Sewing

Been working on lots of new patterns recently, and having fun with embroidery. I have a really inspiring book called The Art of Embroidery by Francoise Tellier-Loumagne. (Thames and Hudson) It is making me want to do more and also making me feel inadequate in the face of such brilliance!

Shop Windows, Hay-on-Wye

I love shop windows, and there are some very pretty ones in Hay.

London Inspiration

The Tea rooms in Liberty



Perfume bottles in the window of Penhaligans



Macaroons in the Burlington arcade.

Royal Academy - Summer Exhibition

Recently I went to London to visit my brother and family. This is always a real treat for me as I get to spend time with my family and visit lots of nice things in London. I used to visit the Summer Exhibition every year when I lived in London, but haven't been for ages.

I really enjoyed it this time, as usual there is always a mixture of awful and lovely stuff, but it was really great to see so much art al together and the best bit for me was the architecture section, which was brilliant.

I took Lotte with me and got some funny looks when taking her picture, but I thought "Who cares, nobody knows me, and even if they do I really am not bothered!"

Sewing Commission

This was the beginning of a commission for a lovely customer of mine, who has been supporting my shop since we started. I like to document some of the fabrics and patterns I use, as sometimes I have too many ideas and they get forgotten about.

Busy, busy, busy.. buzz buzz

The last week has been mad crazy busy, I ordered some new fabric from America, and have been trawling the shops for vintage fabrics. There is a great antiques market near me that has an excellent vintage clothes stall. I found some old fifties aprons in really good condition, and the fabrics are so gorgeous. I also got a new pattern book, so have been trying out new patterns. Some of the japanese patterns are really tiny, so I needed to scale them up by a couple of per cent just so that the tops would do up. Also added some moshi-moshi variations, like bias binding at the neck.

Got some gorgeous patterned bias binding from France and some tiny buttons too, only thing is I don't have enough time to make all the things I want to. I will have to make the girls sew faster!!

Carrie Loves...moshi-moshi

Carrie Loves...

And also found this

http://athome.kimvallee.com/2008/12/i-dream-of-blythe-dolls/