✴ to sleep, perchance...??

It would seem my little princess has a pea the size of a 'waterlemon' {her word} under her mattress judging by the amount, or lack of, sleep we have been having this week. 

We have been awake all night. No, really, ALL night! I managed to sleep for one hour before the princess awakened from her sleep of disrupted enchantment and decided enough was enough, why bother waiting for morning...

I know I should be napping now, while she {finally} is. But the problem is I just can't;

{1} a couple of hours just won't cut it and I'll feel even worse, I know it, 

{2} the chance of some quality time on the stitch with glorious peace and daylight far outweighs the bliss of sleep. Really. I know. I'm bonkers.

I made this 'Princess and the Pea' for her the Christmas before last, her first ever one. I'll admit, it was initially met with an expression of what am I supposed to do with this...?

However over time she learned the simple pleasures of flinging the mattresses to the far corners of the living room, or even at a passing cat. And now, we are almost a very grown up two and a half, we have fun with tucking the princess up into bed and kissing her 'night, night'.

It's not even finished {gasp, shock} I had wanted to embroider 'the princess' on the blanket and I was never that happy with how my princess turned out! We have seemingly lost the pillow and a couple of the mattresses {probably under the sofa or hidden by the cats}.

Despite this and although it took a little while, she loves playing with it now. I think children adore to sort and stack and this seems to fit the bill perfectly. There is nothing worse than spending time and love with every stitch of a handmade toy for it to be pushed to the side in favour of some cheap plastic tat!

{'princess and the pea' pattern from More Softies }

✴ my creative space

My creative space is below par today. With me and the little lady both coughing and sniffling ourselves through this beautifully sunny day there is little energy to get on with any of the numerous unfinished projects and ideas in the making....

As we are meeting to discuss our extension plans tomorrow it seems like a good idea for more sketching and measuring and thinking of what will go where and how...

In true 'me' style though I seem to have leapt straight from work in progress plans and scribblings to picking out colour schemes, fabrics, furniture and all that is pretty...

I'm sipping hot lemon and honey with;

The World of Interiors

Homes and Gardens

Country Living

&

 Shabby Chic Interiors

Recycled Home

Flea Market Style

Bazaar Style

My Creative Space 

✴ a quiet sunday morning...

...positively never happens in this house any more!

Good morning! I've been early {relatively} morning cleaning, tidying, sorting and hoovering with a reasonably loud Radiohead accompaniment without a considerate care towards the loud whooping, into wee hours, wii playing exuberantly joyous neighbours  !!!

Although I get nervous about being annoying and so it probably wasn't that loud at all....!

Anyhoo, it feels like a day for sorting - I'm going to tackle my wardrobe {or lack thereof} now.

Earlier this week, Ella pointed at the Queen on a ten pound note {NOT pocket money!!!} and in a quite determined way said, 'Mummy'. I feel a wardrobe sort out is long overdue...and possibly a cut and colour....and a manicure.............

These three little books seem quiet and calming, even if the house isn't. They are little Observers books of 

House Plants :: Music :: Birds.

They are just so retro and sweet and cost just a few pound from the local charity shop. I think it might be quite nice to try and collect them all.

Happy Sunday. x

More Flea Market Finds here

{edited to be kinder to apologetic neighbours}

✴ the woman in must

I live in a 1930's house, surrounded by other 1930's houses an an area which still hints at this homely and iconic era. From the quaint parade of shops and the deco style train station to the croquet lawns, allotments and the abundance of parklife.

The local charity shop, nestled within the quaint parade, is often a treasure trove of this time. Many 1930's pieces can be found there. Often tea sets and serving dishes and tureens with a crackled glaze and a pretty floral pattern.

This time I picked up these two lovely romantic ladies,

Ilka The Captive Maiden (print edition 1922) and The Woman In White (print edition 1933).

The first book struck charity shopping gold with the handwritten inscription on the front page;

To Greta Campbell Betty Millar

from Jean Robertson.

Mission S.S. "Jan. 10th 1932"

Oooohhh....Mysterious, no? Why was Greta's name crossed out? What's Mission S.S? And why was the date in quotation marks?? Curiouser and curiouser, I thought as I peered through my imaginary Miss Marple style half-moon spectacles....

I love the smell of old books. That musty damp sort of smell. I know it's not everyones cup of tea but for me it's so synonymous with old costume departments and theatres in which I have spent rather a lot of time over the years.

It particularly reminds me of work experience I did at the Royal Exchange Theatre costume hire dept when in my first year at uni. The musty old smell of the cramped rails of costumes, fresh coffee brewing in the corner and classic fm on the radio, such a sensory delve into the past!

Must noun. Mustiness, dampness, or mold: a pervasive smell of must.

More hints of must over at her library adventures.

✴ a doodle do...

{...Or how to turn a square into a triangle...}

As the baba is probably a bit too small for the festival of chocolate that soon approaches, although she'd give it a good go, I've been making some little Easter lovelies for her to enjoy this weekend instead.

I got the idea for these bean bags in a lovely book I recently had out from the library (for a little too long..Ooops!) called Green Crafts for Children.

They were going to be chickens but roosters just have more decorative bits don't you think?

As I had to return the book (before the fine got any higher...) I just made these up. Actually I made them a little big but they are still ok to be grabbed and thrown, so job done! 

They were super easy to make and I might make some even bigger and fill with sand for door stops, or some super small and fill with tea for tea bags....erm, maybe not.....

 

1. Cut two squares of fabric (6" is a good size for bean bags) 
2. Cut any decorative bits (I did rooster bits) out of contrasting fabric, felt is good. Sew bits, facing inwards, onto right side of one piece of fabric (in the corner). Applique any additional pieces now (like wings)
3. With right sides facing sew up three sides of the square (with the sewn bits in top corner) leaving an opening at the bottom.
4. Turn right sides out. Topstitch over sewn seams (if you want ) and around the felt bits - looks a bit nicer and finished off.
5. Fill with dried beans, lentils or rice, or sand (for door stops). Now fold in the edges of the open seam and instead of sewing straight (which would make a square) hold the opening in the middle and pull outwards with both hands with the bottom of the side seams in the middle and sew across that way. You could add some trim here if you fancied. I stitched in some yellow ric rac to look a bit like feet!

✴ my creative space

It's all about the B's in my space this week.

:: Bridal :: Botanical :: Beads :: Bracelets :: Baby :: Bulbs :: Birds :: Bibs :: Bias Binding :: & Blogging! ::

 After my last post I'm now sketching designs for a bridal headdress.

I'm enjoying letting my imagination go and finding inspiration in the RHS books Flora and Orchids, love, love, love those old botanical paintings.

I found a little time to sort through and finish some beaded bracelets made a while back which were boxed away with all things jewellery making when the baba was born....

....finished the binding on the bibs from last week and began some decorative birdy stitching....

.....and during a bumper baba nap this afternoon and with an unexpected brightness to a grey day I did some brisk bulb planting.

{ By the by, I thought an image of some budding blossoms a more beautiful pic than of a mound of black soil with bulbs buried below! }

Byeee.

For more creative spaces boogaloo over to kootoyoo.

✴ festive postcards

I've been buried deep in festivities over the past few weeks...

First there was a birthday (last year spent ill with flu and heavily pregnant...) then there was an anniversary (last year spent ill with flu and heavily pregnant...) then of course, christmas (last year....ok you get the message...!!).

This year...not ill, definitely not pregnant and all spent with the delights and captivation of an almost one year old! perfect!

Highlights:

• Birthday cake from Patisserie Valerie
  
• Winning Holly the Cardi Bunny from Beck of Dandelion during her giveaway! How lucky am I?
  
• A bountiful collection of new craft/cook books from Mr H;

{Stencil 101 :: Embroidered Effects :: Home-Made Vintage :: Recycled Home :: Escoffier :: Shabby Chic Interiors :: Flea Market Style ::  Bake :: Weekend Sewing :: Bazaar Style :: The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook :: Larousse Gastronomique }

• Decorating the house and making quick doily bunting!

{Fold a doily in half, open, then fold in half the other way, open, then fold in half diagonally, open, then in half diagonally the other way, open. Cut along the folds so you end up with 8 doily pizza shapes. Stick diamante/sequins/glitter on the points of each piece, repeat with different sized doilies. Thread wool/string/ribbon through the holes in the doily pieces and hang wherever...job done!}

• Anniversary retreat in the snow to The Gilpin Lodge in The Lake District.
• Managing to finish a few homemade gifts, including Kitten Kaboodle (adapted from Amy Butlers 'Birdie the Cat Pillow' free downloadable pattern here )
  
• Home cooked meals from Mum
• Watching Ella open her presents on Christmas morning (although it did take hours...)
• A snowy, misty walk down memory lane... (actually it's called Chadkirk Road....!)

• Real fires
• Boxing day party with many children!! Ella loved it!
• Snow! And most importantly....A white Christmas!!!!! Yippeeee!
• A second Christmas dinner at my mother-in-law's!!
• Spending time with friends and family.

How did you spend your festive season?

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year.

❆❆❆

✴ What's Hot & What's Not...

Hot

✴Stamping. Not the ground, or my fist, but lovely ink stamping onto paper, fabric or whatever is lying around waiting to be stamped! I bought these letter stamps from Kikki. K at the weekend.

More stamp love at

NoraJane

Rubbertrouble

Anna Griffin

Two Cheese Please 

✴PDF Purchases. I have loved an online shop called Mibo for a while now, such beautiful prints and textiles. I was delighted to discover they now have an etsy store and even more delighted to discover these make-at-home 'Christmas Creatures' available as a PDF file! Fantastic, instant Mibo love. I also have my eye on that print-it-yourself calendar...

Images Mibo 

✴The Water Babies. Or more specifically my water baby. We took Ella swimming properly at the weekend, we've dipped her toe in a few times and it's been met with an instant leg split away from the water so we were not sure how it was going to go. She loved it! Splashed her little heart out, bless.

I do love the book though as well!

The Water Babies image here

Not

✴Farewells. Saying goodbye to friends over here as we all start to leave Australia. It's been fun!

✴Packing. Again, I know, it was last weeks Not...And will most likely be next weeks Not! It has to be done....Sigh......

✴Slighty 'Off'. Waking with a very dry throat on a very grey day...Hmmmm.....Looks like it might be the perfect day to tackle that packing.....Sigh.....

Some lovely peeps have written their Hot/Nots go and have a peek at Loobylu ...

☺☹

✴ By Hook, or Buy Book!

Yesterday, we took a stroll to Broadbeach via blockbuster to return yet another slightly tedious film ('What Just Happened'  Zzzzz.....) and happened to pass the hidden away and completely out of place second hand bookshop. I say out of place because you could easily walk right past it not expecting to find such a gem of a shop nestled in amongst the strip of fast food outlets and convenience stores. But there it is, and in we ventured, pram and all...

I love second hand book shops, especially old second hand book shops, and antique shops, Oooh lovely... Think '64 Charing Cross Road' and 'The Old Curiosity Shop'.....

There is a tiny street, just off St Martins Lane that I used to walk down on my way to the London Coliseum (many Nutcracker seasons ago...) a narrow paved alleyway, shadowed on either side by tall Victorian buildings with shops beneath selling second hand books and antique prints. It's a dark and gloomy side street, and if you were to stand there and close your eyes slightly you could almost imagine you were standing in Diagon Alley looking for Olivanders Wand shop....Almost.... Maybe after a few drinks......

Anyway this shop we were in yesterday isn't old but it is lovely and has shelves overflowing from floor to ceiling with second hand books and just enough room to squeeze in a few old 70's style whicker chairs for a sit down and a quick perusal.

I picked up three children's books printed in the 40's, 50's and 60's.

Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi, illustrated by Fritz Kredel. Print Edition 1946.

The Enchanted Wood by Enid Blyton, illustrated by D.M. Wheeler. Print Edition 1950.

Best in Childrens Books by various authors and illustrators. Print Edition 1963.

The illustrations are gorgeous, so typical of each decade and evoking lost memories of childhood book reading. Obviously I wasn't around when these books were first printed (thank you!) but I do remember this era of children's books from school and the library. They always just seemed 'old' and musty back then, now I think they are FAB!

I also picked up a crochet book from the 1970's. It's soooo seventies I love it! I have a selection of craft books from the 70's, well in actual fact I shamelessly stole them from my Mum last time I was home, when I say stole what I actually mean is that I shouted 'I'm taking these..' as I shoved them into my bag before making a runner back to the distant south...

They are just so delicious... I don't know whether I love them so much because of that 70's style or if it's because they bring back so many memories of being a child in the 70's! Yes, I was around then, fair cop!

I can't help but giggle looking through these books, the models, with their soft focus, thin red lips, spider like lashes, peasant style blouses, floppy hats and maxi skirts... The home decor, of oranges and browns, dried flowers in homemade pot vases, crocheted doilies, spider plants and whicker chairs....Love it!

The Complete Guide To Crochet edited by Pam Dawson