Zippy Bags and a Swallow

 I made these little coin purses using this tutorial. I heart them! I can't help myself unzipping them all the time.
Here's a little show: (cue music)

Ta da! Cute, no?
And just because I can, and want you to see the awesome ribbon you can get on online (look at those tiny matroska dolls and the little blue whale!)

Also, because I have craft tourettes, I made a little swallow embroidery. This was heavily inspired by the amazing art show put on by the No Blood Spilt Art Collective. The show was all for charity and was mostly tattoo and alternative arts inspired.

It's not the neatest, and I definitely need to brush up on my fill stitches but at least its obvious what he is!
I have a craft fair booked for three weeks and am so nervous. What if nobody buys anything? What if someone is really mean about my creations in front of me?
Do you have any tips for this kind of thing? Also- what sells? I imagine a stall is different from my online shop. Please help me to choose the best things to sell in the commets below! Much appreciated!

Circus Tents Commission

I received a commission based on my previous felt balloon mobiles. The lady loves all things circus so she requested two types of tents, a round blue one and one square yellow one.
First, the blue:

 I embroidered little stars behind the curtains of the doors!
And the yellow:

I think they turned out pretty cute. The concept would never have occurred to me and that's why I love commissions. Combining two peoples visions can sometimes lead to far greater results than individual efforts. Now if I can only remember this when my DH tries to help with my projects.
As always I hope these give you a bit of inspiration to let your creativity out!

Little Crochet Delights

I taught myself how to crochet using Youtube videos about a year ago and I have found that I am happiest crocheting amigurumi (little animals). The word is Japanese and means small creature or anthropomorphic object.
The first is this robot that I made for my cousins son (his name is Tim). I got to try crochet spirals! I love em!

The next is a little bunny pattern I found online

These are my favourite! For some reason I always have white wool. But its also the nasty acrylic stuff. To make this fluffy look I took a stiff hairbrush that had lost the ends of its bristles and attacked the monkey. I think it is much better this way!

Their faces are felt and they are super soft!

I sent them as a set to my parents in law. I think they should always stay together, they'd be sad apart!

Hope these are a source of inspiration for your projects :)

Swirly Quilty Quilt Quilt

It's not my first quilt technically but it is only my second and the first I intend to keep.  I'm not sure if other people do this but I plan my next craft whilst busy completing another- so it feels like I've been mulling over this quilt for a long time!

 The top is just a disappearing 9 patch, which looks way more complicated than it actually is. I didn't get it perfect and there are some flaws but I'm OK with it and it's staying with me so I'm doubly chilled :).
Most of the colours were an eBay bundle of kona solid fat quarters and one grey shirt of my husbands. The binding is just plain dye sheeting that I bought on sale. The orange I've been hoarding for a project for me.

 I freehand embroidered the quilt sandwich which took a full weekend and I'm thinking next time I'd do it a bit less densely. I used grey thread on the Block side and orange thread in my bobbin for the orange cross side. It kind of highlights how little my machine likes free hand embroidery because the pulled and skipped stitches show up very clearly!

This is the "back" but I think I love it most. I'm deeply in love with orange at the moment and the crosses just spoke to me.

 Each cross was appliqued on before the quilting.

 I'm really happy with the binding because I cut, ironed, ironed and ironed some more to get it to be right. The corners are not beautiful but I intend on hand sewing them into daintier corners (when I feel like it- oh happy day for projects without a deadline!)

 Do you have a favourite quilt pattern that looks complicated but is easy for a beginner like me? I think I'm done with this variation for now but am thinking the quilting bug has taken hold.....