What makes you smile?

One of the reasons I set up this blog was to try and encourage myself to take a few more photos and make things a bit more, instead of spending so much time looking at other people's makes and gorgeous photos. On that vein, I thought I'd share some pictures of things that have made me smile recently:

This was a photo taken at a lovely spot in the Yorkshire dales. We might be going camping close to here over the bank holiday, whilst I'm not a natural camper, the stunning views make it all worthwhile :)

I've also been finishing work early (for me - about 6.30pm) and going for walks around the local lake with my camera. I'm particularly pleased with this shot of a chap I saw hiding in the woodland - he's not half so gruff as he looks, I'm sure.

Final photo - whilst it's not the best ever shot, Ducklings! In July! How can that not make someone smile. Especially as one was just about to fly, and kept flapping it's wings manically, but couldn't quite get out of the water, and another kept swimming the wrong way then having to frantically change direction to catch up to mum and the others. Simple things...


Speaking of which, I've been to the local cafe for a rose lemonade (lush) and lunch, followed by candyfloss icecream - with real bits of candyfloss in it - followed by an afternoon of crocheting in the sun and listening to cheesy music on mflow (erasure and deeply dippy anyone??). I'll post pics shortly, but it's a project which was in the bad books after I forgot to try it on and the shoulder finished somewhere near my elbow. It's now been ripped back, and I'm almost back where I was this morning before the frogging started. But on the bright side, at least I realised and didn't persist like I usually do... Growing as a person peeps!


Finally, I've had some lovely comments from Dibs and Bee Happy to my last post, which really cheered me up and spurred me on. Whilst I started this for me, it's such a privilege to have you guys follow me, and I'm so grateful. Your blogs are an inspiration, and were the reason I created this so it truly is an honour - thanks.


Definitely lots making me smile today... What's making you guys smile?

It's been a while...

Hi all,


What a couple of months! It's not been all fun, but hopefully the worst is over for a while. I've been playing with Gimp, which sounds quite dodgy, but it's actually a photo-manipulation programme which is huge fun. I'm particularly proud of the shot below:

Do leave your comments and let me have your thoughts - I'm very new to this!


I have been crafting a bit - I'll post photos shortly. I also have a cross stitch pattern that I'll upload once I finish the prototype!


I hope you're all well, and I'm sorry I haven't been commenting on your blogs lately. I've been keeping up with you, I've just not been very communicative. I'll be back to my chirpy self soon, I promise!


Take care all


xxx

Parisian Fabric

Hi,


Sorry it's taken me a few days! I've finally got some good pics of my Parisian fabric haul. One thing I would say is if you are going to Paris, remember that fabric has a weight when packing! We sneaked through, but my shoulder told me the next day that I was probably ove my weight allowance...


So, onto the good stuff. I was quite restrained all told. Given all of the fabulous fabric that there was there, I think that only buying four pieces was almost miraculous!


The first piece of fabric is a relatively heavy weight cotton. It's really heavily patterned, so I've taken two shots to give you an idea. 

I think that this hasn't fully picked out the brightness of the pink - it is quite pink! However, I love it and I think that it would be a fantastic dress - was thinking a slim cut with a high neck and cap sleeves - if anyone has any recommendations let me know!

The next fabric I have picked out as a pendrell blouse - I've been eyeing these up for some time now and I think that the dainty print would be perfect:

I'll have to make a muslin for this one though - I only have a metre and a half, so I don't have much room for error!

The next one is beautiful, the picture doesn't really do it justice (might have helped if I'd ironed it...)  I'm not sure what it wants to be yet - I'm thinking something elegant and classical to match the pattern. I'll have to see what jumps out at me.

The next one is a bit less elegant and classical...

It might not be quite so classically elegant, but it makes me smile! I think it would make a great bag, not least because it's very heavyweight. This was bought off of the roll, so it was quite a bit more expensive. I only bought half a metre, and I'm currently undecided whether to make a cath kidston style bag:

or... something different. Again, feel free to give me inspiration!

In case anyone is going to Paris, the "coupons" have little tags on the edges telling you the price and the composition of the material, like so:

I'll be washing the fabric and doing some sewing soon - I'll keep you updated!


Night for now x

We will always have Paris...

I've recently come back from Paris, where we did everything! We went up the Eiffel Tower...

We saw an amazing car just driving around...

We saw the Notre Dame...

If you are going, I can't recommend the free tour of the Notre Dame highly enough. They are given by people who actually attend the church, and who are really knowledgeable and passionate about their subject. We were with a short American lady who constantly stayed just on the right side of sarcasm and questioning, rather than simply repeating a script, which reminded everyone that such a beautiful church was actually a living breathing entity. 


And we went fabric shopping! I won't give you a comprehensive list of Parisian fabric shops, as Didyoumakethat has got there before me, and it was her guide that got me to the best places! I can't recommend her blog (and her links) highly enough.


However, we did head to the bottom of the Sacre Coeur, and spent a happy afternoon browsing all of the fabric shops. I never watched Project Runway (I know, I know), but seeing the gorgeous little models in Tissus Reine was fantastic! However, as I hadn't won the lottery immediately before travel - something to do with not playing - I wasn't able to buy any of the incredibly beautiful fabric in there.


However, I did find Les Coupons de Saint Pierre and Au Bonheur Des Dames, aka the BEST idea ever! Both shops (together with a few others on the street) sell 3 meter pieces of fabric which is labelled with the price and composition. I may have gone slightly overboard with excitement - not least given my limited luggage allowance!  I will post pictures of my hoard tomorrow, but if anyone wants to introduce the concept over here (or if anyone has, and I've missed it) do let me know as I want to be a customer!

First ever blog post!

Having spent the last six months or so looking at everyone else's fabulous blogs, I thought it was time I had a go at creating my own. The purpose of this blog is to document my photography and other crafty things, and to try and spark some creativity! I'm also hoping that I start actually making things again (rather than just reading about the beautiful things everyone else is making) to give me something to write about!