Bonjour!!

Hello my lovelies? How are you all today?

I've been super poorly over the last few days...some sort of extra strength cold...I've only just gotten my voice back and I'm left with quite a good raspy cough (which makes me sound like a velociraptoroff of Jurassic park...that scene when they are in the kitchen...remember?)

Needless to say...i was knocked for six...soo much so that i couldn't even sew 'Woe is me!' But that didn't stop me thinking about what i wanted to sew! Which leads me onto some pictures... (and probably some explanations...)

That lightly drawn moustached critter you can see in this picture is called a Crabbitz; we've had a recent invasion of them at the shop... not that El or I are complaining. They are a cross between a cat and a rabbit and like most things in the shop we kind of came across them by accident. I decided i wanted to embroider a picture of one due to a few reasons 1. El recently drew some super cute pictures of them 2. we had a few embroidered pictures in frames at the shop but sold some in the last few weeks so needed some more and 3. i was probably hallucinating on cough medicine when the thought crosses my mind!!

Anyway onto the next picture...half way through sewing... please excuse the slightly blurry picture...I'm using an old camera which was kindly given to me by a friend (my other one gave up the ghost!) You can see that the Crabbitz has a speech bubble...inside that speech bubble you can see that he is saying 'Parlez-vous francais?' The idea is to do a little series/collection of them all saying funny little french sayings...What do you think? we are going to put them into some cute little wooden frames we have...i think they would look really cute up on a wall and i have to admit I've grown a little fond of this one...he might have to stay...well its always best to test run new ranges right??Here he is with his body all finished. i plan to keep the colours quite simple...black with one other colour...here it is green in his bow tie...I'm also thinking of doing the outline of the speech bubble in green too, i think it will bring everything together nicely, what do you think?

I'll post you another picture when I've finished embroidering the words (i get an hour break at work so I'm going to save that for then!)

Anyway...I'm off for a quick browse around the charity shops before work (first shift back since i got sick...fingers crossed I'm OK for it!)

Speak soon

xx

My Bargain Sense Was Tingling...

Soooo...

i wondered into town with Arthur (i say wondered but really i battled my way through near Arctic conditions...that's right followers, Cheltenham has finally got the snow!), at the time he thought he was going in to work but they called him on the way in and said he didn't have to come in because of the snow (later on i had to tell work that there was no way i would be able to walk in to town from our house...its literally a skating rink!.) Anyway, i digress, we thought we might as well have a wonder around the shops which were open. We enjoyed a delicious bacon sandwich and coffee,and i also picked up the most recent sew hip (FINALLY Smiths got it in). However i was satisfied...i had an itch still, i knew there were bargains to be had...so we wondered around a few charity shops, and by the end of it had definitely found the source of my tingling bargain sense.

In one shop i found 2 hand knitted bunny shaped egg cosies, a new Richard Scarry book, and a lovely little mouse ornament for the grand total of £2.50.

In the next one i found 8 square metres of some lovely heavy grey and black tweed fabric for £10, (an absolute bargain as i was looking at some similar stuff in a fabric shop and it was just under £10 pounds for 1 metre!) This fabric is going to come in sooo handy for the shop! I also found a brown leather belt for £1. (apologies for the paint pots and untidy bedroom picture, we are in the midst of decorating and this was the only room which had any where near enough light)

But the best was definitely saved for the last shop we went in. The weather was terrible by this time, i couldn't see a thing because i had to take my glasses off (they were getting covered in snow!) But we battled through and as a reward for our Arctic Explorer skills i found the most wonderful hand embroidered throw/wall hanging. It was priced at £5 and i didn't hesitate to take it to the till it was beautiful, love at first sight! But it got better, when i went up to the till the lady told me that all linen was half price! This beauty cost me £2.50!! Just look at it...

I am in awe of the time and skill this must have taken. It's lined with a linen type fabric, but this is only sewn on the sides...leaving the top and bottom ends open which is why i think it may be a wall hanging...I'm probably going to use it as a throw on our bed tho'.i think this is my favorite part...thousands and thousands of little stitches all hand sewn on. i consider myself quite a patient sewer (who spends 2 hours sewing on sequins onto a cardi) but when i think of how long just little piece took the person who made this....Those pretty pink flowers...yep...french knots!i wonder how many?I'm in love with this stitch, I've no idea what you call it but it looks soo intricate, i love the colours too.Lovey blues and satin stitch, this is one of the many flowers.

O.K. I'm going to stop bragging about my finds now...i may be snowed in but that doesn't mean i can't potter about the house.

Ohh, before i go...i made five more of the little monsters for the Indoor Picnic on Sunday...

There are a few more snaps and info of the event over on the shops blog.

Stay Warm and Safe! (and sorry for a rather long post!)

xx

Back So Soon?...

I know. I can't believe it either...but here i am...and its only been a few days since my last post!! (Well i said i would try didn't i?!)

I'm writing this after a shift at the cinema. Its quite bad there at the moment, and most shifts are a struggle for me. There will always be something which irks me or upsets me. i had a shift on Wednesday which was one of the worst I've ever had. the queue was constantly out of the door and almost to one of the entrances to the complex which the cinema is in. It was horrible. People were trampling and shoving an old lady who was struggling to get off the escalator because the foyet was soo crowded! an old lady for petes sake!! COME ON PEOPLE! its a cinema not a sinking ship! There were also people who found it highly amusing to watch me clean up a drink that they had spilt...yeah cos its funny that i get paid a pittance to clean up their mistakes! Seriously guys..it was such a bad shift i rang Arthur up and cried at him on the way home! my mantra whenever I'm in there is 'think of the shop' and 'this is a job not a career';if you see a crazed looking lady mumbling these words to herself then you know that's me...pop over and say hello because (despite the tirade of abuse that has just spilled out of fingertips and onto this blog) I'm actually a nice person!

Right...where was I?ohh yep...i just thought you might like to see some frosty pictures i took whilst on my way into town ( i was on a paint buying mission...but more of that later!)

i like this one the best. it was a really peculiar type of frost...it looks super spiky but soft at the same time!
ohhh....just wanted to let you know about this event which El and I will be at this Sunday...Bristol Biggest Indoor Picnic. Its to celebrate the launch of The Love Of It website, and it looks to be an awesome day...soooo many cool stalls and what nots going on! if your local please come and say hello. El and I will be teaching people how to make little critters that look a little bit like this guy
Right....

And So To Bed

xxx