Call The Midwife Christmas Special

Once again, I was very privileged to be invited to a preview screening of 'Call the Midwife', this time it was the 'Christmas Special'. You can read about my first preview here). It was a Star studded event, as well as the some of the stars I met before, I met Cliff Parisi (Minty from Eastenders) who plays Fred, he is a lovely man, I hope he'll forgive me for suggesting he was in the Royle Family, I'd had a couple of glass of wine and was a little fuzzy at that point.  I also met the Midwife who advises and helps with the births on set, the medic and the lady who runs the Facebook, Call the Midwife Appreciation Society!

The Christmas Episode is fabulous, every thing you'd expect and more... A birth, Some drama, Some laughs, Another birth, Some tears, Some Christmas Tradition, Some heart wrenching, More laughs and overall, its a feel Good Christmas Drama! I Loved It! It is perfect for Christmas Day!

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did, I will be sure to tune in again Christmas Day @ 7.30pm.

By the way, Heidi Thomas, the script writer has written a companion book to go with the series, which will make a great Christmas Present for any fan The Life and Times of Call the Midwife

Sarah xx

Happy Halloween

Its that time of year again, I have grown and we (me and my daughter) have carved the pumpkins, which will be displayed in our front window this evening.

Pumpkin Soup will be the order of the day tomorrow!

Happy Halloween!

Sarah xx

I Got The Job!

Hi Everyone,

Just in case you were wondering, I got the Job,  I had an interview today, and they told me soon after that the Job was mine!  Whilst I was expecting a informal chat, they actually gave me quite a grilling, however they said I spoke well and was very knowledgeable. I thought I had just waffled on a bit, LOL!  Short of dotting the i's and crossing the t's the job is mine, I just continue as normal then.  However I have negotiated a half day on a Friday! Yey!

Sarah xx

Silhouette Campervan Tee

Hello, Its me, its been sooooo long, my apologies.

 I am still crafting, albeit not as much, but I just don't have as much time.  I work as part time Bank Staff at my local Hospital and my job is being made permanent. I have to apply for it, but I have asked that if I do get it, I do a few less hours, so hopefully I will have a little bit more time for things I want to do, such as crafting and blogging.

A while ago I was playing with the Silhouette Software with a picture of a Campervan, my hubby, said it would look good in West Ham colours on a T Shirt, so with a bit of jiggery pokery, I bought some iron on vinyl in the appropriate colours and change the logo in the middle and voila, one West Ham Campervan T Shirt.

My hubby loves it and wears it whilst watching his favourite team play!

Sarah xx

Happy Fathers Day

I was surprisingly organised for Fathers Day this year. A few weeks ago an email plopped into my inbox offering some Giant Fuchsias - so I ordered some for me and some for my Dad.  They turned up fairly quickly as tiny plug plants.  I re-potted them into flower pots carefully labelling them with their correct variety names and watered and nurtured them for the next few weeks.

I had grand Ideas of packaging and making them look nice for Fathers day, however, having looked for a nice gardening box or trug type container and not finding anything, I looked in TK Maxx and found a simple basket, and bit of ribbon and a home made tag.....  Less is more don't you think!

Happy Fathers Day!

Sarah xx

Lavender Hearts Revisited

A while ago I made some Lavender Hearts. Which have proved quite successful on my Craft Stall and as small gifts. I blogged about them here.

When I visited the MK Handmade and Vintage Fayre and brought some beige Broderie Anglaise with the intention of making some more Lavender Hearts.

I used some unbleached cotton calico as the main fabric, some pale peach ribbon and shell heart buttons (also purchased at the Fayre). I think these have a vintage feel about them.

Just for good measure, I have also made a couple in White too with Lavender coloured Buttons!

Sarah xx

My Diamond Jubilee Post

Well that was the Diamond Jubilee Week over and done with... Well not quite, I have decided to reserve the right to have a Barbecue in aid of the Diamond Jubilee when the sun is shinning. I' m sure the queen won't mind...  I think she was a real trooper to stand in all that rain on the river Thames for 4 hours plus, putting a very brave face on the worst British weather we could have possibly had! Who's idea was it to change the Bank Holiday Weekend.  If they had kept to the original May Bank Holiday and just added the extra day on to that, the weather would have been splendid.  Typical!

I decided to make my own souvenir and as I had downloaded a trial copy of Coral Paint Shop Pro...  I merged two pics together to make the flag above....  I will add a few appropriate words and make it into a needle case or something else that takes my fancy! Watch this space... (I have taken 2 days off at the end of next week to do some crafting.  Shhhhh... Don't tell anyone, as I don't want people to allocate any jobs to me or ask me to do anything if they know I am off work).

I hope you all enjoyed the Diamond Jubilee...  We won't see another one in our life time.

Sarah xx

A little bit of dressmaking

I recently decided to do some dressmaking.  Something I used to do a lot of when I was a lot younger.  In fact the last thing I made for myself was my wedding dress and that was 17 years ago!

I had some material which I had bought for crafting, however the piece was 5 meters long and there is plenty for crafting as well as making a top for myself.  I was going to down load a pattern from the internet, however I decided to check out the new haberdashery department at John Lewis and found myself perusing the dress making patterns.  £5.95 later and I had my pattern.  I chose a fairly easy one.  I wanted to ease back into dress making.

It didn't take too long to cut out the fabric,and it didn't take too long to sew everything together.  I completed the project over several days, but I'm sure it would have taken an afternoon from start to finish.

I decided to do French seams as it hides all the raw edges. 

A close up on the button detail and front gathering.

I enjoyed my revisit to dress making so much, I might just do some more.... when I have time that it!

Sarah xx

100th Post and a Little Owl

I have been meaning to post for a while, I noticed I was up to post no. 99, so this is no. 100 congrats to me LOL!

I browse Pinterest from time to time and of course anything of interest I repin...  I have noticed that sometimes pictures have been hi-jacked and lead to something totally different, so I always check the link before I re-pin! (Its a bit naughty of Pinterest to allow this, don't you think?).

One of the items I pinned was this lovely little owl cushion/softie. 

It has taken me some time to make this, I started it a couple of weeks ago, however in between an extremely busy week at work and having some time to myself this afternoon, I finally finished it.

I decided to hand applique the pieces using a variety of stitches, just to see which worked well and which didn't. I added some hearts to the body and I lost the original beak template so I just cut out a triangle, all be it a bit small, however I am relatively pleased with this.  I am tempted to make another and double the size of the pattern to make a large owl cushion. Alternatively I might applique the front of the owl to a cushion square!

Sarah xx

Silhouette Easter Cake

I hope you all had a lovely Easter...

My daughter made a lovely Chocolate Cake to take to our relatives... we had been invited for dinner.

I couldn't resist an opportunity to use my Silhouette SD machine to make a decorative band to go around the outside.

I had searched the internet for ideas or a pre-made design, but could only find Cup Cake Wrappers.  I didn't have a lot of time to look, so I made my own.  I used the trace facility to get the rabbit shape from a picture I found on the net,  and used the flower which comes with the software.  The scalloped border is just some circles in a row and merged on top of a rectangle. And then some smaller circles inside the scallops. After cutting it out from yellow paper, I just lined it with the green paper and some grease proof paper.

The cake was received well and looked lovely on the table for the 2 minutes before it was sliced up and eaten.

Sarah xx

Credit Card Wallet

My mum mentioned the other day that she wanted a little holder for credit card and store cards.  We happened to be in TK Maxx at the time and we couldn't find one and I little voice in my head said, I could make one...  Mum was soon distracted by a pair of shoes and I hatched a plan.

I scoured the internet for ideas and patterns, and decided on drawing up my own.  I rifled through my fabric cupboard and picked out some likely candidates.

A few hours later, the time it took hubby to take the kids to the cinema to see the latest Disney offering 'John Carter' (funny I used to work with a John Carter, and there was a John Carter in ER,  OOoooo Noah Wyle). a'hem... I had made 3 credit card wallets.

The first, not bad, but too much iron on interfacing, I interfaced every piece of fabric and its just too bulky. I also forgot about a tag or elastic to hold it closed. I haven't included a photo of this one as it is very similar to my third effort!

The second, I only interfaced half the fabric, so turned out quite well, however I miss measured the top card pocket and the Credit Cards sit level with the edge, which I decided is not ideal, I also decided the outer fabric is upside down and the Elastic/ Button is on the wrong side.

Third attempt.... Just Right.

I am going to make another one, as I really like the finish of the fabric, the second attempt was made from.  It is a Japanese Linen Mix FQ that I bought at the MK Handmade and Vintage Fayre. I will attempt to photograph the steps and make a little tute for you.

Sarah xx

Milton Keynes Handmade and Vintage Market 3rd and 4th March '12

The fabulous MK Handmade and Vintage Fayre is back at Milton Keynes Shopping Centre tomorrow and Sunday.

Further details here http://www.mk-handmade-and-vintage.co.uk/home

I might just pop up there for a little mooch around!

Sarah xx

Off Work Today!

Here I am, sat on my sofa, I have contemplated do something crafty, alas I have pulled a muscle in my back and the slightest movement is very uncomfortable at best and down right painful at worst, so I have sat here all day watching day time telly, surfing the net and playing Angry Birds (Rio version) on my mobile phone!

It occurred to me whilst reading some Blog updates that, perhaps I should show off some of my handy work of old.  I used to do a lot of dress making in my younger days, and I am contemplating doing some more. Some items I have made no longer fit me, but I can't bear to throw them out. When my back is feeling a bit better, i'll dig them out and take a photo.

Talk soon!

Sarah xx

Call The Midwife - BBC1 8pm Sunday 15th January 2012

I just wanted to draw every ones attention to this brand new TV series starting this week.  I was lucky enough and privileged to be invited to a preview of this drama on Monday just gone. My oldest friend's mum (we've known each other for 40 years), was the author of the book which this is based on, in fact the stories are taken from 3 books - Call The Midwife, Shadows of the Workhouse and Farewell to the East End.  The stories are fact based from when the author Jennifer Worth was a young Nurse working with an order of Nuns and Midwives in the East End of London in the 1950's.

After the preview, which was held in a private cinema in an hotel in London, I mingled with the Cast, Crew and Production Staff. We were given a cotton hanky embroidered with Call The Midwife and we could take a BBC version of the Book, which after a few glasses of wine, I felt brave enough to ask the some of the cast to sign, including Jessica Raine who plays the lead role of Jenny Lee, Stephen McGann who plays Doctor Thomas, and Helen George who plays Trixie.

I also met Heidi Thomas who was the screen writer, she wrote a tribute to Jennifer in my book. (Sadly Jennifer passed away last year, just before filming started).

Famous faces to look for include Jenny Agutter, Pam Ferris and Miranda Hart (episode 2 onwards). Vanessa Redgrave provides the narration.

I am very exited for this TV series, having seen the first episode, it looks fantastic, it drew me in and left me wanting more.... I hope you will enjoy it too

Sarah xx