Bagmaking: the Poppy Pouch

Not a lot to say other than here are some poppy pouches (which I call taco pouches) from this fantastic pattern

Bagmaking: Poppy Pouch

First attempt at the poppy pouch

Here we have small and medium

I would say these are great for an advanced beginner - harder than just a zipped pouch but if you follow the instructions, all will come good.

They require a bit of thought but nothing too exhausting, and the finished result is adorable.

I think they will be a winner for craft fairs, as an alternative to a plain rectangular boxed pouch

Bagmaking: The Stall and Various Commissions

The Bag Stall

I have been outrageously busy lately, but the school were holding a pamper and shop event on May 13th which I agreed to do. See how I managed to get the table next to the climbing frame? Great for hanging bags LOL 

This was my first customer - Cath from Spowart wines (the stall two down from me) She had the backgammon bag in her possession before I even finished setting up!

I also sold my linen Ethel, and quite a few zipped cases, and took a couple of commisions too, which was nice. Mostly though I just nattered, got to meet some lovely ladies and see their beautiful wares, and I made some lolly. Which was nice!

Harry Potter Zipped Cases

I met a lovely lady called Helen at the Scarlett and Jo Event, who later contacted me to ask if I could make her some HP cases. Well finding HP fabric is pretty difficult in the UK, but I manged to get this from Etsy, so I made two. She decided to buy them both :)

Mini Purse

One of the commissions I took on bag stall night was for a small purse, which was part of the 'Beau Pair' set. She wanted tattoo fabric with a light green accent. I made two to give a choice, and she chose the top one. (that's my fave too)

1st Purse

2nd Purse

Other stuff I made for the Bag Stall:

Cosmetic Purses and a Handbag handbag. Plus Christmas plays and carol concerts.

Its a busy time at the mo. There are parties to be had (by children) concerts to be done (by children) and things to be made (by children and me!)

I'll cover crafts first.
I made a large purchase over the weekend. Four bolts of Amy Butler fabric.

 

 

I didn't mean to go so nuts, but they are end of line and a super bargain at £5 a metre. My mum gave me some money for christmas. This took a large chunk of it!

I had already bought a metre of two of these fabrics a couple of weeks ago, and used them to make some cosmetics purses for family. I didn't use a pattern, and I used some lovely bright 8" zips I got on ebay. I think I just did 3.5" x 10" for the patterned fabric, 4.5" for the red fabric, and 7" x 10" for the lining. Sewed on some zip ends. Sewed in the zip. Sewed across the base to make the corners at about 3.5" width. Bobs your uncle. Not as quick as a basic pencil case, but not much more work and looks pretty nice.

  

I also finished my Cate (swoon patterns) handbag last night. I'm cross with myself for not making the pleather higher up the bag. I miscalculated so you can hardly see it as its on the base, but still quite happy with the bag in general. I love this melody miller ruby star linen-cotton fabric. Its my handbags handbag!

  

 

Also this week - Noah had his first christmas play at school (they don't do traditional nativities) He was a chicken. He didn't do much but pull faces at me but the whole thing is quite cute. I'm not allowed to post pics of that.

 (Noah at the carol concert - in the middle - elf hat on)

They also put on an out of school club carol concert. All the Y3s boycotted it (including Joey) because they refused to sing 'Let it go'. (I know full well Joey secretly enjoys Frozen) so he sat with me, and Noah pulled faced and rolled his jumper up and down :)

Tuesday evening I went out for a 'quick drink' with some of the reception mums. I can't really hold my drink any more, so 3 glasses of red and a sambuca later, I was pretty sozzled. I did of course have to work on Wednesday morning, but fortunately the boys were on a play date after school so I got a rest.

Voodoo Vixen have a new plus size model, so that's me out I guess. A quick fb message to say 'nice to work with you but we have a new face' would have been good, but hey ho that's business. She is gorgeous (the new model) but has been sl*gging of the MUA on fb so I'm not sure VV will use her again. Like me she isn't a professional model, but she has a fashion and lifestyle blog (which clearly I don't have - I just have a bit of everything blog!)

On Saturday we visited Wimpole Hall, which is about half an hour away from us. We have a national trust membership so its free for us. They have a lot of Christmas activities on at the mo (although Noah managed to convince this stall holder to let him and Joey make dried arrangements - this wasn't actually an activity - they were just being very kind!)

Inside the hall was decked out beautifully. The boys found some tiddlywinks sets to play with – very grand setting to do so – I’ve bought them some for Christmas as they had lots of fun.