black lace and cherub

I remembered I had printed off some pictures of Raphael's cherubs and used them on one of my doll's handbags a few years ago. And then I found some vintage black lace from my dear departed Mum's stash, and then I found some really bright pink felt and put them all together to make this !

I have put this on ebay rather than folksy just to see what happens. Folksy is great but it does take a while to sell things since there are so many beautiful things and people must get spoilt for choice.

I than twittered it and the page views went up from 4 to 33 in less than two minutes! We are all SO connected xx

bargains

couldn't resist these tapestry cushions and checked throw I found in my local Help the Aged shop - I love the colours but he who must be obeyed said they were far too seventies. Okay so we do have a advocado bathroom and a couple of other nods to that great decade of bad taste, but I love them! Especially as the whole lot cost £5.50 woohoo!

Here too is a pic of my latest circles scarf - a bit brighter this time. speaking of which, the latest crochet blanket is here too. Must admit, I do love these colours.

I have a new baby card to make - I started doing one but it turned out all wrong so I had to start again.

flickr

I have been busy this week - done all the cards for the gallery and sent them off an dput them on flickr! had to do some editing with picnik which managed to crash on my mac, so switched to pc and it was relatively painless.

I found a great book in the library called Stitch Magic (on Amazon but at a price) with the most amazing embroidery techniques. so inspiring and even if I don't sell another card, I have got so much pleasure from making them and this new, for me, medium.

Things have bee a little quiet on Folksy, but then I have been using every spare moment to do stuff.

cards on flickr

Amazing!

Cannot believe it but I have just got an order for 60 cards in the art gallery! Each one is one of a kind, hand made and thank the lord I love doing them but I am going to have my work cut out!

This is SO bizarre as i have never made a card in my life until 3 weeks ago, but just wanted to do something with my massive stash of textiles ( I am sure this stuff quietly breeds..)

Anyway, there are plenty of little bits I can use and meanwhile the latest circle scarf is taking shape.

It's very encouraging and for anyone who reads this - keep on doing what you love and someone will pay you!!!

work in progress

This is another of my circles scarves which I have been working on. I love the colour combination and like anything else, it's drawn from an eclectic mix gleaned from who knows where, charity shops, John Lewis, the local wool shop plus a bit of vintage picked up years ago and probably from the 1930's when they made all the fine silky hand knits and floppy crochet doilies.

I saw a Sophie Digard scarf for real and it is amazing! Such fineness and delicacy but her colours are a joy. Not surprised they retail at £200!!!

confused dot com and tiny dogs

Well here we are and I spend my moments in between waking up and getting up to see what I can get excited about making next. Oddly, my dolls are my favourites and yet I have only sold one on folksy, but I have sold my funny little quirky animals and my exotic crocheted scarf (very quickly). the thing is, do you make for yourself or do you find something that is popular and make that? In a post somewhere I read that you have to have a USP. I am not sure that I have a USP, but out of all the things that I make, I would be more than happy to make either the crocheted scarf or the cards all day.

I don't actually have all day - I have a few snatched 20 minutes slots if I'm lucky, and there is nothing worse than being really involved in something and you have to stop. Arrested development!

I actually found a shop at the weekend called Cherry Tree, selling some lovely things. I couldn't go in cos it was closed but made need to investigate further.


Tiny dogs are fun to do too!

I was there!

where? Here:

Grand opening this afternoon of Platt Hall Costume Gallery and son Ben and I had a quick curryesque meal in Rusholme's curry mile and hot footed to press the flesh with all the lovely people at Platt. I am so proud of daughter Rosie, who is one of the team to get this show on the road.

Saw Audrey Hepburn's fuschia Givenchy dress, and marvelled at the exquisite embroidery, and got to meet the artist who made this: http://www.susiemacmurray.co.uk/



and had champers and cakes too!

Recommended if you are in the North West.

when the humble knit becomes an art form!

in the shape of a tea cozy - I am supposed to nip to the shop to get some milk and browsed through my inbox, followed a link to amazon and then discovered THIS:

http://www.grandpurlbaa.com

Success!

On Saturday I sold THREE items to one person - how amazing! Anyway, luckily I had bought some gorgeous tissue paper so everything was wrapped and dispatched today, but my shop is a little emptier!

So I have been busy making cards, and exploring ways of using fine crochet to make scarves like in the previous picture. I make it up as I go along and had a need for some faded sea grass kind of blue cotton yarn, which I found down the road in a craft centre called Blakemere, here in Cheshire. Above are some cards I made today and I also put a business card in the local shop, which gets amazingly busy, since living in the heart of the country, the shop is like a magnet for people who nip in for papers, bread, jam, veggies and all. In fact, I could probably do all my shopping here!

getting there...

I had a brief chat with my daughter today regarding my cards, but she was in Oxfam, so unable to speak for long. The upshot is that the guys who order stuff for the Gallery love my cards and want to sell them in the shop! It's a bit scary since each one is hand produced! May know further over the weekend, but it's a great start, in an a hugely competitive market.

Made a feeble attempt at making crochet slippers today. Several modifications needed as they really are quite hideous.

Finally got the organic italianate scarf up on Folksy

granny

I vow never to do another, they are such a faff, but the end result is great.
Funnily enough, I was shopping in our local little market town today and went to the Country Market where lovely people make lovely things like cakes and jam and crafty bits. Two little ladies were trying to figure out how to crochet as they had forgotten (used to do it years ago..) so I lent a hand. Had the odd experience of teaching grannies how to make grannies. What fun!
I am now checking out how to make woolly slippers as these seem to be the latest thing with grannies these days. What goes around comes around .

cards

I showed my daughter my new cards and asked for her humble professional opinion (she works in a gallery and has a top degree in fashion design, clever girl) and she LOVES them. Okay so she may be a bit biased but now she will see if they can go into the new shop opening on Mother's Day weekend. It could be that stock has already been ordered, etc etc. but at least I crossed that barrier and asked her! I am not very good at the marketing thing, like many creative people. When you have an emotional attachment to your product it's hard to be rejected, but it's something that needs to be dealt with.

I spent a big chunk of the weekend making them and got immersed in tiny scraps of fabric and glued up my ironing board. Ordered some business cards too from 123 where you make your own. And I ordered some amazingly good value cards and envelopes (cheaper than ebay methinks) from Liz's crafts.

Also went to an amazing exhibition, which was really quite shocking at Manchester Art Gallery