New Blog

Well I promised you I'd let you know when the new blog was ready....................

Here it is: http://www.clairemackaness.com/blog/

So far there is a post about my simply crochet cowl neck poncho and also a review of the fabulous Clover Pom Pom makers.

I promise I will still keep this blog alive for the odd rant and chat about family life and being a working mum etc, but for now pop on over to our new home and make sure your following.

Whilst your there check out my new shiny website, it's very pretty!

Many thanks

Bye Bye Blog?

So I am about to launch my BRAND NEW all singing, all dancing website and with it comes a blog. I'm moving over to Wordpress for my site design and after a long chat with my web designer, we both feel it's best that I cut ties with Blogger and start afresh.

But now the question is what to do with this blog?

I started this blog, many moons ago as an outlet for both my creative stuff and my love of bootsales and everything vintage.  There are lots of posts about de-cluttering and being a mummy and then there is my recent journey with dressmaking.

I feel sad to let it go completely and will obviously not be deleting it in favour of keeping a record of my craft life so far.

The new blog will be far more business relevant, with posts about our classes, tutorials and guest blogs from people with interesting lives and experts so I'm wondering...................

Do I keep this blog alive with the odd random musing?  Will I miss the space to have an occasional rant about my local council, or the chance to write a review about something totally irrelevant to crafts?

The bigger question is ARE YOU EVEN READING MY BLOG? Nobody seems to comment anymore so I wonder if I'm just wasting my breath!

Please let me know your thoughts, should I carry on using this as a 'personal' blog space and the new site for more business stuff, or shall I just leave this blog well alone and let it live as an online museum to what is Beautiful Things?

Waltham Abbey Wool Show 2015

Sometimes pictures say more than words, so rather than ramble on about what a nice time I had and how many lovely stalls there were I'm just going to say well done to Diana and Kate for organising another fabulous wool show and then share my pictures with you.  I was proud to be teaching a workshop at today's show too but afterwards I met up with the BTHQ girls and did some shopping followed by afternoon tea!

New Years Resolutions 2015

Well another year in Blogland has passed and I cant help but think I may have dismally failed on my New Years Resolutions for 2014.  You can read my initial post about it HERE but here's how I have got on:

Finally finish my Granny Challenge blanket

That one was easy I finished it on the 27th January and here is it's big reveal TA DA

Open the bag containing the box full of unfinished bits and bobs hidden under my desk at work and get it all finished.

Nope still there!

Sell off all my old stock to make way for new supplies

Most of this has gone now following a run of successful shopping events.  There is still a bag left but there was 3 so that's not bad!

Class plan at least 3 months in advance and start Christmas plans a lot earlier than 2013

Tick! I have been much better at this and we were teaching Christmas classes back in the summer!  I've even made a good start on planning our 2015 Christmas classes already!

Make more clothes for me and improve my dress making skills

Just going back through the years blog posts will cover the amount of dressmaking I've been doing.  I am delighted with the fact I have not bought a single item of clothing this year other than the odd long sleeved top and a pair of jeans!

Make a start on next years Christmas presents a lot sooner than December!

Oh dear *hangs head in shame* I managed two bits of ceramic painting and a crochet cactus this year.  I think I need to make a start now for Christmas 2015

Make as many as possible of my birthday cards for friends and family in 2014

BIG FAT FAIL not a single one made!

So what are my plans for 2015?  Check back in a few days to find out.  How did you get on with your New Years resolutions?

Gifts For Christmas

There’s only 8 days until Christmas, and we can imagine you’re feeling the Christmas rush, but don’t worry we've all been there. To put you out of your misery we have some lovely gifts in stock at Beautiful Things, so you don’t have to battle your way to the shops or order last minute gifts online that never arrive in time!

We have a lovely section of gifts for all types of crafters. 

For the people who love little crafts and new craft tools, we have ALL sizes of pom pom makers back in stock. Not only do these make a lovely gift, but they are guaranteed great fun as well, as there are so many things you can make with them. These are great stocking fillers for kids and Claire's children love them! 

Extra small £5.60

Small £6.80

Large £7.60

For those who can’t stop crocheting, it’s time to get them some lovely Clover hooks. We have full sets of these available for £46 or 4mm ones for £6.50. They work like a dream! 

Or if you know someone who loves any type of sewing we have our popular super sharp spotty scissors back in stock, heart shaped pins, dressmaking pins, magnetic pin dish and a whole lot more. These are definitely sewing essentials and what we use all the time here at Beautiful Things when we run sewing classes. 

We’ll be open Friday 19th December 9.30am – 5pm and Monday 22nd December 9.30am – 5pm, so pop in and pick up a last minute gift. 

Sew 1 - The Palace

Well we have finally been given the pictures from the palace and they are excellent.  There are way to many to share with you but her is a little selection for you.

adding the finishing touches to the label

showing the Countess where she needs to stitch

The final stitches get inserted by the Countess of Wessex

Maria and I admire the Countesses hard work

Seriously the best cup of tea I have ever tasted

Sew 1 - What's it all about?

Almost a year ago today Barbara Fynn arrived at BTHQ for a patchwork santa sack class.  It was November 14th and she was dressed in a leopard onesie!

I had no idea if she might be a little crazy or if there was a good reason for this so I smiled sweetly as she politely informed me it was 'Type Onesie Day' a fundraising initiative of the JDRF. Barbaras lovely daughter Juliet has type 1 Diabetes and the family are very involved with the charity helping to raise vital funds for research.

Barbara enjoyed making her sack so much that during the class we began to talk about how she could use her patchwork skills to raise more vital funds.  She also fancied getting the Guides involved as all of Barbaras children are members of Girl Guiding UK.  We thought it would be a fantastic opportunity to teach youngsters how to use a sewing machine and use a new skill whilst raising funds.

So with a few calls to the various charities involved the project was under way.  I called in a favour from our fabulous Patchwork tutor Maria and she wrote out some instruction sheets for all the units and behind the scenes over the following months, hundreds of squares were made by various guide units across the country.

In early September the quilt squares where delivered to BTHQ and Maria, Barbara, her mother and her aunt started the task of piecing them all together.  Once completed the quilt was sent of to Long Arm Quilting specialist Jeanette to put the finishing touches on.  It has been quilted with a clover leaf pattern inspired by the trefoil and looks wonderful.

(You can read more about the creation of the quilt on the Girl Guide UK blog HERE)

So a year on and we all trotted off to Buckingham Palace today to meet the Countess of Wessex to show her the finished quilt before JDRF aucion it off.  She finished the last stitches and helped to add a lovely label to the back. We were accompanied by some of the guides who made the quilt and young ambassadors from JDRF.  We had a splendid day, sadly no photos are allowed to be taken inside the palace except for professional ones, but I will have access to those in the next couple of days meaning I can share another post with you about the day itself and the finished quilt in due course.

In the meantime the Countess has written her own blog post about the day and there is a gallery link there showing some of the photos.  I you look very closely in picture 11 I am hovering in the back in my Home Sewing is Easy dress!

Do pop back in a couple of days to read  '

Sew 1 - The Palace'