Sunday 29 November 2009

'Tis the season.....




....to get busy!
We've had a cosy indoors kind of day today. As the wind and rain batters the outside of the house, inside is a picture of calm. Well, almost! I have been busily finishing pixie house keyrings and pins and Jonny (bless him!) has been uploading all my stock to my etsy shop, so all you lovely people can peruse and purchase to your heart's content.

You will currently find all my small bags, my medium bags and most of my "Teeny Totes" as well as a few angels in the form of "Bag Buddies" visiting their other bag buddy friends for Christmas. As soon as we can we will upload the pixie house range too.


Hope you enjoy looking!!

Sunday 22 November 2009

Nearly there...



After a long hiatus my bags will soon make it the World Wide Web! We've been photographing each one, cataloging them and generally getting organised. No mean feat with four (and a half!) children mind you! So stay tuned for the big day - wont be long now.

Sunday 5 July 2009

Duncton Fete and other matters

Saturday morning started early - Eron singing to himself in the hallway at 6am. As it was, I had to get going anyway - firstly to our school Fair to set up a display for our local Playgoup and then a dash back home in the, by then welcome rain to get ready for my first show of the year, down the road at Duncton.

By the time I arrived there at 1pm with my mum, the sun was shining again and I was delighted to find I was once again next to Jo, from Phoenix Cards - she's lovely, and I loved browsing through the beautiful designs and dreaming about one day submitting my own work to them.

The stall was visited by lots of little girls, purses full of coppers and faces full of delight! So much so, that I am busilly working on more pocket money friendly treats for next weeks show in Petworth Park. They seemed to love the Bag Buddies,(below) so I will also have to restock these and Ben has a lovely idea for Alien Bag Buddies which I have to try. I think I will be in the studio every spare moment again this week!


These little friends proved a big hit and they were just as much fun to make as the bags. The things I make have to be a joy to make. I really do love the boxes of fabric I have collected over the years, full of precious scraps of treasured cloth. Some are especially favourite pieces that I am eeking out for only the projects I have tried and tested. That's the pleasure and pain of creating things from reclaimed fabrics - once they are gone, they are gone. So I am so pleased when a little square of yellow rose cotton, or the fabulous green house curtains turns up in the bottom of a box! Every tiny piece is used as I invent ever smaller creations; hems, darts, seams are all incorporated somehow!

Tonight I have been working on hair ties using sheer and shiny fabrics, in pinks and lilacs embellished with beads and sequins. If that doesn't entice every 6 year old girl with coppers to spend, I don't know what will!

Wednesday 1 July 2009

Land Ahoy!

So, here I am, back again after a long absence from my studio. The last year has been chocked full of Little One Number Four, Noah, and to be honest, still is! I have been squeezing in time in my garden, while he sleeps, to work on my new collection of bags in readiness for a couple of shows I have coming up. So, land is on the horizon!

Way back last Summer I cut up mounds of fabric and lengths of ribbon, selected buttons and cord and folded these "kits" up into neat piles, like a squirrel getting ready to hibernate! Over the last months I have been turning these kits into beautiful bags of all sizes and colours.
It always surprises me that I can feel so thrilled to pick up the next kit from the pile, and even more thrilled to put a completed bag on the shelf! As I unfold the bundle of remnants and remember the delicious mix of ingredients I had placed together months ago, I find it easy to start work again and again.

I have also made a whole gaggle of girly dolls that would look brilliant on book bags for school. I think I may call them "Nomites" - a name my dad used to call me. When I was a little girl, I would draw "Nomites" which were essentially plump little circular figures with arms and legs sticking out of the sides! I'll see if I can dig one of my doodles out and post it!

First Summer show this Saturday and Noah is cutting teeth!