My Busy Craft Life

Hi all, The weekend before last I ran the Amba City Mile. Having just recovered from a knee injury after 2 months of physio, this race was perfect for me. And boy am I out of shape... It was only a mile (1.6K) but still, after being out of the running (pun intended) for that long it was tricky. Means I just have to try harder for the 10K soon! Early-ish on Sunday morning near St Paul... I was waiting for my wave to start. I had indicated to run it in about 10 mins (didn't want to injure myself again after all) so I was in the last wave, the 'general admission' as they called it. Not sure if I should be offended? LOL Getting ready at the start line... and no head phone allowed! I was gutted! Music really helps my rhythm but alas I had to do without. In the end I managed to finish in 8.56 min which isn't bad as it's about 5.15 kpm on average. And it's under the estimated 10 mins! And I even got a medal. I like races where I get a medal :) Y...

Hi all! OMG I am so excited about this project! Now, before anything else, I have to tell you that I copied this idea from a wonderful running blog Run Karla Run , she ran the Disney marathon and her outfit was just perfect for what I had in mind! This is the original outfit: Isn't it the cutest?? Thank you Karla, I hope you don't mind I copied your costume *crosses fingers* The costume is based on the pink dress in Disney's Cinderella. I just love this idea! Now, back to the actual project. Remember the Race for Life I ran last year? Well, earlier this year when I was all healthy and hopeful and in shape (before injuring my knee with all that exercise and having lots of time for sewing), I registered to a lot of running events, including the Race for Life again. The difference this year: I'll be running 10K! I've never ran 10K in my life... with all the physio etc I am totally out of shape and I only have  a month to recover. But then I calculated th...

Hi everyone! I have been waiting a little while to post about this, I am so excited to finally be able to share this with you :) When I went through my stash of printed patterns, I came across this scissor sock pattern by Linda Walden. I got it a long time ago off one of those websites that send you a free pattern every day (I used to love those!). I tried to look for the pattern again online but couldn't find it anywhere. Even when searching for the author of the pattern gave no results, it has just disappeared. Luckily I have a print out :) I really hope Ms Walden doesn't mind, full credit goes to her of course. Only a few months ago, I had only 3 pairs of scissors. Then it was my birthday and sister gave me another pair. Then I ordered the new sewing machine which came with 3 pairs! So I ended up with a few more than planned, and the worst part was that I never know where I've left them! I normally just through them into my (somewhat over-sized) sewing basket and then...

Hi all, During the same visit of our friends, we visited also the Vikings Exhibition at the British Museum. While I have to admit that it didn't start off with a bang, it surely improved and turned out to be a wonderful exhibition indeed :) of course, no photography was allowed, but once again the embed function has come to the rescue: #476616157 / gettyimages.com #90108623 / gettyimages.com #90108671 / gettyimages.com #476616199 / gettyimages.com If you're into Viking history at all, this is very interesting. Of course one can't only sew all the time ;)

Hi everyone! I told you I had a lot of projects to share! Honestly, I LOVE my new machine. Putting in zippers has never been that easy! A little while ago, I'd cut some of the Wizard of Oz fabric to make a toiletry bag. After many failed attempts at a successful toiletry bag, I didn't want to ruin this lovely fabric. Plus the idea of actually using up my stash for pretty much anything really helped! I may not have told you this yet actually. Let me elaborate: when I see fabric I like, I buy it usually with a project in mind. I then keep said fabric until I have time to make said project. This has now resulted in an ever-growing stash and hardly any projects for lack of time or interest (or possibly not longer necessary). Case in point: I have this wonderful sewing themed fabric which I was going to use to make a sewing machine cover. My new machine comes with a solid plastic cover. Oops... so now I have this lovely fabric and no more projects! And one can really only so many b...

Hi all! A few weeks back we had some friends visiting and of course we had to do some touristy things. We visited the latest exhibition at the V&A: Wedding Dresses 1775-2014. It was amazing! Of course there is a no-photo policy (which sadly too many people ignore) but some pics can be seen below with the embed option. It was just too gorgeous :) I took one picture from way below the entrance so the quality isn't great but I just LOOOVE this dress: It's purple, it's gorgeous, it's Dita von Teese's wedding dress! OMG I just can't described the beauty of this dress. I want it!  Sadly it's not embedded as it wasn't available for the purple dress, but here is an image from Italian Vogue of the dress in action :)  Here are some pics of the other dresses to give you an idea of what is on display: #487427331 / gettyimages.com #487427235 / gettyimages.com #487427141 / gettyimages.com #487427073 / gettyimages.c...

Heyhey everyone, I'm back!! Yes, I have so many cool projects to blog about, it's crazy! Plus I've finally taken the pics so now is my chance to show you my new Italian Chef Apron. I found this cute fabric at Joann's and just knew that it was to become a new apron. Yet another one... Remember the polka dot fabric from yesterday's post about the backpack strap? There is a reason I'm using that for small projects like this. I bought it very cheap but when I washed it, a lot of the black washed out so it's not suitable for quilting projects etc anymore. But no matter, I can use it in plenty of other things I'm making, such as this apron. This apron has 3 layers of fabric, as opposed to the usual 2 layers. I always try to add pockets to my aprons but they're somehow always too small. I wanted an apron with one huge pocket this time. So I had a layer of lining, a layer of apron, and in the middle I added another layer on the bottom half that would serv...

Hi everyone! It's the World Cup again so the Orange Feeling is slowly creeping through my veins again. Last night was our first match and we sure kicked ass! It was great :) I actually skipped yoga (bad me), went to the pub and even had a few drinks! This is quite rare for me nowadays, I must be getting old.  But before all this happened, I had to find another solution for my feather boa. I usually wear a bright orange feather boa to the pub fr a Dutch match, but the boa has been slowly disintegrating over the last few years and I leave a trail of feathers everywhere I go. You may recall this picture from two years ago when I made the hat? Yes the feather boa is visible there too: Replacing is wasn't even in the stars but during the annual fabric shopping with my sewing group, I came across this beauty: These are the purchases of the day, lots of bargains including that bit of orange fur. I was a remnant and not even straight and the shop wanted £1 for it. As I als...

Hi all! I'm so happy, today the bf and I celebrated our 9 year anniversary :) We went out for a lovely meal, attended a party with a live brass band, and had a great time. Plus I got him the best pressie ever but more in that in December (yes it's a timed present). I got Frozen on DVD and we even watched it tonight! It's a bit sing-songy even for my taste but still a very entertaining movie.  I'm so happy... (imagine song tune here)

Hello again! Sometimes, you just need to have a quick and small project. And now with my shiny new sewing machine these are now a breeze :) I have this army style backpack that just needs a new strap every couple of years. I usually buy a cheapo scarf or something for it, but why not just quickly make a strap for it? I still had this polka dot fabric that had the perfect weave for it. Wait until I show you what my strap ended up that I was using before: Because really, who can use this as a strap? This was the scarf I used before, it's pretty much gone really. So I cut a long strap of polka dot fabric, sewed it into a tube with pointy ends, closed the ends and threaded it through the holes. Perfect strap for my lovely bag which is now as good as new. I love quick projects like these sometimes!

Hi all, Yes, finally I can blog about my shiny new yoga top :) A little while ago, there was a sample sale near my office and I bought this fantastic top there which I now use for yoga. It is so comfy! So needless to say I needed some more. Well, I found a tshirt from the bf in my upcycling box so I thought I'd give it a try. So this tshirt from Games Day 2011 had to be turned into...  ...this wonderful top from the sample sale. It is the only pic I have of me wearing it actually. It was taken on holidays in LA (yes that is the space shuttle from the TBBT!), I really must blog about that one day too really. But back to my sewing project. I also had some tshirt material leftover from various upcycling project such as the Labyrinth Top so plenty of material to use in case I needed it. And boy did I need it! The original top has edging along all the seams which I to recreate and there just wasnt enough Warhammer shirt material for this. So despite this saying 'blue...

Hi everyone! The sewing is still going on, but I also wanted to post about some of the trips we've made over the past few weeks. After all, one can't be inside all the time! And sadly I cannot bring my sewing machine outside, so we just have to visit some really cool places. :) Yes, silver linings and all that... A few weeks back, I had taken the day of for something or other which then spectacularly got cancelled. Woops! What do do with a whole day of during the week and nowhere to go? Buy tickets for Harry Potter! It wasn't a bank holiday anywhere in Europe (which is great because this place floods with people very easily on those days) so off we went. I have to admit, the prices are very high (entry for one adult is GBP 30!), getting there is a bit of a disaster (the bus fills up easily and there is no queuing system), but once you're there it's is so amazing and totally worth it!  You can take pictures everywhere, see real life sets, props, and most importa...

Hi all! A little while ago I found this amazing tutorial on how to make an easy running belt HERE . I normally wear a fleece while running (it is London after all) so I can put my keys etc somewhere, but at the Color Run I really didnt want to wear it. It would get way dirty and the forecast was quite good for a change. So I really wanted to make this and see if it would work. I made this just the evening before so it's really not great but it's a decent first attempt. Of course I only realised after I had done all the fabric shopping (my group went for the annual fabric shopping trip in my area) that I actually needed lycra and not jersey, but jersey was what I had so I used that. It's a fabric I got from a swap once and I still haven't found the perfect project for it, so I thought I could spare a bit for this. I'd never worked with jersey before but there has to be a first time for everything, right? The print on this is quite cool, except that there is a...