Pleasure is not only derived from eating, shopping and friends, but I can't deny the importance of that triumvirate in the pursuit of happiness.
Lunch at Ottolenghi, afternoon tea at Fernandez and Wells. I'd highly recommend the clementine cake.
Shopping all over the place, but especially for me:
They made me buy it. But oh how I love it.
Almost as much as I love spending time with them.
Today, I had to wake the boys up for school. This is a fairly rare event - usually they are up and pottering about by the time we need to have breakfast and get the day underway. Mark, I managed to rouse by opening the door of the airing cupboard. It's very creaky. Which gets me past the mental barrier that objects to ever waking a sleeping child. After years and years of starting the day at 5am with someone who didn't understand the art of sleeping any later, the idea of voluntarily rousing him is horrific.
When I woke Johnny, who has always been keener on sleep than his brother, he grumbled 'It can't be morning-time. I've only been asleep for 5 minutes'. Know just how you feel, son. Perhaps it's down to the soporific powers of the new duvet cover I finally got round to sewing.
The perfect use for the flat sheet that came with the fitted sheet and pillowcase I brought back from New York. Bedlinen is so much more inspired (not to mention cheap) on the other side of the pond. Some plain red sheeting and popper tape from Masons (a crafter's paradise right on my doorstep) and a couple of hours of sewing straight seams.
Shame it's taken me the best part of a year to get round to it. I am rather inspired now, though. Especially if it earns me a lie in. Must remember to put it to use on a morning when we don't have to get up.
Something had been sitting on my shelf unused for way too long.
Despite having fallen in love with several of the dresses that have appeared in blogland from within its pages. But taking the plunge into uncharted Japanese pattern waters has taken a while. And I won't pretend it was all plain sailing. The pleats are not absolutely perfect. And I couldn't make the sleeves fit at all. Which necessitated a swift modification with some bias tape bound armholes.
But all in all, there's something about my tunic that makes me feel very happy indeed.
And that's not to be sniffed at.
Quietly, in stolen moments, I have been beavering away at my next Alabama Stitch project. Having decided to have a go at the corset , I gamely hacked up a ginormous promotional t-shirt that’s been hanging around the bottom of my wardrobe for months. Snip snip, stitch stitch – all fun.
Until I tried it on that is. Now although corset is a suggestive moniker for an item of clothing, but I was a little taken aback when I saw the acreage of flesh on display. Quite frankly, I looked like I was auditioning to make a film - one of those films.
I showed hubby, who smiled broadly (in a not entirely innocent way). It was only as I looked closely in Flickr, wondering why the makers before me weren't displaying quite such an impressive amount of boobage, that I noticed my error. I'd reversed two of the front panels. Phew. Some unpicking required, but my modesty will remain intact.
Shockingly, this is not my first scrape with the 'arty film' industry. When I was 20, I moved to Edinburgh at quite short notice and was scrabbling around in a strange city looking for a place to rent. After answering an ad for a girl to share a flat, I was shown around by a nice guy, who shared his very clean and bright flat with 2 other girls. He was friendly enough when we chatted, telling me he ran his own business as a freelance cameraman. The location was convenient and it seemed a good option to me, although the flat did have some odd quirks, like bedroom doors with louvers and glass panels. I couldn't really understand why my friend Paul, who had come with me, was giving off such negative vibes. It was only when we were back safely on the pavement outside when Paul told me he had seen the landlord's business card - black, with the company name in neon pink 'Flesh and Fantasy'. I could have had a whole different career...
A reverse applique rose on a vest for a new baby girl.
An evening of patient stitching and snip snipping may seem a little crazy for an item to be worn under other garments. But I had to do it. Because this book is truly an amazing inspiration.
It had me hooked from the moment I read about 'loving your thread'. Now all I want to do is sew and sew and sew by hand. Because look at all these wonderful projects.
The simplicity of cloth, needle and thread. And patience.
have been up to things.
A belated present, for the bookshop. I just hope it fits.
And I really enjoyed the hand sewing. Partly due to the inspiring words in the Alabama Stitch Book, which Santa brought me. I predict a spot of cotton jersey purchasing in the not too distant future.
And while I'm thinking of the bookshop and books, have you seen this? Incredible.
The bats are breeding - here's part of the colony. A few of them are in my (very low key, so let's whisper) etsy shop.
But as my halloween gift to you, I thought you might like a little tutorial for making your own. My treat. Flappy Happies (as christened by Mark).
You'll need some nice thick wool felt. Then cut yourself a little cardboard template. It's basically a triangle with a U cut out of the apex to make ears. Mine is about 8 inches across and 4 inches high.
Trace round your template and draw in some guide lines for the wing markings, eye placement, mouth and fangs. I use a chalk pencil for this (you don't need precision).
Don't cut anything yet. Add the markings on a single layer of the felt - I used the sewing machine for the wings but stitched the buttons on by hand and added a backstitch mouth with red floss and white for the fangs. But please yourself
Now, fold your felt so you have a double layer and zig zag around the edge. Don't forget to leave a gap in the middle. My gap is large enough for 2 grown-up digits or the neck of a wine bottle.
Now using a nice sharp pair of scissors, trim close to the zig zag line. And lo, your flappy happy is born.
Trick or treat!
Sometimes it feels good to fall back on something familiar.
Particularly when you are nervous about trying something new. I'm casting about for inspiration to prepare for a workshop by Jessie Chorley. The plan is to make a book based on a personal narrative, but suddenly I seem to be all out of stories. I do have a great deal of old shopping lists though. Do you suppose those might work?
Better keep planning I think.
Some folks seem to have the knack of making something special out of the everyday. Capturing a moment - check out Record the Day and you'll see what I mean. And how about the UK at Home project. Seven days, captured on film and made into a book which somehow captures the essence of home.
A little peek of a little sewing that's been happening round here.
Not much else to share though. My body is trying to put me into hibernation mode. Last night I went to bed at 7pm and didn't awaken until a pitter patter of small feet came to find me this morning.
So if you see a missing spark anywhere, do let me know. I seem to have misplaced mine.
Sunny weather (albeit freezing) always brings with it the possibility of turfing the boys out in the garden and doing a bit of sewing. In the hazy pre-Christmas past, Florence sent me a chalk pencil which I hadn't had a reason to test drive until now. It passed with flying colours - what a handy contraption.
Used it to outline the template for a smocket, which I had been dying to sew ever since Alicia posted the pattern. Sometimes you just need to hang onto the thoughts swirling at the back of your head until the opportunity presents itself to try something.
We are officially on half-term this week. I'm looking forward to the break in routine. We have a birthday to celebrate, friends to see, opticians to visit, shoes to replace and adventures to be had. Hope your week is looking full of fun too.
When the sun came out this week, one of the things on the good light list to photograph was my Janet Bolton workshop piece. I feel obliged to show it to you, because I struck an "I'll show you mine if you show me yours" deal with Emma, and so many of you had asked me to see it. But I am far from pleased with it - in fact, the more I look at it, the less I like it. Oh dear.
Things I do like
The tree
The pegs
The American Tan tights (put in especially for Raspberry who said they made her shudder).
The laundry isn't completely sewn down, so it's a bit 3D.
Things I don't like
I wish I had made the whole thing much smaller.
I got a bit seduced by Janet Bolton's muted palette, but the expanse of beige is depressing the hell out of me.
I think it needs some kind of quilting on the background, but I've tried a few different things and nothing looks right.
So if anyone has bright ideas for the problem of breaking up the beige background, let's have them!
But until then, I'm going to tuck this away on a high shelf and just enjoy the pleasant memories of a wonderful workshop and a brilliant and inspiring woman. And the glow that comes from keeping up my end of a bargain.
My love affair with Sashiko is an ongoing thing. I think it is something about the simplicity of the most basic of running stitches which appeals to me.
So a little tea towel cafe apron. Nothing fancy. Simple twill ties. Red sashiko style embroidery.
And while we're on the theme of 'Simplicity' - I am taking part in Megan's photo swap. Sign ups are open until Friday. If your resolution for 2008 was something photography related, maybe you'd like to join in?
Yes, I spent a small fortune, but it was SO worth it. 
Design by Ruth Vetter: 'Tomtar'
Perhaps I'll even iron it.
Is it just me, or are all these 'Handmade for the holidays' tutorials, lists and gorgeous finished items stressing anyone else out? Don't get me wrong, I love them, I'm inspired by them but I'm breaking out into a cold sweat.
I'm going to have to sit down and bite the bullet of a serious 'to do' list. Though I have done the little gifts for Mark's teachers. We decided on coasters for their breaktime cuppa.
So Mark drew a design for each of them.
We scanned it and printed it out on the computer in mirror image. Then it was easy to trace over it with a heat set embroidery transfer pencil (amending the odd spelling hiccup and too-tricky-to-sew design element) and transfer it to a piece of linen.
The idea was for Mark to do a bit of the sewing, but I was having too much fun with the red linen thread to share.
And then we used Amy's instructions from 'Bend the Rules Sewing' to turn them into coasters.
Hopefully they will prevent mug mix-ups at morning break. And at least one item on the list has a tick next to it!
Phew, the Back To School swap parcel for Heidi at Friday Prize has landed! So finally I get to blab about the contents. It's the hardest part of swapping for me - keeping a lid on it so as not to spoil the surprise.
But as usual, I neglected to take a decent picture of the contents all together. I am always so excited to get my parcels sent off that I forget all about that part. Hopeless.
The thing I had most fun with was the artsy clutch from Bend the Rules Sewing. I did some sashiko style ripples and embroidered goldfish on the outside and found a ripple effect cotton for the lining. I was so so pleased with how it turned out that I think I need to make another one. Pure fun.
Have a great weekend - we're off to the Newbury Show. They have the JCB Dancing Diggers. How could we not?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFBAzRc5vXE]
Taking a half way reasonable photo of an apron, without a body to put it on, is really really difficult.
I've been working on Lotta Jansdotter's Reversible Apron pattern for my friend Sarah's birthday. Decided to do a little sashiko-inspired embroidery on the plain side. It's meant to echo the flowers on the reverse - hope she gets the reference. 
My modelling crisis was averted by Mark's return from school. Poor little guy looks wiped out doesn't he? Guess that term-time thing is catching up with us.
When the owls started appearing at Moonstitches, I fell in love. Then came the tutowrial and other cuties began to pop up. I meant to get round to one of my own and months and months later, I finally did.
Only I left my little owl alone, and when I got back, he had turned into a Great Horned Owl.
Suspicious...
When I last visited my Mother, she had a mysterious box. You know sometimes you can tell there's something exciting inside without even looking? I felt it.
Vintage buttons - lots - six pounds by weight! I nearly wet myself. They had come in as a donation at the charity shop where she works and she was sorting them to be carded up for resale. 
The first words on my lips were 'How much for the lot?' and then reality kicked in. How long would it take me to use six pounds of buttons? But I wanted them - to touch them, sort through them, wonder what beautiful garments they originally adorned. 
So I've volunteered for a little (or as I've come to realize, fairly Herculean) task. To sort and sell on these glories for the Hospice.
So at least I get temporary custody, if not outright ownership. A duty of care if you like (alongside a big clean up job, because they're pretty filthy some of them). 
I've got light ones, chunky ones,
dark ones (engraved 'Saville Row'), tortoiseshell ones,and crazy multicoloured ones.
Now I need a bit of advice - call it market research if you will. Would people prefer to buy in small or large lots? Do you like your vintage buttons in sets or a mixed bag? E-bay or Etsy? I don't have an Etsy shop, but I've always harboured a secret shopkeeper fantasy - maybe this is my virtual chance?
Prone to exaggeration - who me? Well, possibly a touch. But it really hacks me off when my lovingly sewn book cover turns out to be too small for the ******* book.
And I used my precious jumbo ric rack too. Serves me right for thinking I was clever enough to sew without instructions. Yet another one for the 'crafts gone bad' hall of fame. I should know better than to approach the machine while suffering from PMT.
There's only one cure. Tea. With biscuits. Preferably chocolate.
Grudgingly I have to admit that all is not bad in the world. Humph.
To celebrate the sun today we decided to have a little fun messing about on the river and took a boat trip on the Thames.
I've always loved being on the water - when I was twelve, I learned to sail in a Wayfarer dinghy and spent every summer for the next 5 years enthusiastically freezing to death in Dover harbour. Luckily, hubs is fairly keen on floating holidays and so we have rented a canal boat on the Kennet and Avon and chartered a yacht in the Greek Islands. There's something hugely relaxing about just watching the water go by.
Even the crafting has had a watery slant to it today - just a little peek, because it's a surprise...
The puppet theatre was the project that really caught my eye when I got my copy of Bend the Rules Sewing. I've been waiting for the chance to rustle one up and it came this weekend.
With amazing levels of self-control, I forced myself to use the fabric I had, though there was a quick shopping expedition for the tension rod and dowel.
The resident thespians are loving it. Today's highlight was a play about a wombat and a remote control.
"The wombat pressed the remote control, which magically turned into another wombat. They played together. Sometimes the wombat played tricks on the remote control and sometimes the remote control played tricks on the wombat. The end." Priceless.
My mother has complained that there aren't enough pictures of Johnny on my blog. Perhaps it's because he's forever hamming it up in front of the camera.
And also fabulous hubby, who took the boys paddling in the brook and swimming at the pool, thereby allowing me to make a new late summer, early autumn Frenchy Bag, by Amy Butler.
The pattern was a prize from Lisa's Amy Butler Pattern Contest - it arrived on Friday and I had it whipped out by Sunday morning (including a Saturday shopping trip for interfacing and new school shoes - I could have done without the shoe shop stress, but these things have to be done!).
The proportions are great for slinging over the shoulder, yet feeling secure under the arm, and all the interfacing gives it a kind of padded squishyness which I also find pleasing.
I spend a large proportion of my blog-browsing time drooling over stuff that is freely available in America, but nigh on impossible to find (or hideously expensive) over here. When I was hunting down the Barcelona Skirts pattern, I discovered U-handbag stocks a comprehensive range of Amy Butler patterns, and guess where I got my mitts on the Moda birdies too?
I'd like Lisa, even if she didn't have a fab bag making supplies shop, but I am very glad she does.
Did you know there are only 53 mornings with Johnny in pre-school, between now and Christmas? I had to quote this statistic when an incredulous hubby caught me sewing robins today.
Because this year, I don't intend to be in a frenzy in November (yeah, right!). I adore Christmas - the anticipation, the food, the carols, the sense of celebration. There's nothing else quite like it.
One of the most memorable, was the first year after we got married. Hubs and I were living in Japan, where Christmas is not a public holiday. It is sort of recognised, but in a singularly commercial way, with unforgettable slogans like 'Have a Santastic Christmas' and a character called 'Captain Santa'. But nothing was standing in the way of our festivities.
We bought a tree - a fake one - in early December. It didn't seem very big in the shop, but when we got it back to our tiny apartment we realized that we would have to sleep underneath it, if we wanted the luxury of a futon and a Christmas tree.
I baked the tiniest ham you've ever seen and hacked a turkey into bits to fit it into the oven-in-a-microwave. And we celebrated, in pixie hats and reindeer antlers, with a slightly homesick Englishman and a barking mad German (who brought stollen).
Thirteen years on, and we still have our Japanese tree, and although we have a real one at Christmas now, I like to put up the plastic-fantastic version too and remember our very strange, but strangely wonderful first Christmas.
While we were away, I felt the need to pick up a little light holiday reading, and this caught my eye.
It was a very Asian-inspired issue and yielded goodies like this skirt with 3D organza blossom
And this sashiko inspired notebook cover. I've loved sashiko ever since I first came across it in Japan. Soo made a cute patch not so long ago, and now this. I'm feeling an urge coming on.
And the magazine came with a freebie magazine (Idees Couture & Broderie - thirty heart themed projects). Hearts aren't really a huge passion of mine, so if anyone would like it, it's up for grabs. Leave me a comment and if it's more than one person, I'll have my trusty helpers pick a name. Feels like a long time since I went to the post office and I'm suffering withdrawal symptoms.
There's something hugely enjoyable about dabbling in a new crafty area. The joy of experimentation. But I do like to be able to do something with the results. So my embroidery sampler (and I use the term extremely loosely) became this tote bag.
The strap was pure experimentation, as my sewing machine wouldn't cope with the multiple layers of felt to do a standard handle. So this is a single felt layer with ribbon sewn down the centre to make it look a little more finished. And I made the strap long enough to wear across your body, because I need more hands than I've got and filling one with a bag is never going to work for me.
It's not summery, so I may pop it away until the Autumn and sell it at the craft fair (yup, I think I'm doing another...) And if it doesn't sell, I'll have a nice Autumn bag to console myself with.
Oh, and a Happy 4th of July to you who celebrate it.
I've had a little idea brewing ever since I saw the Autumn 2007 Boden preview catalogue. It's not finished yet, but it's getting there.
I'm not sure if it really fits the 'needlework sampler' project for the first assignment over at School of Craft. Does it Moki? It's got embroidery on it hasn't it? Sort of...
Is it hideous to get your inspiration from Boden? It's just that I am SO sucked in by their lifestyle proposition. Shiny happy children, healthy outdoorsy pursuits, fun and domesticity. What's not to like. Oh, apart from the hefty price tag. That's what gives me a serious case of the I-could-do-thats. Appliqued t-shirts? Tick. Stencilled t-shirts? Tick.
This satchel... not so easy. So I ordered it. Yes, I know it's make-your-own-bag month over at Sew Mama Sew, but I couldn't resist. Don't boot me out of the crafty club. Pretty please.
Maybe it's the countdown to the beginning of the summer holidays, but I've been feeling very antsy of late and not at all inspired to do much in the way of craft. Part of it has been lack of time, but I also think that crafting (and blogging) is a habit. When I get out of the swing of doing either, it's quite hard to begin again.
But today I decided to give myself a bit of a shove. I had a make something moment, anything, but it had to be quick, because between chores and collecting Johnny from school, there was only three quarters of an hour and I wanted a coffee too. So I whipped out my rubber stamp carving stuff and made a little envelope stamp. My return addresses will be so much cuter for it.
And d'you know what? It worked.Because over Johnny's veg-in-front-of-the-box hour (my answer for over a year to no nap) I made a little tote too.
Tasha sent me this fabric a while ago now, and it was beginning to look at me in an accusing fashion. The bag pattern was from Eco-bag - a Japanese craft book I have been trying a couple of patterns from. I quite like this style, but the pink fabric is linen and is a bit too floppy to be a truly successful tote. It does feel nice though. And I made French Seams. Fancy.
