I seriously cannot believe that tomorrow's June already....where did spring go?! Oh wait, summer doesn't start til July..? Phew! That's ok then.

Anyway, so I love the linky parties, I have a few absolutely millions I like to check each week for tips and ideas and tutorials. Even though I never do anything from them, it makes me feel as though I could do anything!

Anyway, so on one of them I saw a little title 'Cleaning oven glass'. Aha! We've been in this rented house for about 18 months now and I've never managed to get my oven glass clean. I think I'd just accepted it as a bad job. I'd tried all of the toxic cleaners. You know the ones...you leave it to soak and it promises no fumes but all of a sudden your chest is tight and you've got a rash on the back of your hand so bad you wonder if you've been poisoned for life...? No? Ah, just me then. Anyway, so the glass was still gross.

The blog it took me to was Ask Anna which I'd never really perused before but she claimed (see the sceptic in me now) that you could clean your oven glass with baking soda. Bicarbonate of Soda to us Brits. So I did one of those little snort things....you know that mothers do when you tell them you're going to be a princess when you grow up?

This lady thought she had dirty oven glass....lady...you ain't seen nothing yet! here's my oven glass with it's 6 years worth of baked on grease.




In case you can't see the grossness...here's a close up.



Now as a rule, we don't generally cook greasy things....especially not in our oven. we'll have oven chips maybe once a month if that and as for roasting veg in a vat of boiling oil....even rarer!
So, although you can all see the evidence of my grotty oven, I can't really take the blame for it...it wasn't me!

So, I got my bicarbonate of Soda, spooned about 4 teaspoons into a pot and added just enough water to make it the consistency of that runny icing you get....what is it....glace icing?




So I spread it all over my yukky glass and waited the 20 minutes recommended for dirty glass.



I went back with a cloth and....oops.....the bicarb wiped off, but the grossness was still there. I added a scourey sponge to the mix...but nope...it would appear my mission had failed.




It was time to bring out the big guns.



*Imagine some sort of pulsing hero type music*

Anyway, so I made up another mixture, this time of bicarb and white vinegar, spread it on and left it to it for an hour or so. (Doorstop hell ensued, but that's a tale for another day).
I came back to it and donning old clothes, a pinny, a slightly manic look and a husband armed with a camera....I scrubbed. (Oh, and don't forget the marigolds...we don't want to look like we actually do housework!)



It's a good look, I know that. People say romance is dead...pssh!
Anyway, so with an unexpectedly small amount of force, I scrubbed the grease right off of there.



Ok, it's not immaculate, the edge was still peppered with memories of grease fests past. But overall, not bad eh? I rinsed it down again with clean water then put the oven on and closed the door.
It appears I hadn't managed to rid the glass of all the bicarb though as this is what I was confronted with when I turned the oven off and opened the door.



Oops! So, another rinse with clean water, I turned the oven back on and shut the door for 5 mins or so. (I was making good use of my marigolds at the time and there's no space for clock watching when you're indulging in a spot of washing up!)



Tadaaaaa! Seriously.....Oh my goodness, I cannot believe it! That final rinse also got rid of the slightly cloudy look of the glass too. Ready for a close up?




Whoosh! I know. You're blown away with the glory of it!

Let me see if I can work out how to do a before and after.....hold your horses.....


Eek! I can't believe I lived with such a gross oven for so long! The after is so shiny you can even see the pans sat on the hob waiting to be washed up! If only I'd realised.....


Anyway, thanks Anna!

So, you're making 'A bag only a mother could love' mark II and you think...a nice slippery lining would be beautiful inside this bag.

Usually when I come to cut such linings I think I'm doing really well until I unpin the pattern and realise that where it's stretched or pulled I've got a mahousive chunk missing! I dunno how I do it, I must just be super talented. Anyway, the pattern (that I made in my head following last time's disaster!) called for light weight fusible interfacing to be applied to the lining pieces further down the line.

So here's my top tip. Take your pattern and cut out the light weight fusible interfacing first. Then take your lovely silky red fabric (other colours widely available) and place it on your ironing board without too much weight on either side so it sits mostly straight-ish.
Add your cut out interfacing shape.



Iron. (Or press - however you want to say it).
p.s. yes, this step was risky to photograph.....good job my iron was turned low!




Breathe sigh of relief that you didn't scorch fabric whilst photographing your iron sitting on top of it. This is a valid step.

Tadaaaaa! There you go, one lovely lining piece.



Cut around the interfacing shape.



This was also interesting to photograph, not least because my vanity was causing me to question thumb poking up in the air or pointing down towards the ironing board like a normal thumbed person. I dunno what's normal anymore!



Anyway, there we go, one lovely cut out lining piece with interfacing already attached and no weird gouged out sections!

I tend to do all of mine at the same time then cut them out so that I can try to use my fabric as effectively as possible. I'm not too good at imagining how things are all going to fit on unless I do them all together!



It was shortly after taking all these photos that I realised I owned a rotary cutter and hot footed it off to the cutting mat to cut the rest of the pieces out!
Happy cutting! xx

I'm going to be linking up with the following blogs to share my tip with the world!

Or maybe not even then...I don't know if I dare risk it!

So, I saw a bag on etsy and I desired it. Ok, I coveted my neighbour's bag. Naughty! But I thought to myself....why Samantha, you're not too bad at this bag making lark nowadays....why don't you try to make one from inside your head (you have to read that in a girly voice in your head please).

Khaki Canvas Bag - Martha by tippythai on etsy

Anyway, so I found a lovely front pleat tote bag pattern for free from My Spare Time and used my infinite wisdom (and a few random tutorials) to make a bow and set to making it for my mum. When I was last with her in Luton we went to the market and bought some beautiful purple suiting....well I chose it first and seeing how beautiful it was told mum and she got some too. Me so I could make things and her so she could make herself a lovely skirt suit. My big sister Lizzie had already crocheted her a shawl for this outfit (it was for a wedding) so I think the jacket was only incase it gets chilly...which let's face it, in our climate, it's bound to happen!

Anyway, so I asked her for a pic of the top she'd be wearing with the skirt and shawl and set to making her a bag to match. From said coveted bag on etsy. If you want to see the original and best click here.

Ok, so it's slightly different, but I thought I can power on through with a little bit of jiggling! I ran out of light weight or medium weight interfacing so I looked at the last of my heavy weight. Then I looked at my super light suiting. And back at the heavy weight interfacing. Then back at the super super super lightweight suiting......"yeah, that'll work" I said to myself.

EEEEK! When it came to forming the pleats ready to be sewn, it was second to none, it creased like a dream and stayed put as if glued there in place (it wasn't). It was beautiful to sew together and although I made a few adjustments about how to sew the outer and lining together (cos I always know best!!) it came out almost exactly as in the pattern.

Except......

urm.....it didn't. It was such a bad decision to use heavy weight interfacing on such light fabric that turning it through to the right side creased it more than screwing up a paper bag! Oops!

I stuffed it with old jumpers and steam on high, I set to ironing the creases out...but the photos below show it at it's best. Yes, it's best. Now it's not too bad, but in real life it doesn't hang quite right as it's so stiff and yes, it is super creased.

Admittedly, it looks better in the photos now than it does online so now that I'm posting this I feel a bit better about it! Maybe I will send it to mum after all....

One thing's for certain though, I won't be making the same mistake twice....I bought me some light weight interfacing now!
xx

If you're not Benny you might want to just close this post as it might be a bit boring for you.

So, I've been going on and on about the 'voile saga'. I wanted some voiles for my front windows as I couldn't afford blinds...plus Dus isn't keen on blinds thinking they would block out too much of our much coveted natural light (tall thin windows) and I think nets are a bit...urm.....grannyish?

Anyway, so I went to ebay (as you do) and found some, got the measurements, paid and got them sent. Perfect. Job done. Well no....they were not voiles, they were just plain net even though they were listed as voiles. So then I had the drama of trying to get a refund by this seller who said I shouldn't have expected true voiles as true voiles are much more expensive than she had them listed for. Oh....my bad that you listed them with the wrong description then.

So that ruled out ebay cos I just didn't want to take the chance again and go through the hassle. So I went to the market to the fabric stall as I know they sew and sell ready made items. The man there was nice and friendly and did me a 'deal' so actually they were only going to work out £10 more for both to have them made locally. So I went away, waited a week and went back to collect them, paid my money and came home. Went to get them out of the bag and hang them...they'd been sewn wonky. Like not even just a little bit that you wouldn't notice if you weren't a sewer yourself but properly wonky!

So I took them back, showed them to the girl on the stall, she apologised and gave me my money back. Great. Still no voiles! Surely I am not alone in wanting plain unfussy voiles to hang at my windows and not all these embroidered voiles or fussy nets?!

I hunted around a few more shops but I couldn't find any that were 160cm long so I realised I'd have to do the one thing I adamantly refused to do in the first place. MAKE. MY. OWN. !!! Eeeek!

I can sew bags, zips, purses, cottons, leathers, jerseys (oh actually, am not great on stretch..) but voiles....eeek! I was always told to stick to your strengths and if you know you are bad at something, either improve or get someone else to do it.

So I had no choice...I would have to do it myself and improve! I bought myself a rolled hem foot a while back and I knew I'd be needing it for this task although after I'd said on facebook I wasn't good at hemming voiles my Pastor's wife suggested hemming tape....dur...why hadn't I thought of that?!

Anyway, I sewed the channels fine then I went to sew the hems. I measured them straight...I know I did...I promise I did! It all went ok, a few of the cms of the hem are not great but overall it's an ok job. So then it was time to hang them and I got my spirit level out and got the net rods and the curtains. I held the curtains on the rods straight (According to the spirit level) and there was about 1 1/2 inch difference in the bottom above the windowsill.....urm...how does that work then? Oh yes...wonky old stone house...that'll be it.

I can't believe I forgot to take into account how wonky our house is even though the back upstairs window lintel disappears into the roof on one side and is 12 inches down on the other side....what a silly head!
My solution...? Hang the rod wonky, no one will see from outside and those inside will be sitting down so think they're just looking from an odd perspective...except anyone who reads this and THEN comes to visit in which case they might actually notice!

So I told this tale to Benny....and his end remarks...after all of that were.....what are voiles then?
I've taken some pics of my upstairs window which is far less wonky to tell the tale for those of you who looked at this post thought....*yawn* and scrolled down to the pics only. Just excuse the paint job and the window surround grime...it's a rented house that's been potched to within an inch of it's life and we're just not prepared to redecorate a house we rent and hope to be out of by this time next year.




I'm super pleased with them because they're nice and plain, a bit floaty and somehow make the room seem even brighter! Also it means I can wander around without worrying about Mr Dubai (who lives across the road) being able to see into our house.

So there we are....from drab to fab with only 3.5m of plain white voile! (And two net rods, 4 net rod holders, some rapid epoxy - don't ask, and a little bit of time and effort)

xx

Ok, so when I signed off my post yesterday I fully intended to come back and do this post after a short break. But I got distracted, I forget by what...possibly laundry or cleaning or something.

Anyway, so while we were away with the rellies my mother in law (step mother in law...?) got me all exciteable. Yes I'm blaming her! She knits and had been thinking about us getting together to do a craft fair come Christmas time to earn ourselves enough for a holiday or some treats or something. I've decided on something to spend the money on already but I'm going to keep it to myself for a while. No, it's not shoes!

So we talked about what sort of items to make and what sort of market we should be going for. Dus' dad has quite luxurious taste in things and put forward the suggestion that rich people always have money, even in a recession and maybe those are the people we should be aiming for.

Me, I'm quite a cheap date....I'm good at shopping frugally and probably have different money values to others because of being in the financial situations I've been in so this was an alien suggestion to me. However, Dus reminded me that when we first met and he was living and working in central London that he'd happily pay £6 for a cup of tea.....£6!!!!!!!! FOR A CUP OF TEA! (this is the man who now uses tea bags 3 times before he puts them in for composting!) Anyway, so his money values were just so different as he was earning a good wage and living within his means. Me, I've never paid more than £1 for a POT of tea and I'd expect two people to be able to be sated with that one pot too.

Enough of my cheapness....it's not quite the quality I'd hoped it would be! So, my mother in law (the other Mrs H) got me all fired up and enthusiastic and I already had ideas in my mind of items I could make to a good standard. But that's the thing about little old OCD me. I understand that handmade items have a certain 'charm' about them and if they're too perfect people question whether they have been handmade. But wonky seams.....uh uh, not for me thank you. Patterned fabrics that don't match up...nope, shoddy workmanship...you can keep it. So I'm happy to aim for the luxury market as I know that I have such high standards I'd be able to satisfy that couture quality of goods. It just means that the 'seconds' that someone else would probably say was ok and extra 'charming' end up going to my friends and family or being re distributed into my life. Or cut up and the innards being put back into other items as in the case of the 'four little satin purses' (Let us not dwell on these things...they're not pretty!).

On the way back from Mr&Mrs H (Snr)'s house we stopped off at my mums to break up the 6 hour drive. To you Americans reading, 6 hours might be nothing...but for a girl who can't go 45 mins without needing to stop for the 'services'....6 hours is a long way!

My mum lives in Luton which is quite near to London (22 minutes on the train as they keep trying to publicise!) and has a thriving fabrics trade. There's an area of town called Bury Park and when I was growing up it was always known as the asian area as the communities were sort of split into different areas. Nowadays everyone just lives everywhere, but back then families and cultures stuck together. I remember going down the main street and shop after shop had the sari fabric flowing from rails on the streets in front of the store fronts and it was like some elaborate parade of colours. Anyway, I digress....Now my mum being the kind of lady she is always knows someone who knows someone who knows someone. And it just so happened that she knew someone directly who had a stall full of end of line factory rolls of fabric. I guess he just goes in and buys whatever they have left at the end of production and then sells it on cheaply. This fabric was....wait for it....£1 a metre! And good quality heavy décor weight too! I bought myself 35 metres of it just to support the local commerce......oh and to get myself a whole stack of fabric!

They had some gorgeous silks (yes...£1 a metre...pure silk), satins, canvas, tweeds, woven doodgimaflips and everything. No fashionably printed cottons but never mind....I can get those elsewhere.

The car was properly weighted down on our way home as mum had been to another of her 'contacts' and emptied out his warehouse of fabric he had left over too! She hadn't done this for me...don't go thinking 'awww what a selfless lady'....she is just as terrible for coveting fabric as I am and I have learnt at the side of her how to differentiate between the qualities of fabric and the values of materials. Anyway, she was very selfless though as she let me go through ALL of her stash and take out what I wanted with no discouragement at all even though I made off with some true gems!

Gosh, I do rattle on, don't I? So the long and short of it is that I returned home with tons of inspiration and enthusiasm, far too much fabric and a very weary husband. Apparently 35 metres of décor weight fabric is heavy...who knew?!

Whilst we had the break during Easter without any of our childrens/youth clubs I took advantage and got sewing with little delay and have posted all of the pics on my facebook page. I would post them here but I'm sure you've seen them all already and are pretty fed up of them by now. If not then click on Handmade By Mrs H to go to my page and click like!

This week though, I surpassed myself and made a bag I was so pleased with I almost didn't send it to the intended recipient! How naughty is that?! Anyway, it's a luscious bow bag (the designers name not mine!) from Robert Kaufman and super lush!


Look at that bow!! I've made it from décor weight fabric and it's pretty chunky/heavy. I don't think I'll use any interfacing in the bow points next time.



The lining is a gorgeous grass green and has a zipped pocket that I added to the pattern...the original had no pockets! What's the point of a bag with no pockets?! Anyway, I managed to sew the zip in upside down so the zipper will always be in the opposite place to where you think it will be....good job this wasn't for sale! I think the next one I make I'll add a couple of slip pockets in too on the other side. I also need to get me some white tape for my labels as pink doesn't go with every colour I've finally realised!



The bag also has two side pockets one on each side which I wasn't going to do on any future bags but they did add stability and detail and as Dus said, if you're going to charge £80 for a bag, you need added value!

So there we are, I'm spending all of my 'working hours' (9am - 4pm cos of all the clubs) sewing and hoping to have enough stock to do some craft fairs before Christmas. I'll still do the Christmas one with the other Mrs H which will be the main one but it'd be nice to get some practise in first!

I'm on the hunt for craft fair tips though..how many items to take, how to display them, what to take etc so if you have any or even go to any craft fairs and are able to take sneaky pics of tables set up etc....I'd be ever so grateful! :D

Uh oh....time for Kidz Club!
xx

Gosh, that's such an American phrase...I hope I'm not too terribly British to use it! (Imagine saying that in your head like some really, really posho British person rather than me with my common British accent). Anyway, we've barely started and I'm rambling on! See, I wonder why anyone bothers to read, but read you do, so write I will.

So, last time we spoke Dusband and I were preparing to jet off to visit our new nephew among a million other family members! Well we went, we drove an average of two hours a day for the total time we were away and came back utterly shattered! On the plus side, we got to see my mum and step dad, Dus's dad and step mum, Dus' sister, her husband and 3...no wait...4 children (the baby was so quiet and well behaved I almost forgot him!), Granny, my BEFF Evey & her fiancé Ernie and our lovely friend Emma...some of you might know her as F-R-O-G or fruitcake though.

So all in all, a good time was had by all! The gifts were well received by the older children and the parents of the one who could only drool.....although he didn't cry so I'm pretty certain that by drooling he was saying, wow, those are amazing gifts, I can't wait to be burped on those cloths. Or something similar!

For one of the nights in between leaving Dus' dad and before reaching my mum's (on the way back) we wanted to book into a hotel near my BEFF (Best English Friend Forever - I have so many best friends, it's safer to categorise them!) so that we could go and see her in the evening and then our friend Emma in the morning (She's not my best anything yet....am still pondering a title as I'm running out.....although she does have curly hair.....Best Curly Haired Friend Forever - BCHFF doesn't quite have the same ring to it!)
Anyway....cut to the chase Samantha! So we were kind of leaving it til the night before to book a hotel cos we just couldn't decide. We've had so many instances of booking somewhere and you pay so much and it's always a disappointment so we were putting it off a bit. But one morning at Dus' dad's house when I woke up at around 5am...as you do, I was searching lastminute.com (I'm not advertising them, I'm giving you the COLD, HARD FACTS!).
Anyway, so they had this 'secret' hotel in the area we wanted to stay in for only £49....yes my friends, that's cheaper than a regular priced budget hotel!

It doesn't tell you the actual name of the hotel, or the actual location but it does tell you the facilities and some key phrases....so me fancying myself as a bit of a Samanthock Holmes (you know, I'm not totally sure you can merge Samantha with Sherlock....) I typed these phrases into google and it came up with quite a nice 4* country house hotel.

I waited til a reasonable hour to wake Dus up with a bit of sensitive, gentle prodding....ok, maybe it was more like a sharp poke in the ribs! I showed him what I had 'deduced' and we booked it. Once we'd booked it we received an email with the name of the hotel in it, and to our glee I'd been right and it was this £99 a night hotel! Hoooorah!

When we actually came to stay in the hotel, we found the stone gates from the country lane and pulled into what looked like a country park and followed the winding drive up and around the corner and BAM.....wow! What a vista! Oh my goodness, I didn't feel worthy in my jeans and converse (fake, pink)!!

The staff were lovely though and didn't make us feel unworthy so that's the main thing...it was a lovely hotel and the proportions of the room made it feel really stately and special...what a treat!

Anyway, so we got home...urm, I can't remember how long ago now..but we've had some time at home relaxing and enjoying the schools still being off. I think when you spend 3 evenings a week out of the house, you kind of forget what it's like to have your evenings to yourself. Being able to finish working then go down and potter around the house, cook tea, do the washing up...all luxurious things like that that you kind of forget!

We're back to normal sort of this week though with both children's and youth starting back and Bible study beginning again next week and I'm glad really. Much longer of having evenings off and I'm not sure we'd want to go back! It's been a struggle a little bit with feeling negative towards those who don't see they should do any more than just turn up on a Sunday, so Dus and I have been careful trying to nip those negative thoughts in the bud! (I'm never sure if that's butt or bud so if it's wrong, just pretend I got it right!).

This last few months have been really sucessful for the Dusband and he's got so much work on that he's started looking for an apprentice or a freelancer. I think to begin with he just wanted someone to subcontract to, but being in the area we are, I thought it might help the community if he were to look for someone who needs a helping hand or a step up and help them to train and do some work and then eventually go on to set up on their own. I think it's more worthwhile to empower someone to go on to be a success than just to fill a space!

Anyway, so when we got back Dus had to work pretty much all the hours he could to catch up, firstly on finances as we don't get paid holidays like regular employed people and secondly on work that his clients were needing done.

It has been fruitful though as this week we found ourselves in the position of having enough for the bills, rent & food etc but having enough left over comfortably to go and replace my poor old decrepit antique laptop. I am so thankful to God that He has provided for us all this time since we moved to Wales, but that He is not only providing for our needs now, but also our wants and we are being blessed in abundance financially. If things keep going the way they are and we remain a bit tight fisted with our spending, then hopefully we can start saving for a house deposit so that we can actually move to Cwmaman like we wanted to last year!

I know it sounds a bit corny and a bit cheesy and a bit God channel, but it's all down to faithfully tithing. For a while, we were just giving a set amount every week, a token amount I suppose. We thought that we couldn't really afford to give a full 10% of everything we had in because we didn't have enough coming in to start with, let alone only having 90% of what was coming in.

But about a year ago now, we decided that actually, we were fed up of having meagre incomings and we would go 'Biblical' with our tithing and calculated our earnings accurately every week. Since then we've given 10% before tax of our earnings or a little more to round it up as well as been generous with gifts as and when we felt prompted. And, well, I know I sound like a commercial now, but we have seen such a dramatic change in our circumstances in the last 6 months it's unreal. If anyone said to me now, I can't afford to give the first 10% of my earnings, I'd question whether we can afford not to.

And that is the Biblical truth is that you give the first, the best, before anything has been divided and taken out. You give the first of your earnings, your assests, your skills and abilities to God...the rest will take care of itself.

At the beginning of April I became not only totally debt free, but free from the worry of my past too. I suppose while I always had those debts hanging over me, I always worried that the ex would be able to find me and make life as bad for me as it was before, but now it's over and I feel as though it's been lifted from me.

Gosh, isn't life good?!

Anyway, so now I have a new laptop and I've named him Clud....which I wasn't intending to, it just sort of slipped out and it's not the sort of thing you can take back really...it's the kind of name that sticks!

We also bought a new patio set, table, chairs, parasol etc for Easter weekend but it's been far too windy since to actually enjoy them! I hope we have a good summer!!

I was going to continue on to tell you about my Handmade by Mrs H efforts, but I might start a new post as I'm sure I've rambled on long enough by now and half of you have gone to sleep already and the other half turned off at the God stuff and are now thinking...weirdo religious nut!
Anyway....tarraaa xx