Sunday 28 February 2010

more fashion




Francesca has been creating more lovely fashions. this time based on war and uniforms! went to the Imperial War Museum in London which had an incredible display of every uniform ever worn as well as some great exhibitions such as children in war times....

museum of brands




Friday is usually my 'get some inspiration day' and so visited the Museum of Brands in Notting Hill. It was packed with hundreds of tins, bottles, boxes, packs from the last century. It was fantastic to see soo much stunning packaging crammed in one building....here are some photos.....

midsummer nights dream



Easily the prettiest of Shakespeare's plays is midsummer nights dream, and our book club's wonderful cultural secretary- Vanessa booked us seats at the Rose theatre on Thursday. The famous Judi Dench played Titania, but I reckon it was Bottom who stole the show. Could not take photos and my photographic memory is not what it used to be but found these great photos on the website to share.....it was so good....

Tuesday 23 February 2010

fabric dolls




Thinking of making a series of printed cloth dollies....have been thinking about it for so long now that if I don't get on with it I shall go off the idea! Stayed up too late last night painting wide eyed stripey dressed girls.... scanned them into photoshop and flipped them to make the back pattern. Shall sew them up tonight.

Thursday 18 February 2010

Dress



Fashion Design development work on the mannequin

more inspiration



Nuremberg Toy Fair was really interesting as always, but one company stole the show for me... Trousselier is a french nursey toys company and they have just come out with this great range of little characters, so refreshing when spotted in a sea of baby pink and white rabbits! I love the strange little faces on the printed fabric dollies.....

inspiration





You might be forgiven for thinking that I have spent all day looking at beautiful work on lots of blogs! The amazing tea cups are by the pantry Violets' Guru Julie Arkell....want to do some papier mache now! and I love the work of Sarah Young sooo much. To think that she is only in Brighton, less than an hour away!

Monday 15 February 2010

more presents


Many thanks to Julie Hesse who has sent me a delightful handmade treasure all the way from USA! Julie has obviously been very productive and is churning out mini masterpieces that Julie A could only dream about!!!!

valentine


Valentines day made me unable to resist another bit of needlefelting, poor Nick had to be nice when I gave this owl to him and look pleased.....

Sunday 14 February 2010

heart shaped biscuits




Usually do something heart shaped for valentines day and this year I decided to go down the edible route! I am loving this wonderful baking cookery book, "The Hummingbird bakery cookbook" - everything is lovely from this book and the sugar biscuits were no exception! here is the recipe...
200g unsalted butter
280g caster sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
400g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar
Icing sugar and lemon juice for the icing.
preheat the oven to 170 c
Put the butter, sugar and vanilla essence together in a mixer and cream until light and fluffy. Add the egg and mix well. Add the flour, salt and cream of tartar, and mix well, but do not over mix. The dough should be light, soft and easy to handle. Roll and cut out the shapes that you want and bake for about 10 minutes. When cool, cover biscuits with royal icing using a variety of colours and fancy sugars.

Friday 12 February 2010

cool faces


Really happy with the beautiful letterpress print from Pistachio Press that I received this morning. I found it when I was looking at the fabulous mummysam blog whose work I have been admiring for ages, and lo and behold she had collaborated with a printer to produce these great faces......I wonder if I could give it as a valentine pressie?

Thursday 4 February 2010

dolls and mushrooms on jars




Many hours later and I have just finished the felted doll that I had in mind to do but has taken me months to actually get down to doing. I am pleased with the way she has turned out and have a whole load of friends planned for her....thinking that it would be fun to make some boy and girl mice as well, or some pets....a daschund maybe?.....