Cottage Daisies Applique Lavender Pillows For Handmade Monday

More glorious sunshine this week, what a wonderful summer we're having so far this year.

Other than making birthday pressies (nothing i can show you yet...) i've also had some applique fun with some of the fabrics from my 'Tiny Flowers' collection, as always i look forward to hearing your thoughts :)

Cottage Daisies Lavender Pillows

I wanted to make these lavender pillows the kind that you might display around the house to add a cosy cottagey feel, the kind that makes it feel like home. They are a fairly generous 14.5 x 8.5cms and look just as cute propped on a shelf or window sill as they do hanging in a cupboard.

The body is a gorgeously soft organic linen and i have machine stitched the applique pieces and also machine embroidered some extra details like the smoke coming from the cottage's chimney and the stems on the daisies.

As always, they are filled with my favoured combination of pure sheep's wool and cotswold lavender and they smell heavenly :)

They are available to buy now as a set from my website, Etsy shop and other outlets priced £15.50.

My Tiny Flowers fabrics are available to buy from my Spoonflower shop.

In Other News...

How about a bit of cute to end on... we were driving along a local country lane when a little bird walked across the road in front of us followed by a flurry of what looked like autumn leaves... on closer inspection it was a mummy quail with a brood of tiny chicks! I just managed to lean out the window and get a snap of the last one to make it into the safety of the hedgerow :)

What have you been up to this week? I'm off over to Handmade Harbour to find out :)

Thank for dropping by! x

Lavender Fish For Handmade Monday

Its been sooooo lovely to be blessed with another week of sunny weather. All the plants have enjoyed it too... cucumbers and tomatoes are creating a jungle in our little green house and on the allotment its strawberries galore... Today i'm busy making strawberry jam, strawberry wine, strawberry ice-cream as well as picking more strawberries!

I've just got time to tell you about this week's other makes though... as always i look forward to reading your comments :)

Lavender Fish

Regular visitors to my blog may remember me showing you my 'On The Open Ocean' designs a little while ago. If you missed it you'll find the fabric collection in my Spoonflower shop and the printable craft papers in my Print and Paper shop on Etsy.

As always i ordered 8x8" swatches of all the fabrics from Spoonflower to check the colours and print size before offering them for sale. I'm really happy with how they turned out and i thought it would be fun to make some lavender fish.

Each fish features two of the fabrics, one on each side.

They come in pairs with one fish on either end of a knotted rope.

As with all my lavender pillows they are filled with a deliciously aromatic combination of pure sheep's wool and cotswold lavender and the fabric is a top quality linen cotton blend.

I think they're a fun way to create a bit of seasonal 'beach-chic' or to compliment a coastal decor style at any time of year. I hope you like them too!

They are available now from my website and Etsy shop, priced £9 (for a pair of fish joined by a rope).

I've also got some larger pieces of fabric from the On The Open Ocean collection which i'm hoping to make some other lovely seasidey things with soon... I'll let you know how i get on. Now though, i'm off over to Handmade Harbour to find out about everyone else's crafty week, thanks for stopping by! x 

Hand Embroidered Bookmarks and Nesting Bird Lavender Pillows For Handmade Monday

Another sunny week - woohoo! Apart from anything else its so lovely to be able to take product photos without waiting days and days for favourable conditions...! I keep getting distracted by other beauties in the garden though, like this gorgeous poppy...

... around for such a short time but stunning while it lasts :)

Nesting Birds Lavender Pillows

Regular visitors to my blog will recognise the 'nesting birds' design on this fabric from my Birds Of A Feather Collection (follow the link to my spoonflower store for more details).

I still really love it and i think it works well with these little lavender pillows - perfect for slipping into a draw to keep everything smelling super fresh! I love the soft pastel colours too, i could see these working well in a nursery amongst adorably tiny new baby clothes :)

They are stuffed with a combination of pure British wool and delicious cotswold dried lavender.

Each pillow measured 9x9cms. A set of three can be purchased for £11.00 from my Etsy shop and other outlets.

'Books Are Better With...' Bookmarks

I couldn't resist creating a couple more bookmarks this week... i think i have a new crafting addiction!

As with last week's, there is a theme - 'books are better with...'. So far i have 'a cup of tea'...

... featuring an applique floral tea cup with hand embroidered saucer and wording...

... and 'at the beach', featuring an applique sun umbrella and lounger with embroidered details and wording.

They are both made from top quality natural white linen and are available for £6.50 from my Etsy shop and other outlets.

That's it for me on the making front for this week, although i do have some more projects in the early planning stages which i look forward to sharing with you in due course... :)

Mystery Flower Time!

So.... last week's mystery had a few of you scratching your heads... there were some superb guesses but no correct answers! (although an honourable mention goes to Ginx Craft and Highland Monkeys who went out and tried eating 'furry' radish leaves :)  i applaud your curious natures, being interested certainly keeps life interesting!!

The green leaves with the little red roots are actually very young beetroot! We've been thinning out our beetroot rows at the allotment and they make a delicious and colourful addition to a summery salad :) When the roots are tiny like this you can just add them into the mix, as they get bigger they're a bit hard to have raw but the leaves are still mild and tasty - a little like lambs lettuce.

The little lilac flowers (which i probably should have given you a better photo of!) are rosemary flowers and they are sooooo delicious! Much milder and softer in flavour than rosemary leaves and a really unusual and pleasant treat amongst the usual salad favs (do let me know if you give them a go!)

I'm off to explore the mysteries and delights of the crafty linky party that is Handmade Monday... do pop along if you haven't been before, there are always lots of lovely things to see!

Have a wonderful week! x

Lavender Pillows, Mother's Day Bunting And Rose Garden Coasters For Handmade Monday

Having recently spent most of my time immersed in the new and exciting world of fabric design, this week i decided that as my shops had begun to look a little depleted, it was about time i got creative in the 'real world'... so, i have some new spring inspired makes to show you today :)

Mother's Day 'Best Mum' Bunting

Suddenly Mother's Day is just around the corner (March 10th in the UK)! so the first thing i made was the colourful 'BEST MUM' bunting pictured at the top of the page. Its not too big (150cms long and the flags are 10x10.5cms) and would look great on a dresser, or bookshelf i think... what Mum doesn't want to be reminded all year round that she is the best!! :)

Here's a couple more pictures...

... I felt so happy working with these cheery fabrics and it really got me in the mood for more spring/summer makes :)

Its priced £16 (free UK delivery) and available now from my website, Etsy shop and other outlets.

Summery Lavender Pillow Gift Sets

Next i got going with some lavender pillows. Simple squares perfect for popping in drawers to keep them smelling fresh or under your pillow at night as a sleep aid. They are stuffed with a combination of dried somerset lavender and pure sheep's wool, both with wonderfully calming and restorative aromas...

As you can see i've been raiding my colourful Summery fabric stash again for these! I'm selling them in pairs, tied with coloured string and a pretty tag priced £9.50 (free UK posting) - i think they'd make lovely little pressies for so many occasions - including Mother's Day! :)

Here they are individually..

You will find them on my website, Etsy shop and other usual places!

The idea is that i will be making similar sets as part of my permanent range once i get organised with my fabric designs - i will keep you up dated! (the latest is that the first samples i ordered of my designs have begun to arrive and i'm really pleased with how they've turned out :))

Logo Stamp

The observant among you will have noticed i've been trialling my new logo stamp on the tags for these little gift sets - its from The English Stamp Company which i can't recommend highly enough! You can upload any design and they get it sent off to you as a lovely stamp super quickly. The quality is great, i'm having to restrain myself from getting lots of lovely custom stamps made now! :)

Rose Garden Coaster Set

If you're a regular visitor to my corner of blog land you may remember me mentioning that i'd painted a coaster set to go with my rose garden collection... well, here it is...

The idea is that they work as individual coasters, or fitted together to put something like a teapot on (perfect with my matching cups and saucers!)

The whole set is priced £25 and is available now from my website, Etsy shop and other outlets.

In Other News...

Whew! That's me for another week :)  When i look back at my handmade Monday posts i realise i must have been quite a busy bee :)  I do hope i'm not overwhelming you with information overload... do let me know if you're finding my posts a little long these days regulars! :)

On that note... I got the most amazing comments on my post last week about my "Birds Of A Feather" fabric.. so detailed and insightful and kind and very helpful too - thank you thank you to those who took the time to leave lovely words, you know who you are!

I will leave you with my newly photographed packaging (most of my listings have been accompanied by a christmassy gift wrap photo up until this week.... oooops!)

See you over at Handmade Harbour, home to the not to be missed crafting adventures of the wonderful Handmade Monday bloggers! x

Tomato Soup Mug For Handmade Monday

Its been a busy week for me, although not too much has happened on the making front. I have, however, painted this tomato soup mug which i rather like. It was partly inspired by the fact that we have finally been harvesting some home grown tomatoes this week - yay!

I've also been seeing those retro style soup bowls with soup recipes on them around lot at the moment and i thought i could do a modern twist on this idea with a mug (i much prefer soup out of a mug personally, there is something so comforting about sipping at it from cupped hands :)).

However, having made some lovely tomato soup to check the recipe (yum :)) i decided that maybe the design was best kept simple and i have not yet painted the recipe on the reverse side as planned... what do you think? Should i add a recipe to the back or leave it as it is?

If people respond well to this design, leek and potato will probably be next... or carrot and coriander... or pea and ham.... or roasted pumpkin.........

i like soup :)

Autumn Leaves Lavender Pillows

Thank you to everyone who left lovely comments about my apple and sailing boat lavender pillows last week, each and every one was very much appreciated :)

You may remember me saying then that i intended to make a few more... well, after stocking up on lovely Somerset lavender, which arrived beautifully presented in the post mid week...

... i made these three with applique Autumn leaves in the same gorgeous Michael Miller fabric i used for my Autumn leaves cushion a few weeks ago.

Along with my other lavender pillows they are now available to buy from my Etsy shop.

CRAFTfest

If you are wondering what has been keeping me so busy this week, then the answer is CRAFTfest! If you don't know, it is an online craft fair run by crafters network, Creative Connections. The event runs for a week at a time (there was one in June this year, the September one was this week, and there is one starting on 24th November).

You pay £5 for a 'stall' (which is an album with product photos, descriptions and links to where your items may be purchased online) and although the appearance of the Creative Connections site changes to direct visitors to the stalls during the CRAFTfest week, stalls can be visited at anytime and any links to them remain active (mine is here).

The emphasis is very much on everyone involved contributing to promotion of each other's stalls, and the event as a whole. Lu Smith (of Handmade In Keswick) did a fantastic job of galvanising stall holders and organising promotional activities on social media networks - the usual suspects; Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, but also Craft juice, Wanelo, StumbleUpon, Etsy... i have learnt a lot about things like SEO and marketing along the way and i will put the most useful info in dedicated blog posts soon!

I hear that the event as a whole had 56,000 visitors and although the visitor numbers for 180 individual stall holders haven't been released yet, i can tell you that i have had a lot more visitors to my website and Etsy shop (and probably Folksy and Wow too, although i haven't checked yet) - no sales have materialised as a result of this increased activity yet... but they may still!

I'm really looking forward to the November CRAFTfest and am determined to have improved product photographs and social media connectivity by then as well as make some lovely Christmassy things to tempt people with!

In conclusion, if you are wondering about whether to get involved in November, i would highly recommend it! :)

Handmade Monday

That's all from me for this week... i will leave you with this pretty pic of Autumn brambles (i feel some jam making coming on...) and also a link to Handmade Harbour where you will find lots of other crafty blogs to stroll through... see you there! x

Heart Lavender Pillows With Wool (Apples And Sailing Boats) For Handmade Monday

Happy Autumn everyone! Yes, the season has officially changed and much as i love Summer, i'm quite excited by the new crispness in the air, turning leaves and ripening berries. There is something wonderfully cosy about Autumn, the temperature might go down a bit but the colours are warm and its nice to snuggle into woolly scarves and big slouchy socks again :) have i sold it to you yet?!

Thank you everyone who left kind and thoughtful comments about my Autumn Apples cushion last week, and also my 'Harvest' banner :) It seems a lot of you are Autumn fans too which is good news as the new season has inspired what i have to show you this week too!

Three Red Apples

I have combined three of my absolute favourite materials (lavender, wool and linen) to make these little Autumn apple lavender pillows (you can see all three pictured at the top being cuddled by my teddy bear :)).

Linen

I've used the pale cream linen I often choose for my sewing projects (because of its gorgeous texture and subtle natural colour) to make the hearts, and the appliqued apples are cut from some pretty striped and checked linens from my collection. There is something so appealing and tactile about linen, despite its tendency to crease i just love working with it. What's your favourite fabric to work with by the way...?

Lavender

Lavender is so soothing and comforting and yet invigorating at the same time, no wonder its so popular! I bought a big bag of Somerset lavender last Christmas and that's what i'm still using - running low now though so will have to stock up before this Christmas i think!

Wool

I looooooooove wool. We have a wool duvet, wool filled mattress and wool pillows in our house - it really does give you a great night's sleep! (you can find out more about this and the other benefits of wool on the Campaign For Wool website). Like many people i find the smell of wool really comforting and i thought it would be the perfect thing to combine with Lavender for these little pillows.

I have kept the design really simple and they are not large or over stuffed. As well as being ideal for popping into a draw to keep clothes smelling fresh, I think they would be perfect for putting under your pillow to aid sleep or even to slip into a bag or pocket if you have something stressful like a job interview - a few (subtle) deep breaths of their calming aroma before hand could be just the thing! :)

Sailing Boat Lavender Pillow

I have lots of ideas for different designs... here is a cute little sailing boat - expect to see more next week when i've had a chance to make them!

I haven't listed any of these lavender pillows on my website, Etsy shop etc yet but expect to see them there in the next few days. Individually they will be £4.50 and a set of three will be £12.

CRAFTfest And Other News

As you may remember me mentioning a few weeks back, i have a stall at CRAFTfest (online craft fair organised by crafters network Creative Connections). It is running all this week (from the 1st to the 8th of September) and there are lots of lovely stalls to look around! There is going to be another CRAFTfest in November so this is also an ideal time to pop over and suss out what its all about if you are interested in getting involved.

So far i have definitely had a lot more views to my Etsy shop (you give a link in your 'stall' to a shop where people can buy your products online) and as part of the promotion i have been introduced to some interesting social networking sites such as Stumbleupon which i hadn't got around to investigating yet... i will let you know more about how it has all gone next week!

I have also been keeping busy with some festive bits and bobs this week (as no doubt you have!) as well as working on a fun commission which i hope to tell you more about soon. Now though, I will leave you with a link to a lovely post that Sarah of A Cat Like Curiosity wrote last Sunday about my blog after reading my last HM post - thank you Sarah! And a link to Handmade Harbour, home of lots of fabulous crafty blogs!

Thank you for visiting x