Suki, organiser of fabric.

Blue skies and ditsy daisies...

It's amazing the difference a blue sky can make in the morning.  The difference between hibernating under the duvet for another five minutes and flinging the door open to lemon sunshine. I don't think I could ever learn to love winter, but I do love the comfort and tactile warmth of winter fabrics, like tweed and wool.  And hot chocolate. With marshmallows.

So this week, inspired by the watery winter sun, I have been rediscovering all things floral, and am kicking off Spring with Ditsy Daisy. She's a sweet, floral owl cushion, made from a soft babycord.  

I love lilac. It's such an uplifting, happy colour, and one that I am always drawn to.  I have also ordered some more ''songbird'' fabric, along with a gorgeous, pink paisley impulse buy - well, it would have been a waste  just to order the one! 

 

When the world was my oyster...

1987.   
In 1987 I achieved my dream of backpacking around Egypt.  With a bunch of strangers I met on a beach in Eilat.  Three weeks on less than £100, an amount that my twenty year old son could easily spend on a night out.  
Now, my dreams seem to involve a solvent bank account, an order a day and a greenhouse. Oh, my goodness, times have changed!
I have become stuck in a rut, and coming across this photo the other day has brought memories flooding back.  I look at this photo and can see my dreams, ambition in my eyes.  With the desert spread out below,the world was my oyster, in the way it can only be as a teenager.  I love this photo, and may stick it on my fridge to inspire me to expand my boundaries.

Pain au Chocolat.

Cheltenham. 
 Now Cheltenham is, without a doubt, a pain au chocolat location.  Swansea, on the other hand, is not.  
I live in Swansea, but have been seduced by Cheltenham. 

My son is at university in Cheltenham and I have just returned from a weekend, bearing gifts of fish pie, forgotten clothes and chocolate brownies.  Somehow, I don't think student budgets are made for Cheltenham.  Or mine.

I left Swansea with a pink wheelie bag.  I returned with a wad of debit card receipts and some very nice bags, full of things I never knew I needed!  Bags with ribbon handles and tissue paper. Feel good bags.

But now, a day later and bags unpacked, I am working on some lavender owls and the fragrant smell of lavender is wafting around beautifully. Hopefully it will distract me from the irritation of a parcel that appears to have gone missing somewhere between Swansea and Surrey.  Where do these parcels go?  

Jemima the-duck was posted, first class, a week ago.  Now, I would have expected first class to arrive within a week, but the very helpful man at Caterham sorting office informed me that I shouldn't worry until two weeks have passed.  TWO WEEKS!!!  So, Jemima is lost in transit, somewhere in Royal Mail's capable hands.  When Royal Mail works, it is fantastic, but tracking missing items...I've never had a parcel remain in transit this long before.

                                                              Jemima, lost in transit. 
                                    http://folksy.com/items/3980774-Duck-doorstop-Jemima-


                               But on a more cheerful note, this is Henry, a tweed doggy doorstop.  
                  Very tactile.  There's something very comforting about tweed on a gloomy winter's day.  

                                   http://folksy.com/items/4088078-Dog-doorstop-Henry-

Bye, bye, January.

January.  

A long month of greyness, a distinct lack of natural light and large heating bills.  Of family niggles, and lapses in communication. Of the lure of Hotel Chocolat sale chocolates, delivered to myself from myself,  in oversized boxes via Interlink.  Well, I need the boxes for my owls!!!

Sales have slowed down in the January slump, and I'm expecting February to be pretty quiet, too.  After the manic months leading up to Christmas it has taken a while to adjust to the slower pace of orders - my body clock got used to 2am bedtimes!

I'm using the time to experiment with new designs and build up stock, and am having a run on foxes at the moment.  I love the comfort of winter fabrics - the tweed, the wool - the contrast of charcoal grey against the vibrant orange of the fox.  

This is Snoozy Fox, my favourite design during January.

            http://folksy.com/items/3968518-Cushion-Snoozy-fox-Complete-with-feather-inner-pad-

                                                   

I am working on a range of snoozy fox gadget cases, but as a (relatively) gadget free person I have been amazed at the variety, volume and variations in dimension of the gadget market.  Whatever happened to a phone and computer?  Now there are tablets, kindles, large phones, small phones, i-pods...and endless procession of essential items.  Until last year I'd never heard of a tablet.  BUT...now I'm tempted!

http://folksy.com/shops/thesherbetpatch