Crafty makes

At last! I've had a little time to make some things. It's my Mum's birthday soon, and I decided to make her a little birthday banner.

As you may have noticed, I am a stickler for detail. It took me ages (nearly as long as making the entire banner!) to calculate the proportion for the triangle; I wanted it quite small. I eventually caluclated that the height should be 1.25 times the width of the triangle. How sad is that??

Using the template, I cut the pieces out with my rotary cutter fitted with a deckle blade (quicker than pinking shears)

Then used Heant 'n' Bond to spell Happy Birthday and added a couple of cakes. I had a length of bias, already folded and in the right colour hanGing around (as you do!)

(not too pleased with this image; I do have difficulty getting good pictures indoors, despite having a conservatory which gives plenty of daylight)

So, spurred on by my success, I decided to try a belt. I've hankered after one of these for so long and it's not as if it's even particularly difficult; the hardest thing is to pick the fabrics! I used some waistband interfacing, that has slots cut to make it easy to fold.

It makes a nice 1" belt, which fitted the buckle I had perfectly, but I think I would like it a little wider. I got carried away with the fabric selection, and cut enough to make 2.

Although rather short for my weight, I am not quite as round as this belt suggests; I did get a little carried away with the piecing, and there's plenty to go around!

I got the cute buckle from Sew 'n' Sew of Cirencester for a whole 75p. If you're ever in the area, the shop is well worth the visit.

I made a couple of lavender teabags, but haven't photographed them yet. But they do smell lovely!

Holiday Part 2!

I'm a bit of a history geek, so when we go away I end up dragging whoever is with us to what I consider interesting places. In this quest, we visited Cromford Mill, a fantastic renovation project. Serendipity intervened and we happened across - a quilt shop! Good selection but, with enough fabrics at home waiting for thread, I passed with no purchase (although the senses were certainly satisfied).

I am the navigator in hoiday, and one of my favourite occupations is to ensure DH has to drive round the unusual. I found a ford on the map so naturaly, it had to be driven through...

Am the only person for whom simple things like this give a frisson of delight? Speaking of delight, I was thrilled to come across the dam at Derwent where 617 squadron practiced with the bouncing bomb in WWII.

On our way home, I also found another quilting shop, Heirs and Graces. Set in a lovely Wesleyan chapel in Darley Dale, it has a fantastic selection of fabrics and books. I was left alone to browse (which is how I prefer it), but other ladies in there who wanted help were accomodated. Very friendy and well worth a visit if you're anywhere near (within 2 hours drive would count as near, I reckon!)

This raises for me a little idea that I have entertained for some time. Whenever I'm away from home, I always try to look up local quilt shops and other craft stores but these can frequently be difficult to locate. I'd love a database of fabric shops. Does anyone have one?