NOTHING WASTED

Really enjoying making these paper garlands and bunting.  Always thinking of little pick up items to brighten up my stall, even bought a vintage suitcase to display them in 

95% of the fabrics I use are recycled. So when the dresses are made, and there are still little pieces left I use them up by making other little items, like this bunting or our doggy bandanas and bags. 

When I've made babies dribble bibs in the past, I was constantly being asked whether they were dog bandanas.....so I've made some M and L £5 My friends dog Casper seen in the photo proudly modelling one on the beach.

New Year dress making in full swing with some great new up cycled fabrics

Love this circus fabric. Tied in nicely with the film The Greatest Showman, which we recently went to see at the cinema, really enjoyed it!

And a new collection of big Orla Kiely using left of pieces of fabric.

and a range of up cycled Orla Kiely dresses 

the half term was a pretty quiet affair, lots of family time and walks on the beach. An afternoon spent watching Bella take part in the Exeter Dance Festival.  Now she is a teenager it is becoming more and more difficult to get her to pose for photo's so I have to capture her mostly while she's not looking.

lovely misty walk on the beach the fog was so thick and the air so calm it was very surreal. Good time to wear your orange coat Mabel.

Sun out and Spring in the air (maybe)

WEEKEND - WORK & PLAY

On Saturday we took the girls (kicking and screaming) for a stroll around Stover Park lake, the sun was shining and the Autumn colours were fantastic and they really enjoyed it!

Overdosing on fresh air we headed for the nearest place for refreshments which just happened to be The House Of Marbles which not only as the name suggests exports marbles all over the world ......

it also does the most amazing food (one of Devon's best kept secrets) and as we thought we deserved it  we treated ourselves to one of their mammoth cream teas which came with heart shaped scones.

The weekend also saw me finishing off a few last minute things in preparation for the start of the Christmas Craft Events, which begin on Saturday with The Steiner School Advent Fair in Dartington. I've finished some more Mabel Bags in some new prints.

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and some more bunting .............

All in all a very productive weekend

FLAMING JUNE

June started well, the weather has been great, but I can believe we're already half way through the year! Bella's back to school after the half term for a couple of months before she breaks up for Summer.

 

Love this vintage Laura Ashley fabric, I came across it a couple of weeks ago, it's a lovely soft cotton. There was only enough to make four little tops from it,  and Mabel now has one as she looks so cute in it. There are three left (in the world!) and they'll be available on my website very soon.

Purple floral, 70's retro print fabric.  Another limited edition, there are only four of these.

Last but not least a Liberty style print

Mabel also discovered make up this week.

Tina and I took Grace & Mabel to see The Gruffalo's Child in Plymouth on Thursday.

Bella performed an indian dance at The Carlton Theatre on Friday, for an Asian Celebration, she loves being on stage, and I had another very proud Mum moment.

I made some new tops a couple of weeks ago from some vintage 70's fabric, which are now all sold.  I've just finished the brown version.

This was a great piece of material, the pattern is very large and so all seven tops are different.

Bought this fabric in a vintage shop in Clifton in Bristol I made a couple of dresses with ticking sleeves.

Today we went to Chagford in West Devon. I can vaguely remember visiting it as a child. It's a quintessential English village, but with a few really interesting shops, and a lovely little deli where we had a lunch and one of the best lemon tarts I'd ever tasted!

(Jennifer Saunders & Ade Edmondson  set up home here for many years before returning back to London.  I imagine living in this village would have been her inspiration when she wrote "Jam & Jerusalem")

That Lemon Tart...Delicious

This shop on two floors, must have been around for years. It was an Aladdins Cave, full to the rafters with everything you need.

 A long time ago I sat and mindlessly cut out a lot of squares from scraps of material, while watching mindless television, partly because I can't bear throwing away any fabric.  

I hoard every little piece just in case I need it some time in the future (a gene I've inherited from my Mum).  I sewed some of them together yesterday, and when I realised I wasn't going to persevere long enough with it to make anything too big ie bedspread/throw...I made a bag lined it in ticking and put some leather handles on it. It's the sort of bag I would have taken to Portobello Market on those self indulgent Saturday's years ago, (before kids)  where I'd spend  the day slowly working my way down from the station and up to the fabulous market under the Westway....... but hey there's always the car boot at Exeter on Sunday's.

I've been making and selling bunting for years, using oilcloth and fabric.  I've just made some using maps of Devon & Cornwall sewn onto red and white butchers string, I think they are really effective and I'm working on a couple of variations.

Maps of Devon, the music from Radiohead's OK Computer album and even a Sanderson print paper....where will it all end!

This weekend Teignmouth played host to a Folk Festival. It rained and there were a lot of strange looking people hanging around.....What more can I say?

Sunday was the Summer Of Love Craft Hub event in Topsham, a really enjoyable time was had by all.

It was then over to my Mums for a cream tea in the garden...delicious...only in Devon!

 

The girls are now very proud owners of a new bird seed holder, We are now waiting for the rain to stop and the birds to arrive,

My Two Pixies

Took the girls to the beach for fish & chips this evening and to fly their new kite. 

The weather was perfect, sunny with a warm breeze.

So nice to see sky this blue again.

The girls tired out and fast asleep in bed.  I sat in the garden with a big glass of Rose and  contemplated what I was going to make with the new retro fabrics I'd discovered earlier today in Honiton, that were already washed and hanging on the line.  

Another simple and totally enjoyable day on the Devon coast.

ORLA KIELY BUNTING

I've just combined two things I really like, bunting because it brightens and adds colour to a space and Orla Kiely's simplistic patterns.  

I've put it on my website so you can enjoy it too!