Happy treasury

Thanks Quercus for including me your happy treasurey! I love your spiral rings!

New shopping bags....

Woof! Woof! Here comes Poppy the dog to give you a hand with your shopping. I've applied the vintage dog pattern I have been using to make some sturdy shopping bags.

I had fun adding secret buttons to them...

And added some cats too...

I still have a few dog bags left , so have listed them in my shop. More pics from Winchester and Handmade Winchester craft fair to follow.

Greetings...

Planning my display for Handmade Winchester!


I had lots of fun making this bunting, especially cutting out the felt letters. I can see why designers like Lupin like using felt so much, it's very satisfying to work with, and there are so many lovely colours. I'm also finding I prefer hand sewing to sitting at my sewing machine so will be exploring more opportunities for this in my work.



I took these photos on the roof of the B&B I stayed the day before Winchester - the bedroom windows led onto a flat roof, but there wasn't a wall so it was a bit scary! I had to remember not to step back too far!

all in together girls...

...never mind the weather girls... is a skipping song. And the reason why I have been a bit absent from here as I have been involved in a local oral history project and interviewing people who have lived all their lives in the area since the 1930s. Meeting and hearing the stories from such lovely people has been a great privilege, and a wonderful experience as the streets around me have come alive with layers of history and stories. Here's one for now, as I must get back to cutting, sewing and stitching for Handmade Winchester this weekend....

"Two of the mum’s would take down a washing line that went the whole length of their garden and one mum would stand on one side of the road and the other on the opposite side. And one would start and call ‘all in together girls, never mind the weather girls’ and the whole while the rope was tuning. We would all jump in. Until we were all in, seven or even ten girls."

(Photo by Kryn Taconis)

All in together girls

Never mind the weather girls

When I call your birthday, please jump in!

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December!

Do you remember any games from your childhood? What about French skipping with a loop of elastic? Or playing ball against a wall? Do you remember the chants that went with them?

Garlic for gloves and depressed carrots...

We had so much fun on Saturday, and were once again, completely entranced by everyone's imagination and creativity.

We had over 40 entrants who carved, stuck, cut and squished vegetables and fruits into all manner of wondrous creations.

It was really hard to choose winners from all of these.

First prize, and winner of Hatastic's carrot top fascinator went to this beautiful jack-in-the green, patiently made from layers of spinach, courgette and broccoli and topped with broad bean tresses.

Second prize went to this broccoli monster, made by one of the youngest entrants. It looks a bit scary with the spikey tomato mouth and I think perhaps it's a manifestation of how lots of children feel about broccoli which is fast becoming the brussel sprout of 21st Century kids...

And third prize to the adorable Miss Pepper. It was hard to resist her jaunty hat and carrot peel bow, not to mention the ingenious use of broad bean eyelets embedded in the garlic head for her alluring eyes...

Runners up included this lovely elephant. Our first entry and a favorite with everyone who visited...

This family entry is a crocolator with very busy eyebrows.

and here is a sweet mousie...

a depressed carrot with sad eyes...

and this boxer relaxing in his melon armchair, but ready for action with his onion headband and garlic gloves.

Thanks again everyone for all your support. We raised £102 for epilepsy charities and all had a vegtastic time! More pics over on flickr.

Animal or vegetable...

Vegetables donated by Abel and Cole arrive today... don't they look yummy! And I didn't even try the tasty looking cherries. All of these are destined to be carved, shaped, cut and molded into vegtabulous creations at tomorrows Furzedown Funday, raising money for epilepsy charities.

The response of Folksy sellers to my request for donations of prizes for our animal vegetable competition has been overwhelming. I have been touched by the thoughtfulness, kindness, generosity and creativity of fellow Folksters.

And just look at these amazing prizes... We have one of Lapwing Printworks lino prints along with a hand printed notebook and letterpress and lino printed seed envelopes.

Handmade creatures from oddsox and treaclezoo.

Artwork from Fatema and Natnat...

One of Glassprimitif's glass fish, a Silky Prudence jug cover and a ZennithZark Knitted bag.

And sparkles galore from from Gladwyn, AkomaDesigns and Christals.

Thanks to everyone for your donations, including Hatastic who is featured in the previous post.

It will not rain tomorrow!

Vegtastic!

Here's a peek at one of the prizes on offer at our Animal Vegetable competition...

...a vegtabulous fascinator donated very kindly from the talented Hatastic. Pics of more lovely prizes to follow... In the meantime, preparations underway... just spoke to Abel and Cole who are packing some boxes of veggies for me, uncrumpling the bunting, dusting down the gazebo, making some prize winner rosettes, and a special dog to add to the prizes.