Come on over.

Hello all, just a quick post to say, "Hey come on over to where my new blog is"
/http://maisyleedesigns.blogspot.co.uk/
I am having a give away over there, so please come and refollow me over there, and enter your name on the give away page.

Hope you all had a marvelous April.

Love and choc chips
Donna x

Good bye Dotty.

Hello everyone, i hope you are all having a wonderful April, despite the pouring rain we having at the moment.

This will be the last post in this blog, and i just wanted to say thank you to my followers, and to let you know i am now starting to post on my new blog http://maisyleedesigns.blogspot.co.uk/
Please come on over and follow me over there, and i promise i will keep it updated more than this one.I will also be having a give away next Month so please keep an eye out for it.

I am starting so many new beginnings this Month, and the new blog is just one of them. I will explain more over the next few weeks.
So for bye for now, and i hope to see you in my new blog space.

Lots of Love and Luck

Donna x x x
                                         

Irish Bodhrun

The Ireland/ St Patricks day challenge over on the Folksy forum was so much fun to do. I don't know if you have seen how some of the Bodhrun's are decorated? But they are always full of tradition, and heritage. These drums inspired me to make this, hand embroidered hoop. The little musical notes are pewter in colour, but i love how it looks Gold in the last photo. After all isn't there  lot's of pots of it hidden all over Ireland by lots of little Leprchuans.
One year when i was really little, My Uncle Frank told me that one of those pots of gold was in my Grans garden. I spent hours and hours looking for it. There was one little coin he left in the garden that i found, and i got all excited because i thought i was close. Little did i know it was a ploy to keep me quite all day long. He did give me some sweets and a Harmonica, and some chocolate coins to keep me happy. But i never did find that pot of gold, but maybe you will though. So lots of love and luck to ya. But I get first dibs!


I love how one theme can bring out so many different things. Some of the things people made, were featured on is the front page of Folksy today, which is always a good thing for any seller, since it can bring lots of traffic to your shop.  Heres the front page.http://folksy.com/  All the entires were lovely and so unique, they al can be seen on the lovely Jo saras Pinterest board http://pinterest.com/JoSara/folksy-monthly-theme-challenge/
Hope every one has a lovely St Paddy's day tomorrow.

Love and Luck Donna Marie
x

Feet behind the name?

There is a thread over on the Folksy forum, "A face behind the name" I have no clue how to post a picture over there unless it is a linked back to Folksy, so thought i would share on my blog instead.

So i thought i would start off by showing you my feet, i know a little silly right? :) But i'm working up to posting a pic of myself.

  This is my favourite skirt at the moment, it's from Laura Ashley and i bought it in the January sales for £18, it was a third of the original price, and the gorgeous foot wear were my xmas pressie from the son. I know they look silly but they are the comfiest slippers i have ever worn. I kind of wish i could wear them outside, but i can't unless i want to look like a right nutter. So you will be pleased to know i do change them when i leave the house.

 This is my sense humour. I took this photo because i thought it looked like Giant blue boobs with paper nipple tassel's. My hubby on the other hand thinks I'm insane, and i have no idea why.

My favourite drink is a cappuccino. Which i love to share with people i love, i could go for a cappucino over a glass of wine any day, i know boring right.

 Morticia Addams is my awe inspiring woman. She had her own style, didn't care what others thought of her, and she was always being artistic and crafty, she had a great sense of humour, and well i was goth for a little while as a teenager, but i just like to call it my Morticia phase.

And well here is my mush, and this is all my family behind me, i live a fair bit away from my family, so i have 2 of these hug frames with photos of everyone i love in them.
I turn 38 this year, and i love sci fi, and 70's horror films.
 I married a geek and he married a geek too, we then gave birth to a  geek.
My dad once said i remind him of Pheobe from Friends, i wasn't too sure if i was glad or mad for that one, since well she is a little more than whacky. :)

So i think thats about it all covered. The face and a bit of a peek into the face behind Maisy Lee Designs.

Love and silly slippers
Donna x

Laura Ashley blues, Ooh and purples too.

I went into my local Laura Ashley in town, and fell in love with all the different shades of blues, and purples they have in store right now. This is my fav blue in there at the moment, i just love this skirt, www.lauraashley.com

Aren't the colours and print  just beautiful.

So while i was walking around fondling the fabrics, it got me thinking about sewing a picture using only blue and purple threads. The woman in there must of thought at  one point that i was stalking her, i went in there three times one week but i was gathering inspiration. :)

So i set about it, and this is what i came up with. This is just my sample, since well the letters are a little more than wobbly, and i haven't quite learnt how to finish the corners off when stretching fabric over a canvas.

     Each heart is a different shade of blue or purple, and well i love how one trip to my Fav shop could turn into something i love.

 See here is the back and it looks rather messy, and the corners aren't to good either. But I'm sure with practise i will get so much better at this.

       In other news, i am working on a new blog. I have loved this blog and when i was ill it was my escape. I would come on here and waffle on about my passion for fabrics, threads, buttons, baking, or what ever else would take my fancy.
 I once reread it all the way through, with a few glasses of wine and it made me smile to think how much i have changed  from when i started this blog.
 I don't really want to say good bye to it, but i have too. I want to have business cards made up and i know it looks more professional to have the same shop name, email, and blog name. So i will be saying good bye to this one on the 2nd of April. And will be sharing my new one with the World wide web. www.maisyleedesigns.blogspot.com   Still blank for now. :)
I will have two give aways when i start my new blog, one for U.K peeps and one for my U.S.A/ Canadian friends. I decided that i will start shipping over seas in April, so a give away seemed a good way to see how much it will cost and how long it takes to get where it's suppose too.

I will still update on here until April, Dotty about sewing is where my dreams began, But Maisy lee designs is where i will make it happen. :)

I hope your all having a Magic March.
All  my Love and Luck
Donna Marie

      

Pattern of life.

I am fabric and pattern loving geek and  here are a few of the things i have been upto lately.

 This was my Welsh folksy challenge, it's a shame the photo doesn't show how bright the colours are, because the orange DMC thread i used is my favourite colour at the moment. I also may have to take another photo because it really isn't as wobbly as it looks :) I really enjoyed making it, i have no idea  why but every time i stitched it i sang "you make me feel so young, you make me feel like spring has sprung" Over and over again i might add, because that's the only part of the song i know.
Cariad means "Love"  in Wales.

 This is my sugar skull pin cushion, with pins in the eyes, because I'm evil like that :) i will do a few more of these, but in lots of different colours. I will tweak them a bit, and maybe give them all Physco names.

Pattern on pattern? I suppose this top doesn't go with this skirt, but well i don't care lol. I am a pattern loving girl and i usually look like nothing matches, but even i wasn't sure about this. But when i love 2 things as much as this top and skirt i suppose it was only a matter of time before they clashed :)

At the moment i am working on the Irish Folksy challenge, i am loving it. I will mainly be listening to "The Coors", "Thin Lizzy and "the Cheiftains" to get that Irish blood in me flowing and creating.

I hope every one is having a Marvelous March!

Love and Luck
Donna Marie x

It's like Prozac.

I don't think i have ever talked about my health on here, and i won't get into the details of how long, or how ill i have been.
But i wanted to say my health was the reason i started crafting again. I was house bound and bored out of my head, and it all started from one Cross stitcher magazine i bought years ago. When your stuck in for days on end due to pain, fatigue and feeling like poop! Making and crafting really helps to take your mind off it all, it's some thing that can be controlled. I can not control the pain, but i can control the stitches :)
And well when i look at the cuteness of this fabric that i used for this girls bag i can't help but think "Yeah how bloody cute is that, and it helps brings a smile to my face, just look at that cute little frog peeking out from the inside of the bag.

Here is my Apple house wall hanging, where a little fairy lives inside and she loves to bring colour to the world through her bright and cheery garden and Rainbow coloured fence.
                                              
                                               
So this is the reason why i craft, it is like my Prozac, it helps me get through the day, it  helps make me happy with no nasty side effects, other than cotton every where. :) Oh and the hubby just kicked a tub of buttons i left on the floor. with lid off so now there every where too ;)

I hope what ever you do today, you get to do atleast one thing that makes you happy.

Peace and love Donna x x x