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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Alfie

Yesterday was the 9th Birthday of my tousle-haired, rascal of a son. Happy Birthday Alfie, my beautiful boy xxx Pin It

Poundbury

Last week I got up at 4.30 am and travelled the 2 hours+ to Dorchester to set up a stall at Poundbury. As if the ungodly hour was not enough, my normally reliable and safe car decided to play up badly and I literally limped my way there. I had a problem with my automatic gears so that I was stuck in a high gear. This meant crawling up hills at 20 miles per hour!!! Pulling away from roundbouts and junctions wasn't fun either. I have no break down cover as this is one of those things I was going to get round to. Luckily Mum and Saff were coming to see me later in the day so I phoned them and told them that I may need rescuing.

I set up my stall and decided not to think about the journey home until I had to! It was a great day, very sunny, wonderful turnout and the usual mix of very interesting people both on the stalls and customers. I loved my stall and had far more space than I had given myself in the kitchen when I did my mock up. I took some photos but I am sorry that they aren't up to much. I blame the early start and traumatic journey!
















Linda has some wonderful pictures on her blog of the downstairs, outdoor, stalls which looked like a lovely French brocante, and Lizzie has some more of upstairs. There were some real treasures, some of which came home with me.



One of my customers is this talented lady who makes the most stunning dolls. She sent me photos of a doll she has since made using the fabric she bought from me on Wednesday. Beautiful isn't she? Look at all the work that has gone into this creation.







........... and the journey home? Fine! No problems at all although I have to admit I felt much safer with my escort home. Cars huh?!! Pin It

Happy

Things that are making me happy today.............

These beautiful union jack cushions from Louise Loves



My new vintage fabric buttons from Allison set on cards designed by Claire



I am off to Poundbury tomorrow to sell fabrics to the good people of Dorchester. I have to be up at some ungodly hour so an early night is in store for me tonight! Here is a mock up of my stall.








Did you spot that cheeky baby Olivia peeking out while I practise my stall? She's another reason to be happy, what a gorgeous, easy going, little baby she is!


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Baby Olivia

 

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Olivia

I have been rather busy and distracted of late. The main reason for this is the arrival of my little niece, Olivia, and my sister, Saff, who are over from USA. It is the first time we have met baby Olivia. My three are absolutely smitten with their new cousin and can't keep their hands off her! Pin It

Vintage Bling

Well my Open House Sale is over. Here I am with my lovely helper and daughter Jasmine.



It was a rip roaring success and I would like to thank everyone who came to it and made it such a great event. It was wonderful to see people coming together and making new contacts. My kitchen was a hubbub of ideas and creativity as everyone shared their creative knowledge. It was a great treat for me to be part of this. Saturday was a very sociable day and the house was full all day long. I got to meet a few new bloggers like Laura and Martha and some more familiar faces such as Sue and Katie came along to support me as well. I sold loads and am now trying desperately to catch up with restocking the website as I also had a flurry of orders. This is in part due to the article I am featured in in Sew Hip. It's a great article, well written and beautifully illustrated with pictures of my fabrics. I was delighted with it.




After the sale was over and I had packed it all away there was only one thing to do. Go shopping for more! Actually I very rarely find any textiles at local bootsales and Sunday was no exception. However I did come across one stall that had what I thought was buttons on. When I got closer I realised that they were in fact earrings, clip on earrings from the 1950's. The lady had trays of them with hundreds of pairs on display. I started looking at them and when I found out the price I picked out lots of pairs. She then got out several large ice cream cartons full of cash bags, you know the ones you get in banks with change in, full of necklaces. They were the same price so I started selecting a few of those too. When I had finished looking she then told me she had another box full of bracelets. These wonderful pieces were once her mother's and she was now selling them as her mother had dementia and had just gone into a home. She was allowed 12 pieces in her room but her daughter was sure that she wasn't even aware she had those, so sad. She must have been a well turned out lady, beautifully coordinated. Here is what I bought:























Aren't they beautiful? And the price? 20p per item. Yes, that is all! I am going to treasure these bits. My girls are going to enjoy them too. What a great find don't you think? Pin It