Relax and breath...

Blimey it's been manic around here!!
I really do not know where the time has gone since my last post but it has gone with a whirlwind!
My day job is keeping me mighty busy at the moment! Some of you know I'm in education and although we are soon nearing the summer hols I've never been so busy!
Over the last month and a half any craft or sewing projects have not even entered my mind and there is a nice layer of dust now settled over everything. I have not been catching up with my favourite blogs or been very good at email, so I do apologise!
I've even been tagged twice since being away so will soon get around to that as well.

Any way to cheer up the start of July and hopefully a glimpse of relaxation I went to the shops tonight and came across this lovely little beauty!




One of the Supermarkets here in the UK has teamed up with Cath Kidston to make these lovely shopper bags made from recycled bottles. Plus some of the money goes to Marie Curie Cancer Care. So far I have seen two designs so think I may have to purchase the other one as well!

Anyways it's lovely to be back and hopefully I will get in the habit of posting again.

Wrapped up

Been busy this weekend purchasing goodies for several birthdays coming up soon.
I'm a sucker for stationary, pens, papers etc and can spend quite a bit of time and money in the likes of Paperchase! During my spending spree in several shops managed to find these little lovelies!
Gorgeous paper by Cath Kidston and Emma Bridgewater.

Completion

Remember this WIP:


Well here are a select few of the finished items - a gorgeous array of wristlet key fobs. They were all destined for Etsy or DaWanda but one managed to find itself attached to my work keys!!


Etsy and DaWanda shops will be up and running this weekend. Have put it on hold for a while as they may be something else in the pipeline as well ;)

Weird Weather!!

The weather over here is very strange at the moment!
Yesterday morning woke up to this outside:



Unfortunately that lovely view is not from my house but from a hotel that I was staying in. How picturesque!

Giveaway results:

Congratulations to lesalicious! If you can email me your details it will be in the post. Thanks to everyone that left comments, it was lovely to here from lots of new readers. Look out for the next giveaway in May!

Giveaway!

April's here already - so as it's the first of the month thought it was time for another giveaway!
I've been busy trying new ideas for wristlets after completing my first one for the Bag Ladies Swap over on Flickr. Here is the latest creation, a nice mix of crisp white and pinks! There are one or two little imperfections with this one (I am a perfectionist - unfortunately one little mistake drives me mad!) so it turned out to be a sample but is still very usable!




Back to the giveaway - here is what is on offer:


To win leave a comment telling me what you are busy making this April!
~ Even if you're not a Crafter leave a comment for a chance to win!
Good luck! Draw will be made late this Sunday and winners announced Monday!

Bag Ladies Swap

My parcel finally arrived in the US (suprisingly rather quickly) containing my handmade wristlet I sent as part of the Bag ladies swap over here. I'm glad my partner liked it!


I've already whipped up a few more for Etsy!

Summertime is here!

Apparently!
So the clocks went forward last night and I've managed to change most of them around the house. Yay - an extra hour of light in the evenings. Maybe it will give me a chance to take some decent photos of the stuff I've got ready for Etsy when I get home from work in the evenings.
Busy finishing a couple of things and then time for photos and listings.
One thing I did manage to do yesterday before I lost an hour was set up my shop on DaWanda. Not sure how I'll get on there but will give it a go!



Playing around with new style mini lavender pillows made from lovely soft flannel cotton fabric. Definitely need smell-a-vision here!

It's miserable outside but...

That's great as it means that I've actually managed to get the sewing machine out and see some of my ideas come to life! I've been busy finishing off a couple of projects to be sent to people and then trying to get some items completed for Etsy.

Work in progress:

Hi and Welcome to Pink Stitches - thanks for stopping by.

Here you will be able to view a collection of items hand made in England by Pink Stitches. The collection includes accessories - bags, wristlets, purses, key fobs and items for the home - magnets, cushions, lavendar sachets, aprons.



Pink Stitches also provides a small collection of crafting materials.

Items are available to purchase through Etsy or DaWanda or alternatively by contacting Pink Stitches via email.

This blog is also linked to craftyb.blogspot.com

Spring clean

I felt it was time for a bit of a change so my blog has had a spring clean!

A few new colours, information and a new header. The header took me forever to sort out! Not that clued up on html and changing the template etc so if it looks a bit funny on your computer please let me know. It seems bigger than last time but I can not sort out the photo size without screaming at the computer!!

Now for the crafting adventures:

At the start of the week completed a wristlet for the March Bag Ladies Swap over here. Here's a sneak peek, will show the completed outcome once my swap partner receives it.

Easter may be over but ....

There's still plenty of chocolate around!!


See loads - 12 little creme eggs!
Just in case you're wondering I didn't buy them myself they were a present, honestly!

Although I did buy this little book today from a charity shop.


Some interesting recipes to try out in here including chocolate and courgette loaf!?
Hope everyone had a good Easter!

Rainbow

Look what the postie bought today!
Lots more lovely tissue paper to wrap up my hand made goodies!
All I need to do now is get down to making! Etsy looking very sad at the moment.

How cute!

Thank you to everyone for your kind birthday wishes comments and e mails! It was great to hear from you all.

Sweet Scent

Gorgeous flowers!
My Birthday tomorrow!
Fun weekend with friends! x

Edible creations

No fabric creations round here at the moment but some lovely muffins!!


Pear and Ginger - Yummy!!

Perfect Parcel

How nice it is to get home from work and have some lovely mail lying on the mat!
How cute is this little parcel - and it got even better inside!


I was lucky enough to be a freebie winner over at Sarah's fab blog Paper-and-String


How cute is this - Thank you Sarah!
Even the parcel was cutely decorated!

Boo!!

Scared you with a new post then?

Well I'm not sure where January went, and at the moment the same seems to be happening with February!

Life has been keeping me ultra busy and everytime I've thought lets just do a quick blog update something else has come along! Plus I missed my one year blogiversary!

Anyways hoping to be a little more inspired and things to get back to normal with the blog.

Too miserable for photos!

The weather is so dull and miserable that I can not get any good photos of what I am busy making!

Here are a few from when the sun was shining. I have decided to make a batch of items and then place them on Etsy all in one go. This gives me something to aim for in terms of completion.
Busy making:
1. Cute lavender sachets/mini pillows (I did a bit of a test run with these. Lavender is still fresh and sweet smelling after several months!)
2. Hanging lavender felt hearts. These go great in the airing cupboard!
3. Felt heart magnets.


Hoping for some sunshine soon to take some decent photos!
Thanks to everyone who has left comments over the past few days - Karyn, Muralimanohar, Vanessa (thanks for the labels site!), Clare and Jennifer. I don't have email addresses for all of you but thanks for stopping by and Hi!

Spots and stripes

That what my latest creation consists of!
A make up, wash bag, general hold anything kind of zippered bag. It's also nice and roomy!
I had fun making this and am really pleased with the outcome. I was originally going to make one with a cute applique design on the front using different fabric, but my patient couldn't hold out and I wanted to see the finished outcome so went with this combination of fabrics.




Thinking now I need some "Pink Stitches" fabric labels and I might make these and alternatives for my Etsy shop. What do you think?

Busy, busy, busy!

At last the sewing machine has seen daylight!
I've had a lovely afternoon trying out a couple of things.
I'm really pleased with my new little zippered bag using a pattern from "Sew Pretty Homestyle". I'm loving that book!
Only thing - it is now pitch black outside so the photos look terrible! Hope for a bit of sunshine tomorrow so I can take some decent photos so check back then!

It took a bit of time

At last I have my first PINK STITCHES Etsy sell!
It was only for one of my cover button tools but at least that's a start. I only have a couple of items in the shop but have not had much success. Not sure whether it's the price of items, that I'm based in the UK and a lot of buyers are based in the US? Or numerous other reasons that I can think of!
I am hoping to add a few other items to the shop, so we will just have to wait and see how it goes. Fingers crossed.

Visiting from?

One of my problems of not spending as much time as I would like actually in front of my sewing machine or coming up with new projects is partly down to the daily readings of all the fab crafts blogs out there. I dare not say how many of them are saved in my favorites!
I found it really interesting the other day when I managed to find out through Crafty Blogs UK where my some of my readers come from. The UK, US, Canada, Israel, Portugal. I find it fascinating!
So if you're out there and you have yet to leave a comment I would love to hear from regular or new readers from all around the world!

(Image from Wildgoose education resources)

Gorgeous reads

There are so many lovely craft books out there at the moment and I was lucky to receive some fab ones at Christmas. I have been wanting these for ages but just had to control myself from a spending splurge and get them as gifts.

I know probably most of you have had these books for a while, but if you haven't you've got to get them.

Plans for the weekend - going to try and squeeze some time in to start making some of the lovely projects!

Arrrrgggghhhh!!!

That's the one and only word (well there are a few other select words that are far to rude for here!) that have come out of my mouth over the past few days!
So much for me wanting to post more regularly - as well as human viruses my computer went and got one! Not at all fun!!

Anyways thanks for the lovely comments on the previous post and sorry I have not emailed you all back. I do hope to get busy with my blog soon and as usual have loads of ideas floating around in my head that need to be put into practice.

I just need to get going now! Avoiding all viruses - human and computer!

Happy 2008!!

Hope everyone had a wonderful start to the New Year!

I am hoping to get back to regular posting soon but for now a trip down memory lane and some of the things I got up to in 2007.....