pinned and twittered

all last week i was completely useless. i couldn't be bothered to do a thing, except checking some nice blogs. i've been totally uninspired, even the idea of printing - which is usually the perfect thing to get me going - bored me. i tried several times to do some new projects for the book pitch. disaster. i couldn't get my shit together at all. i'm sure it's because the end of term is nigh and everyone is winding down. anyway...yesterday i pulled myself together to make these pincushions that have been on my to-do list forever. and they came out kinda nice. i think my mojo is back...you can buy them in my etsy shop. (i'd put a link here, but at the moment etsy is down for a while)

also during my lacklustre week i discovered what this twitter malarky is all about. oh bugger, another addiction. i especially love to hear what phil and stephen are having for breakfast and such like. if you would like to follow me on twitter, i've added a thingy on my sidebar :)

my satisfyingly vintage week...

oh this charity shop malarky is dangerous - i had an unexpectedly free half an hour yesterday when my dad took charge of arth so i could do the post. and is it my fault that i had to park the car next to one charity shop and that the post office is opposite another? no, it isn't and it would be really irresponsible of me not to check out any possible bargains. i scored some fabulous hornsea pottery in a pattern called 'tapestry'. i was really happy with this because while my local charity shops often have hornsea in great vintage patterns, i can't bring myself to buy them because the colours are wrong for me. i just don't do mustard and brown. i just can't do it. anyway, it was just £1.50 for a jug, a pot (probably had a lid at some point) and two cute eggcups. then, on another shelf, these anchor hocking glass dishes for, wait for it, 20 pence each. god lord, i nearly broke them in my haste to buy them! so, i came out £2.30 lighter but more thrilled than i can say. on saturday i nipped into the junk shop and picked up the little tiled table for a fiver. i'd seen it previously for £10, so i'm glad i resisted.

then, when i got home, i got a beautifully wrapped package from the us of a...and inside were these numbers and letters from the small studio on etsy.

ha! something funny happened actually - i bid for some jacksons of piccadilly tea caddies that i won (the green i got for 50p while the white one oddly went for £2.30) but of course i was expecting them to be the size of my others! i was a bit cross for a second because although the item title was 'small jacksons of piccadilly tin', there were no dimentions in the listing. i didn't know they came in different sizes...anyway, they're very cute, so it's fine but they weren't really a bargain especially with postage - i'm an ebay novice, so you live and learn :)

oh...phew. what a lovely lot of finds...if i keep this up, i shall have to open 'summersville vintage mercantile'...god, there's a thought...

i can't believe i'm showing how...

awful my studio looked before my 'studios' makeover, but here's the proof of how slovenly i was, along with some 'after' shots below. god, i worked in all that chaos, how did i do it? i feel all smug. and less fat. day three, and i'm still going strong. i tell you people, that's damn good for me.

feeling felty

thanks to all those who bought sale items - they sold jolly well and now i've only got 5 pieces left (2 x flower basket in greens, 2 x flower basket in pinks and 1 x meadow in plum if anyone's interested!) actually just sold one each of those while typing this, so there's only one piece each left of flower basket in greens and pinks! only one piece left! click here for the sale section. all gone!

so anyway...here's something new from summersville...screenprinted industrial felt placemats and coasters. i've done a brand new design for these, but in the meantime, i got over excited and used twist in white on grey. dreamy! lots and lots of options here - all of my designs will be available in grey, black and off white backgrounds in lots of different ink colours. more sets will be listed slowly over the next few weeks... so if you fancy any of these printed to order, just let me know. sets of 2 placemats cost $17.50, sets of 4 are $32.50. sets of 2 coasters cost $7.50 while sets of 4 are $14. check out the listings here and here.

in other rather boring news, i'm on a diet after freaking myself out by weighing myself this morning. i've practically drowned, i've drunk so much water and my good ol' trusty weightwatchers books have come out to play. i've even made myself a posh food diary to boot. i thought if i said it out loud i might actually stick to it, willpower not being one of my strong points an' all. talk about all or nothing...

ohhhh, bargain!

fancy a bargain? i'm taking a new broom and sweeping my fabric stocks clean to make way for new work...so if you like half price sales, do pop along to the sale section of the shop where you will find mainly flower basket and meadow for a mere $3.50 a piece. i'm no longer printing these, so once they're gone they're gone. and as i'm just 2 sales away from 500 sales, the next 3 people to buy some sale fabric will get an extra piece of fabric for free. yes, free! it's like bloomin' christmas! (please note: the freebie will be a piece of meadow fabric of my choosing.) UPDATE: no more freebies i'm afraid, they've been snapped up by 3 lovely customers :)

currently available: (stock left in brackets)

meadow in teal (2) (sold)

meadow in rose (1) (sold)

meadow in bottle green (2) (sold)

meadow in plum (3) (1 left)

flower basket in seafoam & teal (2) (sold)

flower basket in rose & plum (3) {pictured} (2 left)

flower basket in apple & bottle (3) {pictured} (2 left)

weave in pine green (1) {pictured} (sold)

click here and happy shopping!

peekaboo!

well, i've had a busy weekend...my worktop, pinboard and floating shelves have been expertly put up with a man with a big drill. it's all looking rather marvellous so far. next up is a curtain for underneath the worktop to hide the crap i've hidden (neatly, i might add) i fancy a bit of colour and pattern and i also need to paint and tart up my old kitchen chairs...i'll show you them when i'm done. i bought a cute little set of drawers on rather elegant turned legs from our local junk/antique shop - i paid £20 for it together with one of the nicest mirrors i've ever seen...yum yum. ginge is very beautifully modelling it for me here. i also popped into one of our local charity shop much to the boy's total disgust...i managed to spend the princely sum of £3.50 and came out with some meakin bowls and ceramic tray (£1.50 the lot) a roll of vintage wallpaper (£1) and the funkiest chopping board i've ever seen for a quid. for goodness sake don't tell sam...i hid the loot under a bag of cat litter and smuggled it into the house. hehehe.

finds...

not studio stuff, but i thought you might like to see my ebay find - a little 1950's kitchen cabinet i bought for £6. it was in fairly tatty state so i painted it pale blue for my laundry room - it's going to house the stuff for the washing - fabric conditioner and tablets and pegs and such like. i couldn't resist filling it with my finds from last week's charidy shop hunt with anna for the time being for an impromptu photoshoot - you have to imagine the plug sockets aren't there, i'm having problems with my clone tool of late...it's a terrible situation, up there with cheerios trodden in the carpet. grrrrrr.