I can't believe a whole week has gone!  though i have been fairly busy. I actually managed to get an order out.
These are tea cosies covered in vintage buttons (the more buttons I use up the more i can buy he he!) They were knitted and then felted in the washing machine before i added the buttons.
Another great way of using up some of my button stash..these little bracelets are made using some new yarn that came in last week, it is as wide as ribbon and has silver thread running through it. I can sew the buttons directly onto it and make instant bracelets, I also did some using the felt flowers and buttons.  I am aiming to do some mixed yarn bags for sale in my shops, also adding little packs of vintage buttons and unusual ribbons that i have now...one day soon i will get organised :)
I also finished a batch of my little felt brooches. All of the above has gone to my favorite cafe in Childe Okeford.
I have had a new delivery of yummy yarns
and gorgeous fairtrade Rosewood needles by Mango Moon.
The above yarn I thought would be great used as a fringe rather than knitting with it, and this will be one i add to the mixed bags.
This is a really soft multi coloured yarn, which i have not yet tested. I will make some mobile phone socks in this to see how it knits up.

Right i'm off to do some more making. I have 3 more shops waiting for orders.

Banished to the dining room.

Last night I was banished from our sitting room, as tony and harry were taking it over.  They were going through rugby dvd's of the under 15's North dorset Teams season...which I must say has been a good one winners of the County Cup 3 years running, infact i think they only lost one match in the whole season and that was to come second out of 8 teams.  any way tony is putting together the end of year dvd where it shows highlights from each player.  So they annoyingly have to watch all the matches , they watch a bit discuss it, pause rewind watch it again discuss, write down the number so they can go back to it..this goes on for hours! Now i don't mind watching Harry play rugby a bit, but i get bored after....10 minutes and moan so much that they have had to banish me, and warned me in advance.

Well I do have a lot of toys to play with (of the crafting kind!) so I decide to get out the embellisher which I have not really tested out properly since I got it at xmas.

The skirt on the table i started to embellish at the last Make do and Mend workshop, and just need to add one more heart and possibly some fabric to the bottom, to make it longer. I have this great wool that looks like it has been sewn all down the middle of it, I have embellished onto the skirt and used it to make some cup warmers (will finish them and post a pic tommorow). It is great for edging and looks as though I have sewn it on.

I have been collecting lots of denim skirts and jackets to upcycle, so at least I got going on that.

I also used the embellisher to fray the edges around fabric hearts which I anm adding to old pillow cases and turning them into laundry bags. So I had a lot of fun.
I had a brill day yesterday, starting with a carboot in the morning, me and arthur left the house quite early to get there before the other buyers, it was lovely and peaceful for the first half an hour and we managed to get quite a lot of good stuff, I got some fabric, needles and assorted knitting bits, as well as an old wooden sewing box with a lovely needle holder full of really old needles (twice as thick as the modern day ones) and two skirts to upcycle.  

 Arthur got a fab spider man suit (which he has not taken off since it came out of the washing machine. I did make him leave it at the end of his bed explaining how hot he may get if he left it on! (not great to sleep in nylon!) he also got a whole load of army vehicles for a 1.00 so was very pleased.  
When we got back Arthur played with his new toys and I was able to do some spinning in the garden yay!  Alice aka Ladypole gave me some of her gorgeous carded wool to spin a few weeks ago, so it was great to see it turned into yarn. A wee bit over spun but i am just learning :)
Saturday i spent cutting some of my fabric mountain to put in the shop as fat quarters.  I have a huge delivery of fabric arriving tommorow, which i am a little apprehensive about as no one really knows i have started doing fabric...ah they will tommorow ,it is gorgeous linens from japan, some cupcake ones, some vintagey looking and some russian dolls with the most amazing ribbon.
These are button hearts i have been making to show people how they can use up there buttons.

egg cosies are not just for Easter..

I hope!  I made these cute egg cosies before Easter and put some on Folksy. 

I,ve also been making summer socks for mobile phones (no heels involved!).
These colourful ones i did not put on as I took the wrong style pics, I forgot that I needed to do them square. I will be taking pics again next week when Arthur is at nursery.

I was doing these in vintagey (not sure if thats a real word?) colours, with lovely fabric vintage buttons. I managed to put a couple of these on Folksy.
So next week i will be adding lots more on Etsy and folksy, because I will have lots more time..Arthur starts nursery 4 mornings a week yay!

So excited!

I was experimenting with photos for an advert going in a little mag to celebrate the Gillingham train station being 100 years old.  I thought a vintage style ad would look good.  In the end I used my previous pic with the old patterns behind (posted in a previous post).  Tony did a fantastic job and the advert looks great. The above pictures do show a little bit of how the shop is changing though, really taking 'make do and mend on board! :)
What i am excited about though is not boring adverts, but this amazing box of buttons one of my lovely customers brought in for me...
How lucky am I, of course I gave her a great big hug.  
My evening is going to be spent sorting buttons, great fun and very exciting..well to me any way:)

Surrounded by Angels!

I am surrounded by angels! It amazes me how generous people can be.  last week nearly every day somebody brought me something for my shop. These buttons were donated in a great big sweety jar! You should have seen my face :0 such a great big grin! 

I love sorting through buttons and discovering the history behind them. Tony also joins in when I have put together some treasure.  He is very good at telling what materials and machinery has been used, so being able to date them.  Some of the ones in the photo above we believe to be very old.  
I will use a lot of these in my jewellery and as embellishments on my brooches, but I am a little bit more careful about which ones should not be used.  I have a few tins of 'treasure'.
The buttons below were brought in today, the lady that gave them to me knits for charity, so when I have spare wool I pass on some to her and so the love goes round!
I really feel at the moment I am in the right place at the right time..for once! 

I have also had help from little angels with some of my sewing..of labels and a bit of beading on some of my brooches....because I am not really being very productive at the moment, absolutly full of ideas and inspiration but lacking in time.  Mainly because I keep being distracted by buttons! :)

I have been busy changing the shop around and fitting in all my new finds and lots of new stock.
I am really starting to mix old with new, and am becoming a little bit addicted to finding vintage buttons and tins, my Sundays are now spent at carboots or antique fairs..well it gets me out of the shop.  Arthur enjoys it too as he can always find a new old car, he loves to rummage and find the perfect car or lorry.  The bluebird tin (which i think is gorgeous) sold with in two days of having it in the shop!  It looked so nice with my buttons in :(.  I must learn to share and not keep it all for myself!
This is some of the lovely new yarns by Gedifra and Adriafil...I am going for the colourfull and glitzy yarns. If That way if no one buys them I turn them all into lovely flowers and little bags (may take a while but it will be fun!)..
Lots of new stock I will try and get some online, by wednesday next week..if it hasn't all gone by then...always the optimist!
I can't believe a week has gone by and I am getting ready for tommorows workshop, which is a Button workshop..so I can share out a little of my button stash, mmm and then go and buy some more ;)

Last saturday was needlefelting, above is Alice's (aka Ladypole on Ravelry) felted bits..I have actually pinched the squiggly yarn idea on the heart, quite useful doing these workshops..every one is so inspiring!
Jane brought her three daughters, which I was slightly worried about, as the needles are very sharp! They were all amazing though and really enjoyed the morning.  I love the octopus necklace and Jane's flag brooch. Very clever.

Concentrating very hard!
They were all very industrious!
Above is Elizabeth's work,  I can see the half flower as a hair decoration. ("fascinator"). Elizabeth brought in some of her own equipment one of which was a needle holder with four needles in, much quicker to work with..and every body borrowed it.  I will need to get some of these in for the next one. 

 First I need to put in some new dates for workshops as March is just going so fast.

Well back to my buttons ..it is my first button workshop so I am a little nervous, I never know how it's going to go. It will be lots of fun and I'm sure everyone will have fun picking out the buttons they are going to use, and I'm sure they will go home with lots of goodies!

New yarn.

I have  been busy adding all the yarns in my shop onto my website,
I have got maybe half way through it! Bit by bit I will  get there.
Lovely yarns by Adriafil an Italian company. I really like there unusual yarns.

Kid Silk Haze by Rowan lovely jewel colours. Great knitted into lacy patterns.

Now I am getting ready for Knit and natter tonight..Last week I went to the kitchen to make tea and returned to find I could not get back in the room, not much elbow room!

working mum!

We all went out to Center Parcs for the day on Wednesday with a very dear friend..well not all of us Tony was very poorly with 'man flu' so couldn't go, not only was he very sad about this but he was left to be poorly all on his own for the day. Though I think that probably has advantages! It was a great day and arthur loved having his older brothers around. Its quite rare these days to all go out.
Me and Arthur at work today, the shop went quiet in the afternoon due to the horrendous winter weather.
I managed to get a lot of brooches needle felted to look like cup cakes. These are also off to two galleries but I'm hoping to keep a few to go on Etsy and Folksy very soon.

Delicous and fat free.