Infectious Enthusiasm

Do you ever get caught up in other peoples enthusiasm and before you know it find yourself agreeing to things that if you had any sense you would say no to!

Well after phoning to enquire about putting my name down for a Christmas craft fair (yes, I really was thinking that far ahead!) I found myself signing up for a craft fair that was to happen in 2 weeks time. It wasn't until I was telling Mr D and a friend all about it and seeing the look of horror on their faces that the realisation of what I had agreed to started to dawn on me. How an earth was I going to be able to sew enough stock in 14 days to fill a 6ft table!!

Well let's just say a very helpful and patient husband helps and plenty of sleepless nights! It's quite surprising what you can achieve when focused and somewhat stressed! I don't recommend it though. Trying to create a stall worth of stock in such little time as well as looking after 3 young kids it's quite hard work!

But standing there on Saturday behind my stall and making my first sale which luckily wasn't my last, all the lack of sleep, nerves and stress seemed worth it. And to be quite honest I felt very proud of myself. I had a good morning though the fair went quiet in the afternoon, I think the warm sunshine probably had a lot to do with that. I had a very positive reaction from both buyers and other stall holders so the event has certainly not put me off doing another one.

 

 I now have some good stock which I can 'slowly' add to! I have been loading some of my new stock to my new on-line shop
a crafty hen where I will be selling items I make using new fabrics. But for now we have the Easter holidays to attend to, a house that needs spring cleaning due to hardly any house work having been done in the last two weeks and my mum coming to stay, so I best go and get the hoover out!

It must be the sunshine!

The weather over the last few days really has been magnificent.

Blue skies, a warmth in the sun, a smell about the air that is a sign that everything is beginning to wake up. Little by little there are true signs of spring, the birds are singing the spring bulbs are brightening the garden up and the seedlings are making good progress in the greenhouse. And as for me, 

I've been surrounding myself with 'spring' fabrics!

It's been a real joy to pick out this gorgeous orange and pink vintage floral print and match it up with other vintage and new fabrics. With the sun streaming through the window whilst I sew, creating this large drawstring bag has been a pleasure.

Both sides are different and are finished with a trim of velvet ribbon. 

It is fully lined with another summery vintage print and closes with a cream barley twist rope. It is a perfect size for keeping laundry in or even toys.

It is part of my slowly increasing 'Dotty Vintage' range in my Folksy shop . I have also added a set of two burp cloths also made out of this lovely range of cheerful fabrics.

These handy cloths match perfectly with my 'dotty vintage' bib making it a lovely idea for a gift.

Well that's me done!! 

I'm off to have a good night sleep as tomorrow we are digging over the allotment, a job that needs doing but is rather back breaking! At least it looks like we will be doing it in sunshine!

Enjoy :)

The Post I've Been Meaning To Write!

Honestly this is one of those blog posts I've mean being to write for the past few weeks!
I've been very lucky to have been passed 2 blog awards a Stylish Award from Emily Parkes and Lou at littlegreenshed and a Liebster award from Justine at sewjustinesew. A big thank you to all three of you, it's always lovely to know that people do read what you waffle on about!!
One of the parts of the award is to list 7 facts about yourself, interesting facts!! And this is where my mind goes blank! I have been lucky enough to receive a couple of awards before and did manage then to come up with 7 facts, but another 7 things, do I have that many more interesting facts about myself!! I must have! I am very happy to realise that I am not the only one who has struggled to think of things. Beth at Thelinencat  made me laugh when she wrote "let’s face it, obviously I’m just very dull" when she suffered a mental block when trying to think of those 7 things! I can understand entirely how Beth was feeling.

 But not to be defeated I have put my thinking cap on and have had a brainstorming session . This got me thinking, "What intrigues me about people I'm interested in?" I'm always fascinated to see inside someone's home, even better inside someone's work space/studio this got me thinking about people's collections. What someone collects can often tell you a lot about someone and then I got thinking about fabric! At the end of the day I collect fabric and the nosey person I am always enjoys seeing other peoples fabric stash!
So I thought I would show you my 7 favourite prints that I have stashed away!!

I once read an article about fabric shopping that said people who buy fabric come under one of two categorises; one who buys fabric to use for a project, and the other, a person who buys fabric on impulse. Well I do both! But it is the fabrics that get my heart pumping that little bit quicker that really excite me. I often have an idea in my mind of what I will eventually use them for others I quite frankly just have to have!!! The following fabrics are in no particular order but this one has got to be the one that I am most precious about. I am yet to use it and am annoyed that I only have a fat quarter to play with! I bought it from  Isabelleandkate's shop on folksy which I didn't realise until much later was misformake's shop.

I have no idea who the designer of the fabric is other than it is Japanese. I love the simplicity of the design and the colours and know that one day when I use this fabric it will definitely be for a project for myself!!
 The next fabric is a vintage piece. It's called 'Heidi' and is by Genia Sapper. I fell in love with the print when I spotted it in a design magazine and spent awhile tracking it down, I eventually found the odd piece on ebay. After being outbid many times I finally 'won' this piece which was used as a curtain. I intend to use it for cushions but haven't yet been able to bring myself to cut into it!

 My third fabric is an Amy Butler print called Chrysanthemum. I love the olive colour of the background and the sky blue leaves of the chrysanthemum's. Let's be honest no fabric stash would be complete without an Amy Butler fabric!

 Anna Maria Horner is another designer I can't imagine my fabric stash being without! I've been slowly collecting her Little Folks Voile to make a quilt for my daughter and it is this print that especially stands out for me. It's the use of the deep colour's that I particularly like and can imagine using it one day for a top for myself.

Now this fabric I bought the second I saw it! It's a great Japanese woodland print.



You'll probably see a theme running through my favourite 7 fabrics that I didn't quite realise until I started to photograph them, that they all tend to be blues and browns! Like this one again from Japan.

I bought this fabric from one of my favourite shops on etsy ikoplus. Again it's such a lovely simple design, and being a blend of cotton and linen makes the fabric such a lovely weight.  Staying with a simple design is this print from Joel Dewberry.

This is one of those fabrics where you buy a fat quarter, only to know as soon as you see it that, that won't be enough so immediately buy more, and then have a panic on when you realise that it's becoming more and more difficult to find!! I just love this print from his deer valley collection. It has a great vintage feel to the design. And then finally my 7th fabric choice is a vintage fabric that I picked up from the scrap store. I managed to find two pieces and have already cut one up ready to make into a quilt for our lounge.

So there you have it my favourite 7 fabrics. I've had great fun pulling out and choosing them and have come to the conclusion that instead of having them stacked away hidden in my cupboard, it would seem somewhat more sane if I was to use them all!
Why is it that some fabrics are just so difficult to cut into!!

Was that a glimpse of Spring?

I do believe it was!!

We have had a gorgeous spring weekend that has shown us a little of what is to come!

It's been the most perfect weekend to go exploring a spring bulb garden.

At varying paces!

Even the frogs had a spring in their hop!

Today's outing has almost been so perfect that I will just about forgive the fact that it is now pouring down and the forecast for the next five days of half term week is rain. 

Almost forgive I say but not quite!

Come back Spring!

Wait For Me!

I can't believe we are already in February,

February, where did January go? 

And yet in a weeks time it'll be half term and then March. 

I wish I could just slow down time just enough for me to catch up with it! Everywhere I look there is something to be done, many little jobs, some more important than others, but nevertheless they all need doing. I keep telling myself to concentrate (yes I talk to myself!! But that's I whole different story!) on one thing at a time but then the time runs out and something else pops up that needs doing immediately and the other job I was doing remains half done!! I know they are many of us out there swaying from one thing to another. Running from school to nursery, from washing machine to cooker, doing the shopping, the cleaning, trying to find the quiet times to encourage a reluctant 5 year old to read, the decorating of the bathroom that is long overdue and is turning into such a nightmare I'm beginning to wish we had never started.

And then there are the jobs that we create ourselves, no one told us to take on more allotment, no one told us to buy all the fruit bushes that were on offer and are now sitting outside our back door waiting to be planted into their new home. No one told us to order all the different varieties of tomato seeds that are now needing to be sown into their trays, which means finding the propagators and more importantly finding an area in the house that they can start their lives undisturbed by little hands! 

And I find myself when we finally sit down of an evening having to remind myself that all these extra jobs are ones that we have put upon ourselves, and the stresses that arise from them are stresses that we have created. And maybe life would run a little smoother and calmer if we didn't have all these extra pressures. And I realise that I am my own worst enemy. It was only me who agreed after a chance meeting, to go and see another local shop about supplying them with handmade bibs and possibly more. I could have quite easily said, "Thank you very much, but I'm not sure I have the time at the moment", and yet those words never came out!! Instead my head was whirling with possibilities, these chances don't come up everyday let alone appear right in front of you, when you least expect it. So I have to remind myself to remember that all these stresses and pressures and all the extra hobbies that we have are what make us. 

Mr D and I wouldn't be the same without these extra activities. The fact that we grow some of our own vegetables moulds who we are and changes what we believe in. The fact that I sew changes the way I see things. Someday I will have more time and as much as I find myself longing for these extra hours I know that they will come soon enough, and that right now I need to enjoy the busyness and lack of time that young children bring. 

And yes I am going to blog this post without photos as it means that I get this finished, as I have a kitchen full of shopping to put away, cooking of apple muffins to be done with #2 in the hour I have before picking #1 up from school!! So I must go and carry on running around, and unfortunately for now I think I'm just going to have except the fact that I have a hundred and one things that need doing!

Dotty Vintage

I've come over all spotty!
I've been tidying up my fabric stash and on seeing these spots of Amy Butler's, I couldn't resist having a play around with them, they work so well with vintage fabrics. I think the combination of the fabrics create something very cheerful, bright and playful, perfect for a young child.

These three bibs are the start of a range of "Dotty Vintage" items that are now in my Folksy shop.

Backed with soft, absorbent cotton terry towelling, and a generous size with two snap fasteners, they are perfect for newborn right the way up to a toddler.

If I was to have a favourite then it would have to be the turquoise, the colours are so fresh and vibrant.

I'm having so much fun playing with these spots that there will be more colour ranges to come!!

So it's 2011

I'm still here and enjoying getting back into some sort of a routine! Which is something I never thought I'd hear myself say, as I loathe the school run, but now after the Christmas holidays, I realise how much we all need some structure in our day. Even E our youngest who is only 15 months old benefits from the routine set by her older brother and his school day. To be honest by the end of the holidays and after having all three children suffering with chicken pox, our days were all over the place. Christmas 2010 will always be remembered as the spotty one!

  We spent a lot of the holidays indoors, so it was lovely Sunday to be able to get out of the house and quite literally blow away the cob webs. There's nothing quite like splashing in the sea to get rid of cabin fever!

Or having a waddle on the sand!

So with the first full week of school coming to an end, we are all slowly getting back into our routines. J has realised that school unfortunately carries on even after Christmas! A is finding his 4 sessions at nursery saps his strength! And E is getting back into her daily naps! So hopefully I will get back into the swing of blogging and maybe even more importantly find the time to catch up on all the blogs I read.
You just never know!