UK Handmade Interview & a Day at Pre-School

I forgot to mention a couple of weeks ago that I had been interviewed by the lovely and ever-so patient Kirsten Miller of UK Handmade for their Road Less Traveled series. I was a little bit nervous as it's the first proper interview I've done since starting Grace's Favours but it wasn't scary and the end result is something I'm really really pleased with and as soon as I can work out how to I'll be adding a "Press" section to the website!

to see the rest of the pics (and read the words!) click here

The other thing I wanted to share this week was the session I did at my daughter, Seren's, Pre-School class. Her teacher (who knows what I do for a living) asked if I would be interested in going into the nursery for a day to teach the Pre-School children how to sew! I was delighted to be asked and decided that I would get them doing a basic sampler like this:

Flower sampler

So I cut out a square of material for each child and machine stitched round the edges so it didn't fray once they started sewing. Then I drew the flower in 4 different colours (green stalk & leaves, orange centre, red for one set of petals and purple for the other set of petals)

I'd ordered a batch of large plastic needles and some embroidery threads in different colours and armed with all of this I set off for nursery on Tuesday morning.

Seren was beside herself with excitement and all her friends (actually, thankfully only 6 of them and 2 staff members!) were really enthusiastic about their "lesson"

Here are some pics from the day:

Great concentration from the boys - surprisingly!

Seren (in the heart dress) very keen to get every stitch right!

Mary: Are you sure I'm showing him right???

Sue: I'm sure I can do this!

One of the best results!

Stopped for lunch and a play, great progress!

They all worked SO hard, I was really proud of all the children! We didn't quite finish our projects in the day (interspersed with playing, running round outside and many pit stops for food and drinks!) so I'm going back in a fortnight's time to help them finish off.

I really really enjoyed my day with the kids, but my god, was I exhausted at the end of it!! I have a newfound respect for Nursery Staff!

Now pootling over to Handmade Monday now for a mooch round to see what everyone else has been up to this week!

VW Baja Bug Cushion - FINISHED!

Well this was a heck of a commission! I started it before I went on holiday in May, but quickly realised it wasn't something I was going to be able to put together in a week, so thankfully my lovely customer was happy to wait until after the holiday to get it finished.

This is how I left it before I went away:

To be honest I was thinking of starting again as it just wasn't coming together, but then after a couple of weeks away, and with renewed vigour, it started to take shape:

And then once I added the customisation I was really pleased. And this is how it finally turned out:

I've also finally done something I've been meaning to try out for ages - a collage of photos - this one shows the two pictures I got from the customer as the brief, and the end result.

I'm really pleased with how well it's turned out, but next time I'll have a better idea how long a piece of custom work like this will take!

Even though I didn't write this specifically for Handmade Monday this week, I'm going to link it up as we've just got back from a weekend away and I don't want to miss this week out!!

Welcome to the world of Uniquely UK

Hello my lovelies :-)

Sorry for being absent for a while... we had a wonderful holiday and came back last weekend, very reluctantly!

Having spent the week trying to get my head back in the game, I am now feeling quite motivated to get things going again!

However I may have mentioned that I'm going to be exhibiting at the Home & Gift Fair in Harrogate this year, so I've decided to keep the majority of my shops shut for another month to give me enough time to prepare for the event.

Buuuuuut.... there is one shop that I won't be closing as it's really new and very exciting and a collaboration with 9 friends... it's called Uniquely UK!

We are all existing and established designers & makers, who sell through Etsy, but we have felt for a while that we wanted to do something as a group to try and bring the unique, high quality and unusual items that we make to the forefront of UK consumers' awareness.

We are working towards running our own website, but in the interim we have opened a Folksy Shop

And here are the lovely Designers that I'm working with:

Aisling Dezines
Damson Tree Pottery

Erika Price
Jane Crick

Purse Poppet
RDR Photography
Rebecca's Emporium
Tatania Rose
The Feminine Touch

I would LOVE it if you guys would check out our collaborative shop and if you've got 5 minutes (although you'll get lost and spend hours ;-p) check out the gang's individual shops!

Now I'm off for a long overdue catch up at Wendy's Handmade Harbour Blog......xxx

PS. I've also got links to two of my cohorts' blog posts about our shop - both blogs are fab and worth reading so I thought I'd add their links in here:

The Feminine Touch's Post
Rebecca's Emporium's Post

Celebrating 50 years of Doctor Who!

A friend of mine is completely obsessed with all things Doctor Who and he informed me a while ago that this year was the 50th anniversary of the programme. So I thought I'd make a silly something to commemorate it and this is what I've come up with (so far!) - A Cuddly T.A.R.D.I.S :-)

The slogan around the top of the Tardis reads "Who Loves The Doctor? Andy!" so it's personalised and on opposite sides says "Doctor" and "Who" (have to credit my husband who came up with that!). There's also a further bit of customisation on the note on the "front door" which reads "AP's TARDIS" in the smallest embroidery I've ever done! It stands 17.5cm tall and 8cm wide and is filled with the same toy stuffing I use for my Cuddly Campervans

It's one of those really silly creations that amuses me no end (I hope my friend Andy likes it too!) and it's the sort of item that usually sparks off all sorts of spin off goodies that I'll be itching to make and show you!

My shops are going to stay in holiday mode till the end of May, to give me time to get myself organised for the Harrogate Home & Gift Show which takes place in July, from the 14th - 17th and which is the first Trade Fair (i.e. selling direct to retailers only) that I've ever taken part in. However if you think someone you know would like one, please let me know in the comments or email me at simmi@gracesfavours.co.uk and I'll slot you into my order list.

Now that the Home & Gift Show is coming round quite quickly I'm starting to have a mild panic (more about that when we get back from holiday!) but for now, I'm just going to leave you with a calming pic of the beach, taken at lunchtime today :-)

St Helen's Beach, Wexford

Summer Holidays

I have been a very bad blogger for the last couple of weeks... things at Grace's Favours HQ have been manic to say the least! We've had Birthday Celebrations, Spring Play festivities and then fun and games with Thomas The Tank Engine:

One of the funny cards I got

Lady Sybil and her pet dragon

Thomas the Tank Engine Day Out

And now after all the commotion has died down, we're on holiday!

We're spending a week in Ireland with my husband's parents (affectionately known as the 'Lovely Out-Laws') which we're ALL loving - life is so relaxed here and the kids adore spending time with their Grandparents (and we've had a couple of lovely lie-ins already!)

Taking a breather from shell collecting on the beach

And then we have a week in a holiday cottage with some friends near the beach, which we're really excited about!

So sorry for the lack of handmade creations this week and next, but I will at least get a couple of posts in while we're away which is more than I've managed recently - but I promise normal service will resume once we get back in 2 weeks time!

Terry Pratchett's Guards Guards

Long time no post - sorry, things have been a bit chaotic here for the last fortnight, hence not joining in the Handmade Monday last week.

It was my birthday in the week, so we were frantically trying to get one of the rooms in our extension in a usable condition for the weekend, as we had 10 friends coming to stay and that was the only room the dining table could accommodate us all! We achieved it, in a manner of speaking - the walls and floors aren't finished, but our wonderful builders got us to a good point:

Then after the fun of last weekend, we had to take it all out again :-(

BUT... then this weekend, it's been the Big Performance!

I know some of you are keen to see some pics (I apologise for them - they're not brilliant!) so here you are.... anyone familiar with Pratchett will recognise some of the characters, for the rest of you - I apologise and can only recommend that you find a copy of the book and all will become marginally clearer!!

Here is the play synopsis:

Guards! Guards! is from the prolific pen of Terry Pratchett and has been adapted for the stage by Stephen Briggs.

Terry Pratchett's infamous city of Ankh Morpork is under threat from a 60 foot fire breathing dragon, summoned by a secret society of malcontented tradesmen.

Defending Ankh Morpork against this threat is the entire, underpaid, undervalued City Night Watch - a drunken and world-weary Captain, a cowardly and overweight Sergeant, a small opportunistic Corporal or dubious parentage and their newest recruit, Lance-Constable Carrot, who is upright, literal, law-abiding and keen. Aiding them in their fight for truth, justice and the Ankh Morporkian way are a small swamp dragon called Errol and the Librarian of Unseen University (who just happens to be an orang utan).

The 'Dwarves'

Death in action!

The Watch - drunk in 'The Shades'

Lady Ramkin in full dragon-protective-getup!

Flirting with Vimes

Ook The Orangutan

It was a really fun performance to be part of and our Director did a great job, keeping 25 of us on our toes, with all our lines, getting everyone on and off stage sensibly and with not one, but two flying dragons! (sadly no pics of that, but it was a sight to behold!)

I'm off over to Handmade Monday now, so see what everyone else has been up to and to put my feet up for a well needed rest! More actual creative stuff next time!

Creating Props for the Terry Pratchett Play - Guards! Guards!

This week I've been working on something slightly different - thankfully there's not been too much dust compared to last week as the builders have moved on from wrecking the joint to putting the new roof on, which was just in time as the heavens opened mid week!

I don't know if I mentioned that I'm part of a local Am Dram group and we're performing Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett at the end of April (25th - 27th inclusive in Lydbrook in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire if anyone's keen to come and see me make a fool out of myself (again!!)) and as such we all play a part (geddit?!) in organising the costumes and props.

I offered to make the 4 badges/shields for one scene which has two unnamed Worthies (So I've chosen their Guilds for them!), The Head of the Guild of Assassins and The Arch Chancellor of the Unseen University... so based on pictures that I found online these are the Shields that I've made:

The Guild of Assassins

The Guild of Embalmers

The Fools Guild

The Unseen University Shield

The shields are to be worn on heavy very pompous looking breast plates (which is fitting for these 4 who think they are Very Important People!) and later in the week I'll sneak a pic on here so you can see them on the costumes :-)

Here are all 4 together:

All 4 Shields

And now I'm off to check out what everyone else has been up to in the Handmade Monday link up.

Crafting on a Building Site!

Ok, so that title sounds a little bit more dramatic than things really are here at GF HQ, but not THAT far off.

We are having an extension to our house renovated - the extension was the bit of our house that housed the bakery ovens when our place was a working bakery. The ovens sadly were full of damp and falling down and right in the middle of the room, so had to be removed to make way for...... My New Workshop!!!! (Me? Excited much? Nah!)

This is the bit that's being renovated:

Last summer they did some work on the bottom floor and now, finally, they're raising the top walls, front and back and putting a new roof on. This also involved knocking a doorway through from the top floor into our existing kitchen.

Herein lies the rub.

Originally they weren't going to knock through until the very last moment, thus saving us A LOT of dust inside, but then someone twigged that if they don't knock through now, they won't be able to get a lintel into the new doorway because they'll be a roof timber in the way. So the knocking through started last week:

Steve, The Boss (who Seren is totally in love with!)

The start of the mess in my old airing cupboard which is in the kitchen!

So, now our whole house is covered in a layer of dust! Bless them, to be fair, the builders have tried to keep the mess out as much as possible, but for most of this last week it's been so bad that the kids & I have had to leave the house during the day - ideal timing when it's Easter holidays and it's been snowing!!

But I have managed to clean enough in the evenings to be able to make a pair of baby shoes for my Cousin's new arrival Baby Olivia:

Plain mint green & beige 0-3 month shoes

Mint & Beige 0-3 Month shoes with flowers appliqued on

I love making these baby shoes - they're so fun to come up with all the different colourways and embellishments to go on them :-) Both styles are now available in my Etsy shop.

Now I'm off with a cuppa and the last of the Easter Eggs (mine - honest!) to catch up with everyone else over at Handmade Monday.

Easter Egg Hunt & Meeting The Gruffalo!

Happy Easter!!!

Easter Bunny Bags made last year - which amazingly survived the choc-madness!

Easter Egg Hunt

So last year you may remember (for those with good memories!) that I organised an Easter Egg Hunt for the kids, which of course they loved and in the way that only children can, they've been asking for another one all year, so I duly prepared another one for today, which again, went down incredibly well :-)

 As you'll see the Easter Bunny Bags were used & filled up again this year!











So once we'd scoffed quite a lot of the chocolate & got dressed we spent the rest of the day doing exactly the same thing as last year... off to the brilliant Dean Heritage Centre where they'd just transformed the Gruffalo Trail to depict the Gruffalo's Child story.

These are brilliantly devised scenes depicting the story using chainsaw cut statues! Here are the highlights:

Patrick having a lie-down on The Gruffalo's bed

First scene - "The Gruffalo said that no Gruffalo should ever go into the deep dark wood...."

Ahhh look, The Gruffalo's Child!

All the amazing statues were carved by chainsaw!

"The Big Bad Mouse! So he does exist!"

Excitement at actually meeting The Gruffalo!

There was SO much excitement at meeting THE REAL GRUFFALO as Seren shouted at him! It was lovely :-) The kids had a great time and so did we! Just as well as we're going back in a couple of week when we have friends with kids down to stay.

Hope you've all had a wonderful day and now I'm off to enjoy a cuppa and some chocolate whilst browsing through the other Handmade Monday blog posts!