Laura Strutt's Blog, page 17

Fab Fabric Friday: Wildwood Cloud9

Happy Friday Y’all! The weekend is right around the corner. I haven’t spent much time at the sewing machine in the last few weeks, and I’m starting to miss it in the worst way.

I always say, if you don’t have the time to get any sewing done, then the next best thing is to look at some lovely fabrics! I was completely delighted when this little bundle of stunning Cloud9 fabrics arrived at Made PeachyHQ!

As a long time fan of the surface designer Elizabeth Olwen and her collection of ever uplifting nature-inspired designs, you can imagine my delight at getting my hands on this collection of fresh prints.

The Wildwood Collection is everything that the name evokes – forest, flowers and a little bit of magic. The fresh cool colours with a pop of bright collars and rich navy tone is just the perfect balance for so many projects from quilts and home decor, to garments and accessories this autumn.

I, for one, am crushing hard on this Fold Over Clutch!

The entire collection is a real treat – mix and match a few of your favourites with cool crisps solids, or go crazy and get your hands on them all – you’d be forgiven for having a fabric binge on this collection, that’s for sure!

Be sure to check out the Wildwood Lookbook for more inspiration for this delicious collection!

The post Fab Fabric Friday: Wildwood Cloud9 appeared first on Made Peachy.

Creative Reading: Craft a Creative Business

You Guys! I have been waiting for the longest time to get my hands on this book written by a dear friend, Fiona Pullen genius behind The Sewing Directory. I know that I was not alone in my eager anticipation of this book, and, let me tell you, this book was worth the wait.

As I said, Fiona is a friend of mine, so of course I would show her my support and share a review of her new book, I know what you’re thinking, “this lady is her friend, so she’s going to say that it is amazing, right?!” Well, here’s the thing, full disclosure, yes Fiona is a friend, and yes I know (on a personal level) how much work and energy goes into producing a book. But, and here’s where you have to pay close attention, Fiona has provided me with a huge amount of support and advice in the early day of starting my own creative business (and still does), lovely long telephone chats, many lengthy emails has given me a personal insight into how her business mind works. Experiencing this support and guidance, and benefiting from her vast knowledge on a personal level has, if anything, set the bar even higher for Fiona and my expectations for her book, can this level of enthusiasm, personal approach and friendly yet strong character and attitude really be captured in a book?

The answer my friends is yes! A resounding and powerful yes! That is what I love about this book! I wanted to read this book cover-to-cover before sharing my thoughts on it with you. As you may know I devour fiction and love to read, but thought that a business book would be, how can I say this, a slow burn. I was surprised to find, that was not the case! I found myself flying through the chapters – tagging many pages, sections and checklists that I know I need to work over, review and consider for my own business in the coming months.

The Low Down

Craft a Creative Business is carefully constructed into six main chapters covering a wide range of different aspects of a business in great depth, each set in a logical order making it ideal for those that want to dip in and out, seek guidance or hunt down a solution. These sections include, Where Do I Start?, Legal Matters, Presentation, Social Media, Selling Online & Selling Offline.

The book hold a great deal of information (a mind-blowing amount in fact!) and, to Fiona’s credit, it is all presented in an easy-to-digest manner. Clearly laid out  – often in bite-sized chunks so you don’t feel as though you are about to meltdown with information overload! Having set up her own successful business Fiona knows how much you will need to invest into your own business in terms of energy, time, enthusiasm, finances and building a sound knowledge of the sector, business and legal practices and this is very much at the heart of this book.

Whether you are in the process of gathering idea, approaching the launch of your new business or have been in the game for a little while, this book is a fabulous tool to help you get the best from your business – there are a number of checklists and charts to help you to set or reassess your goals, consider the competition – there are areas for making your own notes, and each section includes lots of resources for further reading and useful websites to check out.

Not only is Fiona sharing her expertise, she also brings together a number of other figures in the Creative Business Sector – including Nel Whatmore, Hiliary Pullen from UKCraftBlog, Craig De Souza from the UK CHA, Alex Veronelli from Aurifil Threads, to name but a few, plus a forward by Craft Journalist Perri Lewis!

Fiona understands that while you might be the most expert stitcher/ knitter/ jewellery designer on the planet, you simply won’t be able to know everything about everything, so here’s where this book will help! You’ll find the answers to all those questions that you might not ever have dared to ask…What is a Lifestyle Photograph? What are Keywords for? Why should I Tweet? What the heck is SEO anyway?

The end of the year is fast approaching (hint! Add this book to your Christmas Wish List!) for me I have only a few more deadlines to work over before the end of the year and 2015 is booking up fast, now is a time to concentrate on fresh goals, new objectives and getting that business house in order. The most valuable aspect of this book, is that there are elements that I know I will return to again and again…revisiting sections where I know I can build on an make improvements, checking back over aspects that I’m not confident with and this book (with all its tagged pages!) is just the encouragement and support I need!

Pro-Tip: when you buy this book, I strongly recommend that you buy a pack of page tags (or, hey, you’re creative, make your own with washi tape) because you will want to mark out the sections you’ll be referencing again in the future!

This book is total must-read for anyone thinking about starting, developing, or building a creative business – its a keep it in your bag, on your desk, beside the laptop kind of book – the only question it leave me with is, “where have you been all my life?!”

♥ – ♥ – ♥

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Be sure to grab your copy of Craft a Creative Business: Making & Marketing a Successful Creative Business by Fiona Pullen, Search Press, £12.99 – this could be the very best investment you make into your business and creative works!

The post Creative Reading: Craft a Creative Business appeared first on Made Peachy.

Pinterest: What They Did With…Hot Chocolate

This hot cocoa mug, £7.75, Giftability is just made for me, am I right?

It is undeniably hot cocoa season. Can I get a YeeHaw?!

There is literally nothing I love more than chilly hike with the hound dreaming up delicious hot drinks to make when I get home. Luckily for me, our little dog loves to cuddle up on the couch under a quilt, while I crochet and drink hot chocolates,  just about as much as he love to go outside in the cold and hike for hours. How did I ever get so lucky to get a dog that is literally made for me?

When it comes to hot chocolates, there are so many different recipes out there to sample and enjoy – and I would love to make it my lives work to taste them all! Every year as winter approaches, I find myself seeking out delicious new recipes for hot drinks – so here are some of the Tasty Hot Chocolate Recipes on Pinterest that have been catching my eye!

1 Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate ⇒ Classy Cooking

2  Peanut Butter Cup Hot Chocolate ⇒ Jade Louise Designs

3 Slow Cooker Spiced White Hot Chocolate ⇒  Mom On Time Out

4 Hot Chocolate Spoons ⇒ The Nerds Wife

5 (Adult!) Candy Cane Hot Chocolate ⇒ My Baking Addiction

6 Pumpkin Spice White Hot Chocolate ⇒ Tatertots and Jello

Holy Sugar High Batman – the only real question is, which one first?!

If there is one think I love more than hot chocolate, it is Pinterest, fact – swing over and see what (aside from delicious cocoa recipes!) I’m pinning right now!

The post Pinterest: What They Did With…Hot Chocolate appeared first on Made Peachy.

Blog Awards: Public Voting!

You guys! Made Peachy has been entered into the Blog Awards in no less than two (!) categories – I can’t begin to tell you how stoked I am to be part of this.

For those of you have have been reading Made Peachy for a while (thank you! x) you’ll know that I began this little place after being made redundant (for the second time in two years!) and while almost everything in me was telling me to pack it all in and just go back to bed, a small tiny part kept saying, “Now is the perfect chance to chase those dreams of yours!” Sometimes, I guess, it does pay to listen to those little voices in your head.

In brief time that I have been working on Made Peachy, creating new makes, sharing tutorials and how-to guides, sharing recipes, creative tips and ideas, I have made a huge stack of new friends (both real life and online) I have discovered new skills, I have been met with fantastic opportunities and, most importantly, I have had a complete blast.

The last few months, as a direct result of all the blood, sweat and glitter that has gone in to Made Peachy I have been working on some pretty amazing contracts (with another couple in the pipeline!) I firmly believe that this is all a result of getting up every day, and thinking “Today I’m gonna make this dream happen.”

Now, entering into the Blog Awards is one thing, but it would be quite another get through to the next stage! Made Peachy is only one teeny tiny blog in the whole wide world of the internet, and yet it means the whole entire world to me (soppy, I know, right?), while I am quite clearly an underdog in a contest of this size and calibre, entering it and putting myself 100% out there is what seems to be at the heart of Made Peachy, so in true, nothing ventured nothing gained mentality, I’m giving this my best shot and here’s where I need you guys! The Awards are now open for public voting, here is where you can vote for your favourite entered blogs and give them the chance to make it through to the next level.

I love this little place, it has taught me so much – and no doubt will continue to do so – so, if you’ve enjoyed reading Made Peachy, had fun working on some of the projects, learnt a few neat skills with the tutorials or sampled some of the tasty recipes, I’d love it it you would give Made Peachy your vote in these awards!

You can vote for Made Peachy in either the Lifestyle Category or the Arts & Culture Category – or both if you’re feeling super generous! It only takes a couple of clicks to make your vote, so basically people, today is the day you could make a girl’s dream happen!

Thank you and fingers crossed!

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The Week That Was: Crochet & Keeping Cosy

Ah! Monday! Here you are again! I don’t think I’ll be the only girl on the planet thinking about how I wish the weekend could have stuck about a little longer.

Having been over in Dublin and getting ready to head off to Harrogate next week, my time at home feels more and more precious. Perhaps even more so, now that for the first time in four years of living in our home we can say that we have fully operational heating during the winter months. Thank you new boiler, you expensive, yet deeply loved piece of kit!

For a girl that love to travel, see new places, discover new things and meet new people, I’m a real homebody. I enjoy spending time at home, so at this time of year, when I’m back home in-between trips I just can’t get enough of home comforts. It’s the little things, cooking dinner, watching movies, hiking with the dog – even house chores are so satisfying. Living in a house that is in the midst of long and drawn out renovation works is hard at times, you just want things to be finished, you want things to be done. I certainly struggle with all the behind the scenes things, the replacing joists, the treating damp and insulating the attic. I long for the jobs that bring instant gratification, the painting of walls, the picking out of new tiles – it is this kind of impatience that makes renovating a house hard work. Slowly but surely we are getting closer to finishing up all those jobs that don’t ever really get seen, and will soon be moving on to the more enjoyable (although no doubt still hard graft) tasks that make the place look and feel more like the home we want.

I’m so excited to being the next stage of our home plans, the decoration and prettification and all those jobs that I have been itching to get started on, but, for now I will have to be comforted by the fact that while we are planning the next stages of the renovations, we will be cosy and warm…and probably drink more than my fair share of hot chocolates!

The last week (and the weeks to come) will be all about crochet for me as I work my way through a huge project, deadlines are looming and there is so much still to be done. So, for the most part I you will find me curled up next to a huge stash of yarn crocheting like a woman possessed trying to meet all these deadlines – wish me luck!

The post The Week That Was: Crochet & Keeping Cosy appeared first on Made Peachy.

Learning Lettering: Skillshare Modern Calligraphy

Y’all know I have been obsessing with modern calligraphy for the longest time.

I bought some pens, nibs and inks, I spent hours looking lovingly at hand lettering on Pinterest and even longer (if you can believe that) practising lettering for myself. The trouble is, with so many things, is that Pinterest makes it look super easy. Like all yo need is a pot of ink a fancy looking dip pen and, boom, you are suddenly a calligraphy legend. Sadly, I’m going to have to tell you, this is not the case. Calligraphy and elegant penmanship takes lots of practice – even longer it seams if your usual handwriting is super scruffy (like mine!)

When you want to learn something new, you’ve given it a go for yourself and find that things aren’t working out it is all to easy to just want to ditch the whole thing as a bad idea. But, this is usually the time when you need the help of an expert. I’m a fan to attending classes, courses and workshops – getting expert tuition is a brilliant way to learn something new, build existing skills or, if you’re already experienced, unleash a whole new potential.

As soon as I realised that simply looking at pictures of pretty handwriting wasn’t the key to mastering this art I decided it was time to take a course. Getting to a regular class is tricky for me with my working schedule, and I wasn’t able to find anything that really took my fancy that was local. All was not lost, however, Skillshare had the perfect answer for me.

I have been crushing on Molly Jacques and her hand lettering after stumbling upon her work on Instagram

– and to my utter delight, I discovered that she offers a course, Introduction to the Art of Modern Calligraphy on Skillshare.

Online learning is a go to for me – I have taken many courses, workshops and classes through a whole host of different learning platforms and websites. These work for me. I can fit them in around my work and home life, I can binge learn and work on the next session in the course when I’m on a roll and I can even keep up-to-date when I’m on the road. Genius!

The Introduction to Modern Calligraphy course is just exactly that, it starts out with the very basics, from picking out nibs, holding your pen (and, yes, I was doing it wrong!), t0 shaping basic letterforms and includes a selection of practice alphabet exemplars.

Molly not only has wonderful penman shills, she is also a fantastic teacher – in many cases point out the common problems and mistakes of beginners clearly and guiding you on how to avoid them, leaving me with a clear understanding and very little technical questions throughout the course.

The experience of Molly really shines through and makes this course a must-do for any aspiring calligraphers, not only with sharing how to start writing with a pointed pen following her stunning (and actually completely achievable) alphabet guides, but also with guidance on composition, design and flourishes that will give you the fuel you need to go on and continue to create your own wonderful works.

If we’re going to call this a course review, I think that it is pretty clear that I found this course extremely enjoyable and valuable. Whatsmore, although Molly does offer a schedule of workshops, the chances of me being able to be in the right place at the right time to attend one are pretty slim, this is a great way to connect and learn from someone that you find truly inspiring – and what better way to learn that that?

So, did I learn the Art of Modern Calligraphy from taking the course? Well, I’d love to say that I completed the class and now have the most striking and elegant pen skills known to man. I don’t. Not yet. I did learn a huge about about the basics, the foundations that I had missed by simply looking at pictures and trying to copy what I could see (remember I said, I was holding my pen wrong), leaning how to shape letters, control the ink flow and working with spacing and layout are skills that will only come with practice. So, in this sense I have learnt a great deal about the Art of Modern Calligraphy, most importantly that this is an art form that requires lots of dedication and practice – but you know what, I don’t mind that in the least! Over the duration of the course, I was able to see real improvements in my own work, the way in which techniques were explained we’re so clear and well presented that I am able to identify my mistakes…so even though I think I’ll be making lots of mistakes with my lettering, the fact that I can identify where I’m going wrong and what needs work is all the encouragement I need to keep on working at it!

Membership to Skillshare operates in two ways – you can create a free account with a limit to 1hr of video classes per month, or you can select a premium membership for $9.95 (£6.25 at the current rates) per month and have unlimited access to the full-screen video content, no adverts and a community badge – so, theres a package that’ll be just right for you!

Have you taken Molly’s class – or any of the other courses offered on Skillshare – do share your experiences and course recommendations, I’d love to hear them!

The post Learning Lettering: Skillshare Modern Calligraphy appeared first on Made Peachy.

Countdown to Christmas – Festive favourites to make, do, buy and eat!

And, by C-Word I mean Christmas!

What if I were to tell you that there were only 48 sleeps till Christmas?

Does that fill with you full of joy for the Festive Season ahead? Or rather, does it leave you feeling chilly with dread about all the things that you need to do, make, buy, organise and arrange ahead of this special day?

Christmas is very much like Marmite – you either love it or you hate it…no doubt you readers that loathe the Festive Season will want to be clicking off this post right now – but, wait, rather than heading over to fill out yet another Buzzfeed Quiz or try to get to the next level on Two Dots I think you might want to hear me out! (Fans of Chrimbo, you’ll want to stick around for this too – because, this post is about Christmas, and you love Christmas!)

Christmas as a grown up is very different to Christmas as a kid, it’s a no brainer, right? All the magic, all that fun, all those gifts, all the food, all the plans with family and friends, that all falls to the grown ups. Some of us relish this and enjoy every second as part of the Christmas Build Up. However, some of us find it exhausting and dread having to start thinking about Christmas Cards and Gift Wrapping.

However, I am the Christmas Cheermeister! I love everything about the festive season – the cold weather, the food and drink, the cozy evenings with family, gift shopping, Christmas movies (particularly those that go straight to TV – such a guilt pleasure!).

You can knit this Santa hat for yourself, fellow Christmas Cheermeisters with this free pattern!

Here are some of my very favourite Christmas Treats to make, eat, buy and enjoy…hope that this gets you in the mood!

All the Eats!

Check out this delicious recipe for Clementine & Sage Turkey with Madeira Gravy

Christmas Lunch is the centre of most of our celebrations, so it’s no wonder that this element causes a whole heap of pressure – especially if your hosting for larger numbers that you would normally be catering for. Rather than during your head in the sand, why not get you plans in early? Start out by selecting your recipe for the feast – I’m talking the turkey and all the trimmings, be sure to check your guest numbers (although you may want to add in a portion or two extra for last minute guests, or delicious second helpings on Boxing Day!) Some folks like to begin to buy in the ingredients that have a longer shelf life gradually over the weeks leading up to Christmas, not only does this spread the cost, but it save you from that super stressful journey to get a full grocery list in the week before the big day!

Make a real feature of your table with festive placemats – I can’t get enough of these wonderful cut felt placemats, £1.95, DotComGiftShop – colourful, cheery and the thick felt will help to save your table from all those hot plates too!

No Christmas table is complete with out a few fancy decorations!

Crackers are my all time fave – and paper crown wearing is compulsory in my world! Check out these mini beauties! Set of 8 Carnival Christmas Crackers, £3.95, DotComGiftShop

Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without a few (boozy) tasty bevies – here are just some of my favourite drinks to serve on chilly winters evenings!

Warm your self up with this Spicy Mulled Cider!

Banish the chills with a Cherry & Brandy Hot Toddy!

Indulge yourself with a creamy Egg Nog – here are three tasty tipples to get you started!

If wintertime soirees are your thing be sure you have enough glass wear for all your guests – I love these simple vintage cafe glasses, £5.95, for a set of 6, DotComGiftShop, this classic style will really let your beverages do the talking!

Christmas time is the time of year when its acceptable to eat sweet treats with every meal! I have a weakness for these Candy Cane Peppermint Creams – you’ll be amazing how quickly you can whip up a batch and they make the best after dinner mint!

Or, if your super indulgent, float one on your hot chocolate – trust me, its a winner!

Create the perfect star shape with these neat cookie cutters, £2.95 for a set of three Star Cookie Cutters, DotComGiftShop!

You could even go to town with this set of 6 Carnival Christmas Cookie Cutters, £5.95, DotComGiftShop!

Deck The Halls

Your surroundings have a huge impact on how you feel. So, it’s no wonder that starting to decorate the home for the festive season is a great way to bring in that holiday cheer. Handmade decorations not only loo great, but are a brilliant way to craft your self in to that super seasonal mood.

Why not try your hand at this Crochet Star Garland? Lashings of this stunning garland will make your home look fabulous this Christmas, and for many more to some, also, the stars are fun to make, and you can whip up a couple each evening to create wondrous lengths of this pretty decoration!

Or, create your own colourful paper chains? This easy-to-use kit, £6.95, DotComGiftShop, is perfect for entertaining the little ones on a cold and rainy weekend!

Say it like you mean it with this fun Jolly Merry Garland!

The twinkling of tiny lights is surefire way to create the magic of Christmas – How awesome is this Holly & Ivy LED Light Garland, £12.95, DotComGiftShop?

Wrap Time!

One of my very favourite Christmas traditions is wrapping all the gifts. There is nothing quite like sitting down with a glass of mulled wine, a Christmas movie and getting busy with wrapping, ribbons and trimmings. That for me is utter bliss!

Creating your own custom gift wrapping paper is a great way to add a really unique and personal style to your presents this year.

Why not finish them off with these free printable gift tags?

There are always those gifts that are a little tricky to wrap (here I’m thinking back to a Christmas past when I tangled in tape and paper wrapping up a skateboard!)  rather than stressing over awkward shaped gifts, slip thin in a gift box with lashing of tissue paper for a stylish way to present your gifts!

This set of 3 festive print Panettone Boxes, £4.95, DotComGiftShop are ideal for stowing lots of little gifts and treats – and the little handle makes them ideal for toting to parties and get togethers!

If you’re planning on gifting hand baked goodies this year, these Gingerbread Boxes, £3.95 for a set of 2, DotComGiftShop, are just the ticket!

For me its the finishing flourishes that really make a gift stand out under the tress – and lets face it, we all what the gift that we wrapped to be the one that everyone is hoping is for them, right?! Paper tapes are a brilliant way add a quick and colourful flourish to your parcels  – I love this pack of 4 Scandi Print Paper Tapes £3.95 from DotComGiftShop – and, they are brilliant for customising otherwise plain and boring christmas card envelopes!

Christmas Countdown!

Ok. It is clear that I adore Christmas! But it is not only the day itself that I love, the run up to Christmas. I still count the number of sleeps as soon as December hits and our house will always have an advent calendar (or three!)

Advent candles have been a family tradition of mine since as long as I can remember – did you know that you can make your own advent candle from a simple table candle and some Sharpie markers?

Even though we’ll be burring a candle we still love the daily sweet treats of confectionery calendars (we shall never grown out of this, I’m sure!) Chocolate calendars sure do taste good, but they aren’t always all that pretty, this year I have my heart set on something a little more grown up (Yes, a more grown up way to enable my childish indulgence!) – I can’t get enough of this Christmas Tree Peg String Calendar, £14.95, DotComGiftShop, not only does this look fantastic and you can use your very favourite wrapped confectionary, you can also use it many Christmases to come – pretty neat huh?

Now all I want to do is curl up with a hot chocolate and watch christmas movies…all day long! What are your favourite things about Christmas?

PS: I’ve been thinking about making my own calligraphy cards to send out this Christmas, but its been ages since I had time to practice with my inks – but what to you think of this fun lettering style? I’ve not tried out this poster nib before – and oh my! what fun!

The post Countdown to Christmas – Festive favourites to make, do, buy and eat! appeared first on Made Peachy.

Quick Catch Up: Hello November

Apparently it’s November. Has been for a few days now and I’m only just catching on to that fact!

Yes, it has been one of those weeks (or rather months!) but what exactly have I been doing with myself? Good question, it mostly feels as though I’m chasing my tail in the world most epic version of playing catch up. But, you know what? I think I might (finally) be getting back on the right track…well, fingers crossed!

Last week I was over enjoy ing the incredible hospitality [read: Guinness] of Dublin for the  The Knitting & Stitching Show at the RDS, Dublin.

This was a wonderful, wonderful show. Not only do I love the city and the people – who are some of the friendliest, most enthusiastic folks you’ll meet, but it is also so much fun to make new friends and catch up with dear friends.

One of the highlight for me was getting to catch up with the wonderful Lou – our paths only really cross while we are at the shows, so we don’t get to spend as much time together as I’d like, but it is so good for the soul to catch up with someone that is a a real darling, immensely talented and shares my ridiculous passion for puppy owning!

Find out more about her darling dolls and see how to go about ordering your own custom creation!

In other monthly round up news…I have mostly been working on a huge deadline (now finished), and preparing for the next huge deadline (now underway for the end of this month!), getting a new boiler installed – I’ll forgive you for thinking that this is a far from glamorous endeavour, but as a gal that has had her sights firmly set on fully operational heating through the winter months for the last four years in the little Victorian house, this is a big deal!

There are still one more event for me before this year is out…here’s my remaining 2014 Diary Dates…

20 – 23 November The Knitting & Stitching Show HIC, Harrogate

Stuff has been happening over here on Made Peachy too! You may (hopefully!) have noticed that things are a little more shiny, a little more polished and a little more speedy! Well, friends, lots of time and energy has been ploughed in to the site this month – mostly in the sorely neglected Back Of House area – but hopefully, you’ll have seen and will be seeing more improvements  – If y’all have any thought, comments or feedback on this little creative place, I;d love to hear them (positive and negative alike, although, please remember I’m a human with all the feelings!)

So, heres a round up of some of the things that have been my favourites here at Peachy HQ this month!

Crafts: Polaroid Camera Plushie

Style: Custom Cardigan

Skills: Casting On & Casting Off Knitting

Eats: Kale Crisps

My other loves on the internet right now are…

My Browser Besties:

Discover Kale

DotComGiftShop

Deramores

My Fabrics

 

My Blog Crushes:

Knitted Bliss

I Spy DIY

Lovelyish

Katie Gets Crafty

Reading has fallen slightly along the wayside, which is a surefire sign that there was not enough leisure time for me in October (this is gonna change in November, FACT!) So, here are a few new titles to add to my Reading Challenge in My Months Reads:

39: Looking for Alaska - John Green

I love John Green! After reading The Fault In Our Stars I went ahead and bought up as many of his other titles as I could find. But…I was hit really hard by FIOS that I decided it was a really hard act to follow and would read the other later. I’m glad I did. The story is fascinating, first love, lost love and tragedy – I adored the references to final words through out the book which gave it a more character, although a little bit of a hint as to the events that would take place. Not a patch on FIOS (but that might be just my preference) great read, perhaps a little too teen lit for me!

40: Robin Williams: Biography – Brian Morris

I hate to hate a book, I really do, but here’s where ebook purchases can go sadly wrong.

As a fan of Robin Williams I wanted to find out a little more about the man – his youth, growing up, family, career and everything that comes together to make the much loved star. Sadly this read little more than a magazine obituary column -a brief synopsis of his family, marriages and a filmography. I perhaps should have realised that the book was only 30 pages long – there was no way this would give any justice to such a phenomenal character.

41: Misisipi- Michael Reilly

Intriguing mystery with just a hint of love, but not the soppy romance kind. The story is a bit laboriously full of details in places, making it seem a little convoluted. There are lots of elements that tangle together, sometimes confusing trying keeping up with multiple timelines. Interesting read, if a little taxing at times.

If you’re looking for ideas for boos to add to your Must Read List be sure to check out my January Reads, February Reads, March Reads, April Reads, May Reads, June Reads, July Reads, August Reads , September Reads If you’re on GoodReads sure to swing over and say Hi!

While I’m still going to be traveling about quite a bit this month, I have many plans for November…dare I say it, I’m already thinking about Christmas and Festive Makes! What does November have in store for you? Are you already looking forward to Christmas?

The post Quick Catch Up: Hello November appeared first on Made Peachy.

DotComGiftShop deluxe Sewing Kit Winner Announcement!

Happy Halloween you guys!

If you are getting busy with the spooky celebrations be sure to check out these fun DIY Halloween Ideas and for all you pumpkin carvers out there, did you see these amazing recipes for pumpkins?

Sadly there wont be any Trick or Treating for me this year, but I will be heading out in Dublin – most likely to Temple Bar – and as this is a city that really knows how to have a good time, I’m sure that the Halloween celebrations wont be completely passing me by!

In other – non spooky news – now is the time to get busy with announcing the winner of last weeks DotComGiftShop giveaway!

Thank you all for getting behind this giveaway - I’m totally blown away with all the entries…here, over on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. It’s taken a while to get all the entries gathered together, put into a hat and pull out the winner…but, the wait is now over!

Congratulations

Sara!

Be sure to email over your postal address so that we can get this lush prize out to you was soon as possible!

I’m sorry that there can’t more winners – but, why not head over to DotComGiftShop and browse through all the lovely goodies – with heaps of new arrivals, now could be a great time to put together your own Christmas (yes! I said the C-word!) Wish List!

The post DotComGiftShop deluxe Sewing Kit Winner Announcement! appeared first on Made Peachy.

Knitting: Casting Off Knitting

So, ya’ll mastered the casting on for your knitting, right? But unless you want the world’s longest scarf, you will need to learn how to finish up those knitted stitches.  At the end of your knitting project you will need to secure the last row of stitches to ensure they don’t come undone and that the piece of knitting doesn’t unravel.

Securing the stitches is called casting off – or binding off –  and this is done at the end of virtually every knitting project that you will work. This step-by-step guide to Casting Off will show you how to secure the stitches and leave a neatly finished edge.

Once you have completed your knitting, you are ready to cast off. Turn the knitting as if to work the next row ready to cast off the stitches.

Knit the first to stitches in the row. You will now have two stitches on the right-hand needle.

Pass the tip of the left-hand needle into the first of the two stiches on the right-hand needle and lift it over the second of the two stitches on the right-hand needle.

Allow the stitch to slide off the tip of the needle. This stitch will be looped around the remaining stitch on the right-hand needle and will now be secured.

Knit the next stitch on the left-hand needle to create two more stitches on the right-hand needle. Picking up the first of these two stitches with the tip of the left-hand needle, bring it over the second stitch and slide off the needle.

Continue in the manner knitting one stitch at a time and passing the first stitch from the right hand-needle over it, letting it slide from the needle to secure it. As you work you will notice a neat row of secured cast off stitches sitting along the upper edge of the knitting.

Once all of the stitches have been cast off knit the remaining stitch and trim the yarn to a 10cm tail. Slip the last stitch from the needle and pass the tail of the yarn through the loop of the stitch before drawing up to create a secure knot.

The knitting has now been secured and the stitches cast off, weave in the yarn ends to neaten and finish the project.

So, there isn’t much more too it – you can cast on and, now, cast off…so what’s stopping you?

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