#Monday Moodboard - Flowers Really Do Have Powers

Valentines day, Mother's Day and Daffodils being prolific this time of the year has meant a good show of flowers in the house for a couple of months now. They really brighten up the home and lift my mood just looking at them, with this in mind I thought I'd share them with you too.

Happy Monday xxx

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I Love Chilli, Do You?

My chilli plant has decided to go mad and is producing lovely fruit as well as going into flower. The flowers are really pretty, a simple star shape with white delicate petals.  I've dried some of the pods and plan to use both fresh and dried to make a pepper sauce and chilli jam.

I love eating chilli, it makes me feel vitalised and seems to perk up my taste buds. With this in mind I decided to have a bit of a root around on the Internet for some chilli facts.  So, did you know that.....

1. Chillies are packed full of vitamin A, a great antioxidant for giving a boost to the immune system.

2. Fresh chillies are packed with vitamin C, in fact twice the amount found in citrus fruits.

3. Adding some dried chilli pods to your bird seed will deter squirrels stealing from the bird table but will have no affect on birds as they have a different nervous system.

4. Capsaicin is the active irritant in chillies that causes the burning sensation in the mouth, this causes us no harm but tricks the body in to releasing endorphins which cause the body to feel pleasure leading some to believe chilli has addictive qualities.

5. As a general rule of thumb, the smaller and thinner the chilli the hotter it will be.

6. There were many different opinions on what is the hottest chilli, however the general consensus seems to be the Trinidad Scorpion 'Butch T', this measures a staggering 1,463,700 on the Scoville heat scale.

For more info about chillies take a look at the websites below.

World of Chillies

Chillie Galore

Scoville Heat Scale

If anyone has any chilli recipes they'd be willing to share I'd love to see them, feel free to add a link and share the chilli love! Xxx


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#Monday Moodboard - My Week in Food

I was bought a stand mixer for Christmas and have been bitten by the baking bug, meringues, bread, cakes, shortbread and pastry have all been whipped up in half the time. Hence why of late my blog has been featuring more cooking than crafting. I really must get back to making rather than just baking.

I've also developed an addiction to bruschetta, does anyone else go through phases with food? At the moment I could eat bruschetta 7 days a week.

Have a fabulous week.

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Make, Do, Sew - It's my 1st Anniversary

It's official, I've been blogging for one whole year with this passing week seeing Make, Do, Sew's first anniversary.  What better time to reflect on what I have learnt so far.

I started blogging accidentally. I returned to my lecturing job from maternity leave and was in charge of teaching a group of fashion promotion students, not a problem usually. However I soon realised I was out of touch, they were discussing Tumblr, Blogger, Vimeo and Twitter, 'what are they talking about?' I thought and more importantly 'I need to learn about this stuff if I am to keep up with them'.

One of the students initially showed me Tumblr, this seemed straight forward enough, post images, share images, like images, follow, etc.  This then led to me opening up a blogger account and posting my first ever comment:

"This is my first attempt at blogging, I am not sure how this blog will evolve but I am going to enjoy learning the ropes".

This first tentative step led to my blog growing and evolving, I've have met so many lovely people and learnt so much.  So here are my 'lessons learnt' so far.

Frequency - only post as often as your lifestyle allows you. I aim for 2-4 posts a week.  Blogging for me is a hobby, I don't want it to become a chore, it should be fun!

Content - what is your blog about, craft, cooking, fashion?  Mine is an eclectic mix lending itself to the 'lifestyle' genre.  This enables me to blog about a variety of subjects that interest me.

Design - It took me a while to find my feet, I changed the layout, name, fonts, images and colour scheme numerous times before I settled on my current design. I'm sure it will continue to morph and evolve just as we all do in life.

Writing - my blogging 'voice' is still developing, initially I felt very self conscious when writing but as my confidence has grown so has my narrative.  I try to make sure that my posts are clear and concise and reflect me and not a pseudo persona.  I think it's vital for a blog to have integrity.

Links and credits - it's always important to give credit where it's due, if I use an image, recipe or idea from another website or book I always link or credit my source.  Not only is it professional but it's polite too. Most are happy to share freely but a quick email asking permission is sometimes requested.

Comments - in order to grow and improve it's always good to read and comment on other blogs.  I love it when people comment, it's such a compliment and really appreciated, it's nice to give those positive feelings to others by commenting back, even if your comment is just to say 'I really liked that'.  I try to put time aside each week for reading others work and always comment on what I've read.

Get involved and join in - being a member of Pip Lincolnes blog school, having guest bloggers, being a guest blogger and joining in Craft Blog UK's (CBUK) web chats have been an inspiration and a great source for learning new stuff whether it be technical info, up and coming events, link ups, post ideas or simply meeting other bloggers, getting involved is a must.

My blog is not a business it's a fun hobby that I utilise in many ways, it's a creative endeavour, it keeps me challenged, it is used as a teaching tool at work, it's a networking device and most of all it gives me satisfaction.  If this blog one day opens up a new career path or creative opportunity I would be over the moon, but for now I'm happy with what I have, a simple blog called Make, Do, Sew (Ahem! name drop!).

P.S. Yes, I really did make that cake, sad I know!

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#Monday Moodboard- Pale and Interesting

Signs of spring are popping up everywhere and this month the clocks go forward meaning lighter mornings and nights. I love this time of year, it makes me feel full of optimism and with longer lighter days taking photographs for my blog just got a whole lot easier. It means I can ease up on the photo editing and go a bit more 'au natural'.

My moodboard today was a bit of a tonal exploration, we're thinking about decorating this year and a tonal pale colour palette of neutral whites and greys with the occasional flash of colour seems to be on the cards.

Anyways, have a happy week whatever you're up to.

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Crochet and knitting – does size matter? Guest post.

Imagine my excitement when Lou bravely asked me to pen (or should it be type?) a guest post for Make, Do, Sew! I generally blog about anything and everything handmade, mostly about crochet, my current go-to craft. So I volunteered to cover something crafty, to fit in with ‘Make’, and have been musing on what to talk about, and also ask you about, dear reader.

Since I started knitting and crocheting last April I’ve always used a ‘standard’ size of hooks or needles, between 3mm and 5mm. But one day I was flicking through my copy of Inside Crochet and something potentially very exciting flashed in front of my eyes.

This thing was a pattern for a bag (I have a serious weakness for bags) made from t-shirt fabric yarn, with a 10mm crochet hook!! I was immediately hooked (please pardon the pun) and ordered the yarn (called Zpagetti from a company called Hoooked – yes there are three Os) and a shiny new bejewelled hook.

It took a few minutes to get used to wielding a hook so much bigger than I’m used to, and the yarn was less forgiving than a standard DK, but once I got the hang of it, there was no stopping me! What was really great for an impatient being like me, was the speed that the bag took shape. And once the bag shape became more apparent, I saw that it wouldn’t even need lining – bonus!

Completing the pattern made me think about what else I could make with a t-shirt fabric yarn. I trawled online and found some similar yarn, called Hoopla, this time in two fabulously bright colours.

I felt that my bag needed some embellishment, so followed an Attic24 pattern to hook up an anything-but ‘teeny tiny star’. With a few chain stitches to create a loop over a fuchsia button at the star’s centre, the bag was properly finished!

A yarn like Zpagetti gives anything you create a real feeling of sturdiness – that you’ve made something that’s built to last. The bag stands up beautifully, and is perfect for transporting new knitting and crochet projects to my weekly craft group.

And that project has made me think that maybe size does matter when it comes to crafting. I’ve now started knitting a Suzie Johnson-designed pyjama case for my niece, and this time I’ve gone even bigger – size 12mm needles! Again, it’s perfect when you’re in the mood to make something quickly – which such chunky yarn (I’m using Rowan Big Wool) and fat needles, it’s coming together at a rate of knots.

So, although generally my first instinct would be to craft with a ‘standard-size’ hook or needles, I would fish out something a lot bigger if I needed to make an emergency present, or wanted to turn a doily pattern into a floor mat (don’t think I haven’t already considered doing that!).

What size hooks or needles do you usually use? Have you thought about super-sizing your crafts?

You can follow my ramblings and join in my bespectacled conversations on my blog, I’d love to hear from you! And thank you so much for having me over here, Lou!

Sarah x

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Guest Blogger - Home to Roost

I'd like to introduce my third guest blogger Sarah Johnstone, Sarah writes a great blog called 'Home to Roost'. She lives in the UK and shares her love of her hometown, crafty makes and other day to day adventures on her blog.

I have long admired Sarah's technical blogging skills, I've seen her blog grow and morph through a number of stages each looking great, but with each change the overall design and layout just gets better and better.

Sarah has written a fantastic guest post discussing her love of crochet, check out her other crochet work on her blog and you will see just how talented she is, I really love the cupids arrow she made for valentines day!

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