December 5

I like Fridays... the end of the week and the promise of time spent with the family at the weekend, chilling out, eating pizza and watching trashy tv. My favourite Saturday programme is Merlin. VERY loosely based on Authurian legend. I always make time to sit down and watch it with the girls. They like sharing the experience with me. We have a giggle as King Uther has banned the practice of magic. One of our cats is called Magic so the girls think this is great fun and say.. 'Magic not allowed'!

This weekend is the School Christmas Fair. I like to help out but this year we are just going to enjoy attending it and support it in that way. They have gone to school in Mufti (no school uniform) today with a gift of small goodies for the fair in return for this treat. It should be fun.. wonder how i'll do on the bottle tombola this year. ... maybe a bottle of black tower ? .. my friend still hasn't drunk hers from last year! I luckily got a large bottle of good lager which was finished very quickly by my man.



Today I want to share this photo with you of my wee family who mean the world to me. I have it pinned to my pin board and a glimpse of it as i walk by always makes me feel so blessed. This was taken on Fathers day earlier this year on a lovely river walk. It was one of those days that are not planned but gently unfold and end up being perfect. One to remember when I am away from them.

Have a lovely weekend with your friends, family and loved ones... they are what life is all about.x

all the fun of the fair...

Yesterday as many of you will know was the Vintage and Handmade Fair in Rangeworthy, South Gloustershire, organised by Michele of Cowboys and Custard and Jayne of Country Cottage Chic.

I live a fair way away so made my way down with Alice and baby Rufus on the Friday afternoon to stay with Alice's brother, who lives near Bath. It was lovely to spend time with him, his wife and the 3 children. We were thoroughly spoilt and were even made a full English breakfast prior to setting off early on Saturday morning.

After getting lost, in my usual style we arrived at the hall. It was a pretty hall and perfect for a Vintage Fair. (see Hen's blog for a pic of the outside). The tables had been set out beautifully and each stall holder had a lovely space... it was not at all cramped.

I was excited and delighted by all the beautiful things that were there... everyone so amazingly talented.
Michele, Sal , Hen and Jayne have posted great photos of everyones stalls if you fancy taking a peep just click on their links.

I only managed to get a few photos to share...
Nicky from The Vintage Magpie's bunnies look fabulous on her site and were absolutely delightful to see in real life. Her stall looked great and she is so lovely.


I was so lucky to be sitting opposite Annie from A saucerful of secrets. Her work is exquisite, her dolls, works of art. I was bowled over by her talent. These dolls must take hours to create.

She and her husband are such nice people too. Annie trained in fine art and amongst other things also makes felt pieces. I fell in love with her needle felted birds. Look at this little blue tit who, unbeknown to me, found it's way back with me... thank you so much Annie I love it and shall treasure it.

I would have loved to purchase something from everyone as it was all so tempting but sadly I have to be careful about what I spend these days... still I did manage to buy a few gifts to put away till Christmas.

fab vintage nostalgia from the lovely Michele x

some treasures from Sal, who I was so pleased to finally meet.
We also had the great pleasure of meeting her lovely husband Mr Snippets too.

I also brought a wand for myself from Hesta who creates hats and pieces from recycled fabrics. It is a beautiful green colour with feathers and a bell on... it is for my fairy godmother duties as I never got round to making one myself. I shall have to keep it away from the kittens though.

...and a few cards from Joanne. I have always loved Joanna's paintings and it was lovely to meet her and also see her in the process of creating a new picture.

I also have a little something for Rufus which was made by Carol which I cannot show yet as I think he reads the blog!

It was so good to finally put faces to blogs ...everyone was so nice, thank you for being so friendly and letting me witter on. (especially to joanna!) It was lovely also meeting blog readers, particularly two couples who had travelled a long way to get to the Fair (one from Wales) and the busy stream of friendly folk passing through the hall. There were folk there too that I wished I had been able to catch up with but sadly missed (mainly you Emma).. next time hopefully.

All in all a great day, great cakes (see Jayne's blog) and lots of inspiring people. A huge thank you to Jayne and Michele who have been living and breathing this for months. I hope you both can now relax and enjoy the festive season.

Sorry this post is link heavy but if you haven't already met these great bloggers I urge you to visit them. (links for everyone on my last post).
ginny x

Our Halloween...

I don't remember celebrating Halloween as a child at all. These days children in the uk seem to get very excited about Halloween (maybe it's the sweets?) and with any excuse to dress up we have gradually got into the 'spirit' of things. The girls really enjoyed making cards and decorating cakes to take round to our friends for Friday night's festivities. We usually get together with friends for food and games. Apple bobbing being the funniest thing ever. ( i don't know if i cheated but i was lucky enough to find one with a stalk this year!).

It has been very chilly here this week and we even had a light dusting of snow... in October.
Baking and soup making has been my reaction to this... and wearing lots of layers. I am now also wearing bed socks at night (for those of you who are interested in an update of my chilly feet)... my mum has knitted me a pale blue pair (very pretty) from an original 1940's pattern that was passed down from my grandma. I am sure my grandma would be pleased to know that my feet are now toasty.

I hope those of you who have been on half term have survived and had a great time. All back to normal routines for us again. I have some stock to make this week for the Vintage and Handmade Fair as time is whizzing by and it's less than 3 weeks away. I will also be adding a few more items for sale to the website which is overdue an update.
Have a Happy Week.
G x

Signing day

Thank you to everyone who wished us luck for our book signing last weekend. Your good wishes obviously helped and we had a great day selling all but one of the books that the store had ordered in.
It was so good to display some of the projects and to chat about the book.

I am pleased to say that i made no spelling mistakes. We did sign and write messages in most of the books and as Alice considers my handwriting to be better than hers it was down to me to write most of them!


A few books were bought as presents and we were asked to write things like 'Happy Christmas Susan with Best Wishes.....' etc. The hardest books to sign were to people we knew who just said, 'write me a message'.


We had a lovely surprise visitor too. Willow from Contemplating Change (one of my all time favourite blogs) popped over with her husband. It was so lovely to meet you both Willow and i would love to meet up again soon for a cuppa and a longer chat. Thank you so much for coming. I just wish i could have spent longer with you that day.

My mum and dad came over too and my mum took lots and lots and lots of photos. No kidding. It was like having the paparazzi. She is getting more eccentric with age and i swear she'll be wearing funny woolly hats soon with pompoms on... just because she can. I rather like the fact that often the older you get the more you feel you can get away with. Seriously though both Alice's and my parents have been so fantastically supportive about all that we have done over the past 7 years and we are so grateful to them for all their encouragement. It was good to see them proud of us.

After all the excitement of last weekend i have had a quiet week with the most exciting thing being the servicing of my sewing machines by Arthur. We were so pleased to find him as he has been servicing machines for over 40 years and our machines have had their best service in a long while.


So today i put my purring machine to work and have been catching up with Christmas orders. I finished this Stocking today and it is now ready to send out.





I have a few more to complete this weekend and then i can have some time with the girls next week as it's half time.
Enjoy your weekends.
Ginny x

a walk into town...

Yesterday i left the kitties at home (they are settling in nicely) and Alice and i took a walk into town with Rufus. It was a beautiful day that had started off on the chilly side but soon become much warmer. I never know what to wear when the seasons are changing and as someone who feels the cold had put on a thermal cami underneath a long sleeved top and a lightweight jumper and then over the top my denim jacket, a scarf and my wool peaked cap which i love. I soon became overheated. The scarf and jumper were discarded into my shopping bag first and later the jacket. I love my hat and it was doing a good job of covering up hair that needed washing.. but i realised how foolish it was to be wearing a wool hat when most other folk were still in short sleeves and sandals. My head was hot. I reluctantly took it off.

We stopped off at Waterstones to discuss arrangements for next week's book event. I am a little nervous i have to admit. The shop next door sells fabrics and although we mainly use recycled, if we are looking for something specific we sometimes use new. We found some perfect linens to use as base cloths for a new project idea. Our reason for the trip was to source these fabrics and check out the charity shops. There are a lot of charity shops in town, seven to be precise. One was closed for refurbishment and two we had checked out earlier in the week. We went into the other four. We found a wool cardigan which we are going to felt in the exact colour we were after - a real result. We also sourced some tee shirts which we hope to repurpose.

I have never bought Christmas cards in October but in Oxfam i noticed these.. 50%recycled charity cards in beautiful designs.

I bought them. It was a morning for bumping into people we knew, catching up, chatting to strangers and of Rufus being admired buy all. I think the sunshine must have helped put folk into a good mood as the atmosphere wherever we went was light and friendly. Alice managed to buy a present for one of her boys birthdays and an outfit for Rufus to wear at his christening. It's coming up soon... i wonder if a 'fairy' godmother should have a new outfit? I do need to finish making that wand.

I do love charity shops and have a skill of flicking through the rail at a great speed to see if there is anything there that interests me. This is a skill i learnt when in my early working life i had to costume 30 dance students on a budget of £100. Lots of ingenuity needed there, so i often hit the charity shops with gusto. I have always thought that the less budget you have the more creative and innovative you are forced to be. I love looking at all the bric a brac too but as our new kittens are rather lively decided that it would not be wise to buy anything breakable. I was delighted however to find this.



An original Mary Poppins souvenir song album with piano music and lyrics. It also contains beautiful drawings and features photographs from the film.
My eldest is learning the piano and as my husband plays, we had a little family sing song last night before the girls went to bed.... 'practically perfect in every way!'


Wishing you all a happy weekend.
g x

Kittens and a blog date....

This week i have been frantically cleaning and tidying... i had some very important guests arriving on Wednesday. Alice joked that they would not notice what a clean house i had and that there is now no 'stuff ' under the dresser and cupboards. I don't think they have noticed but i am so pleased i took the time to de - clutter and get straight before the arrival of these two lively 5 month old boys.



The kitten we were going to have did not happen... the family wanted to keep all 3 of the litter in the end. We had been visiting for 8 weeks and i was so worried that the girls would be upset that i telephoned the cat protection lady who i met when we looked after Fizz. She had five feral kittens... still tiny and only five weeks old. They were coming on well but she advised that it may not be the best option for us as they were so nervous.

On Saturday just as i was leaving to meet Diana, the CP lady called and said that they has two 5 month old black cats who had been found in a dustbin... and were we interested in adopting two. They were so friendly when we met them that we said yes please and then collected them yesterday. I even got carried away and made them a bed ... and then thought it's a bit tiny so made them both one.


...still a bit tiny as i made it before i got the cats. They do love them though and have been snuggled up in them today. This is Paws in his or 'scratchy' Paws as we have nicknamed him as he likes to scratch the furniture. I am so chuffed they like their beds as i half suspected them to take no interest at all.

The check fabric was given to me last week by a family friend and the wadding and fleecy lamb fabric was left over from folkydokee, so they cost me next to nothing to make. We never did know what to use the lamb fabric for but bought it on a whim (Alice's whim ... a long standing joke between us) as ex mill stock. We had loads of it... now most of it has been donated to our local schools, but luckily i had a bit left over to use.



They kittens are very cute and so affectionate and the girls love them. They just want to play with them all the time and don't want to go to bed. As the boys are so close it is fun to watch them play fighting and chasing their tales... hours of fun. They are also very hungry.
This is Magic who seems to be the greediest.



As well as the excitement of new kittens, i had the excitement of finally meeting Diana from Pebbledash. I set off on Saturday for Shere with a map. Even though it is fairly close to me i have never been. I didn't actually look at the map as i prefer to work it out , thinking i have a good sense of direction but actually i now finally admit that i haven't. Yes i got lost. I was very nervous, half expecting a 6 foot builder called Ray, although i had spoken to her the previous night and she did not sound like a bloke. phew! Finally i met Diana outside the Lucky Duck tearoom. She looked lovely and all smiley and i instantly felt at ease. We sat outside as it was a beautiful day and we ordered a large pot of tea and started chatting...
It is strange knowing someone but not knowing them if you know what i mean. I love Diana's blog and photos and her gentleness and kindness... i was so wanting us to get on and we did. I really hope we can meet up again soon. She gave me 3 pieces of stamped sea glass .. one for me and the other two for the girls and some of her beautiful printed cards... thank you again Diana.... we love them.



The afternoon was great but we didn't see much of the village which has been used in many films including The Holiday because it is so picturesque, as we just sat and talked. I think Diana took some photos of the ducks whilst waiting for me but i only took a photo of the sky as we were saying goodbye. Thank you again Diana... it was so good to meet you and please lets do it again. And to everyone else a big sky kiss from me to say thank you. I am so pleased i started to blog as i am richer for all your friendships.

musing...remembering what we do achieve.

I muse a lot.... i have been musing this morning....

This year we grew garlic.

We planted the bulbs in January ... they grew.. have been harvested and are being used in our cooking. I was just now cleaning out the garlic press whilst musing. The bulbs are only small, but still very tasty.

It made me feel happy knowing that we are using them and that this year we have successfully grown them.

I know that often i think only about the things in my life that i don't do and beat myself up about it. This is probably common for many of us. Maybe we all set unrealistic goals. However big or small i find that when i focus on what i do achieve rather than what i don't then i am much happier.

Yesterday I did something some may call brave and others may call crazy. I met a virtual friend. I am so glad that i had the courage to do it and thankfully it was wonderful. I shall write a little more about the day on my next post but all that i will say is that we both wished that Pipany could have been there too.
Wishing you all happy weekends .
ginny x

sorting out the old and moving forward

Today started off so sunny but soon the rain came. I confess that i am not good when it's cold, grey AND raining. I need sunlight or at least a little warmth and i love clear skies.
To take my mind off the weather i have been catching up with a few friends... one who i hope to meet finally this weekend!

I have also been getting reacquainted with a few other friends. Some poor lost souls who have been in storage since our move out of the Flour Loft studio.


They are some old doll designs.... Isadora fairies,which i know we will make again as they were very successful and so lovely to make, and Flora gardener dolls which we made when Alice and i were still working as folkydokee. They are boxed and would make a great present.



We really want to clear some space now (as we have much smaller workrooms) so they are on offer at £20.00 each plus postage (which varies depending on location to be sent). I photographed some of them today and will be adding them to the new aliceandginny website soon... once i work out how to add the shop facility. We would be really happy to see them go to off to new homes to be loved rather than stay with us in a box.



Our old folkydokee website was designed by my husband and it really was lovely. We had an online shop added but as it was so difficult for me to upkeep and change and add things then we - i - decided to buy a basic Mr Site package. It uses templates... a little like a blog which i am used to although it is a little frustrating trying to change the fonts and sizes as it adds all sorts of strange html code... it is not particularly sophisticated either. Has anyone else used Mr site? I would be interested to know how you got on with it. At least i won't have to rely on asking my husband when i want to make changes now... goodness knows i keep him busy already... poor man! I am surprised he wants to come home sometimes...

The new website will be more of a space where we can add tutorials, tips and info about what we are up to. We have added a gallery of some past work too and we will add a few things to purchase from the online shop from time to time.

As well as working on the website i have actually done some sewing today....I have been working out a new prototype doll pattern - a slightly larger one with a separate head as well as limbs. I always think they look so odd till they have their faces embroidered on and they have clothes and hair added. It is nice to see them come to life. I think i am going to try to sew a little each day as i really have missed it recently.
back to my doll stuffing...
Happy evenings to you all.
g x

Sew Fabulous Fabric and draw winners

Today is the 18th of September ... publication date of our first craft book Sew Fabulous Fabric.
It is a really exciting day for us!
As we are new authors and not famous there are no trumpets fanfaring and no book launch parties...aah! ... maybe one day though?!
We do, however have a book event planned next month on Saturday 18th October at our local Waterstones in Farnham. If you are nearby please do pop in and say hello.

So what shall we do to mark today? What about a virtual launch? Not sure how to do one really but my guess is a bit of bubbly and lots of cake with some good company.
Anyone care to join Alice and I?...we raise our glasses to toast the arrival of Sew Fabulous Fabric... hic!

please help yourself to a piece of virtual cake...

and some bubbly...

And now for the bit, as they say, you have all been waiting for...the winners of the draw for a free book.
Firstly we want to say a huge thank you to everyone who entered. We were overwhelmed with how many comments there were and offers to review it on your blogs and we thank you so much for all your lovely messages and good wishes. It has been great to make some new friends and to have some new blogs to read too.

Alice and I did the draw this morning, picking out 3 names as we have 3 books to givaway.
All we needed was folded up paper containing the names of each entrant... 54 in all,

a lady with a long nose (do i win Pip?), a green hat and a baby.

The names were then put into the green hat by the lady with the long nose and then the baby... the very cute Rufus picked them out, helped a little by Alice.




The first name out was Karen .... well done to you. We really hope that you will enjoy the book x



The next name drawn was Louise from this is my patch and home is where the heart is and the final name to be pulled out of the hat was miss sew and sew.



Well done to all of you and if you could please email me your postal addresses i will send the books out to you.

For anyone who is still interested in buying a book it is now 'available' and can be purchased online via Amazon and other similar sites both in the UK and USA. It is also listed on some Australian sites too. It will also be available in local book stores and if it is not in yours just ask and they should be able to order it in for you. It is also available from our publishers David and Charles.

So back to the bubbly.... cheers everyone... this has been fun! ...and fingers crossed for us for good reviews!
warmest wishes to you all.
ginny and alice xx

Cat update and an award

Thank you to everyone for your cat advice and stories as a response to my last two posts. Happily, although a little sad for us, our pretty feline visitor has now been reunited with her family.

On Saturday the cat protection lady finally arrived at 12 ish apologising that she has been held up at the cattery. Luckily for us but unluckily for her, my friend who was due to arrive any minute had been delayed too due to traffic held ups on the A3 so didn't arrive to find us now with resident house cat (she is very allergic to cats).

Whilst my friend was stuck in traffic the cat protection lady was 'scanning' the cat to check for a microchip. She didn't find one but did remember that she had heard of an all black cat who was missing. She said she would try to locate the family but in the meantime take the cat so that we could hoover etc prior to my guest arriving. We were very sad to see her go as she was such a sweet cat but asked if they could let us know what happened. We also offered to look after her ourselves should she not have a family.
About an hour later a car pulled up outside. It was the cats protection lady with a young woman and a 6 year old girl. The cat belonged to them, was called Fizz and had been missing for over a week. They had been so worried. The woman was overwhelmed with gratitude and really very emotional. The little girl was so sweet and really pleased to have her cat back. So a happy ending which was great. The family, unexpectedly popped by today with flowers for me and gifts for the girls along with a sweet card which the little girl had drawn to say thank you... i was so touched.(even the dad came too.. they were obviously so relieved).






So my sofa has an empty spot for a cat or a dog... it really feels the right time for us to have a family pet as we have lots of love to give. Maybe me turning 40 is an added reason ... and that i am having no more babies...?!


Now on to the award...



Lovely Sal at Sal's Snippets has passed on to me this blog award. Thank you so much Sal... i am so pleased you enjoy visiting here. Sal lives in a beautiful part of Devon and her blog is full of lovely images of her surroundings, her vintage thrifted treasures and her creative projects. I have just noticed that she also has an etsy shop... you might like to take a look.

Now the deal is that i now nominate 7 blogs that i love. This is so hard as i love so many and also i have done a similar award before. I have tried to pick blogs that i believe have not received this award yet and ones that i am enjoying at the moment...some old friends and some new.
So here goes.. my nominations are...

1. pipany for a sensory delight as she writes so descriptively and i often feel i am in cornwall there with her.

2. diana at pebbledash who takes stunning photographs and who has a love of the colour blue which i am increasingly drawn to. I always love to pop over and visit her.

3. louise at This is my patch whose observations on plants, and wildlife are so inspiring and always informative.

4. caireen at the patchwork dress who is 'blog resting' just now although is very busy with her work. i find her posts somehow refreshing and love her observations and photographs.

5. michele at cowboys and custard who i will finally get to meet in November. Lots of interesting vintage and reflective posts and her shadow boxes are charming.

6. florence at flossie teacakes as i adore her writing style, love her long posts and she always manages to make me laugh.

and finally

7. raina at raining sheep. I met raina through her visual ephipany blog where she posts the most exquisite images. Her beautiful photography and amazing sense of colour shines through in her blogs and i now enjoy visiting both.

On receiving this award it is customary to spread the love further if you wish by
a) posting the logo on your blog. b) Linking back to the award giver c) nominate at least 7 other blogs and add their links to your post and d) post a comment onto their blogs to let them know they have an award.

Now i am off to do just that...
ginny x

thank you's and moving on...

The school term has now finished for the Summer and brings the mixed emotions of the excitement of lazy days and holidays but also the sadness of saying goodbye to special teachers and of the anticipation of moving on to the next stage.

My youngest will be moving on to a different school in September so it was a final goodbye to the fantastic infant school which has nurtured her for the past three years and her sister for three years before that. It was also time for me to say goodbye as a parent. We are all ready to move on but will remember this very special school with such gratitute and warmth as it truly has given both my girls the most amazing start to their school lives.

On the whole I believe that a School Education is a good thing but feel that it is so important for schools to give each individual child the freedom to experience and develop in their own special ways. I base less emphasis on the academic results but in nurturing a child's spirit and desire to embrace the world and everything around them. I do not agree with the testing as i know many teachers do not either, especially with such little ones!

I wish for my children to have a good all round experience at school, to be inspired by the wonder of nature, to learn by doing, to build their confidence and excitement about life, to follow their dreams and to be sensitive and caring to others. This school has provided the tools to inspire learning and really has complemented the philosophies that i hold and that we practice at home.....except the large amounts of homework!... i do like my girls to have lots of unstructured down time when they drift off into the most amazing imaginative play.

My youngest who loves to sew wanted to make some thank you gifts. She had a clear idea of what she wanted to do and designed some lavender cushions with each of her teachers in mind choosing the colours that she thought they would like. She stitched and stuffed them herself and i just helped when instructed.



My eldest also made a gift for her teachers (sadly no photo). It was a lovely fimo plaque with the words 'the best teachers' on it. She said that they really liked it and were going to put it up in the class. Her teachers have been fantastic too and she has grown so much this year.

All the teachers got some 'divine' chocolate too... it felt mad buying so many bars at once and if you are wondering... yes we couldn't resist getting a bar for us to enjoy too! Some special teachers received green and blacks mint or orange chocolate instead. And the caretaker even got some dark chocolate accompanied by a hand written card thanking him for , 'cleaning up my sick'! Not a nice job and definately deserved some chocolate don't you think?



So today is the first day of our holiday... the girls are playing in the garden, the collared doves are cooing, the sun is out , i am just about to hang out my washing, which is one of my favourite household jobs. What bliss.
Have an appointment to sort through fabrics later as i am finally moving into the new space... will be back later in the week with more on that.
Happy days and happy holidays to you all!
g x

Rufus

Today i met a one day old baby. His name is Rufus. He was born early yesterday at home after a wonderfully natural labour. Everything went well and he and his mum are doing great. He is so perfect with skin so peachy soft. I am truly smitten. Luckily i will see him lots and i have also been asked to be his 'fairy' godmother. I had better dust off my wand!
There is something so special about a new life, i can't quite explain how i feel holding a newborn... i think for me it is the miracle of life, it represents hope, and the future. all truly amazing.

So welcome to Rufus and Congratulations to Alice and Nick. x