A momentous event occurred a few weeks ago. My sister gave birth to a baby girl. Of course, every birth is pretty momentous -- a life is begun where before there wasn't one -- but this was especially astounding as the baby was the first of her generation to not be a boy... Between me … Continue reading Dresses for girls: homemade baby presents
Fabric printing experiments
Turning one
We're just back from a lovely week in Somerset and I've got lots of photos I want to share with you of some of the beautiful places we visited. However, since I think I would need to change this blog's name to Gardens wot I have visited if I were to follow on with yet … Continue reading Turning one
A photo a day: August 22nd
Oh dear me, no photo for the day yesterday. I was absolutely determined that I was going to manage to post a picture every single day this month, but yesterday passed by in a blear of exhaustion as I'd got up at 3.30am to go to the New Covent Garden flower market for a trial … Continue reading A photo a day: August 22nd
A very important arrival
Last week I became an Aunt for the very first time.* One of my sisters had a baby boy and I can report, completely objectively of course, that he is one of the cutest little babies ever to be born. I’d been knitting a blanket for the new arrival for a ridiculously long time, but … Continue reading A very important arrival
Things I’ve learnt: screen printing
I have a new love! It’s screen printing! Screen printing was the very first thing I wrote on my Things to Learn list, that lengthy tome of everything I need to do to get this fabric business started. I want to print onto T-shirts, babygrows, bags, cushions… ...you know, the usual old things. But I … Continue reading Things I’ve learnt: screen printing
Beetles and fish and lobsters, oh my!
In which I feel some disappointment that my design skills aren't quite as faultless as I thought... You know the saying: the work of a budding fabric designer is never done. Buoyed by the success of my teapot fabric, I went straight back to Spoonflower to experiment with some different designs. With the teapots, I … Continue reading Beetles and fish and lobsters, oh my!
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
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
Happy National Carrot Day!
My Abel and Cole calendar* tells me it’s National Carrot Day today. It would surely be a crime to let such a prestigious occasion pass uncelebrated... I was just going to share a nice vintage carroty image with you in celebration of this momentous event, but on my search round my favourite vintage image sites … Continue reading Happy National Carrot Day!
Top 20 tutorials for homemade Christmas presents
Like these ideas? I've got more! Take a look at 17 homemade Christmas presents too... Last year, I was in Hong Kong for six months over Christmas so I had to buy presents online for my family back in the UK. Despite the fact I was on what I cheerfully referred to as a “sabbatical” … Continue reading Top 20 tutorials for homemade Christmas presents