Pinterest Obsession

Hello Guys,

Long time no blog, and well, I miss it! I have been reading everyone else's lovely pages but nothing on mine - I have been unselfish sewing away in the background and will update as soon as I can but I have had 2 wedding weekends away and people visiting and a U2 concert (which was amazingggg) but I am hoping to get some pictures this weekend for anyone that wants to see!

Also, I have used my last two days annual leave this year to take a couple of days around my birthday off, and I plan to sew, sew, sew. My own personal 4 day Sewcation - selfish sewing - no xmas presents in sight and hopefully I will get something made to show you...still a month to go until that though - BOOO!

So no actual sewing but I just wanted to share one of my favourite places to be indulgent on sewing as much as I want. I am sure you are all aware of Pinterest but I just wondered if you all love it as much as me?!??!

I have 23 boards and 11 secret boards (these are a mixture of sewing related plans and non-existent future wedding ideas that I don't want my boyfriend to find and think I am weird!!!). I have over 1300 pins...think this shows my obsession well!

Among my boards I have...

Recipes that I have never cooked...

Handbags I could never afford...

Sewing tips that have actually come in useful...some may not buy you never know...

And of course all 30 year olds with a long term boyfriend has one of these boards....

...yet the hint doesn't seem to be working despite the many, many links to the board that have been sent...!

I really enjoy trawling fabric sites and looking at their offerings, pinning and pining over their beautiful selections and showing just how much I love all novelty fabrics!

I also keep a board full of my pattern catalogue I own (more visual that my page dedicated to the pattern costs) I keep looking at this board and making plans, really really shouldn't as my brain is full enough!

One of my most active boards is the patterns I want...like a never ending shopping list!

And of course my sewing inspiration board that is full of stuff I am never going to be good enough to copy (hello couture beading) but I still want to look at all the pretty things...

I swear that wool skirt, top right on the screenshot above, gave me palpatations!

I am always on the look out for new people to follow, I love the randomness of what comes on my homescreen, so please add your username in the comments and I will drop by!

In case there isn't enough links in this post I have also added a widget thingy-majig to the right hand tool bar to make it easy for you to find me

Sorry this hasn't been the most interesting of posts but I just wanted to share one way I keep in touch with the sewing world when I am not actually sewing!

Hope to see you all soon with some actual sewing...Now I must get back to actually working (boo!)

Again, thanks for reading :)

Kristy xxx

PS - this happened on Monday night at the concert I went to...

I have a wee bit of an obsession with Noel....amazing!

The Liebster Award

The gorgeous Beth from Sewing Soothes the Soul has nominated me for a Liebster Award!

The award is a way for bloggers to share their love of blogs and bloggers and pass on the love - I am not actually going to nominate anyone though, anyone that feels like doing this please take it as my nomination! I follow 302 blogs on Bloglovin  and just cannot pick - although I will say that Beth's picks are brilliant!

So I have to give 11 random facts about me that I haven't shared on here before so here goes!

1. I have travelled to 20 countries - I love travelling and holidays and would love to go travelling for a year again, best year EVER - but I would want to do it with my other half, its just the savings part that is the hard part!
2. I love the Harry Potter books (and to a lesser extent the films) if I have nothing to read I always return to the books, I must have read them over 20 times each and I never get bored of them, and I always cry at the last book, different parts each time but its Dobby that really gets me...
3. When travelling I try to eat as much local cuisine as possible, this has lead to eating dog, snake and alligator.
4. I am DESPERATE to own a dog (not to eat as number 3) but as I work full time its really not fair - and my landlord said no - boo to him! I want a Basset Hound, or just any big dog! I am the person that makes a bee line for dogs in the pub or on the tube.
5. I do not want to have children. I am nearly 31 and the urge for motherhood has never appeared so I cannot see it appearing in the future! So when I am old I will be the weird woman with lots of dogs begging her nieces and nephews to visit! 
6. I am an only child but my cousins all see me as an auntie to their little people - I have 5 nieces (including identical triplets) and a nephew. My best friends children all call me auntie too - add two more nephews to the list (and another bump is growing but its still a secret)
7. I carry a genetic disease called Fragile X Syndrome, my cousin has learning difficulties as a result of this and my grandad suffers from the premutation issues that develop due to it - mainly shaking hands, which is getting worse with age, it is a real issue for him and has to drink out of a lidded cup and eat with a spoon - serving him peas is just cruel!  
8. I cannot go to sleep in silence. I listen to a podcast in one earphone normally but if Richard is away (or I sleep on the sofa, which is becoming a regular occurrence due to mice in my bedroom!I hate mice) I sleep with a DVD on the TV. Normally Friends!
9. I have not told any friends or family about this blog, I write it for myself not to please others so I don't want to become self concious over it!
10. I have been incredibly lucky to get to 26 with 5 grandparents alive, sadly my Great Grandma died 4 years ago at a brilliant age of 94 and I lost my Grandma 2 years ago, a loss that I still struggle with. She was responsible for giving me my sewing machine and I wish I could show her how much I love it. BUT I have 3 grandparents still left and at nearly 31 I understand just how lucky I am.
11. I currently live in London, I am from Leeds, I lived in Newcastle for my Undergrad and lived in Sheffield for 2 years while studying my Masters. I would love to live abroad, somewhere with a totally different culture.

This was a lot harder than I thought but it did waste quite a lot of Monday morning! Thanks Beth!

Enjoy your week folks, I should have some unselfish sewing to show you by the end of the week! I am making some headway into the 13 presents...YES!

Kristy xxx

Too many plans too little time...

Hello Everyone,

Hope you had a fun weekend and Monday isn't too bad for you. Mine will be fuelled by caffeine completely.

My weekend was spent crafting, a family friend is getting married in 2 weeks and asked for some sort of wedding banner - quite struggled with the brief to be honest! So have decided on their names and date (quite obvious) and then 'Until death do us party'...they are a real party couple so I hope they like it. The colour scheme is cream and gold so I have been worried that the letters won't be very readable. I bought some gold satin and some ivory polycotton from the always brilliant Oh Sew Crafty (I have used this company countless times, their delivery is always quick and you get exactly what you have requested).

I have then cut the letters out of interfacing and fused to the gold and cut out, I am then planning on sticking/sewing the letters to the cream but the tag line I am sewing onto bunting so they can remove it off of the banner and keep if they so wish! 

Prosecco really has helped this whole process....!

Hopefully I can get this finished ASAP - bunting is cut just need to cut gold bias binding (soooo tempted to buy this but i have over half a meter of gold left so is just pointless!) for the bunting then get sticking/sewing! I then may have to go arounf the letters with glitter or something to stand out but will decide once finished.

Two of my quilts are in progress, but I made some errors with underestimating how long this cutting will take - and I have severely fallen out with my rotary cutter:

It is sat in the naughty corner and I am awaiting an apology from it for cutting off the end of my finger. This was done over a week ago and I still cannot let anything touch the end of my finger :( It was not an event I would like to repeat! I really don't enjoy the process of cutting quilts, it is tedious and your mind wanders and then this stupid stuff happens. I am also really impatient and want it done so I can move onto the next project.

Which brings me on to my next train of thoughts...do you plan too much like me? I have all of these xmas presents to make and I cannot stop thinking of other projects - I REALLY want to get Simplicity 8523 nailed and wearable. I also want to get some shorts made for my holiday at xmas. As well as some skirts. I am so inpatient and seem to be constantly thinking of new things yet I have a whole list of to do's and not that much time! 

How do you clear your mind so you focus one project at a time? Is it just literally head down and get things off of the list?

It is a weird feeling as at work I am very organised, I write to do lists in order of importance/deadlines and I just get on with it but with sewing my mind jumps all over and I really am struggling to be focussed. Maybe it is because I am not seeing great results with my personal sewing? I have a few spare days of holiday left to take before xmas, I am thinking of taking a couple for a 'sewcation' but worried I will just waste the days procrastinating as I seem to be most weekends! 

Sorry for the ramble, am hoping it clears my head a bit - I am even dreaming of sewing!

Thanks for reading my ramble!

Kristy xx