My bedroom

Hello bedroom! I have some new pics on flickr including this one of my bedroom. I made lovely new bed cushions made from a vintage butterfly print and a paisley print vintage dress. My crochet blanket came from a charity shop and the lampshade is a Habitat sale purchase made from cork which is a material I really like.

The chest of drawers came from an antique shop in crouch end and is made of victorian pine. It's one of my favs. The fireplace is not orignal and is a horrible fake mahogany. I did read in living etc though that to disguise a not so nice fireplace the surround should be painted the same colour as the walls. As you can see we haven't tried this yet! The walls are a bit distressed looking as I stripped the hideous 80's wallpaper (green textured background with brown roman collums) about a week after we moved in as it was so so so bad!

The show and tell at broadway market last night was a bit of a fiasco due to staff not turning up so everyone waited hours and hours to be seen. I left after 3 1/2 hours as had to get the bus home! Better luck next time....

Broadway Market Show and Tell

Tonight is the show and tell at Broadway Market for non food items so I am taking littlechook tshirts and tea towels along to see if they will allow me to have a stall. I think I can be given a 'casual pitch' so I can have a stall say once a month.

The market is every saturday but that would be a bit much for me. I don't think I'd have enough stuff! It is a brilliant market though, right by london fields so you can have a picnic once you've finished your shopping.

Wish me luck!

http://www.broadwaymarket.co.uk/market.html

Happy Heat Press

It's back and it is hopefully fixed this time. I haven't had a chance to try it out yet. Just relieved it wasn't away for ages as I am going to the Broadway Market 'show and tell' next weds to try and get a 'casual trader' card to allow me to have the occasional stall at this market. The market is in Hackney beside London Fields and has a great variety of crafters, artists, food and vintage clothing.

I'm hoping to take my tea towels and kids tshirts along on the night. I'm not sure the cushion covers are the best thing for a market stall, think they are better off in my etsy shop!

I've been busy cutting flock shapes for the new t shirts. My hands are aching as the flock is fairly thick to cut through. Oh for a vinyl cutter!

littlechook loves brixton

Didn't manage a post yesterday out of sheer exhaustion! The day started at 4 am when the little lady woke up early. I left for the market at 6.30 am getting horribly lost on the way (those AA road maps are rubbish!) I managed to get to the Elephant & Castle and muddled my there from there!

The market was great. It was on the famous Electric Avenue. Brixton totally rocks! It has such a fantastic atmosphere. I saw so many ladies wearing the traditional nigerian wax prints made into beautiful dresses and loads of folk just rocking their own look.

I managed to sell a fair amount of littlechook handmade goodies (mainly cards but also two cushions) but I am not sure the organisers publicised the event enough. One of my last customers of the day was the chair of the local residents association and she said she didn't know the market was happening and it was something she would have sent details of to her mailing list.

There were some other really talented folk selling crafts there and I will hopefully blog about them this week.

Hubby and the little lady joined me after lunch and they both had a great time. My daughter just seems to take everything in her stride and she was walking round the market charming all the shopkeepers!

We got home in time to watch the Euro 2008 final but I slept through most of it only waking up to see Spain lifting the trophy. Yay!

Today was catch up on sleep and housework day. Hubby is kindly making me spag bol tonight and I am enjoying a glass of red wine.

the calm before the storm

I am sitting here surprisingly calmly the night before the Brixton Craft Market and drinking fruit cider. We had a brilliant day today with lots of sunshine and just general family happiness. I put together a trial layout of my stall for tomorrow and I have a fair idea of what I will do tomorrow.

I am really on my own though tomorrow with my sister at Glastonbury and hubby looking after the little lady. We decided it wouldn't be fair to get her up early and then have her spend all day at the fair so I am driving there and setting up on my own. To unload by my stall I need to arrive between 6 and 7 am. I'm hoping there's somewhere around to have some breakfast!

I'm actually looking forward to the whole thing as it will be a good chance to get feedback on my work and to chat to other artists and designers. Still bit gutted that I have no t shirts though as I felt they would sell well at an event like this. Instead I have vintage fabric cushions, badges, cards and tea towels. I am looking forward to seeing all the handmade goodies on sale.

Wish me luck!

throwaway society

my poor husband hates my habit of finding furniture abandoned by the side of the road but I am always just amazed by what people throw out. My pet hate round Crouch End/Stroud Green/Harringay is seeing mattresses dumped outside houses. It just looks awful and I am sure they could be recycled in some way.

anyway, my current project is to put together a group of designers to sell their work through our very own pop up shop. Hopefully to be located in either seven dials/covent garden or carnaby street. I am in the process of contacting talented etsy sellers who I hope will be interested in my concept. I also found a few possible folk at Broadway Market but I am going to devote a seperate post to the delicious handbags once I find their business card!

Back to the furniture, my idea is to set out the shop like a house with a mix of original , vintage and second hand furniture possibly with a fifties or sixties theme hence the gathering of cast offs to dress my shop!

My best find so far will however end up in my bedroom after the shop. Isn't this just lovely! It was rescued from my street undercover of darkness (husband refused to be seen 'tatting' in daylight!)

My creative endeavours today involved a morning working the fabulous East London Print Studio using their open access time to put together some new screens. Hopefully Katherine will sleep ok tonight and I will get a chance to print up some fabrics and see how they have turned out.....

www.eastlondonprintmakers.co.uk

the long thread

littlechook has been featured in the long thread blog. She picked the funky daisy vintage fabric pillow cover to feature in etsy finds friday. thank you! I can't upload the picture but it is www.thelongthread.com as features lots of talented designers and makers. Well worth a read as it is both stylish and informative.

I haven't been on the internet over the weekend as our broadband was broken (again) and we were out and about enjoying the sunshine.

Visited Broadway Market on saturday morning and munched loads of delicious food and bought my sis a really pretty vintage dress. The whole area is vibrant and crowded but it was great fun to explore a different bit of london. And we saw a guy sitting outside a pub in a bowler hat stroking a pineapple!