Framed

I got my long awaited delivery of purse frames today. I got them from this Etsy shop which is in China so the usual hand off between price and delivery speed. One is for the U'r Priceless Blog Hop in November but the others are all mine. Well, except that I'm making presents for people. I'll have some WIP shots by tomorrow. Meanwhile some lovely possibilities from flickr...

(Click on the image to find out what they all are.)

I've been cutting out pieces for purses this evening while waiting for an email. I'm wondering why I'm waiting.

I didn't think it was a difficult decision to make but then the thing about thinking time is it works both ways.

Then again...

Meow. I'm really looking forward to spending a week with the cat. 8 days and counting.

Meanwhile I can't find these fecking labels.

The ones that say "Handmade by Bernard". I just can't think what I've done with the bloody things.

Travelling Without Moving

Lots of activity going on chez Byrne while not much actual action is apparent. It's mainly cerebral. All this being in charge of your own destiny stuff is very confusing sometimes. I have been making a few things though. It started with a pin on Pinterest, where else, where the pinner explained how useful this type of keyfob was. You don't rummage for your keys because it's easy to catch hold of the long strappy thing. (The smaller one is for my cupboard at work.)

I've found it pretty useful so have made some more for xmas presents.

It all served to remind me how much I enjoy hexagon patchwork. Plus I have all the papers left from this bad boy...

...(which is still in my WIP pile) AND I've just completed a 2.5" square fabric swap. So when I do a house swap with Mater in a couple of weeks time I'll be taking this pink box with me.

It's what I used for the quilt to keep all my hex's in before making them into flowers. I've decided this time to go smaller - a cushion cover. Meanwhile I have finished a present I can't show, cast on another I can't show and continued with my fairisle mashup. Cue blurry photo.

I'm increasing after the waist at the moment. I'll be taking this away on the house swap too.

I've been looking at crafty things to do while I'm away in Somerset. I am strangely tempted by Cheddar Gorge. Anyone been?

Money's Too Tight To Mention

It does seem like everyone is talking about money at the moment. Namely their lack thereof. Friend at work is considering moving to a smaller house because his income is no longer enough to support a wife and young kids with. Everyone else is broke. I'm not able to save anything any more because of the Relate sessions. I've started wondering whether I really need things I pay for each month.

TV license for instance. I hardly ever watch live TV anymore. But I do record things from live TV with my DVR. I discovered today that Murder She Wrote isn't available on the ITV Player. That's basically a deal breaker. TV license is about £14 a month and the cheapest box set of all 12 series I could find is £61.50 plus postage. Hardly worth cancelling really considering I will occasionally watch Dog the Bounty Hunter or something.

Basically I've been through everything and don't see how I can cut down. Yet at the same time the cost of living is heading ever upwards while pay rises are a hey-I-almost-didn't-spot-you-there 1% when they happen. Bleh. Maybe I should move. I could get a Zone 4 place for £150-200 less a month. But then the travelcard is an extra £500 a year plus extra travel time. Tsk. I used to want to own my own flat so much. In fact what am I saying, I still do. But, I'm pretty sure even one of these is out of my reach at the moment.

And let's not forget what else is coming up:

I believe that is about 11 weekends. I have already started knitting and sewing presents (from stash of course). I don't think any of us are thinking of our stash's as pensions any more. Mine is certainly now a recession buster rather than a pension fund. 

My Greatest Achievement To Date

It is finally finished.

Complete with label on the back.

It really has taken that long to do. Started back here after I'd seen someone else's version of this quilt on Flickr. All the way from tracking down the pattern book, choosing the fabrics, cutting, paper piecing, assembling, arranging, rearranging, sashing to quilting and binding. Phew! And now... this is going to be a long line if pictures of the individual squares.

Mmmmm. Chuffed.

All of a sudden...babies

Not me. People. People suddenly seem to be pregnant all around me and so I am looking to craft suitable gifts. It made me pause and wonder how many of these lovingly crafted items are actually useful to mother and child (and perhaps even the father).

With so many things available for small amounts from places like Matalan or IKEA is it even worth making anything from scratch or is embellishment a better plan?

Bibs for example. Make or buy and embellish? Personally I am a big plan of the ones with "These idiots put my cape on backwards" written on them. I assume you need them to be absorbant so is quilting cotton really the best stuff to use? The matalan ones seem to be vaguely towelly.

I always think you can't go wrong with a blanket.

Has to be machine washable though of course, but then you hit the minefield of colour.

What about toys?

I wouldn't want to put knitting in my mouth but then babies do a lot of things I wouldn't do now I'm a bit more aware. But how do the parents feel about it? Is a sewn toy better?

Then of course you've got to be 100% sure nothing going to fall off or come undone.

I do suspect onesies are always useful.

But even then if you don;t know the gender it could be a bit tricky - and some parents are still rather particular about gender identity.

Pretty much everyone likes cupcakes though right?

What would you all suggest?

My First Treasury!

I have been featured in someone else's Etsy treasury for the first time.

So exciting! You can see it online here. My Etsy shop is here.

Ways I have been Saving Money in 2012

This is not a sponsored post. I just can't believe others aren't doing some of this stuff.

There are three things I've been doing this year to reduce what I spend on things. None of these have caused a change in my spending habits - they've just let me shop as I normally would while not paying as much. But it does rely on my being, by preference, an online shopper. Sure, I occasionally have a blow out at Festival of Quilts or in a shop but generally I buy online. So let us begin.

Quidco

I keep telling people about this and they don't believe me or think it's a scam. But look at this image of my dashboard and where it says it has paid me £211.81. That's since January.

That's money I either got back as a percentage of what I spent or that I was given by companies for trying their service for a week or even by standing outside a high street shop and pressing a button on a phone app.  This is how it works:

If I want to buy something online - a pair of shoes from Clarks for example - I first go to Quidco. I log in and type Clarks into their search. They tell me I get 5.5% cashback on whatever I spend at Clarks and I click their link to visit the site. I shop on Clarks website as usual and in a week or two I get 5.5% back. I bought a pair of shoes on their recently which were £49. I had a 10% off voucher from elsewhere so that made them £44.10. I get cashback of £2.43 from Quidco. So I've got my £49 shoes for £41.67. It's not a massive saving but it's better than nothing. Another example - I was out of contract on my phone. I found a deal I wanted. I checked it on quidco before buying. On quidco I get the same deal but with £60 cashback. You can see I just got paid the money from Tesco phone shop on my last payout. £60 for doing what I was going to do anyway. Nuts right? Same on holidays. Expedia will give you back about 10%. And I've never been spammed or anything like that.

I'll be honest - if you click this sickly green banner below and sign up I'll get £2.50 the first time they pay you £5. But then you'll have saved a fiver on what you were going to buy anyway. It is seriously money for nothing.

My Survey

This is one of those sites that pays you for filling out surveys online. 

They tend to be about toilet paper or music or other such wonderful things and are very boring but you earn points for each one you complete and what do points mean? Paypal money or amazon vouchers or a ton of other things. You can see from the image that I've got a stack of surveys they've decided I fit the profile for. Each will take between 10 and 30 mins to complete online and earn me between 20 and 150 points. I've only got 46 points there at the moment because I just cashed in 540 of them for a £5 amazon voucher. I think in the six months or so I've been a member I've earnt about £30 of vouchers and I only do the surveys while I'm waiting for something else to happen. Like running a bath or in a boring phone conference. 

There is a referral service where I get 100 points if someone I refers signs up so if you are interested email me and I'll send you an invite. 

Groupon

This last one can be deadly - I'd suggest opting out of receiving their newsletters once you've signed up and only using the website tactically. 

Personally I only use this for haircuts. Otherwise it's just too easy to spend money on rubbish. If you need something you know Groupon tends to offer (haircuts, waxing, massages, steak dinners, exercise equipment, teeth whitening) stalk the website for a week. Look at not only your area but places near your area. Deals can come and go in 24 hours so set a reminder on your phone to visit once a day to see if any relevant deals have come up. Since I became aware of Groupon I haven't paid full price for a haircut. Of course those who know me will know that someone with Cousin It hair doesn't need to visit a salon very often but when I do, I get a bargain. And people - groupon is on Quidco so for every groupon you buy you get 5% cashback. Double discounts. Nice. 

There is also a referral service for this where I get £6 if you buy a groupon but I would suggest you sign up to Quidco instead and get your own cashback for buying a groupon so you go ahead and start benefiting straight off. However if you'd rather not email me and I'll gladly get the £6!

Now I do believe I am due for a haircut AND at £19 with 5% cashback it will only cost me £18.05 and at London prices that is one sweet deal. 

Fairly Fairisle

In a recent post, the one with the testicles in, I shared the chart I was using for a fairisle and said it was melodic to be swapping between the two colours. Well screw that. The music died. Trying to do fairisle in about eleventy three shades of blue green when the evenings are getting darker turned out to suck so I changed it to swapping the main colour but keeping the contrast as light grey.

This is definitely going to be one of those ones where you see the pattern best from a distance. It may also become cat blanket in about 5 years time when I finally give up but I'm going to hang on with it for a while longer and see how it develops.

While I continue to ponder the charm square swap (4 votes in favour) there is a "Scrap Vomit" Swap taking place on Swap-Bot. You send 3 people a bag of 49 x 2.5" squares. So that's 147 x 2.5" squares I need to cut. Thank god for my rotary cutter and quilting ruler. Anyone can join so click on that link to find out more.

Meanwhile....uptown...

Source: 3.bp.blogspot.com via Alex on Pinterest

Source: imgfave.com via Alex on Pinterest

Source: tumblr.com via Alex on Pinterest

La, la ,la...

Any Interest in a Charm Square Swap?

I have been searching all over for a Charm Square Swap and I can't find one. I've been umming and ahhing about whether to run one and then I came across this post...

Source: ellisonlane.blogspot.co.uk via Alex on Pinterest

...which basically decided it for me. But I'm still not sure how much interest there would be. Hence the poll at the bottom of this post.

A charm square is basically a square of fabric. That's it. For swaps they are usually 5" square but other sizes can be used. Swaps can have a theme (i.e. reds or i-spy) and usually have a few rules (like only using new, unwashed fabric from a named designer).

Everyone in the swap cuts their fabric into the required number of charm squares then sends them to the host with a stamped addressed envelope. After the deadline the host shares out the squares between the swappers and sends them back to them in the envelopes they provided. The only cost is for the fabric and the postage.

You can get 24 five inch squares out of half a metre of fabric which for a designer brand is usually about £10-14 a metre so I reckon you could do the whole thing in the UK for about £10.

So what do people think? Would you be interested in joining a charm square swap?

While you ponder I wanted to share this cunning way to get four half square triangle patches out of two charm squares. There are some nice examples of quilts you can make from them on Flickr. 

Ooooooo, sooooo many....