Busy Organising

I've got so many things going on all at once at the moment, it's great and I love all of it, but I'm so busy at the moment and I need to get better at being organised. People who know me are often very surprised when they discover how disorganised and messy I can be (or maybe they're just being polite), but it just doesn't come naturally to me. I've just started writing lists of things I need to do, I've got several on the go at the moment but this is what I definitely need to do Monday and Tuesday.

 I've recently re-arranged my flat, which means I now have a whole room to work in, it's amazing and I love spending time there - it's probably not a bad thing for my relationship either as we both work from home quite often. I've wanted to post some photos of my office for ages, but it's always so messy, so I've taken a couple of photos of the less embarrassing areas.

The chalkboard cupboard is from IKEA and on that I've got a list of things that I need to do but aren't necessarily crucial, pretty organised hey?

I've got two desks in my office, one is at sitting height and this is at standing height so I can do all my cutting, wrapping and pinning there, it's also got a great view of my favourite tree across the road.

 One of the things that should be on the blackboard, but isn't for some reason, is blogging. I really want to get back into posting more regularly, so I'm going to prepare most of blog posts in advance this week. I hope you all have a lovely Monday and that it's filled with a lot less rain than what we're experiencing here in London at the moment! x

Cushion Sewing

I had to sew a few mock-ups of the cushions and I tried and tested a few online cushion cover sewing tutorials. The one over on Design Sponge one was my favourite. It's very easy to follow and the cushions turn out really nice.

There was no way I was going to sew all of them on my own though, so I found a brilliant local seamstress to do the rest.

Cushions!

I've been working on making these cushions for such a long time and I'm so excited to finally showing them here. it's incredible the amount of work that goes into a product that sort of looks quite simple! I've enjoyed all of it though and I've learned a lot, so next time it will be a lot easier, I hope.

I had the idea about a year ago, I was researching traditional scandinavian knitting and came across so many beautiful designs, which still looked so fresh and modern. I loved the history behind them, how the women would knit jumpers for their husbands, which they would keep for life, and how you could tell which area someone was from by looking at the patterns on their jumpers.

So I used three patterns, from three different Scandinavian countries, simplified them and enlarged them to create three patterns which work on their own as well as compliment each other. I then mixed the dyes and hand screen printed it onto a cotton linen mix fabric, bought lots of zips and handed them over to a brilliant local seamstress, picked up the finished cushions last week and have just finished adding them to my shop.

I've only printed a relatively small batch this time, I want to see if people like them first, but I hope to making more soon.

I'd love to hear what you think, maybe you have suggestions for improvements, or ideas of how to spread the word etc.

Ralph!

My favourite dog, Ralph, came to visit on Friday. After having investigated the whole flat, sniffed out a few crumbs from underneath the kitchen units and discovered the biscuits which were well hidden on a shelf behind the TV - he finally got ready to snooze on the sofa in my studio - now it's quite a treat for him to be allowed on the sofas, and he does know this, Ben and I spoil him because he's not here that often. I had put out his blanket, which he was obediently lying on when I turned around to continue sewing my cushions. The next time I turned around to look at him, he was lying off his blanket and had moved right next to the finished cushions I had laid out, he wasn't actually touching them, only just, but just look at him - he knows exactly what he is doing!

I'm going to post some pictures of the cushions this week, I'm really excited about them and look forward to hearing what you think.

Sew Amazing

I've been doing a lot of sewing lately, which has resulted in lots of tantrums and bad moods. I find it so frustrating when you're dependent on a machine and even more so when the machine is so difficult to understand. Oh and on top of that my instruction manual is only in German, French and Swiss!

I've been having problems with my tension, I tried everything and probably re-threaded the machine about 50 million times, and wasted many evenings in front of it. I finally gave up and made Ben carry it to a repair shop up in Bow, where the most lovely elderly man took one look at it fiddled around with the bobbin and then it was all fine. It didn't even have a problem in the first place, it was just me (or google translate!) who had misread how to thread the bobbin. I was almost a bit disappointed that all my frustration was caused by something so simple! He didn't even charge me.

If you ever have a sewing machine related problem, please go visit Sew Amazing on Roman Road. It's been there since 1947 and he really knows his stuff!

Photo Thief

Over the weekend I got an email from one of my readers, who had noticed someone selling a butterfly pattern using my photo.



I can't believe someone would actually do that! Selling a pattern that isn't yours to sell is silly, but being too lazy to take your own photo is even more silly. The butterfly pattern is an old pattern, it's not one that I came up with, and it certainly isn't one jelenateperik made - it's a bit like selling the granny square pattern.

I'm not really sure what to do in these situations? Do I write to her, is there a way to report her on Etsy?

I wonder if the other patterns she's selling are taken from other blogs too?

I really hope no one has payed for the pattern - it's here for free.

Easter Crochet

I've just come back from a trip to Iceland - I loved it there and will share a few pictures on here once I get them on to my laptop. It was lovely to breathe fresh air, see vast empty spaces, amazing nature and eat the best fish ever - but it is also so great to come home! Every time I go away, I fall a bit more in love with where I live - even though it's noisy, dirty and full of people, to me it's still the best place to live.

I wanted to post a few Easter crochet patterns and found these lovely egg warmers over on the Pickles Blog - super easy to make and a good way to get rid of left over yarn!

And how great is that round seat cover?!