French Knots

Super Sunday

Fortified with bacon sarnies, I had a great time at the Textile Fair. I got there for 10am and it wasn't too busy so I could have a good look at everything. The stalls with vintage clothes were amazing, christening gowns, tea dresses, cotton shifts and fab hats all in excellent condition. I've always wanted an old sampler but as they are about 500 quid I'll be wanting for a bit longer I think. There were quite a few stalls with old lace, ribbon and findings, stalls with old books about every sort of needlecraft you could think of and also some stalls with people selling items they had made from salvaged fabrics and quilts. If you get the chance to go I would really recommend it, the second one of the year will be in September.

Over the years I have bought some lovely quilts there, hand worked and well preserved but the prices for these have risen dramatically too. My favourite one is white, heavily quilted and came originally from the North East. I bought it about 10 years ago at the Textile Fair with some money I inherited when my Grandma died.

I managed to bring a few things home with me - mainly from the rummage boxes labelled ' everything £1'! The best buy is not in the photo as it was in the washer, a halfmade patchwork quilt in shades of blue   

I've used the embroidery threads already

I need to get some sewing done to use up at least some of the fabric I've bought recently!

Weekend

I am really looking forward to the weekend, yes of course I always enjoy family time, taking The Big Sister to dancing and acrobatics, bacon sarnies on a Sunday morning but this Sunday I shall be heading off  early (alone!) to the Antique Textile Fair. It's held twice a year in Manchester and is a wonderful opportunity to browse, yearn, be inspired and of course buy. The stall holders have a brilliant array of textiles from around the world, vintage clothes and all sorts of odds and ends.

The weekend got off to a good start today as the post brought some wonderful fabric for me. I ordered it from a US Ebayer and I'm really pleased with it, some Kaffe Fasset, some Amy Butler and Michal Miller - so lovely I don't want to cut into it yet!

Enjoy your weekend!

Tip Top Tops

I have finally got to grips with the drawings for the T shirt embroidery. It has been hard as I'm rubbish at drawing and they need to be fairly simple so that they translate into an embroidery. I transfered them onto the shirts using a light box.

I like this one, my daughter used to have a pink polka dot bikini and stand at the waters edge jumping over the waves. I've also customised the pink felted jumper for her with a felt flower and a ribbon belt, she'll no doubt grow out of it in no time!

My Little Helper is trialling the last top so please excuse any dribbles !

Jumble Luck

On Saturday, in a break from picture making, I went to a jumble sale and struck lucky. Some gorgeous angora and lambswool jumpers for felting, a lovely plate ( for 10p!), a pair of curtains in what I think is a Laura Ashley print ( for cutting up) , a cute '70s Mr Men pinny and some books. We love Richard Scarry and snapped up another to join the ones that I have from my childhood, the spine is a bit torn but for 25p who's complaining?

My favourite is a book called The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast by Alan Aldridge and William Plomer, another '70s book but in lovely condition. The illustrations are wonderful and I will enjoy it even if the children don't

   

The jumpers have felted well, one heavy grey one that was giant sized is now really thick and I'm going to make a bag with it I think. Will have to visit Lisa at u handbag to get some handles and read her excellent tutorials. Another pink one has come out just the right size for my daughter so it will be customised with a flower and some ribbon and once she has out grown it I can use it for the project I had in mind.

Busy busy..

Guess what I've been doing this weekend ??

I've had a lovely time, mixing shells, stamps, feather, buttons and snippets of fabric, playing with the colours and enjoying myself

I'm just enjoying looking at them all finished and ready to go, feeling productive and with the mojo in full flow am going to do some sketches of other projects whilst unwinding with a glass of wine. Hope you had a satisfying weekend too. 

Shadow Boxes

The next few days are going to revolve around these

and little else. Samantha of Plump Pudding issued an invitation which was impossible to resist. Did anyone want to supply items for the Country Living Fair? Oh my goodness, how exciting she is taking some of my Shadow Box Pictures! Have spent the day gathering supplies, literally as the tags are made with recycled and found items. My Little Helper is only 3 but already knows to keep his eyes open for feathers when we are out for a walk! The shells and sea glass are from Anglesey and luckily I have some jam jars full so I'll be able to start tag making once the children are in bed.

Happy

I was chatting last night on the phone to a friend, we've not spoken for a while so I was bringing her up to date with 'the redundancy' clearing my desk, saying good bye to people and so on. I also told her about how I went out for lunch with a couple of people from work the other day and called in to say hello to a couple of other people in the office, I was a bit nervous as I spent 17years of my life there but found I felt fine - no 'I miss this' or anything, not a pang! Yes there are people who I miss, whose company I value but the whole work thing, no not at all. Yippee! She also asked me how I felt now, it's not something I've given much thought to perhaps because I was subconsciously worried, but actually I replied 'happy!'. I am really enjoying being at home, nesting, nurturing, mothering. Perhaps it's novelty value as I'm only in my second month, who cares I'm loving it, ok not all the time ( I'm not Pollyanna)but mostly. Perhaps slightly less so when my daughter is screaming like a banshee as she doesn't want to her homework! Thanks Gill for making me think about it.

I have been reading The Happiness Project which is an investigative blog into what makes us happy. For me I think it is simply having time. Time to do the things I enjoy ( sewing, creating, baking, cooking, reading with the children curled up on the sofa)as well as things I have to do ( washing, cooking, running to the post office ) the pressure of trying to cram everything in is gone, I was driving along the other day and it hit me - I was just pootling along! Not madly trying to get from A to B as fast as possible..long may it continue.

Baking Bag

One of my Nephews will be two in a few weeks and I had an idea for a present going round in my head. I used some snazzy checked fabric to make

And I also made an apron to go inside, keeping him clean when using the biscuit cutters to make tasty treats

We are off to the cinema later with the children to see Peter Pan, it'll be My Little Helpers first time so I wonder how long he'll last. We got the tickets for free fromSee Film First, you just register and they email you about upcoming films and you can choose which cinema you want to go to. We'll need to answer a questionnaire afterwards which hopefully wont be too taxing!

Crafty action

Despite it being half term I have been able to grab a few minutes for me. These cards were inspired by A to Z who has used machine stitching to great effect. I put my own spin on them using some pieces from an old quilt and some name tapes I had made saying Happy Birthday. The name tapes were a bit bright and white so I soaked them in tea to get a softer colour.

I also whipped up a notebook to send to my sister and a little card for one of my nephews. I'm half way through making his birthday present and hopefully will get 10 minutes tomorrow to finish it off

There's something consuming about working on a project, your mind is totally in the moment and other pressures and worries don't get a look in, at least it's one thing I really enjoy that must be good for me unlike wine and chocolate!

Half Term

The half term breaking is whizzing by, we have been visiting friends, watching Scooby Doo and making cakes

Of course you need to make sure there is no chocolate left in the bowl once you've finished making the cornflake cakes

Saves on the washing up!

Thanks for the advice re felting jumpers, I'm going to have one more try with the one that steadfastly refuses to felt and then it'll go to the charity shop instead.