JUST IN TIME

As you know I joined Felt Fairy's Monthly Make and set too with my new sewing machine only to meet with disaster and so had to rethink what I could make that did not invlove a machine.   I had purchased a template of a mini gift box from Pam who sells in Etsy as "fromthecraftroom" and decided that I need to get making some stock for this Springs Vintage and Home Made Fair in Northampton and so I set too with scissors and glue and made up some boxes.

After I had made them up I added a little bit of tissue to nestle the present in and then used vintage lace and old jewellery findings and fancy buttons to make them that bit more special.  Each box also has its own aged gift tag.
As we have now reached the 31st January I have just scrapped in for the January deadline...phew.

Talking about the Northampton Vintage and Home Made Fair there are those of you who know that in the past Ann of Vintage At The Corner House and myself have always arranged the fairs together.  Sadly this year I have decided to take a back seat as I feel that I need to divert some of my energy to other things with family and work commitments.  I am still going to be having a stall but I am going to leave all the hard work (and believe me it is hard work) to Ann and Mr Corner House.  Good luck to them both in their new venture together, they are looking to increase the amount of fairs they will be holding - they have four booked for this year already so put the dates in your diaries and I will see all the friends that I have made over the time I have been arranging them there.



A GRAND TIDY UP

Went to Brackley at the weekend and spent a good couple of hours tidying up the booth and moving items around after the Christmas period.  Took home the last of the Christmas themed bits and generally titivated for a while.  A flick with the feather duster here and a flick there, move this here, move it there, move it back again you know the thing.  It really is a curse being a Virgo as nothing is ever quite right, but when I had finally finished I felt satisfied with how it was looking.

Anyone for tea.

Whilst I have been out and about I have managed to find some nice items for myself - two of which had hidden surprises for me when I took the time to look at them.

Firstly I found this wonderful old glass Pear's storage jar - it has original thick glass.  Funny thing is I was looking at buying something like this before Christmas to put my vintage baubles in and only found new ones at around £40.00 so gave it up as a bad job.

I was so keen to snap it up before someone else that I literally ran with it to the counter and plopped it down - job done.  When I got it home I turned it around and low and behold....

what a fantastic label which had been preserved becuase it was on the inside of the jar and had not faded.



My second find was a childs book, I collect children's illustrators and one of my favourites is Honor C. Appleton, I really liked the cover on this book and so popped it on the counter along with jar.  When I got home I took a closer look and low and behold the illustrator was no other than Honor herself - and I only paid £1.00.

How sweet are these.

My thrid find was a childs cup and saucer in a charity shop in Essex - I had been out hunting for the booth and found this little cup and saucer.  When I turned it around it also had this little illustration which I love

Needless to say this has joined my collection of children's china - and whilst I am on the subject a mug I found on Ebay also warrants a little mention.

My mother-in-law is called Joan and she used to skip in the street as a child and so I could not resist a bid on this.

All in all a fruitfull couple of days.

ROTTEN SEW & SEW

For Christmas hubby bought me a second hand sewing machine as I had decided that 2011 was going to be the year when I made more handmade items. Usually if I sew I hand sew but this is not viable if I am going to be making items for my stall at the fairs I will be attending as it take so long.



Today as I was reading through blogs I came across Annie of The Felt Fairy’s blog -  A Monthly Make 2011 - and thought YES!!! So I duly signed up to it and as it was my day off I decided that some projects that I had in mind would be started. I would not put if off any longer I would get out my new machine and begin.

I sat down and threaded my machine – well after 20 attempts of reading the manual and threading and rethreading I sussed that part out, I pulled the thread through the bobbin, yes I was set to go – although it took me ages to find how the feed arm came down. Not to waste good material I did a test piece on some felt, OK I have this cracked I thought. Placing my material in the required spot I put my foot to the pedal – hold on something is not quite right, I took my material out to find 101 threads on the underside of the bobbin and a ball of cottons on the underside of my material, OK unravel it, unpick the cotton, rethread the bobbin and start again..... 2 hours later and nothing had been produced apart from a lot of swearing and cussing and the odd tear of frustration.

Rather than throw it across the room and stomp on it as I would really like to do I packed it away until I felt calmer.  Half a bottle of Rescue Remedy later I am feeling a little better and more in control of myself. 

 I am sure it is something simple and can be easily remedied but for now I will just have to revert to hand sewing. Now where did I put my thimble......