Author Archives: Amy

Bag designing and charm swapping

Wow, the days have turned into a couple of weeks since I was last here
BUT
I have been working on something exciting. This gorgeous Amy Butler fabric is a sneaky peek from a new clutch bag I’ve been designing. It’s coming along nicely and I can’t wait to show you it completed.

Another thing in the pipeline is something pretty using all these Kate Spain charm squares. I have something small in mind to join in with the Kate Spain charm alongbeing run by Ms Midge as well as a bigger quilt project but I’m not sure I can pull that off in 4 weeks. There are awesome prizes up for grabs so if you have some Kate Spain fabric you can join in too.

Linking up with Little White Dove

Commuter Cowl – Lil Pip Challenge

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I am loving the Commuter Cowl by Luvinthemommyhood which I discovered this month thanks to Jane from Lil Pip Designs. That’s right its the June Lil Pip Challenge and I’ve managed to finish it before the end of the month…Yay! It’s also the perfect addition of colour to my Winter wardrobe.

This is seriously one of the quickest things I’ve made (well other than the fact I hate hand sewing and it took me four days to get around to doing this and it was such a tiny amount). I actually had the cowl cut and sewn in about half an hour…Say what?!…I know right. There’s a couple of curly bits like tying knots in the cowl before joining it up and trying to work out how the ends of the fabric sort of kiss to join them. I really was over thinking the knots and in the end just tied a knot and let it be. This is how my ends were pinned to sew and as you can see I was determined to machine sew as much as I could.

This was a great sew along and a lovely new feature in my wardrobe. I may just make a couple more.

Getting My Craft On

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Last week saw me getting my craft on. There was some baking, a bit of sewing for the boys and cooking up a yummy risotto. It’s starting to become a bit of a Sunday ritual to hide out in the sewing room and last Sunday was no exception. This time making something for me!

This month in the Lil Pip Challenge is to make the Commuter Cowl and I am determined not to be late this month. With pattern printed and pretty pink fabric chosen, I was ready to cut and sew. This one is very close to completion, it just requires a little hand stitching which is not my favourite things to do.

Next on my sewing list is a bag! This one is from Nicole Mallalieu’s new book The Better Bag Maker. I’m currently in the process of slashing and opening the pattern.

Linking up with Little White Dove WIP Wednesday, you can too.

What craft have you tried this week?

Apple Tarte Tatin

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Do you watch Masterchef? It’s one reality show we enjoy watching. Once I made this ridiculous dessert they had for a pressure test. Lots of caramel and chocolate involved. I swear it took me about 5 hours to get something on a plate that only slightly resembled the dish on the show. Anyway I was watching the masterclass last week when they made an apple tarte tatin. I love apple tarte tatin but always thought it would be difficult to make.

Maybe not so I gave it a go.

This is the recipe I used from the show. I left out the vanilla beans as I didn’t have any, swapped five spice for cinnamon and used a frozen pastry sheet.

It was pretty easy and for a first attempt I was really happy.

It tasted amazing!

I’m going to try this one next. What recipes are you trying at the moment?

I heart bowling

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This year I made the decision that I would sew more for me and my boys. This was my plan last year but it just didn’t happen so this year I was going to make sure it did. When Jane from Lil Pip posted about a sewing challenge I was in, even better first up was something I could make for my boys. A bowling set. It took me most of May and the first few days of June but it is done!

I used to make dolls in my early teens but haven’t made a softie of sorts for a long, looonnng time. I thought it would be quick and easy to sew the bowling set, it only had 3 pattern pieces, but it seemed to take me forever. You can check out some progress pics over on instagram. Anyway I got there in the end and I love it. Oscar has been enjoying bowling with it as well so it’s a win from him too.

I popped into Spotlight yesterday and picked up some fabrics for me at 40% off!
I’m using one of these for the June challenge and the others are going to be dresses or skirts.

I’m linking up with Sew Cute Tuesday & And Sew We Craft & Lil Pip Sewing Challenge