I popped my head out the door to take some pictures - this is the rain reflecting off the flash and in this pic, if you look closely, you can see the splashes bouncing back upI'm off to cram in a bit of sewing now while there is still a few hours left in the weekend :o)

jumper monsters on national television!

Listen to the cheeky lady from the ITV, saying 'Don't you just love these - whatever they are!'
Dur! everyone knows they are my jumper monsters!

Did I mention that I'm exhibiting/selling at Reveal again in November? Hopefully my sis will also be doing it with me this time.

bank holidays are great

I've had quite a nice bank holiday Monday today. I didn't go to work for start - always a good start, but I did go shopping for a few bits and pieces for a wedding I'm going to next weekend. The best thing about this shopping is that I managed to use up the vouchers I had been given to buy a new bag, a bracelet, a pair of peep toe shoes and 2 tops, and if all that wasn't good enough already, it was a quick and painless shopping trip too - sometimes when you are looking for something specific you can never find it, but today everything just magically appeared to me in every shop I went into.

This speedy shopping trip also meant that I had the chance to make one of the 4 cushions I had planned to make. This cushion was measured very accurately (cough cough) but I'm pleased to say that the cushion does actually fit inside and I am quite pleased with it.Just another 3 to go - I think I will change the design slightly on each one though - to try and reproduce this when I didn't measure anything properly would mean I'd need to turn a minor miracle.

housekeeping

I've been doing some blog housekeeping - i needed to update a few things, but I've also messed up some of the HTML and things are not quite right - my images crash into my borders on the right hand side and I'm trying to fix it, but knowing absolutely nothing about HTML makes it quite difficult.

It might be something to do with the image size so I'm testing a few pics here:







**EDIT** OK I played with the HTML for what seemed like hours, and I found a work around - not really a solution but will do for now.
I've also updated my blog reading list - it is massive!

oh, and the cat in the picture is mellie - our other baby cat, who is thankfully very well - and on the cat front, Stevie seems to really be improving day by day - she's full of naughty cat character, and she's lovely!

scrap bag

look at this scrap bag goodness. My scrap bag is growing out of all control, so I've been thinking of ways that I can truly be economical and use up all of scraps.
This little collection of birds were formally scraps - I will make quite a few of these in the run up to Christmas to sell at my fairs and in my shopI've also been experimenting and making pom poms, which will also become part of some more Christmas themed items I'm working on
I couldn't not share this pic of some lovely fabric I have purchased recently. This will become cushions - hopefully I'll get to make a start on these this weekend. Here is some lovely inspiration on flickr