Attic24

Overexcitability

I have to tell you I am suffering at the moment, reeeeaaaaaallly suffering. Yes, I have been struck down with a most severe case of Overexcitability and it is so bad that I am quite beside myself. I can't sleep properly, I am all over the place with the giddy-jitters and my mind is bursting with so much inspiration and so many creative possibilities presenting themselves to me at the moment.

Of course, this is not a new experience for me, no-no-no, it's all too familiar. I often suffer from this affliction, and it just today occurred to me that it could possibly be seasonal (see this post from this time last year? See how remarkably close the dates are?? Uncanny or what??)

So let us chat a little about the Root Cause of my current Overexcitable condition shall we? Well it's been brewing for a while you understand, but finally came to a head yesterday when I left the house at 9.30am, and drove myself across the hills to Harrogate to visit the Knitting and Stitching Show. It was quite a spontaneous and last minute decision to go, but I am so glad I made the effort. It was sooooo exciting! I only took one photograph at the show (the above amazing stitched vase of flowers), cos I was quite honestly too busy rushing around hither and thither working myself up into an Overexcited frenzy.

After a medicinal cappuccino and a danish pastry had been consumed, my first stop was my favourite button stand to replenish my stock of deliciously coloured plastic buttons.

I spent a lovely time here selecting from the colour themed pick-and-mix tubs, filling my little bags with same-size buttons, chatting to the other customers as we took turns making our selections, swapping places when necessary, admiring each others choices. It was a lot of fun, and I love-love-love my buttons.

Second stop was to be fabric. Now then....I had it in the back of my mind that I might possibly be able to buy some rather nice fabric at the show, but had not really entirely planned it you understand. The whole business of buying fabric and Building a Stash scares me a little, it always seems so frivolous and extravagant, and there is often a lot of associated Guilt involved.

But you see, I've had it in me to make a Patchwork Quilt for the Longest Time now, I really, really, really have desperately wanted to do it for years. You may remember me chatting to you about it earlier in the year, and showing you my modest stash back then. You may also remember my patchwork chair seat cover, and how I managed to end up with a whole stack of extra fabric squares now waiting patiently to be assembled into Quilt Formation.

 

So yesterday, with this quilt idea in the back of my mind, I ended up going a little bit crazy and went off on a bit of a spontaneous fabric-buying splurge. I visited four different fabric sellers and in a frenzy of Overexcitable buying I ended up with the above fat quarters. Sixteen in total, a mixture of Kaffe Fasset, Amy Butler, Heather Bailey and Anna-Maria Horner.

What do you think?? Aren't they LUSH????

Oh I have been fondling and smooching these little stacks of fabricky gorgeousness like you wouldn't believe, I am very much smitten.....

.....and once they were added to my other fabrics, I realised with complete joy that after many years I have now assembled the Perfect Stash to make a quilt with. And I am so excited.

SO VERY EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But deary-deary me folks, that is not all. That is not the end of my Overexcitability I'm afraid. No, there was one other thing that Got me yesterday :: my third stop at the show was the amazing "Decopatch" stand. I wish that I'd had the thought to take some photographs at this stand, it was completely brilliant, and hugely inspiring, I just could not resist it's colourful charms. Already buzzing from my button and fabric purchases, I kind of just went with the flow here and indulged my creative Overexcitability to the max.

So what is Decopatch?? Well it's basically a form of decoupage, where one uses specially dyed thin tissue papers with a special glossy glue, and proceeds to cover all manner of household objects.

The blurb describes it as the "exciting new 'paint without paint' papercraft technique. It's a funky addictive papercraft that's amazingly simple to use, a modern twist on the traditional decoupage.  All you need is the paper, the object that you're going to cover and the special glue varnish.  Simply cut or tear your paper into small pieces - we've found postage stamp or a bit bigger works well - paint a coat of the glue-varnish onto your object, stick the paper on and pop anopther coat on the top and hey presto, you're a decopatcher! And you'll find projects everywhere, you can cover practically anything: old furniture, glass, wood, stone, cardboard, the possibilities are endless!"

Ahhhhhh just LOOK at the papers I bought!!! Aren't they amazing?!

 

Can you just imagine me in a complete state of Overexcitement here, gathering these pretty papers together, jigging from foot to foot, almost hyperventilating with pleasure :o). Well yes, you know me well by now, I'm sure you can imagine it very well indeed.

 

So now I am about to become not only a Patchwork Quilter, but also a Decopatcher too. I bought these wooden LOVE letters as my starting project and plan on doing that tomorrow. I am hugely excited by it I have to tell you.

By the way, I've discovered today that there's lots of stuff on the www to do with this amazing craft...a couple of good sites/stockists I've found are here and here, should you find yourself as Overexcitable as me and be tempted to give it a go.

Well, after all that dizzy show-n-tell I really need to go have a cup of tea and try to calm myself down a bit now. Deep breaths, reeeeelax.

Have yourselves a lovely, creative, fun, inspiring, happy day my lovelies.....

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Cloud Nine

Hellooooo!!! Monday afternoon already, yikes where do the hours and days disappear to?
Did you enjoy a lovely weekend? Ah, we did, it was a really happy weekend here at Attic24. Lots of pottery weekendy stuff like baking buns, sitting in the sun drinking coffee, losing myself blissfully  in magazine Wonderland (the latest CL mag, such bliss!), and of course indulging my affair with BigBlankie, affectionately known as BB. 
We also had out of the ordinary weekendy stuff in the form of the towns Annual Gala, which involved a street procession and a large, noisy  fairground in the park (Dodgems, carrousels, hook-a-duck, candyfloss, goldfish-in-bags). Yes, we now have two new small Golden coloured, rather nervous fishy residents at Attic24. Say no more.
The Gala day was rounded off at 10pm with a big firework display, and amazingly the Little People managed to stay up until this time buzzing with energy and excitement (no doubt fuelled by all the sugar from the candyfloss). It was a lovely, if full-on day.

So I've been up here in the Attic today, enjoying the peace and quiet. Having a little tidy up, re-aquainting myself with my little sewing corner, looking through my coloured sewing threads and stroking my brightly coloured cotton fabrics. You know, gently contemplating the business of cutting and piecing, stitching and creating.

Following on from my last post on Friday night where I tentatively offered up my textiles for inspection and consumption, my life has suddenly taken quite a turn. To be quite frank, I didn't really think things through very well there, it was all quite spontaneous and very slapdash wasn't it?
Find a few little pieces of work lying around.
Photograph them.
Stick them on the blog and offer them for sale.
Wait a week or two, then if they don't sell, try them on Etsy.
Nothing to lose.

But what actually happened was so unexpected, that I have had that feeling all weekend of floating on a cloud. Thank you all SO VERY MUCH for the tremendous response to my work. It has been the very best antidote to the rather odd low feelings I've been suffering from of late. And I thank you enormously :: its rather nice up here on Cloud Nine!

So yeah, what actually happened was that all seven pictures sold over night within 10 hours of being in cyberspace. And there have been many, many more of you all wishing to give a happy home to some Attic24 Stitchy Goodness.

I'm in the process of working my way through your emails, so if you did wish to purchase a little Stitchy Picture and have emailed me, you will be hearing from me very soon. I think I'm going to be a busy bee making lots of new stitchy pictures, and I am more than happy with that.

This is my trusty, beloved Bernina, I thought you might like to see her. She's a solid old metal thing and I love her dearly. I bought her in 1992 after I graduated from college, with money very generously given to me by my Grandparents (I was so poverty-stricken in those days, I could hardly afford to buy food, let alone a bit of Swedish machinery). I am eternally grateful for their generosity. It was my Mum who actually found this Bernina for me through a small  local dealer In  Dorset, I am her third owner. I also have the original case and instruction booklet for her too, she is roughly 50 years old. She has no fancy stitch patterns, just does straight stitch and zigzag. But ooohhhh she loves free-motion embroidery very very much!

I found some of my little designs yesterday look, drawn out on scraps of paper as and when ideas and images have sprung to mind. It's how all my  pictures start out, as simple line drawings in black pen. I use these drawings like "patterns" to help me cut and assemble the collage of fabrics which make up my little pictures.
When I am drawing them, I never know quite how they are going to turn out, how the colours will work. That bit comes when I begin snipping and piecing the fabric itself, when I start playing with colour, hopping from foot to foot having heebie jeebies over it all.

So I shall love you and leave you for today, I've got quite a lot to be getting on with up here on The Cloud.
Oh, I've just had a thought...if you'd like to see a little more of my textile work, there are a couple of archive Attic posts here and here.
See you tomorrow my lovelies

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PS I'll be sharing my trip to Bruges with you soon I promise, I've not forgotten xx

Stitchy Goodness

 

As you know, I've been harbouring this little dream of opening an Etsy Shop and beginning to sell some of my stitchy creations again. Can you remember when I stitched the Attic24 banner and opened up shop?? It was waaaay back last year before Christmas.
Since then I've just not quite found a way to get new things made, although I have so many designs and ideas and scraps of paper with little drawings made on them. The will is there for sure.
Then earlier in the week I came across this little collection of textile pieces that I made some years ago :: such a surprise to find them again, to remember them, and discover how much I still feel about them, if you get that.

And I figured that maybe it might be a lovely idea to offer them for sale, kind of as a way for me to make my tentative steps towards setting up shop. A Little Shop of colourful Stitchy Goodness.

I have to tell you I am nervous! uh--huh. I mean, truthfully, I love these little pictures very much, they are so very me, and made with love and delight in every tiny stitch. Yet I would also love for them to find new homes! For each picture to be loved and cherished. Soppy so-and-so that I am.

You want to take a look?

 

I made this series of textile pictures originally with an idea to reproduce them as greetings card images. 

There are seven altogether that I am offering for sale and I am selling them unmounted and unframed, just as they are. They can easily be popped into a frame to hang on the wall though, I think the Ikea RIBBA frames are excellent and there is a square one with a mount that would be just right.

They are appliqued with pure cotton fabrics (some hand painted), and embroidered by hand and machine. 

They are quite dinky and measure 12.5cm (5 inches) square.

Do you like them?

I remember really, really having fun creating the designs and making them come to life with colour and stitch. I love working on this small scale, snipping the teeny tiny bits of fabric and stitching the teeny tiny stitches.

This above piece I made for a magazine article I wrote on applique, it measures 11 x 14cm. 

 

You know you can click on the images to pop them up in a larger window....great to see the stitch detail....

....I especially love the the two seasidey ones, there's something so universally appealing about little harbours with cottages and boats.

So :: the details.

I'm selling each piece of work as seen (unmounted and unframed).

And I'm asking £38 for each, with free postage and packaging world wide. I don't know about you, but it niggles me having to pay P&P when buying things online, so I am more than happy to pay it for you by way of a Thankyou :o).

For US peeps, with the current exchange rate, this equals approx $62.

If you are interested in giving a home to a little bit of Attic24 Stitchy Goodness, please do email me and we can have a chatty about paypal stuff.

My email address is ::

lucyshouse@hotmail.co.uk

I hope you don't mind me launching this at you, only I figured I'd love to offer them exclusively on the blog first before I put them into the Etsy Ocean.

I think I'll keep them here at Attic24 for a week or two, then into the shoplet they will go.

XXXXXXXXXX ALL PICTURES NOW SOLD ** THANK YOU** XXXXXXXXXX

Thanks so much for stopping by...have a fantabulous weekend one and all. 

Me and BB are going to spend a considerable amount of time snuggling and smooching on the sofa this weekend. I am quite beside myself.

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edited to add :: please don't in any way feel bad if you are not in a position to give a home to one of these pictures right now, I SO understand. But I'm hoping that I'll be able to go on to make some more bits and pieces, including some smaller ones at a lower price. Thanks again for all the support and enthusiasm you show for my creations, it means so much.xx

A Chair Story

Once Upon a Time there was a pale blue Lloyd Loom chair. She was a little drab and old-lady-like when she first came to live with me in March. A tad sad, a tad neglected. This chair has a great deal of sentimental value because of the very special Lady that once owned her. So I really wanted to feel good about the chair, to love her and adore her and make her pretty again. And I think there's something really special about breathing new life into a sad old chair, a chair that has had so many bottoms sat upon it over so many years. 

So I started out thinking about how to prettify this chair, and a couple of inspiring images had really firmly lodged in my mind. The first one was a post on Vanessa's blog. And the second one was a post on Jane's blog. Both inspiring ladies, showing us inspiring chairs. Chairs to make yourself comfy in. Chairs to relax and create and dream in. And as I badly wanted my own comfy-relaxy-dreamy chair, I set about creating just such a thing. With yarn and fabric and love and joy.

First up, my chair needed it's own blanket. Without a doubt, it had to be cloaked in colourful hooky goodness or else it just wouldn't be my chair now would it? And so the circles-squares throw was started....

....and it grew....

....and grew some more...

...and then to dizzy appreciation, it gloried in it's ta-dah moment. 

My chair also need a cushion. And so the whirly, stripy, circular cushion was started...

....and it grew....

....and grew some more....

...and it too enjoyed it's Ta-dah moment.

But even with her crochet cloak and her plumpety-plump cushion, the chair was still sporting her dowdy mucky velvet seat. And I just knew that One Piece of Fabric would never ever do. I had a vision, and to me it was as clear as day. I could see this chair so perfectly in my mind that it was as if it already existed. The seat would be made of patchwork.

Yes, patchwork!! It has to be this way, I can see it so clearly!

So I gathered the fabrics....

....discovered the delicious joy of cutting and piecing....

....and a Patchwork seat cover was made, Ta-dah!!

I am rather pleased with it. Well no, that is an out and out lie actually. I am not pleased with it, I am absolutely THRILLED with it!! It gives me palpitations, makes me hop and skip and clap!

I introduced The Patchwork to The Crochet. 

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh so harmonious! 

Such Perfect Partners!

They will be so Happy together.

Now considering that I've done no patchwork before, and no upholstery before, I think I did pretty OK with this, wouldn't you say? I made a calico template and cut the seat top to shape, then made a loooooong length of patches to fit all round the sides of the seat in one continuous strip. Then simply stitched the two together, keeping the calico as backing for extra strength.

Ahhhh I really love love love love love love love LOVE this seat!!!!

And I really love love love love love love love LOVE how yarn and fabric, crochet and patchwork all come together in a rather whacky, lovable concoction of Attic24-Lucy-stylie creativity.

Slightly bonkers it has to be said.

But oh so very me!

I had a vision for this chair, and the vision was as clear as day in my mind.

And this chair became exactly as I imagined it.

Exactly, yet more so.

I hope we shall live Happily Ever After together, Me and Chair.

The End.

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Patchwork Stuff

Hello...ahhhhh glad it's Friday, are you? The weather here today is absolutely dire and the forecast for the weekend in my little patch is for continuing Heavy Rain, which to be perfectly honest, would suit me just fine. I'm envisaging some luxurious hours spent pyjama-clad and fluffy-socked, in front of the fire with Country Living magazine to the left, my crochet bag to the right, cushions and blankets to the back and tea and cake somewhere reachable in front. Yeah, that sounds mighty fine to me. I shall surround myself on all four sides with cosy, homey things. Bring it on.

Today though, I thought we might take a little diversion from the weather, and from yarn and crochet and talk fabric instead? More specifically, the business of cutting pieces of beautiful fabric into neat little squares and then attempting to stitch them together with precise, straight, unwobbly lines?

Ahhhh yes I've been busy in the Attic these past few days! Busy doing fabricky, cutty stuff! As you know, I had this idea for my Lloyd Loom chair that I would make a patchwork seat cover for it. Now despite being absolutely Passionate about Patchwork, and despite owning this wonderful book for the best part of ten years, I have never actually attempted to make Patchwork. Never. Well thats to say that when I was a weeny scrap of a girl I did have a go at making hexagonal patchwork, the old fashioned English sort where you hand stitch all the fabric pieces onto little paper templates, you know? But never tried my hand at grown-up sewing machine type patchwork before. Even though it greatly appeals to me and I adore the whole idea of it.

I think that has partly been down to the absence of a Stash. And anyone knows that you need a half decent stash in order to make a half decent stab at Patchwork.

But over recent months, a little itty-bitty stash has been accumulating in the Attic...see those yummy scrumptious fabrics up there, don't they make your heart flutter just a little?? Well that'll be the extent of my stash, and I am very, very fond of it. Its very strokable, very inspiring. Its a mixture of Kaffee Fassett fabrics, European fabrics, and some generously gifted fabrics. I think there are only twenty five fabrics in total there, so extremely limited really in the giddy world of stash-building. But they are mine-mine-mine and I love each and every one of them.

And oh! What fun!!!! To spend an afternoon ironing and gliding my rotary cutter up and down my magical transparent Omnigrid ruler (bought a while ago and never been used before) was just delightful! Delightful. I chatted away to the fabric, enjoyed playing with it enormously.

Want to see what happened?

Want to see what I built?

Ok, look..........

.......I built a fantabulous pile of neatly cut, perfect little 4-inch squares!

A whole stack of them look!!!!

Oh my, well let me explain...what I did was to make a calico template for the chair seat I'm covering, and from the size of that I reackoned on needing 25 patchwork squares to fit it. So any noodle can work out that if you have twenty five fabrics and need twenty five squares, then that's only one square needed from each fabric, right? But where's the fun in cutting just one lonely square??? Nah, much better to cut big strips of fabric, then slice the strips into squares, two at a time! yeah, that rotary cutter was made for cutting strips, it didn't like doing single squares at all!

So anyhow, the upshot is that I think I am about to embark on my first ever patchwork quilt!!!!!! Ooooooooooooo how very totally, utterly exciting! Cos even after I put aside my 25 squares for the seat cover, I think I must still have around a hundred squares left over (yes I really did cut that many, I lost the ability to let go of the rotary cutter).

Anyhow, I will most definitely keep you posted on progression with that.

 

I think the whole Patchwork thing must be really In Fashion at the moment as I've noticed it in several magazines recently. The above image is from the May issue of Homes & Antiques, its the London home of Kate McShane. See that chair, isn't it amazing?? I love love love it. 

And these pages are from the May issue of Elle Decoration.....see the round crocheted cusions on the sofa??

Turn the page and there's a beautiful paper patchworked book shelf, and more of that amazing patchwork furniture too....take a closer look........

How fabulous are those?? Ooo makes me want to smooch that furniture and cover it in kisses, I adore it!!!! You may recognise it as the work of London based Squint Limited.

Want to see some more of their stuff??

(photo above borrowed from the Squint website)

That's the Chesterfield Sofa...

   

(photos above borrowed from the Squint website)

...and above are stools and chairs that've been given the Squint makeover.

I find this whole idea totally inspiring, fun, creative, imaginative, energetic and heart-skippy. It really inspires me to use fabrics and pattern more around the house, although not sure what husband would say.

Whilst we're still talking Patchwork Inspiration, I came across a fabulous blog yesterday with a beautiful Patchy Post to drool over......ah I do like a good browse in Blogland for inspiration, it always comes up trumps.

Well my friends...just before I log off and return to stitching myself into a squared-up Patchwork Frenzy, can i just say a huge thank you to all your responses to yesterdays post. I've been working my way though all your links and have thoroughly enjoyed my Global Hooky tour, it's been quite wonderful. If you haven't already added your crochet link to the post, then please do, I'd love to come and pay you a visit and see what you've been up to. I will also consider making a Flickr group, if you think that'd be cool??

Enjoy your weekend, whatever the weather, make sure you have yourself some fun....

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Thursday Thrills

Those of you who have gotten to know me over the past year will know about my Thursdays. You will know that Thursday mornings are cafe mornings. I can always be found there on Thursday mornings except in extreme circumstances  ie funerals, school holidays and severe weather conditions. Yes, Thursday morning is a Knit, Stitch and Natter morning.
In fact, it's come to be such a permanent, blissful fixture of my week that friends know they can reliably stroll in to the cafe on a Thursday morning and find me right there. And they often do. Sometimes they come unannounced, just stroll in knowing full well I'll be sat there coffee in one hand, hook in the other. And sometimes I'm forewarned and a little rendezvous will be arranged. A few months ago, it was the gorgeous Bertie who popped in to join in the hooky nattery fun. And today I had the pleasure of Fiona's chatty, bubbly company...oh such fun! You can just see Fiona's hands there in the above picture look, busy crocheting some sweet little fairy light covers.

I had my camera with me this morning to take a few pictures as Lovely C has asked me to design a new poster to advertise the KS&N mornings. I really LOVE these stripy mugs, aren't they gorgeous? They are usually used at the cafe for hot chocolate as inside the mug (underneath the froth) the word "chocolat" is written. But today I asked nicely if I could have my usual latte put into one of these mugs as I knew it would look lovely in the photos.
Incidentally, the mugs come from the delicious Jules China shop in Hebden Bridge, you can find them on their website if you fancy buying yourself one. Or maybe several. And aren't the heart shaped oven dishes gorgeous too?

There's something so lovely about meeting fellow bloggers, because it's as if you've already met many many times before and are simply picking up where you left off. Conversation flows at full pelt, so much in common, so much to talk about, but also so much you already know and don't need to ask. Fiona, if you are reading this, it was an absolute pleasure to meet you, please come again, any Thursday that tickles your fancy. You'll know exactly where to find me.

Now then, I wish to share a little something with you, if that's ok? See that delicious stripy paper bag there sat on my chair, isn't it the most fabulous paper bag you ever ever laid eyes on? This was presented to me this morning, just a little something from Fi-to-me. To be truthful, I would've been overjoyed just to receive the bag itself, that would have made my day.

But inside the bag were some beautifully wrapped gifts :: a pretty box for me and two tissue paper ones for the Little People (still waiting for fingers to arrive and rip them to shreds). Want to have a look inside the box?

Go on then....have a peek....

,,,,sky blue tissue paper, and what's that nestling inside????

A little woolly something, what can it be?

Oh look!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh oh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The most gorgeous little house :: crocheted and then felted, with such intricate embroidered details look....

and look at the back too....a washing line!!! Isn't it just beautiful?

I love love love it. Very very much.

I can see a little collection beginning to grow here, a little handmade housey-housey village.

Which reminds me I've been meaning to show you a couple of housey pictures of mine which sit on my bookshelves downstairs....

This first one is by textile artist Janet Browne, who hand dyes her own fabrics, then pieces and stitches them into these very unique pictures...more of her work can be seen here.

 

And this picture I've had for years, it's by embroidery artist Rachel Setford who I used to bump into a lot when I was also making and selling my textile work :: we exhibited at many of the same fairs and shows (oh that seems like a life time ago!) and I loved her work very much. I remember I had a particularly successful show one Christmas time, resulting in the unexpectedly delicious feeling of having rather more money in my pocket than I was used to. So on a whim I extravagantly commissioned this piece from Rachel and she made it especially for me, all hand stitched, such teeny tiny stitches...ahhh I do so love hand made things. Such love and skill and care in every stitch. 

And speaking of stitches and love and skill....maybe very soon I might be able to find a little time to do more of this myself....and maybe then this will soon be open for business.......

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Loving Today

:: early morning sky ::

:: the view this morning from the end of my street ::

:: my walk home from school ::

:: noticing snowdrops growing in my front garden ::

:: wearing beautiful hand made jewellery ::

 

:: new pomegranate and raspberry hand soap in the kitchen ::

:: a vase of fresh flowers  ::

:: noticing the beauty inside these tulips ::

:: eating a home made bun  with my morning coffee ::

:: morning sunshine streaming in through the window ::

:: evidence of Little Lady's early morning play still on the windowsill ::

 

:: evidence of Little Man's early morning creativity still on the table ::

:: stitching orange beady bird feet ::

:: my growing pile of blanket squares ::

:: Finally planning the long-thought-about tea-towel quilt ::

:: a jar of sea glass, reminding me to make a visit to the coast very soon ::

:: shiny chrome and gleaming white ceramic in the bathroom ::

Hope you are Loving your own Today too?
xx

Housey-housey

Hello!
A very housey-housey post today as I seem to be going through something of an obsession with little houses at the moment. It is nothing new, I have loved housey imagery for a long, long time, and can't see it ever diminishing much. I just adore the heap of emotion that comes flooding in when my whirly-gig brain processes an image of a row of cute little houses.

Thinking about it now, I do seem to have many of these little passions, things that for me seem to have such a lot of feeling attached to them. Too numerous to mention, but I expect you could hazard a guess as most of these passions of mine tend to feature in my daily blogging.  It's the stuff of domestic family life, the stuff that makes me feel glad to be me, the stuff that gives me this emotional heart-skippy and happy jumpity feeling.
Pictures of little houses fall firmly into the heart-skippy category :: they make me feel safe and cosy and homely and glad for my own home life. I think that sort of explains it.

These first two images are "New Home" greeting cards that I found in my card stash a few days ago. I had quite forgotten I had bought them, I think they came from Marks and Spencers.  Of course I wouldn't dream of sending them to anyone, they will eventually become part of my big Inspiration Wall which one day I intend to create and share with you. For now, they are propped up near my sewing machine in the Attic, looking all cute and sweet, making me smile.

Its been quite a week for me, this one. After I made the stitched postcard for the Houseyversary giveaway (yes, it IS that day, but naughty me I am making you w.a.i.t), I realised that the time was right to be doing more with my skills. Making more. Sharing more. Achieving more. That I could talk about it and write about it and think about it and plan it, but really I should be getting on and actually doing it.
It was your comments and response to my little houses that have tipped the balance for me, and I cannot begin to think how to thank you. Each and every comment that came in on last Fridays post has made me so happy.
I had been pondering an Etsy shop for a while now, but had not quite had the confidence to do it. And now, thanks to you all, I think the time is right for me to give it a go. Katy, you in particular have helped make this happen for me, and I am sooperly-dooperly grateful for that.

So this week has seen me beetle about ordering supplies and materials and taking the first little baby steps towards setting-up-shop. Such fun!! As you probably know if you popped up to the Attic yesterday, I have been stitching a banner to head up my little shop :: I finished it last night, and am SO HAPPY to be sharing it with you! I think it's one of the best things I've ever made, and there is so much happiness and love and hope in every stitch.
The above image is how it was yesterday morning when I'd finished doing all the cutting and piecing and machine stitching, but before I started any of the hand embroidery. It's kind of like a lady without her makeup and jewellery on. She is there and dressed, but not yet ready for the party.

I really love how the hand embroidery brings the whole thing to life. When I'm designing a piece of work, I pretty much know from the outset how the hand embroidery is going to work. I cut little flower pots just so that I can hand stitch miniature flowers to fill them. I cut little windows which cry out for hand finished window frames.

You can click on these images to pop them up in a larger window if you like, to see the stitches. I love that you can do that, I always do it when I blog-read, I like to get right into the images and see every little last detail.

I drew the picture of the hill exactly as I see it out of my Attic Window. I had great fun stitching it whilst actually sitting in my window seat looking at the real thing (even though the real thing was/is white with snow)

And this is the finished banner. It had to measure just right to fit the rectangle needed for Etsy, so it's very long and thin, measuring 59cm x 8cm. And quite simply I love it.

But do you know what the nicest thing is about all of this? That my family also love it too. That they are proud of what I am trying to do and appreciate that I am attempting to begin working again. The Little People have been very curious to see me sit and stitch, and I have explained to them what I am doing. Little man even said to me this morning that he was very glad that I would be "starting a business", although he didn't elaborate on why exactly.

So my banner is made and hanging above my shop ready and waiting, and all I need to do now is work like the clappers and produce some colourful stitchy goodness to put on the virtual shelves. I hope that this will be in about a weeks time, depending on how clappery I can work.

Right then, finally lets stop talking Shop and start talking Gifts, shall we?
I have to be honest here and say I was/am astounded by the number of comments that have come in for this giveaway. Really, I have been bowled over by it all. It has been an absolute delight to read all your housey tales, has given me so very very much pleasure. And I think the overwhelming feeling that has come from this is how really the fabric of a place does not matter so long as there is love and happiness and warmth within the walls. That HOME matters so very much more than HOUSE. I truly wish I could make something for you all as a thankyou, but today there is just one winner.

There were 147 comments when I looked this morning.
And sorry, but I couldn't face writing out one hundred and forty seven slips of paper to put into a hat.
So instead I used the marvelous computery jiggery-pokery that is the Random Number Generator to select the number....

....and it's number 76.

Number 76, the 76th comment on my houseyversary post belongs to Tracy of Cupcakes at Home. Well done Tracy, I hope it will go some way towards brightening up your days. I'll be sending you an email to get your address, cos don't think I can put "almost as far north as you can be" on the envelope.

Incidentally, Little Lady (age 4) drew me this picture of a house and garden yesterday, specifically for my "compy-tition". That is me in the picture, wearing high heels, doing a little jig and looking quite funky.

Have a great weekend you all, see you next week
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Number 24 :: One Year Today

I am having such a bright and gorgeous day today, there is blue sky and sunshine yet again in my patch and I am glad. I am full of the joys, full of those little fluttery bubbles of happiness that make me want to skip down the street like a big kid. Today is a happy, bubbly day and I am so glad you have popped in to say hello and share it with me, you are so very welcome. H e l l o !!

As you may know, today happens to be a special day for me and my little family, because today is the day that we are celebrating one year living here at number 24. This exact day last year, we were arriving in this new town, this new street, this new house with all our possessions in the back of the removal lorry, accompanied by all the excitement and apprehension that a change of location/house/school/nursery brings to ones life. It was an exciting, scary time. And I still remember that day so well. Still remember that amongst the chaos and the upheaval, the boxes and the mess, there was an overwhelming feeling that we had finally arrived H O M E. That this house was the right house for us, and that our new life here would be good. 

And oh it is!! Good that is. Life is good. And I am celebrating today, celebrating the warmth and happiness and comfort and security and belonging that I have found in this house. I don't think I've ever felt so attached to a place before (and I have lived at 15 different addresses in my life so far, in seven different city's/towns/villages). Like I say, life is good.

So. Do you recall that on Wednesday, when I was rambling away about Parcels and Lovely Things, I promised a little G I V E A W A Y ?? In celebration of my first housey-versary?

Well I spent a fantabulous time yesterday up in the Attic, getting reacquainted with my sewing things. I had to crawl into the cupboards under the attic eaves on my hands and knees to get at some of it, had to re-arrange furniture to set up a little working space, but it was all good fun.

I have not accomplished a great deal of sewing this year, and it has been an age since I had to think about designing something. So it was exciting and challenging to do this little project. I knew I wanted it to be something housey, and so this little textile picture was imagined, drawn, cut, pieced and stitched.

I am nervous, can you tell?

Can you tell how much I am hoping you like this little housey picture?

Can you just imagine my fingers crossed behind my back, imagine my wishful thinking??

There is a lot of love and happiness in this picture. I had such FUN making it!! I had forgotten how hugely exciting it is to create with colour and fabric and thread in this way, yes, I truly enjoyed every second.

My little cotton fabric scraps were snippety snipped (fifty two individual pieces cut for this picture), and stitched with love by machine and hand.

I designed and made it a bit like a fabric postcard. It has the same dimensions as a  postcard :: it measure 15cm x 10cm, and fits nicely into this Ikea Ribba frame (it's the 18x24cm one).

And there's more. After the picture, I could not stop. I could not drag myself away from the fabric, threads, ribbons and beads in the Attic. So after the Little People were tucked up in bed, I sneaked back into the Attic to stitch this little cotton and wool felt house. Such fun!!

 

I've made it as a keyring, as I had made one for myself once before and love being able to use something small and handmade every day.
 

So :: this is what i am thinking :: if you would like to receive these handmade housey goodies as a gift from me to you, all you have to do is leave a comment at the end of today's post.

I'd like you to tell me a bit about the house where you live, maybe what it looks like, your home style, what's your favourite thing about living there. 

And I'll draw the winner in one weeks time, on Friday 5th December.

I can't wait to hear all about your houses and homes :: nothing pleases me more than talking House-and-Home (well possibly eating cake comes a close second).

And for the record, one of my favourite things about my home is, as you would expect, the Attic. That little room up two flights of stairs which has given me so very much. A room to create it in, a room that inspired me to start my blog, and that view across the town to the hills. Love it today, in the hazy winter sunshine, more than ever. You can read a little more about Number 24 here.

And just before I go, a view of my hyacinths, which seem to have reached their peak. They look and smell  just beautiful.

Have a wonderful weekend, whatever you are up to :: we are away tomorrow, on a little jolly to the Lake District. I love weekends away (we are Youth Hosteling again), and will no doubt be telling you all about it....
....see you next week
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Stitched flowers

Good morning, good morning, its another colour-fest this morning, hope you're not feeling delicate cos these are knock-your-socks off Bright. With a capital B.
Following on from Wednesdays stitchy reveal, I've been inspired to show you some more of my work.

My textile work is made using pure cotton fabrics, bought from an amazing mail-order company called Strawberry Fayre. They stock 200 plain colour 100% cottons, as well as prints and wonderful charm packs, and furthermore, they are lovely lovely people to do business with.

Each image is built up in layers and is mainly stitched using free machine embroidery where you lower the feed and use a darning foot, moving the fabric under the needle to "draw" freehand with the stitches. It has taken me many years of practice to be able to do this competently, but now it's as easy for me as drawing with a pen.

I love to use hand embroidery to add detail to the the finished piece though, there is something lovely about hand stitch, something so personal. I think whenever you see hand embroidery, you can just picture  the maker sitting and working quietly with needle and thread. I never feel my applique pieces are complete unless they have some hand stitch added.

Goodness, but the colours zing, don't they??!! Even I am a little overwhelmed!

I have tried using softer colours in the past, have tried limiting my colour palette, but it never works out for me.
There's something about such vivid colour combinations that absolutely makes my heart sing, and when I am working directly with fabric and playing with colour in this way, I do get very very excited :: remember the Dahlia Walk? Well yes, I get the same giddiness with fabric too, no surprises there really.

The above picture, the tulips in the zig-zag jug is one of my favourites. It measures 15cm x 21cm, just to give you an idea of scale, and I rarely made work any bigger than this.

 

And these last three pieces are some of my smaller ones, they appear bigger on my blog than in real life as the originals only measure about 8cm x 11cm. I always used to leave the edges of these pieces free and "raw", rather than backing and hemming them like I do with the larger pieces.

I quite like to see the frayed edges of textile work, but I used to find it hard not to neaten and straighten the edges. I think on balance, I prefer the finished look of the larger pieces.

     

Oh, it's been REALLY good to have a look at these images again, it's been a while since I really contemplated my textile work.
It's been good to remember that yes, at one time in my life I was able to create things that gave me (and other people) a lot of pleasure and simultaneously allowed me to earn a modest living.
It almost seems impossible to remember that I achieved that :: sometimes life BC seems so very very distant and far away. And as much as I adore the Little People, and adore my role as a SAHM, it has  rather taken over my life. Perhaps now's the time for me to start to reclaim some of my old, working life back again, create more of a balance?
I figure that if I did it once, then perhaps I could just do it again?

So, once again *thank you* for your enthusiasm and encouragement, you have given me the confidence to think that I can do this. Your feedback is invaluable, and I am so grateful to you for giving it so generously.

I will keep you posted, an etsy shop possibly??? :o)
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Edited to add:: you probably know this, but if you click on the images, they will enlarge and pop up in a separate window :: you can then see more of the stitch detail in close-up :: Love that!