Camp Bestival

I have been rather quiet since my last post, not visiting many blogs or commenting because I was getting ready to go to my first festival in many years. The wonderful Camp Bestival held in the grounds of Lulworth Castle in Dorset. Billed as 'A 3 day family festival at a castle by the sea', I decided to take my children along with my mum and go 'Glamping'. We stayed in the wonderful Yurtel. A yurt, all ready for us, with beds, duvets, electricity and a locking wooden door. I am way too set in my ways to do proper camping, a lightweight, so when I found out about the Yurtel I thought, "I can do that"!

The yurt was so comfortable and welcoming. There was chocolates on the pillows, flowers next to the bed and fresh clean bedding to snuggle into at the end of a long, fun filled day.







We had plenty of room for all our stuff and we quickly made it look like a home from home!





The other benefit of Boutique Camping was the showers. Lovely hot showers that we only had to queue 10 minutes for, pure luxury!

The yurt was expensive but as this is to be our only holiday this year I figured I would have spent just as much on a holiday cottage.

We spent an extraordinary amount of time in the kid's field as it was the kid's entertainment that was the main attraction for going. There was so much for the children to do and the atmosphere in the whole festival was very family friendly. The views everywhere you looked were wonderful too as we had the sea and a beautiful castle as backdrops.

We had Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's River Cottage Cafe tent

The fabulous Wonderland Inn with their comfortable day beds strewn with cushions.

The Art tent where you could paint your wishes

Swingboats

Animal mask making

Cake decorating in the WI tent

Meeting Justin Fletcher aka Mr Tumble

Fancy Dress

and more adult orientated attractions like Breakfast at The River Cottage Cafe (yes we saw Hugh)

The sewing tent

The knitting tent

Howard Marks reading Fairy Stories (surreal)

Dancing to Gilles Peterson's set in The Bollywood tent whilst drinking Pimms

The gorgeous and wonderful Florence and the Machine

Afternoon tea at the Tofflins Tent. Tea and cabaret extravaganza

.....where Alfie got dragged up onto the stage by a burlesque dancer who blew him a kiss when he got back to his seat. Luckily he had face paint on so you couldn't see him blushing!

Bon Iver on the Big Screen (where I sat with Lizzy, colouring in!)

Will Young the Ringmaster

...........and just hanging out in the sunshine, for we had 2 and a half days of it, people watching.







Sunday's weather was a bit wetter and we dodged the showers but that didn't dampen our spirits and we were treated to set from Candi Staton and Chic, followed by Rob da Bank's set complete with dancers from the English National Ballet and topped off with the most spectacular firework display ever. They went on for 20 minutes, accompanied by great music courtesy of Rob, set against the castle. All in all the most fabulous weekend. I can't wait for next year's offering.

Here for you all is the first 6 minutes of the fireworks, enjoy x

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Drawers and other thrifty finds!

Lately I have found myself drawn to drawers (pardon the pun)! I find this often happens to me. I decide I want to find something and then I find loads of them. Are we drawn to them or do they find us I wonder? Anyway, I have been finding lots of sets of little drawers on my thrifting travels and have had great fun painting them in Cath Kidston furniture paints. They will hold my buttons and other lovelies when I go to textile fairs.





I have also found a few more Sylko Cotton reel drawers to add to my collection. They hold all my vintage wooden cotton reels, which are colour coordinated.



Shelves have also been calling to me and I have been stacking them in the garage ready to paint up and put in the house. This little set is my most recent find and I am undecided whether to paint them or leave them with their chippy blue gloss intact.



I have also found some little bits to add to my vintage toy and kitsch collection like this cat who looks very pleased with herself!



3 flying swallows which makes a change from the 3 flying ducks that I usually find.






Little wooden boats. I find them irresistible and can never pass them by if I see them.




These posters are adorable. I love the faces. Those were the days, when children all looked like they had stepped from an Enid Blyton book! I think some of these will be coming to the Vintage and Handmade Fair in November if I can bear to let them go.







This little bed was a great find and is now in the newly tidied playroom filled with Lizzy's favourite dolls snuggled under their quilt and crocheted blankets.


I didn't find these sweet dolls, they were given to me by the daughter of a dear friend of mine, Barbara, a fellow fabricaholic, who sadly died this year.



Lastly, it will be my blog's 4th anniversary, or blogoversary, on Saturday. I cannot believe I have been writing this blog for so long. I am equally amazed at how many people read it. When I started this I did it to update my sister who lives in USA and my friend who had just moved to France. I didn't think for a minute that anyone else would ever be interested in my ramblings. It has been a great experience. I have met so many lovely bloggers both over the internet and in person. It has brought like minded people into my life that I would not have otherwise met being at that time a new mum living in the middle of nowhere.

To celebrate this with me just leave me a comment, say hi, spread some love and I will put all the names in a hat on the 31st July and the first one out will get one of my goodie bags filled with vintage fabric scraps, buttons, ribbons etc. So, come on, say hi, you never know it could be you! Pin It

Fabrics

One thing I love to do is to make piles of fabrics. I love the way they look together all piled up. This week I had to take some photos for an upcoming article in the new magazine 'Sew'. Here are those plus a few more that I found in my archives. Delicious!

(click to enlarge)

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Flea Market Finds

Yesterday was a great Father's Day for me, I got to leave the kids with their Father and as I have no contact with my own Father I was not expected to visit him. So, I popped to Shepton Mallet with Mum to visit the flea market!

It was a lovely sunny day when I left home and for the first part of the morning it remained that way so Mum and I strolled (rather fast) round the outside stalls. I have my fabric blinkers on when I first go around and sometimes come back for another look at other bits and bobs. In the afternoon it started to rain so we went indoors.

It was a huge market this time and we were still wandering around at 2.30pm as the stallholders were packing away so fast strolling is the order of the day! There were lots of familiar faces both behind and in front of the stalls and I got to meet a few bloggers, some for the first time, which was lovely. I saw Niki there who had already been back to her car once to load up and hadn't finished shopping so I am sure she will have some goodies to share with us on her blog. I forgot to take many photos as I get overexcited at these markets and forget that I have a camera! I did remember when I got to Lizzie's stall though so here some pictures of her and I together and her stall with those famous green shelves.





I bought some wonderful textiles and loads of them, some beautiful bits from Sue's stall. I spent a small fortune overall but I love everything that I bought and they will all go on the website eventually. Here are some pictures of them.

Quilt pieces

Old French Florals and Ticking

Horrockses Brushed Cottons

Vintage Kid's Fabrics

Fab Fifties Fabrics

Fifties Abstracts

Fifties Roses

More Fab Fifties

1960's Fabrics

Faded Florals and Paisleys

Gorgeous Floral Quilts

Lovely old Wooden Bobbins from Courtaulds

More Union Jacks than you can shake a stick at!

2 Pairs of Brentleighware Ballet Shoes (I already have a red pair)

And last but not least, see that lovely old French cot/daybed? It came home with me!

It currently resides in Lizzy's bedroom and will be her little sofa but will probably be borrowed from time to time as a prop for my stalls. I would have preferred a vintage quilt on it but knowing how rough my two little ones are on the furniture I have opted for a new polka dot one which is more durable.


All in all well worth the 2 hour drive I would say. I wish it were a little nearer to me as I always have a big headache by the time I get home due to the long drive. There is always a great atmosphere and lots of colourful characters. If you haven't been yet do try and visit, it's great fun!

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Threshold

I love my front door at this time of year. Roses cascade down each side, honeysuckle scent hits me as I come out and this year we have foxgloves. We haven't planted them and goodness knows where they have come from but they are so beautiful.

(The children have been given strict instructions to look and not touch, which seems to have worked as Lizzy tells me, 'You mustn't touch the digitalis or you will die'!)




What does your door look like? Pin It

Janet Bolton at Cowslip

Last weekend I took my annual trip to Cowslip for the Janet Bolton naive applique course. I have attended this course every year for the past 5 years. It has become more than just a sewing course as I meet up with now dear friends who live far away. Pennie is in Sussex and Janet is in Oxford. We met on the course and it is so lovely when we meet up again. It's like no time has passed at all, we just take up where we left off. We sew and chat and catch up with each other's lives. It is always a treat to be at Cowslip as it is the loveliest place on earth to be. Some of you may have seen Jo, who runs Cowslip on the Hand Made Home programme with Kirsty Allsop. She was the lovely lady who made the quilt.



I have sometimes struggled with my pieces over the years and have come away with unfinished pieces, vowing to get them finished before the next course. This has not always happened and so I went along with 3 unfinished pieces and an idea for my next piece. I put my unfinished pieces to one side and my new piece just flowed. I knew what I wanted to do and for once I did not struggle with it, it was a joy. I also finished 2 other pieces from previous years which means I now have 4 finished pieces and one to finish.

Let me show you what I have made so far.

(Click on photos to enlarge)

2004 - I made a piece featuring my two children, Jazz and Alfie who were 14 and 4 at the time. I made them on a beach flying kites, Jazz has lost hers. This piece is framed and hangs in our bathroom.




2006 - By this time I had had another baby, Lizzy and so I made a picture of her, on the beach with me. We have spotted Jazz's kite! This piece has been unfinished until now and is ready for framing.


2007 - I decided to unite my children on the beach. This was not a good year for me, I had things going on in my life that were making me unhappy and to this day this piece remains unfinished. It was twice the size but once I cut it down I could see how it could work. I will finish it.




2008 - I wanted to try making my three bubbas on the beach again and this time it worked. I didn't get to finish it until a few days before I went to Cowslip.

For those of you that know this area they are standing on Instow beach with Appledore across the estuary.




2009 - The final piece was inspired by Albert Lamorisse's film from 1954 called The Red Balloon or Le Balon Rouge. I was asked to source some fabrics for the Royal Opera House's production of The Red Balloon and as research I watched this charming film again. I hadn't seen it in years. If you want to see it, it's not long, watch it on YouTube.

So my final piece features my three chasing the red balloon.


I hadn't realised until now that I always place Jazz first, Lizzy in the middle and Alfie leading. I wonder why?

These pictures are definitely a series and I have used some of the same fabrics in each one to link them. They tell a story and document my children's lives over the past 5 years.

Here's the lovely Janet holding my piece. She really is the most wonderful and inspiring person. I adore her. I have already signed up for next year!

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