The C word

It's been months since I first fell in love with the work of Australian Clare Carter, in particular her gorgeous bird mobiles. I thought of them again when I received a circular last week featuring more lovely hanging birds by Spool Sewing, this time including a simple pattern.


Of course I had to have a little try...


I'd been thinking about making some hanging robins as Christmas decorations - so sorry to mention it already, but when you're a full-time mum and part-time craftsperson, you have to start early (I have already sent off an order of cards and it's still August!)

Anyway, I adjusted the pattern to create more of a robin shape and finished off by sitting the birds on a cinnamon stick...


For these prototypes I have used synthetic stuffing, but would really like to use some kind of Christmas spice - anybody got any suggestions? They need a little tweaking but I like to keep my creations a bit primitive and not too perfect!
All I need now is a bit of snow, so that I can take some festive photos of them! Alright, I'm only joking!

Stars and Stripes

I have long been a fan of Chic Shack and their accessories by Lexington and if I was dead rich I would have bought up the shop ages ago. Still, help has come in the form of Sarah Hardaker and her fab new fabric range. My highly anticipated order arrived this morning and I couldn't wait to get creating! You may remember my post a few weeks ago where I was playing around with stars and stripes...well here is the final product!

Made using Sarah's denim star print on linen and cotton canvas from Deckchair Stripes. Here's a detail on the back...

Lexington, schmexington! Mine was so easy to make and much cheaper!

I'm thinking next about upscaling this design - maybe a big floor cushion for the boys' room, or I might stretch one over a large frame like a big canvas.

If only there were more hours in the day...

Fresh fish

Just thought I'd share what I've been working on over the last couple of days - these sweet lavender stuffed fish which are now hanging from various knobs and hooks all over my house!

I like the idea of jazzing up a gift by tying one on the outside.

In my favourite stripes (naturally!) and available now on Folksy.

Seaside memories

I spent today with family members who'd gathered for my dad's birthday (cheers Dad) and we went for a lovely walk down the cliffpaths at Goodrington beach. It's been a favourite stroll since I was a child growing up around there and little has changed in thirty years, so I couldn't help but feel a little nostalgic... I know I have copies of photographs of the loved ones I was with today, taken when I was little older than my own children are now...one particular photo sticks in my mind which shows my sister and I sporting some fetching velvet pedal pushers (remember them?) teamed with white knee length socks of course (cheers Mum!)

Anyway, as you know I'm a bit obsessed with the old beach hut, so it wasn't long before I was snapping away...

...and getting lots of funny looks for taking photos of flaking painted doors and different fixtures etc. Am I wierd for finding beauty in such mundane details? Do I need to get out more? Somebody please back me up! They are fascinating!

Anyway I thought I would end todays post with a photo of some artichoke heads taken in the gorgeous gardens on Goodrington green. Just glorious!

The Great British Summer

So, due to the unpreditable British weather, we decided not to go camping last week and instead took day trips when the rain stopped.


I'm not ashamed to admit I'm a fair weather camper, let's face it, I'm not as young as I used to be either (need an inflatable bed these days, none of this sleeping on the floor business!) and I think if I'm honest with myself, I'm just waiting to win the brand new VW campervan from Dorset Cereals.


So beautiful. I can picture myself emerging with denim hotpants and festival wellies, looking just like Kate Moss...(that's my little joke, I'm not really that deluded!) Anyway I don't know how many boxes of muesli your household is getting through, but here it's almost like a modern day version of the Salt family trying to discover a golden ticket for Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. When we win the little beauty I will be sure to write and tell you and post some lovely pics.

By the way, if you like the idea of camping with style, you must check out Happy Loves Rosie's vintage Holivan. How achingly cool is that?