Making A May Fair

I went on a very fun (and very wet and windy) photo shoot to Norfolk, in September, and spent a lot of time making some pretty may fair scenes. I love working with ribbons, and being outside, so this was a perfect shoot for me to be working on.

Here are some pictures...

Drying out the ribbons after they'd got wet and muddy throughout the shoot. I had to wash and then dry them ready for the next day!!

Dressing a lovely tree branch with ribbons and a swing.

One calm moment when the wind dropped...

....it turned into a beautiful, sunny day!

Untangling the ribbons ready to dress the next tree was less fun....

A fun, fair, spring tea party!

Biscuits, flowers & lemonade - a perfect tea time spread!

Must keep the biscuits safe!!

The whole spread

....And finally, I made friends with a very cute little piglet. Shame he's no longer around, but I bet he's made some pretty tasty sausages and bacon. Mmmmm bacon....

Handmade Clothes Week

I was given the challenge, last week, of wearing at least one item of hand made clothing, every day. Now this is not too hard a challenge for me, as I do have quite a lot of clothes that I've made myself, but they are more summery items, and I was setting up for our school play last week, so on some days got pretty hot and covered in dust!

Anyway, I accepted the challenge, and here are some photos...

Monday - Handmade Skirt

I made this skirt a few years ago, from a piece of fabric from a bag that I got from a charity shop. The fabric had a few moth holes, so I had to design an item around where the holes were! It has a wide elastic paper bag style waist, which is really comfy, and is knee length, so good for school!

Tuesday - Handmade T-shirt & Handmade Dungarees

I was quite pleased to be wearing double handmade today! This spotty T-shirt is really old, I made it at uni as a mock up for a real item I made. At the time, this spotty black and white jersey fabric was on sale, and so I think was the cheapest jersey in our local fabric shop! 

I made this dungaree dress last weekend, after feeling that I'd made enough things for others for the moment and have been having urges to make things for me! I based it on another dungaree dress that I have, and this one is made from black needlecord, with big shiny buttons, and also sits on the knee. 

Wednesday - Fun Animals Dress

I made this dress last year, after spotting this fabric in one my local shops, and absolutely having to buy it! It is a beautiful cotton lawn, with lots of animals all over it, and slightly quirky, as some have boots on, and others have suitcases. It has a ruched waist, and fun clock buttons down the front, which I bought a few years ago in a market in France. 

Thursday - Double Handmade again!

Today it was freezing! And as I was wondering around outside quite a lot, I also wore my new knitted hat for a lot of the day. I knitted this in January, after I received some beautiful wool for Christmas. I found this stitch on a knitting blog, and thought it was fabulous (I will post the pattern later!)

I also wore my brand new denim chambray dress. I also made this last weekend, when I'd had the urge to sew for me #selfishsewing. This dress has tie shoulders, and a wide elastic at the waist, so is very comfortable, and is based on a design I've had in my head for a very long time. 

Friday - Chevron Sun Dress

And then it was Friday. This was the last night of our play, so I had to dress up a bit. I wore one of my favourite dresses, that I made a while ago, after discovering a beautiful new fabric shop down the road from my house, and I love it. I have worn it so so much! To make it fancy, I teamed it with a navy sparkly jumper, and I was very pleased with how it looked!

I love wearing clothes I've made myself, as it means that are different to anything else I see anyone else wearing, and also they fit me perfectly! I often find that shop bought dresses are too short, which is not suitable to wear at school, so I love making my own, so that they can be exactly the length I want!

Custom Book Mobile

I was asked before Christmas to make a personalised mobile for a baby named Wilkie, who was named after Wilkie Collins.

The titles they wanted were: The Woman In White, Armadale, No Name, The Moonstone, The Black Robe.

I had a quick look at the synopsis for each book, but they are not the most appropriate stories for a baby!! So I picked elements that were more suitable, and bold shapes and colours for the mobile.

I added in Wilkie's initials to the middle, in bright chunky colours, and then started work on the other books. It was really fun, making them all look slightly different. 

I wanted another piece, as I like even numbers, and so added in a quote for my final piece. I made it on white felt so that it looked like a page from a book, and looked through a lot of quotes, until I found one that was suitable, and lovely. 

'My hour for tea is half-past five, and my buttered toast waits for no one.'

Christmas Paper Crafting

A few months ago, I was asked to make some paper Christmas decorations for a Christmas photo shoot. Although I mainly specialise in sewing and knitting, I LOVE working with paper, I don't do it often, or my house would be filled with paper decorations, which would not make my boyfriend happy, as he already thinks we have far too much 'stuff' in the house! So I was very excited to have an opportunity to make lots and lots of paper decorations.

Here are some photos...

I also made some giant crackers, which required a lot of maths early in the morning!!

Foxy Mountain Clouds Mobile

It's been a while since I came up with a new mobile design idea (I think the balloons were my last new idea) and then I was suddenly inspired by a baby jumper (I wish it had been big enough to fit me!!) which had Foxes and Mountains on it. I added in some clouds, as you usually find those around mountains, and went to play with some felt....

I'd made a felt fox once before, when I made a country mobile for a friend, so dug out my pattern and went to work. The mountains were free hand cut, and I think look like the shape of a stereotypical mountain drawing!

A Weekend in Oslo - How To Travel On A Budget in Norway

We've just got back from a weekend in Oslo, which was an incredibly beautiful, but expensive city!!

I thought living in London made you think that everywhere else was fairly cheap, but Oslo is definitely an exception. It was madly expensive, think £3 for a can of Fanta in a supermarket!!! £10 for a cheap drink in a pub!!! Oh dear.

We knew it was going to be expensive, we guessed it would be slightly more than London, when in trying to find accommodation, it was £40 for a hostel room, and the Lonely Planet guidebook suggested 140 Euros per person per day as a BUDGET travel budget, but I don't think we were quite prepared for just how much everything would quite cost.

However, we did end up spending around £200 for 2 people for a weekend and had a great time!

Here are some recommendations....

Sleep
We stayed in the Anker Hostel: http://www.ankerhostel.no/en/ it looks like a hospital room, but is in a great location, has comfy beds, really good showers and friendly staff. We could easily cope with clinical looking rooms in exchange for all of this, and for around £40 per night.

Eat
We had breakfast in the convenience stores, where a coffee/tea and pastry was only 25NOK (£1.90). Lunch was hot dogs, for around 30NOK, and then for dinner, we found a local pub, where dinner and drinks was only £50!!! (Mad anywhere else for a pub but cheap for Oslo and tasty food!!)

See
We went on a free walking tour with http://freetouroslo.com/ which was really interesting, and then did just wander everywhere. Oslo is quite a small city so it is really easily covered entirely on foot. The only time we got the T-bane was when we went out to Holmenkollen to see the amazing ski jump, which is definitely worth a visit.

The big spend was on a fjord cruise which was 269NOK and well worth the money. The views out in the fjord are stunning and it's unlike anywhere else I've ever been.

All in all we really enjoyed our weekend in Oslo. It was a clean, peaceful, interesting city, and  everyone we spoke to was really friendly. I would definitely recommend it as a weekend break, but only when you're feeling fairly well off!!

Felt Elephant Cushions

To match with my fun felt baby mobiles (and conveniently in time for Christmas present shopping time) my felt elephant cushions are back!! Here are some photos...