• Cath Kidston - Gingerbread house finds - handmade - vintage

    Vintage child’s boat

    June 5, 2011 - By 

    I have a favourite shop in Totnes, Devon, which is stuffed full of vintage treasures. On our last visit I picked up a lovely vintage Star Yachts boat. Only the wooden hull remained, the sails, wooden masts and fittings were gone. Vintage wooden boat Star Yachts was founded just after the First World War by Franz Marie Denye, a Belgian refugee who had fled Belgium at the beginning of the war. Originally a builder of full size ships, he decided that models would provide a livelihood for him and his family. The works site was compulsorily purchased to clear the…

  • A Monthly Make 2011 - Christmas - crafts - gingerbread - handmade

    Monthly Make – May

    May 26, 2011 - By 

    I had a whopping 107 entries to my Sew, Mama, Sew giveaway. I loved reading everyone’s comments on what they would make with the Royal Wedding fabric and I am pleased to announce the winner is Sallie. Congrats, Sallie! Is it too early to be thinking about Christmas? One of my favourite sewing books is Fa La La Felt and I can’t resist working my way through all the projects. I’ve made a lot of the patterns from it but these little felt gingerbread people really took my fancy! They were quick to make although I need to perfect the…

  • baking - handmade

    Chocolate cupcakes

    May 19, 2011 - By 

    Look away if you’re on a diet because I made something really naughty! Chocolate cupcakes from one of my favourite recipe books, the hummingbird bakery cookbook. I can confirm they taste absolutely divine but are probably not good for your waistline 🙂 I’m linking up with Handmade Thursday. Why don’t you go and see what everyone else has been up to.

  • Gingerbread house finds - handmade - sewing - vintage

    Vintage embroidery

    May 8, 2011 - By 

    I’m a bit of a hoarder, probably not surprising that I decided to become a curator. It started off with rubbers, then My Little Pony stickers, vintage postcards,  and since I’ve been a grown up, fabric. My hoarding instincts got so bad I had to limit the number of fabric shops I went to, only going in if I needed something specific. However there is one exception to the current moratorium on fabric buying and that is vintage embroidered napkins and tablecloths. I can’t bear to see something that has been stitched by hand being sold for 50p so I…

  • crafts - handmade - sewing

    Gingerbread cross stitch

    April 28, 2011 - By 

    Life is busy but I am pleased that crafting and baking have been carrying on in the background as usual. At the moment I’m really enjoying cross stitch and find there’s nothing better than watching a pattern come to life over a couple of evenings. I’ve been meaning to make this little fella for a while and love the way it turned out.

  • A Monthly Make 2011 - clothing - handmade

    Monthly Make – April

    April 14, 2011 - By 

    Longer, warmer days make me want to get on with my long list of sewing projects. This month I’ve made a cute tshirt for Edward from a paper doll set which I picked up at the Spring Country Living Fair. Do you remember the paper dolls you had as a child? The clothes never seemed to fit or stay on my paper dolls which is why I was happy to see one which could be used as appliques with a bit of help from bondaweb. I ironed the little boy onto the front of a plain white tshirt and put…

  • crafts - handmade - Royal crafts - STEM activity - tutorial

    Royal Wedding crafty cress

    April 11, 2011 - By 

    The Royal Wedding is the first big national event since my son was born and I’ve been busy collecting flags and souvenirs so we can watch the Royal Wedding and create some memories of our own. I thought it would be fun to make Royal Wedding crafty cress heads – a simple craft with quick, visible results – for the special occasion. You will need: an egg box 2 eggs colouring pens and paper to decorate cress seeds cotton wool How to make Royal Wedding crafty cress: Carefully crack the tops of your eggs and remove the egg from the…

  • crafts - handmade - sewing - swap

    International Craft Swap

    April 7, 2011 - By 

    I’m excited as I’ve signed up for an International Craft Swap, hosted by Zoe to keep my crafting mojo going. The ‘rules’ are simple – there isn’t a price limit, or a time limit, to what you make. Make it with love and they will love it. Be as generous as you can, the point of this is to put a smile on a stranger’s face, but don’t put yourself out. Try to use materials you already have in your stash, and maybe even do a little de-stash to send to your recipient! Basically I have 6 months to create…

  • A Monthly Make 2011 - handmade - sewing

    A Monthly Make – March

    March 30, 2011 - By 

    This months’ effort was made for a swap to make a Mug Rug. If you haven’t heard of these before they’re basically a small quilt which you can use for your tea and biscuits. They’re a great project if you’re new to quilting and can be completed in under an hour. I used this great tutorial from Contented and love my little mug rug. I was very sad to send it on it’s way across the Atlantic. I have to admit I struggled with the binding but it was a lovely little project to make.