Granny Square learning...

I've been finding new blogs lately, mostly from links on blogs I like and I was very taken with the lovely blog 'Yarn Round Hook' when I found pictures of a gorgeous granny square blanket!
It is so yummy, big congrats to Victoria for finishing this!

So after many failed attempts at crochet I was spurred onto trying to master the Granny!!

So lots of re-reading books, magazines, blog posts and then I found a link to this...
Sarah London's Flickr set
'How to Make a Granny Square Step by Step' on Flickr...follow the link it's truly fab and that was when it all slowly started to make sense!

Cue lots of furrowed brows and fingers in a twist...but eventually I ended up with this...


It's not perfect I know but I did get the rhythm of the pattern eventually and I'm keen to practice some more.

Art in Action

Had a lovely day yesterday at Waterperry House nr Oxford for the annunal Art in Action event.

There were some fabulous artists from a wide field of disciplines, in the 'Best of the Best' tent the standard and talent was truly awe-inspiring, from printmakers to ceramics to textiles.

I had a lovely day with lots of lovely things to see and even managed to get a few materials!

Sew Hip Letters Page!

Sorry about this, but have you seen the letters page of the latest Sew Hip??!!

Well I was very proud to see on p.16 my pictures of the pillowcase dresses I'd made this year.

I put them on the Sew Hip Flickr page and they emailed to check it was ok to publish (big thumbs up for proper procedure, I work in image permissions!) and of course I said yes!

They were a very easy make and I would make more but the girls haven't been that keen on them! My youngest refuses to wear her pink one! Still she does love the Oliver + S 'Lazy Days Skirt' I made for her last year in Ikea fabric, I think I shall try and rustle up some more of these instead!

Bucks EYeS

Bucks EYeS 2010

Last week we had a little trip out to High Wycombe to see the Bucks Uni degree show.


My big sis is just graduating from her jewellery degree so we were all curious to see what she's been working on!
We also made sure we had a nosy around the others shows and there was a real mix of courses, it was really inspirational to see other people's creativity and ideas.

These architectural pieces are by my sister Fiona West Designs

These piece are by Alice O'Neill

I think these are fab, unusual, interesting but wearable.These are a few snaps from all over, the bunnies with the light bulbs in their tails are inspired, I hope they get picked up for production and the knitted armchair which you can sit in and wear, very cosy!
They'll also be exhibiting at New Designers & D&AD in London:

http://www.newdesigners.com/

http://www.dandad.org/

Birthday Goodies

A glimpse of the pretties from the birthdays...

Lovely wrapping paper, carefully unwrapped so it can be used again!
Small bit of crafting, the night before I made this badge for my daughters badge, I think I'll do more of these, it was really quick and she loved it!

This was my birthday card from my fabulous Mum who knows me so well, we have the book too as it used to be her's, which we've all read and loved the illustrations, I've read it to my girls too now.

This was my sisters card, again another Ladybird illustration (I never did get a pony!), the cards are by Simon Spicer.

This is the fabulous sewing box that was in our local sewing/yarn shop at Christmas which I admired! Thank you mum!!

and I love this tea-towel, very me and it's now in my kitchen!

Birthday time

Thursday may have been election day, but in this household it's Birthday time, 34 for me and now the Big 6 for my eldest! Yes we share the same birthday, which is actually kind of lovely (apart from the usual work/prep that has to go on on the day!).

We were both very lucky on the card and presents front, I've got some amazing vintage things, the above set came from last Saturday aparently - my mum being sneaky! I shall post more photos in due course, the sewing box house is really cute...

The Day After

Well the Vintage and Handmade Fair has been and gone, what a lovely day we had yesterday, the sun even shined!

There are lots of lovely pics on several sellers sites and a fab slide show on Flickr.

The stalls were as always impeccably laid out, all full of tempting treasure, my favourite this year was Sal's Snippets, I bought this lovely embroidery frame and brooch and it really was difficult deciding what to buy!

Then I loved the buttons & magnets from Kitsch and Curious,

and my eldest (6) bought the floral brooch and pink ring from Acorn & Will!

Donna Flower's stall was full of vintage fabric and ribbon, after much umming & ahhing I bought these two:

The vintage apron's caught my eye at The Washerwoman's stall, and after going to get more cash (!) I decided I couldn't leave without this one!

And then I was soo happy to see this on The Vintage Magpie's stall as I missed getting one at the Christmas Fair and regretted it!

Thank goodness for the tea table and cake, the carrot and walnut was heavenly and revived me perfectly!

After much fun (and the kids dying to get out!) we had to push off to our other stop: Westonbirt Arboretum, where the kids ran off instantaneously, obviously burning off much hemmed in energy! We just managed to avoid the rain for most of the day, only getting wet as we ran to the car!! So it was a very enjoyable day for all and today it's mostly been watching the Badminton cross country and motoGP on tv!!