The Vintage Magpie

Goblins & Ghouls

The parties are over and pumpkins are doing their job.... there are only good witches in Devon you know... no bad ones will come knocking.. sleep well little ones !

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

The Blues

Well the birthday celebrations are now well and truly over, and life feels a little flat.

So obviously it was time for a new bag....

This one is a smaller version of my previous experiments, small enough for a child or a sandwich/camera bag! 

Asti found this beautiful blue coloured blanket in a local charity shop... it is the most gorgeous blue. 

My next idea is to make some for children (as that's my favourite thing), so watch this space...

Lauren is first on the list as she desperately needs one to collect more leaves!

Busy Weekend

James has now turned 4, and his birthday seems to have stretched out for a week, which I'm finding is the norm for children in this house! 
So its been a busy week and busy weekend, with lovely relatives coming to stay and lots of eating cake and unwrapping presents.  And James, as always, charmed by the most simple things.
It was a trip to the beach on his birthday morning

Watching them delight in simple gifts is wonderful.

Toes in wet sand is his favourite!   Their faces as you blow up a balloon or light a candle is magical.  Moments that we all treasure while they last.

Happy Birthday Angel! xx 

Vintage Bears & Bunnies

Stop giggling at the back.....

These vintage bears and bunnies have been my latest project, made up of 100% mohair for their little faces, arms and legs, and their bodies and ears are made from some of my favourite fabrics.

I based these little ones on my favourite ted, little ted, who was just the right size to take everywhere with me.

I had great fun making these.  They are filled with lavender so they can be hugged tightly and help their owner fall asleep, or they would make great drawer scenters if you could bear to shut them away.

These little fellas are looking for new homes...

and  empty stockings to fill at Christmas.

They are £15 each which INCLUDES all packaging and post costs.  If you would like to offer one of these little bears or bunnies a new home, please email me x

One Lump Or Two?

I love doing freehand embroidery on the machine, and have been inspired for several years by Poppy Treffry's work.  She has a great eye for colour and texture, and simply yet effective design.

I have mixed textures in this tea cosy to encompass my new love of wool blankets.. I love working with them, so the heart and the saucer are blanket material.  The rest are scraps, which I love working with too.  Many of my favourite fabrics now only still exist in my sewing room in scraps... and I am just as protective of those scraps as I was over the metre of so of material that I once had the joy of possessing!

Talking of wool love, I share this and many other joys of fabrics with my talented friend Asti, who I have mentioned previously in my blog.  Asti and I have joined forces on many projects, and she will be joining me at the impending Christmas Show at Westpoint and hopefully for a long time to come in adventures in the world of handmade designs.  So I would like to introduce Asti to you all and her new blog, Lilys House.  Please pop over and say hello!

Vintage Bag Lady

My three little ones have all had a nasty stomach bug that has been circulating the school like wildfire last week, so when one recouped and the rest were on the mend we set off to get some much needed fresh air

and pretended to sail off to warmer shores. 

I stayed back, however, as I prefer the cold.  I love Autumn mornings, chilly and crisp, but I love Winter the most, strange but true.  There is nothing better than strolling along the beach in Winter, crowdless and no need to bare any flesh whatsoever.  Blissful. 

So, during the long time of confinement I have set to work on these little winter shoulder bags...

They are made from vintage Witney wool blankets and lined with some of my favourite fabrics.

The green one I hand dyed, and had a go at embellishing with a flower,

but the blue one was as it came, a gorgeous duck egg blue.

 

I am planning on making several hundred more of these for the show (yeah, right).. :o, and trying a smaller  hand held variety, maybe with a tie top and maybe a children's version, as  I love making things for little ones the most.

Sleep Well Little Darlings (GO TO BLOODY SLEEP)

There has been a great deal of unrest in our house of late.

Everyone is struggling to drift off to the land of nod successfully, and there have been countless nights of wandering souls around the house.  Children are found secretly reading by torchlight, little feet wandering the stairs and stifled giggles and whispers.  Adults can be found surfing the internet into the early hours or sitting in bed knitting in a blur of sleep and unrest.  Too much on our minds I think.  So in the hope of restoring some sense of sanity into the household, I've hooked the little blighters up with these lavender filled lovelies.

Lights out guys.  GET SOME REST!

On another note, do you think these are a good idea for the Christmas show... not sure if they would sell as pressies for children and/or adults or not?  Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated... stop me from wondering into the wee hours of the night about it!

A Well Travelled Yarn

This gorgeous bundle of yarns has travelled a fair distance to get here, ready for me to start knitting/crocheting furiously.  It started in California, where some wonderful friends of ours ordered it for me.  It got to their house, and was then packed away to come with them on their trip to England, then went to Poland and was posted from there to Devon, where it was finally received with open arms!!  I just love all the colours and the blend of the wool is gorgeous to work with.

I also found some gorgeous pure wool from a little wool shop in Bovey Tracey, on the edge of Dartmoor.  The shop 'Spin A Yarn' is gorgeous, one of those old fashioned wool shops that are so hard to find.  The wool has come from Black Down sheep residing on the Black Down Hills in Somerset and was dyed using eucalyptus.  The colour is wonderful, and I set to work making these fingerless gloves either for the Christmas show or as Christmas presents for loved ones. Unfortunately, however, I fell in love with them so I've had to go and buy some more wool to knit up some more!  I want to get some wool from the Dartmoor sheep next, just to keep it local.

Joyce, the lady who runs it, sources fabulous wools from around the world, and also holds regular workshops with guest teachers who teach spinning, felting, crochet ..  you name it.

You can stay there for the whole day, wallowing in whatever workshop you desire, and have tea/coffee and homemade lunch whilst you are there.  Pure bliss.

The shop is also full of wonderful jars full of buttons, ribbons, novelty knitting needles and bits and bobs that I could spend hours sifting through.

Its a wonderful find.

Of course with all of this knitting/crocheting happening at the moment, I felt the need for a glamorous knitting bag to hold my glamorous wool.   

As luck would have it I came across this old vintage knitting bag in Niki's wonderful catalogue of vintage finds.  I couldn't resist it, and my other half bought it for my anniversary present.  I'm thrilled with it.  Love it, love it, love it. 

Well, off to carrying on knitting x

Catching Up - A September Wedding

On Saturday 22nd September we fled gorgeous Devon and headed for old ground, well sort of... Chiswick House in West London, to be honoured guests at our good friends Jess and Matt's wedding.  We, (and I think Jess!) have waited a long time in anticipation of this event, and it was a spectacular day.  The weather was perfect, unbelievable infact as it had rained all week, the setting was idyllic and the couple were perfect.

A whole day of jollies, from tears to champagne and canapes in the grounds, to wine and song, and to more tears at the end it truly was a splendid day... many thanks Jess and Matt for letting us share it with you x

There was a wedding list, but I always like the element of surprise so I rustled up a tea cosy (a married girl's essential) to commemorate the event.

However, as any mother will know, it is a military procedure for parents to 'leave the building' for two whole days, and so as it took me most of the week to organise the for the weekend, I forgot to finish the tea cosy.  It wasn't  until my mother-in-law arrived to look after the children and we were mostly packed and ready to go that I remembered it, and flew to the sewing machine to finish it off in a frenzy... which is why...

the heart was a bit wonky!  Sorry Jess!   Thanks for a wonderful day xx