Summer Speed

Can't believe it's been a few months since the last blog post - I seem to have got caught up in a house move, a leaking roof, trying to gain some inroads into overgrown garden borders, holidaying in the rain, and wishing all my tomatoes would ripen before autumn heads this way.

Seemed to manage to coordinate the absurdities of the UK summer weather when we took our family holiday by dodging showers in the Castle, ensconcing ourselves in the Butterfly Sanctuary when buckets of rain were non-stop and lazing on the beach (after battling with the worse-for-wear beach shelter - who says the tent poles needed that elastic cord) when the sun deemed to pay us a visit.



Oh and the ice-cream helped.

Handm@de Cambridge Panic

Eek only 2 days til the Handm@de Cambridge Craft Fair and yes, panic has set in. The fair comes hot on the heels of other hectic life stuff - selling house, new job, usual mundane life events that may have contributed to a recent bout of insomnia and strange 3 am thoughts about wardrobes and crochet.

Needless to say the last few days have been a whirlwind of crochet hooks and wool and sewing and making labels and hunting for a tablecloth (still unseen - must delve deeper into the back of the airing cupboard).



The Handm@de Cambridge craft fair will be held on April 4th 2009 at the Guildhall from 11am to 5pm - more info can be found on the blog here.

So if you've go nothing planned on Saturday do come along, loads of hand crated goodness, and also the chance of picking up a free goodie bag if you're one of the first 200 people to come to the fair on Saturday - see you then!

Buckle Up

I have been shopping again. Not your usual jaunt down to the supermarket to stock up on teabags and muesli, but a foray into the world of vintage buckles.



Over the past week little parcels full of buckles have been arriving, and I'm really pleased with some of the colours, shapes, patterns and general cute buckleness of them.



This latest obsession of mine started off with a fondness for buttons, which somehow has expanded into buckles...where next I wonder?



I've used some of the buckles for some wool belts which I've put in my Etsy shop, I'm also working on a way of adding them to my clutch bags - I'll post pics here when I come up with a good design.
Meanwhile I have vintage shops to scour....

That 70's Vibe Again...

As a child of the 70's I seem to be inextricably drawn towards fabric prints that take me back to that era - I view them through my nostalgia tinted glasses and exclaim "how wonderful!" whist others may tut "oh how not very modern".

On one of my recent forays into a fabric shop I stumbled across this wonderful yellow fabric that was printed with strange brown and grey birds - the images reminded me of a chopping board I'm sure my mum used to have (she'll have to correct me on that one if my memory is mistaken!)

And so my Retro Bird Clutch Bag was born - I added a hand crocheted band of wool, a brown vintage button and hey presto, this is the finished result:





I added the bag to my Etsy shop yesterday, but this wasn't the only 70's style fabric I found on my travels - more retro bags will be on their way!

Hold The Front Page

Yeah one of my favourite brooches made it to the front page of etsy - and I missed it! Luckily there is a flickr group which saves screenshots of the etsy front pages so if you miss your moment of glory you can catch it later.



This was a treasury picked by dandyapple, I love the selection and the colour theme. The brooch has now been sold, time for me to get crafting I think and make more!

Head Turning

Skies are grey and that nip in the air is sure to tingle your ears. Me being one of short hair notices it most. Hats are a must.

I crocheted quite a few hats for the last few craft fairs I did this year and they were pretty much all snapped up - I had a colour scheme ranging from blues to lilac to pink to brown (something to suit everyone.

So I thought I'd better get that crochet hook out and make a few for my online shops:





And I have a cupboard full of more lovely wools that are just crying out to be made into a hat - though I seem to spend too much time deliberating on colour schemes. Perhaps I should just add a big sign to my shops saying "tell me your favourite colour and I'll make you a hat!"

It's a Retro World Out There

I adore fabric shops, I adore browsing online fabric stores and I adore my fabric cupboard. I love fabrics of all textures and colours, and sometimes I stumble across one that I really like. I was totally wowed by this retro print fabric when I saw it, with its cirlces and one of my favorite colour combinations, brown and pink. I've made a few bags with the material and this is my latest one:



It's currently for sale in my etsy shop (new in today!) I've also made some brooches and iPod covers with the fabric that look suitably 70ish. I shall photograph them, weather permitting - go away grey skies I need to take photos - and put them in my etsy and folksy shops soon.

A Little Bit Of Sunshine Goes A Long Way

Typical conversation overheard between any two people in the UK:

"Terrible summer we're having"
"All this rain..."
"One week of sunshine and that was it.."
"Not as bad as last year though"
"True. But nearly as bad"

Oh yes we remain obsessed with the weather, the lack of a consistent spell of glorious sunshine that we all remember used to occur throughout all our school days (honest, 6 weeks of complete sunshine! It's true really!)

And when I discovered a little yellow wooden heart in my box of bits I was inspired to create my own ray of sunshine:




A little summer brooch - carry your own sunshine yellow with you!

I've put it in my Etsy shop today. Create your own weather!

Coffee And Cream

Maybe the sandy beaches of my recent trip to Northumberland have still been on my mind for my latest creations seem to be in shades of cream, beige and sand. It all began with a rummage in my material cupboard to find a piece of this flower print fabric in subtle shades, which just had to be made into this little clutch bag.



Then with the same material I used one of the flower prints to make this brooch, I also added a few machine stitches to highlight the centre of the flower.



And last but not least I crocheted this wrist cuff in pure wool, and added some surface crochet in brown wool.



I've divided them up between my Etsy and Folksy shops and listed them there today.

Skinny Scarves

Now that the weather here is slowing turning it's face towards the warmer spring vibes, I began to have The Scarf Dilema.

You know the one - "Mmm, I can see the sun but that breeze still feels chilly to me. I don't think my neck is ready to go naked - but am I going to look daft with a thick winter scarf?"

So I crocheted myself a thin little number, using a lovely soft merino/angora blend of wool, and how happy am I with the results!

Wrapped around my neck once, looks like it almost could be there just for decorative effects, yet those cool breezes do not bother me oh no.

And small enough to stash in my bag should the sun shine enough to warrant a naked neck.

So I thought I'd make a few more, and will put them for sale at my sister's craft fair in a few weeks time.
Then, crocheting time permitted (its all go go go agghhh craft fair soon have I made enough things!) I will make some for my Etsy shop.