New bags

I have listed these new bags in my etsy shop today.

I have had to make an extra red one as my daughter decided that she really needed one!
The retro Apple is my favourite and there is only one of these as I have no more fabric :(

This spotty one in stone is a classic and I have sold a lot of these in the past.

Time to put the kettle on and settle down with the new Cath Kidston catalogue which dropped through my letterbox this morning, and then maybe a quick bit of crochet before dinner!

British Summer Time!

Here in the UK the clocks went forward this weekend and the weather on Sunday was a beautiful start to British Summer time. The peacock butterfly above crawled out of it's hiding place in the shed and spread its wings open to bask in the sunshine.

Flowers that have been opening for the last couple of weeks glowed.

This great tit is the only bird that sat still for two seconds to have its photo taken, there was a lot of birdy business going on in our garden!

The potatoes went in down the allotment and more seeds were sown at home for beetroot, courgettes, melon, butternut squash and broad beans. The weather this week looks to be good so as well as sewing fabric I shall be down the allotment sowing more seeds.

Kreativ Blogger Award

The lovely Bex at Bexs Buttons suprised me last week with this award! Thankyou Bex it is nice to know my little blog is appreciated!

According to the rules of the award I have to list seven things I love and then share the award with seven more people

here goes!

I love - my daughters and my husband

- my Mum and my five (yes five!) brothers and sisters, their other halves, nieces, nephews, (it goes on I could be here some time!) lets just say my very large family! and my wonderful friends.

- where I live, the Chilterns.

- the coast, especially Cornwall

- the smell of fresh baked bread

- sand between my toes, I know I've had a good time!

- raspberrys straight off the bush at our allotment, warmed by the sun!

And now to pass it on to: sara at all about eden

do you mind if I knit?

Miss Sew n Sew

dee beale

vintage town

covetables

and best newcomer goes to! luv-the-alien

Do pay these great blogs a visit, I regularly do! and be extra nice to the last one, she's only little, sorry apparently she's not that little!

What I made today

Well as I hoped yesterday, I made a couple of reversible bags today. I haven't made any of these for a while so it was nice to get back to them. The weather and light has been erratic today to say the least so they won't be listed until I can get some decent shots, but I wanted to share them with you. The denim lining isn't bright as it looks in these pictures, not sure what's going on there!

Oh and here is my new teapot, an early birthday present to myself, this is a Portmerion design and I love it's scandinavian style design.

New stock

Listed this Miffy cushion cover today over on Folksy

Hoping to get some sewing done tomorrow I haven't made any bags in some time so I may get on with those!

Thankyou xx

I love my presents all the more because they were made by you,

I loved the blossom that we found on the trees,

You know how much I love this garden and it's ice lolly trees

I loved the sculptures,

especially this one................

I loved the fresh spring air

I loved the look on your face when I told you the latin name of this without reading the label,

I loved the cool stuff we found in the shop

Thankyou for my dinner, my picnic, and all those cuddles. I love you too xx

Something new

Today I have been working on some new ideas that have been bubbling for some time. Working with fabric made me want to apply more of my own ideas to the fabric and so I have been venturing into some simple screen printing, which I have now combined with some freehand machine embroidery.

It has been difficult to find the time to develop these ideas in between my regular orders and family stuff, but it is finally coming together and I am rather pleased.

The effect is reminiscent of 50s illustration and I have some more bird designs on the go too, which are quite comical given the irregular nature of embroidery. These designs are destined for purses and cushions to start,.............. hope you like!

Have a lovely weekend, for those of you celebrating Mothers Day here in the UK, enjoy, it is well deserved!

More Miffy!

Just some pictures today.

I have restocked my Folksy shop with more Miffy purses today!

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz!

I have been feeling very sleepy today not from lack of sleep but from taking antihisthamines which don't agree with me! I spent Sunday in the garden, but in clearing out the pond I was bitten by insects and on Monday was red and scratching all over. So last night I took one tablet and was in bed by 9 and have been sleepy all day, but it was better than being so itchy and red.

So today has been a pottering day, taking photos, tidying, chatting to friends and finally a bit of cookie baking. I have even headed into the world of Flickr and will hopefully get to grips with it further tomorrow.

Above and below are two felted pictures which I made a few months ago. I really love these but am not sure if they woul be viable to sell. I shall have to do some timings to see. I would love to hear your thoughts.

Tomorrow is another day and hopefully more fruitful!

Thrift shop finds!

Yesterday I spent the morning browsing shops, what a luxury! and I thought you might like to see my thrifty finds. I love the name thrift shop, in the UK they are usually referred to as charity shops, but I love the US term, it feels very vintage, it feels very appropriate in the current climate, and so I have adopted it!

This cereal bowl was at the bottom of the pile and cost me 30p. I love the linear design with the touches of turquoise, I have been messing about with screenprinting and machine embroidery and the results are similar, I will show you sometime!

This is a find that I made on another trip, cost £1.00, it has Sweden printed on the back, and I would love to find out the designer but have no idea where to start.

These buttons came from the same shop as the bowl, I love the mushroom ones...... 15p

Not from the thrift shop but TKMaxx, I got this Designers Guild pillowcase for my daughters room £3.99 instead of £20

Also from TKMaxx some Cath Kidston plates and bowls

No shopping today....I have to make some more Miffy purses for my Folksy shop and as it is red Nose day here in the UK I need to do some baking. Sarah is doing a 5mile Charity Fun Run dressed in a purple tutu with a sharks head hat on! That's my girl!!

Miffy!

Miffy just makes me happy and on a lovely sunny day I have spent some time this afternoon taking photos and listing these lovely bunnies in my Folksy shop.I love this one with the stem print fabric

I am nearly all out of this Miffy fabric and will have to make some purses for me before it all goes!

and this one is just so sunny perfect for spring.

Hotchpotch cushions

Having given my machine a clean up this morning, (so much lint inside it looked like it had snowed!) I had fun making up some new Hotchpotch cushions.

These two are now in my Folksy shop!

Also check out this great giveaway from etsy seller chocolateandsteel, I want this ring!

Weekend shopping

One of the compensations for my children growing up is that there is always someone available for a girly shopping trip. So Saturday saw older daughter and myself heading off to Westfield Shopping centre at Shepherds Bush this trip being made all the easier thanks to a newly opended through train that took us right to the door. When we got there WOW!!................


The first and best purchase of the day was in Topshop where one Xmas Giftcard saw these slip happily onto my daughters feet and they stayed there all day.

Paperchase saw me ading to my owl goodies with this water bottle in anticipation of warmer weather and more time spent down the allotment, and also the red spotty background paper which is fab!

We had a ball, we marvelled at the diamonds in Tiffanys, redesigned the interior of our house in Habitat, and drew inspiration in the designer village from the likes of Karen Millen, Ted Baker and French Connection. We drank smoothies in the 50s retro styled M&S cafe. We amazingly made it round the whole thing although we didn't go in every store I'm not sure that is physically possible! We will be back with younger daughter in tow, no sleepover would keep her away next time methinks!

Sunday was a lovely relaxing day and the afternoon I spent sewing and working on developing some work using my own designs.....I am not sharing yet but I had one of those Eureeka! moments where I got the look and effect that I had been struggling to find. So excited was I that I had to rush upstairs and interrrupt some Science revision to share it with my young ones.

I also covered the drawers of the cupboard above using pages from a 50s school book that I picked up at a book sale in Hampshire last weekend. I am really pleased with how it turned out and love this style of illustration.