Cornwall, cream teas and campervans...

Now I am a massive fan of all three!

 I am lucky enough to live in beautiful Cornwall where the landscapes are wonderful, the beaches are close, the ice cream is delicious and I can have a cream tea whenever I wish with lots of Cornish clotted cream (which I indulge in all too often...)

I'm also lucky enough to own a VW Campervan-but unfortunately we are not rich enough to own a split screen!

If we were we would own one just like this! Beautiful!

However ours is still handsome and just a little bit younger, being a 1976 Type 2.She is called 'Merle' (as it was my Mothers middle name-tee hee!) and she is cream and white. She is lovely but I cannot put up any photos of her just yet as she is in a dry storage facility being slowly and lovingly worked on by my lovely James-when the day comes for her to emerge she will adorn this page often...!

So this morning, with Cornwall, Cornish cream teas and VW Campers on my mind, I set to work to create a lovely and inspired tea cosy! She is available in my Folksy shop-just click on the link below for more details.

Campervan Tea Cosy

It just seemed fitting for it to be as retro-styled as possible! What do you think?

Photographing and adding new items to my shop-eek!

Today (despite the awful grey weather) I decided to go for it on my own and take some photos of the things I have been making so that I could list them in my shop. Sounds relatively simple? It's never simple with me!!

 The weather really is awful today, so I have trotted around my house trying to find a good spot with some natural light. Not entirely sure how successful I was, but I picked a spot and started taking some pics. Then of course my battery went on my camera! So whilst it charged I thought I'd put some eggs on to boil for my lunch (trying to eat good proteins for baby).
Being a relativley impatient person when it comes to getting things done I did try to sneak a few photos inbetween chargings! I was all engrossed in attempting to create beautiful photos to show off my work and guess what? Yup, I forgot about my eggs boiling merrily away! Never mind-egg sandwiches are just as yummy as a dippy egg and soldiers! At least I managed to list a few items today....

 

'Mia' shoulder-bag

 

Cassandra hand bag

  

Spotty-Dotty shoulder bag

Would love to know what you think!

A kitchen theme...First 'Folksy Friday'!

I've had a funny week this week, filled with late pregnancy issues that have made it difficult for me to sit or walk with so much hip pain! However, being me I have slowly soldiered on....!
We decided we would paint the dresser top as it was so dark and the wash on it kept 'washing' off on to our belongings! I think it's looking better, but may need another coat and some distressing to make it really show off!

Then I set to making my Mother-in-Law a little extra present for her 60th Birthday which I had started at the sewing group I go to. I really love it! Just wish I could commit myself to making my own tea cosy, but I cannot decide on a design!

Which led me to thinking, if I had the money (I wish!) what lovely handmade items could I find to fill our dresser top? I turned to Folksy for a bit of dreaming and committed myself to my first ever 'Folksy Friday'...

http://www.folksy.com/items/256325

These gorgeous personalised egg cosies from 'Tiddely Pom' would be fab on the dresser-one for each of us!

http://www.folksy.com/items/130834

These lovely cards by 'Lucy Player Graphic Design' would look lovely in frames dotted about!

http://www.folksy.com/items/335637

This beautiful spotty pouring bowl by 'Penny Spooner Ceramics' is already in my favourites....

http://www.folksy.com/items/317393
And of course for my chef of a husband this beautiful pestal and mortar from 'Bodrighy Wood' would keep him very happy!

http://www.folksy.com/items/262457

Now I'm pretty certain I could never put a pot on this delightful pot stand by 'forestpoppy', but it would look lovely hanging on a decorative hook on the dresser!

I have thoroughly enjoyed my first Folksy Friday and hope I have inspired some kitchen love!

The joy of second hand furniture and personalising things!

My lovely man has the same tastes as me, so shopping for our home is hardly ever an issue  if we can afford it (unless we both want everything we see and love as there is no one to curb the other one!). We both love real wood and old furniture, and as our home needs a bit more storage with our girls growing and our new baby coming we had to go and get some new chests for our bedroom. That was meant to be it....

However, how could we resist this? It's a lovely old cheesebox and just so pretty! It looks lovely next to our free rocking chair (which I have yet to make a seat pad for...)

Now I had said to James that we didn't need anything else, however, he gave me his boyish grin and took my hand and led me round the corner of this lovely shop to show me a huge dresser top! Last week we bought a dresser top for the kitchen, but as he rightly pointed out, that one was small enough to fill the dining room wall once painted (it's currently burgandy...) and would be perfect for making the dining room look lovely and homely. Whereas this big and imposing beast would better suit our kitchen-so I agreed...

 Now James is slightly impatient, so the dresser top is already up before we have decided whether to leave it as it is or to sand it down and paint some of it. What do you reckon?

 Now all we have to do is resist going back for the old captains chair and a hall lamp table...!

Folksy Swap Shop!

Today was a day designated to yet more college paperwork to go with my City and Guilds textile courses. I know that it is vital to show my designs and inspirations but I'm starting to get a bit bored of it now that the end of the course is in sight! I want to be in control of what I'm making now and running with my own creativity. Whilst I was entering the dangerous zone of starting to procrastinate the lovely postlady knocked at my door with two parcels!

Whoopee! I love parcels. I opened the first one to be greeted with.....two energy light bulbs my lovely hubby had obviously ordered. Humph. Not for me. I looked at the second parcel, wondering if it was another e-bay item of his or something actually for me (our e-bay account is in my name, so I frequently open 'boring' parcels!).

What a pleasure awaited me upon opening! It was from Marie Finlay who had obviously been given me as her Folksy swap! This was where some of us Folksters took part in swapping our items around for some feedback. Our items had to retail at about £5 and we had to send them by the end of this week.
Here are the contents of my surprise parcel which I am really pleased with. The quality of the item is lovely and the effort put into packaging was lovely too:

Babies and how many projects?!

As some of you may know, I'm expecting my third baby in June, who will be my first baby boy! I was a bit surprised at first and a little panicky, as I have two girls and I like being a Mummy to girls! Once I had got my head round it I decided to make it up to the little chap by making him some beautiful things full of Mummy love......
That has led to there being three projects on the go at various stages of completion! This is not like me, as I usually finish one before starting the other! I cannot make my mind up whether it is to do with being pregnant or just the sheer scale of the projects I have decided to do (all of which I have never tackled before...)
I have never made a quilt, but as I needed to do something for my City and Guilds Patchwork and Quilting course, I wanted to do something I hadn't made before, so a babies quilt seemed a good idea at the time. It is still being hand quilted (I have an exceptionally sore finger) and it is terribly hard to photograph due to it's size and colour-but here is my first ever quilt in the making stages!

 

 I have also only ever knitted as a child under my Mums watchful eye and guidance. Sadly my Mum passed away a year a go, so there will be no crocheted blanket from Grandma. I cannot crochet, but I did remember how to knit-hence I set myself the challenge of knitting a blue and white squared cot blanket! Goodness knows if I am doing it the correct way, but I'm doing it-slowly!

 

As you can see-I have lots of squares to go yet!

My third baby project is to either make this lovely little man a duvet cover or a quilt for his bed. I know he's not even born yet and I'm thinking of single bed sized projects, but I just couldn't let this fabric get away from me, never to be seen again when I wanted it! Impatient, I know, but very worth it!

And with this beautiful fabric I am going to add these lovely checks and ginghams. Who says boy stuff can't be pretty?!

Have I taken on too much? I hope not, and hopefully the time I have left until he makes his arrival is at least enough time to make his cot quilt and blanket. Then I can set to work on his sisters' quilts and make a decision on whether he gets a homemade quilt or duvet...or both!

Coming home to sales!

It's such a lovely feeling to come home to find you have made a sale. Selling something that you have designed and created really makes you feel good. I have sold this lovely bag on Folksy this week. 

How do you top that feeling? By coming home to a request for a commissioned piece! So far I have only made one design for the requested commission-however if it is not to the customers taste I shall happily work on another design!

Clutch purse

Sleepless nights!

Well today is a bit of a non-day so far, as being 6 months pregnant seems to bring sleeplessness like I have never experienced before, resulting in a mushy brain! I am so tired but cannot seem to sleep in the day either....

I am trying to feel inspired for some lovely work, so I have been busy drawing designs. The sun is shining and my dining room come workroom is flooded with warm sunlight making me think of warm summer days in my lovely garden, which reminded me of sewing little strawberries for my girls last summer!

So I feel a summer theme coming for my blog post today, even though Spring has only just sprung here with snowdrops bobbing their little heads away! I like to jump ahead......!