The Big Knit 2010

Innocent drinks have started their 2010 Big Knit, so I'm currently knitting a few small hats, wish I'd remembered about it earlier, the deadline is October 15th!
I've currently finished four and am working on the fifth, so I'm already doing better than last years total of three!
The site has a really good how to knit section and there are three levels of patterns, I've done the beginner & intermediate and am now tackling the advanced, which actually is proving to be do-able.  I thought I'd lost my knitting mojo, but these small fun and achievable projects have made knitting fun again.

Cotswold Vintage Fair

Had a lovely 'girls' day yesterday at the Cotswold Vintage Fair in Toddington, me, my Mum and sister took a little road trip over the border into Gloucestershire to see what goodies we could pick up.  I was able to leave the kidlets at home too for some uninterruptable 'me' time, which after this week I really needed!

So this is a new fair with only a few sellers I had heard of before so it was nice to see different people's take on vintage and handmade.  The venue was Toddington village hall, which was easy to get to and a lovely airy space, the rural smell was a bit pungent though!  Everyone's stalls were beautifully laid out I really enjoyed just looking, as always there was so much to see and take in, but I think the sellers had their layouts right, just the right amount of wares visible, with a small amount of rummaging needed for fabric etc.

There was a lovely spread of tea & cakes, the cappuccino cake was delectable!
There were lots of china and country style pieces, lots of pinkness, which I have to confess I'm not in to, I really liked the vintage kitchen utensils though, this was something a bit diferent.  There wasn't enough fabric/vintage sewing supplies that I'm looking for at the moment for my liking but I did pick up some bits for the girls, two French dresses and a felt bunny to be used for the tooth fairy, which actually came in handy, for when I returned home, the eldest had lost another tooth!  I was pleased to see that the pouch on the rabbit is quite modest, just right for a £1 coin, not like some children that I have heard of that are getting £2 or £5 per tooth!!  Try and explain how that happens to your 6 year old!  I tried saying that we must get a different fairy in our street!

My favourite stalls were by Lucy Bloom and Textile Treasure seeker, beautifully laid out and with fabrics, notions and vintage pieces to my taste.

So not wanting to go home just yet, we continued our road trip by going into nearby Winchcombe, which turned out to be a lovely village with lovely village shops, not like Stow-on-the-Wold or Bourton-on-the-Water which are just over-run with tourists with no real shops.

So if you're in a Cotswold village, what do you do for lunch?  A tea-room that's right!
We chose 'Lady Jane Grey's' which was very nice, good service, I had a wonderful old-fashioned warm scone and tea.

Then as we meandered back up the street we spied a local Sue Ryder charity shop!  I love visiting other towns charity shops, the type of items always differs slightly.  Think I got more here than in Toddington!  Nothing vintage just things for the girls and yet another picture frame for my new 'picture display'on our stairs.

Then around the corner on North Street we stumbled upon  '50-0-50', which was like a junk shop and I fell in love with lots of vintage dresses on racks at the back!  The colours, the styles, I wish I could pull off wearing things like this!

We had a walk to see if we could see Sudeley Castle, but it's a long walk from the town and you couldn't even get a glimpse of the building without paying to get in, which we didn't want to do as see didn't have long left on the free parking in town.  Looks like a good place for a future visit though, the kids would enjoy the adventure fort.

So last stop on the way home, Broadway and up to Broadway tower and it was worth it, wow the view!  The sun was shining over the horizon and the sky seemed to be all over, it was like standing on the top of the world.

Going somewhere new was a real tonic and I shall have to try and do it again!  Where next in the Cotswolds?!

Fabric Haul

I have had a fabulous time in one of our local charity shops this week, they have moved all their linens to a new upstairs room, so now there is lots of space and lots of fabric items in it!!

They've got a lot of duvet covers, sheets, tablecloths, napkins, tea-towels, curtains and lace doilies etc so I've had a good rummage round and spent a nice time in there while kiddie-less!

So for my first haul I got a large length of tartan which even though it feels like upholstery weight I'm going to try a dress pattern out on it, as it was only £2 I feel able to muck it up and not feel too bad!

The floral duvet is hopefully going to be a dress for my eldest when I can sort through and find a pattern to fit, she's five but her sizing is more like a seven and it's getting harder to find free patterns in magazines for this size, they all seem to concentrate on 2-5's!

The pink & white cottons as for my stash, as I knew my eldest would love them, but not sure what they will become yet!

And a Country Living to top it off, with a cuppa (and being able to read it in peace!) - bliss!

SecondHand Goodness

Have enjoyed a day of secondhand rummaging today, to appease my stash-gathering/retail therapy mood!

Had a trip out to Orinoco where I got some fabulous red upholstery material which I hope to cover two tins that I also got, the idea was in the latest issue of Sew Hip and I thought I could store knitting needles in one and pencils in the other..

Got some thin foam for future paint stamping, with some tester tubes of blue fabric paint. Some acetate sheets for stencilling and finally a tin of 'moon shadow' emulsion for one wall of the lounge. Although after slapping a bit on to test, it's a bit bluer than I wanted so may have to mix with some white so it's a bit more muted, but not bad for 50p!

Then it was into Town for a trawl through the charity shops, I was buggyless today (youngest at nursery!) so it meant I could do a big trip and go to the ones with stairs and narrow aisles!

Sobell House was jammed packed with great stuff today, had to rein myself in!

First off, three hoops which I wanted to display nice fabric in and hang on the walls, ala Soulemama,hope to get either some Amy Butler or new Ikea fabric for those.

Then found this half used Softie Kit in the Kids section, has the pattern pieces and instructions for making some fabulous softies, including Treelings from Forest Prints and a fabulous ice cream sandwich from Heidi Kenny at My Paper Crane who's softie donuts I love and I may try my hand at, as for our new craft group at work we are supposed to be doing a 'tea-time' themed item.
Some more wool, all for only £1.50 so I couldn't resist...I'm working on a knitted flower corsage at the moment, so needed some scraps to test on!

And then also, when the sun shone in brief interludes today, I finally managed to cajole my eldest into modelling the Oliver + S 'Lazy Days Skirt' I finally finished last weekend, it's a bright pink print from Ikea. This is the first time she's really worn it, so I may have to make another one in fabric that she chooses next. I just know it'll be something sparkly and spangly! Still it was really easy once I got going and I can definitely see me making more. Thanks to Manda at Treefall for giving my the push to get on as her version is lovely.