The (Mini) REVolution Event

On Saturday I spent a fantastic day with Revlie Schuit, who had organised a day full of craft classes up in The Netherlands.

There was a great, cute mini album made from fabric and felt, and a Tattered Angels workshop by Birgit which was just amazing.

my workspace before things got messy

I am so glad I went - what an inspiring, creative day! I brought home so much from it - ideas, knowledge, a warm heart, a smile, new friends, some random Dutch vocab... not to mention two projects that are so far from being finished yet that I can't even show you!

Thanks, Revlie - I'll see you next time for sure!

Doggie Bag

Since my sewing post a few weeks ago, I've had requests to make more bags, and, yes, I really want to make more bags. I will, I promise! The below item, however, was not exactly what I had in mind, but the opportunity simply presented itself...

It's a little bag to clip onto the dog's leash, in which to store poop scoops. We previously had a little plastic dispenser, but it was not very sturdy and kept breaking. After buying a third replacement we gave up and sought another solution: namely, my fabric scraps and sewing machine.


Keeping all the edges frayed for that dumpster chic look, I folded and sewed the top of the bag over a cord so that it becomes a drawstring bag. I cut the little doggie head and ear shapes and sewed around them, leaving the top of the head open so that I could add a popper closer, making a little pocket in which to store treats. Ain't it just rockin'?

I've Been Sew Busy!

This week I put aside paper crafting to get through a long overdue list of sewing tasks. The reason I'd been putting it off for so long was because I'm not hugely confident with the sewing machine... but, well, practice makes perfect. And though I'm far from perfect, I have improved greatly, and am now thinking about more complicated projects. Here's what I worked on this week.

First, very first, I finished the curtains for the bedroom (I started these back in February - yep, that's how long I've been delaying) by adding the tabs:

I had some leftovers from this fabric, which I was about to add to my leftovers bag when I found some other really good contrasting leftovers... and so I decided to make some little birds:

The pattern for these can be found here. They're so cute! But don't look too closely at mine - they're my first attempt! That was Monday. Tuesday I made some cushions:

- which got all creased up by the dog on the sofa before I could photograph them. I also fixed loads of clothes - it feels like I've got a new wardrobe!

Wednesday I made some more curtains, this time for the spare room, out of a great colourful CHEAP fabric from Ikea. Basically the door has glass panes in the top half, as does the adjoining door to our bedroom, so we wanted to cover them to provide a little privacy for our guests. It's also a very dark room, being at the back of the house (and in the basement, oh yes), so the colours really brighten it up.

Thursday I made a bread basket. Slacking off, that's all I made.
Friday, the final day in the week of sewing, I made a bag from this pattern - with the leftover material from the spare room curtains and some other leftover fabric I had:

I'm back to paper crafting next week, but any suggestions for things to sew that you might have for me would be most welcome. There's a little scottie dog up my sleeve, for example...