Opinions please

I have to confess to loving my Traffic Jam bunting. It was one of those designs that worked just as I'd imagined and I enjoy making it. I don't, however, particularly enjoy batch cutting and sewing, and the vehicles are pretty fiddly given the number of windows. So, I've been trying to rejig the pattern to reduce the amount of cutting and sewing involved but I wonder if the quality or design is suffering because of this. Could you give me your opinions please?

This is the bus as I currently make it:

and these is my proposed new design. Please bear in mind that I did this in about two minutes flat, so the zigzagging would be more even:

Thanks for your help!

Edit:

OK, following all your really helpful comments, here's my compromise which I think might do the job. I've taken on Martina's suggestion of the strip of felt under the zigzag and next time I cut some bus shapes, I will take on board the comments from my big sister about making the bus "chubbier":

Tagged

I've been "tagged" by Amanda from KitschyCoo (just the coolest kids' clothes around) and so I have to fill in these lists of eight things and then tag another eight bloggers. I'll happily do the list, but I don't really read that many blogs, so I'm afraid I won't be passing it on. Here goes:

Eight things I am looking forward to.....

1. Having the children at home for half-term next week.

2. The children going back to school after half-term (see – I’m thinking ahead).

3. Thai take-away from the van for supper tonight.

4. The philadelphus (mock orange) on the drive coming into bloom. The most divine smell on earth. First bud spotted today.

5. Going to the Heathfield show tomorrow. Pigs and tractors. Yay! (such a country girl).

6. A dry summer (ha!)

7. My lovely friend Penelope coming to stay in July. I miss her and her beautiful family.

8. Going to see Joseph with my family next Saturday. Reminds me of driving to family holidays in the 70s – no car stereo, just three girls singing the entire musical from the back seat…..how our parents must have loved it….

Eight things I did yesterday...

1. Made a pitiful attempt to clear up my sewing stuff.

2. Started making a mobile version of my traffic jam bunting.

3. Pretended that using a foot pump to pump up car tyres and bike tyres was as good as a work-out. Yeah, right.

4. Ordered 40 bags of horse manure for the garden.

5. Queued with the children for delicious ice-cream at our village’s new sweet shop. Proper strawberry ice-cream that tasted of strawberries. Yum!

6. Spent two hours trying to find a babysitter.

7. Went to the Charlston Festival to see David Lodge speak. Felt very young compared to most of the audience. I’m not a great fan, to be honest, but it was good to do something cultural.

8. Got lost on the way to and the way back from Charlston, but it was such a beautiful evening – East Sussex lanes and the Downs at their best – that it didn’t matter. Must get a new map that WORKS! (or practice map reading).

Eight things I wish I could do....

1. Be tidy (or at least tidier). What I wouldn’t give to have Mary Poppins’ finger-clicking skills.

2. Control my hair. I think my sisters & I keep Frizz-Ease in business in this country. Any other recommendations?

3. Raise one eyebrow. My younger sister can do this brilliantly. She is a barrister and uses her eyebrow lifting to very good effect, I am told. I am very jealous and have spent years practicing, but it’s no good. I just can’t do it.

4. Recognise different birdsong. I think I’m a bit dyslexic about this. Currently cuckoo, owl and pheasant are about my limit.

5. Somehow clone each of my children so that they can continue to grow, but I could also have them stay just as they are right now, aged 2, 5 and 8.

6. Learn to live by the maxim “Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today.” I am a terrible prevaricator.

7. Successfully persuade my children that not EVERYONE needs a Nintendo Wii, Playstation, PSP or whatever the current favourite is. This is a losing battle, I know.

8. Have lunch like this every day – eggs Benedict made with bantams eggs.

Eight shows I watch....

1. Seinfeld. Probably the best sitcom EVER made.

2. Eastenders. What a terrible admission. Sorry.

3. Location, location, location. Middle class property porn.

4. ER

5. Desperate Housewives.

Er… that’s it. Does radio count?

6. The Archers

7. Woman’s Hour

8. Open Book

The traffic these days....

Look at all the vehicles I've been cutting out today, queueing up to be made into bunting and mobiles. Now think about all the button wheels I have to sew on...... toot, toot!

Taking over my life

More of my current obsession - bunting. I just can't help it, I love it. I love creating it in my mind, I love sewing it, I love seeing it hanging in my kitchen.

I still think the traffic jam is my favourite, but this comes a very, very close second. It just makes me feel happy - lovely cakes without the guilt of eating them! And those lovely shiny button cherries. I've always been a push-over for gooey fluorescent glacé cherries, and the buttons are just like them.

Can I take this opportunity to apologize to my husband though: he waits patiently for months for a button to be sewn on his shirt (and no, he really can't do it himself!) and I keep putting it off, but give me a pile of bunting and my lovely tin of shiny buttons, and I can't get my sewing box out quickly enough. Maybe he just has the wrong sort of buttons on his shirts?

Bunting, bunting, bunting

Those of you who know me will already be aware that I love bunting. Directions to my house usually end with the advice "Ours is the only house in the street with bunting". The thing is, I put it up for a special occasion and then it doesn't seem worth taking it down, because after all there'll be another birthday along soon, or a party or, well wouldn't you know it, it's Christmas and we'll need the bunting up then.....and now it's just grey winter and it would be too sad to take it down just when we need a bit of colour in our lives, and anyway it'll be the Little Helper's birthday next month. Before you know it it's been up for a year, and well, frankly, it just makes our house easier to find, and I'm rubbish at giving directions.

So, I've had this idea in my head for weeks for making bunting with a difference. I've spent ages trying to figure out if it would work, then designing patterns, cutting out, finding the time to make it and finally putting it all together today surrounded by three over-excited children, all of whom, by the way, covet this for their bedrooms.

I'm really pleased with how it turned out - I love the colours and the buttons, the proportions seem right. I like the way the vehicles sway slightly with any movement or breeze like they're revving up at the lights. I've got so many more ideas along these lines, I just need more felt and buttons....