Bunting Bunting Bunting

Tonight is project bunting night!

 I've been wanting to make some for ages but seemed to take me forever to go ahead and get some bias binding ordered to complete it. Last night I set about cutting out many many triangles and sewing them together, the part I dreaded most was the ironing, that was finished this morning whilst Sam had a quick 20 minute snooze, nice of him to give me some time. So tonight I just had to add the flags to the binding and sew it all together, add loops to the ends and sit back with a bit of cake and cup of tea. Need to get some made up for Sam's room - love the robot fabric, there really is some great fabric for boys out there too. 

Hope you like! 

A Walk in the Sun

Isn't it lovely when the sun shines for a change. Getting out this morning for a nice stroll with Sam in the pram was great. I'm also lucky to live in such a brilliant location with great views to take in - just a shame I left the house so early that I couldn't get an ice cream!!! 

The Finished Article

Right, here we go...... I am refreshed after my cup of tea and ready to show off my finished quilt! I really tried my hardest not to be too lazy and i started to quilt between all the triangles (Of course I regretted it after the first row but glad I stuck with it as I like the look overall).

The backing fabric is covered in little robots, spacemen and spaceships and is so cute for Sam. I'm going to have to get some more of it, it's so great! And look at this next picture, after reading up on many, many blogs and tutorials about how to make and bind a quilt I did it, my proudest moment haha! 

So that's it, my first finished quilt! A huge thanks to Shannon aka (Auntie Cookie) for the quilt-a-long, it's been a great learning curve, got me being slightly creative again and I think I've got the bug - I'm going to try another quilt, maybe even to my own pattern - watch this space. 

Oh and if you want to see everyone else's quilts then take a look at the Flickr group here. 

Quilt Progress

So in my usual blogging fashion I have been a bit lazy and missed out loads about the Quilt-a-long. I am now finished the quilt and I couldn't be happier with the result - don't think it's turned out too shabby considering it is the first quilt I have ever made.

The fabrics were picked to suit my little boy's room and the quilt fits his cotbed perfectly so I'm hoping it lasts a few years (perhaps putting a bit too much faith in my sewing skills!).

I also surprised myself by keeping up with the timescales for the project and snatched whatever time I could between Sam's naps and after his bedtime, think it would've turned out to be another of my great unfinished craft projects otherwise! 

I managed to do patchwork, quilting and even binding all on my own - feeling a bit smug that I managed haha. I will pop on some pics of the finished article for you to see too, after a cuppa though! 

Quilt-A-Long

Aunty Cookie is having a Quilt-A-Long! I am a big late with the blogging of this project but once again it's a case of better late than never, right?

So the plan for everyone involved is to get the "Fly the Flag" quilt pattern from Aunty Cookie (it can be found here if you want to give it a shot!) then week by week complete a stage of the project and end up with a great quilt. I thought it would be a good one to start with, the deadlines each week might keep me up to date and actually mean i finish something and the pattern is just so cute.

Below is the schedule, we are pretty far into it but will list anyway and hopefully post some photos of my work so far later on when i've got a bit more time on my hands.

Week 1. (Finish by 16 August 2013) Pick it! Fabric selections – in a show us your flags kind of way.

Week 2. (Finish by 23 August 2013) Cutting it! cutting out & making the flags – ideas for personalizing flags, tips on making it fancy.

Week 3. (Finish by 30 August 2013) Sewing it! yes that would be sewing it all together.

Week 4. (Finish by 6 Sept 2013) Quilt it! ideas and inspirations and techniques.

Week 5. (Finish by 13 Sept 2013) Bind it! And lets perve at your finished quilt….

Week 6. (Finish by 20 Sept 2013) QAL Wrap up & the awarding of awesomeness.

Ps Its now week 4 and i am actually up-to-date...... just a bit more quilting to finish - go me!

(Photos credited to Aunty Cookie's blog here).

A Sunny Day

The sun came out yesterday - probably just for one day only but that's what we get for living in Scotland!!! I took the opportunity to dust off the old macro lens and take a few snaps of plants and flowers around the garden, one of my favourite things to do. I'll post a few of them just now and maybe a few more later on. Lets start with the pink blossom - always so pretty.

Giveaway

Ruby Loves Red has been lucky enough to be involved in a wonderful giveaway set up by Julie Christie Photography and the photograph above shows the goodies up for grabs from RLR. Julie is a wonderful photographer based in Carnoustie, Scotland and shoots amazing portraits. She has managed to get many local businesses on board with the Giveaway and there are some fantastic prizes up for grabs.

If you want to find out more about how to enter then simply follow the link below to Julie's blog but you'll have to be quick, entries close on Tuesday 24th April - Good luck!

Enter here at Julie Christie Photography.

Exciting Post

This little lady arrived with the postman this morning all the way from Hong Kong. How adorable is she? She has a beautiful head of red/brown hair and her outfit is so 'festival chic'. She will soon be making her way down to my studio to be with her sister. So I now have one blonde and one brunette..... what next, I really want a pink haired lady too but might just have to hold off on that one for a while!

I Need To Do This

I need to get the old garden clothes pegs out and try to keep my embroidery threads slightly more organised. I loved this idea from Cozy Homemaking to keep them together and tangle-free - I need to do this!

Candy Coloured Blythe

Some lovely Blythe images found on Pinterest. There are so many wonderful Blythe's on here but these are a few of my favourite Candy coloured ones. Just so adorable.

From here

From here

From here

From here

Lookie here

This wee beauty will be making her journey north to come live with me tomorrow - now you don't get much more exciting than that for the first blog post of the New Year do you! Happy 2012 everyone.

Button Wrapping

Just saw this cute little button wrapping idea on Pinterest, the original link is just from Etsy but when I click on it the link has expired so if you know where it is from please let me know and I can credit accordingly! As you may have seen on this previous post I do have a little bit of love for bakers twine and think this may be an idea I need to steal in the future.

Images From The Garden

I went away for the weekend to the Highlands and had a couple of really nice nights in this holiday home (believe me, the hot tub is amazing even when it is really frosty outside!). The wintery light was just beautiful and the garden at the house was just full of plants and leaves glowing in the sunlight just asking to be photographed. Here are just a few of the images I took - as you can see the Macro lens was out in full force!

Dream Of Silver

It has been a while since we have welcomed a new designer to our RLR family but today we are so pleased to announce that we have some gorgeous new products by Dream Of Silver added to our Jewellery section. I cannot get over how cute these silver studs are and am finding it really difficult to pick a favourite - at the moment I think it would be the hedgehogs but the Scottie dogs are a close second. The little birds have a festive feel to them too and as the Christmas department is also up and running I might just need to get them added to that section too. Take a look at the full Dream of Silver collection in the shop here.

Neon Blocks

Loving these coloured blocks by Sketchinc on Etsy. I don't know too much about the seller or the shop but was completely attracted to the photographs and great colour combinations. There are some really lovely brooches, sketches and drawings in the shop too - take a look.

Holiday and Hen

Last week, well just over a week ago now I worked my last day in the day job (ever), and set off to the Highlands for a weeks worth of R&R with Danny but first was the madness of my sister's hen weekend. I have been trying to organise this alongside her other Bridesmaid Karen for what seems like ages now but we did a great job even if I do say so myself!

We booked the most amazing house in Nethy Bridge called Mountain Bear Lodge, a huge log cabin originating from Canada before being dismantled and then re-built in Speyside. If you click the link above you can see all the photos of the lodge and just how amazing it looks. I made lots and lots of goodies for the occasion but didn't really remember to take many photos but i will post some of the ones i have shortly.

The lodge can sleep up to 16 people, has a 10 person hot tub in the garden overlooking the Cairngorms, a sauna, jacuzzi, log fire and a Grillkota (BBQ hut) in the garden. Danny and I were SO lucky and SO spoilt to be able to spend the rest of the week here alone - bliss. I wish I was back there relaxing but it was off to start a new day job today I'm afraid.

Beautiful

This is such a beautiful photograph, all credit to Yang Tee Mon on Flickr - amazing! I know it is a total blog cop out to just share other's work but wanted to keep it on here to look back on as it makes me smile.

Randomly Generated

Check out these peg people by Randomly Generated on Etsy. If you have read my blog for a while you may remember I got Jen to custom make a bride and groom for my sister as an engagement gift. I haven't been to her shop for a while but wanted to share these with you after I visited. Perfect for your inner geek. You should really check out the shop, there are so many great characters (how could you resist Marty McFly and Doc Brown from Back to the Future!).

I plan to make some little peg people of my own, a little personal crafty challenge if I find the time/when I find the time should I say. I plan to use some fabric scraps as little outfits so they will no doubt look a lot more girly than these guys. If I ever get round to it I will of course take some photos and post them to the blog......... hopefully by actually saying it, I will do it now!

Dreaming Of The Beach

photo taken from prettylittlethings.typepad.com

A few hours spent in the beer garden with friends on Sunday and would you believe it a few hours in the back garden on Monday have made me want more sunshine. It really is a rare thing here in Scotland to be able to spend some time in the great outdoors without several layers of clothes on to keep you warm but I have the glowing pink shoulders to prove I actually managed it. I had a great time sewing up some top secret goodies for a top secret party later on in the year and I did it all outside in the garden, long may the good weather continue.

Big Bows from The Small Object

Just too cute :) If you are not familiar with the work of Sarah Neuburger aka The Small Object then you can see her blog an shop her store right here - go go go! These images were just too lovely to keep to myself. Such a simple little idea to dress up any spare clothes pegs you happen to have lying around the house!