"focus on...that smells nice!"

Just in case you thought I've been slacking, I thought I'd show you what I've been up to lately and that I have been busy! This lot is ready to be made into fragranced hangers once they've been filled with lavender, and with rose which is new for this summer. Hang them up in the room, in wardrobes, or use in drawers to keep your smalls smelling sweet!
The lavender comes from my mum and mum-in-law's gardens which would have been destined for the compost heap! The rose has been kindly passed on by a florist friend, which would have been binned!
It's been a great way of using up scraps of fabrics, and I like putting together unusual colour/pattern combinations. 

The ribbons I use are also recycled from various sources, mostly from packaging. I save the ribbons from the labels you can get on some clothes, and even from some bags!(Well, the more posher ones!!) So remember me next time you go shopping - don't throw away the ribbons from the tags/bags...pass them onto me! Better than being in a landfill! So you see, actually every component that goes into making these is reused and recycled.

This summer, I've decided not to leave the boys out, so there'll be rocket and star shape filled hangers, and butterflies for the girls.

They make a lovely gift at any time of the year - lavender and rose for spring/summer, christmas spice for, well, christmas! 


I must admit I get completely immune to the smell when I'm sewing them - think my nose completely zones out! But they've proved to be amongst my best sellers - the christmas spice hangers sold out pretty much straight away last year and just one hanger makes a room smell divine! I'll post photos of the finished products soon, so keep checking back...meanwhile, back to more sewing!

somerset house - "pick me up" (part 2)

Here are some more photos of lovely work to share with you…

...Alex Trochut's alphabet…

…I like the impact of James Joyce's 'rainbow' t-shirt print for Aids charity RED, sold in Gap, and the combination of colours in the 'elephant'…

...little painted wooden characters (which I think our mini mills' would love to role play with!) by Andrew Rae, whose drawings I really like…

...Natsko Seki's work is just beautiful - and I managed to pick up a limited edition print of 'kites' for my eldest mini mills, whose birthday falls on the very auspicious 'kite day' in India!…

…I also bought this ‘concertina of life’ by Micah Lindberg – lovely colours…

…our mini mills' just loved the 'shop' and were quite taken with these stuffed figures by Felt Mistress...

…and finally, these put a huge smile on my face.

somerset house - "pick me up" (part 1)

I was really happy we got to go to this exhibition today (last day) and saw some beautiful work by some very talented people, so I thought I'd share with you pictures of some of my favourites. 






It was very interesting to see Rob Ryan at work - he had an 'open studio' where you could watch him painstakingly hand cut-out his illustrations for printing - I'm not sure I'd have that much patience! Amazing to see it close up.

And I really liked Claire Scully's works....amazing......

...more photos to follow in part 2!!