Get Off My New Worktop Cat!

New Kitchen cupboards and worktop all in now. And it is heaven. Just flooring and tiling to do. Oh yes and finish washing up and putting away all the crockery and pots and pans that now have a nice new place to live.


And getting the cat off my lovely new worktop too!

Button Wednesday - Handmade Finds & Pearly Kings

It is Button Wednesday again!

I was going to just show you some yummy handmade buttons that I found over on etsy. Which I will do anyway.

But then I read P8s Buttons and Fabrics blog, and it reminded me of Pearly Queens and Kings. Now many of you may never have heard of them. They are a London thing. It started in the 19th century by Henry Croft and continues to this day. Pearly Queens and Kings sew on hundreds and hundreds of pearl buttons to their suits, and they raise lots of money for charity. You can read more about it here.

Here are the promised button yumminess:

Handmade Fabric Buttons Water Splashes ;


Set of 8 One-of-a-Kind Buttons;


Crackled Ceramic Buttons Frost White;


Organic /crocheted Summer Beads


And here is a couple of wonderful Pearly Kings


I did try to get the photo smaller but did not manage it and anyway you can see the details of the clothes this way!

For more Button Wednesdays pop over to Kraplap's P8 Buttons & Fabrics Blog.

Monday Moodboard - New Kitchen

We are having a new kitchen. In actual fact it is someone's old kitchen which they have replaced with a brand new sparkling one. Being in need of a new kitchen we happily took their old one. So at this moment it is half in and I am looking forward very much to it being complete. Having a nice kitchen means a lot.

So my Monday Moodboard this week is all about kitchens, keeping cheerful and looking forward to the future.



1.Bread Cutting Board
2.Reusable eco friendly snack bag
3.Set of 2 Crochet Round Coasters in Purple
4.Whimsy Breakfast Plate Set

For more Monday Moodboards see fleurfatale's blog.

Button Wednesday - Cats

It is my aim to post more regularly on my blog and because I am not working over the Summer, I hope I can use this time to do so.

One thing I want to do is dedicate a day to a theme, as many wonderful bloogers already do, and today being Wednesday is Button Wednesday. Before you all jump up and down thinking 'how clever you are Alix' well of course I am clever but not in this particular instance as it is not my idea. Button Wednesday has been created over here on P8 Button and Fabrics blog.

As you may know ('he he he' she laughs!) I make buttons. However, I plan to show other buttons as well.

This my first ever Button Wednesday post is dedicated to just one button (or set). Mainly because I am doing this post in the last 10 minutes before I rush to work.


So the other day I was searching for some very important papers and in doing so pulled out a drawer. And behind the drawer were these buttons.






I do not think they are really old. They are plastic. But I love their white eyes in black bodies.

Now what shall I do with them?

My New Little Sewing Machine

I was walking to work the other day and I thought I would pop a Charity shop and see if they still had the vintage dress. Of course they didn't. My rule should be 'If you Like It - Buy It' because other people will.

Anyway I saw something interesting in the window. It was a teeny sewing machine.
The lovely shop lady got it for me and I had a play. But it didn't have a bobbin and I know from previous experience of having a Singer with a shuttle bobbin that these things are hard to replace. So I said I would think about it. And so I wrote the manufacturer's name in my notebook and off I went to work.

That evening I did look online and found out that it did not have a bobbin as it never had one. It only did chain stitch and thus was bobbinless.

The next day was Saturday and I have my daughter home and knew that the walk was too long for her little legs and the bus service to that place appalling. So I went round my mum's, abandoned my daughter, and walked to the shop. Oh yes I phoned first and reserved it.

And there the dear little thing was! I popped it into a carrier and went home (having collected daughter and had a cup of tea at my mum's).

I worked out how to thread it eventually, it needs adjusting but works well.

I am happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok so I now own 4 sewing machines - from 1915, 1968, 1996 and now this one from the 1950s.

There is a bit missing from this story about my asking my sister's advice but since she was not much help apart from saying 'buy it or I will'..I will miss her part out.

The sewing machine is made by Grain in the 1950s, and made in the UK.

And I found this lovely site Sewing Machine Collector. Here are some photos from the site. And here is a wonderful report about a Toy Test carried out on machines in the 1950s.

I have been told to add, by my very demanding daughter, that Mary took the first photo.

Branding.

I am going through abit of rebranding or even branding. So you may see a new banner and if you visit my shop new banners and avatars there.

I am using my new logo which has the fantastic font. I love it and am using it on my tags and button cards.

The banner at the moment is a work in progress. Mainly because I have not yet mastered Gimp. But I am working on it.

It is Christmas (in July!)

Over on etsy I am taking part in the Christmas in July sales. So pop over and have a look in my shop as I am offering 25% off everything.

Click here to see my etsy shop.

A Plateful of Buttons

I am making lots of buttons at the moment (as you may have read in earlier posts).

I love making them and think as it is something different, then I ought to concentrate on them. So I have big plans this Summer.

Meanwhile you can find my buttons available in my etsy shop.

A Cosy For Your Cuppa

Hello. I am posting this direct from the facebook page as some of you do not use facebook. But this is the link if you do .

Please read as it is awful that builders can get away with treating someone' house this way. I know that when someone is in trouble then the whole craft community is wonderful at rallying round.

''A COSY FOR YOUR CUPPA... You know it makes sense!!

- Keep your beverage of choice warm and yummy for longer...
- You save waste: no more chucking out stone-cold cuppas!
- Look after your poor hands; no more burnt fingers on too-hot-to-hold mugs and cups!
- Be a trend setter and the envy of your family, friends and work colleagues with your outfit-coordinated, STATEMENT colour cup cosy!!
- Buy a little street cred: get yourself the latest in stylish accessories whilst NOT breaking the bank.

AND not only will you be supporting a small HANDMADE home business, but [most important and basically my reason for doing this!] helping my friend Ann and her lovely family towards fixing their home, which has been ravaged, wrecked and generally ruined by a thoroughly incompetent builder.

Visit Ann's Etsy shops and find your future cup cosy here:
http://snowdropsanddaisies.etsy.com/
http://theteacosyshop.etsy.com/

You can view her cup cosies and other handmade gifts and goodies on her blog: http://snowdropsanddaisies.wordpress.com/

...read about what has happened to her home here:
http://mycrappyhouse.wordpress.com/

...and contact her with questions, or ideas and suggestions that may help here: snowdropsanddaisies@gmail.com

Please COSY UP YOUR CUPPA! and help get word around by sharing these links with your Facebook friends and contacts, or even blogging or tweeting.

Thanks so much everyone!
Maisy xx
[aka Jeanette]''
Well that was my lovely friend Maisy who wrote the above and created the facebook event.
And this is me.
Alix
(aka Bigbluebed).xxx

Victorian Day

My daughter's school held a Victorian Day last week.

Ha ha! I thought - a great opportunity to make something lovely for her to wear. But what with the Handm@de Winchester fair, I did not actually start making it until a few days before.

I sort of knew what I wanted to make but trawled the web and asked my lovely friends from the etsy UK thread for advice. I found some great sites which I will share with you another time.

In the end I looked up the Tenniel illustrations of Alice in Wonderland. I made some sketches and based my design on this. I did not actually have enough money to buy fabric for a dress but we found that Mary had a dress that was perfect. I just had to cut off a couple of horrible embellishments.

So I used an old nightie which gave me enough white cotton for the pinafore, but I could have used a white sheet (if I could have found one) or a length of cotton from the shop. I luckily had a nice length of broderie anglaise.

This is the result.




and the back


And I am showing you this one as it shows Mary dancing and skipping off to school. She loved wearing the long skirts and was so excited to go to school.


Her teacher a teaching assistant were dressed too, and the classroom had all the pretty displays and the interactive whiteboard blacked up. The children played Victorian games at play time and had to write on slates with chalk.

What a great way to learn.

And I learnt lots too and will be posting my tutorial on how to make a simple pinafore for Victorian girls.