Work progressed.

Remember this bag I was making the other week for my sister?

Well this is it made up in some vintage fabric with a longer strap so it can be worn over your shoulder.

Saw a lovely piece of wall graffiti in London the other week.

Marimekko inspiration!

Sorry it's taken me a while to show you some pages from the Marimekko book. I'm not usually a person of routine or rules
but when it comes to the written /photographed page that's a different matter.
I am a bit Sheldon Cooper when it comes to books and magazines. There I've admitted it.
I have to have a quiet space, with no distractions or noise.....
I need to look carefully at and savour each page.....
I love the surprise and anticipation of the next page.....
If I find myself getting too excited and turning the pages too quickly I put the book down and do something else.....
I don't mind someone else looking at the book or magazine before me so long as they don't show me what's in it......
and of course I couldn't show you photos from it before I'd properly looked at it myself could I?
Is anyone else like this about books or other things I wonder?
The book is pure joy and inspirational with patterns in the bag for some of the projects and interviews with the designers.
Here are just a few pages from it I hope you find them interesting too :)

 

  

Do you love Marimekko?

Yippee! Look what arrived in the post today. May not get to work on time.... sorry Jen I'll be there soon.
I posted about this book before when I saw it on someone else's blog. I tried to get it from the Marimekko shop in Shoreditch
when we went to London last week but they had sold out and were getting more in so I ordered one and it came  superfast!
with a lovely flower sticker on the parcel.
Will save it as a treat to look at later. expect more peeks inside.

"Work in progress"

I'm sure I've mentioned before about my vintage fabric obsession. Even though it's threatening to takeover the house I can't resist buying more with the thought that one day I will "do something" with it. However when I think about "doing something" with it I panic about cutting it up and wasting it if I don't like the end result.
Finally I decided to cut some of it up and make a Japanese knotbag - a present/request  for /from my sister.
I drafted the pattern and sacrificed some less important fabric to try it out in first before cutting into some prime vintage, but the blanket material I have used looks nice and I might use that instead and add some crochet pieces instead......so still not used the vintage stash!!!

Head in the Clouds

Number 2 son is off to China for 10 days. Flying to Beijing first. I think he arrives there tomorrow morning.
A 10 hour flight...... far too long to have your head in the clouds for my liking.
Alternatively these are the only clouds I wouldn't mind seeing at close quarters.

http://www.noodoll.com

http://www.kvadratclouds.com/

Birthday :)

It was my birthday last week and I chose as a birthday treat a trip to Birmingham to go and see an very inspiring exhibition called Lost in Lace The window display at Harvey Nic's with a lace Paul Smith jacket could easily have been part of the exhibition too. We had a nice coffee and panini in a glass built Costa cafe.

" Look Cool. Keep Warm. Wear Tweed "

So say the people at Liberty Freedom. I am in love with this coat, I wish it was mine!!

(-: Swedish Treasure :-)

Some lovely things brought back by Mr D from his trip to Sweden. I'm kind of hoping he did get me this book which I hinted about very strongly and even wrote down the addresses of where to look for it. Will have to wait till the 25th!!!!

Pink Christmas Bicycle!!!

Mr D returned from a trip to Sweden at the weekend. Look at this amazing bike he took a photograph of for me. If I owned a bicycle it would certainly look like this!!! I love the spotty fabric and the crochet on the seat and the Christmas greenery in the basket.
Have you spotted the pink cat picture in the window?

Oh hello again!!

I've not been around much lately.
 My computor crashed and I think I've lost all my photos as well as  alot of paperwork.
I know, I know I should have backed everything up!!??....at least the paperwork is also on paper.

so ....not written much
....but still read lots
here are some fun things I've found....

                                                              http://surrur.com/surrur-en  

there are instructions on how to make this scarf, ideally using mariemekko fabric
see more about the book over at  http://www.finelittleday.com

I have this book on loan from the library packed with loads of lovely ideas...

I'm doing a shadow puppet workshop in a few weeks, halloween theme though but this is very atmospheric.

I'm looking for some new additions to my wardrobe

found over here

Also searching for the perfect boot humanoid

Typical bank holiday weather

It's been raining cats and dogs today and I had wanted to go in the garden!!!


I have been rearranging a space for my work area - moving furniture up and down stairs, it's not finished yet I want to put a shelf and the bulletin board up that I bought last week.I am also making a cushion out of an old pillow and some fabric from my vintage fabric collection. I spent far too much time choosing which fabric to use and wether to make a patchwork cushion or not.

Best time of the day

Saturday finds

I was only going to the building society at my local shopping centre.... convenient but not exciting. Except for the charity shops four of them in a small area close together. I can honestly say that I never go there without going to the charity shops