sick note

I felt quite smug at the weekend, to be the only healthy member of the household, and put the fact that I was feeling fine while the male contingent of the household seemed to be struggling to fight off some kind of summer-coldey thing down to man flu. Clearly the mere fact that this thought crossed my mind, meant that it was inevitable that I would be struck down with the self-same bug, and realise the error of my ways. So here I am, day two on the sofa, thoroughly fed up of feeling rotten, wanting to do something (anything) but not having the energy or concentration. I have however been doing a bit of embroidery on the cot quilt I've been working on..

which is coming along quite nicely

still a bit of work to do yet... but I suspect that may need to wait until my brain is functioning slight better!

On a different note, I'm hugely excited that my bus party set is currently appearing in the Folksy Top Picks.

a tooth, a rucksack, and a missing strap

It's pretty safe to say that you're up a little earlier than you'd like to be on a Sunday Morning, when the children's tv programmes haven't even started. But that's the manner in which this household started the day today. The Boy has a cold and/or a tooth coming, and was definitely not his usual happy self, so large chunks of the day today were spent cuddling on the sofa. Which I guess is the only tiny positive of having a poorly creature, as Boy cuddles are often a rare and one-sided event (there are so many more interesting things to do after all) and should therefore be relished at every opportunity. Thankfully after a couple of long naps and some calpol, he'd picked up enough by the afternoon to go exploring with his new rucksack.

I bought this on Friday, in preparation for weekends away we have planned over the next month. Now that he is very mobile, I decided it would be a good idea to invest in one of these to avoid any running-off type accidents. We tested it walking around the shops, and despite some small protests, it seemed to be fairly well received . Then we got home and the strap was detached.

And has gone missing.

We have turned the whole house upside down. I'm not exaggerating when I say this, every nook and cranny has been explored, the front has even been taken off the piano. But no sign of it. Anywhere. Seriously, I'm starting to wonder if this boy is cunning enough to hide something he doesn't wholly approve of. Can you even be cunning when you're 13 months old?!

I'm hoping it'll turn up soon, preferably before I have to start searching bins. Meanwhile, he's set for adventures with his rucksack, which was clearly the acceptable half of the ensemble!

my space

One of the unanimous pieces of advice in the craft business books I bought recently, was to create an inspiration board. As I don't have a craft room, this was always going to pose a bit of a problem for me, but luck was at hand on this occasion, and I've been able to utilise a rather odd noticeboard in our guest bedroom. I say odd, because it's attached quite thoroughly to the wall, and I've always had a sneaking suspicion that there is some horror lurking behind there that I'd prefer not to uncover, which I suppose is part of the joy of owning a Victorian property. Anyway, I digress, I've now started to stick up a few bits and pieces, and it's definitely helping..

...particularly as I have to pass it to get to my craft cupboard...

which is is proving to be much less of an inspiration, due to the fact that it needs a jolly good tidy up... I guess that's a job for tomorrow then. Perhaps without the assistance of this little helper though!

Folksy Friday

In a shameless exercise in self-publicity, my subject for today's Folksy Friday is Party, and that's because I have finally listed 5 of my party sets in my shop

There are still a few more designs to be listed (bus, safari and diggers) which I hope will be up tomorrow. I'm feeling quite relieved to have got these 5 sets added though, as I guess I hadn't anticipated how difficult I'd find it to (i) try and photograph the designs and (ii) how long it would take me to list things. I think that's a bit of a learning curve thing though, and now that I've done it, I suppose I'm a bit further along that curve.

Work In Progress Wednesday

Well, I got a little bit ahead of myself with my post yesterday, as today is officially (for alliterations sake) work-in-progress Wednesday. Last night my dining room table - which for the time being is doubling up as my craft room - was a hive of printing activity. And this evening it's time for cutting out, ready for a bit of a fashion shoot.

I'm finding it much more difficult than I'd anticipated trying to get good pictures of my printed designs to start listing them. I'm all too aware of the importance of getting this bit right, so if anyone out there has any suggestions, they'd be gratefully received. If anyone else out there is having the same problems as me, I'm using this as my starting point. If you haven't come across the Folksy blog and discussion group on Facebook, I definitely recommend calling by, as there really is a wealth of information there.

progress at last

This evening is a momentous occasion. I am under way with printing party stationery, ready to be photographed and added to my shop (sorry about the terrible quality of the photographs, but I'm just so excited!)

three for a girl

I currently have 8 designs for children's party ware that I'm working on and lots more ideas for the future. The party packs will be lovingly tailored to the requirements of anyone who is nice enough to buy one and consists of pdfs to print your very own invitations, thank you letters, party decorations and goody bag bits for the special little person in your life. Please feel free to leave me a message here if you'd like more information before they go live in the shop.

four for a boy

I'm hugely excited about how they're going so far... I'm going to have a lot of work over the next few evenings cutting things out assembling ready for listing, but that really won't be a hardship. And just in case you were under the impression that it's all about the stationery, getting these items listed will mean it's time to focus back on textiles, and sewing some cot quilts.

It really is progress at last!

Something to look forward to...

This book is due out in September and I can't wait! As it may have already become apparent, I'm a huge Orla Kiely fan; I just love the simplicity but distinctiveness of her designs. And while my budget can't stretch to one of these....

I'd be perfectly happy to sit and look at them for a while!