Tuesday 2 October 2012

Make and Craft Book Club Blog Tour

Welcome to my stop on the Make and Craft Book Club Blog Tour!


In conjunction with Make and Craft and Search Press I am giving away this lovely sewing book, Love to Sew: Hanging Hearts.

Love to Sew: Hanging Hearts by Rachael Rowe, published by Search Press
ISBN: 9781844487875
RRP Price: £7.99

Book Description



Make perfect hearts for your home, whether they are traditional, shabby chic, unusual or country style. Hang them from doors and dressers, in fact anywhere. They brighten up rooms and can also make perfect gifts for friends and relatives. This book shows how to make a gorgeous selection of hearts, with fun projects, clear instructions and easy to use templates. If you love to sew, you will love the designs and ideas presented here. 

This book represents the first in a new series of titles aimed at anyone who loves to sew. Making the most of the growing trend in home sewing, it offers all those who sew and stitch fresh, innovative ideas for on-trend projects and gifts. The subject of this book is 'hanging hearts' - highly popular, contemporary items that make perfect gifts for weddings, christenings and Valentine's day, as well as lovely little decorative items that can be hung from doors, dressers, wardrobes and doors around the home. Including both simple hand and machine stitching, this book offers the reader advice on the basic techniques and materials needed, plus twenty gorgeous projects in a range of styles that includes shabby chic, vintage, French country style, traditional and simply fun! There's a beautiful rustic wreath decorated in little fabric hearts, a delightful string of hearts, and numerous individual hearts made from various fabrics and felt and decorated with ric rac, ribbons, buttons and bows. All the instructions are accompanied by clear, step-by-step photographs, and full-size templates of all the hearts are provided. Ideal for beginners as well as more experienced stitchers, all the hearts are quick and easy to make and are ideal for using up scraps of fabric, odd buttons, left-over ribbon and all sorts of oddments found around the home.

  • 20 beautiful projects in a range of style, colours and fabrics
  • Includes basic techniques and materials, and the hearts themselves are very easy to make, making this book suitable for stitchers of all abilities
  • Hanging hearts are very popular and ‘on-trend’, as well as being a traditional symbol of love

This book is really clear to use with lovely pictures and great ideas. I have made similar hearts and attached them to the top of our headboard on our bed which we spritz with Molton Brown relaxing mist. You could stuff these with dried lavender along with wadding and place these in drawers to give a lovely scent.

Search Press and Make and Craft have secured free P&P when purchasing this book, just call Search Press on 01892 510850 quoting "Make and Craft Blog Tour".

To win this book just leave a comment on this post below and/or post a link on twitter linking to this post and include me @saraleighuk in the post so I can include you in the draw.


The winner will be drawn on Wednesday 10th October 2012 and the winner will be announced on this blog and contacted within 48 hours of the draw taking place.


Make & Craft Magazine


Make and Craft Magazine is a new craft magazine which is published monthly both in print and digitally. There are some great subscription offers available including 3 digital copies for £1 or 3 printed copies for £3. There's also a fab free gift for 12 or 24 UK subscriptions.


The digital subscription means that international crafters can read the magazine for no extra cost as it doesn't need to be shipped!


For further information on subscriptions and to join the Make and Craft forum go to www.makeandcraft.com


About Me

For those of you who are new to my blog, my name is Sara and I took up crafting properly at the end of last year (2011) when I realised I could make our wedding invitations for a fraction of the cost of stationers. I brought a craft magazine in December 2011 and have been hooked on crafting ever since, although I've always like making things. I live in Essex with my husband Lee and pygmy hedgehog Spike.

My favorite crafts are paper-crafts and card making, and sewing. My favorite sewing books have to be Cath Kidston's Make and Tilda's Sew Pretty Homestyle. I've not brought any crafting books about paper-crafting myself as yet but have plenty on my Christmas list! 


Last Christmas I got a sewing machine, my very own first adult sewing machine! It's purple and really nice and light weight so I can get it out easily and just put it on the dining table. 

I've made lots of random pieces including cafetiere cosies (the original one for my parents and then my friend at work asked me to make her one out of some Bambi material she had), washing up liquid bottle apron, door stops and a cover to go round the bottom of our hedgehogs cage to disguise all of the bits we keep under there for him.



My lovely purple sewing machine

My first make on my sewing machine - a cafetiere cosy for my parents

My second make - a Cath Kidston washing up liquid bottle apron
 One craft I would really like to try is knitting. My Nan use to knit all the time but I never picked it up, she did try and show me once and I did get those childrens kits but never got the hang of it. Watching knitting shows on Create and Craft has really made me want to try it, although I'm not sure my husband would be to happy with even more things round the house.

I also love baking and cooking and some of my recent cakes are shown below.
Cookie Monster Cupcakes - made for my sisters 21st Birthday
Superhero Cakes - made for my Dads Birthday - my first attempt at decorating cupcakes with fondant icing

Our wedding cake! Made by my Mum and I. We made the cakes together (bottom fruit, middle vanilla sponge, top tier chocolate) and Mum decorated it. I have a very clever Mum!


Thank you for stopping by and checking out my blog. Why not check out the next stop on the Make and Craft Blog Tour by stopping off at Cooking Cakes and Children.

Update: The draw took place on Wednesday and the winner was Sue (Eviesgran)! Thanks all those for entering

12 comments:

  1. I love knitting and cross stitch most, but adore seeing all the different crafty makes on this blog tour. Great fun and really inspiring!
    Give knitting a go - though I warn you, the stash does build very quickly!

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  2. Hi Sarah,I always enjoy finding out how people started in craft. Your story is a lovely one. I love your purple sewing machine and those cakes are amazing! You have lots of skills in a variety of crafts. Thank you for taking part in the Make and Craft Book Club blog tour. Cheerio, Katharine

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  3. Your crafty makes are lovely and I've enjoyed reading your blog. I too love doing anything crafty, sewing, knitting, crochet, card making and my latest craft is decoupage on terracotta plant pots and candles. Your give away is another crafty book I would love to win.

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  4. Hey Sarah. Nice to find your site. Will now keep up with you if you don't mind. :) Am enjoying the blog hop. Love checking out the new sites. I love hearts so this is a good book for me. They are so universal, don't you think?

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    1. Thank for checking out my blog. Yes hearts are so universal and go well for so many things.

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  5. I think you are well on the way to following in your Mum's footsteps! I love your purple sewing machine. You seem to have got the hang of it really well. Your decorated cakes are great too - I bet they went down really well :). This book does look like fun. As for knitting, you should definitely give it a go - it is portable and so can be taken with you (if that helps persuade?). Another great post. Thanks.

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    1. Thanks, found a Cath Kidston knitting kit which I have put on my Christmas list and had everything to made a stripey scarf (got to love Amazon wishlists!)

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  6. It's lovely to find all the blogs taking part in the blog tour! The book looks great.

    I think your wedding cake looks really professional! I love hearing your story about getting into crafts. Good luck with the knitting. I learnt to crochet this year and took some classes which really helped.

    Claire x

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  7. Hi Sara! Great blog! I love your cakes and your wedding cake is amazing! I too like making little sewed items and your washing up liquid bottle apron is really imaginative! I think the sewing book looks really interesting and I would love to win it! Helen

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  8. Love your sewing machine! Purple is a favourite colour of mine :) Great book as well! Hanging hearts are so pretty :)

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  9. Nice to meet you Sara! I love the purple sewing machine! I like sewing little things that are quick and easy!! This looks a great book

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  10. Love the makes on your website. The book looks great. The hearts look so pretty.

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Thank you for taking the time to comment, it's really appreciated.