Firstly a wee thank you to everyone who has left comments, emailed and twittered congratulating us on the birth of baby Greer. It’s hard to believe that this time last week I was in the throes of labour, terrifying passers by as I pottered about the newsagents in the hospital having very painful contractions whilst searching for a decent ice lolly! She has settled into family life with ease and dare I say it, is sleeping and feeding very well.
If you’re interested in keeping up with her progress, Bob has set up a photoblog project here entitled ‘Greer’s 365′ to chronicle her first year in visual form (WARNING – Day 1’s photo was taken immediately post-birth and shows my big boob).

Secondly, the next post will feature my belated 100th post giveaway. I hope to post this on Tuesday as long as I get time to finish the prize and decide what the entry criteria will be.

Finally, considering the Time for Tea swap was finished on the 27th March I am very late in posting this list! In my defence, I have been waiting for a swap between international partners to complete before I posted and that didn’t happen until a couple of weeks ago so forgive me.

I have linked directly to each participant’s entry so that you can see for yourself what a creative bunch we have reading this blog. Additionally you can view the Time for Tea Flickr group to see photos there. A couple of participants either haven’t blogged yet or don’t have blogs – they’re nearer the bottom of the list.

Apryl and Kathryn

Julia and Tor

Megan and Kat

Julia and Eileen

Hannah and Amanda

Courtney and Chrissy

Laura and Kathryn

Ali and Izabela

Anne and Sam

Jen and Kerry

Gill and Katie

AnnieB and Laura

Sue was stuck with me!

Pennie and Emma

Erin and Helen

Nadia and Fiona (hasn’t yet blogged the swap)

Posted under family, swaps

Firstly I’d like to say thank you to everyone for your very kind comments over the last week or so. Things here are still nowhere near back to normal but as the saying goes, “This too shall pass” and in fairness the worst certainly seems to be past us. I am frantically grabbing at the door to touch wood right now!

Secondly, I would like all of you with young children to head on over to Amanda of Kitschycoo fame’s blog, in particular this post and this post. You see, a month ago I bought this pattern and Amanda also sent me the pattern for her Matinee jacket asking me to test it for her. The pattern pieces are still sitting cut out but unsewn – a month after Amanda asked, I haven’t had two minutes peace to finish it. The thing is her patterns are fantastic! Very easy to follow, beautifully put together and unlike anything I’ve seen anywhere else so when I saw she was doing a giveaway I thought, “I must let my readers know about this!”

Thirdly, I finally managed to get my Time for Tea swap goodies posted off today although I’ve missed the last collection. Sue has been very patient with me as the world collapsed around my ears and I just hope that she’s as happy with what I’ve sent her as I was with her package which Sue blogged here. I actually wore the earrings the night my package arrived and they’re just gorgeous so thank you again, Sue!

This is what I sent to Sue – the candle is made from beeswax and is made in a vintage teacup with matching saucer. This was my first attempt at candle making and in fact I made another to burn myself and make sure it was okay! The silver caddy is filled with Faerie’s blood tea from my favourite little teahouse and there’s also a packet of shortbread fingers as I believe shortbread to be the best biscuit in the world

I also made a little bag with a felt cupcake appliqué and Japanese knot-style closure which I’m very proud of!

What do you think?

Posted under general crafty updates, sewing, swaps

Phew! What a week!

Everyone who has signed up to the Time for Tea craft swap should now have received an email from me with your partner’s information. As I’ve had no emails complaining vociferously, I will assume everyone is happy. For the record, the swap partners are allocated as follows:

Apryl and Kathryn
Julia and Tor
Megan and Kat
Erin and Helen
Julia and Eileen
Hannah and Amanda
Courtney and Chrissy
Laura and Kathryn
Ali and Izabela
Anne and Sam
Jen and Kerry
Gill and Katie
AnnieB and Laura
Sue is stuck with me!
Pennie and Emma
Nadia and Fiona (currently blogless)

All participants should have been invited to the Flickr group but if not please wave and yell in my general direction so that I can get an invite sent out.

I encourage everyone to have a look at these wonderful blogs, it’s a very creative bunch of people that are participating in this swap!

In other news, I will be back later tonight with successful muffins, not so successful oatie biscuits and a craft challenge completed item that I’ve been working on

Posted under general crafty updates, swaps

First off, the Time for Tea swap sign-up is now closed! I will be emailing all participants tonight with a questionnaire and I will also email the newer signer-uppers with an invite to the Flickr group where we can share photographs of our works in progress and swap parcels. I’d like to use some of your photographs at the end of the swap so if you’d rather I didn’t, please let me know. Signing up to flickr is not mandatory, just another excuse to get to know each other a little better.

Today’s post is for me to do a little showing off. When I was trying to decide what to make for Annie in the Owl Swap I came up with the idea of a bag she could keep her knitting in. Now for me the critical element in a knitting bag is that it MUST be able to fit my knitting needles in it. Also, personally I don’t like record-style bags – I’d prefer something a little more upright without losing any space. Now with apologies for the less-than-fantastic photographs – this is what I came up with:-

I also liked the idea of being able to close the bag over but still have a little access to the contents, so I made one large strap that can be slung over a shoulder, and another smaller strap for the large strap to go through and hold it closed.

Of course, this bag still had to have some relevance to owls really so I had my first attempt at appliqué. For a first attempt I was pretty pleased with myself although I’d have liked my stitches to be neater.

I only wish I was a neater seamstress because if ONLY I could sew in a straight line, I would make and sell these bags. Ah well, if wishes and all that! What do you think? Would you use it if you were a knitter?

Crafty plans for this week include my first ever attempt at making a cake with fondant icing, a little work on some longies I’m making for the new baby and a start on a couple of patterns from the fantastic Amanda at KitschyCoo. Luckily I will have my partner in crime Kat here to help me out tomorrow. Hooray!

Posted under general crafty updates, sewing, swaps

So I have a list of 23 people interested in joining the Time for Tea swap which is just thrilling! I’m very excited about this and I will be looking for some more information from everyone over the weekend.

In the meantime, I’ve had a few questions which I’m going to attempt to answer.

I would like to do this but I has no crafty blog. Can I still play please?
Of course! The reason I asked for a link to your crafty endeavours is purely so I can make sure everyone involved in the swap is legit and unlikely to welch on their commitment. If you don’t have a blog/folksy/etsy set up, you can still get involved if you are either known to me or known well to someone else involved in the swap who will vouch for you.

Sounds good but I’m mainly a coffee drinker and not much of a tea drinker…
Then we can either match you up with another coffee drinker or with someone sympathetic to your requirements (you heathen!)

So, would a lace doily, a teapot cozy, or a take-out cup cozy apply for the “time for tea-related handmade item”?
The “Time for Tea-related item” is totally open to interpretation. Maybe you would like to send something you’ve drawn or painted that represents time for tea. Maybe you make jewellery with little cakes and teacups involved. Maybe you’d like to send an apron, or coasters. Maybe you’d like to send a massive stuffed teacup. The crucial thing is that you have discussion with your swap partner and that you answer your questionnaire fully in order to help your swap partner.

I’ve thought about doing a swap for awhile but I don’t really know how it works.
In terms of how it works, you will be emailed with your swap partner’s contact details and answers to their questionnaire. You then have until the 27th March to put together your package and send it off to them and you can also get in touch with your partner for more information or inspiration. The general idea is that you and your partner will co-ordinate your parcels so you should hopefully receive on the same day.

I’d love to take part in a swap….i’m scared I’ll be rubbish though!
Relaaax! When I took part in the Owl Swap I told my partner that I was so nervous about what I was making, but in the end it’s all meant to be fun and an opportunity to get to know another crafty type. Besides, your partner’s questionnaire should give you all the help and support you need to make your swap ace.

Also, do you mean a crafting supply of some type when you say “Something your swapping partner can use in a crafty fashion”?
Yes. Some fabric, some yarn, stickers, some buttons, a canvas – something that your partner can use to create something.

Are there usually min-max value/costs for these types of things?
Yes, for this swap you’re looking at a retail value of around GB£10 I’d say. Anything above that is down to your generosity.

For inspiration I would definitely recommend searching flickr, a simple search for “swap” will bring up lots of groups and images to inspire you. Craftster has a whole sub-forum dedicated to swaps with a section just for people to post what they’ve sent and received for you to peruse.

If you would like to participate there is still time. Email me using this link to note your interest (PLEASE use this email address as it is one I have set up purely to deal with the swap and it’ll save me getting confused!) by Monday 2nd March 2009 at 12noon. I will send out the questionnaire email on Monday evening to all participants and I’ll need it returned by 8pm Wednesday 4th March in order to delegate swap partners on Wednesday night.

Posted under swaps

I’ve been contemplating running a swap for a while now, and since I’ve wrapped up the Owl Swap with the fabulous AnnieB which was organised by Apryl from Meridian Ariel it’s about time to get something else started.

So! I am proposing a swap entitled “Time for tea”. Participants should be prepared to send their swap anywhere in the world although I suspect most if not all will be UK-based going by my readership. Please Email me in the first instance to express an interest, ensuring that you link me to somewhere I can view your crafty endeavours (blog, flickr, etsy, folksy – that kind of thing). It will be a direct swap (ie you will be matched with someone else and you will swap with each other) which will be completed in time to post by Friday March 27th 2009 and should include as a minimum:
A time for tea-related handmade item
Tea (loose tea, tea bags – or if you’re not a tea fan, hot chocolate?)
Something your swapping partner can use in a crafty fashion

I’ll be back by the end of the week with more information and links for inspiration if this proves to be popular.

Posted under swaps