60th Birthday.....Elvis......and Hilly billies!!

We arrived!! 

Graceland was a place Mum had always wanted to visit,

as her 60th birthday surprise we took her on her dream holiday.

We checked into the Heartbreak Hotel for 3 nights and

set about seeing all Memphis had to offer.

Beale St in down town Memphis

Happy 60th Birthday Mum

Mum's 60th Birthday, spent the day at Graceland

Mum defacing the wall around Graceland,

before we set off on our 8 hour drive to the Smokies

Chillin at Theatre Mountain Lodge deep within the Smokey Mountains.

Now which one should I buy?

Shopping in Gatlinburg

Hanging with the Yocals!!!

DollyWood!!!

Cades Cove

On the deck drinking 'Moonshine'

My fake 30th Birthday, spent at dixie Stampede

after a 4 hour drive we finally arrived at Jack Daniels, 

just got to drive 4 hours back home.

We all arrived home after a wonderful week,

Mum managed to bring Elvis back to England.

Finally.......a sewing room all of my own!!

I purchased this little beauty from Ebay, It's a hand operated Singer Sewing Machine from1902, still in full working order and I just love it!!

This is the day bed, soon to be covered in cushions (as soon as I get time to make some)

And this is my ribbon stash, I found this box in TK Maxx for £4!!

My sewing room is a working progress but as soon as I add anymore pieces i will be sure to keep you all updated.

NEW YORK CITY

New York has been and gone in a flash.....it was everything I had ever imagined and more!!

It was amazing , I had such an amazing time, can't believe I was ever there.

What was more amazing was that I went for the day!! Yes...the DAY!!

I set off From Manchester, England on Sunday Morning and set off back from JFK sunday evening, arriving back into Manchester early Monday Morning. All in all it was 28 hours which gave me 6 hours free time in NYC!!

I saw all the sights, went to Bloomingdales, F.A.O Schwartz (played on the BIG Piano!), Tiffany's. I strutted my stuff down 5th Ave, I saw the Rockefeller Centre, Times Square, Chrysler Building, Empire State, Ground Zero, Wall St, the Statue of Libery from Battery Park and to finish drove over the Brooklyn Bridge!!

I had a driver for the day which is how I managed to fit so much in. It was the experience of a lifetime and I will remember it forever, I just wish I had experienced it with my husband, but that will have to wait till next time.

I now have my shop open on Etsy, it will have an array of items including cross stitch and crocheted goods. My shop is called Houselabel, click on the link above and it will take to it.

Angel Kisses and Third Degree Burns

I decided to make some scrabbled eggs and when I opened the egg carton, one of the eggs had a beautiful white feather on it.  When I showed my husband he said "its supposed to be good luck it means an Angel has kissed it" (aahhh) so I proceeded to make my scrabbled eggs and get third degree burns on my hand while doing so.  

So much for the good luck and are Angel kisses supposed to scar!!!

New York 18 days and counting!!

Crisp January Morning

Woke this morning to see a beautiful crisp January morning

It was apparently -6 degrees last night, winter is definitely upon us.

19 days to go till New York!!

Crafty New Year!!

So i haven't blogged for a while, last time i blogged i was contemplating moving to London....well i didn't go in the end, for one reason or another, but it has turned out to be the best decision ever.  I have been busy busy busy, making lots of items for my family and friends over the past months so here are the pics of the many things i have created.  

i love this photo, they look so clean and cosy.

So i taught myself to crochet and made these two blankets.  The one above is my take on the Babette blanket for my niece's 12th birthday.  The blanket below I made for my best friend who gave birth to a beautiful daughter back in September.

My sister and her family finally moved into the house of their dreams, so to commemorate the occasion i cross stitched a 'Home Sweet Home' sign

Then i discovered Amigurumi!! for those of you like me who had never heard of Amigurumi before, it is the japanese art of crocheting cute toys.  They are amazing, and as soon as i started the whole google search of Amigurumi i was hooked and below is the picture of my first attempt.

its supposed to be Hello Kitty, i think she turned out pretty well i gave her to my friend for her birthday on new years eve along with a Hello Kitty card that i cross stitched too.

Then i decided to stitch something to mark the New year so i made a little heart shaped pillow and gave it to my Aunt for her birthday, which was actually on Christmas day but she didn't have a party till the 3rd of Jan.  I actually really love this and think it turned out really well.  I was actually in a rush to complete this as i left it to the last minute and had loads of things going on, that i actually took it with me on a shopping trip and sat and stitched over lunch!!  I think i might make a few and see about selling them.  I would buy one of these, would you?

(for those of you who have read my earlier posts, i finally used a button from the 750 i bought from Etsy on this project!!)

So i told you i had been busy!! 

I am also counting down the days till i go to New York!! i have never been state side before and the official count down is 20 days!!!!!

Aaaarrrhhh!!! Too much to do and not enough time!

I am afraid to say that i have been neglecting my blog for a while, due to the fact that I am extremely busy!! but that's no excuse really.  Nearly everyone in my close family and friends has either had a birthday, wedding anniversary, wedding, christening or the birth of a new child in the months of September and August this year, so it has been a very hectic couple of months.  I am still honouring my handmade pledge, so i have hand made gifts for all these people, but as they have been gifts and i know they all read my blog, I couldn't list any of the items I have made.  The biggest gift that is for my nieces birthday in November has taken up a lot of my time is the Babette blanket but I have crocheted all the squares now so i just need to block them and stitch them together (I say just, but this is probably the most time consuming part of the whole process).  Can you believe Christmas is just around the corner!! so October and November are going to be just as busy as I start all over again making Christmas gifts!!!!  I have also have a very hard decision to make.  I have been asked by my company if i would consider relocating to London.  I have never lived or worked in London, I love going to visit and shop but, could I stand living in such a busy city all year round?  Also my husband would need to find work and we would need to find somewhere to live and rent out our property in Manchester.  The other thing is i would need to have all this done in 8 weeks!!!  Anyway enough of me ranting on, I'll let you all know my decision when its made, hopefully I'll still have hair and it won't have fallen out with stress!!!

I'm a Speedy Hooker Too!!!

Its official i'm addicted to crocheting!!! i've perfected the granny square and the solid square and i'm now making a baby blanket for my heavily pregnant friend, using the ripple stitch. Its so much fun and i'm getting faster and faster each day. I'm only using cheap wool, as I didn't want to waste money on expensvie wool to find out I either hated crocheting or I couldn't perfect it, but now i'm making the wool into a baby blanket I'm not sure it is soft enough!! its 100% arcylic wool! I'm also wanting to make a Babette blanket like the one on Purl Bee (picture above), i've ordered the pattern from the interweave website, its only $6, i think they look amaing and are relatively easy to do. Anyway back to the baby blanket, I'm using three colours and I wanted the ripples to be random stripes and not all the same width, I stumbled on this website, which is amazing and I played with it for ages!! basically you select the colours you are wanting to use, the amount of rows you wish to crochet or knit in each colour so I selected, 1, 2 and 4 with a maximum of 100 rows all together and viola, there is your random stripe pattern!! its amazing!! everytime you click on the generate button it makes a different pattern, so you have to be careful that you don't lose the one that you love. Then you just print it out and it tells you how many to knit or crochet in each colour.

Speedy Mother Hooker

I have been working my fingers to the bone!! but unfortunately not in a crafty way.  I've not had anytime to do anything crafty for what seems like ages, but that's all about to change as my wonderful husband has just bought me knitting needles, a crochet needle and some bundles of wool!!! YEAH!! I'm so excited (it really doesn't take much) I've not knitted since i was 8 and I've never crocheted, mum used to crochet whenever there was a new baby on the way, anywhere in the world!!! and i used to watch in amazement as she was able to Crochet without taking her eyes off Coronation Street, the hook would move that fast i was surprised that steam wasn't coming off it.  She was one speedy mother hooker!!! So hopefully I'm destined to be one too. 

One Seam, One Hour Dress

Yesturday I said I was thinking of trying to make a convertible dress, well I did.  It literally took me an hour if that!! I couldn't believe how simple it was and its so versatile and easy to wear.  I think I will be making a lot more of these dresses.    It has definitely been a crafty weekend.  To see more pics check out Burdastyle

Summer is supposed to be here!!

Today for the very first time, I made a top in just a few hours.  Normally it takes me at least a day, if not two, but this pattern was so easy, even though I took my time and stopped to cook and eat dinner, it still only took me a couple of hours.  I got the pattern out of this months Burda Magazine (BWOF 07/2008 101 A) I really like it and its comfortable to wear, all I need now is some sunshine.  I might make it again but make it longer so it can be worn as a dress.  I'm also thinking of making a convertible dress, you know, the ones with only one seam.  Anything with only one seam sounds good to me.  Check out rostitchery to see how its done.  I think I might make one tomorrow. This is turning into a crafty weekend and I'm loving it.

I'm the featured member!!

YEAH!! i've finally made it, I'm the featured member on Burdastyle, for a WHOLE week.  I can't believe I was chosen, out of all the amazing and talented people on that site and they picked me!!! I feel like I should be making lots of new things to show, I wish I had the whole day to be creative and didn't have to work. If you want to read the whole piece all about me, then please go to Burdastyle Blog  Thankyou Burdastyle!!

Even Happier Days!

As I was ranting on about being Lied too in Wh Smith about the release of the Burda Magazine in my last post, I was sent a comment from Melissa who told me that they are usually in stores from the 5th of each month and to keep trying, so today on my lunch I went back to WH Smiths ............ and there it was all shiny and new, the brand new issue of Burda World of Fashion.  Even though it was chucking it down with rain and this issue is full of summer clothing, it made my day.  Thankyou Melissa I knew he was lying!!!!

Happy Days

I have desperately been trying to get my hands on the new issue of Burda magazine, I purchased last months issue by chance from WH Smith in Manchester Arndale (not the best place to spend any free time!) anyway, I had never seen it in their before and quickly grabbed myself a copy and rushed to the cash desk.  They don't seem to advertise the release date for the next issue, being a German magazine, I suppose it is different dates for different countries, so I have therefore being going to, said WH Smiths everyday that I am in work, which is 5 out of 7 days since the 20th June!!! When it got to the 3rd July and still no new Burda, I asked one of the staff in the store who continued to lie to me, stating that he had put them all out himself but miraculously they have all sold out!! but their was still Junes issue on the shelf!!  So there are clearly a massive amount of Burda nutters who go to the arndale, their sole purpose being to buy every issue of Burda so I can't get my hands on one!!! Any way the reason I was telling you all this story was, as I was in their again yesturday looking for said Burda magazine, muttering to myself insanely, I looked up and their was the Fonz!!! yes you read right The Fonz or Henry Winkler, which ever you prefer!! he was doing a book signing ......... in the ARNDALE!!!! I took a picture but all I had was my mobile phone so its not the best, but still The Fonz!!!

 Heeeeeeyyyyyyy!!!

This is the pic i took!! I told you it was bad!!

"Hot Stuff"

Here it is, the coat I decided to make out of the fabric I showed you a few days ago, The fabric is by prestigious fabrics and is called "Hot Stuff" Its quite a heavy weight fabric meant for upholstery.

I used a pattern from the Burdastyle website called Talea. 

I Love It.

 I have yet to put fastenings on the front, as i think i want to use some sort of press studs rather than buttons, but i have made some fabric covered buttons to use for decoration. 

I took my time making it as i wanted it to be perfect and it is!! 

Mum always said the inside should always be as neat as the outside

well guess what mum, It Is!!

Mmmmm shoes!!

So its that time of year again, SALE!! when everybody goes crazy and buys aload of crap that they don't really want or need, and are only buying it because there is £20 off the original price, and its now only £120!!  Well it happened to me, I don't really need any new shoes, well do we ever really NEED shoes? i must have over 50 pairs already!! This was the logic behind me buying them:  I have to wear black shoes for work and as strange as it might sound, I only own one pair of black shoes!! I worked with shoes for many years so I got most of my shoes for uniform, that said, out of all the wonderful shapes, colours, boots, heels, flats and fabrics, why buy black shoes? so I always went for the brightest and prettiest of shoes, which was great when I worked there, but no so great now I need black shoes!!! anyway back to my logic, I need more black shoes!!! so there they were reduced from £90 to £59 so a whole £31 off, they fit perfectly or they did for the whole 3 seconds i had them on in front of the mirror in the store!! they are sling back so ideal for summer (.....or so I tell myself) they are patent so easy to clean!! and they were in the sale!! and the final reason...I haven't bought anything for ages, well unless you count the dress I bought last weekend!!! ooops

Finally!! We have curtains!!!

I decided that instead of being selfish and making myself things all the time, maybe I should make something for someone else.  So I made curtains!!!!! 

I found this fabric by chance in a store I go to in Manchester that sells remnant fabrics.  As soon as i saw it, I thought it would be perfect for the living room.  I bought all they had, as they sell by the weight it was £8.50 a kg so it only cost me £16.  I would have liked them to be fuller, as I only had enough to do a width in each but I'm still pleased with them.

I just wish I had enough left over to make some cushions.  

I also bought this fabric, but I'm thinking of making a trench coat out of this one!!

And I also need to find something to sew all my buttons onto!!

I made a skirt

So today when I should have been spending the day cleaning, I decided to make a skirt that i can wear for work tomorrow instead.

I got the pattern from Burdastyle its called Kasia and I love it, I think it turned out really well and I can't wait to wear it tomorrow.

it has a hidden zip and is gathered across the hips, its quite tight on the old buttox but I think thats just cos mine it quite big!!!

and after buying all those buttons, I still ended up stealing the ones I used for the skirt off a cardigan I hardly ever wear as none of the others were big enough!!