Custom Colours

This week I've mostly been doing admin, which is very dull and makes for rubbish photographs! So, here's one I made earlier... work-in-progress pics of a custom abstract mobile I made recently.

The colours selected:


The finished mobile pieces, ready to be sewn onto narrow burgundy ribbons for hanging:


It's always great fun working on these, and it's always inspiring working with colour combos I wouldn't normally use (I'm especially loving the combination of purple and mint green).

Knit in Public Day

Did you know it's world wide knit in public day soon?

Our knitting group are celebrating it with a picnic on June 12th and I was set the task of taking a suitably summer-y knitting photo for the poster...


The knitting project I'm working on at the moment isn't summer-y at all - a cosy scarf in lovely soft grey "mega chunky" yarn.

It's a great "instant gratification" project as the scarf knits up so quickly! Though I have frogged (unravelled) it twice so far as I kept knitting it too wide (it's ended up as only 10 stitches across). I've never used really chunky yarn before and I'm loving how it makes even the simplest of stitches look fantastic!

Shoe Love

Oh my goodness, it's another blog post about shoes!

I live in my Dunlop Green Flash trainers during the summer, and my old pair were getting rather worse for wear... so I've treated myself to two cheap-as-chips replacements in a summer sale.


Pink ones! And yellow ones! And both in the perfect hard-to-find half size! My feet are very happy.

Hello Summer

What fantastic weather we've been having!

Summers in England are notorious for the need to wear a cardigan at all times, and to have a back-up plan for any outdoor occasion in case it rains... so it makes a very nice change to be wearing sundresses and eating ice lollies :)


We don't have a garden, but to make the most of the weather we've bought a couple of fab stripey chairs so we can sit out on our balcony. I'm loving those colours!

Etsy Friends

I had a day out in Bristol yesterday, doing some shopping and meeting up with Lisa of Seaurchin and Nicola of Pouch.

We all "met" through selling on Etsy, and have grown to be friends after months of chatting online about all the ups and downs of running a crafty business. It was lovely to finally meet them properly and to have a good natter, and the weather was perfect for a stroll round Bristol.

Lisa sweetly brought two of her necklaces with her, one for me and one for Nicola. I'm totally in love with mine:


Unfortunately we were too busy chatting to take photos on the day ... but we're planning another get together soon, so hopefully we'll remember to take some pics then!

Talking about Knitting

The interview with our knitting club was broadcast on BBC Gloucestershire at the weekend. Gosh it isn't half strange hearing yourself on the radio! Do I really sound like that?

If you fancy listening to me and my friend Lynne talking about knitting, you can hear our interview on the BBC's iPlayer HERE (it starts approx 2hours 42mins in & is available until Sunday 23rd May).

In other news, I'm having to lay off the sewing this week and keep my computer time to a minimum as my glasses broke...


... and I'm stuck wearing an old prescription until the new ones arrive on Friday. Very annoying!

Finished: Summer Skirt

My skirt made from a lovely but ill-fitting & damaged vintage dress is now finished!


I hand stitched it while watching an episode of Miss Marple and a cheesy afternoon movie, and though there were a few fiddly bits it was surprisingly easy.

I removed the long, broken zip and replaced it with a six inch one bought from the local market for about £1.30...


... and after chopping off the top of the dress, I folded the excess fabric over twice to make a new waistband. This was a bit tricky as the dress was darted from the waist but I got there in the end!


My dressmaking skills are by no means perfect but I'm really pleased with how it turned out and very proud of myself for attempting it in the first place.

After and Before

My adventure with fabric dye turned out great... I've got a black skirt again!


(I probably should have ironed it before taking a photo though. Never mind)

This weekend I'm tackling another make-do-and-mend project, giving this old vintage dress a new life:


Yes, I know it's gorgeous - that print is just so stunning, and it's just as lovely and floaty as it looks - but it really doesn't fit me properly so I've hardly worn it, it's a bit "aged" under the arms (eww) so it always had to be worn with a sweater on top anyway, and it's been languishing in my mending pile ever since the zip broke last year.

So this weekend it's being turned into a "new" skirt, just in time for summer. Pics tomorrow!

Spring Rainbow

I've just got a quick picture to share today - some pretty flower brooches I made this spring as custom order:


The flower design was based on a business logo. I don't take on much custom design work, but this was a really fun project - I especially enjoyed choosing out all those colour combos!

Knitting and Nattering

Yesterday afternoon we had our second Knitting Club meeting - it was so much fun.

I'm loving having a space carved out in my week to sit and knit and chat with a cuppa and a nice bit of cake, and I'm already feeling really inspired by seeing everyone else's projects. I invited the boyfriend to come along and learn how to knit, but even the prospect of cake couldn't tempt him... being my postal assistant is probably about as crafty as he's ever going to get!

We've been making posters this week to help spread the word about the group (the awesome photo is by Emma a.k.a. Yumptatious) ...


... and we even got the chance to promote the joys of knitting on the radio!

A lovely woman from the BBC came to interview us about the club, how it started and what our plans are, which was just so nervewracking. I don't know yet when it's going to be broadcast but I'll put up a link to it on the BBC's iPlayer when I can, and if my witterings aren't too embarrassing, haha.

Excellent Shopping

Last week I treated myself to some lovely button giftwrap from Asking For Trouble. Yes, you read that right: giftwrap with buttons on it.


I know it sounds a bit mad "treating" yourself to some wrapping paper, but I'm thinking of it less like giftwrap and more like super awesome patterned paper that I can use for lots of craft projects. I'm sure if you've ever saved a scrap of pretty paper to add to your crafty stash you'll know what I mean!

Dye Job

Things are almost back to normal here - all last week's parcels have been posted with the help of my boyfriend (what a star) and all my shops have been re-opened (yay!).

Today I'm tackling some things which were on last week's to do list, including the next task on my make do and mend pile: re-dyeing an old and much-worn skirt.


Many many years ago this skirt used to be black but it's not any more! Hopefully with the addition of a nice bit of fabric dye purchased last week it'll be restored to its former glory and I'll look marginally less scruffy into the bargain.

An uncheduled break

Hello all - sorry for being a bit quiet this week!

I've been stuck in bed ill with a horrid bug & have had to close up my shops for a bit. I'm feeling much better now though (hurrah!), and am starting to get caught up with emails and to get any outstanding orders packed up ready to post next week.

I'm hoping to get all my shops gradually re-opened in the next few days and should be back to my normal blogging schedule very soon :)

Buttons Galore

This weekend I've been having a bit of a spring clean, tidying up lots of corners and clearing out lots of cupboards. I've also been sorting out a recent supplies order, and restocking lots of buttons in my supplies shop...

... colourful 5cm plastic buttons...


... 5cm & 8cm wooden buttons...


... and lots and lots of cute ladybird buttons!

Make Jewellery magazine

I got some lovely post yesterday: a copy of the latest issue of Make Jewellery...


... which includes a little feature about my teatime brooches!


Press of any kind is always lovely, but there's something especially exciting about being featured in magazines... perhaps it's something to do with flicking through all those glossy pages?