It's all about roses today. In the garden, on fabric, you name it they are everywhere!
I love roses so I'm as happy as Larry, who ever he was, a happy chap by all accounts. I'm like a pig in muck ... only more floral and fragrant.
First off my haul of vintage fabrics from a recent foray onto eBay. When looking for fabric for a project, especially vintage fabric my top tip is to buy old curtains. You generally get loads of fabric for your money that way rather then buying it by the meter. Depending on the size of your project off-cuts can be good too. In my searching on eBay I saw someone was selling off unused fabric from upholstery in the House of Commons, a fabulous pattern of crowns and rosettes and other symbols, a real piece of history there.
The first is a delicate 'Honeysuckle Rose' vintage Dorma curtains in delicate pink and green on a white background. Next is 'Sunbury' vintage cotton curtains by Sanderson, then another Sanderson fabric but off cuts of a linen fabric, then a Laura Ashley upholstery fabric that someone had bought for a project that they never got round to and so was selling it off. Finally the oh-so-pretty 'Meadow', in pink and white, by
Clarke & Clarke from their 'Vintage Classics' collection that I bought in St Albans market. Have any of you ever had any good vintage finds on eBay or anywhere else? I'd love to hear about them.
I have earmarked some of the fabric for soft furnishing sewing projects like the patchwork quilt I'm currently working on and others were too lovely and too much of a bargain to pass up on and I know they will be used one day.
So, I must tell you about this patchwork quilt. I have decided to re-cover an old shop-bought quilt and have spent many happy hours over the last few weeks going through by fabrics and scraps. Oh the memories attached to some of the things I've found. From silk from the dress I wore to my school leavers ball to bright cotton checks that my brother had shirts in as a very little boy to fabric that my Mum had a sundress in when we lived in HongKong. I just love it the remembrances it all evokes. I will let you know how the quilt is coming along at a later date - I think it is going to be a long project this one! Any hints and tips on patchwork would be most welcome as this is my first attempt.
Next in this floral fiesta is just me showing off the lovely flowers in our garden. As I've said roses are a particular love of mine and we are really luck that they grow very well in our garden and that there were so many already established when we bought Cranleigh Cottage. We've planted a few ourselves too: Blessings which was a wedding gift from my lovely Mummy and Paul's Scarlet and Bridge of Sighs that Rob and I bought to mark our fourth wedding anniversary last year. Here are some of the best at the mo.
Finally the last flowery flourish today is that
Raindrops on Roses a shop set up in St Albans to raise money for
Herts Against Cancer has asked to see some pictures of my jewellery with a view to stocking it if it fits into their store style. Fingers crossed eh!
Wishing you all a wonderful day. Tata for now, Lx
It is really great to make something that takes time and comes together slowly, but sometimes you want an instant, quick fix of something new. As it's a lovely day and I don't want to spend too much time indoors here is a super quick wire earring tutorial that I found online. It works really well and could be made as large or as small you you want. It could also work really well to make a pendant or ring decoration.
Here are my versions in two sizes. I used 0.80mm sterling silver wire. It is quite soft so to toughen up the earrings and make them more durable and easy to wear I will give them a few hours in my trusty tumbler, the stainless steal shot will act like little hammers and harden the metal without marking it. I'll chuck in a few other bits of jewellery too as its a great way to clean it and polish it up.
