I have been wondering for some time why my pins no longer felt sharp… and eventually, my mind came round to the fact if my scissors become blunt so will my pins and needles!! So I have been on a research mission, to my delight I have discovered emery for pin cushions. I had never …

I love this bag – its different from any bag I have made or owned. Designed by Sarah Gido of Cosy Nest Designs, the Layla Bag can be worn over the shoulder or carried by its handles. As usual with pattern testing for Sarah I learnt some new skills – on this occasion it was the …

Have you noticed a fortnights silence? probably the longest since I started blogging. The tot (start again) our son started school. In many ways this has been a smooth transition, we have had no tears at drop off. The school, our second choice, is friendly and supportive. He’s learning to read with text books, much to his and our …

Have you heard about Fesitval of Thrift? It sounds amazing – “The Festival shows you how reusing, recycling and up cycling can be fun, save you money and benefit the environment”. With a packed program of events including demonstrations and workshops for all ages to get involved with, the Festival of Thrift aims to show …

The theme for this years Zero Waste week is reuse, why not refashion clothes into bags – I love the challenge and creativity involved in this. It costs little, have a go:) Here are my top 10 plus tutorials for upcycling clothes into bags. Loving this sweater bag from Renegade Seamstress – Taking less than …

If you are a fan of Pinterest you may recognize the concept of our branch Christmas tree. We had great fun decorating our tree. The kids chose bright baubles from the charity shop and I coped with a bit of bling. After the Christmas was over we decided to keep the tree, decorating monthly per the seasons. Its fun …

I recently received a request for an upcycled tie phone case, with a sketched design. The idea to make the most of the tie shape and highlight the shape in the finished phone case. This seems an ideal tutorial to share as part of zero waste week – perfect for the reuse theme this year. …

Today is the start of Zero Waste Week.  I am super excited to be a blogging ambassador. Last year it was a real highlight of my blogging year. The focus of the week changed some habits for the better in our household, I “met” some great bloggers and had great fun fusing plastic bags to create …

Have you been following Makery’s series The Refashioners 2015 . There’s been some fabulous designs created from former shirts by a wide variety of sewing bloggers. There’s an opportunity to join in, entering your own refashioning of a shirt for the chance to win a prize worth over £700. I have so many ideas re shirts, I’m not …

I can’t quite believe it but we only have two weeks of the school summer holidays left… I have somewhat mixed feelings about the gorgeous tot starting schoool, I guess in blog land he will be referred to as my son. This week we had a few days in Copenhagen attending a family wedding. I managed to …

It has crossed my mind that my wardrobe has NO long skirts…. not sure how, or why?! A long skirt is perfect when you are not quite sure how warm it is going to be. This week I was talked into buying this dress by my daughter, she fell in love with the fun print. As …