Gorillas in the mist

Took the little lady to london zoo as an easter treat and it rained all day! Some of the animal didn't seem to mind including the meerkats who had a tiny baby with them.

The Gorillas though contune to depress me everytime I see them. Despite the 'no flash photography' and 'don't bang the glass' signs people - adults and children just rush up to the glass, bang on it, shout and take photos with a bright flash!

I find it very sad. The male gorilla died before christmas and I think the females are really missing him. Or am I just projecting human values onto them? I don't know.

I'm not sure these beautiful creatures are really suitable for a zoo to be gawped at. It's no wonder they don't breed.

There's a series of gorilla portraits on one of the walls in the visitor bit and they all look so different. Most were rescued as babies and have suffered trauma after their parents were killed for bushmeat or for their hands.

I sadly think that by the time the little lady has grown up there will only be gorillas and many other animals left in zoo and not in the wild where they belong.

It's very sad.

Howies/Folksy competition

Folksy are running design competition in conjunction with Howies and I decided last night to do a last minute entry. I had been thinking about their 'life is complicated, sport is simple' theme for a while and had some ideas but true to form life is complicated and I hadn't had any time to do anything about them.

So last night I cut some flock, did some embroidery and came up with a bird themed tea towel.

I went for a tea towel cos everyone has to do the dishes and I wanted a design that would remind you to hurry up, dry up and go outside.

The winning designs will be displayed in the window of the Howies carnaby street store during london design week. There are some lovely entries on folksy at the moment. I like Stitchy Woo Woo's freedom to wheel tote bag and Lucy Player's simple illustration.

featured seller on etsy

The current featured seller on etsy is Bombus aka Amelia who was part of the urban craft stars pop up shop. How exciting to actually know a featured seller on etsy!

The pic is of one of her decoupage mirrors and a chair covered in an old london a - z. When this was in the shop I noticed that our street was on one of the legs.

Congratulations Amelia!

wee birdy blog

features the urban craft stars today which is so kind of her!. I love Rebecca's insightful blog with her pick of the london shopping scene. Her blog covers fashion, design, beauty and style in general and it is not just a 'oh look at this etsy shop' kind of thing.

You can tell she really researches her features and edits and picks the best from a range of designers, new and established. She picked out a vintage fabric cushion cover from my etsy shop in blue and white french ticking with a pink floral on the reverse. Oh the lady has style!

My blog posts are overlapping a wee bit at the moment for several reasons including the fact that I am so knackered and I am not really getting any new littlechook work done. Being away from the little lady has been really hard too. More for me than her I suspect though!

I do feel the littlechook blog is the place to be a bit more personal about me whereas urban craft stars is about the 'collective' and what we do with the pop up shop.

But - it is friends and family day tomorrow in the shop so if you are around Carnaby street come and see us for champagne and cakes. Yum.

all things original

Doing some research into etsy like sites tonight and came accross allthingsoriginal.com

It's a beautiful site featuring some really fab designers including bombus (who is going to be part of the carnaby street pop up shop).

I have decided I am in love with the coffee table covered in decoupage with a vintage 1960's london map. It belongs in my living room!

I do wonder though how many of these types of sites can be successful as I know from my time in the corporate world how much time and cash is needed to develop a website and then all the marketing and PR needed to get the name out there. I think alot of folk still think 'build it and they will come'.

This week though I am really looking forward to meeting the other pop up shop folk and to having another peep into our unit and to deciding how we will arrange all our goodies.

all change please!

Change is in the air....

It's still hot and sunny here in london and I'm enjoying it while it lasts having picnics in the park.

Labour have lost the Glasgow East by election, Obama has been doing a JFK in Berlin and littlechook is organising the pop up shop and has new etsy sales - yay! I am surprisingly un stressed. (for now).

I have also decided not to make up any more vintage fabric cushions. From now on I want to concentrate on my own print designs. I just feel that is now the right direction for me and I am full of ideas at the moment.

Tomorrow is the little lady's birthday party so I'm looking forward to some family chill out time filled with food, drink and catch up chat.

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

The Stone Family

Today was a really wet and miserable day here in London but we just made the most of it and went to the park getting totally drenched in the process but kids never seem to be that bothered by torrential rain. The little lady was looking for frogs in all the puddles!

Even though the light was pretty poor today I did take some photos of bits and bobs around the house to try to improve my photography as I am still not sure how I am going to get images of a good enough quality of the t shirts.

I do like the shot though of the stones. I got them from a beach in Ireland when I went to stay at my friend's house in a remote part of Donegal. I was about 7 months pregnant at the time and a bit emotional and I picked up these three stones from the beach, one for me, one for hubby and a 'baby ' stone.

Sounds a bit crazy now but at the time it all made sense! Anyway they are lovely stones, very smooth and round. The little lady likes to say Mummy, Daddy and Baby to them as she is quite into the concept of families at the moment.

House versus Home?

London is still being buffeted by horrible rainstorms and we are wondering if that is all the summer we are going to get.

Tonight was a late night shopping trip to Ikea to buy a cheap table for me to use as a print table. I got what I wanted aswell as some box frames which I am going to use for some mini chook worlds (pics to explain what the heck this is will follow soon).

Ikea have the slogan of 'do you live in a house or a home' which got me thinking ours is definately a 'home' ! Most of the houses in the interiors magazines I have read lately just leave me a bit cold. It's a bit wood floors - check, large gilt mirror - check, glass extension for a kitchen - check and the houses are always in London and always have a couple who are architects/interior designers who have impossibly cute kids with names like Song and Otter.

But I do like the 'feng shui' house in this months Living etc. The kids rooms look like real kids bedrooms that they can have fun in rather than an adults idea of a 'styled' kids room. I also like thier mix of vintage furniture and street art like the banksy print.

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!

outdoor yoga

Beautiful sunny day again today here in London and I think I may have had a bit too much sun. The little lady was in the paddling pool for most of the afternoon and I was cooling my own feet down too.

I was also trying to take some pictures of her modelling some of my t shirts for my etsy shop but it was just far too hot for any of that! So not much work today, mostly play.

Tonight went to my yoga class and we went outside into the garden for a while which was lovely. Then we got to go back in and lie on our mats and just chill. Bliss! Our teacher has a yoga picnic planned for sunday on hampstead heath followed by a picnic so we are hoping the weather stays nice for the weekend.

littlechook in the Schmap Guide

One of my flickr photos was chosen to appear in the London Schmap Guide. It's an online guide and covers loads of cities/countries aswell as London.

It's a picture from the first artichokeltd gallery of Hush's work in Carnaby Street. His work is now selling for big money and he was asked by Banksy to appear in a recent show of street art - the 'Cans Festival' which took over a disused tunnel near Waterloo.

http://www.schmap.com/ Seems like a good idea but I find the site is very very slow to load.

Tonight I am trying to do some work on my neglected etsy shop but finding other design blogs far more interesting.