New starts

 September is always a time for new starts, and this September is no different.  Luke is off to High School.  Getting there under his own steam, and at a school where only a handful of people from his old school are going.  Also note the hair!  He had to have it cut to collar length, much to our consternation, but Luke accepted the schools decision, and is happy with his new style.

Sophie starts school too, which has coincided with a massive burst of independence (alas not independent in walking, she still prefers to be carried, and is getting really heavy now!)  She is enjoying school, and the first day walked in, waved goodbye to me at the door, whislt all the other parents were going in with their child, all I could do was stand on the periphery and watch her take her first steps to independence.  How she has changed from that child who would not let me leave her at pre-school 18 months ago. 

 

We are seeing how she manages school over the next few weeks, as she has the option of staying doing part-time until Christmas as she is one of the younger ones. 

 

 

Alec has gone back to school minus his best friend who has moved schools.  He is coping well, and is hoping to join a couple of clubs such as photography and chess.  Ethan is in his final year of first school (how did that go so quick?) and is loving being back with his friends. 

 

As for me, I am at home now, by myself for the first time in 14 years!  It can get very quiet, but I have so much to keep me busy, especially with my Aisling Designs shop that has a steady flow of custom orders, and I have been finding time to create extra things to stock my shop with too.

Another catch up!!

 I'm getting very slack with my blogging of late.  But to be honest, not much has been going on, just the usual routine of school, food, sleep, school, food, sleep!  Oh and rain! 

We had Father's Day the other weekend, and one of the gifts for Stuart (besides beer and chocolate) was this handprint forest from the children.  Each tree trunk has the child's name by the side of it, and each child was supposed to put their hand in the paint, and make a handprint.  All going well, until we got to Sophie!  She refused point blank to co-operate, so we ended up drawing around her hand on a seperate piece of paper, painting it and cutting it out to stick on the canvas.    Well, it is a true representation of Sophie!  But can you imagine my despair, when she came home from pre-school that following week, having been hand and foot painting!  Argh!!!

I managed to finish off the commissioned bag for a friend.  I have named it the Hibiscus bag, and you can read more about it here.

 A blog post this week would not be accurate if it didn't talk about the rain!  We had the biggest thunder storm I have ever witnessed, with torrential rain, well torrential isn't really a big enough word to describe it, mad, crazy, ridiculous amounts of rain is more like it!  Living on a hill we don't tend to suffer from flooding, but we had a veritable river racing passed our house.  I'm not sure this picture shows it very well, but the water was flowing over ourr garden and through the flower bed.  Next door had things swept  up in the water and deposited around the corner of their house!  I know, given some of the pictures out there, this seems really mild, but it was certainly a talking point!!

 And this week, I got introduced, by Sharon, to "The Old Needle Works" which is a fantastic collection of vintage shops, craft shops and cafe.  There are courses run there, and it is just amazing!  There is a wool shop which is exactly how I have dreamed of having my wool shop, with workshops, fleece, and everything you ever need for all things woolly.  In the cafe, you pick your own cup and saucer from a collection of vintage cups and saucers on the dresser, and settlle down with some crafty mags at one of the tables with beautiful tablecloths on.  One of the vintage shops had teddy bears having a picnic around a fire, and I managed to pick up a glass jelly mould too! 

This bag is the result of my visit to the wool shop, I had decided I wanted to do some Nuno felting.  I had chosen the fabric I wanted to use, so picked up some merino fibres to match, and set too that evening!  They also had bags of dyed Wensleydale locks, which I just had to incorporate into the bag! 

We were supposed to have sports days and schools, but they have been postponed because of the weather.  Sophie has an introduction to her new class next week, and I might have to pop down to the allotment in between all the rain!  So that's about that for now! Hope you have been able to make something of this mad weather, and have a good week ahead.

A celebration for a one year old

 Can you believe it?  Aisling Designs is one year old!  I can't believe where the time has gone, but when I look back at all the things I have created over the last year it gives me quite a sense of achievement!!  I have decided to celebrate with a giveaway over at my Aisling Designs blog.  So please come and join in with the party.  The banner below is the prize on offer.

Let me introduce...

...www.aisling-designs.co.uk  My new blog for all my Aisling Designs stuff.  I am hoping to be able to concentrate on it all more in the next few months, with the hope it can start to be a little business for me. 

There will be sneeky peeks, and I am planning a bit of a giveaway in a few weeks to celebrate a year of Aisling Designs.  Please have a look, it is very much in the development stages, and I am still trying to learn about wordpress, but I am impatient, and I wanted to share it with you all now.

A lovely little accident

 I decided I wanted to knit a cover for a notebook.  And as I like moss stitch so much, and was inspired by this cushion cover I made a start.  Unfortunately I hadn't accounted for the amount of give in the knitting, and I soon realised that my idea was not going to work, as the cover would end up too baggy.  However, I had this knitting that I was really falling in love with, and it would have been a real tragdy to have to rip it all back.  Then another idea came to me, and I carried on knitting.  Another of those projects that kind of grows organically, not knowing the final result until you have reached what feels like the end.  So, here we are, a little pouch style shoulder bag.  A little hippy in style with all that fringe.

I love how through weaving the ends in on the flap, it has given a slightly different texture to the underside of the flap.  And finished off with a little bead from my collection to fasten it with.

If I hadn't told myself I was making this to sell, I would have kept it, as I really do love it so.  It's also a great little project to use up those left over yarn scraps.

It is now for sale in my etsy shop.

Ticking them off

 Another Story bag finished!  It is such a great feeling, to be completeing all these projects all at once.  I am pleased with how everything seems to be coming together.   And it seems to give me so much more headspace.  Little bags made to fit the the story book in perfectly, and then enough space for the knitted characters in the main part of the bag.

 I love how an idea develops.  I had initially thought of just a bridge with a stream running beneath it to symbolise the story, but as I was putting it together it developed into the banks, and then the squareness to match the bag.  Little details probably lost on the recipient, but that make me feel rather satisfied.  It can get rather addictive this creating lark, but I am going to tear myself away from it to get on with the allotment, honestly I am, but I still have a 6 inch ring to finish, and a bag to make, then there is the guild challenge I need to start spinning for, and...

... see what I mean!  Addictive!  But off to sow some seeds... tomorrow!

Busy sewing

 I had set myself the Easter Holidays to try and clear the custom orders I have for story bags and bunting.  I am nearly there, and have had a ridiculously producitve morning today, making the bag for Little Red, which I am very proud of, it looks, well, rather good! 

 Also managed to finish off some bunting, for a little girl's birthday at the beginning May, as well as the longest bunting I have done to date. 

I just have the bag for The Billy Goats Gruff to finish off (it's a good job there was a long time scale on this, as it seems to have taken a long time from me starting it to finishing it, but then the deadline was mid May) 

After that I am putting a seasonal halt on custom items, as whilst I would like to think that I can do everything, I do also have to be realistic.  If I want to be able to things properly, I need to be able to devote more time to them, so spring and summer are allotment times, and autumn and winter are my Aisling Design times.   I may still create a few things that will make their way into the Etsy shop, but I will be switching my attentions from sewing to sowing. 

HOME

 A while ago a friend requested me make some bunting for her Mum.  I had a go, made it, and then realised I'd made it way too big, as she wanted to hang it from her mantel piece.  So this is mark II.  And I am really rather pleased with it.  I think it actually looks really rather at home here, so may well be tempted to make some more for us.  Well, when I get a moment ot two!!

 It even gives me an excuse to use my new labels.  Makes me feel all official now!

An auction

 I have a friend in Ireland, called Rosemary, who I think is a saint in disguise!  She has a heart of gold, and is always looking out for those less fortunate than herself.  She works half the year selling tickets on the car ferry going over to Valentia Island, and she heard of a man from Valentia Island who is needing an operation to treat his liver and bowel cancer.  He needs to raise 80,000 Euros to cover all the costs involved, and there is a big fundraising effort to raise these funds for him. 

Rosemary asked me if I could make something for an online auction on facebook.  So, with my Aisling Designs hat on I offered to make some bunting.  If anyone is interested in it, it can be found at here.  And if you do not have a facebook account, but are still interested then you can let me know, and I can put a bid in for you.

Please check out the auction if you get a chance.  It is the online auction for the Paul Curran Trust.

The decision is made

Thank you for all your thoughts on Etsy.  I have taken the plunge (after a few frustrating hours of trying to get my name sorted out, to no avail), and am now on Etsy.  I am keeping the Misi shop going for now until the products expire, but I won't be adding anything new to it.  All my bunting is now via the Etsy shop, and when I get some story bags in stock (still working on custom orders at the moment), then they too will be in the etsy shop.

If you fancy checking my shop out it is here.

I shall also add a link under the Aisling Designs banner on my blog.  Also, should you be on facebook, please check out my page there too.

Decisions, decisions.

 Aisling Designs is keeping me wonderfully busy at the moment.  I love having little projects to do, and have actually made some bunting that is not to order.  This "Hope" bunting will hopefully one day find a home with someone who needs to have a little light, and brightness brought into their lives.  On the back is embroidered part of an Irish blessing "May the rainbow be certain to follow each rain".  It is £18 plus postage.

I've also had some custom bunting to do too.  Ready for a little girl's birthday later in March.  

 But my indecision comes from what to do with my Misi shop.  It is useful to have somewhere to show what things I have in stock, but I have never sold anything directly from the shop.  It has always been via either facebook, my blog, or word of mouth.  Facebook now has "shops", but not everyone chooses to use facebook.  I could use Etsy instead, as it has more traffic, but could I cope with a possible increase in orders, especially at this time of year when the garden and allotment are beginning to call to me?  

I would love to hear from others who have online businesses, whilst juggling everything else.  What are your experiences of using Etsy?  Where would you look for handmade products?  Please feel free to share any experiences you have, both positive and negative of these different methods of selling, as I am going round in circles here!!

More bunting

 Just added these to the shop, on the off chance that someone would like some festive bunting.

No blessings this time, just plain old bunting!

Bunting

 An order completed.  An excited me, who cannot wait until morning to try and get enough natural light to take pictures (although if today was anything to go by there isn't much of the natural light about at the moment!)

 I hope that the recipient is happy with it.

 I have loved putting this together, and have ideas for the future along the rainbow theme.

Inspiration for crafts

 I have been thinking for a while how nice it would be to have an inspiration board.  But it would take up precious space, and would (knowing me) accumulate all manner of irrelevant things just for want of somewhere to put something!  Also, alot of the inspiration I find about me can easily be stored as digital images, so I thought the best place would be as an element of this blog.  So interspersed with everything else that goes on, will be a few posts tagged as inspiration. 

 It also struck me that if I am to create seasonal things for Aisling Designs I am going to have to work a season ahead of myself, so these leaf pictures are to give me ideas for some painted clay leaves to incorporate into a mobile.  This will be for 2012 though!

 Other inspiration came in the form of an order for bunting.  It has given me an idea for doing some bunting that can be easily personalised, but can mostly be made up in advance, therefore making turnaround much quicker from order to delivery.

More inspiration for bunting has come from this lovely lady, who visited us at the Guild the other week.  Michela creates the most beautiful pieces on felt, which are embellished with stitching.  From the beautiful small badges, to enormous wall hangings on felted blankets, she really is amazing, and has inspired me to have a mess about in the new year to make some seasonal bunting on felted flags. And if you are around Coventry in December, check out her exhibition at the Herbert Gallery.

What inspires you?  How do you keep a record?

Custom bunting

 Made with more Per Una material from my neighbours sister, a lovely ethnic feel with the batik design on the fabric.  This was particularly appropriate as the recipient has spent alot of time travelling before the birth of her daughter Loes.

 I liked the effect of three different colours for the flags on the back, might try that one again.

Really enjoying doing these buntings, finding ways to make each one unique, and filling them with love, which I hope will be felt by the recipient.

Just a little something

Another little thing I have enjoyed doing whilst convalsecing!  Clay heart, hand painted and inscribed with the word "blessings".  Now available in my Misi shop

Aisling Designs

Just in case you hadn't noticed the little tag at the side of my blog.  I have now opened a Misi shop, and will hopefully be filling it with all kinds of lovely goodies over the next few weeks.  It all stemmed from our holiday to Cornwall, seeing all those things that were handmade being sold and it gave me the confidence to think that I could do it too.  So as a step towards my dreams, I have started this shop, with the idea being that it will all contribute to "dream" funds!  Aisling, in case you didn't know, is an Irish name meaning "dreamer".

Some bunting that I completed recently for a custom order. I am now working on another.

 I was rather pleased with the effect of the contrast stitching.

 Some little things in there too, a bobble and two matching grips.  Planning on making similar things with butterflies and flowers too.

I have another idea too, I will make a prototype which will end up as Alec's birthday present, but hopefully will have some in the shop soon after.  A bag to put all those precious lego characters in.  Can't work out whether crocheted or sewn yet, we'll have to wait and see.