Scraps of fabric.............

I had a few days leave from work last week so I have been having a clearout of some of the fabrics which fill every drawer and cupboard in my little house!!
I sold some on Ebay, sent some to my Mum but I had some pieces that were just too nice to part with and too small to make anything substantial with so I got out my sewing machine and set to work.

I wanted to make some padded lavender hearts which I have seen a lot of lately in magazines and I always thought they looked easy to make but I discovered that they can be quite tricky!

Here are one or two things I learned by trial and error-

• Dont cut out 2 heart shapes and then try to sew them together- draw round a cardboard template on the wrong side of your fabric and just sew around the template (leaving a gap for pulling through.)

• Its worthwhile going really slowly around the curves so retain a nice shape when your pull the heart through.

• Cut slits towards the seam at the curves and especially at the top centre point-otherwise it wont sit right and will appear puckered.

I made quite a few hearts using scraps and some old buttons and filled them with stuffing and dried lavender from my garden - I put them in a wooden dough bowl to make the spare room look and smell pretty for guests.


I also made Isla and Molly new beds sewing larger scraps of fabric together in a patchwork to make a giant pillow case with poppers at one end. I bought cheap Single Duvets from Matalan, folded them in half and then half again to make a doggie bed sized cushion.
I put a few stitches using sturdy thread randomly through the folded duvets to ensure they keep thier shape and then put them into the giant pillow cases!! They turned out really well and I can take the covers off to wash them whenever they get dirty.

We took the dogs to the beach at Lunan Bay to celebrate Isla healing from her Operation.
I grew up on a farm near Lunan Bay, we used to walk our dogs there almost every day and my sister and I used to ride our horses on the beach there too. I still love going there but I always have a little pang of sadness - my parents had sell up after 20 years here during the recession a few years ago and moved back to England.

Its a beautiful beach and we had it totally to ourselves- the dogs went crazy!

(Spot Isla bounding down the dunes!!)