A peek in the cupboard.

Remember when i started this new blog and i said i would post a photo of my inspiration door each month, and well i kind of didn't stick to it. So yesterday I finally got around to remembering to take a photo to share.

Well P!nk's looking very hot this month, well it is July after all. Flo is running bare foot in the garden, and the purple card is the reverse of my birthday card from my son Mikey, with my business card attached to it.

  I'm not sure what this cupboard says about me, a little mad maybe ? The Boofle mug box is full of little figures, which i get out when kids come to stay, they all seem to love them. That googly eyed Brass owl (insane looking thing i know) was My nanna Lee's, it makes me giggle every time i see it. Mainly because I often sit there wondering who the hell bought it her? Seriously, A brass owl with googly eyes, was that ever a good idea for a present, so my thoughts are that a child must of bought it her. Which in that case how cute is it. :)

You can see My Paige peeking out behind the back of the cupboard, who is now 13 years old and would probably give me a dead leg for sharing that pic of her (so no one tell her)
My little jar of stamps, I'm working on getting this collection up  at the moment i only have 5.
A new box of Crayola Crayons, not sure there is any other crayon as good. Is it weird i smell them?

 

 This is the were all my craft magazines are kept. The lovely little card on the bottom shelf was from my Friend Beth who is a wonderful artist. After taking the photo i decided my inspiration quotes needed to be rewritten neater, and on a nicer card too. The Quotes say " Dreams are the Seeds of Realities" And " No one is ever defeated until defeat has been accepted as a reality" The vase was a bad buy, so it stays in the cupboard most of the time with my knitting needles in it.

 

Now i will fess up, i was going to take the photo last night of the other side of the cupboard, but it was such a mess i decided to clean it up first lol, and then today i took a picture. The first 2 folders are full of plastic pouches with scrap fabrics inside them. The blue ones is full of patterns from magazines. Yes that is a Ninja Turtle :)

Here are some of my fabrics waiting to be used. I have some fabrics that i bought i few years ago, (not pictured) which were bad choices really, the quality is just a bit crap, but last night while cleaning it all out, i decided i am going to use it up and make some draw string bags. Which i will then use to put all my ready to be made up pre cut items.
The 2 frames were from charity shops, which i love to pick up when i see them because frames can be such an expense, these will be painted white, or pink, but i do need to buy some mounts. Wilkinsons usually have a good range of mounts and they are good qaulity for the price.

So there you go, the peek around my Sewing cupboard is over, i hope your all having a wonderful weekend.
I promise to try and take another photo in August my door, and share again.

Love and chocolate orange Viscounts.

Donna x

A little excited.

So i have decided to go and  book a stall at a Pop up market. I am so nervous, and i have lots of questions going around my head, "say if i don't sell any thing at all" how awful would that be, "have i got enough stuff"(not sure how much i should have.) I really haven't helped myself since the market is in 18 days, and i have visitors coming for a week on Sunday, so that's one week of no sewing.

So i calmed myself down and stopped  myself from going around in circles looking at what fabrics i have, what ones should i use, and i also stopped that self doubt from making me back out, and just sat down at my machine and started sewing last week. I decided i was going to concentrate mostly on children's items, since i seem to sell them the most. Here is the start of some it, i have made 3 more bags and have 3 projects pinned, ironed and ready to sew.

I'm kind of hoping i don't sell any thing on Folksy at the moment until after it because i need the stock. also i know i would only buy more fabrics and then i would end up in a whirl again.

I have how ever ordered this lovely fabric from Fabric Rehab, which i hope arrives on Wednesday/Thursday, so i can get some cushions made up. I got the last 3 fat quarters, and i am so excited to get my brown parcel in the post. I think i will make a cushion, and some small bags with the left over pieces.

 I will hand embroider around some of the details and add some buttons for the bags.

So if my blog goes quite for a week or 2 you will know i am tied to my machine, and busy with visitors. I may pop on and just post picture updates :) Which will seem really odd to chatterbox like me ;)

I hope you are all enjoying this wonderful sunshine.
Love and ice cream

Donna x

Friday, Yeah!

When my Dad came to visit a few weeks ago, i decided i would send him home with this Embroidery for my Auntie. I thought she would of love it. It was my Folksy themed Challenge for St Patricks day.
 I didn't think of giving it to my Mum for some odd reason, because when i make some thing i always have some body in mind, so if it doesn't sell i will give it to them.
 So then my Mum phones the other day and says she loves it. I tell her to keep it, and not to worry about giving it to the Auntie, but she said she couldn't do that.
  So She then asks me "could you make me some, I would like to give them as gifts." I say "Yeah, sure mum how many would you like?" (in my head thinking, she may want 2, 3 max.) She then goes through a list of relatives, and stops at 6, plus 1 for her. 7 in total!
 The thing is, they are all for lovely family  members so i can't even begin to think about charging her. But i will be asking her to buy the hoops.
At the end of the conversation she said "no need to rush them i don't need them until next March" which is good news for me, because i can do one a month and get them finished in time.
So as much as i love this Irish hoop, i can imagine that after stitching another 7 it will probably drive me friggin crazy.

So this is my Yeah for this Friday.
Look what arrived today :) My very own business cards, and stickers. I only ordered them on Tuesday from Vistaprint, and they arrived this afternoon. I can't wait to give my first one out. I may go wandering the streets, looking for people to pounce on so i can give them a card.

My hubby said they sound a little Manc, now I'm not sure why, but I'm just going with they show my personality. I think it was the "come visit my blog too" that he is referring too, but i wanted to keep these ones casual. I still bloomin well love them, even if they do sound Manc, because these are one of my baby steps to were i want to be.

Speaking of baby steps, i also made a Facebook page yesterday, and could do with some followers if you fancy clicking away. Please bare with me as i set it all up, as it looks a little sparse at the moment.

facebook. Maisy Lee Designs

Hope your all having a lovely Friday the 13th, which i have never believed to be unlucky, and have always embraced it to be lucky for me. I'm such a rebel like that ;)

Love and Luck
Donna x

Waffle Wednesdays.

I decided i would just waffle on about every thing and any thing today. So here it goes.

Well it seems in the middle of July i have the flu. I am so cold i am sat here with tights on under my pyjamas, feet in big fluffy slippers and 2 jumpers on. I have been fighting the it all week, because there was things i needed to get done, but today it has firmly put me on the sofa all day. I did pop to the post office this morning to post a sale i had yesterday, and i must of looked like a right weirdo in my winter coat and scarf, but i am frozen to the bone.

But when i got home this was my to do list.

The Carrot cake was from Waitrose, and it was beyond yummy, i sadly ate 3 small pieces, and i seem to think another big slice may be eaten after i finish typing my blog. :) but it really is so scrumdiddlyumptious, and it has such a home made taste, that i didn't even feel guilty that i didn't bake it myself.

The plate was from Primark, and they were my best buy from there ever. The little plates came in a cute little set of 4, and even the little box they came in was super cute and best of all they were only 2 bloomin pounds. When i got them about 5 years ago, i bought 2 sets so i would have them for ages, i am now on my last 4, and feel the need to put them away just for cake eating.  
 
Carry on Screaming, is one of my favourite films, the one liners are just so funny, and Odd bod is one of my fav's in the film, and when Jim Dale turns into a Jekyll type monster I always laugh, it just cracks me up.

The tangled ball of threads, on top of my last piece of Laura Ashley Linen i have left, is an embroidery picture i'm working on at the moment, using Florence and the Machines "spectrum" as inspiration,  i can't wait to finish it, it's going to be so colourful. I love Flo's music it just seems to make me feel at ease with myself. I have no idea why, but it does. (nerd alert? you may be right)

And that gorgeous mug is from Laura Ashley.

This is the state of my desk, obviously being ill, i have no energy to tidy this up all at once, so i have been moving things from off it all day. I finally moved the bag off the desk, and the cushion is now in my storage box waiting to be bought, the brolly may still be there, and i moved the box to the recycle bin. Sadly there is now 3 cushion covers, and the top of a baby quilt on top of it. So it looks even worse than this photo, oops.

I made this picture this week, and I'm not sure if I'm happy with it. I think it may be a bit too busy, and the back i am still struggling with getting as neat as i want it to be. But then i do like how quirky it looks, and the charms on it are so lovely.

 

 OK off to eat cake, have a cocoa, and take paracetamol. I Hope your all having a wonderful Week.

Love and Stitches,
                           Donna Marie x x

Struggles with confidence.

I know we all have those times when our confidence wanes. If your a woman it's usually 3 days before your period starts and you seriously want to cry because your bloated, you feel fat, you have such a bitch mood and your scared if any one says "hello wrong" because you may kick ass. But your trying to remain calm and breathe deep, while the world around you has no idea whats going through your head, because if they did they would think your a wee bit nutty.

Well I had such a wobble of confidence this week just around that day, I thought right that's it never again, I'm not sewing to sell any more. I know, no one will ever buy any thing from me ever again, (i know a bit dramatic) I'm also not feeling too good, like I'm coming down with some thing but I'm not sure what, and chocolate is the only food i can seem to eat with out feeling ill. It all got a bit too much and i had such a crisis of confidence.
I would never stop sewing, because it's my passion, but sewing to try and make a profit is bloody hard going. As hard as you try not to take it too personally when things are stagnant, some how you just do. Aunt Flo should here now be changed to "Aunt WTF are you doing here, get lost B'*@#"

But after that wobble you will be glad to know I'm back to my chipper little self ;) i won the battle with the bitch. Yeah, go me. I decided no more, i cannot keep on keeping myself down, in an area i would love to do well in.
So i will be ordering my business cards tomorrow, they are only from Vistaprint. But i have rearranged them to death, and i think they look lovely i am a little excited to get them in the post. I'm ordering 500 for now.

I also bought a new camera today which was only £50, i know i would love a super duper does all the works camera but it's on my list of "one day i will get one"  and until then i just got a little Olympus camera from the Argos which you will never guess what? "It's half price" ;)
I feel like these 2 little steps are moving me forward, i know it's not global domination, and i know it's not like i own my own airline, but for me i am moving on, i am taking 2 little steps down my journey. I'm hoping this path gets exciting. Wish me luck.

 Donna x