While I Am Sewing...

... and thus failing to update my blog, here are some half-inched pictures to look at. I keep looking at them over and over and I thought you might like to look at them too. They are images of the "deathcycle" from EtsyLabs, from their "Handmade Life-cycle vs. Mass-produced Deathcycle Quilt"... and they are (quite frankly) awesome.

Bad Photos of Nice Things

I am still tidying and clearing out and rearranging and sewing lots and lots of things... this is what our kitchen table looked like a couple of nights ago:

My work-in-progress / ready-to-sew boxes - absolutely crammed with pieces of felt as I have lots of schemes on the go!

These are the product of that evenings sewing, two specially requested penguin brooches and lots of discs for a mobile...

Close-up (and much less blurry) shot of the penguins (I adore these little guys!) :

Oh, and I've been conducting very successful experiments with my shiny new printer so I can now add lovely new prints to my shop (artwork by my mother-in-law) :

Trying to get organised

Oh to be organised! At the moment, I'm really not. I flit from one project to another leaving a big fat mess in my wake and the house is starting to look pretty shoddy because of it...

So at the moment I am trying to tidy up, to finish things, to store things better and to have a clear-out. All at the same time, whilst trying to crack on with some sewing too. Lots to do...

I'm currently finishing a load of map tags that have lain unfinished for a couple of months...

... a big stack of wildflower envelopes that I cut out ages ago but never stuck together...

... and lots of things involving felt!
Trying to get my shop nicely stocked, too, which is being slightly hindered by Etsy being a bit lame at the moment (running very slowly, items apparently taking days to show up in searches etc) and also by the overcast & rainy few days we've just had (that sort of weather makes all my pictures turn out blue).

Oh, and I had an idea for this month's design challenge (Fairy Tales) but I doubt very much that I have the talent to actually make it turn out how it is in my mind's eye! Ah well, I shall give it a go anyway.

I Like Your Shoes

It is ridiculously hot here. I don't want to work at all, I've just been crashed out on the sofa drinking oodles of water and keeping myself entertained by sewing more delicious Askey treats.

Just finished this one, a version of "I like your shoes"...

A peek at my workspace...

Not exactly the tidiest of work spaces, this is what our kitchen table looks like when it's covered in all my sewing gubbins...
If you look closely you can see a couple of the things I made this week - a couple of brooches and an appliqued picture - and also a box full of birds-in-progress, all cut out and ready to sew. I've been going insect-crazy brooch wise, and have made a big sparkly butterfly and also (for Seaurchin in the UK Etsy secret swap) a dragonfly and a moth:
I'm really pleased with all three of them, and definitely plan on making some more (especially trying out some different colours for the butterfly).

My most exciting sewing project this week though has been an appliqued felt version of Askey's illustration "I like your shoes too". I am just in love with this image, the colours and the shapes of it, and felt sure it would translate well to applique. Here is the original (in greeting-card form, part of my birthday present to myself) and the felt version at the half-way point, before I attacked it with black thread.
Then the finished product - sent to Askey yesterday as a thankyou for all her secret-swap organising - looked like this:
I am just going to have to make more of these, they are just too delicious. Great to see it arrived safely and pics of it over on Flickr - taken in much better light than mine! It was sooo overcast yesterday but I couldn't wait to stick it in the post :D

To tide you over...

I have been so lazy with the blogging lately! I have at least been off sewing lots of things and I DID manage to get my swap item finished, hurrah (wip shots and other lovely things coming very soon), but I have been getting sooo behind. The uk etsy sellers blog is looking a bit neglected, too - I haven't even written up the flowers challenge yet! Just shameful. I will write some proper blog posts sometime soon (hopefully) but until then, some pictures, hurrah!

... two finished beaded brooches (I blogged a wip shot of the larger one last week), so pleased with how these turned out! Made from a random bag of beads I discovered in my supplies box, no idea where they came from...
... my entry to the flowers challenge (and the very first photo print available in my shop - venturing into new territory, rather exciting) ...
... and an excellent selection of buttons I bought at my local Sally Army shop last week - so far only charity shop in town that seems to keep a button jar (still a couple to ask, but I don't hold out much hope, it's not a very "modern" thing to do)