Rose & Bird

As Yet Untitled...

2012-01-19T13:34:00.000-08:00

As you can see, one of this year's goals hasn't done too well so far as this is my first post since the 2nd of January! Mind you, I've been cooking a bit more. We had friends over for dinner on Sunday evening and I did a tapas-style spread, inspired by the River Cottage Veg Everday Book (Christmas Present from Mr R&B). No pictures as we were all too hungry to wait! I'm a big fan of Hugh F-W, but being a veggie means most of his recipies are no good to me. I was overjoyed when the TV series aired last Autumn - I was nearly dribbling at all the gorgeous food I could actually eat!

I've yet to really do anything about the business, but I've managed to clear some of the clutter on ebay which is a good start to the year.

I was going to do some outfit posts, but I'm afraid I'm becalmed in a sea of maternity clothing mediocrity at the moment. However, I refuse to spend the next 6ish months in stretch jersey hell, so this will change soon!

I've mentioned before that the charity shops near me have pretty slim pickings vintage-wise and are usually pretty over-priced, but you do get the odd gem.

Here are two things I picked up this week:

70s? carved wooden plate 50p

60s Cecil Series 'Continental' table set £3. A couple of the eggcups are a bit chipped, but otherwise it looks like its never been used. Maybe a wedding present to someone?

2012 Is The Year...

2012-01-02T14:22:00.000-08:00

I don't really bother with resolutions - they feel too much like obligations and get broken within days. Instead I've got a list of goals for the year, in no particular order:

1. Grow my vintage clothing business.

2. Blog and comment more.

3. Make an effort style-wise.

4. Cook more.

5. Pay off my debts (finally).

Looks like a busy year ahead then - we're also expecting our second baby in early July!

Happy New Year to everyone, may 2012 be your best yet x

And The Winner Is....

2011-12-06T03:45:00.000-08:00

By the magic of technology and random.org, the winner is......

Curtise at Pastcaring

Thank you all for entering, I'm sorry you couldn't all win, but I'll try and do a few more giveaways next year.

Give It Away, Give It Away, Give It Away Now

2011-11-30T03:32:00.000-08:00

Here it is then, at last! My promised giveaway -

One lucky (?) person will receive a copy of Cath Kidston's Sew! book, some vintage buttons, some ribbon, a polka dot hanging heart and a make up brush roll made from 1940s fabric. All you need to do to be in with a chance is be a follower and leave a comment to say you'd like to enter, it's open to followers in any country. Closing date will be Saturday 3rd December. Go on, have a go!

Ground Control to Major Tom - and a giveaway heads-up!

2011-11-14T03:41:00.000-08:00

There I was thinking finishing work would give me a bit more time, but the last couple of weeks have been really busy with my mum visiting, trying to get reaquainted with Etsy and researching cake decorations. Apologies if I usually comment on your blog but haven't done recently, I have been reading but just haven't had time to comment!

Anyway, these are the pick of the jumble finds from the other week.

70s housecoat but it's really warm and will make a great dress with the right styling. From the 'expensive' £1 rail.

60s black and silver brocade maxi dress. A tad snug, but it's a keeper. Also from the £1 rail.

Mad 70s chinese dragon print kaftan, 30p.

Wish I could have got better photos but it's so dull here at the moment!

I spotted that I'd reached 103 followers recently (wow, 103 people actually want to read my witterings?!), so I'm going to have a little giveaway this week. I'll post details in a couple of days.

Vix's £5 Outfit Challenge

2011-10-29T12:09:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, the divine Vix challenged fellow bloggers to come up with an outfit for £5. Whilst I can't hold a candle to Vix's full winter look for £4.73 (the woman is a goddess of thrifty glamour), here's my basic attempt. The sequin top is 60s and handmade £1.24, the 70s Renjoy skirt was 99p and the 70s Clarks shoes were £3.20, all from ebay. The jewellery is all presents from Vix, so free! A grand total of £5.43, but no coat, tights or bag. Oh well, a girl can try!

I haven't forgotten to share last week's jumble finds (and I did snag a couple of corkers), I just haven't had much time this week. I will try and do a post on Monday. Bet you can't wait (not)!

Rocking Out!

2011-10-21T04:31:00.000-07:00

Guess what I found in a charity shop the other day. Jesus? Richard Armitage (if only)? No, a genuine Dollyrockers by Sambo dress in my size for £7! I nearly had heart failure on the spot - this is probably my best charity find yet. I have to admit, I didn't try it in the shop and it was a little (ahem) snug under the bosoms when I tried it at home. However, closer inspection revealed that it had at some point (joy of joys) been taken in, so I got to work with the scissors and hey-presto, a perfect fit! Oh, and I haven't got a bun in the oven - it's the way I'm standing!

Scarf - bought in a gallery in Port Isaac in Cornwall, earrings £2 (Salvation Army shop), Dollyrockers dress £7 (local hospice shop), big black ring 50p (car boot sale), grey ring (gift from Vix), velvet lace-up boots £4.99 (PDSA shop).

Off to a jumble sale tomorrow, perhaps I'll find an Ossie Clark or a Biba original? A girl can dream!

Have lovely weekends, whatever you're doing x

A-Z of me.

2011-10-11T04:38:00.000-07:00

I must be one of the last to do the A-Z of me, but here's my answers if you're interested.

A - Age.

30. According to Wikipedia, if I was a piece of clothing I could now ‘officially’ be vintage. I like being 30 – I feel like I can finally be myself and sod what anyone else thinks!

B - Bed Size

Double. I’d like a bigger one but it won’t fit in our bedroom.

C - Chore you hate.

All of them, although clothes washing isn’t too bad.

D - Dogs.

Dogs themselves aren’t the problem, it’s stupid dog-owners I can’t stand. Actually, with a lot of ‘problem’ pets it’s stupid people who cause most of the problems. Don’t get me started on that one!

E - Essential start to your day

A cuddle with Baby Bird and tea!

F - Favourite colour.

That’s a tough one – I love colours and there’s a different for every mood. If I had to choose, I suppose green or blue as I have a lot of those in my wardrobe and house.

G - Gold or silver.

Silver. It’s much more mysterious (and cheaper!). The only gold jewellery I have is my engagement and wedding rings.

H - Height.

5’4”.

I - Instruments you play.

I played the flute (badly) at school and can pick out a few tunes on a keyboard. I’d really like to go back to the flute, but I have too much else on my plate at the moment.

J - Job.

Full-time Mummy, no-time house slave, wannabe vintage clothes seller.

K - Kids.

Just the one little boy, but hopefully another one day.

L - Live.

In Bristol, in a semi built in 1938.

M - Mothers name

Kay.

N - Nicknames.

I used to get called some pretty horrible things at school, but I’ve blanked them all out now. Now it’s usually just ‘Mummy’ (from the husband as well).

O - Overnight hospital stays

3 nights, all when Baby Bird was born. He was meant to be born at home, but he was taking his time so the midwife decided we needed to go into hospital and it’s routine to be kept overnight with a first baby. We had to go back in a couple of days later as he wasn’t feeding properly and his weight dropped more than it should have. It all got sorted out in the end though.

P - Pet peeves.

Where to start!

Q - Quote from a film

My second favourite film – Labyrinth.

Jareth: You remind me of the babe.
Goblin : What babe?
Jareth : The babe with the power.
Goblin : What power?
Jareth : The power of voodoo.
Goblin : Who do?
Jareth : You do.
Goblin : Do what?
Jareth : Remind me of the babe.

R - Right or left handed.

Left handed.

S – Siblings

One brother, eight years younger than me.

T - Time you wake up

Around 7 if I’m not working. Usually woken up by baby bird babbling and then he’s brought in for a cuddle. Work mornings it’s 4am!

U - Underwear.

Always!

V - Vegetable you hate.

Asparagus – might as well eat sticks!

W - What makes you run late

Everything – I’m very disorganised. If I’m on time, I’ve usually forgotten something.

X - X-rays you've had.

Just teeth, no interesting ones.

Y - Yummy food that you make.

I’ve had compliments about my cakes, so they must be pretty good.

Z - Zoo animal

Can’t really choose, I like most animals.

Frock Me! It's Hot!

2011-09-30T11:50:00.000-07:00

Dress £1.04 (ebay), bracelets and ring 50p each (boot sales), shell necklace 35p, yellow beads 70p (jumble sales), yellow earrings - about £1 (job lot from ebay)

As most of the UK is roasting in a last gasp of long-awaited summer, here is my first Frock On A Friday. A lovely 70s prairie cotton dress which I got for a song on ebay.

I might have moaned about not making it to the flea market next week, but instead I'm having a stall at the Wiltshire Vintage Tea Party in Malmesbury Town Hall next Sunday. Tickets are £6 including cake and unlimited tea. Would be lovely to see you there if you're in the area - do come over and say hi!

What Next?

2011-09-22T03:43:00.000-07:00

Looks like I won't be selling at the flea market next month as I've just had a call to say they're full, so they're returning my cheque. Now I'm stuck as that's the only way I could really see me running my business and actually making sales. I know many people use the internet and I do of course have the Etsy shop (no sales yet), but I'm afraid I just don't have a clue about marketing!

Ah well, perhaps I could go on Dragon's Den and ask for a squillion pounds to buy vintage clothes with (oh and maybe sell them too)!

If It's Good Enough For Scarlett.....

2011-09-19T02:30:00.000-07:00

(Vintage Patterns Wiki)

Here you go then - this is my first completed vintage creation. The pattern is from the 60s and designed by 'Orsini'. The cotton fabric was from the jumble sale. If I remember rightly it was about 30p and someone had made it into a makeshift duvet cover. I had to be a bit creative with the cutting out as the fabric wasn't as wide as it needed to be, but I mananged it. I also had to do a bit of readjustment as it was designed for someone with more boobage than me!!

I'm pretty pleased with it - although there's lots of seams, it was a lot less complicated and far more enjoyable than a lot of the modern patterns I've attempted. I've often said to my mum how patterns seem so involved these days - it's no wonder that some people get put off at the first hurdle. She agreed that older patterns were much simpler. I think that modern patterns tend to have one bullet point per instruction which makes them seem really long-winded, whereas older patterns put several instructions into one section, which gives the impression that you've achieved more when you complete it. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts if you've made up any vintage patterns.

I did a search to see if I could find out more about Orsini. Although I didn't find anything specific to that designer I did find out about the pattern range. They were a mail order range produced in the 50s and 60s, usually by big names such as Oleg Cassini, Hunter Scott, Ardanti and Mr Blackwell.

Vintage Patterns Wiki has a fantastic range of pictures of these patterns, great for a browse.

Bargainista!

2011-09-18T11:32:00.000-07:00

It's been a soggy Sunday, so I didn't go to the usual boot sale today, plus we woke up really late (for us)! We had to get a few things for BB, then we came home and cooked up a nice Sunday lunch and we've just been pottering about this afternoon. I do have some little finds to share from last week's boot sale and (joy of joys!) a jumble sale yesterday.

Vintage patterns 20p each (boot sale). Check out those flares!

Flower ring and lace bangle 50p each (boot sale).

St Michael furry hat, 60s swimming cap and Canda 80s does 40s dress, 10p each, jumble sale.

HUGE scarves - 10p each, jumble sale.

Fabric remnants 10p each and vintage umbrella £1, jumble sale. I'm sure I've seen that design of umbrella before, but can't remember where!

Not sure if the cups are for tea or soup, but they're a gorgeous midnight blue sort of colour and so tactile. Made by Tams, England they were £2 for the lot. The vegetable dish is Italian £1, all from the jumble.

I have a vintage fashion creation to show as well, but I'm leaving that for tomorrow - will you bear the wait? (Probably)

The World Remembers

2011-09-11T03:41:00.000-07:00

In The Frame

2011-09-06T14:07:00.000-07:00

Do you remember the tatty old frame I bought for 50p back in March? (Never fear if you don't, just follow the link for a reminder). Well, I've actually completed the restoration, much to Mr R&Bs' surprise - he even said it 'looked nice', which is praise indeed from him. He's so used to my mad, half-finished projects littering the house I think he was just pleased to see something finished in less than a year (5 months this time, possibly a personal best).

Here is a walkthrough of the project.

First, find yourself a tatty old frame. Next you'll need some moulding compound and some plaster.

I used Siligum and Restoration Plaster, both made by Gedeo.

Mix together your moulding compound according to the instructions and take moulds of sections that correspond to the missing pieces.

Mix your plaster according to the instructions and fill your moulds.

After much sanding, remoulding and gluing, the gaps have been filled.

The frame painted up in Craig & Rose 'Pale Mortlake Cream'.

I also painted a very thin wash of grey paint and water over the top to slightly age the cream.

Next, I cut a piece of hardboard to size and covered it with an offcut of wallpaper.

I had to fiddle about a bit to fix the board into the frame, but I worked it out in the end.

The finished article.

I also received a lovely birthday parcel from Vix on Saturday. Her fabulousness sent me some funky fabric and haberdashery, a 60s sewing pattern, a great sewing book and a sweet little swallow bracelet. Isn't Vix a darling?

Have fun everyone and see you very soon!

Finally Facing My Waterloo

2011-08-16T04:06:00.000-07:00

Spring-cleaning and de-cluttering seems to be turning into something of a life makeover!
I feel somewhat clearer about decisions for the future and what direction to take. I've even decided to try and knuckle down with the housework!
I used to be quite into Feng Shui and similar philosophies, although I moved away from these interests once I started working and having less time. I also feel like I lost a lot of myself in the process of getting married and being a wife and mother, and it seems like only very recently that I'm re-discovering me. I don't know if that's a result of stirring up energies or having an early mid-life crisis as I turn 30 in a couple of weeks!

Anyway, once the house is fully sorted out, it'll free up time for my Etsy shop and hopefully more crafts. I'm pleased to report that I spent a happy half-hour on Thursday night diving into a large box of old clothes - new stock for the shop (although I'm keeping a few pieces for myself). These will be sorted, washed and photographed in all their glory over the next few weeks. I'm also debating whether to take a stall at Shepton Flea market in October. It's £40 for a table plus petrol, but it could be just the springboard I need.

What do you guys think?

Running Up That Hill

2011-08-08T11:22:00.000-07:00

(http://bbrightcorner.blogspot.com)

I realise yet again that I've been very quiet blogwise, but I'm finally conquering the mountain that is de-cluttering and spring (ha!) cleaning.
I say de-cluttering, but I what I really mean is finding new ways to ~~hide~~ store it all! To be fair, I have been getting rid of things I really don't need anymore, but I'm afraid I get attached to things and there's always the 'what if I need it?' question. I can't even use growing up in times of shortages as an excuse. I'm trying to limit the things I buy at the moment, so that I can sort out what I really want to keep.

Baby Bird is thoroughly enjoying his days with the childminder - he babbles away on the way home, telling me about his day, then when he goes to bed later on, I can hear him repeating it all to his toys after I've said night-night to him, so cute!

Hope you all have good weeks x

The Hour

2011-07-26T04:28:00.000-07:00

(www.bbc.co.uk)

The second episode of The Hour starts at 9 tonight on BBC2. I'll be honest, I started watching it last week just for the costumes, but actually found I quite enjoyed the story. Set in 1956 in the early days of the British Broadcasting Corporation, the story follows two young journalists who are about to launch a new kind of current affairs programming, the like of which has never been seen before. Along the way, one of them discovers a dangerous conspiracy.

The Bangles

2011-07-25T02:37:00.000-07:00

It didn't feel right to do this post yesterday after the awful events in Norway and the sad news about Amy Winehouse (RIP Amy), but here's a round up of the last couple of weeks' boot sale finds.

Crochet and wood bangle 50p, 70s? metal elephant bangle 50p,

hinged bangle and 70s? metal bangle 75p the pair.

Urban outfitters? peacock bangle 50p.

I seem to be collecting a lot of bangles at the moment, maybe I'm channelling Vix?!

Scarf clip 50p. I think I'll turn this one into a ring.

Probably my best bargain for a while - MAC pigments £1 each.

Pretty sure they're the real thing as it was just these five on the stall.

Books £1 each. The fashion book is great - I got it from the library years ago when I first wanted to go into fashion. I actually ended up studying at the same college Patrick Ireland taught at, although he'd left some years before I went there.

Tights 50p.

Body set 50p.

60s fabrics. Lurex 20p, flowery £1.

Easily enough to make a maxi dress out of both.

Oil painting £3.

Baby Bird has his first day with his child-minder today, so I have a day to myself. I really need to organise my sewing room, so I'd better get cracking!

Have fun on this lovely sunny day x

Back From Outer Space

2011-07-12T03:47:00.000-07:00

Hi all!

Apologies for being a bad blogger and not posting much recently. I've had a strange couple of weeks and not much energy or enthusiasm for blogging again. If I usually comment on your blog, but haven't recently, please know that it's not you, it's me (how I hate that phrase, but it serves a purpose). I have been reading about your activities, I just haven't had much to say in response. Unfortunately I have spells of ups and downs, beginning to wonder if I have manic depressive tendencies, or whether most people feel like that at times?

Anyway, I do hope to do some more fun posts soon, mood and energy allowing. Much love if you're still following me x

Buried Treasure

2011-06-30T03:29:00.000-07:00

Having managed to make it to a boot sale and a jumble sale over the last couple of weeks, I have a few things to share with you. First up, the boot sale, which was about as busy as when I was visiting back in the winter. Another, more well-known bootie has started it's season, so I suppose the sellers had gone there instead.

Butterfly pot 50p, floral dishes 20p each. This table was run by a couple who I'd guess were around my parent's age and I spotted so many things that I remember from my childhood. In fact one buyer actually said 'this stall is my childhood' and she was just a couple of years younger than me.

Wooden bangle £1, ring 30p

Wooden bead necklace 50p

Last saturday I actually went to a jumble again. They seem to go in fits and starts around here - there's none for ages, then you get 3 or 4 the same day. I only went to the afternoon one in the end as I just didn't feel like going to the others after my usual early start at work.

60s 'Justine' crimplene mini sundress, Per Una cotton cardi and 70s housecoat/overall 20p each.

Modern silver brocade hotpants, 80s LARGE pedal pushers,

70s? St Michael pleated skirt, also 20p each

Crochet beret, 70s/80s crinkly striped scarf, 70s Pippa Dee scarf 20p each, belt 10p.

I did some googling and found out that Pippa Dee was the clothing

equivalent of Tupperware back in the 70s.

Patent bag and leatherette briefcase, 25p each. The briefcase is a bit tatty, but should look better with some tlc. It had a piece of chalk in the bottom - I wonder if it belonged to a teacher once upon a time?

The yellow sundress from the first picture is my best jumble find yet. Sadly I haven't got a hope of fitting into it, so it's for sale as are all the clothes. If you're interested in any of the items, please get in touch via my email (on my profile page).

Have fun, whatever you're doing today x

Taking The Plunge

2011-06-26T08:22:00.000-07:00

I've been fiddling and faffing about and have finally opened an Etsy shop! There's just a few items to start off with, but I'll be adding more as I find them. I thought I'd share a few pictures to give a flavour of what's to come.

Sidgreene of London maxi dress

Susan Small wrap dress

Lurex maxi skirt

Poole Pottery breakfast cups and saucers

Here's the link to the shop and there's also a link on my sidebar. Looking forward to seeing you over there!

Hold The Front Page!

2011-06-14T11:42:00.000-07:00

Ha! Yes! It's an outfit post!

70s Lerose dress - £3.20 (ebay), brown cutout belt - 30p (jumble sale), silver shoes - 99p (ebay),

earrings - £2 (charity shop), 60s necklace (Vix), silver-coloured ring - 33p (jumble sale),

gold tone ring with stone - about £1 (ebay joblot)

Better picture of the beads

Not the greatest of photos. This highlights to me how much I need to improve my photography skills. No wonder I never made it as a professional!

Five Minute Fixes

2011-06-07T14:11:00.000-07:00

A little bit of drama here yesterday - the car failed it's MOT with corroded brake pipes! £230 of your English pounds and it's back on the road for another year. I can't complain too much as this is the first MOT it's failed since I bought it 4 years ago.
Dear Vix wanted to know more about my new job - well, it's really not that exciting, but I'll tell you anyway. I'm starting on the deli counter at a supermarket next week. A little daunting as I've not had a paid job since going on maternity leave last year, but I'm sure it'll be fine.

On to the fix-minute fixes of the title. I made myself do some mending (there is a huge pile) on Sunday and it came to me that by actually getting up off my bum and doing something, I find myself more motivated to do other things - it's a case of keeping up momentum. I'm sure that it's no great revelation to most people, but it takes me a while to get these things into my head!

Anyway, apart from mending a frayed sleeve on a blouse and sewing a button onto a cuff, I finally got round to jazzing up the Brora cardi I found back in February . All I did was cut off the old buttons and sew on some funky new ones, but I like the change.

I also did a bit more cooking today. Again, not anything special, but I have to do things when the mood takes me.

Lentil soup - adapted from a recipe for weaning food but really nice
cooked with more stock and blended down.

Wholemeal bread - I have a breadmaker, but I only use the dough setting and then I cook it in the oven.

You could build a wall with the stuff that's baked in the machine.

Have fun everyone!

A Little Creativity Goes A Long Way

2011-06-04T13:57:00.000-07:00

It's been a fairly quiet week since Monday, although BB and I managed to get out for a picnic with one of his little friends in the lovely weather we had yesterday. Then this morning, the washing machine decided to pack up and we can't get an engineer to look at it 'til Friday. Not good when you have a baby in washable nappies! Coupled with that, my car goes for it's MOT on Monday and I start a new job on Thursday. Time to focus on happy thoughts!

This is one of the projects from my Creative Heart and Soul weekend. It's a make and take we did with Tracie Hudson. The bird and cage is cut from foam board, I believe the die is a Tim Holtz one.

I also finished another shirt for Baby Bird, complete with vintage buttons from my collection.

Tonight's dinner: Iman Biyaldi, from Vix's recipe. It was very nice, although neither of us fainted,

so it may have lost something with my cooking!

Now We Are One

2011-05-30T14:15:00.000-07:00

Wow, has it really been a whole year since Baby Bird arrived and turned our lives upside down?!

It's been a year of ups, downs, trials and triumphs with him, but I wouldn't be without him. I get to bed of an evening and wonder what I used to do all day before he came into our lives. He's been a bit of a challenge recently as he's definitely showing his independence and has also cut his first two molars this week.

He's had a lovely birthday weekend - a little party with his baby friends on Saturday, a family jamboree at the in-laws yesterday and the birthday party of another baby friend today. He even had his birthday card read out on Milkshake! this morning.

Happy Birthday little man!

Chatsworth

2011-05-26T04:59:00.000-07:00

As you know from previous posts, we spent our annual family holiday in Debyshire this year. One of our outing was to Chatsworth House, home of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire. Have to say, I've never got quite why the titles don't seem to match up with the geography - for example, Wilton House in Salisbury, Wiltshire is the home of the Earl of Pembroke, which is in Wales. Anyway, I digress.

The week we visited, Chatsworth was holding a 'Florabundance' event celebrating, in particular, tulips and other seasonal flowers. Hence lots of flower pictures. Some of the photos aren't too great (sorry) - the focus on the camera is a bit iffy.

Here, There and Everywhere - Part 2

2011-05-22T13:36:00.000-07:00

Mainly pictures for the main part of our week in the Peaks. I'm having a bit of a challenging time with Baby Bird at the moment, so I don't have a lot of energy!

We stayed in a cottage outside Buxton, which was not the nicest we've ever had - damp bathroom and spiders, plus BB didn't like the room he was in, meaning he ended up sharing our bed on a couple of nights.

I had a bit of a difficult time getting there too (seems to be a theme starting)! Everything was fine until the final leg of the journey. Long story, but after the driver asked some football fans to stop singing as it was disturbing other passengers and they gave her a bit of lip, she decided to stop the train and call the transport police to remove them. As the fans weren't strictly speaking doing anything wrong, the police couldn't do anything and the driver refused to take the train any further and it was cancelled, so we all got kicked off and had to wait for the next train. I did eventually get to the station an hour later than planned!

Anyway, here's a few photos of the holiday.

Chatsworth House - I took loads of photos here,

which I'm going to put in a separate post

Bakewell

Bakewell again

Owl at The Chestnut Centre - a wildlife sanctuary

Otters at The Chestnut Centre

More otters!

Ilam Park - the estate is open to the public,

but the house is a youth hostel run by The National Trust

The river at Ilam Park

Dovedale

Dovedale again, through the car window

Leek - has the usual high street shops, but also

some more interesting places to investigate.

Here, There and Everywhere - Part 1

2011-05-18T04:21:00.000-07:00

Following Monday's post, here's a few words about 'what I did on my holidays'.

Firstly I made my way to Northumberland for a creative retreat with Creative Heart and Soul . Now, I didn't arrive until nearly 11pm after a complete muck up with the trains. A top tip when using thetrainline.com, double check the nearest station to your destination - I didn't realise there was also a village in North Yorkshire called Otterburn and of course, coming up from the South, the website gave me that one as being the nearest. So I got off the train apparently in the middle of nowhere, only to find that I was in fact, about a hundred miles south of where I needed to be. BIG thanks to Debbie and Kirsty for trying to sort me out! I managed to get a train back to Leeds, then on to Newcastle, where Dawn very kindly collected me after spending nearly an hour driving around the city centre, trying to find the station!

Anyway, once I did get there everyone was lovely and helpful. The room I stayed in was 'Bridie's room', I don't know if that was deliberate of Debbie, as one of my Guinea Pigs was called Bridie. The classes were great and I learned a lot of new crafting techniques both from the teachers and the other ladies on the retreat. Now I just need the time to practice them! We also had a photo session with Kirsty, who is very talented and actually managed to get some photos of me not looking like a muppet for a change.

We had a barbeque on the Saturday night and there was an advantage to being a veggie on this occasion - we got our sausages and burgers first, plus salads, jacket potatoes and veggie parcels. This certainly wasn't a weekend to be on a diet!

I didn't take any pictures at the retreat (wish I had), but I'll certainly share the finished projects with you over the next few weeks.

Back With a Bump

2011-05-16T04:31:00.000-07:00

Hello all!

I'm now back from the retreat and a family holiday to the Peak District. The retreat was great (apart from the nightmare journey to get there) - I met some lovely people and started several projects that I'll show you as they're finished off. Our holiday was a bit of a mixed affair, but we did see some nice countryside and some interesting places.

I'll tell you more and share some photos when I find the camera!

Making Progress

2011-05-02T13:43:00.000-07:00

If you remember my post from a couple of weeks back, you'll know that I've not been in a great state of mind recently. Things are now on the up again, at least emotionally anyway. A lot of my own confusion (I think) has been down to the cluttered, untidy and frankly grimy state of Birdy Towers.

I have to admit that I'm no domestic goddess and I can think of a thousand things I'd rather do than scrub the kitchen floor or fold laundry, but now I realise it's time to grow up and turn this house into a home. The great declutter began with a carful of ~~tat~~ treasure flogged at a boot sale. Ok, I did bring half of it home again, but I did get rid of quite a bit. A couple of hours on Saturday afternoon also saw another 5 bags filled for the charity shop. I've also been trying to get a regular cleaning routine going as well, although that's turning into Spring cleaning. As soon as you clean one thing, everything else looks worse!
I have an added incentive as the in-laws are coming to look after Baby Bird on Friday while I head off to the first Creative Heart and Soul retreat in Northumberland.
I think I will give the old sage-burning a go when I finish the house off, if I can remember what to do. I used to be a practising Pagan, but now a brief nod to the seasons and a bit of gardening is about as close as I get!

A Big Thank You

2011-04-26T15:14:00.000-07:00

To all those who blogged and or placed a bid on the knitted auction, many thanks! The winning bid was £113, which is all going to the Japanese Tsunami and Earthquake Fund. Well done to the lovely ladies who knitted and our fantastic co-ordinator who organised the whole project.

Charity Royal Wedding Auction Ends Tonight

2011-04-24T04:55:00.000-07:00

Just a quick reminder that the knitted Royal Wedding set ebay auction ends at 19.37 BST tonight.

Your Invite To The Royal Wedding

2011-04-17T14:36:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to let you know that the ebay auction for the Royal Wedding party is now live. Please bid genorously as all monies raised will be going to the Japanese Relief Effort.

I would also really appreciate it if you would be kind enough to mention the auction on your blog/twitter etc so we can raise as much interest as possible. Thank you x

Why I (Don't) Blog

2011-04-17T14:30:00.000-07:00

I sometimes wonder why I have a blog as I don't post very often. I would like to post more - I often see things that inspire me and I think would make great posts, but for some reason I find it difficult to actually put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard in this digital age). I don't know if this is due to a kind of 'creative dyslexia', or just my natural laziness.
Anyway, I have a few not-great things happening at the moment, which aren't encouraging blogging or frankly any other endeavours. Although none of them are on a par with the awful events going on in the wider world, they are significant to me. I seem to do a lot of posts along these lines, so apologies for my general blogging laziness and many thanks if you're still following me as I genuinely love hearing from other folks x

Bishop In Da House!

2011-04-13T11:24:00.000-07:00

I'm finally back in the land of blogging!

I have recreated the Archbishop of Canterbury from yarn in aid of the Japan Tsunami Relief fund. And he took friggin' ages!

Not sure I have done him justice, but hopefully he'll raise a smile (and some dosh). A group of us from a craft forum have knitted the key players from the upcoming Royal Wedding and they're being auctioned on ebay from thursday (I'll let you know when it goes live) in aid of the Red Cross Japan Tsunami Relief effort. The auction will be open to international bidders.

From My Needles

2011-03-31T14:06:00.000-07:00

I always seem to have some knitting on the go (I fear I may have a slight addiction to yarn!), so I thought I'd share a few creations with you.

Firstly, here's the jacket I started knitting back in November.

I finally finished it a couple of weeks ago and it still fits Baby Bird!

This is one of my works in progress (there are several stuffed into my knitting bag).

It will eventually become a pair of dungarees for the baby. Finished pattern here.

Huge potential for future embarrassing baby pictures with this one!

Another work in progress, this one is a charity knit. A number of ladies from the Shaby Chic Cafe have clubbed together to knit as many figures as possible from this book: Knit Your Own Royal Wedding . The figures will be auctioned as a set on ebay, with 100% of the price going to the Japan Relief Fund. I've ended up with the Archbishop of Canterbury to knit, which is ironic as I'm the least religious person ever!

Tatty Buy!

2011-03-22T13:40:00.000-07:00

I had hoped to be posting a bit more often after the last time, but having had my mum to stay for a few days and then catching a horrendous cold (I think Helga's cold may have found it's way to this side of the world!), blogging hasn't been top priority this week.

Anyway, just a couple of finds to share with you today. This sunday I swapped the usual boot sale for a different one that's just started it's 2011 season. A distinct lack of goodies amongst the tables of 'genuine' DVDs for a £1 each and 4 kitchen rolls for a 'pahnd' (why do 99% of market traders have a sarf london accent?!), but I did find this rather sad looking frame for 50p. I plan to tart it up and use it for another project.

The rest of the finds are from my usual boot over the last couple of weeks.

Another vanity case, 80s red leatherette by Constellation £2

50s or 60s Sanderson fabric £1

Necklaces 50p each. My favourite is the three strand choker.

Blue glass dressing/vanity set. At a wild guess, I'd say it's Art Deco, either German or Czech. Sadly it's a bit damaged, but for £2 I couldn't leave it. It was also covered in old makeup (yuk), but nothing a bit of hot soapy water and a scouring pad couldn't sort out.

Crown Clarence Ironstone coffee pot, 50p.
The handle is cracked, so just a display piece really.
I think I've seen this design before in Blogland, please let me know if you've come across it.

No outfit post today, I just can't seem to get into the habit. I find it quite hard to take photos of myself. I think I need a tripod for the camera, any tips? The camera is a Panasonic DMC-TZ3 if that helps.

The Green, Green, Grass

2011-03-12T11:46:00.000-08:00

Firstly let me apologise for the quietness here. Minor health and mood issues have meant that I haven't really felt like blogging this week, but I'm feeling a lot better now. Hopefully I'll be able to post a bit more regularly from now on.

Now to the subject of today's post: an outfit! We went to a friend's wedding yesterday and this is what I wore. Luckily it all came together as the jacket arrived on Thursday morning.

50s faux fur jacket (£10.51 ebay), 60s suede bag (99p ebay)

hair styled with a bump-it.

Earrings (£1 Claire's Accessories sale), 60s 'Clevaline' dress (£2.50 boot sale), sleeves (made by me),

bracelet (£1 Claire's Accessories sale), green and gold cuff (about £3 Nomads),

rings (£1 each ebay), 70s Lotus glitter heels (£3.99 ebay)

I signed up to take part in Me Made March, but this is only the second time that I've managed to post what I've made. The green dress is actually sleeveless so it being March and me being a bit of a chilly mortal, I made up some sleeves to go with it. I sewed them onto a vest top so that I can wear the dress without sleeves if I want to.

A fun night in beckons - tidying our bedroom!

Feast Or Famine

2011-03-04T13:15:00.000-08:00

There I was on Wednesday with no finds to share with you, then today I've come home with a nice little charity shop haul!

Baby Bird and I tagged along with Mr R&B who was going to a meeting this morning (we went a few weeks ago as well, but I didn't find anything worth buying).

Marion Donaldson dress (£3.99 Red Cross)

Our Hidden Lives and North and South (£1 each, Relate)

Look Of The Century (£2.95, Red Cross)

Handmade needlepoint bag (£2.50 Red Cross)

Huge Tie Rack Russian style scarf (£2.99 British Heart Foundation)

I also picked up a Mock The Week book for Mr R&B and a Spot book and DVD for Baby Bird.

Eastex paisley blouse (99p ebay), grey trousers (Principles sale, 3 years ago),

black and white flat brogues £5.17 ebay), chunky ring (from Vix), Earrings (handmade by me)

Prompted by Vix, I've joined in the Me Made March challenge. My pledge is:

I, Liz, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-March '11. I endeavour to wear or use
at least one me made garment or accessory each day for the duration of March 2011'

(I know the picture should be vertical, but for some reason blogger won't upload it properly)

I made these earrings a few years ago. The beads are from a pack I bought in Hobbycraft. I just picked a few out, threaded them onto a head pin, then attached it to an ear wire finding. Actually, that reminds me - I made a necklace with the rest of the beads, must try and find it.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

In Which I Share

2011-03-02T13:33:00.000-08:00

Despite 2 jumbles and a boot sale over the weekend, there were no fabulous finds, so you'll have to put up with a 'getting to know you' post today!

Having been invited by lovely Vix to share a few fascinating(?) facts about ourselves, I thought I should for once stop hiding behind the computer screen and tell you a few little things about myself.

1. I hate flying

I've flown 4 times in my life (to Dublin and Italy) and hated it so much I swore I would never get on a plane again. These boots are staying firmly on the ground. Unless I'm in a car or train, but you get my point, right?

2. I took 5 attempts to pass my driving test

Just call me Maureen!

3. I have a scar above my right ankle
When I was about 11 I was litter picking during a PE lesson (because I'd brought a sick note and that was what the ~~warders~~ teachers made you do if you weren't doing PE) and got cut by a broken Coke can. Sadly this was pre-ER (and Real Life), so I just hobbled off to the school nurse for steri-strips.

4. I used to be a Viking (well, at weekends)!
A friend of mine was a member of a Viking re-enactment group and I thought it sounded interesting, so I went along with her to a few meetings. I did get to the point of making an 'authentic' costume out of a pink woollen blanket (don't ask), but when I discovered they liked camping in November I soon gave it up! I did learn one thing though - Vikings DIDN'T have horns on their helmets - a fact I recount to Mr R&B whenever there are Vikings on TV!

5. I am a Sci-Fi/Fantasy geek!
The Lord Of The Rings trilogy is one of my all-time favourites, along with classics like Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal. I was a huge Star Wars fan, but was so dissapointed with Episodes 1-3. TV wise, I've watched so many series from recent years. If it's got spaceships and aliens, I'll probably love it!

6. I used to live in a haunted house
When I was 15, my family lived in a rented maisonette that was part of a big Victorian house. My mum (who is slightly psychic anyway), my younger brother and I all experienced that 'not alone' feeling on several occasions. My brother also said he'd seen someone (not one of us and we had no visitors at the time) standing by his bed one morning. All I can say is there was definitely something else present in that place besides us!

7. I'm a vegetarian
I've been a veggie since I was 11, which is more than half my life now. I went veggie because I didn't like the thought of animals being killed for food and many animals were kept in terrible conditions at the time. Thankfully things have come a long way in the last few years and animal welfare is much better than it was, but nothing will convince me to go back to meat!

If you'd like to share more about yourself, feel free to award yourself the Stylish Blogger Award!

F...F...F...Friday

2011-02-25T13:21:00.000-08:00

A quiet night in for us tonight - homemade pizzas, Fawlty Towers box set and a cup of tea. Wow, it's all rock n roll here!

70s zip up dress (£3.19, ebay), velvet hat (£1.99, ebay), belt (£1, charity shop), boots (about £20, ebay), silver metal ring (30p, jumble sale), ring with stone (about £1, joblot from ebay), flower ring (£3, Athene Noctua on Folksy), earrings (won in Vix's giveaway)

I don't think Mr R&B is too sure about my new look - he just said 'it's bad luck to wear hats indoors' this evening. I love hats, but I end up with a bit of an Ena Sharples look if I'm not careful!

Ham for Mr R&B, peppers for me. I even cut the ham and put it on the pizza myself (the horror!!!!)

Two jumble sale visits planned for tomorrow and possibly a car boot on Sunday, along with Baby Bird attending a birthday party. Honestly, he has a better social life than me! At some point I must also tidy up our bedroom and list some things on ebay.

Have a great weekend, whaever you're doing!

The Weekend's Spoils

2011-02-21T12:26:00.000-08:00

This weekend I made it to a jumble sale and one of our local car boot sales. The jumble sale was pretty lacking for me - a few sad piles of M&S and similar cast offs, but Baby Bird did quite well as I found him a t-shirt, a teddy bear and a puzzle.

The boot sale was better - a Brora cardi for 50p, a vanity case for £2 and a 70s sewing book for £1. BB got some more clothes as well. I spotted a portable record player - then I spotted a guy picking it up and handing over his cash! How gutted was I? I've been looking for one for a while, but they always go for silly money on ebay. Never mind, perhaps the boot sale gods will smile on me another day.

Metal tray 15p, jumble sale. I love this style of decoration, reminds me of 17th Century Dutch still life paintings.

Vanity case £2 and book £1, boot sale. I'm on the look out for a pale green case like Jem's.

Inside the case. I guess it's 70s or 80s as it's in pretty good condition.

Brora cardi 50p, boot sale. I think I'll have to change the buttons
for something a bit more interesting, though!

I did take a picture of today's outfit, but I couldn't get the lighting to work, so I'm afraid there's nothing to show you! I will probably recreate the look at a later date if you really want to see it.

Back to Black

2011-02-18T07:35:00.000-08:00

I don't wear black very often and definitely not solid black (well, not since my brief Goth period), but as a background for a bold print, it works pretty well.

80s Bickler wrap blouse (£3.71 ebay), 70s printed skirt (£11.83 ebay), earrings (from Vix),
necklace (about £1, joblot from ebay), twist ring (from Vix), turquoise stone ring (same as necklace)

Boots (£15 reduced from £98, Office sale)

How does black feature in your wardrobe?

My First Outfit post

2011-02-17T04:35:00.000-08:00

Ok, let me be honest - I really don't like appearing in photos (maybe that's because I like to be the one holding the camera), so putting pictures of myself on here is a big step for me. Anyway, here's my first styling attempt!

70s dress (£2.19 ebay), belt (Freecycle), vintage tights (£1.59 ebay),
boots (Evans, about £40 3 years ago), earrings (£1 Claire's Accessories sale)

Silver metal ring (30p, jumble sale), grey stone ring (present from Vix),
Pure Turquoise nail polish (Barry M)

I think I'll probably shorten the dress as it's a bit long for my oompa-loompa proportions!

Quick Post

2011-02-14T12:25:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post tonight - no jumble or car boots over the weekend, so no finds to share today sadly. I have won several things on ebay instead, so I'll share those when they arrive.

As mentioned, a piccie of Baby Bird in his stripy shirt.

TAG: Question Time

2011-02-11T04:45:00.000-08:00

As you know, I don't share a lot of personal information on my blog, but part of my 'new' style of blogging is to be a bit less shy, so inspired by the talented (and beautiful) Sandy over at VainGlorySinner, I'm going to complete this questionnaire.

WHAT IS YOUR DREAM JOB?
I wanted to be a vet for about 4 years, then I saw a programme when I was about 8 that showed the ickier side and it put me off - I was also really scared of cows for some reason and I thought all vets looked after all animals (blame All Creatures Great and Small for that) so I knew I didn't want to do that! Then I decided fashion was for me and throughout school that was what I planned to do. I did start off at art college when I was 16, but I got completely bored of the course as it was too general. After that I did horse studies for a year as I thought I wanted to work with rescued horses, but that didn't work out either as I lost my nerve after a fall! Since then I've not really had any particular dreams career-wise, other than being able to earn some money doing something I enjoy. Haven't quite worked out what though!

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE FRAGRANCE FOR AUTUMN/WINTER AND SPRING/SUMMER?
Most commercial perfumes give me a bit of a headache as I have a really strong sense of smell (possibly because I'm like Mr Magoo without my contact lenses!), so I don't really wear perfume unless I'm going out with Mr R&B (which isn't often these days). If I do wear any, It's Armani Code for women, which he bought me for Christmas a couple of years ago. That said, I'm supposed to be doing a distance learning course in Perfume Blending, but I need to get myself in gear to actually study!

HOW DO YOU TAKE YOUR TEA/COFFEE?
I used to hate coffee, but then I discovered that real coffee doesn't come out of a glass jar and I was hooked! I don't drink it that often, but it's a nice treat when I can afford it. As for tea - well, I drink gallons of regular tea, but always with milk and no sugar. I'm also partial to a herbal tea now and again.

WHAT IS YOUR MOST IMPORTANT BEAUTY SECRET?
Smile!

IF YOU HAD AN ALL-EXPENSES PAID VACATION ANYWHERE - WHERE WOULD YOU GO?
That's quite a hard one as there's so many places I haven't been but would like to go to! I don't fly, so it would have to be somewhere you could get to using trains and boats. Australia and New Zealand go without saying, but I would absolutely love to do a tour of the Far East - particularly Borneo and Japan. I would love to see an Orangutan in it's natural habitat before they're extinct in the wild and I'm fascinated by Japanese culture, both ancient and modern.

IF A GENIE POPPED UP IN YOUR LAP RIGHT NOW AND OFFERED YOU THREE WISHES - WHAT WOULD THEY BE?
I'm supposed to say world peace and an end to poverty and hunger, aren't I? Actually, I'd think I'd just wish to be happy and have enough money to be comfortable. Also I'd wish that my family would all be happy and healthy too.

IF YOU COULD ONLY HAVE BREAKFAST, LUNCH, DINNER OR DESSERT FOODS FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE - WHICH WOULD YOU PICK?
I think probably breakfast, because actually you can eat pretty much anything for breakfast, especially when you explore different cultures.

IF YOU WERE HELLO KITTY - WHAT COLOUR HAIR BOW WOULD YOU WEAR?
Sparkly sea-green, with some fake fur!

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST PET PEEVE WHEN IT COMES TO MAKEUP?
That I can't get away without cover up as my skin is bad, but everything I try makes me look like I've mixed up chip fat and brick dust, then applied it with a builder's trowel!

IF YOU COULD ONLY WEAR ONE PIECE OF JEWELLERY FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE - WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Well, that would have to be my wedding and engagement rings. I always wear them together, so I count them as one. Simples!

WHAT TALENT DO YOU WISH YOU HAD?
Sings 'I wish I could fly, right up to the sky..' for anyone that remembers Keith Harris and Orville The Duck. Actually, to be able to sing properly would be great. I think I sound ok to myself, but in reality I think I'm more like Phoebe from Friends - I sound amazing in my head, but horrible to everyone else!

WHICH PRODUCT WOULD YOU CONTINUE TO REPURCHASE?
I don't think I've found my must-have product yet, although I've bought Soap & Glory's Hand Food handcream and I-Foam shower cream several times.

IF YOU COULD LOOK INTO THE FUTURE, WOULD YOU? - WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW?
I would, but all I would want to know is that my loved ones would be safe and happy. I used to be very into Tarot and astrology, but as I've got older I've realised that you're in control of your own future and it's up to you how it works out.

WHO IS YOUR BIGGEST CELEBRITY CRUSH? - INCLUDE PICTURE
I'm not really one for celebrities (and I find the whole crush thing a bit cringy, to be honest), but I'm rather partial to the lovely Richard Armitage (hope Mr R&B doesn't read this!). My heart beats a little faster when he appears on the tv and he's done quite a bit of voice-over work recently, which has the same effect when I hear it!

WHAT MADE YOU START A BLOG?
Originally, it was jumping on a bandwagon as lots of crafters were doing it, but now it's evolved a bit more and I've 'met' some lovely and very interesting people through blogging that I would never have in real life. I think it's also broadened my mind as well.

I tag anyone who reads my blog, who'd like to share a bit more about themselves.

Presents and Makes

2011-02-09T13:34:00.001-08:00

As promised, here are some photos of the lovely things Vix sent me last week. Although we've only known each other a short time, she's picked out a perfect selection for me, thank you darling!

Vix tells me the yellow beads are 60s, and the owl and paisley pendant were jumble finds. Mr Owl needs some minor reconstructive surgery as one of his eyes fell off in the parcel!

The brass hoops are from India and the colourful beaded earrings are 70s.

The brass bangle is 70s and the rings are from Vix's collection.

Way back in November, I set myself a challenge to be Creative Every Day for a week. This little shirt was one of the things I was making and I've finally finished it! I often find I get a burst of enthusiasm to make something but it takes me ages to get round to finishing it off. It's always something silly like the hem or buttons that gets left. Anyway, here it is. I'll try and take a picture of Baby Bird modelling tomorrow.

These cute little shoes are about to be sent off to Oxfordshire as they're a present for my friend's baby girl. Good job I made the 3-6 month size as she's 5 weeks old this week! The shoes are knitted in Rowan Fine Milk Cotton and the pattern is from Natural Nursery Knits by Erika Knight although I found it in Love Knitting For Baby. This isn't a sponsored post, by the way, just sharing where I found the pattern.

Rumble In The Jumble - Part Deux

2011-02-07T07:59:00.000-08:00

As promised, the rest of Saturday's finds, all from the morning sale. Some of the finds will be going on ebay later today.

Handmade 70s dress, 20p.

70s/80s Paisley dress, 20p.

Handmade 60s? nightie, 20p.

Handmade 60s tie, 70s? John Lewis bag, 10p each.

Blue bead choker, shell necklace, metal ring, Dan Brown book, 30p each. Loved the other Dan Browns, especially Digital Fortress and Deception Point.

I've got lots of things that I want to post about for a change, but I'm going to space it out over a few days otherwise I'll end up not posting again for ages!

Rumble In The Jumble

2011-02-06T14:49:00.000-08:00

Most Fridays we receive the local free paper through our door - mostly just adverts for local businesses, cars, property yada, yada etc etc (good for lining the Guinea Pig cage, but not a lot else). However, for those in the know, there is a special, glorious half page know as 'What's On' - not Sherlock's friend (boom, boom) but the community events listings. If you look hard enough among the tea dances, toddler groups and whist drives, you'll often find that magic phrase 'JUMBLE SALE'! This week's paper turned up two of the beauties.

So off I trotted on Saturday morning - late of course, as Baby Bird was joining me in his occasional role as Chief Granny Distractor. I'm not naturally a very punctual person anyway, but it seems to take even longer with a baby! I had imagined a queue around the block, but there were more volunteers than customers, so I was able to browse in relative peace.

We were even later for the afternoon jumble (sleepy baby this time), and I initially thought there was nothing to be had as the textile table looked very bare. A little bit of rummaging on the book table turned up a vintage Ladybird book for 10p and then I was on a roll at the bric a brac stall.

I've shared some of the finds below, but the camera battery ran out, so I'll post the rest tomorrow.

Embroidered tablecloths, 60s towelling fabric, 50s? abstract remnant, all 10p each, morning sale.

Embroidery transfers, 10p for the lot, morning sale. The two at the top are from 'Woman' magazine with instructions on how to claim the transfer. A far cry from today's women's magazines!

Vintage Ladybird book, 10p, afternoon sale.

Clock, 20p, afternoon sale. Wierdly, I decided on Friday that I needed a kitchen clock and then I saw this one at the jumble.

Jewellery box, £3, afternoon sale. Will make a nice home for the jewellery lovely Vix sent me on Thursday (more on that tomorrow).

Picture, 50p, afternoon sale.

And finally-

Jumble Sale Massacre

The greatest number of old ladies to perish whilst fighting at a jumble sale is 98, at a Methodist Church Hall in Castleford, West Yorkshire on February 12th 1991. When the doors opened at 10.00am, the initial scramble to get in cost 16 lives, a further 25 being killed in a crush at the first table. A seven-way skirmish then broke out over a pinafore dress costing 10p which escalated into a full scale melee resulting in another 18 lives being lost. A pitched battle over a headscarf then ensued and quickly spread throughout the hall, claiming 39 old women. The jumble sale raised £5.28 for local boy scouts.

(Taken from http://www.whimsy.org.uk/urbanmyth.html)

You weren't anywhere near there, were you, Vix?!

Back For Good (And Some Recent Finds)

2011-02-01T15:06:00.000-08:00

Hi!

Did you miss me?

As you can see the blog's had a bit of a makeover and the format will now be slightly different. As well as crafts and baking, I'll also be throwing in a few style posts. I've always been a bit shy, but I may even show my face now and again as well!

Here we go with a few of my favourite recent buys:

70s/80s Eastex blouse 99p, 70s Dereta blouse 99p (both ebay)

60s Cotton zip dress £3.20 (ebay)

80s Arabella Pollen Jacket £1.49 (ebay)

The best find - a Scottish wool/mohair cape for £7 in the local hospice (expensive) charity shop.

I Have Nothing To Declare...

2011-01-10T13:05:00.000-08:00

No great words of wisdom to share with you, just a quick note to let you know I'm still here, but working on a redesign of this blog. Hopefully to be launched as soon as ever I can get my big behind in gear and upload it!

Lots of Love

Creative Every Day Challenge - The Weekend

2010-11-30T11:08:00.000-08:00

The sum total of my weekend's crafting was....... 3 Christmas cards!

Saturday ended up being one of those days were you don't get round to doing anything and I was at a baby event all day on Sunday - getting stranded in the freezing cold as my friends' car got a puncture. Luckily we were only in Weston Super Mare and there was a greasy spoon cafe nearby, so we didn't get too cold waiting for the breakdown van. A big thank you to the nice security men at the Grand Pier who kept an eye on the car for us and to the breakdown chap who changed the tyre. A big boo, however, to the drunken idiot who tried to run off with the spare tyre! We made it home in one piece, but I didn't feel much like crafting that evening!

Creative Every Day -Friday

2010-11-26T14:15:00.000-08:00

Today's creation is a much-needed draught excluder. I seem to remember Mr R&B ordered one last winter, but I never got around to it!

The fabric is from a curtain I won on ebay ages ago, it's 'Vermont' by Sanderson, I'm guessing it's probably 60s or 70s by the design. I stuffed it with scraps of fabric left over from other projects, so it's extra green!

I don't know about you, but I find it very hard to actually cut into my stash of vintage fabrics, which is daft when you consider they've been bought with the intention of actually doing something with them!

Creative Every Day - Wednesday

2010-11-24T14:49:00.000-08:00

After slow progress yesterday, which consisted of a few seams and a couple more rows of knitting, I've been back on track today.

BB's shirt is nearly finished, just the hem to stitch and buttons to add.

The jacket is also growing - do you see the armhole shaping emerging?

More tomorrow, off to see how everyone is getting on.

Creative Every Day - Monday

2010-11-22T14:24:00.000-08:00

Well, here we go with day one's creating:

This pile of squares will eventually become a patchwork quilt - today I pinned together quarter blocks to make half blocks, which I'll try and sew tomorrow.

This is a little shirt for BB - although I actually did the cutting out last night, after a burst of motivation.

A few more rows of knitting - this will be a jacket for BB, but it's been 'in progress' for a while. Hopefully I'll finish it while it still fits!

Nothing completed to show you as yet, but I aim to finish a few things by the weekend - that's my greatest challenge as I'm the Queen of UFOs (Un-Finished Objects)! My other challenge is to try and win a Wii console with Wii Fit game on ebay, but they keep going for more than I want to pay - maybe I'm just tight?!

Don't forget, you can still join in this challenge if you haven't already, just link back to my original post and make a comment to let me know you're taking part.

Creative Every Day Challenge

2010-11-21T11:20:00.000-08:00

As a kick up the you-know-what, I'm putting myself on a challenge to do something creative every day this week and I'd like to invite you, dear reader, to join in if you wish.

The rules are simple - do something creative every day this week (from Monday until next Sunday) and post about it on your blog, if you have one. It doesn't have to be craft related - you could bake a gorgeous cake, or write a story, anything that you consider creative. And you don't have to complete whatever you create in a day, the challenge is just to spend a little bit of your day dedicated to creating. If you do join in, I'd appreciate it if you link back to this post and add the tag (on the right) to your blog during the challenge.

Christmas Decoration Craft Tutorial (picture heavy)

2010-11-17T13:08:00.000-08:00

As promised, here's another craft tutorial. We had a better night with Baby Bird last night - he only woke up once (about 3am, worse luck), still wanted a feed, but went back to sleep fairly quickly thankfully. Funnily enough, he's just woken up as I'm typing - trapped wind this time, now loudly released. Boys will be boys!

Anyway, here's the tutorial.

Recycled Christmas Card Tree Decoration

Materials and Equipment needed:

Old Christmas cards
Pencil
Ruler
Cutting mat
Scissors
Glue roller/stick
Pair of compasses (I just used a round object, as I couldn't find compasses)

Firstly, sort your cards into piles of similar colours. I find this makes a more co-ordinated colour scheme, but feel free to skip this step if you prefer a more random effect.

Next, draw an equilateral (all sides are the same length) triangle using your ruler. This one is 5cms high, but you can adapt the size according to the cards you have. Remember that the finished size will be twice this height (e.g. I've used two halves, so my ornament will be 10cms high when finished). Create flaps by rounding off with a compass, or drawing around a round object. Make sure that the widest points of the flaps are equal - this is important when you glue the elements together later.

Using your first shape as a template, make another 7 pieces and cut out to make your 8 elements, as below.

Next, score along the straight lines on the wrong side, using a craft knife (or scissor blade) and a ruler. Take care not to cut the whole way through the card (or your fingers!). Also, make sure that the scores meet at each corner, otherwise you won't get a neat triangle.

Score all of the elements and you should end up with something like this:

Don't forget to bend the flaps!

Punch a hole at one point of two of the elements, you'll use these to hang the decoration, so make sure you place them opposite each other when making up. If using a glue roller, now is the time to add glue to the flaps. If you're using a glue stick, glue the flaps one at a time, or you'll end up with a horrible sticky mess!

This is the part where you find out how accurate your cutting and measuring is! Take four elements and stick them together, flaps outermost, lining the edges up. You'll need to create two halves, as above.

Next, take a length of ribbon or sparkly thread and thread it through the two holes you made earlier, tying a knot on the inside of the ornament. Finally, glue the two halves together and voila, your finished decoration!

This is just the basic model - you could embellish it with sequins, ribbon, glitter, whatever you want. You can also glue the flaps together on the inside to create a completely different look - just remember to score on the right side of the card to allow easier folding. If you're feeling adventurous, try adding more elements and seeing how big you can make your ornament, the posibilites are endless!

Tiredness

2010-11-16T10:58:00.000-08:00

(http://blogs.coventrytelegraph.net/fromdawntillrusk/guest_blogs.html)

Today I am tired, bone tired. We've had a few weeks of unsettled nights with Baby Bird, firstly with his teeth (he cut his first one on Bonfire Night, bless), then he decided he likes sleeping across the width of his cot, thus knocking his little bonce on the rails and waking himself (and us) up. However the last two nights have been the nights from hell as he has been waking all night, then last night decided he wasn't going back to sleep until I fed him, which I only worked out at about 2am this morning. Hey ho, the joys of parenthood!

As such, I will be morphing into slob mode shortly, curling up with Kirstie, visiting the 30s high street and (hopefully) going to bed for some much needed sleep.

There may be a craft post tomorrow if I return to the land of the not-so-knackered.

We Will Remember Them

2010-11-11T01:39:00.001-08:00

Re-Inventing The Egg Cosy?

2010-11-10T13:17:00.001-08:00

I bought myself a copy of Cath Kidston's Sew! book the other day and it arrived this afternoon. I had a good flick through and have to say I'm actually quite impressed with it - there's 41 projects ranging from the basics such as cushions and appliqued blankets (a very cute one with aeroplanes, perfect for the little man) to more complex items like a hand-quilted hot water bottle cover and a couple of patchwork items.

There's also lots of information about how to complete the projects, including tips for hand-decoration and trimming. Naturally, of course, Ms Kidston's trademark cotton prints are out in force. Certainly a good book for a beginner, but also great for some inspiration for a more experienced sewer. Glad I got it from The Book People for £4.99 though!

But onto the reason for the title of the post. I have a big collection of home craft books, but even my collection barely scratches the surface of the vast numbers out there. However, reading through them, I don't think I can pick out more than about ten to fifteen basic items that you could make. So, is it the case that we are simply redoing the same projects, over and over again, just with someone else's fabrics? And if this is the case, wouldn't it be better to spend the cost of another book on some lovely fabric and create something that's entirely our own design?

It applies so much to clothing as well - I have a huge collection of patterns (can you spot a trend here?) but in actual fact, they're all variations on a theme. I bought a number of patterns from the 60s and 70s from ebay a few weeks ago and looking at them, there's at least half of them that are virtually the same as patterns I've bought in the last few years.

What do you think, is there anything new to be discovered or has it all been done already?

Guest Post : 'Punk Patchwork' by Vix of Vintage Vixen

2010-10-31T10:02:00.000-07:00

Hi Folks
Apologies for not posting in a while - a lack of time and not very exciting things happening has led to a bit of a blog holiday. Also having a bit of a style overhaul both personally (possibly to be revealed at a later date) and with the blog. As such, I'm delighted to bring the first of my guest posts. The post is by the lovely Vix at Vintage Vixen - a truly stylish and inspirational lady. Enjoy!

'Punk Patchwork' by Vix of Vintage Vixen

Basically it's my punk approach to patchwork, I've called it "Random Acts Of Patchwork". I'm not very patient and once I get an idea in my head I tend to rush it through to maintain my interest, once it gets put aside I rarely go back to finish it. I made this method of patchwork up, I haven't seen it before.

The daybed is Edwardian and was found in a skip many years ago in a poor state. I sanded it down and restained it with Jacobean Oak, a lovely dark woodstain we always use on our floorboards. It's currently sitting in our guest bedroom being very well-used by the cats.

I made the bolster cover by cutting a piece of old sheeting to size and hemming it. I then rifled through my stash of 1950's barkcloth curtains, vintage bed sheets, satin curtains and off-cuts of dresses (all bought second-hand) cut them into random sized pieces, pinned them haphazzardly on the sheet and zig-zag sewed them into place using a bright pink thread. The edges were trimmed with baby pink bias binding.

For the smaller cushions I used old covers I bought at a jumble sale and I did the same with scraps of fabric but this time I hand sewed them using some embroidery thread.

All my thread and trimmings are second-hand. I don't think I've ever bought a new reel of cotton.

The quilt on the day bed is a 1930's one I bought for 50p at a car boot sale and the crochet Afghani blanket was one of Mum's creations back in the late 1960's.

Many thanks to Vix for this great post x

All images courtesy of Vintage Vixen

Pyramage Christmas Card Tutorial

2010-10-11T11:10:00.000-07:00

I'm pleased to bring you the first in a regular series of free craft tutorials wot (sic) I have done.

If you haven't seen pyramage before, the principle is similar to 3D decoupage. Instead of building up individual parts of the image, you focus on one part of the image and build up ever decreasing layers. Confused? Have a look at the pictures and it should make more sense.

Materials:

Kanban Tiverton diecut frames
Kanban Winter Post diecut papercraft toppers
Papermania Gem Sparkling Stars
Papermania Adhesive Shimmer Dots
Papermania Pearlescent DL card pack
Glue roller or double-sided tape
Sticky 3D pads
Scissors

Step 1: Remove frame and the 3 layers of your image from the die cut sheet. Trim notches if needs be. Apply glue/double sided tape to the back of the largest image, then attach to your frame, like so.

Step 2: Take the next smallest image and apply foam pads to the back, do this with each layer of your design. This card has 3 layers, but I've seen some with up to 5.

Step 3: After you've added the foam pads, layer up each image on top of the previous one, carefully lining them up with the first picture. This creates your 3D effect.

Step 4: Glue or tape the topper to your chosen card, and add a sentiment. I've also added some adhesive gems to finish off the card, but you could add glitter, ribbons etc, according to your own taste. And there you have it - your finished card!

Knitting Goes Mainstream

2010-10-05T03:16:00.000-07:00

Having a baby, it seems like Mothercare is our second home at the moment, much as B&Q was when we first moved into our house. The Christmas catalogue popped through the other door and of course, it's full of toys and clothes. However, what I spotted was the backgrounds and props that were being used.

Knitted fairy lights and mountain scenery

My favourite, a wreath made of cabled baubles

More knitted baubles

Wrappings and bows

Have you seen any clever ideas for using knitting recently?

Echoes Of Summer

2010-09-14T11:43:00.000-07:00

You might think this is a photo from earlier in the year, but in fact it was taken just a few minutes ago. These are a few late roses and a foxglove - the bushes have had a second flush of blooms after the lovely weather earlier in the month. The roses are 'Golden Celebration', the yellow one and 'Double Delight', the pink and pale yellow. No idea on the variety of foxglove other than it's a white one that popped up in the garden! I wish I could share the scent of the roses with you, they smell gorgeous.

Sadly it looks as though Autumn has now arrived - the trees are starting to turn and I had to dig out my winter jacket, one of the few vintage things I own that (just) fits me at the moment. Still, the arrival of Autumn hopefully means some cosy evenings with knitting needles and something good on the TV. Failing that, a spot of Christmas shopping online!

52MMM Challenge - Week 7 & 8

2010-09-08T08:47:00.000-07:00

Wow, week 8 already! I lost track a bit recently, and haven't managed any more makes up until last week.

Anyway, week 7's offering are these brownies, made from the recipe that Victoria at Florence & Mary sent me as part of the Good Enough to Eat Swap. Very yummy and the first brownie recipe that's actually worked for me:

Not many left as you can see, but to be fair I did make them for a barbeque, so we didn't eat them all ourselves!
Week 8 is also of the edible variety - this time it's bakewell slices, which I made today. This is the first time I've ever made these, so apart from a slightly crispy edge to the pastry (I blame the oven for not cooking evenly!), I think they turned out pretty well in the end.

Giveaway Result .. And Another Giveaway!

2010-09-05T10:54:00.000-07:00

Apologies for the late drawing of the giveaway, but I've been away and there were also a couple of last-minute entries. However, with a drum roll, the name pulled from Baby Bird's sunhat was:

Vintage Vixen!

Please drop me an email with your address so I can send your winnings to you!

The other giveaway is over on Floss's blog - vintage French loveliness, although this giveaway is a tad more British in it's flavour!

What Now?

2010-08-31T13:35:00.004-07:00

I am a terrible hoarder and collector (or a good one, depending on which way you look at it) and as a result the house does have rather a lot of clutter. However, I have a love/hate relationship with all the stuff - it's pretty and I like to look at it, but it creates more work in the way of dusting and most of it will have to be stored away once Baby Bird gets mobile, probably around Christmas time.

I also have shelves overflowing with fabrics (some vintage, some not) in my craft room, not that I've spent more than a couple of hours up there since May (yes, I could still heave myself up there despite being nearly 40 weeks pregnant).

Now, my dillemma is this - do I a) keep everything, enjoy it, but not buy anything more for the time being, b) try and sell it or c) try and create some stuff with the fabric, then sell those items? And if I do try to use the fabric, what do I make? Where do I sell? My forays into craft fairs were pretty unsucessful last year, but it's hard to tell whether that was my products, the venue or the recession.

Answers on the back of a postcard please!

Self-Indulgent Nonsense ... and a Giveaway!

2010-08-26T11:54:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again, another birthday has rolled around! In some ways life has been completely turned on it's head by the arrival of Baby Bird, but in others, I'm no further forward than I was last year. I always assumed that I would get married and have babies, which I've achieved, but it's the more personal, selfish dreams that so far elude me. This time next year I will be celebrating a milestone birthday and it would be pretty amazing to have got somewhere along the personal goals path - so watch this space! I've booked myself a place on Debbie's retreat (link here) in May next year. Debbie has achieved so much this last year or so, I would love to be able to follow in her footsteps. You can read about her adventures on her lovely blog http://countryheartandhome.blogspot.com/ .
Anyway, enough with the self-indulgence, I would like to bring you my long-awaited book giveaway! I know you've all been waiting with baited breath (haven't you?!).

The book is 'Seasons of Giving' by Joni Prittie (appropriate name, I think!). There are lots of ideas for gifts crafted for seasonal occasions such as Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, new Baby, Autumn etc. There's a variety of items including dried flower arrangements, a woven ribbon sachet, a gardener's apron and even gifts for pets! At the beginning of the book there's lots of information about useful techniques for creating the items and making our own creations.
I'm also going to include some goodies to add to your crafting stash - this will include some vintage fabrics and trims, some card embellishments and whatever else I can think of!

All you have to do to be entered into the draw is become a follower of my blog. If you also introduce anyone whe becomes a follower, you'll get an extra entry, it's that simple! Closing date is next Friday, the 3rd of September.

Good luck and happy following!

A Thrifty Mrs' 52MMM Challenge - Weeks 1 & 2

2010-07-26T09:33:00.000-07:00

As you've probably worked out from the title of this post (and my previous one), I've been taking part in the 52 Marvelous Makes Madness challenge set by A Thrifty Mrs over on her blog.
Basically the idea is to make one thing a week that you ENJOY (this is the important bit) making, using either existing skills or something you'd like to learn. It could be crocheting a blanket, making a fabulous cake or creating a 10-foot high garden sculpture out of used scooter parts, the choice is yours and limited only by your imagination. And no, making the dinner doesn't count!

I feel I want to share one of the reasons for doing this challenge and I'm going out on a limb doing so, but part of the purpose of this blog is to record my life as well as more fluffy things. I've been suffering with low moods for several weeks since T was born and am currently being refered for assesment and counselling to see if I have postnatal depression. As such, I haven't felt much like doing any crafting in the spare time I do have, so the challenge will hopefully give me some motivation to at least do a little something each week.

Anyway, please let me share with you the first two weeks' creations.

Week 1

My entries for the Bo Bunny Design Team auditions. The challenge was to create two scrapbook layouts, two cards and an item of your choice using at least 80% Bo Bunny products. My layouts were of T, (including one of his tags from the hospital), and our wedding (although I put the wrong year on it, we actually got married in 2007), using a photo of our first dance. The cards I made using the new Peacock Lane range and also the Delilah range. My item of choice was an empty (clean!) food can which I decorated with papers to turn it into a pretty storage tin.

Week 2

Jam! Pretty self-explanatory really! The greengrocer in the local high street had boxes and boxes of strawberries which they were selling off at 2 for 50p, so I bought six and made some jam. I don't think I'm going to be invited to join the WI any time soon, but it tastes pretty good. Perhaps my Week 3 make should be some scones to eat with it?

Catching Up

2010-07-05T06:07:00.000-07:00

(www.jimandellen.org)

Just a quick post to say I'm still here and haven't forgotten about the world of blogging!

The last few weeks have been a mad round of feeding, nappy changing and not enough sleep, but I think things are starting to fall into place (for now, at least!). Thomas made his first real smile last night (funnily enough, during a nappy change), which was so nice to see and it's beginning to feel worth all the broken nights!

Naturally I haven't had a lot of time for crafting, but I managed to escape for a few hours last Saturday and took part in a knitting workshop with Debbie Abrahams. Debbie is a knitting designer and a consultant for Rowan yarns. She's published several books and runs courses and workshops all over the country.

The workshop I did was 'Professional Finishing', which was exactly as it says on the tin!
We learnt how to block and press the knitted pieces before using various techniques such as three-needle cast off to turn them into a finished garment. Debbie taught us the secret of picking up stitches evenly and also how to sew together the seams with mattress stitch. Despite a baking hot room, it was one of the best things I've done in a long time and I certainly learnt loads. I don't think I'll groan now when a pattern says 'pick up 100 stitches'!

I also decided to sign up to A Thrifty Mrs 52 Marvellous Makes Madness challenge, although goodness knows if I'll manage it, but what an inspiration!

I haven't forgotten about the giveaway I promised - I'm just waiting for my 50th follower to sign up and then you'll all have the chance to win. The main prize will be a book from my vast collection of crafting titles (to be revealed!), plus some other goodies to add to your craft stash!

Get following and in the words of a certain campaign 'It Could Be You!'

I've Been a Little Busy....

2010-06-11T06:33:00.000-07:00

Looking after this little man!

This is Thomas Dylan, the new addition to the R&B household. He arrived at 11.54am on Sunday 30th May, weighing 9lb 10oz. We had a few problems with feeding to begin with, but he's now steadily gaining weight and feeding well.

Good Enough To Eat Swap

2010-05-28T08:53:00.001-07:00

I was partnered with Victoria over at Florence and Mary for Claire's Good Enough To Eat Swap. I received my lovely parcel today (thanks very much, Victoria!), and I though I'd share the goodies with you!

These were the items we had to include:

A handmade item that looks or smells good enough to eat.

An item that is Green~Fair trade.

A Delicious cake recipe.

A couple of items which you would consider look good enough to eat!

Strawberry sponge

Handmade cupcake

Napkins

The chocolate didn't last long!

Pretty journals - might put some recipes in these!

Smellies!

Looking forward to trying the brownie recipie - hopefully they'll turn out as they should: I can never get brownies right!

Never Forget

2010-05-14T02:17:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry that my first post in six weeks is a sad one, but I couldn't bring myself to post about other things without first doing some sort of tribute to Bridie, one of my beloved guinea pigs, who sadly had to be put to sleep on 1st May, aged 5.

She'd had a lump on her cheek for a couple of weeks that wasn't going away, so I took her to the vet. To cut a long story short, the lump turned out to be a nasty abscess - possibly an osteomyelitis, which is a bone infection that can't often be cured. The lump was investigated under a general anaesthetic, and Bridie was sent home with lots of antibiotics. I took her back to the vet a few days later and asked them to try a different antibiotic, but by the following Friday, it was clear the drugs weren't working and she was steadily losing weight. On the Saturday morning, Bridie had completely lost interest in food, so I made the heart-breaking decision that she should be put to sleep before she became really ill. I was able to hold her as she slipped away.

It's probably the hardest decision any pet owner has to make, but at least the option is there to relieve any suffering your animal may be going through.

Bridie indulging in her second favourite 'activity' of sleeping - eating being the first

Hiding in a roll-a-nest

From the time I brought her home from the pet shop with her friend Saba, Bridie was always a big personality. She was never shy about telling you if she didn't want to be caught and did go through a stage of nipping during her 'teenage' months. She also learnt how to tell you when she wanted to go back to her house. Her favourite activity was eating and there were many tugs of war over carrots and celery between her and Saba. In her last 18 months or so, she mellowed a lot and became a real lap-piggy, happy to spend ages snuggled into the crook of your arm and falling asleep on one or other of us on several occasions.

Good night, my friend x

Sometimes I Actually Make Things

2010-03-30T09:10:00.001-07:00

I'm afraid life has rather got in the way of blogging recently, plus I haven't done much that warrants posting. As this time of year is when everything starts gearing up again with the allotment, we've been spending a lot of time sowing seeds and potting on for this year's crops.

As you may remember, I announced that we're expecting baby R&B in May and I'm happy to say that all is well and I continue to grow bigger and bigger!

As the title says from time to time, I do actually make things, rather than just talk about them!

Firstly, this is a cardigan I knitted for the baby. I thought baby things were easy, but I ended up unraveling this one several times as I kept losing count of rows and stitches completed! A word of warning if you try a Stylecraft pattern (as this one is) - check your tension meticulously. The yarn I used is meant to knit to 22 stitches over 10cms, but with the specified needles, it was more like 27 stitches. Also, I found it came out bigger than the size I chose to knit. So, the moral of this story is - preparation is key!

Next, I'd like to show you a little pair of shoes I created from a book I had for Christmas - Emma Hardy's Making Clothes for Children. These are probably one of the fiddliest things I've ever made. I ended up doing quite a bit of the stitching by hand and I'm not all that happy with the linings, but they're ok for the first attempt and I'm sure the baby won't notice!

Lastly, I actually made something for myself!

This is a maternity top from a Burda pattern in a cotton print by Rose & Hubble that I bought from Croft Mill (one of my favourite fabric places). To finish it off, I trimmed the sleeves with some vintage cotton lace from my collection.

Next on the list are the nursery curtains when I find some fabric in the right colour and one day I'll also finish the patchwork quilt that I mentioned in a previous post.

On another tack, I'm planning a book giveaway when I reach 50 followers, so don't forget to let your friends know!

MISI - Make it Sell it

2010-02-15T10:24:00.000-08:00

I hadn't heard of this place before, but one of the posters on MSE mentioned them the other day.

If you're familiar with websites such as Folksy and Etsy, then MISI is much the same. You pay 20p to list an item you've created and it stays on the website for 12 months, unless it sells. If it does sell, you pay 3% commission, which seems pretty reasonable to me.

Needless to say, I've signed up and I've just added my first 5 items - a selection of handmade bags. I have lots more to follow, so please do pop over and have a look at my shop:

http://www.misi.co.uk/handmade/roseandbird.html

Busy Day

2010-01-29T09:41:00.000-08:00

Well, today has been a rather productive day for a change!

After spending most of yesterday afternoon not knowing quite where to begin and not doing anything, I've gone and done lots today.

First of all, I started on some artwork, which I hope to be able to sell a few of. Just a teaser pic here, as it's not finished yet.

Then I cut out quarter blocks for a quilt I'm making from Jelly Roll Quilts by Pam and Nicky Lintott. I bought this book over a year ago and I'm only just getting round to making anything now!

After that, it was boring housework (wish that was optional!) and then I made some biscuits. I realised that I didn't have quite enough cocoa powder, but never mind - I didn't stick entirely to the recipie anyway. Necessity being the mother of invention and all that, they're just chocolate shortbread instead of toasted pecan shortbreads!

Now, I'm going to have a sit down and a cup of tea!

Snow Birds

2010-01-24T08:14:00.001-08:00

Although the snow has now disappeared (let's hope that's it for this winter), I thought I'd share with you a few pictures of the feathered visitors to our garden.

We regularly put out food for the birds and are usually rewarded by lots of avian activity, as well a a cheeky grey squirrel or 3! Although we live in the city, we back onto a stretch of the Bristol-Bath Cycleway - a former railway track that goes from the centre of Bristol to Bath. The area directly behind us is heavily wooded and we see a wide variety of bird species that we'd never seen living in more rural areas.

Currently we see the usual Blackbirds, Robins, Woodpidgeons, Blue Tits and Chaffinches that most people get, but we have also have a few slightly less common residents. These include Long-tailed Tits, a Bullfinch, Jays and Collared Doves. With the recent cold weather, we've even had a pair of Fieldfares and what I think was a Redpoll.

As you can tell, birds are a particular interst of mine, although it's only in the last few years that I've realised how much I enjoy watching the birds and seeing new species. I also enjoy fabric with bird designs, but I have to hold back a bit on indulging that particular hobby!

Jay and Woodpidgeon ('Do you come here often?')

Blackbird

Jay in the apple tree

Fieldfare eating berries

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T12:19:00.001-08:00

(http://rlv.zcache.com)

Well, here we are again - a new year and hopefully a new start.

I've seriously neglected the old blog - my last post was in September! I've not had anything terribly exiting to share with you these last few months, hence the lack of posts.

Never mind, as I've resolved to try and do more things that I enjoy this year, I hope I'll be able to bring you more interesting things to read about and look at!

As well as trying to get the house tidied and decluttered over the next few months, I'll be trying to stick to a more organised approach to life and making time to do some sort of crafting every day. I've taken up a HUGE cross stitch chart that I started back in 2003 and I'm aiming to finish that by the spring - I don't stitch very fast, as you can tell! I'm also going to be getting back into sewing and I've just ordered some more knitting patterns and yarn from Kemps Wool shop, so that's 2 more jumpers for me and another little something to be revealed at a future date!

We also have a very special event happening late May or early June (one or two of you will already know) - DH and I are expecting our first baby! No doubt my careful plans will have to be put on hold then!

Older........But Not Wiser

2009-09-02T10:14:00.000-07:00

I meant to write about this last week, but with one thing and another I didn't get round to it. So here is a belated birthday blog post for me for last Wednesday. I received several lovely presents including this beautiful coffee pot which the DH gave me - the training has paid off!
The pot is Wedgewood, with a Susie Cooper design and it dates from the late 70s. Not especially old, but it's exactly my taste and has pride of place on the display cabinet for now - until a more prestigious home can be found for it!
We spent the Bank Holiday in Cornwall - we rented a small converted barn with another couple and spent the weekend visiting the area around Bude. We made it down to Port Isaac (home of 'Doc Martin'), Tintagel, Boscastle and Trebarwith for dinner on the Saturday. Sunday we got up late, popped into Bude for a couple of hours then made a lovely big chicken roast (Quorn for me!) in the evening.
Apart from a big relapse on Monday, I've been feeling a lot better recently - DH and I have made some big decisions and I've decided to try and look for some help with coping strategies for when things get bad.
I've also made a start on sorting out my craft room - it's very untidy due to a lack of storage and needs a bit of freshening up. The first stage of which was covering my cutting table with some pretty oilcloth fabric. I ended up with quite a bit left over, which I know will get reused for another project. The next stage will be to get some decent storage and maybe a fresh lick of paint. Pictures to follow!

Remember Me

2009-08-12T05:48:00.001-07:00

This morning I lost Saba, one of my Guinea Pigs. She had obviously passed away in the night, as I found her curled up in her little house with her friend Bridie standing guard. She was about four and a half, but I think she had a problem with her heart. That was due to be checked out by the vet this afternoon, but maybe it was just her time to go.
She was a timid little thing, and always tiny - I think she was a bit of a runt! Runty she may have been, but she was pretty and a little unusual - a dainty little face, sticky-up ears and odd eyes, one was blue, the other brown. She also had her little crest on her forehead, as you can see.
She's modelling one of Jane at Snapdragons Garden's embroidered badges in this picture.

Sleep tight, little one x

Just a quick one (oo-er missus)!

2009-08-06T08:28:00.000-07:00

I haven't given up blogging completely - I just haven't felt much like posting recently.
Although we had a lovely holiday in Yorkshire last month, life hasn't been terribly good to us recently - neither the crafting or Partylite is bringing in any money (both seem to just be costing money instead). I've had virtually no work since May, so no money coming coming in but still with bills to pay. However, I now have some work again, so that will at least ease some of the money worries for now.
There are many, many things that I need to say, the kind of things you only really share in heart-to-heart talks with your closest friend, but an open blog isn't the best place to air these thoughts.
When you don't have anyone but yourself to talk to, it's very easy to end up being overwhelmed with the negative thoughts and feelings that build-up.
One day I will beat this wretched gremlin that moves in whenever I feel down x

Back Again..

2009-06-25T12:14:00.000-07:00

I'm afraid I've been a little quiet this month, but I have had rather a lot going on outside of the computer. I've taken up my knitting needles again to finish a couple of projects, which I'll show you another time. I've been trying to get my Partylite business going, which has involved a fair bit of designing posters and going to events to start promoting. I'm also going to have to get back into sewing mode as I've decided to do a bit of a re-design for my Rose & Bird items. I have a lady next Saturday to have a look at my stuff and possibly offer me some dates for a stall at her fair. I want to up my game for that! On top of all that, I've been trying to keep the house in some sort of order, but it's much more tempting just to do another couple of rows!
The garden and allotment have also gone mad with all this sunshine and rain. We've had loads of strawberries, the black and redcurrants are laden even with the birds taking their share, and we have apples and plums growing as we speak. At the allotment, our lettuces have doubled in size almost overnight, the early potatoes are almost ready, and the french beans have nearly outgrown their canes!
Unfortunately, we have a naughty fox who likes to dig and tip over the containers in the garden. I'm thinking of putting chilli powder down to discourage him, but if anyone can suggest some other humane fox detterants, please let me know.

Would love to hear how all your gardens are doing.

Coming Up Roses

2009-06-07T12:57:00.000-07:00

Just a few pictures from the garden, taken in last week's glorious sunshine. Some of the roses we've bought or brought from our previous house, which I can tell you the names of, the others were already here, so goodness knows what they are! They're still pretty though.

'Rhapsody In Blue', a purple shrub rose

'Ena Harkness', a deep red climber

'Golden Celebrations', a golden yellow shrub rose

'White Cloud', a shy white climber

A cream climber that covers the pergola

Another climber

A rather large pink rose, growing under the apple tree.

Don't forget to take time to smell the roses this week x

Motivational Speaking 101

2009-05-31T14:25:00.000-07:00

(http://rattler-radio.blogspot.com/2008_01_01_archive.html)

Kind of appropriate for me at the moment. After 2 craft fairs in a row at which I failed to sell anything, part of me is ready to throw in the towel. But I'm trying to get in touch with my inner 2-year-old - the one that said no! loudly and repeatedly and refused to give up doing what she wanted to do. Or that tiny little part of me that kept going through countless lessons and 4 driving tests before finally passing at the fifth attempt, aged 23. Or the part that gets on a horse despite feeling sick at memories of a painful fall 12 years ago, the part that made me start jumping again.
The point is that this is something I don't want to give up on - I enjoy doing it and it makes me happy (most of the time). I don't know why I didn't sell anything - maybe it was the location, maybe people don't have the money, maybe I'm just not a saleswoman, but there's always next time.
I'm working on the look of the stall all the time - at the moment I'm trying to think of a good way to display my bags. They currently get laid on the table, but I need some kind of rack to hang them on. It needs to be small enough to stand on a 6ftx3ft table, so if anyone's got any ideas, I'd love to hear them.

French Fancies

2009-05-29T02:40:00.000-07:00

Well, I promised I would show you my French Fabric Finds, and here they are:

These 3 are blue checks and stripes. The one on the left was just 99c, the dark stripe 1,99E, the pale gingham was also 1,99E

These two were a little more expensive, they were 4,99E a metre. I didn't buy 2 the same, by the way - the lower one has a pale check running across it.

These pretty cottons were 5,99E at metre. The last one has 3 photos because it was extra wide and the design gets more complex as you go across it. I wonder if it's meant for very light weight curtains?

Please Help a Fellow Blogger

2009-05-28T10:53:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to let you know that Jayne over at Snapdragon's Garden is looking for people to take a photo of one of her lovely badges and send it to her for her catalogue - you get to keep the badge, provided you'll definitely take a photo.
Jayne is such a lovely person - she offfered to lend me a sewing machine when mine broke down even though we've never met and live at opposite ends of the country!

Devizes Craft Fair 23 May

2009-05-22T03:56:00.000-07:00

Don't forget that tomorrow (sat 23rd May) the craft fair in the Corn Exchange, Devizes is on from 9am. I'll be there, along with many other craftspeople. Do pop in and say hello!

City of Light

2009-05-20T07:10:00.000-07:00

I'm back from Paris!

I'm afraid there's no vintage pretties due to lack of funds and lack of confidence in my French skills! I also forgot that you're meant to barter in the flea markets, so I thought everything was too expensive. I did find a great fabric shop (Marche St Pierre) in Montmartre, 5 floors of fabric, at very reasonable prices, even with the poor exchange rate. In fact, Montmartre is the best area for fabric shops - there are loads around there. I did buy a few metres of fabric - I'll show those another time.

Meanwhile, enjoy some pictures of Paris.

Charity Shop Bonanza

2009-05-09T09:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went on an impromptu trip to Taunton. Mr R&B was going there for a meeting so I decided to tag along for the ride. We caught the 8.30 train (very sustainable) and arrived at quarter past 9. He went to his meeting and I hit the shops. I easily spent about 3 hours looking around, then I had a coffee. Himself rang to say his meeting had finished, so we met for lunch (an omlette for me and ham, egg and chips for himself). After that we got back on the train and went home.

I've never been to Taunton before and I'm very glad I did - there are about 10 shops along the main shopping road. 1 or 2 aren't so great, but I did find one gem of a shop with sensible prices and no bought-in new goods (chain shops take note!). I probably could have bought more than I did, but I didn't want to go over the top and we're off to Paris next weekend, so there'll be more stuff to come. Here are some of the pretties I found:

A brand new 'Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady' quilt £5. The sales lady said it was still in it's packet when they received it and she'd only put it out that morning. I've no idea where it's going to go, but I'm sure I'll find a home for it.

2 fabric pieces, 50p each. I was amazed to see a box of remnants (I never see fabric in the shops at home) and I nearly missed them, but I heard another customer rummaging.

This little picnic basket, £2.50. Sadly empty of it's contents, but will come in handy for my craft fair table.

This lovely original painting, £10. I wasn't sure whether to buy it or not, but I dragged DH to have a look and he seemed to think it was ok, so I bought it. It really needs a frame, so it won't be going up just yet.

I also bought 2 old Ordnance Survey maps, but those are for the DH for his birthday. He likes looking at old maps!

We've been at the allotment today, digging some more beds. With luck we should be able to get lots of things in over the next few weeks. We've already planted strawberries, a rhubarb crown, runner beans and early potatoes. At home we're growing on courgettes, pumpkins, butternut squash, tomatoes, aubergines, sweetcorn and various other things.

I'll post some pictures another time!

Sunday, Sunday....

2009-05-03T10:20:00.000-07:00

Well, yesterday was the second of this year's craft fairs in Bath. After last month's miserable showing I wasn't looking forward to it - I didn't sleep much for worrying about it. In the end it turned out pretty well - I was only £7 away from paying for my table. I've yet to see £12 of that as it's for a commission, but fingers crossed it'll all go well.

I've had many a dark moment over the last few months wondering if I'm doing the right thing in trying to get all this going - but yesterday was so encouraging. In just a month, my table looked much more professional, I had carrier bags and I've actually sold some items! Roll on next fair!

Unfortunately I had to turn the job down as I wasn't happy with the contract, but I'll be making the most of the time I've got now. I have loads of ideas for new products - a painted range, novelty cushions and notebooks to name just a few. We're off to Paris in a couple of weeks and I intend to do plenty of 'research' in the flea markets. A few items may also find their way home with me (thank heavens for Eurostar!), which should give me lots more inspiration!

Give a Little Whistle...

2009-04-27T14:14:00.000-07:00

As Jiminy Cricket said to Pinocchio 'When you get in trouble and you don't know right from wrong/give a little whistle/give a little whistle'.

This time last week I really wasn't in a good place, but it's suprising what a difference a week can make. I'd just finished an assignment and I didn't have a job to go to, I didn't really know where I was going with either Rose&Bird or Partylite and I was extemely worried about money.

But today, things are looking up - I was offered another assignment starting next week which will leave me with 2 full days a week to dedicate to my own projects and I'll have some money!

I've also found my creative side again, and I'm working on several new lines to take to the craft fair on Saturday. Pictures coming soon!

Everything must go!

2009-04-14T12:33:00.001-07:00

I need to make some space (and some money!), so I'm having a grand bazaar of shop stock. Please take a look at the items available and make me an offer on anything you fancy (except the quilts) through the blog.

Many thanks

Sunny Days

2009-04-13T11:43:00.000-07:00

Haven't had much time for crafting or blogging recently - the allotment has been a hot-bed of activity since Friday. After a few hiccups, with Mr R&B's Argos special drill not being up to the task - the base of the shed was finally completed. Saturday saw the walls and roof going on, with the felt and window being completed yesterday. I spent today painting the shed blue - everyone else has brown or green, but I've always got to be different to the rest!
I'm sure there'll be a few friendly mutters from the old-timers - but who cares?

I pointed out the other day that allotment holders are much like their plants - you don't see them all winter, then the first bit of sunshine and they're out, digging and planting for the coming year.

We got our overgrown plot at the end of February and in just a few weeks, it's starting to look like a proper allotment. We were quite lucky as the council got contractors in to clear a lot of the rubbish and turn the plots over, but we still have a way to go.

We plan to get the potatoes in shortly and then start planting out everything that's growing on at home. Our dining table looks like Kew Gardens at the moment!

What was I thinking?
Feb '09

'Hmm, napalm or flame-thrower?' March '09
(rare appearance by yours truly)

Today (13 Apr '09)

Quick Reminder

2009-04-02T14:45:00.000-07:00

(www.dorisday.net)

Just a quick one to remind you that it's the monthly Craft Fair in St Michael's Church, Bath this Saturday (eeeeekk!)

I've been alternating sewing, swearing at the machine, stuffing birdies and moments of panic that I may not be ready, but I'm now on the home straight!
I felt quite queasy at the thought last night, but I'm actually quite looking forward to it and to quote Doris Day 'que sera, sera'!

Hoping I'll see some of you there, please do say hello!

On The Road Again

2009-03-17T14:41:00.001-07:00

('Village Fete' by Roger Dellar, www.pennisulagallery.com)

Thought it was high time to let you know which craft fairs I'll be attending this year. The first is Crafts In The Crypt at St Michael's Church in Bath on the 4th April from 9.00 - 5.00.

May
2nd St Michael's Church Crypt, Broad St, Bath. 9am to 5pm
23rd Corn Exchange, Devizes. 10am to 4pm

30th Town Hall, Marlborough. 10am to 4pm

June
6th St Michael's Church Crypt, Broad St, Bath. 9am to 5pm

July
4th St Michael's Church Crypt, Broad St, Bath. 9am to 5pm

August
22nd Corn Exchange, Devizes. 10am to 4pm

September
5th St Michael's Church Crypt, Broad St, Bath. 9am to 5pm
26th Town Hall, Marlborough. 10am to 4pm

October
3rd St Michael's Church Crypt, Broad St, Bath. 9am to 5pm

November
7th St Michael's Church Crypt, Broad St, Bath. 9am to 5pm
21st Corn Exchange, Devizes. 10am to 4pm
28th St Michael's Church Crypt, Broad St, Bath. 9am to 5pm

December
5th Town Hall, Marlborough. 10am to 4pm

Further details can be found at Apple Tree Craft Fairs

Do say hello if you're visiting any of these events - my stall will also be 'Rose & Bird'. Look forward to meeting some of you.

Wot, No Posts?!

2009-03-15T10:25:00.000-07:00

Gosh, I've just realised that it's been over a month since I last posted!

I make no apologies - this is my blog and I do have (or try to have) a life away from the computer! I've had some real ups and downs recently - I've really been questioning what I do and whether I should just stay as an office drone rather than try to strike out by myself. I really don't know if I'm going to be ready for my first craft fair in April, but I'm going to give it a bloody good go!

My mum has been staying for a couple of days and it's always good to spend time with her and just talk - she is the most grounded person I know and makes me feel a lot more positive about everything. We had a lovely trip to Bath yesterday and I saw the place through new eyes - we explored some of the streets off the main drag that I hadn't actually been to before. I also found a fantastic costume jewellery shop in the Guildhall market area - I've been in there several times and never seen it before even though the lady has been there 4 years! As money is tight at the moment, I just bought 2 little porcelain flower brooches from the bargain basket at 50p each.

Sometimes you just need to slow down and take stock - you often end up seeing things in a completely different light. I feel a lot more positive about things at the moment. The fantastic weather has also helped - birds are singing and nesting, flowers are appearing and spring is definitely nearly upon us.

On a sadder note, the ongoing problem with a would-be developer cutting down protected trees at the back of our house has reared it's ugly head again. The chain saws started up again on Saturday morning and straight away our Councillor and the 'action group' were mobilised.
To cut a long story short, land at the back of our house and some of our neighbours was sold to a developer who put in for planning permission for 21 flats. it was refused on various grounds and part of the land was designated as an area of nature conservation and a tree presevation order passed. We (the residents) believe that the developer is trying to pave the way to getting planning permission through poor management of the woodland - thereby rendering the TPO ineffective. I'm not normally a person to get involved in these things, but this is an important issue - we have few green spaces left in the locality and this particular space has significant biodiversity.

Sometimes you just have to fight for what you believe in!

Letter From (or to?) America (and Canada, Australia and Europe too)

2009-02-11T14:31:00.000-08:00

(www.bbc.co.uk)

Just a quick note to let all my overseas readers know that I'm now offering shipping from my store Rose&Bird to Europe, USA, Canada and Australia. (Don't forget to contact me for a shipping quote before placing you order).

I really hope you'll enjoy browsing my products for sale. I have lots of exciting new handmade goodies coming over the next few weeks (just as soon as I get that machine fixed).

I'll also be on the road during the Spring, so if you're visiting any of the fairs I'm attending (alerts nearer the time), do drop by and say hello!

Technical Errors

2009-02-08T12:00:00.000-08:00

I sat down at my sewing machine today to try and bring you some fantastic handmade creations, only to find that it's been in touch with it's union and is now on strike! It appears to be demanding healthcare benefits as it's not been serviced since I bought it about 9 years ago. Who knew domestic appliances were unionised?

In actual fact, it appears to be a tensioning issue that I can't resolve. Despite a phonecall to my technical advisor (my Mum, in Bournemouth), the issue appears to be terminal and it will have to go to the machine hospital down the road. Annoyingly, my other machine is also playing up, despite being serviced just after I received it from Freecycle last summer. Sadly, I'll have to pull out of the Feb flea market as I don't have the money to fix them or the time to make enough things before the day.

In better news, we're about to take on an allotment. While for many people the waiting list is as long as your arm, we were only on the list for about a month before we were invited to have look at the site last Saturday. We're just waiting for our tenancy agreement to come through so we can get a key. We've had no post since Wednesday due to the Royal Mail cancelling deliveries here because of the snow.

A frustrating time all round!

Shop Local(ish)

2009-02-07T08:32:00.000-08:00

(www.vintageshoppingguide.com)

Having done our weeks' shopping in the local high street today, I though I would share with you a few other small shops I can thoroughly recommend.

The first is Beyond France Vintage Linens, so-called because they source their products from around Europe, particularly Hungary and Romania. Excellent products, a good range of prices and fantastic service. Top tip for crafters - check out the clearance linens section for damaged items that can be remade into your own treasures.

The next is Palatial Lace Interiors, who can be found on ebay. They mainly sell lace curtains, but also often have a selection of vintage fabric remnants and larger pieces. Again, great products and fantastic service.

My final tip for this post is A H Naylor Textiles, again on ebay. They sell a range of new interior fabrics, particularly Globaltex and Prestigious textiles. Excellent prices and brilliant service too!

And The Winner Is..........

2009-01-30T10:02:00.000-08:00

The name drawn from the vintage flower hat was..............

Vivwild!

Let me know your address and I'll send them out to you post-haste!