Meet Mogo

I took part in my very own Great British Sewing Bee-esque Creation Challenge this month as I took part in the Hillary's Blinds Country Crafts competition.

A beautiful piece of fabric arrived in the post and the challenge was to create what ever we wanted.... Crickey being creative is quite difficult when you have a completely blank piece of paper. I'm used to being creative but I usually have an idea of at least what shape or use the final object will have, but this time the possibilities were endless, crumbs!

I pondered for some time and decided on a rather cute clutch bag which would double as a padded iPad case. I even solved the ever annoying tangled headphones issue by putting a small zipped pocked disguised as a bow on the front which would be just big enough for head phones alone to fit with no jiggle space. With the dimensions calculated and rough design drawn I was ready to cut and sew, but then my little 3 year old son got ill.

He had chicken pox and suddenly my new clutch / iPad case (and actually the competition) was totally unimportant.

Whilst he napped on the sofa during his millionth viewing of Toy Story 3 I had an idea...
My son is spotty...
My fabric is spotty...
I should make my son a spotty friend.

So my new clutch / iPad case was set aside and I found a pattern for a teddy bear instead.
Pin
Snip
Sew
Stuff

Et voila

Meet Mogo

"He has spots on his tummy just like me Mummy" my son chirped when he met him "his name is Mogo, Mummy"
Firm friends in their joint spottiness, Mogo has been everywhere with us...
Trips in the car...

 Supermarket shopping...

Milkshake treats (he really likes butterscotch apparently)...

And he's even been treated to a sofa snooze under the duvet whilst watching Toy Story 3!

For me this was the perfect use of the Hillary's Country Craft fabric and I look forward to Mogo joining us on many more days out.

Thank you to Hillary's for sending me the perfect fabric to put a smile on my son's face xx

Posted with Blogsy

Another Awesome Day at the Spring Knitting and Stitching Show

I had the pleasure of spending Thursday at the Spring Knitting and Stitching Show in Olympia London. It was another fabulous day. We entered the show when it opened at 10am and left at 6pm packing in 3 workshops, lunch, 2 cups of tea and a biscuit..oh and a few purchased, we were shattered. 

So here's what I came home with

I was completely seduced by the fabric, there were almost too many choices, but picked these new fat quarters for patchwork. Got a couple of solids too (always find solids hard to find and they don't give me a that warm fuzzy feeling... but then I go to do patches and well sometimes you just need them don't you!) but they aren't very exciting so no photo

The workshops were fun too....

In 1.5hours I made a patchwork, quilted table runner - felt like I was on The Great British Sewing Bee with a time challenge - but just shows how much you can accomplish in a short time if there are no distractions

Love this picture - this wasnt a formal workshop but was on a stand they were offering the materials and instructions to make a picture for £5 (bargain). Love this. Not even sure it needs a frame - might just keep it in the wooden frame and hang it on the wall. 

My last class was "Sumptuous Surfaces" it was a strange title and quite a strange workshop - we painted some glue-like substance onto bubble wrap and then printed this onto a special fabric. Then with a heat gun (never used one of these before, such fun) we burnt away the fabric not covered in the glue-like substance - we were left with this strange surface which we then spray painted. Not something I think I'll be trying again, but great to spend an hour literally playing with materials and tools I've never handled before - that's what the workshops are all about really - trying something new and maybe you will like it.

Think this is the 4th time I've visited this show and always love it..... roll on October and the Alexandra Palace Show.