Power Plays

Apologies for the dark and grainy picture, it was taken during this evening's film-fest featuring the wonderful Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush in the King's Speech. My new housemate, Kay, snapped the picture as the wolf attempted to join us on a small 2 seat sofa tucked under my stairs. He wasn't entirely successful.

I hope everyone had a splendid weekend*

*Sorry, too much King's Speech can possibly be bad for oneself ;)

Thanks for stopping by,

Ffefrynau Friday { 13.05.11 }

As with everyone else on blogger I've lost my draft post for the links, along with all the links themselves. I haven't had time to go back and find them so this is going to be pretty short and sweet!

1. great coat with fur collar 2. button napkin embellishment 3. mr fox coat from etsy
4. great idea for a kids photo shoot 5. fab dress 6. cheesecake choc chip bars
7. no bake granola bars 8. floor stencil tutorial 9. easy to create no drip paint trick

•  Mena at Sew Weekly is currently making a dress a day using patterns from the Colette range. Check out the dresses she's already made and vote on the fabric she should use for the dresses to come at Sew Weekly.

•  My housemate-to-be has introduced me to the music of Caravan Palace which is awesome-sauce. Best described as Electric Swing, it's a great mix of old and new and I'm loving it. Move over Rolf Harris!

•  Kerry at Sweet Sanity has posted about a great way to hide your wireless routers, quick, easy and brilliant.

Thanks for stopping by,

Project: Personalised Picture

Remy (my 2nd Cousin) & Noah, both aged 3 (or thereabouts)

It was my nephew, Noah's, 3rd birthday on 30th April. At the time I began planning what to make for his birthday he still lived in Colorado but that didn't put me off beginning the reindeer hobby horse from my favourite crafting book Sew Pretty Christmas Homestyle by Tone Finanger. Then, a couple of months ago, my sister and her husband announced they were planning to return to the UK to live. Shortly after, Liz and Noah arrived, with Michael (her husband) following once his spousal visa was approved. Not only did this mean that my nephew is now on the same land mass and closer and easier to visit, it meant I'd actually get to know him in person.

Unfortunately, upon meeting him for the first time since his first birthday, I realised that all he's interested in is Thomas the Tank Engine and cars (or caaaars as he currently says it, the only word he says in American). The hobby horse idea, whilst still going ahead, would need a bit of rethinking perhaps.

And then, the weekend before his birthday, I fell ill and was unable to make it over to see them when they visited my parents. The hobby reindeer languishes on my desk beside me, its stick against the wall ready to be attached. I never got to give it to him. Fortunately, this meant I got to make something else! Something a little more postal service friendly.  

I needed something quick and easy to make, inspired by this picture on Pinterest I made a quick trip to Ikea via Asda and put together the perfect gift. Something small, tailored to Noah, easy to make and postable.

What do you think? I'm really pleased with it, despite the first print coming out green (which should tell you everything you need to know about the state of my printer). And because he's three and every child should have something they can actually play with on their birthday, I got him a Hot Wheels rumble car ... thingy ... toy. It makes noises. And talks. Just what every kid named Noah dreams of for their birthday, more caaaaars.

Thanks for stopping by,

Summer Portrait

I should probably start by reiterating that the idea of a weekly picture to track my life, looks (and by this I mean style, hair length, wrinkles, etc) and location was taken from Cassie who's excellent blog you should all go visit. The prompt to record the mundane pieces of my life that stick out when looking back on a week is the real life I actually live, as opposed to the interesting bits I'd normally blog about, and is a great way for me to look back on this period of my life.

This week's photo was taken before the rain started (again) in my back garden after a mammoth brushing of Bear. In fact, on the left of the photo is a chunk of his fur that looks almost like a white bowl. What you can't see is the rest of his fur all over the garden and up the side of the house behind us. You could have knitted a jumper with what I got off him and there's still far more to go!

Have a great Sunday, anyone got any plans?

Thanks for stopping by,

Ffefrynau Friday { 06.06.11 }

I'm baaaaaack! Not that I've actually been anywhere but, wow, I can't believe how long it's been! I take a little time off to spend with family and then all of a sudden it's been over a month! There's been a lot of stuff happening here but nothing particularly blog worthy and I got to the point where I felt I literally had nothing to blog about. I didn't think people wanted to read about my epic reading stints (not books, work stuff) so decided to keep schtum but perhaps I took that concept and ran a little too far with it.

Familial visits were great, aided in part by the early Summer. And over the long Bank Holidays I found my focus shifted towards the house and away from sewing and the blog. The longer I left it the harder it felt to get back in to the swing of things. So I'm introducing some changes around here based on things I've seen on other blogs that I've liked, that will offer me structured posting topics and a more regular prompt to post.

First, I have to introduce you to Philippe who, with a little plop, appeared from under a book shelf. Puck has been outdoing himself over the last few days and all sorts of dead birds have been appearing in my living room. He has a bell but unfortunately he also appears to have an endless supply of patience and an uncanny ability to hide in plain sight. There's a slim possibility Phillippe is the same frog I had to rescue from the utility room several times last year and, on one never to be forgotten day, from the washing machine after a full wash cycle and spin (yes, remarkably, he survived that).

•  An excellent Photoshop tutorial from Cassie (whom I've also stolen Sunday's post ideas from so you should really check out the rest of her blog because it's awesome) can be found here.

•  I'm a little late to this party but I recently discovered Sienna and Savannah Millers' clothing label Twenty8Twelve and really liked it.

• Sunni is running the Ginger Sew-a-long, Colette Patterns' newest offering. It's a great pattern and excellent for beginners. Sunni writes easy to follow and comprehensive tutorials and always does her best to answer every question asked, I highly recommend joining in if you're after a fab A-Line skirt, details here. Sarai of Colette Patterns is offering a discount on the pattern, the code is available from Sunni's blog but expires on May 16th.

•  Dreamy Whites posted a picture of a French fruit crate that I'm sure could be crafted using bits of a pallet and some chicken wire. I need to try my hand at building stuff so I might end up giving this a go.

•  Talking of crafting, this tutorial at Redberry Barn for a great lamp made out of a jar and an old shade is just perfect and going on to my to-do list.

I haven't just been working on bits and pieces around the house for the last mumblemumble, I've also been completely addicted to Pinterest. If you haven't heard of Pinterest, where have you been? If you're not already a member but would like to become so, I believe it's still by invite only so drop me a message using the contact form on the blog with your email address included and I'll send you an invite out. Word of warning, expect to lose days. Here's some of my favourites from this week:

1. a great casual style 2. perfume locket tutorial 3. pretty lace shirt
4. magnetic pinboard mirror tutorial 5. ruffled shower curtain 6. kitchen inspiration
7. kitchen inspiration 8. gorgeous dining room shelving 9. picture wall inspiration

Is anyone else on Pinterest already? What do you guys think of it?

Thanks for stopping by,