* Baby Bib Making *

So I've begun make my baby items, starting with something fairly easy - little spittle bibs. I'm hoping to make at least five more, including a felt birdy, cherries, strawberries, and a special Bert bib!

* Mr. Apple *

* Lady Bunny *
* Cheery Pear *

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* My Sister's New Shop! *

I'm so proud - my sister has started her new shop, 'Wonderfully Made' on Folksy! Here are some of the lovely giftys you can purchase from her - all handmade from vintage fabrics and materials:

She says: 'I love combining vintage materials with brand spanking new designs. Using different textures also gets me going...wool, velvet, cotton - they are all welcome friends in my creations.'

Go and have a peak at her shop and enjoy!

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* A Special Night *

I was present at an amazing concert/gig last night - Sufjan Stevens at the Royal Festival Hall - and wanted to share just some of the wonder, fun, surreal, crazy and beautiful things we heard and saw!

Photo: Roberta Parkin/Redferns

There was a 10 piece ensemble joining him, all dressed in day-glo with entrancing visuals - a real sensory overload at times, with some angel wings thrown in for good measure. Photo: WWW.TOM-SPRAY.

Most of the night were tracks from his new album, The Age of Adz - which is very different from his previous album, Illinios, so I had no idea what it was going to be like!

Photo: explosivesinthecargohold.net

I'm not a music reviewer so I won't go into all the ins and outs of giving a review - it was just amazing to hear and see a very creative artist's imagination and be taken with him on a cosmic journey...

Photo: thelivebuzz.com

...with a celebratory party at the end of it all!Photo: thevine.com.au
Click on the party video to go to bandcamp to hear his latest album.

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* Beautiful Stars *

I LOVE stars, and I was very happy when a photographer friend of mine posted this gem on Facebook - it is just beautiful.

The photographer went to El Teide, Spain's highest mountain (3718m) which is one of the best places in the world to photograph the stars. Double click to enlarge if you want to!

The Mountain from TSO Photography on Vimeo.

Enjoy!

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* Pretty Fairtrade Clothes *

I'm always on the hunt for Fairtrade & organic clothing - my aim is to end up with a wardrobe full of them! I was recently given a tip off about a FT online shop, 'Annie Greenabelle' (from sister Sue) and I've fallen in love with their pretty clothes - I think you'll love them too!


I've already purchased a number of their clothes - this one was just £10 in a sale - 'Gypsy Shirt', made from vintage fabric:


And this pretty dress I wore for Easter:

Here are some other favourites of mine:

Silky Grey Skirt
Lace top

Tea DressFloral Skirt (made from vintage fabric)
Grey silk shirt

Shopper bag (made from vintage fabrics)

Check out their full collection here.

Enjoy!

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* Making & Learning *

A busy bank holiday for me with lots of making and learning new things!

First, we visited some friends who are expecting their first baby and I had a go at making a 'Baby Bear face & hand towel' - here's how Benji Bear turned out:

I added a little label to explain what Benji Bear was (i.e. not a toy!):

And wrapped him up in tissue paper and was duly presented to the expectant parents:

I'm hoping to make a few of these little chaps for myself before little lady Bilbrough arrives!

Next, we had to say au revoir to a lovely family who are moving to Spain - I made each of them some felt 'Prayer Turtlies' - each turtle had a special prayer for every person in the family, from dad to baby...

...and could all be stacked up together, as a reminder they can support each other as a family:

I think everyone liked their gifts!

Husband Jon has been sharing his gift of music with me - I had promised myself that if I was blessed enough to become pregnant, I'd learn how to play the guitar so I could play lullabies and songs to our children.

I'm currently learning how to play one of Jon's very own lullabies, Elanor, a song about the last character in Toliken's The Lord of the Rings.

I'm coming along ok!

Hope you had a lovely bank holiday too!

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* Bunting Make *

We hosted our Easter Sunday Feast yesterday for family and friends - and a celebratory feast isn't a celebratory feast without bunting! So we made some especially for the occasion and here it is in all its glory:

If you're interested, here is how we made it:

* BUNTING MAKE *

Step 1: Off we went to the Fabric Shop to get some scraps of material we'd like for our bunting - we brought 1/2 yard of fabrics we liked at about £1.50-3.00 each (Hobbes is standing guard over our fabric for us here):


Step 2: Then we got some white binding/ribbon 10 metres long from Hobbycraft for £1.50 (various markets sell this at different lengths possibly even cheaper than that).

Step 3: Jon cut a 'bunting' triangle shape out of some scrap cardboard and we drew around the triangle shape using felt tip pens across the fabrics:

Step 4: We cut them all out (sitting in the garden sunshine to do this)!

Step 5: I then used my sewing machine to attach the triangles in an order we liked to the white binding/ribbon:


...if you dont have a sewing machine, we've also used strong glue before that doesn't show through fabrics, which is even faster! As the bunting is hanging up high, you don't really notice the details - especially when there is a lot of it!

Happy bunting making!

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* Beatrice Bee Badges *

Hurray! Thanks to my lovely friend Charlotte and her special badge making machine, I was able to make some Beatrice Bee Badges:

If you haven't met my dancing bee character and heard a bit of her story yet, click here.

All the best people are now wearing them, as you can see!





If you'd like to buy one, for just 30 pennies, just email me, leave a comment or just ask when you next see me!

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