A hoot of owls

Not sure what the collective for a group of owls is but a hoot sounded appropriate!

Here are some little friends I made a few weeks ago but forgot to show you.

They are from a pattern found in "Sew Hip" - a magazine I used to subscribe to.  They are very easy to make and I think are quite cute.  The blue one now belongs to the oldest and is called "Nathanette" - in honour of Nathan from the wanted. The pink now belongs to the youngest and is called "Owley" He has visited school a few times and has also undergone major eye surgery on both eyes!   The yellow one now sits on my craft room desk, keeping a watchful eye.  As yet he has no name - any suggestions!

Inspired by.....

On my latest wanderings around the internet, I have been very taken with the all the embroidery hoop art I have seen. 


These are so simple yet effective - swatches of Liberty prints hooped up - taken from the Purl bee blog.

Or how about this one;

Love the cute applique hearts - it is a wedding present and the couples name and date of the wedding have been stamped on the fabric - the details can be seen here.

Or perhaps a something more seasonal;

If you search Pinterest or Etsy you will find many more examples.  


Anyway it got me thinking that maybe I could make one myself.  So yesterday I searched around my crafty stash and dug out an embroidery hoop and some fabric came up with this;

I used a house template found here.


I enjoyed doing this and will definitely have a go at making some more. This is destined for some friends who have recently moved house - I hope they like it.


So what about you - what is inspiring you at the moment?

The sound of silence.

Silence was indeed the sound, when on Saturday we found ourselves child free!  The oldest was away with the school on an activities weekend, and the youngest was at a party.  Not one to waste an opportunity, I decided to drag out my unfinished sewing projects. 

Now I have sewn ever since I can remember - my Mum made many of my clothes and taught me.  I did my needlecraft O level in my spare time as I couldn't fit it into my timetable.  At college I made three of my ball gowns plus a few others for friends.  I was costume manger for two college productions.  Over the years I have made many furnishings for our house and since  the children have arrived I made clothes and fancy dress costumes for them.  And just recently I have found a love for quilting.

However I do not sew as much as I would like, mainly because of the time factor.  Where as I can make a card, or scrap a page in a relatively short time period, sewing takes more effort.  Hence many unfinished projects!   Therefore a whole afternoon of uninterrupted crafty time, seemed to be the perfect opportunity to get them finished.

A mobile phone case which I have given to the eldest - she loved it.

A pin cushion - because I needed one.  I have cut out some more of these to make for our Church Summer Fayre.

A cute little purse from a pattern in an old sew hip magazine - also more in the pipe line for the summer fayre.

A pretty button up bag which could be used for make up? 

A bag made from an old pair of jeans - this was an experiment.  I may make more if it meets the approval of my eldest daughter.

Another cosmetics bag - this is a cloth kits kit I got when I subscribed to sew hip.  I intend to use this to store our phone chargers etc when we travel.

It felt great to get all these done!  I now feel I can give myself permission to start some new projects!

How about you - do you have many UFOs hanging around?