A Folksy Year

It's the first anniversary of my Folksy shop this week! How time flies...
Folksy itself is only a little bit older than my shop - I'm member number 12 so I must have signed up pretty soon after it launched - and it's come quite a long way in that year. There have been quite a lot of new handmade-focused sites springing up over the past year or two, including several in the UK, but Folksy is still my favourite of the new crop and as sales are commission free during the beta period it's a very affordable place to sell.

All new sites have their teething problems and I have several things on my wishlist that I'd love to see from the site in future, but overall I'm pleased with how this first year has gone and am looking forward to being a Folksy seller for many years to come!

To celebrate my anniversary, every order in my Folksy shop until Sunday night will ship with a free gift (offer ends midnight UK time, Sunday 12th July).

The Return of the Zines

A long time ago, before I had a blog and a shop and was still at school I started a zine (pronounced "zeen") called "Bugs and Fishes" filled with lots of odd things that were rattling round my brain.

The zine ran from 1999-2005, and when I first set up shop on Etsy I sold copies of it along with several of my other zines and named this blog after it. And now by popular demand (and some nagging from my boyfriend) the zines are back!
Issues 15 to 18 of Bugs and Fishes are currently available, plus "My Library Project" - a slightly obsessive look at the crazy graffiti people write in library books.

You can find them in my Etsy shop or save by buying direct from me via my website where you'll only pay one fixed handling charge for shipping as many zines as you want.

Holiday Sewing Snaps

Even when I'm on my hols, I still have to take some sewing with me to do when curled up watching telly - it just feels wrong sitting watching something and not making things at the same time.

I always take way more sewing than I can possibly ever get done in the time, but I did manage to get quite a bit done this trip thanks to many heatwave-induced sessions of old movie watching (I cannot resist a classic black and white flick).

Holiday Project Number One - sewing some more eco felt flowers, in lovely warm autumnal tones. I'm looking forward to choosing vintage buttons to match all these!
Holiday Project Number Two - making a start on restocking my bird designs. Lots of pieces sewn together, but there's lots and lots of tiny details still to sew:
No sewing for me today though, but plenty to keep me busy as I've got lots of admin to catch up on and orders to pack...

UPDATE: My large felt flower design is now available as a sewing pattern! I'm gradually writing tutorials for all my bird brooches, too! Visit my shop to see all my printable PDF patterns:

Back Tomorrow!

I'm back after my trip home... I do love my folks, but it's nice to be back.

I'd meant to get more blogging done while I was away (lots of things I want to mention!) but the heatwave + feeling a bit ill + the pleasures of a comfy sofa and my parents digital telly were too much for me and I've been quite lazy.

Regular blogging service will resume tomorrow :)