In the spirit of learning new skills I decided to make the Amy Butler Weekender Travel Bag.

I bought the pattern and materials from u-handbag.com a fantastic site with an equally fantastic blog by Lisa Lam (very inspiring with lots of great tutorials).  I had some sale Ian Mankin Linen stashed away and I bought some Amy Butler fabric for the lining.  It has taken me about two days to make with a pretty large gap between whilst I hunted everywhere for a closed 30 inch zip (heavy weight).  In the end I gave up and had to buy and open-ended one but it has still worked. 

It was fun but putting the lining in was a bit of a pain so I am going to reward myself with a coffee and cake – yum!

As I write this F is watching The Goodies ‘Kung Fu Kapers’ where Bill Oddie reveals he is a master of the ancient Lancashire martial art of Ecky-Thump.  I am going to have to try and sneak this away.  It is his favourite and he was a very good boy all morning so I said he could watch it but as he has jumping around the living room wielding an invisible black pudding whilst doing kung-fu moves.  It really isn’t a good viewing choice for a small boy, but goodness it’s funny!

OK, I know in my first blog I complained about not liking decorating and making Roman Blinds, I thought I would put this into context.  

I am on my third house renovation and over the years priorities have changed. Although I do love to change a space into something new and exciting I find now that I have two small children decorating is quite difficult to do. It doesn’t help that our current home was/is a pretty extensive renovation.  Think ‘Grand Designs’ on a slightly smaller scale with that lovely moment when the clients stand in the empty shell of their house with only the outside walls intact – that was us after every internal wall and joist was removed (also think going over budget, falling out with the builders, having a baby in the middle of the build etc, etc).  Having said that I am used to living with dust and builders and I love a finished room, I love the details that bring everything together.  

Over the years M and I have found a style that suits us both.  It always includes wooden floors, light walls and a mixture of old and new furniture (probably a little more old than M would like as I have some large pieces made by my family that I refuse to part with).  We have quite a lot of Scandinavian design in our house (mostly Arne Jacobson) and this extends to the blinds, all of which are in Marimekko fabrics.  I love Marimekko.  I love bright colours and patterns next to pale greys and green-white walls.  I am currently making blinds for my sister in one of my favorite designs, Lumimarja by Erja Hirvi.

I think this is why I love making the linen cats so much, pale linen next to bright cotton prints…hummmm…lovely.