The Vintage Magpie

Something for Cath

Introducing my vintage  'Stanley'.

He is going off today taking my best hopes with him and entering the Cath Kidston 'Make Your Own Stanley' competition.   For those of you who are not great CK fans, Stanley is her dog and features on a lot of her designs.  If you win the competition you get £100 CK vouchers....whooppeee!!

My recycled Stanley is made of vintage hand-dyed wool and a spotty cotton neckchief that recently rummaged for in a charity shop.  I knitted him a scarf to keep out the chills!

Best of luck, my old friend... all my fingers and toes are crossed!

Have a great weekend everyone x

You know its coming when ....

You know Christmas is definitely on the way when the first handmade Christmas decorations start coming home from Brownies...

from Rainbows,

and from nursery.  I just love these... aren't kids decorations the best ever...

I am very excited tonight because tomorrow myself and Asti are off to Bath to play for the day and we are going for coffee at the lovely Michele's house.  We are going to wander round the beautiful shops, and Michele informs me that the Christmas market has started! 

Well, Christmas has certainly come early for me!  I shan't sleep tonight.. I just know it!

I'm planning to put the rest of the decorations up this weekend, tree 'an all!  I'm always early and I don't know who's more excited.. me or the children!  Has anyone else started their decorating yet?

You guessed it...

Its a tortoise...well tortoise/turtle, my first accomplishment from Amy Karol's new book.   

He is made of hand dyed vintage wool and needlecord, and I have stuffed him with beans to get the 'beanbag' effect.  He is very cuddly and cute, and his name is Tortie.. obviously.  He has recently discovered passions for roses and knitwear... much like myself.

 

This little fella is on his way to London, so he will be given a good talking to about the main 'do's and dont's' in the Big City.  For instance, don't get lost, as you are not liable to be returned and don't venture out on your own as the London town is just TOO big for one little country turtle.  Oh, and always wear a scarf if its snowing.

I am sure his new owner, although only 2 years old, will take great care of him x

Relaxing Stitches

I love embroidery, its soooooo relaxing.  A cup of tea, (cup and saucer of course), a lit fire, and some embroidery on my lap... just bliss.

You may remember I received this gorgeous parcel not so long ago from the very talented Janet Clare.  Well, it was this little robin all ready to embroider.  The design is absolutely gorgeous... I'm not sure what I'm going to put in one when I've finished, but it will adorn someone's Christmas present that's for sure!

Weekend busy-ness

The weekend was a busy one... playing on the trees

counting bare branches whilst laying on the grass, to be followed by

a 'spot the dog' competition... luckily for Florence she had her winter garments on.

A bit of this...

and a bit of that

yep... there's the glitter.

And in between I have nearly finished off this little fella ready for a Christmas present

Just a few more little details to add tonight.... 'can you guess what it is yet?'

Fresh Air and Bulbs

Today was spent taking Woody and Florence on a run over Dartmoor.  They loved it, and we loved it.. fresh (cold) air and a flask of (hot) builders tea.

and then I planted some of these in pots, hyacinth are one of my favourites, especially at Christmas time, so these little blighters have gone into the deepest darkest part of the larder until a week before Christmas... which isn't long I may add!  I realised that 'The Season' had come upon this house when this afternoon my 4 year old son called up to me from downstairs... 'Mummy, where's the glitter?' .  Thoughts rush through my head of glitter covered furniture, floors, carpets, clothes and children ... and then ' don't worry Mummy.. I've found it....'    Sharp intake of breath....this is not good, when you are at least a one minute dash away from a four year old who has found the glitter and intends to use it!

Hey ho, lets get the paints and glue out as well and get stuck in!  Tis the season to be head to foot in glitter anyway - intentionally or not ;) x

The Early Bird....

I've been practising making some stockings...  This has come from a culmination of stockings I have seen lately,

and  I've got a totally different idea in my head for another style...  oh how I love a Christmas stocking..

These have got a little pocket for a letter to Father Christmas on Christmas Eve, a last minute reminder!

There is something so magical about using a well loved Christmas stocking over and over again, year after year.  I can still remember the smell of our Christmas decoration box from when I was a child, musty from the loft and just that indescribeable scent of Christmas.  I remember watching for the first glint of tinsel and the first sight of my Christmas stocking, and the butterflies of excitement in my stomach when it finally was unveiled!

I would sift through all the decorations, reminding of myself of the stash, but my main desire was the stocking.. the best decoration of all!

The above have already been 'bugsyed' by my children, but I shall be wipping up a few more to sell before Christmas.  If you are interested please email me.  They will be £15 including p&p.

Now... back to my stack of Christmas magazines .... !

Birds, birds, birds

There seems to be a lot of birds in creative work around at the moment, which I think is wonderful.  I love them on all sorts of things.  So I've had a go at free embroidering them on to a few items.

I free embroidered this little bird onto a piece of linen, then onto blanket and then onto a brown velvet bag, and added some little red berries and silver thread for festivity!

and this is embroidered onto a vintage wool ipod cover... which I shall be making plenty more of for Christmas!

and Fred and Ginger here chirp away while I work!

All the Fun of the Fair

Well, we survived it at least!  Last Friday I dragged my poor suffering brother around this year's Country Living Christmas Fair at Islington Design Centre.  There was so much to see it was mind boggling!

hundreds of stalls full to the brim with gorgeousness. 

and it was such a thrill to find some products from some people we know and love, this wonderful Christmas card from Michele at Cowboys & Custard for instance.

However, saying all that I don't think I shall be going again.  There were so many people rammed in there, women on such a Christmas mission that you had to have all your wits about you just to stay on your toes at some stands!  And the atmosphere was not as I had expected.  It was not very Christmassy, it was more commercial consumer madness!   Having said that, there were some truly beautiful things to be seen, and I did get to spend the whole day with my lovely brother, sipping tea and scoffing cake, oh and of course trying out all the Christmas wines and whiskies in the food hall, which made the journey home a lot easier!

Where I got on with this...

And then we had this birthday tea for Migs who turned 40 on Sunday, with all handmade cakes and scones and full fat clotted cream :(

All in all it was a very very jolly weekend!

Now I better get on and do some work!

It's late.. I haven't packed..

and I know I'm not going to be able to sleep because I'm getting on a train and going here on Friday...  oh my I'm soooo excited!

and I shall again be enjoying this

as part of birthday celebrations on Sunday in my brother's garden in Kingston... I'm taking lots of winter wear!

Have a great weekend everyone! x