Lots of waiting

I went to Cirencester last week because my daughter thought she was having her baby. It was a false alarm so after 4 days I came home again. I'm off back to her place today. She is due on Saturday. Her she is with my grandaughter cooking and waiting...

While I was there I did the finishing touches to setting up my exhibition. It all looks lovely and the museum did these two ads for me. I particularly like the flyer - so colourful.

Also while I was there I went to a lovely little shop called Lexie loves... For anyone visiting Cirencester it's located at 57 Cricklade St., in the heart of the town and sells really sweet handmade goods as well as scrummy fabric and jars of buttons, ribbon etc. I got these three beautiful fabrics from there.

Mother and daughter bags

I had enough pretty pink and brown fabric to make matching mummy and daughter bags. Aren't they cute? What little girl wouldn't like a grown up style handbag like this?
And what mummy wouldn't like the big bag?

I think I've mentioned before that I am kind of slow finding out about new stuff and this is true for Amy Butler as well! She has a new range of fabric called Daisy Chain that you can see on her site here. The lovely Posey Patch shop on Etsy has already listed this beautiful bag in Daisy Chain fabric.And...SarahQ has listed this pretty frame bag in the same range of fabric on Flickr.

Ok back to packing bags for my exhibition.

Winner announcement

Thank you to everyone who entered the competition and left comments. I found them all interesting and useful. Just a word about the spacing on my web site. I use Windows XP and the pages look fine to me, that is no overlapping script, pictures the same size and generally everything spaced OK. However, I know from using other peoples computers that the pages look different on different machines. I don't know why and I don't know if or how to fix it.

That said, there were 104 entries and I put the number of comments through the random number chooser and it came up with...number 11. That's Primrose Corner who said: Congratulations on your new shop. Nice clear descriptions of your products and I think that's important.Maybe you should have a look at joining a sewing forum to share marketing ideas for your website and get others to give you more opinions. It has helped me. Thanks Primrose Corner if you contact me by email with your real name and address I will send you your prize.

Thanks again to everyone who commented. I'll be having another giveaway soon so if you didn't win - don't give up!

A website worth visiting

OK brace yourself, I have now "finished" my website and I am inviting you all to visit it. Not just to visit but to come back here when you have done that and leave a comment. The comment should be a comment about my site - critical comments are fine! I can use them to make it more reader friendly. I will be randomly choosing one entry to win this bag:
It's a basket style bag with furnishing weight linen in shades of deep orange and biscuit with a toning cotton lining in floral. Faux leather handles and a reinforced base and a magnetic snap.

Here is my website address: http://www.sewchristine.co.uk/
I will draw the winner on Saturday 8th November, so check back then to see if you've won.

I think I need help!

Pink and Brown bag with dark bamboo2
Originally uploaded by Sewchristine

After saying I wasn't going to make anymore bags and I was going to concentrate on the admin side of my exhibition, I made this. I couldn't help myself. I bought this beautiful pink and brown fabric in floral and stripes off the internet a little time ago, and I had these gorgeous dark brown bamboo handles. I even had matching grosgrain ribbon and toning buttons. A basket bag was beckoning and I couldn't resist! Then I thought I'd waste a bit more time by putting the photos on flickr and blogging about it! Honestly I think I'm a lost cause.

Autumn and other things.

Autumn is well and truly here now. It was so cold last weekend that we actually turned our central heating on for a few hours. (We are notoriously late in putting our heating on with family visitors asking: "Aren't you cold?") I don't mind the cooler weather (or even cold weather) as it means more time for indoor things like sewing and crafting!
With my exhibition now looming I am putting my energy into pricing up what I've made, tying tickets on and taking photo's for the itinerary. It all takes quite a long time. I have also decided to put together my own website with some of the things I've made so that I can put my web shop address on my business cards for people to take away. Now I am not the most computer savvy person, so doing my own website is a bit of a challenge! When I've finished I'll post the address so you can go and have a good laugh see the results.

Here are a few of my latest creations. I know I've got to stop sewing and do the actual organising but I can't help myself!

The finalised weekender.

I have finally finished the weekender bag based on Amy Butler's pattern. I made it in furnishing fabric outside and a soft denim looking fabric on the inside. I added two internal pockets, one with a zip and the other with elastic.

I added an additional panel to the bottom and put bag feet on it.I made the straps slightly wider and then sewed them in half where you hold the bag for a comfortable grip. I also put on two zippers that extend to the bottom of the bag. That way I can open the bag right up and use it like a mini suitcase. I didn't pipe the external pocket but did add a snap to keep it secure. Let me know what you think.