London Mummy

Messing around with Fabric Scraps

Yet another long break - I'm slowly getting into my London Mummy/part time work/full time parenting mode but I have to apologize for being really behind on answering emails.  Thank you so much to all of you who took the time to leave the lovely comments on my last post - I will reply to your emails as soon as I can.

The part time job is going well, it is with a very good friend of mine, also a mummy who works in a completely different field to me as a mortgage broker, interesting time to be working in that field given the current state of the mortgage market.  I hadn't realized until now just how much I have missed the regular company of other people during the day, plus there is the added bonus of playing with her gorgeous fourteen month old daughter, Elena on a regular basis  :)

Not a lot of crafting been happening around here lately but I have been wanting to make a little set of these for some time now:

I love the (now discontinued) Sage Glen Kids fabrics from Alexander Henry and thought they would be perfect for this little project - vintage style skittles based on the style of the old vintage wooden sets which I thought would make a sweet little toddler gift.

These are so easy and satisfying to make,  I filled the bottom of each skittle with a little bit of rice to  give them added weight to enable them to stand upright and added some rice to the little fabric ball too.

Each skittle is just a simple cylinder shape, rather like a bolster cushion, then I just used little fabric scraps for the ties to give them the shape I wanted at the top.

If anyone would like me to provide a simple sewing tutorial, just let me know :)

I've also been playing around with some more soft fabric shapes:

These are basically just a variation on  the soft fabric cubes - I kind of like the idea of making lots of various sizes and adding some velcro so that they can be  used as building blocks for imaginative play plus I thought they would be a fun way to learn different shapes. 

Livvy decided the small cylinder shape would make the perfect seat/pouffe for a little dolls house and is keen for me to make a little soft sofa too.

The pyramid is made in the same way you would make a fabric doorstop, just on a smaller scale - these are all a great way to use up little fabric scraps  :

Basically four triangles and a square for the base - the sides of the square simply measure the same as the bottom of each triangle - again if anyone wants a simple sewing tutorial just holler :) 

Right we are off out to enjoy some much longer for sunshine - such a shame that the weather yesterday was so poor for the boat race, but many congratulations to the winning team, Oxford!

It's been too long!

Hello all, the above card from Hello Lucky sums it up nicely me thinks.  It has been way too long since I last wrote here but things are getting back on track.

I've taken a part time job, thankfully something that fits in with Livvy' s school hours,  to help  my meagre finances out but it does mean my time is even more stretched than usual trying to fit everything in.

I am so nearly there on the London Mummy website, it is just a question of one final push and a bit less procrastination and worrying about stock levels on my part!

I have managed to find some time to make some cushions using more of the yummy Sandberg fabrics - they will be in the shop soon.

I've also made some using some of the Alexander Henry 2D Zoo fabrics which I combined with some of the dotty linen from Sandberg which  co-ordinates beautifully .......

Have to say the blue colourway is my favourite of them all.

Although I do also think the soft sage green works well too ....

Finally some of the bold multi colourway which I have teamed up with the dotty pink linen Sandberg.

As the Alexander Henry fabrics are a cotton quilting weight, I lined the front of the cushions to compensate for the weight difference between the  Zoo fabrics and the linen Sandberg.

I do find making cushions theraputic, I love seeing great stacks of cushions on the shelves  :)

I'm working on a couple of new sewing tutorials at the moment too.  For some reason some of the photos for the Soft Baby Cube Sewing Tutorial disappeared from Flickr so I have re-loaded them.  I had to quickly re-write some of the instructions so if anything doesn't make sense, please do let me know.

Is honesty the best policy?

Having been somewhat absent from the blogworld for a little while, as I'm sure you've already noticed :)  I  found  Ali's post yesterday rather thought provoking.

In terms of one's own blog, is not telling all, the same as not being honest?  If so, then I am most definitely guilty on that score :)  People blog for so many different reasons, my initial motivation was to mark the progress of my little gift company and to encourage myself to keep going, keep trying even when things are tough.  Perhaps I should share a little of the history.

Livvy's father and I separated when she was three, my choice, no-one else involved but obviously my decision didn't go down too well.   

I set up my Interior Design practice in order to support Livvy and I financially which initially did well but I made the classic mistake of putting all my eggs in one basket - so easy to see in hindsight.  Subsequently I incurred a very large (well to me anyway) bad debt of £30,000.  Being a sole trader I was not entitled to legal aid and as my debtor was wealthy, was advised by lawyers that my only real option was to accept it and chalk it up to experience as if  I entered into legal proceedings against the client and then had to withdraw due to lack of funds then I would be liable for their costs and they could afford to protract the case for a long as possible.  Not a pleasant time at all, I can assure you.

As for my ex, well all I will say is that his subsequent behaviour assured me that I did absolutely the right thing in terms of leaving him; reneging on financial agreements, not turning up to see Livvy time after time, refusing to share any of the childcare in order to allow me to try and rebuild the business, knowing full well that I have no family on hand to help and just generally making a very difficult time substantially worse. 

Anyway, after the bank pulling the plug and my sailing perilously close to bankruptcy, a route I refused to go down, periods of depression and ongoing shenanigans from my ex we are moving forward, albeit slowly. 

One of the hardest things to deal with is trusting yourself again, constantly vacillating, constantly asking, is this the right thing to do, am I on the right path - I made such a monumental mess before, what if I do it again?  Am I making the best choices for me and my daughter? 

So, to try and get back to the question at the beginning of this now somewhat long post, is not telling it warts and all, dishonest or is it just an assumption that sometimes, telling it how it really is, is just a little bit too much information?

   

Festive Snowy Owls & Bird Love

Thank you so much to all of you who left me a comment regarding Andrea's illustration for London Mummy - I'm still having trouble deciding on my favourite.  Like many of you it seems, my initial favourite was number one but then, as others mentioned, I  did then think number two would be more flexible for print etc ........  I think I shall put off the final decision for a little while longer, just until I get this last run of Christmas Fairs done -  I confess I was cursing myself on Saturday as I lugged about twenty large boxes of stock up and down various stairs four times, it would all be much more simple if I just had one type of product - but hey where would the fun be in that :)

Here's some little festive snowy owls I made to display in my christmas wreaths -  I really like the simplicity of these white wreaths, you can't tell from the photos, but they also have some clear crystal beads which look so pretty when they catch the light.

If you want to make some of these owls then head over to Moonstitches for a great little tutorial.  There is also a new Owly Love pool over on flickr.  The fabrics are from my stash, some white Designers Guild linen mix for the body and some lovely soft patterned fabric which I can't for the life of me remember where it is from - actually that may well be from Designers Guild too.

Livvy came with me to the latest fair I did on Saturday which was held in a beautiful old church in Richmond, near Kew called, appropriately enough, The Barn Church.  My little mini entrepeneur daughter had been busy making some gorgeous friendship bracelets and asked if she could sell them alongside my things and she was so chuffed when she sold a fair number of them - she had made some gorgeous colour combinations - I will post some photos when the rain stops and we get some decent light around here.

As requested, I am in the midst of a lined Christmas Stocking tutorial but in reality I doubt if I will be able to post it here much before next week as I really do need to concentrate on these fairs I'm booked in for I'm afraid.

Now I did promise another giveaway before Christmas didn't I - so come back over the next few days as I shall be posting details either tomorrow or Wednesday..........

   

Andrea Schreiber - artist and illustrator

You know how every so often you come across a little gem, well I seem to have struck gold :)

I chanced upon the talented artist and illustrator,  Andrea Schreiber, on flickr.  I was immediately drawn to her delightful whimsical illustrations and knew instantly that her style would be perfect for London Mummy.

I was keen to find out more about her and the possibility of stocking some products with her illustrations.  I emailed her via flickr - fortunately for me she speaks some English as my German is completely non-existent! 

I can't wait to see her fun and colourful illustrations on a whole host of products in the future and am absolutely convinced her planned etsy shop will be a huge success. 

Luckily for me, Andrea generously agreed to produce a special illustration for London Mummy and I would love it if you could all help me make the final choice:

So please do let me know which one you prefer.

To see more of Andrea's gorgeous work, including some amazing new black and white drawings, head on over to her flickr photos and please also visit her new blog and say hi.

Can't wait to see which one is your favourite :)

London Mummy Website & Crafting for Christmas - again!

I'm back, well for a little while anyway ....

The new website is finally taking shape, just how much did I underestimate how time consuming building an ecommerce website would be - especially when learning as you go along!  Many thanks to all who have signed up for the launch - there will be a special discount offer for all those sign up before the launch by way of a thank you. 

I must confess there have been several times when I have felt like  just giving up with it, especially while there is so much else going on at the moment, but knowing that there is an expectation, plus a huge cash flow shortage, has really kept me going :)

I've also been busy making some of these for  Olivia's school Christmas Fair :

There was a call for handmade items to sell and as I was feeling a little guilty that I am unable to help out on the day itself due to my taking part in another Christmas Fair in Kew,  I thought I had better make something and these are quick and easy to make - some will be pin cushions and some will be lavender sachets.

I'm also aiming to make something using this fabulous print:

It is a gorgeous Scandinavian style print by Alexander Henry called Merry Modernica, discontinued now I believe, but absolutely lovely.

I have promised to make a couple of Christmas stockings this year for some friends and will definitely be using some of this print.

Another friend has asked me to show her how to make lined stockings so will aim to produce a quick Christmas stocking sewing tutorial if anyone is interested?

Right best get back to building that site.

Come back Monday as I have something I'm very much looking forward to sharing with you ........

Seed Prints - Card Giveway Winner

Well Livvy had great fun writing up the little slips for the entrants for the Seed cards giveway and she picked the number 20 out of the hat and so the winner is:

Many congratulations, to Mette, please drop me an email with your full address and I shall pop your set of six cards in the post right away.

Olivia was desperate to pick out another winner, so as a little extra I am going to send a little set of three cards to:

number 16 which is nomadmama, so please send me your details and I shall pop yours in the post too.

Tara asked me to thank you for all the lovely feedback on her cards and is delighted they have international appeal.  I also mentioned that many people really liked the idea of framing them and you will be very pleased to hear that Tara is planning on producing square prints measuring 33cm by 33cm in the following:

Cow Parsley - my personal favourite

Clover

Cala - another contender for my favourite

And finally, Ivy

If you are interested in purchasing one of these prints, either drop me an email or contact Tara herself via her website where you can also view her full range of cards.  She will also design and produce custom wedding stationery too.

Many thanks to everyone who joined in, I'm planning one more giveaway before Christmas - I'll let you
know more nearer the time :)

Christmas Crafting with Kids

Bowing to pressure from Livvy this weekend, we made a start on a fabric Christmas Village.  Seems we got our wires a little crossed last week - I had a little cardboard village in mind (much faster progress being my aim) but Livvy is keen to have both! 

I've been playing around a little with my basic fabric house design to make a church.  I originally intended for everything to be a soft snowy white but as I really love the slubby weave of the blue fabric I changed my mind :) 

Livvy picked out some neutral fabrics and I think she did really well sewing on my machine, particularly as the fabric she picked out for her roof ; "it has a good texture mummy"  is a pretty heavy duty upholstery fabric!

Now she just needs to decide how to do the doors and windows - I'm secretly hoping she wants to have a little go at some simple embroidery, but I shall force myself not to interfere, for a change!

I rather like the idea of the pair of us adding a little house each to the collection every year as our own little Christmas tradition .......

I've also been challenged to come up with our own advent calendar so will need to put my thinking cap on and add a couple of extra hours to each day too.

I haven't forgotten the card giveaway - I promised Livvy she could draw the winner out of a hat rather than using the random number generator this time so we'll do that after Brownies tonight and I shall announce the winner tomorrow.

Thank you and welcome

Just wanted to say thank you so much for the lovely birthday wishes - you really made Livvy's day too :)

No photos just yet of our little winter wonderland houses but I will post some very soon, we plan to carry on this weekend and hopefully I will be able to track down some glass glitter by then for the finishing touches.

Also a very warm welcome to everyone visiting via Sew Mama Sew thanks for stopping by.  Do let me know if anything isn't clear on the fabric house tutorial and please do post a link to a photo of any you make - I can't wait to see them :) 

Finally, don't forget to enter the giveaway for a set of  Tara's gorgeous handprinted cards!  You have until midnight (GMT) this Sunday the 10th November to leave a comment on that post.

A promise to Olivia

Yep, today is my birthday - is it me or do they come round so much more quickly when you have to start ticking the little box next to the age 35-45 bracket on questionnaires?

I got severely told off by Olivia last night for not wanting to mention it.   I guess when you are a child it makes absolutely no sense why you wouldn't want to shout about it and generally encourage all and sundry to join in.

Anyway, in view of my promise to her to tell all, here is the lovely birthday card she gave me this morning:

I love you too my gorgeous girl :)

I managed to persuade her that I really didn't want a party so we are going to have a lovely afternoon making a start on the little Christmas village I promised we would make this year!