Nonnie

Clearing the decks

As the new website is coming along nicely, I've been looking at all my stock to see what will be going in the shop and what won't! Ideally I want to start afresh which means clearing the decks of items remaining from last year. I have quite a lot of my handmade cards left as I went a little crazy when I made them for last years craft fairs! I've held on to a few for myself but I've decided to offer the rest to all of you in sets of four(images below). There are seven sets altogether and are priced at £5 for each set including postage. Bargain! Please email me if you would like a set, stating which one. I only have one of each set so it's first come first served. I can take payment by paypal or cheque.

I can't tell you how happy I am that the weekend is here. I've had a busy week and I'm looking forward to relaxing. My new man is cooking me dinner tomorrow evening! I can't tell you how happy that makes me. A man who not only can cook but enjoys it!!!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend wherever you are and that the sun shines. xxx

Here are the sets. I'm really sorry but I can't start swapping cards from one set to another. Each set is as it is.

SET 1 - Sold, thank you!

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SET 2 - Sold, thank you!

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SET 3 - Sold, thank you!

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SET 4 - Sold, thank you!

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SET 5 - Sold, thank you!

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SET 6

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SET 7 - Sold, thank you!

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A Sneaky Peek

A productive day yesterday. New cushions, a bag, lavender hearts. All will be in the new website soon. Unfortunately the flat has been turned into such a tip with all my creativity that I have nowhere nice to take photos. Everything will be packed up for a Cotswold photoshoot later in the week.

I'm off to the cinema shortly to see Jumper. I know he's rather young for me but an hour or so of admiring Jamie Bell should be a good way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

I'll leave you with another little sneaky peek. Some lovely flowers I received this week! Hope you're all having a lovely sunny Sunday. x

 

Pretty Packages

A few weeks ago I finally got round to giving my dear Sis a lesson on how to buy on ebay. Yes I know, unbelievable but true, she really didn't know what to do! Anyway, I fear I may now have started off a bit of an addiction as she's been receiving rather a lot of parcels in the post lately! She made me laugh when she admitted how fed up and cheated she felt when she was beaten by someone at the very last second on something she really wanted. Ah, the joys of ebay.

So while we were having the practice session the other week, we were browsing the vintage embroidery section and spotted two sets of two pretty embroidered linen tea towels. We both loved them so decided to bid for both and share them between us. One of each design each. So I showed her how bidding worked and we were lucky to win both lots.

I collected my half of the winnings this weekend and I'm really pleased with them. These really are destined for the snip(not chop Sue, don't worry!) as I definitely purchased them with some projects in mind. I have the whole of next week off so I plan on getting down to some serious sewing although I will of course have to have a couple of days in the Cotswolds. Well, wouldn't you?

Last week I received another gorgeous package in the post which I totally ran out of time to photograph and blog about. I was lucky enough to be a runner up in Lucy's sweet pink and green giveaway and just look at the pretty things she kindly sent me.

A gorgeous heart magnet, some pretty pegs, a beautiful heart keyring, some very sweet floral fabric and an envelope containing some chocolate. All wrapped in pretty pink tissue with flowers scattered between. Even the outside of the package was green paper. Such attention to detail. Thank you Lucy it is all lovely. So far I haven't used anything. They are all sitting in a little pile on a chair in my Sitting Room where I just keep admiring them all. Even the choc hasn't been eaten. How strong willed is that?!

Well, as it's getting rather late, so I think it's about time I took myself off for some beauty sleep.  See you all later in the week. xxx

Positively Patchwork

Remember this? For any of you who have been reading my blog from the start back in August 06, you might just remember that I started this patchwork quilt back then. I'm slightly ashamed to say that it is still not finished! It lays folded over the arm of one of my sofas pretending to be done and every time Hamish comes to visit I have to put it out of the way because it is full of pins. Infact I keep thinking that I need to buy more pins and then I remember that I have at least 30(probably more) stuck around the edge of the patchwork.

So having read Mia's post today about the fact she is starting another patchwork quilt, I am setting myself a challenge here and now to finish the one that I have started. And you lot are all my witnesses to this personal challenge. You can nag me about it if you like. Say around the middle of February. Feel free to say, 'hey Fiona, is that patchwork quilt finished yet?!'

The crazy thing is that it is so near to be finished. The patchwork bit is actually done. It's the backing that is half finished. I'm actually just backing it with vintage white sheet without any padding inbetween as I don't want it to be too bulky. What is taking the time is the fact that I am hand stitching through the two layers along each patchwork join, in one direction. I'm doing this in red embroidery thread so that the white side will not be plain but will be decorated with rows so little running stitches. I'm about half way through this process. I then just need to put some sort of binding around the edge. So it's really close. Just got to get on with it instead of thinking about new projects.

Well it's the weekend again. After a dull, wet week I'm feeling really ready for it. I have a lovely day planned tomorrow as I'm going over to Marlow for lunch out with Mum, Dad, Sis, Brother-in-law(John) and wee Hamish. It's John's Birthday on Monday so he decided he wanted to have lunch out all together. Marlow is such a lovely place to go to so I'm really hoping the sun might shine. On the way over there I'm planning on popping into a craft shop my Sis told me about to pick up some new bits and bobs for getting creative.

Hopefully Sunday will be the day for being creative. I hope that you all have a lovely weekend whatever you're doing. xx

Busy Busy

Sorry I haven't been around much this last week. I have to be honest that I've been very unmotivated to blog just lately. I have too much going on in my head and with work, life,etc. I will be back properly once I get the next fair out of the way a week on Saturday although I might manage a post inbetween. The light has been just awful for taking photos which doesn't help. I managed to get just a few photos last Sunday when I took a very quick and VERY cold walk in Kew Gardens. It was one of those days when the rain feels so icey it almost hurts your skin as it hits your face. I hurried home very quickly for hot chocolate and a warm bath. So here are a few images from the cheerful little flowers that are blooming away in the Alpine House.

Oh, I nearly forgot about something that made me smile while I was in the gardens. As I walked along a quiet path I noticed a series of humps and holes in the nearby rough grass and a sign just next to them. I stopped to have a read and discovered that there are quite a number of badgers living in the gardens and this was one of there sets. When I'm visiting Mum and Dad in the Cotswolds it always saddens me just how many dead badgers I see by the roadside as it seems their road sense is really not too good. So I'm pleased to know that just over the wall from my flat there are families of these cute black and white creatures enjoying the safety of Kew. I just hope they don't venture out from behind the wall!

Little Boxes

I love boxes, containers and tins and I'm not sure if I've every shown you these three favourites.

The red box is lovely, really battered with chippy paint and a slightly rough interior. I spotted it one day when I was in Cornwall and new I had to have it. I definitely have a love of anything red and this cheerful box was just calling out to me from the shop window amongst all the other slightly dull contents.

Initially I was slightly tempted to repaint it but luckily I have resisted. I like seeing the old paint and the roughness of it all.

This tin is an ebay find and is one of the tins I use to store my collection of ribbons. I love the bright, slightly clashy flowers. It always sits on top of the red box and I think it's a lovely contrast.

Another old favourite is this old toffee tin.

I really can't remember where this tin came from as I've had it years. Actually I think it was the first tin I ever bought. For a long time it was my sewing tin. That really shows how long I've had it if that was the purpose it once served. I can't remember back to a time when all my sewing things would fit into a small tin. My 'sewing things' now live in almost every area of the flat, from cupboards to drawers and from boxes to tins. Not to mention table tops and currently all over one of the sofas!

The Christmas production line is coming along nicely and as I write the sofa is covered in little felt hearts, stars and angels. A lot of what I'm doing is being hand stitched and I'm loving my evenings at the moment sitting on the sofa, glass of wine on the table, stitching away with a bit of TV on.

In honour of the fact that I'm starting to feel quite Christmassy now I've decided to change the look of the blog again as I was getting a little bored of the pine cones. I thought it was time for a splash of red.

Finally, to those of you waiting for either orders, or giveaways, everything is parcelled up and will be posted out tomorrow.

It's a gorgeous sun-shiny but very cold day today here in London. Hope the sun is shining where you are today. xx

Shop Update

After various attempts, I've finally updated my little shop. The only way I could do it in the end was to delete the whole Nonnie Home page and create a new one. It then started behaving itself and put the pictures and text where I wanted them. It does mean though that the address is now slightly different in that there is no space between the Nonnie and the Home, so if you have a link to my shop on any of your pages I would really appreciate you updating it. Thank you.

I've also finally added items to my Etsy Shop again. I have to be honest that I haven't had a whole lot of luck with Etsy in the past but I'm going to give it another try. Do go and have a look. The Etsy shop will only feature items made by myself where as at Nonnie Home I hope to bring you some vintage items as well.

As I mentioned the other day, I'm planning on going in a slightly different direction with my work. I really want to create individual, and I hope, more special pieces. As I said I'm not a factory and I get no creative enjoyment from making large identical quantities of anything. From time to time I might make a pair of a particular design, but mostly each cushion, bag, strip of bunting or any other item will be unique. Each design may take me longer to make but to be honest I would rather take the time to make something that bit more special. That gives me so much more enjoyment. Hopefully my customers will be happier to know that they are buying a one off.

Just now there are only a few items in both the shop and etsy but I will slowly upload more over the next week. I have a number of items that need photographing again and I think I will have to wait until the weekend for daylight to do that. I'm going to Mum and Dad's so I will probably take some things with me as their house is just a much nicer background for photo shoots than mine!

What a cake!

Tomorrow I will be taking you on a lovely walk around Kew Gardens with me, but today I had to share with you the absolutely amazing cake my Sister made for my nephews 2nd Birthday party.

Isn't it just gorgeous?! The party was a joint one with three other little ones, and another Mum was supposed to make the cake and Catherine was just going to decorate it. But something went wrong with the cake so on Saturday it was decided that they would forget it and use all the little animals Catherine had make to decorate some fairy cakes. But my Sister being my Sister and not liking to do things by halves( sorry Catherine but you know it's true and we love you for it!) decided that she would make a cake so that the animals that she had spent all week making could be used properly. So I think the cake was made late on Saturday night and she had just finished decorating it when I arrived to help with preparations around 11.30 yesterday morning. The kitchen looked like a whirl wind had just swept through but I think you'll agree it was worth it. I'm not sure about the other children, but Hamish was certainly very impressed with his cake and he had a lovely party. His Birthday is not until a week on Thursday, and I suspect his Nana will be baking him another cake on the day, followed by one from Aunty Nonnie at the weekend after when he comes to visit, but I'm not sure any will be as fanastic as the one his Mummy made him.

Little Summer Sale

I've been having a bit of a clearout and sort to make room for new creative ideas in the coming months. So I give you.......

Here is a selection of items that I'm offering at a special price in the hope of sending them all to a happy new home rather than resting rather sadly in my storage boxes! If you would like to purchase any of these items, just send me an email or leave me a comment and I'll get back to you.

Fabric Collages - Little hearts on linen squares in a hand painted frame(approx 35cm x 25cm). Choose from red(5 available) or blue(4 available)

Were £20 each. Now £12.50 each.

Dotty Heart Cushions - red polka dot with pretty floral hearts and button decoration. Filled with a feather pad. 30cm x 30cm

Were £16 each. Now £10 each

Hand painted dotty coat hangers with ribbon trim. Great for children's clothes or small items. Choose from pale blue, pale pink or red.

Were £3 each. Now £1.50 each.

Greetings Cards - Hand made cards using scraps of fabric and buttons. This will be a kind of lucky dip as you will be sent a card(or cards) from the selection I have. They're all based on the same design, but as each one is slightly different I can't really photograph all 80 to give you a choice I'm afraid. You'll just have to trust my judgement and I promise they're all as lovely as each other.

Were £2.25 each. Now £1.25 each

Napkin Rings - Cute little felt and button napkin rings(or little girls bracelets if you wish!).

Were £2 each. Now £1 each

If you have any questions please just ask. I can accept paypal or cheque. I will keep postage and packing to the absolute minimum and will let you know what it is depending on what you might want to purchase. I can post anywhere in the World.

Hopefully I've covered everything and hopefully you'll like what I've put in my little summer sale. x

More Lovely Post

I just love making little purchases on Etsy and Ebay because it guarantees lovely post which is always nice. I've been doing a bit of spending lately and the parcels have started to arrive. First was this gorgeous little package from Sepia Art Studio. I paid my first visit to this cute blog last week and then on to Delila's very lovely Etsy Shop where I just couldn't resist buying. I would definitely recommend a visit.

Look at these sweet little pegs in a gorgeous little dish. Not sure what I'm going to do with them yet but I'm thinking they'll probably make an appearance on some of my cards.

I also got this very pretty ribbon. I'm loving green at the moment and this is a really wonderful shade. Again, card making I think.

The next blog discovery I made was the sweet Pretty Petals Boutique and again, within minutes I was over to the Shop and buying again! But look at the loveliness I found. A beautiful floral table cloth and four napkins.

I haven't yet decided if these are going to be recycled into something new or used as they are.

I'm now waiting for a package of lovely white linen sheets that I bought on ebay. They're totally plain so will be cut up and used for cushion backs. Hopefully they'll arrive in the next few days. I think the girls on our reception at work must think I'm a bit odd given the strange selection of things that arrive in the post for me. It's easier to get things sent to work rather than having parcels left at home, but teeny tiny pegs and floral table cloths are not really the 'Studio Reed' look. I have to hide my parcels away under the desk for fear my boss might see my gorgeous pretty things and have me thrown from the building! Only joking of course but I really don't think they'd understand the 'Nonnie' look.

More sailing this weekend, this time on our friends boat. I will be taking a ton of sun cream, a very large hat and lots and lots of water. Having done all that it's bound to rain!

Have a lovely weekend and see you all next week. x