Nice little pouch

I have always had an obsession with purses and bags (I bet I am not the only one!). I made this little purse to substitute and old one that I have and I really love the way the colours come together. I think the buttons add a lot to it. Otherwise it might be a bit dull. The plain fabric comes from second hand trousers I got in a charity shop, the flowery fabric came in a scrap bag, and the buttons I bought in the Antique Market. Another reason why I like it is because each time I use it I am reminded of my lovely hobby.

Printing by hand

This is my latest purchase! I put my name down for a Fabric Printing course that was meant to start this week, but at the end of last week I was told it was cancelled. I was so disappointed! I had been looking forward to it for a whole month! They told me so late it was impossible to put my name down for any other course (grrrrrrr). So I decided I would learn on my own (ha! I will not accept defeat!) and got a book that would help me along the way. So far I have been playing around making simple rubber stamps to get myself familiar with the cutting tools, the ink and so on. Here is an example of what I have done:



Yes, very simple, but I hope to get good at it and make more complex drawings. As usual I have loads of ideas of things to do with stamping, and one of them is to make this year's Christmas cards. We shall see what the result of this is!

Kidlet bag

I made a little bag to hang from the handle of one of the drawers on my bedside table to try to make the surface a little bit less crowded (= messy). I got the idea from JC Handmade where she has a tutorial on how to make a Kidlet Wall Pocket.

Funky Victorian

One of the "delights" of living on rented accommodation is that one has to put up with furniture that does not quite fit, or is not of your taste. We have a Victorian nursing chair that is very comfortable, but the fabric is dull and is (surprise, surprise!) a little bit worn out. So I decided to make it more to our taste and have been doing a little bit of upholstery. I guess it is not proper upholstery, but it does the trick for me! I didn't take a picture of how the chair looked before because it was something that I started as an experiment that turned out to come out well. Ye-hey!

This is the original fabric, used in all of the chair.

Much nicer now! This is fabric from yesterday's trip to Ikea

The lovely blue fabric adds some colour to the room, which is always a good thing

I quite like the idea that the cushion is reversible
I will now enjoy sitting on this chair!

Thank you Carina!

Carina's Craftblog has been a source of inspiration for me since my interest in crafting as a hobby started. She has been kind enough to give me advice, from suggestions on how to take photos to encouragement on sewing zippers and starting this blog.
Her interview of me is now available in her blog, so check it out if you would like to get to know the crafty side of me!
Thanks Carina for having been so nice and open to me, a total stranger. I really appreciate it.
Happy Wedding and Happy life with T!

Jeans Pouch

What to do with an old pair of jeans and a scrap of pretty fabric? This nice and easy project allowed me to carry on practicing inserting zippers. Have no idea what I will do with it now though!

Doing something about the inside adds to the whole

Robot Pouch

There is so much to learn!

I followed the tutorial from Paper and String to make sure I had a good result with the zipper. I have problems sending you directly to the tutorial, but this link will take you to the blog.

A good finish makes all the difference!

Two more log cabins

Phew! I sometimes find that the challenge is not sewing, but managing to take decent photos... I wanted to sew something last night, but didn't want to start anything that would take too long and remembered the log cabin challenge.

I made the one with blue colours this morning.

Would like to make quite a few and put them together to make something bigger than what I am used to. One of the ideas is to make a little quilt to cover the upper part of my legs when I am sitting down at my desk. Perfect for those chilly evenings that are just round the corner!

Scrappy Cabin Challenge

Have you got bits and pieces of fabric remaining from previous projects? How about trying the Scrappy Cabin Challenge?
I am not entirely sure if I like the way the colours blend in the one I made, but practice makes perfect and I should start gathering new bits to make a new one soon. Have you got any suggestions on how to combine colours for projects of this type?

Patchwork bag

Hi everyone!
There are so many wonderful blogs out there! I recommend you check out Pink Penguin. I have followed her tutorial and made a fabric basket that looks like this




Not bad, eh? I was quite happy with the result. I also followed her explanations of how to eliminate the background from a photo, and managed to do it quite easily. I am feeling quite proud!

The green fabric comes from some old trousers of Richard. I bet he never thought they would end up being part of a bag! Making this basket helped me when thinking of the design for making my first HappySquirrel original.

The Pincushion Challenge

The first time I came accross The Pincushion Challenge was when I was exploring Carina's Craftblog, one of the most inspirational blogs out there.
These are some of the pincushions I have made.


There is a new challenge for September/October. Why not participate? Check out the website and get your sewing hat on!

My first original!

It is funny how some simple projects can take more time than initially expected. This has been the case of my first "HappySquirrel" original bag. I am really happy with the result, even though the shape is not quite what I had in mind...It is all part of the learning process! The cream fabric is originally from some fab quality curtains that I bought in a charity shop.

Richard gave me the HappySquirrel labels for my birthday. Such a sweet present!