The Turtle Moves

Colourful Quartet

Hello there. I realise it looks as if nothing much is happening round here, but that's because the craft project I've been spending most of my time on over the last couple of weeks is Top Secret. It's all connected with the competition that Number One Son has devised for this year's family get-together, a.k.a. Party in the Park 2. I mentioned Very Silly Games in the Park this time last year - well we are about to do something similar, but different, next weekend. I'll tell you all about it after the event!

Anyway, the other day I realised that I have a Fair coming up in three weeks or so, and I would like to have something other than many, many ruffled scarves (nice though they are) to sell on my stall. It's a sort of Vintage Fair, so I clicked along to the queen of vintage fabric Donna Flower to see what inspiration she could provide, and as luck would have it, it's Sale Time! These cute little printed cotton animal kits were half price, so I snapped them up. They are designed by Nanette Regan of areathriftyone. They only take minutes to cut out and stitch, so they can be sold at pocket-money prices for the kids who come trailing around with their mums to these things and are kind of excluded. That's also why I always have some of my enormous stash of beads threaded simply into elasticated bracelets that look pretty but don't cost a fortune - as well as our Very First Invention, the Turtle Beanbag.

As seen in previous craft fair pictures - a simple shape in green cotton,  filled with rice and decorated with fabric paint. They are surprisingly popular, and have been from the very first fair my gorgeous daughter and I did back in the 1980s at Pontardawe Folk Festival.

By the way, if I haven't made something completely from scratch, but is a kit simply sewn together by me, I do make it clear on the label! No plagiarism here, folks.

Lovely old stuff.

Hello! I went to a Vintage Fair in St Andrews on Sunday. Look at the lovely old stuff I found. There was a stall with old (1946) crochet and knitting magazines. Don't you just love the mad lampshade-type hat in the top left corner! I tell you, for 30p it was the cheapest laugh I had all day, but apart from that, the magazine is fascinating for the adverts and references to rationing and advice from the Ministry of Health to help 'Housewives make sure all the family gets their essential nutrition.' Reminder, if one were needed, of just how well off we are nowadays.

There was also a big box of assorted reels of cotton - a few of which were proper wooden reels with these scrumptious colours of thread - Parma Violet and Eau de Nil - even the names sound juicy. Also - do you see the little roses? They are a pair of hair grips made by a wonderful lady called Kate, of  LoveFromAlice. She sources these lovely little items made using old moulds and the original type of plastic (called lucite, I think) and then makes them into hair ornaments and brooches. I love the sort of faded-genteel colours.

I'm really happy that vintage has returned as a 'look', because as far as I'm concerned it never went away - particularly when it comes to furniture. My grandfather furnished his home from the Inverness Auction rooms, my parents furnished theirs from the Aberdeen Auction rooms, and a good few of my bits of furniture (those I haven't inherited from the aforementioned forebears) came from Swansea's equivalent. It may start out as just second-hand, but keep it and love it long enough and it turns into Vintage and eventually to Antique. (That sounds like something my lovely husband and I say to each other on a regular basis!)

Anyway, the cotton reels will join the contents of the gorgeous Victorian sewing box I was given a    

couple of Christmases ago. Most of the sewing stuff I have actually came from my Mum and my Gran, as they both passed their sewing boxes on to me, but it is great to have the excuse to  look out for sewing paraphernalia when browsing junk shops and vintage fairs. Or when wandering idly through Ebay, perhaps? No, no! Danger! It's far too easy to buy lots of lovely old things on that site. Put the mouse down and step away from the computer now.

 

Dotty, just dotty.

Hello!

Last weekend we were looking after our two gorgeous grandchildren while their parents were down in Wales for a friend's wedding. Apart from it always being wonderful to have grandchildren to play with, last weekend was especially nice because it gave my talented and beautiful grand-daughter an opportunity to Make Something for her Mummy's Birthday. And gave me an opportunity to pass on another new skill. And justify my habit of buying bits of fabulous fabric.

We decided to make Mummy an apron, something every glamorous superwoman needs. So we looked through my stash of fabrics - quite a lot of which are from the wonderful  Donna Flower who runs a vintage fabric and haberdashery website. We found the perect one.

So out came my trusty  Husky sewing machine, and gorgeous granddaughter learned how to pin, tack and sew a straight seam down the sides and along the hem. (I knew there was a reason for getting a machine that could be set to a very slow speed) I  did the gathers, because there's no point getting too tedious with your first sewing project. Then she learned how to put on a waistband. Several new and very useful skills, and all resulting in this extremely pretty spotty dotty apron.

It was Mummy's birthday today. We did good, everyone! Mummy was thrilled to bits.

"Mummy" is of course my beautiful and talented daughter, to whom I have passed my habit of scooping up lovely bits of fabric and yarn. But I now have Proof Positive that it is a Good Habit to Cultivate. It brings Joy all round! Yay!

Retro Cuddlies

Hello folks,

While I was trawling E-Bay for soft toy patterns several months ago, I came across some kits from the late 70s. I couldn't leave these potential chaps languishing in the virtual auctionhouse so I made my very small (but successful) bids, and so they've been waiting in my workroom for me to bring them to life. This week, having finished with the mega craft-fair/Christmas lights/doing stuff for an ungrateful populace things which filled my time in November I thought I'd better clear the decks of this year's projects. So I made a Clothkits Giraffe and Pocket Doll and these splendid 1970's vintage Microkits of an Owl and a baby Hedgehog.

I have to say that sewing the back and front of the Owl together was the biggest leap of faith in the patternmaker's art that I have yet undertaken - it was very difficult to picture the final reverse 3-D effect. But it worked!

These chaps are not going to any craft fair stall - they're probably quite rare by now - and they've cheered me up after a week of feeling a bit wrong-footed. So hopefully my lovely grandchildren will tell me I've Done Good.      

Now to prepare for Christmas. My fabulous family are gathering here this year, so it's time to get out the decorations and put batteries in the singing Santas (splendid grandson can't have grown out of the fun of creating Noise in the Hall, surely?)

Have a lovely festive season y'all.

By the way, this blogging is being accompanied by the sound of the Incredible String Band - My Lovely Husband has brought a tranche of our beloved vinyl down from the attic to convert it to CD and i-player versions. If you haven't encountered this wonderful music and invention, can I suggest you check out three recordings: the eponymous first LP; the 5,000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion; and The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter. On Elektra Records if I remember rightly.

This is what we were doing in the Sixties - and I was there, and I can remember it. Peace, friends.

 

 

 

BlanketyBlank

Hello there!

I've been busily crocheting a blanket - or afghan, as our American friends would say - or throw, as the designer peeps would have it. Any road up, I've been happily hooking for weeks now and it's all thanks to the lovely Lucy at Attic 24. Reading her fabulous, colourful, life-affirming blog has reminded me how splendid doing big crochet stuff is. I do little hooky snowflakes at Christmas time, sure, but the first ever thing I made all on my own after leaving home was a crochet blanket. For my first-born son. I really loved doing that, and all the other baby things I made at that time. And I haven't done any significant crochet since then. So! The old rocking chair needs re-covering, and I haven't found any good fabric yet. I'd like to tie it in with the vintage Bauhaus inspired material I made into a picture some time ago. I thought I'd recreate it in crochet. How ambitious. When faced with the reality of crude colours in acrylic yarn (all you can afford when doing a large-sized project) it soon becomes clear that what you need to aim for is a similar effect to the original, not a slavish reconstruction of the waves, squares and diamonds in the vintage fabric - and certainly not the wonderful subtle but bright colours it has. No doubt if I spent lots of money I could have found the gorgeous burnt orange and dark turquoise of the 1970's fabric, but I'm pleased with the cheerful sort-of-copycat blanket I've created to chuck over my old rocking chair. And I didn't have to nag any Upholsterers either. I hope you like it - I certainly do.

It's a picture!

I frequently find myself meandering through the delicious and beguiling on-line emporium that is Donna Flower's vintage fabric and textiles collection, and have, as a result, a cupboard full of lovely pieces of material, braid, ribbons etc. just waiting for a project to suit them -any suggestions for a worthy vehicle for vintage 1950s "Snow White" braid, anyone? Just occasionally, though,  a design really thumps you between the eyeballs and you JUST HAVE TO HAVE IT, or at least I do, and so recently I received a small but utterly beautiful piece of Bauhaus-inspired Liberty fabric from the wonderful Ms Flower and realised, "I can't cut this up! It's too perfect!"

So, what to do? Why treat it as the art work it is, of course. Off I trotted to my nearest Hobbycraft shop and purchased an appropriately-sized square of the cheapest stretched canvas (£7.95 actually) and then stapled my lovely material to it. All you need is the smallest staple-gun from your local DIY store and an ability to fold tidy corners (think wrapping parcels) et voila! Art.

If you have a larger, or non-standard sized piece of fabric that you want to turn into a picture then you can buy stretcher bars (without the canvas) and mount the material on them direct. www.canvasandstretcherbars.co.uk will provide the wherewithall, and an online tutorial as to how to do it, too.