Ship Ahoy!

Made this cushion today, using a vintage hand-worked tapestry panel and some antique French indigo ticking. 

Perfect for a boy's room or bathroom. 
Niki x

Handmade Fairies

All available in my on-line catalogue this morning.

Niki x

Having Fun with Fabrics...

Last week's handmade items started with some useful pieces -
A hard-wearing vintage floral linen was used to make a peg bag... 

And a pair of cushions.

Having been sensible, I then worked on some pretty little frivolous items, which made use of lots of my scrappy scraps of precious antique French Scheurer fabrics...

These pretty pin cushions also have vintage hand worked crochet lace pieces stitched onto the antique French linen base.

Then onto card making again...

More Beatrix inspiration..

Then a selection made from the Scheurers - I incorporated scraps of antique lace...

and used the original fabric sample labels to enhance others, keeping them simple to let the beautiful fabric designs speak for themselves. 

Wishing you a happy week,

Niki x

Delightful Delphiniums

This week I used this lovely old barkcloth fabric to create another cushion. I combined it with a Laura Ashley fabric of a similar delphinium design...

As I worked with these fabrics, their washed-out look reminded me of the foxglove flowers that appear in the Beatrix Potter illustrations for the Jemima Puddleduck story...

Which inspired a new collection of handmade greetings cards. 

I used snippets of the fabrics alongside the illustrations from a vintage book. 

I'm itching to work on more now!

Enjoy your weekend, 

Niki x

Lacy Laundry!

Been at it again creating a few more handmade cards with my left-over Beatrix Potter images...

Mrs. Tiggywinkle has washed her whites beautifully white and has hung them from her washing line to dry...

Lots of lacy vintage bits to brighten someones day...

Niki x

Eclectic Taste

There is always a risk when buying stock for the shop, that the financial investment may not always pay off. I try to make it a rule to only ever buy items I love myself and would happily have in my own home.
These unusual and very romantic Victorian canvases are an example of that.

They have been printed onto the stretched canvas, but then highlighted, by hand, with oil paint, making them look like original works of art.

On the same day that I bought this pair, I was also drawn to this incredible retro towelling fabric! They couldn't be more different, but somehow I love them both!

Today I made a simple, but roomy beach bag from the summery fabric...

and lined the inside with cheerful yellow gingham. 

There are some new peg bags at the shop too...

Different Sanderson prints for the front and back.

A retro one. 

And another Sanderson. 

Using the last of the cottage prints, I created another shoulder bag today too. 
This is sold - thank you!

Variety is the spice of life which prevents me from ever being bored at work :)

Hope you've had a happy day,

Niki x