Bradford On Avon

 Bradford On Avon is a lovely place to go for a potter around, and as the sun was shining this Saturday my friend Stacey and I headed over for the afternoon.

The Tithe barn is a beautiful space, great for taking photos, and I just love how the light shafts catch the dust. The barns around it have been made into shops, one of which is seasonal, so right now it's full of the most beautiful christmas decorations. You name the tree theme, they've got it! So inspiring.

We also walked around the artists workshops before heading over the river into town for lunch. We ate at the Fat Fowl restaurant which I can highly recommend. I had the most amazing mussels with rustic bread to mop up the broth - yum!

Heart Wreaths

The fabric is a mixture of vintage, new cotton & 'upcycled' curtains

These folksy style heart wreaths are going to be Christmas presents for mine & Ash's Mums. I like the fact that they can be used as a Christmas wreath, but because they are not Christmas themed they can be left up all year round as decoration. 

The basic design is very simple - a padded circular tube as the base and stuffed hearts sewn on to that. The real fun is in sourcing and chosing the fabrics for the hearts, playing mix and match! 

I'm going to make myself one to hang in the sewing room, but I think I'll go for pinks, blues and greens for my hearts, hopefully it will look fresh & in keeping with the shabby chic look of my home.

So Much Vintage, So Little Time...

... Or money!

Today I went to a huge flea market at the Bath & West showground. And I mean HUGE! 

It took me over 3 hours to get around most of the stalls (and find my way back to my car!) and I didn't even manage to cover all of the stalls there. If I'd had more money I could easily have furnished a house with all the fab furniture on offer, plus I could have spent a small fortune on the wonderful sewing goodies on offer - fabric, patterns, buttons, thread. Drool! 

Basically this is a completely random selection of second hand/ vintage goods, all in one place, and at a bargain entrance price of £3.50. What's not to like?!

The next flea market at the Bath & West Showground in Shepton Mallet is on Sunday 8th December. I highly recommend it!

Home Tour - Bedroom

Chest of drawers on left: Glastonbury Reclamation Yard. Chest of drawers on right: Charity shop. Shelving unit & baskets: Ikea

Bedframe: Homebase. Curtains: Dunelm Mill. Bedside chest: antique, from Notting Hill market. Bedside cabinet: antique, from a house clearance in Cornwall. Carved hands on wall: market in Morocco. Klimt canvas: Dunelm Mill

I know bedrooms are usually where people really go in for matching fabrics & patterns, but I'm not a 'matching' person, so while mine has a lot of florals going on, none of them match.

When I first bought my house this room was painted bright orange. As in 'you've been tangoed' orange - the least restful colour ever! It took several coats of white paint to cover that monstrosity! I then painted the accent wall in my favourite colour green, the paint came from the Crown 'Fashion for Walls' range.

Watercolour: Steve Broadway. Coatpegs used as jewellery storage: Ikea. Lamp: TKMaxx. Ceramic orchid plate: Dartington Cider Press Centre 

The wallpaper was a later addition again. I love the 'boudoir' look of the bedrooms in National Trust houses, particularly Castle Drogo, so I knew I wanted to add a floral paper to the room, and I looked for ages for one with birds on it as well. This wallpaper came from B&Q, and I love it so much I have it up in the hallway too.

Lamp from B&Q. Book from The Shire!

Lamp: Ikea. Love canvas: Dunelm Mill. Flower lights: Covent Garden market. Knitted rabbit hot beanie bag: present. Antique embroidered cloth: Glastonbury Reclamation Yard

Jewellery case: Matalan. Green ceramic ornaments: handmade by Jennie Scott. Vintage handbag: Glastonbury Vintage shop. Pink artwork by Josie!

Most of the furniture in the room is second hand. Because I wanted dark wooden furniture it was easy to find second hand pieces as it's not 'fashionable' at the moment - all the better for my wallet! The bedframe was new from Homebase, and the slim shelving unit came from Ikea. Everything else was secondhand from charity shops, reclamation yards and ebay.

Blue bedding: Asda. Throw pillows: Dunelm Mill.

The bedding in the photos came from Asda (yes, really!) in the sale, but as I have an obsession with pretty bedding it changes frequently! And despite what Ash thinks, you can never have too many pretty scatter cushions!

these are all either photos we've taken ourselves or cards that Ash has given me over the years that I've framed up

Marilyn mirror: antique, present from Mum. 'Comic' print: picked up in a market in France. Shells print: Tavistock market

Typewriter picture: Ikea. St Ives watercolour: Steve Broadway

Shoes print: Hannah Broadway. Nude ink drawing: by me. Signed Simon Drewe print: Dartington Cider Press Centre

I like grouping pictures together as I have done in this room as I think it makes a great focal point. A lot of these pieces are original artworks I have collected - I've listed the artists under the photos.

Hopefully you like the vintage look of my bedroom, perhaps it's given you some inspiration - lets face it, as the weather keeps chuking rain at us all, bed is the only sensible place to be!

Spotty Dog Toy

My mum gave me a 1970s pattern book she found for making soft toy animals. It's been sitting on a shelf for some time waiting for me to make use of it. I finally got around to making this spotty dog toy for a 3rd birthday present for a friend's daughter, and I'm definately going to try my hand at making some more of the patterns now.

The red spotty fabric is an old top that I cut up, so it's really soft after being worn and washed a few times. Hopefully this makes the dog extra cuddly! The pink polka dot fabric is from Ikea & was left over from making the Matilda dolls.

Matilda Doll

This project has definately been a labour of love! I estimate that this doll has taken me about 8 hours to finish completely, but I have really loved making it. So much so that I have nearly finished a second identical doll for another present and am about to start on a third! At some point I plan to make one I can keep as I think it will look lovely on the bookcase.

The body has jointed knees and elbows, and while I did the majority of the sewing on the machine I had to hand finish all the limbs and the face. I used proper toy stuffing and packed it in really tightly so that she can withstand a lot of cuddles! I added some extra detail with the lace on the boots and the pinny, and I made all the clothing removable rather than sewing it on as the pattern suggested as I want the girls to be able to change her clothes if they want to. Which means me making extra clothing of course!