Jude has the teeniest bedroom in the house. We’ve moved across the furniture we bought before Scarlett was born, and the three pieces just fit the room.
I started making a quilt the month before Jude was born, in a yellow and grey theme – here it was just before I completed the bias binding round the outside. Before we even moved, I knew that I wanted these two colours for his bedroom.
OK, so don’t get excited. The craft fair was a total bust. I was a bit sad about it because I’d been so excited, but these things happen.
I was very proud of the way my stall looked. I went into this with my friend Lenka, who bakes beautiful cakes, and we were supposed to be sharing a stall, but when we arrived they’d given us an extra long pair of tables as someone had called in sick. Continue reading
My friend Lenka (who makes the yummy cakes) and I have decided to go to a craft fair together at the end of this month. Well, not just go together. Exhibit together. Sell together!
They don’t usually allow you to share a table, but I begged very nicely as it was Baby Brain‘s first one, and they’ve let us do it if we mix up our stock, which is jolly nice of them (can you tell I’ve been reading Enid Blyton to Scarlett recently?).
I’ve got a bit of an advantage on Lenka in that my stock doesn’t spoil or go off, nor do I have to wait until the days before to start preparing, but I’m still struggling to find the time to add to my little stock collection. I’m also attempting to make some Baby Brain bunting (in the style of my logo!) to go on the front of our tablecloth! Barry’s going to Germany with work next week, which might be the opportunity I need to catch up on my sewing.
Dresses, bags and bibs is what I’ll be selling on the day, and I’m also taking along my baby birth details prints and an example of a button monogram for the table (but those are obviously made to bespoke requirements); Lenka has a list as long as your arm of delicious delights, including something I haven’t tried before: cake in a jar. Pinterest it. It’s going to be amazing!
I’ve already made Scarlett a little Baby Brain dress and nappy cover so she can run round like a mini advertising board! She models so well!
Come and say hello if you’re in the area, full event details are here. We’d love to see you!
I was recently a bridesmaid for my beautiful friend Charlie, and what a wedding!
I (among many people) made various bits for the wedding, including baking this collection of buns to look like a wedding dress for the hen do (it received good reviews from Charlie’s auntie) and sewing the tie for Charlie’s two-year old son for the big day.
I also made a couple of bits towards their wedding present, including a Mr and Mrs framed photographic print and Mr and Mrs bunting (notice a theme?). We gave them those (along with a picnic basket that I really wanted to 
keep!) the week before the wedding, but I didn’t realise they’d feature on the big day too!
Neil, the talented photographer from our own big day (who is also a friend) was also the photographer for our friends’ wedding (he’s the groom’s brother). His wife, Amy, helps him with the photography business and is aspiring to become a wedding planner – my bunting got a nod in her recent blog post! Click here if you would like to have a gander, and that beautiful cake at the end? My friend Lenka made that. What a lovely wedding!
I’m enjoying sewing so much at the minute! I love that you can turn a pile of fabric, ribbon and lace into something you can be pretty proud of, in not much time (a naptime for me!).
When I pick Scarlett up from nursery, I seem to be gathering little items up and balancing them, or stuffing them into various pockets, so I thought it may be handy to have a drawstring bag to hold her change of clothes, comforter, note, bib, etc., at the end of the day.
I bought this fabric this week, I thought this red ribbon would really pop against the blue, and I still have some of the broderie anglaise lace left from when I made her party dress.
Et voilà! I’m really proud of this – so proud, I think I might add this to my repertoire for Baby Brain. Speaking of which, I’ve just opened a Facebook Store, please nip over and check it out!
My desk in the study, which I don’t think I’ve ever shown you, is looking rather busy at the moment. Since my sewing machine arrived on my desk, I’ve been sewing project after project.
Other than Baby Brain creations, my machine’s been whirring away on bunting recently. I have a trip planned to Ikea in the next week, to have a look at some storage solutions – as you can see, it’s overflowing with buttons, fabric and paperwork!
Christmas is nearly here, and I haven’t been this excited in years, even though Scarlett has no idea what’s going on. When the tree goes up, she won’t think Christmas, she’ll think Challenge.
Sorry I haven’t been spending much time updating my blog lately – between looking after (ok, playing with) Scarlett, working part-time, trying to start up my own little business and keep my house in some semblance of order, it’s been a bit crazy in our house the last few months.
My lovely husband did indeed give me a sewing machine for my 31st, it’s lovely and shiny and does all kinds of exciting stitches. I know: I’ve used two already. Not including backwards.
This is what I’ve been making this week: a Christmas sack for Scarlett. When me and my brother were little, we each had specific pillowcases that we hung on the end of our beds every Christmas Eve. When we woke up the next morning to find them gone, that’s how we knew Father Christmas had been (they’d been whisked away in the night to be filled with lovely presents in the living room).
I love the thought of starting a tradition with her very first Christmas!
Not for mine, I’ve been married ages, but I’ve been wedding dress shopping with two different brides in the last few weeks. Both of them are gorgeous and slim, and all of the dresses look amazing on them; so amazing, in fact, that it makes me want to get married again! Still to Barry, don’t worry.
Confession – I actually had three wedding dresses as it is: one I never wore, one I had to buy quickly as we got married at short notice as my dad was ill, and another for a blessing with our friends and family as the vicar wouldn’t let me wear my actual wedding dress. So it’s not like I didn’t have the opportunity! Lace is in at the moment though, and I have a little regret about how plain my actual wedding dress was, even though that’s exactly what I wanted at the time.
After I got married, I started thinking about what a great thing it would be to have a wedding dress shop and make all those brides so happy! I’d serve champagne, and I would cry when they tried the dress on, maybe even design a few dresses… I’m looking at it through rose tinted glasses. It would probably be more like me trying to clean fake tan and foundation off the delicate necklines and getting done for serving alcohol to underage relatives.
My new idea is sewing for little people. I’m getting a bit ahead of myself – I’ve asked my lovely husband for a sewing machine for my birthday (one that I don’t have to turn by hand!) and I have lots of grand ideas of making clothes for Scarlett, and if I turn out to be any good, making them for other tots too.
I may get lambasted for this by the pro-craft crowd, but I’m a bit embarrassed to admit… my name’s Michelle and I like to cross-stitch. Lambasted for the embarrassment, not for the sewing itself. I’m not getting any time to do it at the moment, but I started a baby sampler for Scarlett’s room before she was born and I am going to try my best to finish it soon. Before she’s five. Definitely before she’s ten. Would it be a nice graduation present?
I love doing little bits as gifts for people, I’ve only ever had them gratefully received as I think you can see the time, work and care that goes into them. I’ve sewn cards, bookmarks, and framed pictures, small and large. I’ve made quite a few birth samplers, including one that I started when I was about fourteen or fifteen and took me years to complete. It was around A3 sized and a lot of it was a deep blue – I remember clearly taking care over every stitch. Couldn’t wait to start another colour.
Has everyone got their Christmas decorations up yet? I spent Friday night doing that and wrapping presents. Not all of the presents – I have a threshold – I managed about half and now I’ll have to wait another week before I can face wrapping anything more.
There’s a rule in our house that we can’t have anything Christmassy up until at least a week after my birthday, which is at the end of November (it’s usually two weeks but I jumped ahead this year because I’m excited about Christmas).
Most of my shopping is done now, just a few bits left to get. On more of a countdown than usual this year as I’m finishing work at Christmas (hurray!). Nine working days to go!
One of my schoolfriends who moved away to France after university is expecting the same day as me, so I decided to get crafty and make her a little present – here’s the result…
The booties were a lot less traumatic to sew than the supergirl boots! I’m working on a sampler at the moment for the nursery, hopefully I’ll get a bit more time to do that when I’m on maternity.