See you next year...

December seems to have passed in a flash.

As I haven't posted in ages, I won't bore you with what we have been up to but I will just leave you with some pictures of our December and Christmas, which was very enjoyable and full of presents, food, drink, games and family.

Who knows what 2012 has in store for us all but I will settle for all my friends and family to have a happy and healthy 2012.

Wishing you a very Happy New Year.

(I had to include this picture of the school Father Christms - he did try very hard but sadly his costume wasn't up to much and he didn't fool the kids! See how much better my 8 year old looks!!)

Phew...another Christmas Market done and dusted!

Well I have just returned from another Christmas Market at the Horsebridge in Whitstable and I pleased to say that it was a really good one. Lots of people through the door from the word go and all wanting to buy, which is always a good thing! I did have a great spot, the first table on the left as you arrived in the hall, which meant people also got a second look on their way out!

I'd decided to sell off my Mermaid dollies really cheap as some of them had been hanging around for a while and I'm happy to say they have all gone to new homes now.

At the Christmas Fair last year, I sold lots and lots of cushions - I did sell a few - the embroidered bird cage cushions both went quickly, but what I sold more of this year were the smaller items - needlcases, coasters, bunting, felt envelopes, lavender hearts and houses. But all the pennies add up and I equaled last years money!

So there will be presents under the tree! As the main reason I do the Christmas Fair is for Christmas present money!!

I had a little helper on my stall for the last couple of hours who was very well behaved and spent her time colouring in a picture and helping bag peoples goods up.

There were lots of lovely stalls - I didn't get many pictures of the other ones, but there was a lovely atmosphere and all the other stalls seemed to be of a really good, high quality and quite a variety - despite there being other fabricy people like me, we all had quite different stock that seemed to complement each other

So I will leave you now, exhausted but happy!



Makes for a Christmas market

I thought I would give you a little sneaky look of some of the bits and pieces that I have been busy making for the Whitstable Christmas Market I am taking part in. My latest makes have been cushions.... you will have to come along to see them in full!!!

A blogging break...

Somehow I seem to have had nearly a months break from blogging.

It has been a lovely time filled with weddings and birthdays  - the downside is that I now feel I have to play catch up!  So very briefly...

We had an amazing time at our fantastic friends and neighbours wonderful wedding (where our little D was a proper little dancing diva - up until 11.15pm dancing with all the grown ups - so hard core she got blisters!!) The bride Vicki looked just gorgeous, like a 30s' film star.



I brought this card from a Folksy shop, Storeystore? Something a bit like that anyway!

The day after the wedding was my 3(mumble mumble) th birthday. Luckily I managed to wake up hangover free and we had a lovely day wandering around Rochester (a birthday tradition it seems - we did the same last year!) followed by lunch at Frankie & Benny's which was lovely.

I was a very spoilt lady and my husband got a me a gorgeous silver necklace from a shop I had suggested on Etsy (I emailed him a link of 5 or 6 possible necklaces and let him choose from there!).

The man did good.

I really love it.

I'm not a big jewellery person. I used to wear lots of silver jewellery, rings on nearly every fingers and I still have 5 holes in each ear from my art student days. But now I just wear my wedding and engagement rings and really wanted a simple and classic silver necklace. Thanks Lols, I love it!

He also picked me out this book...

Which is just brilliant and a lovely suprise. I don't have pics of all the other presents I got but I was a very lucky girl!

I have been busy sewing this last week, I've signed up for a Christmas Market in a couple of weeks so am busy making cushions and things. Pictures to come.....

I'll leave you with this window pane/breathe picture of me by D - so sweet I had to take a picture!!

Inspiration

It's been a busy couple of weeks for us with 91st birthdays...

and a brilliant Hen party for the lovely Vicki...

But whilst I haven't been eating cake and drinking far too much I've been getting all inspired by these gorgeous books that were rescued by the Taking the Plunge ladies from a local boot fair and are on display in the shop.

Such beautiful and amazing collage illustrations.

I think this girl with her umbrella is my favourite!

What's been inspiring you lately?

Peg bags and handbags

What a difference a week makes hey!

This time last week, here in Whitstable, we were enjoying an amazing Indian summer, blues skys and temperatures of 25 degrees and now we are back in the depths of Autumn - from sleeveless tops to winter coats in 5 days!
Blimey, no wonder us Brits enjoy talking about the weather!!

At least it's not raining at the moment and hanging onto this, I have been trying to catch up on the washing whilst the weather was dry and decided that I was in dire need of a new peg bag.  I am sure I could have sat down, found a pattern and made my own but with pennies to burn in Paypal I decided to have a look on Folksy and support another seller!
I found this little beauty and fell in love! It had to be mine.

Isn't it gorgeous - look at the amazing work that went into the embroidery!

Thank you Nana Marje - I love it and please go and have a look at her little shop.

From peg bags to handbags - I have been meaning to make some bags for ages. I wanted a bag with a zip as I find things always fall out of bags without zips! I'd worked out a while ago, a design and finally got round to making them.

I've kept one for myself  (although forgot to take pictures - will add some soon) and really enjoyed playing with the fabrics for these two that are in my Folksy shop.

My fabulous fifties fabric creeping in again!

My ticking obsession doesn't seem to be improving does it!!

I also had the idea for some personalised fabric envelopes - perfect for weddings, christenings, 21st birthdays, Christmas or any occasion when you might be giving cash or gift vouchers, to help personalise and make the gift a bit more stylish! A couple of these are in my Folksy shop too, so fingers crossed the idea takes off!

Right, I'm off to use my new peg bag before it starts to rain! Have a lovely weekend x



Cuteable.com

Just had a message this morning to let me know that my coasters have been featured on Cuteable - Hoooray!! It is a great little website, updated regularly with finds from Craft Juice, Folksy etc.Thanks for featuring me Lindsey!

A ticking chair cover

Yes I finally bloody did it!

After sitting looking at THE chair for weeks now wondering how the hell I made a new cover for it, I finally laid out the fabric and plonked the current cover on it and just drew round it!

I used the ticking for the front and a beige linen fabric for the back with ticking inserts to hold it in place (and yes it did take me a while to work out what way round they had to be sewn to flip over the back of the chair!).

I then sewed it all the way round, leaving a gap in which  I inserted the old padded cover and then sewed the gap up by hand.

It is really, VERY far from perfect, but it only took about an hour (I'm sure someone far cleverer than me could have tackled it in 15 minutes!!) and all in all I am pretty pleased with how it looks.

The poor old sewing machine has been working hard lately. I've been busy trying to make lots of new stock for my Folksy shop. I am also thinking of opening an Etsy shop so have quite a few makes on the go, and to give you a  little sneak peak they include...

needlecases

(using a mix of possibly all my favourite things! ticking, gingham, bakers twine AND free motion embroidery!!)

pin cushions

coasters

and bags.....

Phew, I just need to clear some more of the sale stock that is in there at the moment before this lot goes in there on the 1st October! So please spread the Sale word and I'd love to hear what anyone else has been making lately?

Scar update and neighbourly gifts

I was rubbing Bio-oil into F's scar the other day (which we have been doing religiously everyday after bath time) and I realised how amazingly brilliant his scar looks now - especially compared to how horrific it all looked back in June when he had the horrible accident.

I thought it was time for a little scar update!

The Bio-Oil has definitely made the scar tissue smoother and less raised and considering it only happened 3 months ago, we think it is healing really well. I still feel a bit sick looking back at the pictures with the stitches (Little Stitches post). Fingers crossed we don't have to go through that again!

From scars to fruit!  We are hugely lucky that my In-Laws have an apple and pear tree in their garden  - look at the huge bags of apples and pears they brought round the other day - the second lot we have had! They are so delicous and have kept us in fruit for the last few weeks. Any good recipies anyone can suggest?

It has been a week of gifts from gardens as our neighbours gifted me this huge sack full of lavender! Last year I caught them just as they were cutting back their huge lavender sack and although they thought I was a bit bonkers when I asked if I could have it all, they happily obliged and this year I didn't need to ask - they left this bag on the doorstep!

Thank you kind neighbours and sorry husband as I am going to stink the shed out now as that is where it is going to be hung up and dried - ready for some new lavender makes!