Busy with Sales.

It has been a busy few weeks with sales a plenty and still more to come....this is the next..

The Hand Sale last weekend at the beautiful 20thC Theatre, 291 Westbourne park Road, was the most diverse so far, amazing jewellery, cashmere, tee shirts, paperworks, fabulous French antiques and of course Little Badger. I met up with some old customers and Hand's visitors were the most glamorous so far ....... naming no names!
My old friend Sam was there, she will be selling Little Badger booties and a few other pieces in iconic shop The Cross from Friday 30th November. 

We were reminiscing, it was 17 years ago almost to the day, that The Cross first opened it's doors.  Sam and Sarah O'keefe of Hibiscus took a three month lease, way ahead of the  POP UP SHOP trend and were the first to stock Little Badger.
I can clearly remember my muse Martha crawling across the floor aged 10 months..... she will be 18 in a weeks time, she was and still is a Wild Child...

Lots of press for  Homemade this past month too;

With mentions in The Saturday Telegraph magazine by lovely Daisy Bridgewater, an offer in the Weekend Express, and this  great feature  in Deecember's edition of  Living South and it's sister magazine Blackheath and Greenwich's The Guide.
Thanks to journalist Karen Jensen Jones for interviewing me and writing such a lovely piece.
My name even made the cover.

My wonderful local bookshop in Dulwich Village has a display of some of the Christmas makes from Homemade Christmas and I shall be signing and selling books at a local school, Alleyns at their Holly Fair on Saturday 1st December.

Nearly time to say this

but not quite as there are 2 more sales after W14...

Meantime I  found this lovely image of a design I made about 10 years ago and would like to update it for next Winter '13. Inspired by the old American Mary Maxim patterns from the 1950's it still has huge appeal.

RE-INVENTING VINTAGE FRENCH TEXTILES

In October I will be leading a week long residential workshop titled Re-Inventing Vintage French Textiles at the spectacular Chateau Dumas in South West France. Inspired by Homemade, (which now has an American publication date November 2010) I have adapted ideas and created lots of new projects mostly using the Chatelaine's wonderful collection of vintage French fabrics, lace, labels and buttons. There will also be a trip to a local market, visits to brocantes and a day spent in a wooded glade in the grounds dyeing fabric using the traditional method of woad dyeing If you are interested in the course or indeed any of the courses run at Chateau Dumas, email enquiries@chateaudumas.net or visit the website. Meanwhile...... A few strange things happened while I was there which made me think that my wonderful friend Elspeth Thompson was with me in spirit. On my first evening I noticed 2 old copies of Interiors magazine in the library. I picked one up at random, (July 2008) and it fell open on the page showing a feature on Elspeth's railway carriage home. Then later that day while wandering around the chateau I saw a vintage book 'The Week-end Book' published by Nonesuch press in 1928 ,a forerunner to Elspeth's own book 'The wonderful weekend book'. How I wish I could ask her if she knew about this book or if it was the inspiration. Adieu....

Despite being a few days before the official publication date Homemade is now in bookshops and is available from online bookstores. Thanks to all who have made it possible but especially to Elspeth. Elspeth and I talked about working on a joint book project for many years and finally this is the fruit of all of those conversations. We have combined our talents and this is the result. Illustrating the way we both live. Economically yet stylishly and without costing the earth. Thanks to Ben for capturing all of our ideas so beautifully with his amazing photographs. I hope you will enjoy Homemade as much as we have enjoyed making it.

Easter

With Spring finally here and HOMEMADE ready to hit the bookshops on May 5th, here are two taster ideas for Easter.

Valentines....

Do you or don't you send valentines? I do....but it has to be Homemade. ......except for last year. Having just been commissioned for the Homemade book, I was tempted on Etsy.com to buy this delicious Rob Ryan print for my sweetheart of 25 years, an investment me thinks. Over the years I have received many beautiful Valentines from my true love. Strawberry jam toast lovingly cut to spell I love you; Poems hand written and painted onto old postcards but my all time favourite has to be the one that Elspeth wrote about in her Wonderful Weekend book. A polaroid photograph of a heart, with his shoes on one side and mine on the other. So romantic, expressing more than any words, walking the same road, each a half of the whole. Simple ideas are the best. I love this heart shape that I found fossilized onto a rock while walking in Dorset. Buttons or shells threaded onto fuse wire then shaped to form a heart. Or this wooden heart with a crackle paint effect. Paper cutouts, not quite Rob Ryan but still beautiful when lovingly crafted. I have knitted and sewn and I have baked heart shaped cakes, all for my valentine. My latest labour of love is adapted from The Homemade book. A take on the traditional victorian sand cushion. The making ethic has now naturally passed to my teen treasure, albeit in the manner of creating a photograph. . Already a bit of an old hand and teaching her Mother new tricks, this was last year's model, I love the "my funny Valentine" music on the piano. I wonder what she will produce this year.

My Homemade life

Inspired by my close friend Elspeth Thompson I have decided to try and post regularly on this blog. Elspeth and I have finished our book, HOMEMADE, published by Collins on May 5th. Homemade Gorgeous Things To Make With Love is a beautiful and timely book that celebrates the current revival in making things. including more than 70 original and inspiring projects - from unusual ideas for Valentine’s Day to fabulous cushions, foolproof jam, summer bunting, the perfect beach bag and homemade Christmas decorations. This blog is about what inspires my Homemade life.