Month: January 2012

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It’s all Yellow…

I have spent the day so far cleaning, not as in the last post nice spring cleaning but necessary monotonous cleaning.  It’s dull and I’m bored of it now so I’ve sneaked back into the studio to do a quick post of some new goodies in the shop.

I mentioned in the last post that I had other plans for the new yellow floral fabric and one of those was a small batch of linen mice, I generally need to re-stock these and I plan to mostly stick with the original dots for the girls but I couldn’t resist a few in yellow for spring.

I also made some new Little Birds using the above as a lead for the colours

all pinks, yellows and some purple.

They have been mounted on their cards,

photographed (badly, very dodgy tones there, one to re-photograph on a brighter day) and listed in the shop.  I have also listed them on Folksy and was pleased to find some orders waiting for me this morning, it’s always nice when new things sell, means I’ve got them right.

OK, back to the cleaning and then school run, where does the time go?  I think this week si going to fly by 🙂

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Spring Cleaning…

Spring is most definitely all around at the moment.  I haven’t listened to any music today, just the birds which are making rather a lot of chatter and with the sun streaming through the studio glass, it is making me very happy.  It wont last, apparently, we are due some low temperatures in the coming days but the general mild temperatures and sping-like feel has made me very enthusiastic to clean both the house (I know, it’s a miracle!) and my shop.

As always I like to start the new year with new colours, and often this is inspired by a fabric.  In this year’s case it’s a lovely sunny yellow (airing on the mustard side, I don’t do any other kind of yellow, especially not acid coloured) ‘Daisy Garland’ from the ‘Just Dandy’ collection by Josephine Kimberling for Robert Kaufman bought from M is for Make.  I love it and have gone a bit overboard with my plans for it’s use, but for now, I’m starting with lavender birds.

I pretty much also always start the year with new birds, I like to change the ones I have here hanging around the house and it fits in with the spring cleaning vibe I’m feeling.

I have also batched up some birds in the fabulous ‘Sophie’ by Chez Moi for Moda.

I’m surprised I like this print so much as I generally prefer a more graphic style.  It reminds me of an old-fashioned painted gypsy caravan, a painter in a village near used to own one and I was in love with is as a child, each time we visit Groombridge I imagine rescuing one of the rather dilapidated ones they have as part of their woodland walk and bringing it back home to return it to it’s former glory.

They were a nightmare to cut, the floral pattern is large and it was difficult to make sure each bird had a fair share of flowers verses background, but I do like the result so it was worth the slight fabric wastage involved.

Both birds are listed here.

On a completely random note, I just discovered that Susan Hill, who wrote ‘The Magic Apple Tree’, one of my favourite books, was also the writer of ‘The Women in Black‘ which for some reason surprised me (I haven’t read any of her fictional work so I didn’t know she had written such a famous ghost story).  I only discovered this after coming across a trailer for the new film version starring Daniel Radcliffe, weirdly I am one of the few not to have seen the stage play, but I did watch the TV version back in 1989  which was shown on Christmas Eve when everyone was out except my brother and me, we ended up so scared he slept in my room on the put up bed.  I have never forgotten it and can remember every detail to this day.  There you go, bit of random chatter for you there and my, hasn’t Daniel grown up! 😉

 

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Gifts given and received…

I thought I’d blog some of the gifts given and gratefully received this year.

First up we have a couple of things I bought for my sister, a Dachshund wheatdog in lambswool check which I’d seen in Country Living and though would be a lovely gift.  It comes from Indigo and Rose and smells lovely as well as being nice and toasty after a couple of minutes in the microwave.

The bowl is a Robert Thompson (know as the ‘Mouseman of Kilburn’) nut bowl.  For those that don’t know about him, Robert Thompson was an early 20th Century furniture maker who was famous for carving a wooden mouse into the things he made.  As children my sister and I used to visit Hubberholme church with my Gran where we would hunt for the carved mice on the pews, the church is also where a lot of my family are buried, including my Gran’s ashes and even though it’s quite far ‘up Dale’ from where our family now live we still enjoy hunting the mice when we get the chance to visit.  It’s not an original bowl but one made by the Robert Thompson’s Craftsmen Centre in Kilburn (North Yorkshire) where they continue make his range, all made in the traditional method.

On the receiving side, from Germany I received some fabulous Skandi goods including a Hus and Hem voucher and some hand knitted socks, all of which I love.

From family here, amongst other things some Donna Wilson gloves, a Cath Kidson pouch,

and a selection of goodies from Orla Kiely.

As you can see I was a very lucky girl, my relatives know me well.

I am now enjoying an empty house for the first time in weeks and I’m keen to tidy, de-clutter and sew.  I have opted for sewing today as the heating is off (broken boiler) so I’m sticking to areas of the house with underfloor heating and there are bright things on my desk ready to welcome the new year.

I hope to have new products to list shortly, as always I am impatient to change with the seasons and want those changes to happen now.   I feel cheated by the Winter so far this year, it’s not been that cold and there’s been no snow 😦  I am perfectly aware that there is still plenty of time for these things to happen but I’m in post Christmas clean up mood and ready prematurely for Spring and that includes new colours in the shop.

Right, best get on, things wont do themselves and no doubt this first day back will disappear in a flash and 3pm will be here before you know it 🙂