Happy New Year!

Happy new year to everyone! Hope you all had a nice evening last night and that there’s not too many sore heads this morning! Here, as promised are my aspirations for 2012. I have used the idea Nic talked about in her blog and have come up with 30 things I would like to do during 2012, 30 because this is the year I reach the big 3 0! I hope by posting them on here it will make me stick to them!

1. Make one item a month – I have signed up to the Make a Month group so it will hopefully make sure I keep up with my sewing!

2. Expand my sewing skills

3. Buy less and make more – Vicky gave me the inspiration to try and not buy clothes and make instead. She did it for a year, however I don’t think I’m brave enough for that so I am going to try 6 months of not buying clothes,shoes or accessories and making more. I will keep you updated on how I get on!

4. Do more sewing courses

5. Loose weight and stay healthy – I know everyone tends to have this as a resolution, however I really have let myself go over the last few months, I have set myself a target of loosing 6kg (almost a stone) starting on Tuesday! I am also going to put a £1 in a jar each time I exercise and when I reach my target weight I will have a nice pot of money to treat myself!

6. Read more fiction and non-fiction books

7. Bake more – the clandestine cake club should help with this one!

8. See friends and family more often

9. Visit more places

10. Look after myself – more trips to the hairdresser and beautician are needed! Plus not wearing myself into the ground!

10. Progress my career

11. Complete jobs in the house – redecorating, new carpet!

12. Blog more often

13. Do some tutorials for my blog

14. Do a cupcake course

15. Save more money – hopefully no. 3 will help with this one!

16. Stick to date night once a month – hubby and I used to save one night/day a month where we would do something together, like going the cinema or having a nice meal out. It slipped by the wayside really, but was so nice to spend some quality time together.

17. Less 366 – I read bugs and fishes blog about giving away 365 items (one for each day of the year). I have decided to do something similar this year, however it will be 366 things because of the leap year! Hopefully it will help give us more space and declutter the house!

18. Learn how to use my DSLR camera to take nicer photos

19. Organise craft swap – I would like to get some people together to exchange their unwanted craft items!

20. Do more craft swaps – I have already signed up for 2 small swaps, and I have just read hookinwithlaalaa might be organising another one!

21. Get rid of old fabric and only buy when have a project – this will be hard!

22. Read and comment on more blogs

22. Socialise more

23. Make more items to sell

24. Expand career in sewing

25. Try more sewing projects

26. Do carboot sale – helped by no. 17!

27. Use iPad/iPhone less

28. Make and buy more handmade items for presents

29. Buy something through Groupon!

30. Celebrate my birthday in style – I have already got plans, even though it’s not till December! I definitely want to embrace entering my 30s!

So there we are, I will keep you updated on my progress! I wish you all a very happy and prosperous 2012

Sarah x

Kids club progress

Today was the last session of kids club before half term, the last 4 weeks have flown by! It has been great seeing them learn and get excited about the different crafts. We introduced them to the sewing machines and also how to felt and make a little bag.

They had to draw their initial of their name then sew as close to the line as they could, just using the needle to punch holes in the piece of paper.

They also made some felt and then hand sewed it together to make their bag. I thought the sewing machines with the needles were bad enough, but a classroom of 20 kids all with needles in their hands topped it today! and then my nightmare came, helping them sew buttons onto their bags – I hate sewing on buttons!!!

 

It really has been a learning curve for me and have certainly realised a lot of things:-

When one child needs the toilet, they all need to go!

Kids aren’t deaf and don’t need to be shouted at (I spend a lot of my day with elderly people!)

You have to learn how to multitask as they all want to speak to you at the same time!

You have to be strict with them and you have to tell them no occasionally (again very difficult for me as I am so used to encouraging people all the time in my day job, but sometimes it’s not appropriate all of the time with kids!)

My hysterical shriek breeds hysteria in the kids (note to self dont shriek and flap arms in the presence of kids!)

So there we are, I have survived the last 4 weeks! I have next thursday off which of course I am using by learning a new craft – knitting!! so very excited about finally learning how to click clack!! However looking forward to getting back to kids club as we will soon be doing Christmas stuff!!

Sarah x

Many thanks to Maeri for the Photos

Ladies who lunch

So after a busy weekend I thought I would share with you what I have been up to! On Saturday I met up with some friends who I have known since starting secondary school. The girl who was hosting gave us strict instructions that the theme of the afternoon was Ladies who lunch and that we had to wear a dress!

Tilly Mint’s Book Club #1

Whilst away in Yorkshire for a long bank holiday weekend, I have brought with me some of my sewing books that I have had given to me as presents but never had the chance to read in detail. It gave me the idea to share with you, on a monthly basis, books I feel may interest you. So here we are with August’s review – 3 books all quite closely related in content.

The first one is Simplicity’s ‘How to use a sewing machine’ by Marie Clayton. This is definitely a great present for someone who is new to sewing. It gives a great overview of choosing a sewing machine, the different parts to the machine and it also discusses sergers and how to use them. It gives details on how to do seams, hems, pleats, tucks and different bindings/trimmings. It also has a very brief section on embroidery and patchwork. At 144 pages it gives enough detail for those starting out and needing basic info. I would definitely recommend it and would be good for those of you running workshops/classes to have as a reference book or to recommend to your customers.

The next book is ‘The Sewing Book’ by Alison Smith, published by Dorling Kindersley. It is a great lead on from the how to use your sewing machine book, as it goes into a lot more detail. It really is a reference book that you can dip in and out of. It covers all the techniques you could ever think you might need to use, including those relating to dressmaking and soft furnishings. It has a section at the back which gives projects using many different techniques. Another great buy for any level of sewer!

The last book is ‘The dressmaker’s technique bible’ by Lorna Knight. I have to say I was a little disappointed with this book, only because the content is very similar to that in ‘The Sewing Book’. It gives you info on selecting and reading patterns, working out your size and adapting patterns as well as all the techniques you could ever think you would need for dressmaking. Again a great reference book to help when deciphering instructions on patterns.

I guess you could argue that the topics covered in all books could be found on the Internet. I often feel quite overwhelmed when looking things up on the web and I feel it’s much easier to have a book in front of you than a computer screen when trying out new techniques etc. Plus with the age of Kindles etc we should really try and keep the spirit if good old fashioned books alive! I am definitely a book hoarder and there’s nothing like the smell of a new book!

Sarah x

Tilly Mint goes live!

So here it is. My first blog, and if I’ve got it right my first Tweet! I guess the first question is what is Tilly Mint Boutique? and why the name?! Well, for a while now my interest in sewing has been growing as fast as my pile of favourite fabrics and I have been developing a long list of favourite sites and tutorials/patterns that I think everyone should know about. I hope in the not too distant future to sell my lovely creations on Folksy too. As for ‘Tilly Mint’… a term of endearment for a scouser! My mum often used to call me this as a child and the name has stuck!