I’ve only gone and done it!!

Now that caught your eye didn’t it! What have I done? I’ve listed some of my bags on Etsy – you can find me here at Handmade by Heather. I’m not sure if they will sell but if I don’t try I will never know will I? The pricing looks a little strange ‘cos you have to put the price in US dollars and I suppose depending which exchange rate the site uses the rate will vary. I really struggled to come up with a price that reflects my expenses and that will appeal to the buyer, I’ve had a good look around Etsy and at the various craft fairs I’ve been to and the prices vary widely - £10 - £45 for very similar items. I thought if I offered free UK post and packing it might seem a good deal.

Now just have to sit back and see what happens – gulp!!

In other news, we head towards Christmas wondering where the year has disappeared to. Matt seems to be settled in Brisbane now for a couple of months at least. He has a job working for a meat supplier – he works nights loading orders for supermarkets. Working nights should suit him as he has always been a nit of a night owl anyway and the money is good. It’s going to be very strange mot having him around at Christmas this year although we will talk on the phone.

And that’s probably all I can think of – oh, nearly forgot – the shoulder business. It’s getting better I think and I’ve finished the acupuncture – can’t say it’s made any difference really but it was worth a try, I’m still taking the medication because when I don’t take it the symptoms all come right back! But the good news is that the Physio suggested I try some hand stitching or crochet – almost like getting back on the bike when you’ve fallen off I suppose. I tried some on Thursday to no ill effect so hope that I can carry on. I’ve packed up the sewing machine as I don’t think I’ll have any time leading up to Christmas but a spot of hand stitching might just fill the gap!

Decision made

OK – time to put the past few weeks to bed I think. I’ve decided to ride out whatever storms arise at work, thanks to this strange positivity that’s arrived over the past couple of weeks I now feel a lot more positive and optimistic about the future – just hope I can keep it up!

Moving on to other things of a more domestic nature. Matt seems to have settled in Brisbane, he’s been there for about a month now and has his ‘white card’ to enable him to work in the ‘construction’ industry, which seems to be a generic term for odd-jobbing here and there. Apparently there’s a large music festival in Brisbane in a couple of weeks and they need people to work on the site and stuff. We have a regular weekly phone call with him and he seems to really be enjoying himself – which is a huge relief after the first few days.

Yesterday, I had a select ladies who sew day, not intentionally select but only a few people could come – bad me took not a single photo! The reveal of the day was that Isabel has lovely hand sewing skills! She was rummaging through my purse frames and picked one with greeny coloured bobbles for the clasp, the challenge then was to find some fabric to go with it and here is her photo of her bounty!

It’s the small purse from issue three of ‘Molly Makes’

I made another frame purse yesterday, I’ve decided to just make a few so I have some to hand for that impromptu last minute gift so set out several matching fabrics – they only take about a quarter yard of each fabric which helps to mitigate the cost of the frames!

Finally, here’s some of the bags I’ve made lately and haven’t got around to sharing yet…

I’ve moved away from my safety net of plain lining for this one!

I’m off then, time for a quick shower before I phone Matt!

Ladies who……

Earlier today I had a really catchy title in my mind for this post, however the sieve that has replaced my memory in recent months has let it leak out and it’s lost!

I hope as I’m writing I can come up with something that tells you what a great day I’ve had today! A few weeks ago I had the brainwave of inviting some likeminded ladies to spend the day being crafty and today was the day we settled on. I suppose I expected maybe two or three friends would say yes please but we ended up with eight of us – and John!

John very kindly rearranged all the furniture a few days ago so that we could open up the space available and this morning we got ourselves ready. We opened up the dining table, laid out the cutting mat and sewing machine, pulled out a box of yarn and awaited our guests. I’d said 10 o’clock for a start time but slowly messages started coming in about people being delayed. The best one has to be the text that said ‘Please tell me it’s tonight we’re sewing’! Poor Trish had got 6 on her mind not thinking that was the date and not the start time! She and her daughter arrived just in time for lunch much to the amusement of those already gathered!

So here is the day in pictures – I think we all enjoyed ourselves, Isabel sort of learnt to crochet with Janet’s help, Sian made one of Nicky’s lovely boxy bags, Julie and Steph enjoyed a bit of show & tell, Trish wasn’t having a good day – instead of bringing her dress to finish she bought the remaining fabric, John got a few photography tips from Trish & Sian and me, well I did some crochet and marked out the half square triangles for my next project.

 

The sewing end

Elevenses!

The other end!

Yes – I left the ironing board out! The sewers amongst you will know that this is an important piece of equipment!

She need a bright colour!!

Don’t show my face!!

See – Nicky used that so important piece of equipment!

I’m not looking up!!

Always happy teaching!

The final result!

Thank you all for coming – shall we do it again?

Another week , another reveal!

Another first for me this week – a bag on a clip frame, I’ve always wondered how these work and now I know. This one is called Easy Peasy Purse and came in kit form from U-handbag. I have to say it was very easy to make although I struggled a little getting getting the fabric into the frame – but it will be easy next time!

In other news I took myself off to Dunelm on my day off as I had read on Catherine's blog here that she’d got an absolute bargain roll of fabric – 10 metres for £9.99. I had to have a look didn’t I? So was I as lucky? No of course not! Although I did get four end of rolls for £2.99 a metre, all a slightly heavier cotton, not really quilt weight but will be great for bags. And it will make a lot of bags. I bought 10 metres. Yes, I know who can make that many bags? Perhaps I’ll share it…..

Son 2 finally booked his flight to go to Australia. He was going to fly in October but has become so disillusioned at work over the past few weeks he’s bought it forward to early September. He’ll fly to Melbourne and go where the fancy (and the work) takes him. Good luck to him, he’s young enough to get the best from it and I hope mature enough to make it work for him – and before you ask, of course I’ll miss him!

And finally, the reveal – here it is my first clip frame bag (the fabric is Amy Butler ‘Tumble Roses’)…

 

Just off to order some frames I think……