Domestic House Kat

Mandors

2012-02-09T08:21:00.003Z

Just a quick blog post before I leave for work.

Mandors are running a voucher on a discount website I use.

Heres the offer:

£16 for a £40 voucher OR £24 for a £60 voucher to spend on fabulous fabric, a huge range of haberdashery or a wide selection of stylish wallpaper at Mandors The Fabric Store in either Glasgow or Edinburgh – save 60%

If any of you are interested then please use the link below to take you to the offer. Basically if 3 friends use this link to purchase this voucher I get credit back for my purchase, so if you were going to buy anyway then I ask could you use my link?

Itison - Mandors Voucher

Thanks!

Catch up

2012-02-06T19:53:00.001Z

Evening folks!

Apologies for the lack of Sunday stash yesterday but I have a very good reason for it. I was working all day yesterday but admittedly that part is a lame excuse. The less lame reason is that yesterday was Superbowl Sunday so I spent the evening preparing myself to stay awake long enough to watch the full game.

I'm actually lying in bed just about to go to sleep right now cos i'm soooo tired! I will get caught up properly tomorrow and Wednesday.

Just a reminder that my giveaway for the Travelling Stash is still open. For the new readers and anyone who missed it, it you are in the UK and want to find out what the travelling stash is and details on how to enter then just click the link below.

Travelling Stash giveaway

Small Blog Meet - WIP Wednesday

2012-02-01T19:00:00.003Z

So it's Wednesday again and time to catch up on what I've been up to. Not much craft wise although I got some lessons on Saturday from Katy @ The Littlest Thistle on photographing my items and editing them. Ok so we only took 2 pictures and ended up gabbing for like 3 hours but never mind. I got advice on what equipment I would need to make my photos better. I have so far received a photo light tent and a tripod is on its way. I just need to find halogen lights at the right price and we are good to make a start.

As I said to Katy, I never saw what was wrong with my pictures before, to my eye they looked fine. However, once we had edited one and flicked it side by side with my own ones the difference was massively apparent. Now don't be expecting the world from me, I'm still learning and I will be a far way away but hopefully you will notice some improvement. So thanks for your help Katy!!

Now, I have actually done some work although not actual sewing. I have managed to get the two Ikea quilts basted. I just need to decide how I want to quilt these. My original thought was to do a kind of Starburst effect from the top left corner but I'm not sure if that will take away from the prints. Then I was thinking of doing straight lines in the solids around the prints and something in the border but I'm not sure if that will be too little quilting. Or straight lines all over. For the record I'm a terrible decision maker.

I am also linking up to Lily Quilts Small Blog Meet this month (as I said I would in my New Year Goals ;-) ). Lynne runs this linky party for small blogs who have less than 50 followers and in return you visit 4 (or more) fellow small blogs and follow them for a little bit. Quite nice, kinda like a pay it forward.

Clyde FC Quilt

2012-01-31T18:42:00.002Z

I made this quilt way back in 2009 and I never ever blogged about it. I think I was feeling particularly low at that point and I was convinced that I had messed this up in a big way and that I could never show anyone EVER because it was sooooo bad. I realise now looking at it that I am actually very proud of it and that I can rise to a challenge.

An acquaintence of mine had came to me earlier in 2009 and asked if it would be possible to make her a quilt based on her and her partners family's favourite football team, Clyde F.C. The team colours are black white and red. The only thing that she asked specifically for was gingham.

I drew up this design. The ship in the middle is from the teams badge:

I started off with a white square of fabric and started to build up the ship. This part was actually soooo much fun watching it all come together:

I then teamed it up with the requested black gingham and some Ikea Barnslig.

More Ikea fabric on the back and red binding.

Travelling Stash Update

2012-01-30T22:14:00.002Z

Hi everyone,

Just a reminder to say that the Giveaway for the Travelling Stash is now open and you can enter here.

I have changed the details now to include the UK only. I really wanted to be able to include Ireland but it is proving just too costly and I think it will put people off entering. Maybe someone in Ireland can start their own?

So now, do you want to be able to get some new fabric and destash some of yours at the same time for the sake of £13?

YES I hear you all cry, so pop on over to the Travelling Stash post and enter there!

Sunday Stash - Travelling Stash UK VERSION

2012-01-29T17:29:00.002Z

This is possibly the most exciting Sunday Stash there ever will be.

Today I am going to start a UK version of the Travelling Stash. The American Travelling Stash has been all over blogland for what seems forever and was only open to American residents due to posting costs. I was so jealous everytime I saw someone else winning it. Here is where it started: Nan @ Pots and Pins

So here's what it is:

I have cleared out my stash and pulled out some things (fabric, buttons, trims etc) that I will never use and are wasted just sitting in my stash. One lucky reader will receive the Travelling Stash and they are free to take whatever they want from the stash as long as they replace some things from their own stash that they want rid of.

In order to enter you must be willing to post this as a giveaway on your blog and pay the postage to get to the winner. Within the UK postage for this size of box through Royal Mail will be £13.61 (which is actually not bad! Although I still curse not having a flat rate box!). Open to people in the UK only, sorry!

Now onto what I will be sending:

Notions:

Fabric:

How to enter:

1. Leave a comment on this post telling me about your stash. Is it big or small? Needing revamped? Needing a clearout?

2. For a bonus entry blog about my giveaway and leave a comment to say you have done so.

And thats it.

This giveaway will remain open until Sunday the 12th February.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE :-D

Pencil Roll

2012-01-27T19:23:00.002Z

I made this gorgeous little pencil roll before Christmas for a lucky little girl. Her mum had seen me at a craft fair and liked my pencil rolls but I didn't have any pre-made that had purple in it which was the little girls favourite colour.

So I whipped this little beauty up just in time for Santa to come.

Normally when I make these I interface the main fabric but after using up all my interfacing making 241 totes I used bump batting and I actually think I prefer them this way. I may just change.

WIP Wednesday

2012-01-26T23:34:00.000Z

My Wednesday was supposed to be taken up with the first meeting of the West Central Scotland Guild Meeting. I drove there, got to the street that I needed to be on without any problems. Until I met The Cyclist. You know, that awkward moment, where the bike is going the same speed as you and you can't slow down any further because there are cars behind you and if you speed up and turn in front of him he will be, well, Flat Cyclist.

Never fear I thought. I'll just drive straight on and there will somewhere I can turn and go in a circle to get back here. How naive! I spent the next 20 mins driving round Yorkhill, under a bridge, round a housing estate through Woodlands Rd and ended up on Great Western Road. I'm still not sure how I managed that but thankfully I have driven enough on that side of the West End and at Glasgow Uni that I managed to get myself back to where I wanted to be.

To be met with not a single parking spot within a 10 mile radius of the venue (exagerration, me, NEVER!!). So I stopped in a bus stop, lamented my bad luck, emailed Katy to let her know of my bad fortune, tried to fone OH forgetting he would still be playing football and made the decision to drive home via Hobbycraft for a Hera Marker and basting pins.

Which leads to me what progress I have made this week. I have cut the backing fabric for both Ikea quilts and they are held together at the moment by hangers. Hence the trip to HobbyCraft to get the items that I need to baste it and then I will finally decide on how to quilt it.

I have also been lucky enough to take part in the Mouthy Stitchers swap on Flickr . We were assigned partners this week so I'm trying to get a feel for what my partner would like at the same time as commenting on pictures in the pool so the unfortunate person who gets to make for me has enough clues. To my partner, don't fret over what to make for me I am really generally an easy person to please :-) . I'll just be happy to receive something from another crafter that was made with love and thought put into it.

Nosey Parker in the Neighbourhood

2012-01-24T19:23:00.000Z

Kat at Mumma's Time to Create is a Nosey Parker and would like to know all about us out here in blogland. This is acutally #3. I caught on to what she was doing with #1 about 3 weeks afterwards (Nosey Parker for where you are from). Then I fully intended to participate in #2 (Nosey Parker Christmas Edition) and time just ran away from me and before I knew it we are here at #3.

Number 3 is all about Sewing so I'll delve right in.

1) How long have you been sewing? Are you a first generation sewer or was the knowledge handed down to you? Basically tell us about your journey...

I have been sewing on a regular basis for about 5 years although dabbled a little bit before then. That was when I bought my first sewing machine as I worked in Dunelm Mill and we had a special offer on a Brother machine @ £75 which I then got a further 20% off because of my staff discount.
My mum was an amazing crafty woman who could turn her hand to anything which was handed down to her from my grandmother (I'm not sure how much farther back down the line it goes than that). She was always on hand to give advice and help me with projects.
However, I have to give credit to my sister Fran who first showed me how to make a bag. She had made me one for christmas and I asked her to show me how she did it as I couldn't grasp how someone could actually make a bag and the logistics of it. And it all snowballed from there.

2) Where do you sew?

I am lucky to have a sewing room. My partner and I live in a 2 bedroom flat, we don't have any children and arent't planning any for a couple of years. When we first moved it we used the spare room as an actual spare room. In October 2010 it occurred to me that in the 4 years we've had this place we have NEVER had anyone to stay so out went the guest bedroom and in came my own personal sewing space. It made more sense since in the space of about a year my sewing apparatus/fabric stash had more than quadrupled.

3) What does your sewing room/area look like today in it's real state. Take a picture of it if possible and show it to us real :)

4) What is the first thing that you made which you were really proud of. Show us pics of your favourite project.

I still have the very first thing I ever made back in High School Home Economics.

I also still have the first bag I ever made which I was pretty proud of.

This is probably the thing I am most proud of and I haven't even blogged about it. I will this week. For now I shall just show a picture.

I have to say lots of things I have made over the years I am proud of because I would never have believed I was capable of making them.

5) Do you always stick to the "rules" when you sew, or are you more improvisationally minded?

Ahem. I feel uncomfortable with this question. Haha. No, um, I can be really bad sometimes cutting corners to save time or if something doesn't make sense just adapting it to do it a way that will work for me. However, generally I will do it by the rules the first time and then change it the next time. I need to control this urge though if I am going to do some proper quilting this year as I don't think there is room for cutting corners.