Oh cheer up misery guts !

I have not had an enjoyable week this week,


a hard week at work coupled with a bit of a wobble in my self belief had combined to make me a bit of a mood to live with, So that's been lovely for my other half. Luckily he has The Serious Cat herself our Siamese Mali to keep him company when I am vile :)

I'm sitting on him because he's mine !

Luckily I don't get down for long and after a bit of fiddling around with paper ( my go to craft when I am uninspired ) I am back on the sewing road. My latest project is a bit of a closely guarded secret but I think if I can't share it with my ooooooh let's see 3 subscribers, then who can I share it with !

I am making an art doll, that is to say a doll that isn't for playing with, well not by small people anyway. I've made the body and embroidered on the eyes, today she got her shoes! What do we think?

Not quite Ruby slippers, but almost.

Little red felt dolly shoes with a shiny black button buckle, I have some glorious fabric for her outfit and have already knitted her a cardigan to ward of the spring breeze.

 My next dilemma is her hair, I have some Tilda doll hair in a white blonde, but I'm also waiting on some beautiful burnished orange wool  because I feel she might look grand with a gingery do ! Or, I may give her a black felt bob something like the silent movie star Louise Brooks?

I'm quite excited and inspired now as you can probably tell from my rambling, and I was wondering what inspires you my lovely ladies?  

Alphonse Mucha Dance

I'm currently loving the rockabilly style, everything about it shouts glamour, and I can almost (almost) get my hair up in those fancy styles, bumper bangs and victory rolls, think Dita Von Teese or Bettie Page .

Beautiful hair x

But most of all I love the old style tattoos inspired by sailor Jerry, particularly the glamorous girls. I love the kitsch style, the sense of freedom and humour
and I think there is a clear visual link from Alphonse Mucha to Vargas and on into rockabilly style.

 I will leave you with a few of my favourites images and hope they inspire something in you too xx

Vargas girl.

Sam x

Vargas girl.

Life at Blue Anchor Bay: New Beginnings....

Life at Blue Anchor Bay: New Beginnings....: Whenever I read a book or watch a film I always wonder, how do they choose where to start the story? However I know exactly where this sto...

Three days off, busy hands and finding out what it's worth.

Three days off, busy hands and finding out what it's worth.


This is my second post and despite being disappointed no one else has read it except myself, I have decided to keep plodding on. That's right you don't get rid of me that easily!

Hummingbird

The last couple of weeks I have fallen totally in love with wool felt, I bought myself some extra thick wool felt from http://www.bloomingfelt.co.uk/. Having three glorious days off work gave me some free time so I settled down to some serious sewing. I started  using it to make brooches, starting with some cute (if I do say so myself) little birds. I particularly love my Bye Bye Blackbird monochrome brooch and was extremely happy to sell two as soon as I had made them :)

Folk bird

Bye Bye Blackbird

 Moving quickly on after a burst of inspiration to sugar skulls, my interpretation of the decorations used to celebrate Día de Muertos  (Day of the dead). And while I realise skulls are not everyone's idea of something they want to wear I hope it will appeal to some other people and not just me ! 

muerte roja

muerte amarilla

muerte blanca

They are very time intensive to make, each one taking around 3 hours from start to finish, yet I still found myself struggling when trying to decide a price. Obviously I include the cost of  materials but find myself struggling to put a price on my time, and I was wondering if


it was just me? Do we undervalue our talent? I think being British it is in our nature to be modest, and I know that's a blanket statement, but I also know in my family bragging wasn't encouraged. For me to say look at what I made don't you think it's great would have been frowned on, in fact I phoned my Mom recently and spoke about a hat I had knitted and sold, her first words weren't well done, they were I hope it doesn't come apart !


So what do we think? Should we value our creativity and time more? Why do we feel cheeky putting a price on things we have made or is it just that underlying doubt in our abilities? 


Sam x