My very lovely friend Laura (who blogs over at Circle of Pine Trees) gave birth to her third son recently. I wanted to make something nice for him. (I also wanted it to be ready on time, but you know how that’s going to end, don’t you?) Before my sproglet was born, I came across … Continue reading A trio of teeny, tiny trousers
Homemade presents
Quilt happy
I write this fresh from waging war on the slugs and snails in my garden. I'd love to say that I was the victor but, despite having deposited a full ice cream tub of the slippery critters into the skip at the end of my road, I fear their guerilla warfare tactics will give them … Continue reading Quilt happy
Back to business: card holders
Something feels wrong this Monday. Oh, wait, I know what it is… …it’s not a Bank holiday. Sob, sob. Somehow the three-day weekend last week felt like a miniature holiday, whereas the weekend we’ve just had was more like a rushed work lunch break. Two whole days passed so quickly that I don’t really know … Continue reading Back to business: card holders
A first teapot cosy and some grand plans
You know my hugely nebulous plans to start up a great fabric empire to rival Libertys? Well, in an attempt to make them less nebulous and more concrete, I've given myself a deadline to have my Etsy shop up and running and actually stocked with things that I've made. (Note the careful way I'm not … Continue reading A first teapot cosy and some grand plans
Print your own wrapping paper
Sometimes the simplest ideas are the most satisfying. I always find it really hard to find nice wrapping paper – and when I do, I'm then completely shocked at the cost of it. You frequently pay a fiver just to buy some paper to put a present in that will immediately get thrown into the … Continue reading Print your own wrapping paper
A bundle of bibs
Remember when I made the little sproglet a set of carrot clothes in celebration of National Carrot Day a few months ago? And how I broke my sewing machine making the first of four planned bibs? Well, the breakage turned out to be terminal, which was sad for my machine, but quite delightful for me … Continue reading A bundle of bibs
Matryoshka March
At school when I was younger (ahem, much younger) my favourite class was English. And my favourite ever English class was when we had to write a story. And my very favourite story-writing English class was when the teacher gave us the first line of the story and asked us to finish it. I used … Continue reading Matryoshka March
Tiny teapots and lurid lobsters: shrink plastic experiments
When I was about eight years old an odd craze swept through my primary school. The jewellery-made-from-crisp-packets craze. Do you remember it? It must have been about the late 1980s and it was suddenly de rigeur to put a crisp packet into the oven, watch it shrink and then stick a safety pin on the … Continue reading Tiny teapots and lurid lobsters: shrink plastic experiments
Easter guest posting
It's a blinking good morning here in sarfeest London. The sun is shining, I got a full six hours un-interrupted sleep last night (finally breaking my lack of sleeping spell) and it's almost the long Easter weekend... Could life get any better? Turns out, it could! Because I've also got my first ever guest post … Continue reading Easter guest posting
Birthday T-shirts
My love affair with ironing pictures onto T-shirts continued apace this week. We’re off to Ireland at the weekend, to stay with some friends and celebrate their baby’s first birthday. (We may also be tempted to betroth our sproglets to each other, ready to be wed as soon as they hit 16, if we could … Continue reading Birthday T-shirts
Wolves in London 