Not just tea towels but works of art!

I'm not known for my love of household chores so I have to admit that when I was offered the chance to review some tea towels by the lovely people at All Tea Towels initially I wasn't very interested. That was until I had a look at the website. These are not your ordinary supermarket tea towels. Oh no. These are works of art! Seriously. After much changing of minds I finally decided on these two..

This one because I really do like a nice cup of tea (or ten!)

and this one just because I thought it was really pretty

and they were just as lovely in real life (everything gets photographed on my washing line now!)

The tea towels are so much nicer than the boring ones I usually buy and you can tell the difference in quality too. These are 100% cotton and really thick and absorbent. They get softer the more you wash them too. I have washed mine already (I have 2 children under 5 so am always mopping up spills!) and they wash up really well. They were both really well made and have a nice loop for hanging them up at the top which is actually really useful. I was going to post a photo of me drying up with them but the shock might have been too much for anyone that knows me! The tea towels are only £6.50 each which is pretty good value and postage is free!! If you buy one for a present you can even have the tea towel sent direct with a free gift card. Hows that for service! Would make a great fun gift for a student who has moved out of home for the first time maybe!!

I couldn't resist showing you some of the other tea towels that I loved (that does make me sound old doesn't it!)

This one was so nearly my first choice!

This would make a fantastic wedding or anniversary present

and with London 2012 round the corner

Thanks All Tea Towels. I love my new tea towels.

Lots more lovely dresses

Thanks for the lovely response to my last post showing girls in Malawi wearing some of the pillowcase dresses we have made. It was so exciting seeing the photos and has really motivated me to do more. Today has been another lovely day. It started off with a dress in the post from the lovely Auriol who writes about all sorts of crafty things on the Groupon blog which you can find here. Auriol has very kindly featured the appeal on the blog. Her dress arrived in THE most gorgeous envelope (you can find out how to make these on her blog!!).

It was a very pretty pink and white dress with white ties. Gorgeous!

I was also delighted to meet Tricia when she drove over from Somerset to hand deliver me 31 dresses that her sewing group had made! A big thanks to Tricia for driving them over and to Bek from Oh Sew Lovely who organised the making of the dresses. Bek makes the most beautiful things. Check out the photos on her facebook page. I managed to squeeze in some photos of the dresses between the rain and look at how lovely they look.

The dresses are all made from upcycled pillowcases and each one has its own unique embellishment.

beautiful appliqued love hearts

Bows and buttons

butterflies

Felt flowers

 

Simply beautiful. I thought I would show you some lovely photos of Bek's sewing group hard at work!

Thanks guys. Amazing effort all round!

I was feeling like I needed to make some more dresses too so had a little shopping trip to Fabricland with Izzy. The staff are still miserable but its SOOOO cheap. Some lovely fabric at £2.99 a metre. Perfect for little dresses!

I couldn't decide on this one. I quite like it. Izzy loved it and my other half thinks it looks like an old ladies duvet cover! What do you think?

I also bought some bias binding, ribbon and ric rac at a lovely ribbon shop in Bristol

Remember my John Lewis fabric? I did actually get round to making a dress for Izzy. What do you think??

and finally I had quite a drastic hair cut today. I'm not sure I like it. Its very short for me. Want to have a look?

It will grow back I guess!!

This makes it all worthwhile

I was absolutely delighted to receive these pictures today. The first photos of our dresses being delivered to girls living at the Home of Hope Orphanage in Malawi. 50 dresses were taken over by a group of young people visiting the orphanage. I am hoping to get a first hand account of their trip soon to put on the blog but thought I would share these photos with you in the meantime

Beautiful girls wearing beautiful dresses! Thanks everyone. This is the reason we are making dresses. 


Please check out the website for the Home of Hope Orphanage if you are interested in finding out more about the fantastic work they do. It was founded and is still run by Rev. Chipeta an inspiring man now in his 80's! The orphanage is in Mchinji, Malawi, just next to the Zambian border and is the oldest private orphanage in Malawi run by Malawians. They care for over 600 orphans from all over Malawi, providing food, shelter and good quality education in a loving environment.  It looks like such an amazing place. I can't wait to find out more about the work they do.