The sun has got his hat on hip hip hip hooray, the sun has got his hat on and Julie Arkell is coming on Sat-ur-day!!

Woohoo today is a much cheerier day than the dreary rainy days we have had this week!

On friday mornings, just after we drop off a school a group of mums go for our Friday morning power walk, (nothing to intense, about 40 minutes to an hour depending where we go of brisk walking).  Its a nice chance for a chat and a catch up, with some feel-good exercise thrown in, and this morning the sun was shining and I saw my first swallow of the year skimming the fields!

On the way home I felt justified in stopping for a chocolate croissant to have with a big cup of tea when I got home and was doubly pleased to see The Fishman back at my local farm shop.  He comes all the way from Grimbsby with fish fresh from the market that morning on the back of his van, and his fish is the freshest and The Best. For a while he stopped coming as he didn't get enough support, so I'm telling everyone he's back so hopefully he'll stay this time!  I picked up some seabass which I'm going to do with some smashed new potatoes and lemony green beans for tea. Yum.

I also took a bit of deviation to my local The Works where I picked up this book which I am looking forward to flicking through on the sofa tonight. Isn't the cover pretty! Nice price too x

Back home now, big cup of tea and chocolate croissant going down nicely, and thinking about all my chores I want to get done and out of the way I can enjoy my day tomorrow guilt free. A workshop with one of my favourite artists! Yipee!  Yes the wonderful Julie Arkell will be at Hope and Elvis again and I can't wait!  I did a workshop with her last year, pics of our day are here.

I've been ooohing and aaahing over all the photographs lucky bloggers who have visted have posted of her recent exhibition "I've dusted the Farmyard in Liverpool" and am so looking forward to seeing what she will be bringing with her!  (Hop over to Lemonade Kitty for some lovely pics of the exhibition and she was lucky enough to come away as an owner of a beautiful piece!).

Last summer some of Julie's pieces were on display at a gallery near to me

and (after huge deliberation!) I treated myself to The Day I Nearly Lost Poor Lamby.

which takes pride of place in my sitting room x  Have a lovely weekend folks!

Specs Appeal!

Wow what an amazing day! I've just stepped outside to take some photos and its like a summers day!

With two upcoming craft fairs (one this weekend and one the following weekend), I realized I'd better get busy with some new things for my stand.

Today I've been using this gorgeous linen that I bought last week from one of my favourite quilt shops to combined with pretty liberty prints to make these lined specs cases!  

 They are appliqued and then handstitched and I had such fun drawing all the different style specs.

  The Rose Edna Everage stylee ones are my favourite.

 Which are yours?!

 I also made some cute little heart key rings to match.  

Thats a start anyway! Lots more to do before Saturday...  

Off to take my diet coke outside now for and catch some sun for the last half hour before school pick up, clubs and mum tax service starts.

Enjoy your day x0x

Hair Clip Organiser Tutorial

I thought I'd blog about something which caused a lot of comments on my stall on Saturday, (mostly "Oh what a good idea - I could make that") so I thought I'd show you and tell you how I made it.

Its a hairclip organiser!

 This is one I made one originally for my daughter, as every morning we have a frantic search at half past eight for school hair clips (preferably two that match) no matter how often they are replenished seem to vanish into thin air never to be seen again.

This is the one I made for my stall on Saturday.  Its so easy and you can probably see immediately how its made, (so it feels a bit silly calling it a tutorial!).

Find a nice frame, this one used to be gold I think, and paint it your colour of choice. I like to use spray paint or Annie Sloan paint.

Take the backing board and add some wadding to pad it out slightly, then staplegun your chosen fabric and the ribbons to hold the clips onto the back of the board.

Cover up the back of the board with some felt, (I glued this) and that's it!

A pretty solution to the hair clip problem!

If you'd like one but don't feel like making one, I will be putting this one for sale in my Etsy Shop!

Sally xox

Our Country Show

Yesterday I had a stand at our local Country Show, and despite a few heavy showers, the sun shone in between and it was a great day.  Luckily I was in the Craft tent, which quickly filled up everytime the heavens opened. Would you like to see some pics of my things?

  Free machined and appliqued rosettes

Sleepy Creatures, Strawberry tea cozies and bunting 

"Hot off the press" Bunting Hire leaflets, Vintage Twinkle Bunting, Cards & Giftwrap

Lovely display for the 160th Show outside the exhibition tent 

 Crocheted bunting, peg bags, sweetheart sewing kits, and my most popular item, my Tooth Fairy Pillows with a secret pocket (which I am now pleased to be selling through www.dorothyandtheodore.com, a beautiful new website showcasing selected handmade special products for children).

Quilted placemats, crochet monster egg cozies, christmas stocking garlands (I did worry it was a bit too early, but apparently not!, patchwork bobble hearts, patchwork notebooks, doorstops, napkin rings! Phew!

And heres my stall! My husband made the two display units for me which have been so useful.

Fab day, great people, lovely comments = happy and tired me! 

Don't panic!

One week to go until my next craft fair and I haven't got a great deal in stock!

Luckily my wonderful parents in law are looking after the children today and I am looking forward to spending the day whizzing away upstairs on my sewing machine. Here are a couple of things I did manage to make this week.

Some button and pearl brooches and a kiltpin brooch..

And can you hear the

its the first of my christmas collection!

one of my mini christms stocking garlands with jingle bells!

Have a lovely day everyone. Strictly's back tonight too, whoo hoo! xxx

The shopping has been unpacked...

...and this is what I bought at the NEC on Saturday. There were so many fantastic stalls there you could have spent hours just shopping. While dashing around the stands, I heard someone exclaim "thats one of mine!", and who should it be but the lovely Helen (HenHouse) and her equally lovely sister. I was wearing one of her pretty brooches! We had lovely chat, and they told me all about this amazing new presser foot for sewing curves at The Cotton Patch - I did go and watch the demo H, it looked really simple to use, can't wait to hear how you get on with it!

Here are my purchases. Some gorgeous polka dot fabric for some polka dot birthday bunting..

Some lovely red white and blue fabric for a custom bunting order for an event...

Some Aurfil threads that I have heard a lot about and have been dying to try, they are made in Italy and are totally gorgeous

A telephone, no not really, I bet you know that its a suction handle thingy to stop your ruler slipping when you're rotary cutting..

And last a little treat, a gorgeous kit to make this mini quilt, which I'm going to make as a wall hanging, couldn't resist the liberty prints.

That's my haul, looking forward to getting sewing!

Summer Holiday Bunting!

Hello again! We're back. We've just returned from a fabulous week in Devon, it was so sunny it felt like we could easily have been somewhere in the mediterranean!

An unfortunate accident the week before the school holidays with our poor caravan, meant we weren't able to go for our intended two week break in the caravan to a family site near Brixham, and instead we enjoyed a fantastic week in a beautiful hotel just down the coast from our planned location. Oh what a treat! Breakfast cooked for us, fantastic evening meals and a beautiful pool. What more could you ask for in the sunshine, we were thoroughly spoilt. I spent a lovely time sitting by the pool crocheting (heaven!) whilst the children swam all day long. We had a fantastic time, here are a few pics.

Covering our toes on the beach

The famous afternoon tea!

Just look at that view from the dining room!

Whilst we were away I took some crochet (of course) and whiled away the sunny hours by the pool whilst the children swam crocheting these granny triangles which I made into bunting, and put into my Etsy shop today!

(Just for those of you that I've already mentioned the poor caravan too, all is not lost, its not written off and is going to be repaired and we are looking forward to hopefully getting her back in September!).

Robin Red Stall

Today I had a stand at the village Family Fun Day, and was lucky to be inside a marquee (the weather forecast wasn't very optimistic!). Despite the ominous forecasts, we were very lucky, just a couple of quick showers (which drew people into the tent!) and everyone had a really good day, with tractor rides, village games, a bouncy castle, dog show and the village stocks.

I really enjoyed having a stand, sold many things, and had some lovely comments, some custom orders and invitations to other future events, so a very successful day!

I was so engrossed in making sure I had everything ready and it was all set up properly, I forgot to have breakfast and didn't stop for lunch, and forgot to defrost our dinner! Luckily we have a really good farm shop down the road and I picked a couple of steaks for tea, which I am really looking forward to!

Thanks to everyone who came to see me today, had a bit of a chat, and bought some of my things, it was a really lovely day xx

Getting Ready

Things have been soooo busy here, over the last couple of weeks, our driveway has gone from this

to this

I'm really looking forward to planting it up, but have decided to wait until the Autumn especially for the shrubs and the evergreens. I have planted some pots though on our new patio and its nice to see the bees buzzing round them.

The twins have been away at Beaver Camp. This was their first ever time away (apart from Nana and Grandads) and they had to pack themselves.It really amused me the difference in how they packed their bags. Son - opens his pants drawer tips entire contents into his bag, then a few pairs of socks, adds a lego magazine, essential toys and sweets. Yes, he says he's done. Daughter - makes detailed list which she asks everybody in the house to double check, then ticks everything off one by one as it is neatly packed into the bag.

(I tried to sneak some maltesers in her bag as a treat when she got there, but she caught meand ordered I take out again as they weren't allowed sweets!) (By the way I did check and repack my sons bag!).

Then there was the little matter of picking up our caravan from being serviced, driving a few miles down the road and it coming off the towbar and going into the back of our car... The caravan trip to Devon in the first couple of weeks of the school holidays has now been postponed :-(

But apart from all that, on the crafting front, I have been madly crocheting bunting, sewing strawberries, knitting tea cozies and making patchwork covered notebooks ready for my stall at this weekends village Family Fun Day. I'm so looking forward to it and I've had some lovely comments from friends who have had a look at my things in my shop and on my blog so I just hope people like my things!

Tomorrow I want to decide how I'm going to display everything and have a practice set up so I thought today was the day I had to paint the shelves my husband has made me,

print and laminate some labels

and do a little stock check.

Now I'm just going to cross my fingers and hope the rain doesn't stop play on the day! Have a good weekend everybody xx

Wimbledon tea cozies & sleepy creatures!

I have been busy beavering away trying to stock up for my next craft fair. Here a few things I've finished!

Sleepy creatures!

Tea cozies, cup of tea anyone, perfect for a cup of tea whilst watching the tennis!

This yarn is gorgeous is supersoft Rooster Almerino (50% Baby Alpaca and 50% merino wool), beautiful to knit with. ( I have three tea cozies).

Custom order bunting to match a kitchen..

And lot of other things, more bunting, iphone cozies, zipped pouches, lavender bags, peg bags, crocheted bunting, cuddly bunnies and aprons all of which I still need to photograph! Phew! I am enjoying it though and seemed to have developed a system that works for me of making sure whatever I'm working on is all cut out and ready the night before so that the next day I can sit down and sew straight away in the morning. Otherwise I tend to waste time dithering about what I'm going to make before I actually start doing it. Bags tomorrow!