Monday 30 April 2012

Don't forget to vote!

I don't normally get political on this blog but if you have local elections this week then I urge you to vote. Even if you spoil your ballot paper by voting for more than one candidate then at least you are making a point. Don't just sit and be apathetic*


Oh yeah - I spent this morning with Matt delivering 500 of these to an area of Burnley where there is a BNP candidate standing - just so you know where my loyalties lie :)

*Climbs down off high horse and thinks about getting back to craft and life posts.

Sunday 29 April 2012

Late I know!

Apologies for only just getting on to here to reveal the winner of the stationery from my giveaway but our internet connection has been terrible - it will randomly load some sites but not others! I can't get to a random number generator so Matt has picked a winner (I shouted up the stairs to ask him to pick a number between 1 and 18) He chose 14 which is Demeter83 :) I will contact you soon to arrange your goodies coming in the post :)

Also trying to get my head down for Saltaire (which starts on Saturday - eek!) but I'm not really succeeding.... I'll get there though!


Friday 27 April 2012

Embracing the new :)

With some things I embrace the new straight away i.e. Twitter. With other things such as Facebook it takes a while longer! And when it comes to phones I was quite adamant that I would not have a smart phone. Well fast forward a good few months and look what has happened!

Old phone, New phone

Yep I have a smart phone :) It's cool - I already love it! It will come in very handy at Saltaire over the bank holiday weekend but only if the blooming postman gets here with my sim card!

P.S. I am now on Instagram as Swirlyarts if anyone fancies following me on there.

Thursday 26 April 2012

Phoar!


My little heart went all fluttery when I saw a post on Facebook about Stuart Maconie coming to the Saltaire Festival in September :) I LOVE his voice (so Northern and nice) and Alex will be wetting herself at this post - she doesn't get my fascination! Oh and I've said that Matt can come too. Off to buy tickets now.......

Do you like unlikely people? I have several more but I will talk about them another day!

Tuesday 24 April 2012

It's National Stationery Day today!

I bet you didn't know that did you? To celebrate I am going to host a giveaway of some of my stationery goodies :)


I will make a batch of upcycled goodies especially for you that will include stickers, envelopes, cards, gift tags and maybe a notebook too.


So the photographs don't relate to the products but I couldn't have a post without any pictures could I?

Just leave a comment on this post by Saturday the 28th May at midday (BST) and I will contact the winner that afternoon. I will post worldwide too :)

Monday 23 April 2012

It worked, it worked!!

My hexagon idea from the other day turned out just as I'd hoped :) Want to see pictures of what I am making (over the next 5 years - these babies take a while!)


It's going to be a hexipuff quilt! I am enthralled with all the knitted hexipuff quilts I have seen all over the internet but as a) I can't do anything with yarn and b) have no intention of trying, I decided to make one out of fabric!


These are small hence the 5 years I think it will take! It's also going to be a pick up/put down quilt which means I will only continue with it when I have bits of time. Maybe I should be aiming for 10 years :D Do let me know what you think!

Saturday 21 April 2012

Hexagons!

I'm still madly cutting out hexagons here and the ones below are a small number of them - they have been ironed since this photograph was taken :)


I'm not showing you any photos yet as I'm making a new type of hexagon quilt and I want to make sure it works properly before I show any progress shots. The first steps have worked out ok and I'm attempting the next stage today so I'm hoping for more photo's tomorrow. Sorry to tease but I want to see if it's going work first!

Friday 20 April 2012

More books!

In a house full of books we really don't need any more but when your local Post Office branch sells them at 25p for kids books, 50p for paperbacks and £1 for hardbacks* it's not hard to buy lots! It also doesn't help that it is a busy Post Office and having books to look at while you wait is a dangerous thing - for me anyway!


I'm currently one chapter off finishing one book (not really taken with it but I do want to see what happens next) and about 100 pages off finishing another so I *needed* to buy more :) Never mind the thousands sitting upstairs waiting to be read! And, with my pledge to only read books this year that I haven't read before, I needed to buy more just in case I ran out :D :D

*Those prices are why I now rarely buy books from anywhere else - can't go wrong when you can get 10 books for a fiver!

Thursday 19 April 2012

My Creative Space - bag makeover

Take one cool but frankly quite boring bag (same image on both sides),


Add some fabric scraps and some Juanita* magic



And voila - a newly transformed bag that is much prettier! Some of my favourite fabrics are below.





I'm joining in with Our Creative Spaces today - why don't you pop over and see what everyone else has been up to?

*Juanita is my sewing machine :)

Wednesday 18 April 2012

Maman et Bebe


Sensationnel non*? This was a custom order but I have a little of the fabric left so the doorstop (mummy)  chickens are in my Etsy shop and my Folksy shop. The baby ones will be coming soon!

*I'm not sure why I came over all French there!

Tuesday 17 April 2012

Car boot haul

We went to two car boot fairs on Sunday and while the stuff wasn't fabulous, it was OK. Here is what we found!


Some books for the girls - not a surprise at all! Some are for me to chop up though as they are damaged. That lot cost us £2.40.


Some pink Birkenstock sandals - sadly not for me but for Anya. Oh and a mini Shrek drum thing for Tara. The sandals were £1 and the drum was 10p.


This jar has a penny farthing and horse and carriage design on it - no lid, but it will come in useful somewhere in the studio! It was 50p from a charity stall that always has good things on it and the thimble holder was £1. I don't collect thimbles but I do like tiny things and this will go on the wall at some stage with a mini collection in it!

Sunday 15 April 2012

Bet you can't guess where we have been??

Yep, Disneyland Paris :) We took the campervan and slept in the car park (which we can do for free as we have an annual pass) The weather wasn't brilliant but it didn't get cold enough to turn the heater on in Taz although it did get fairly cold overnight! As a result of this holiday we are going to re-arrange the 'downstairs' of the van as sleeping on hard cushions that shift and move as you move isn't the best! Exciting though and it means I can get rid of the nasty cushion fabrics!






And it's amazing where you can find inspiration - I loved this wallpaper in the Toad Hall restaurant.


It's meant to serve quintessentially English food but Matt didn't rate the fish and chips (I had a kids meal which are the same all over the park) It's a restaurant we hadn't been in before and we won't be again!

I'm hopefully back to regular blogging this week :) With crafts and everything......

Friday 13 April 2012

Two little doggies sitting in a tree.....

K I S S I N G! Not really but Anya has been saying this rhyme a lot and I think it's cute.

I found these cuties in a charity shop in Accrington and they were 25p each. They are made of see through plastic and have the Danone faintly on the top of them so I think they were a freebie with yoghurts/yoghurt drinks.


Here is the kissing :) And yes, a 34 year old woman set this scene up!


I have plans for these two!

Wednesday 11 April 2012

More pictures!

We have lots of walls in this house and I'm always drawn to pictures in magazines and on blogs where the walls are filled with pictures. There are lots of walls left to go but we are getting there! We are fairly eclectic with our (mainly my) tastes. We get the pictures from jumble sales, charity shops, auctions and craft fairs.


Matt saw this next picture in a job lot at auction and knew straight away that I would bid for it.


He was right! I love he way the embroiderer has used negative space.


Who couldn't love this (slightly blurry) face? I'm allergic to cats so can't have any real ones (boo!) Do you think it's possible to become a cat lady without having actual cats? :)

More picture posts here.

Monday 9 April 2012

Delightful children


Most of the time - until you point a camera at them for too long!




Delightful I tell you :)

Saturday 7 April 2012

Naughty chickens!

Even though these chickens have no eyes I knew they were up to something.....


And what's that behind Hamish?


The cheeky chicken - he'd hidden my treat!

Naughty Hamish!


These chickens were a custom order for a lady for her friends hen night :) How cool is that? Swirlyarts hens for a hen night!

Thursday 5 April 2012

Before and after


A messy shelf before :)


And a tidy shelf after - it only took 10 minutes to sort and now looks an awful lot better.


And yes - I did purposely buy the biscuits that were in this knitting tin at Christmas time purely for the tin :)


And yes I am going to ignore the pile of threads inside this bag that were on the shelf. They will be put to one side until I get chance to sort them. 2017 maybe??

Tuesday 3 April 2012

Vote for me! Pretty please :)

I'm currently begging for funding over on Enterprise Nation and would LOVE YOU FOREVER (really!) if you would vote for me please. The link is Swirlyarts on Enterprise Nation and even Tara has been roped in to give you a cheer if you vote for me!


The serious part - I have asked for £500 so that I can advertise on strategic/useful/relevant blogs and such like. Has anyone advertised on blogs before and if so which ones worked out best for you?

Monday 2 April 2012