....Tis quiet at the nook.....

....Which i am really enjoying after all the yule tide shenanigans......

 

....So getting back to normality works for me, i have to go back to work tomorrow which is always difficult when you haven't had to get up at any particular time for a week, then suddenly you have to haul yourself out of bed in the dark at 6 am and fish out your uniform and off we go again......

 

....but yes' i think quietly i am relieved to be getting back to that normality again........just new years eve to get through, then off we go again for another year.

 

.....So today...just during this quiet time i have been quietly making some recycled home made envelopes......these i am hoping to use for my new little bits and bobs that i shall be putting in my Etsy shop any day now......

 

......So for now dear readers i am just cutting and gluing away contently by the fire......

 

 

...there very addictive to make.....i cant seem to stop....

 

 

 

.....I wish you all a Happy new year.....and i shall see you all again in 2013.....
..( i wonder what we will all be crafting in the next coming year )...

 

Hugs Pixie xxx

 

 

 

.....From my little Crafte nook by the sea....

 

....our little wonky tree is twinkling away.....

 

 

......and we are all snug and cosy, us two wee Pixies, and our two old cats.....

 

......and from our cosy hearth we wish you all, my dear bloggy friends a very Happy Christmas, and a very happy winter solstice,, hugs to you all.....

 

....

 

..... I shall leave you with my favourite christmas cartoon that as a child was on telly every christmas eve and we would all sit down as a family to watch it.....

 

....Tom and Jerry....

The night before Christmas

 

 

 

 

....Little Robin....

When father takes his spade to dig,

The Robin comes along,

He sits upon a little twig.

And sings a little song,

 

Or, if the trees are rather far,

He does not stay alone,

But comes up close to where we are,

And bobs upon a stone.

 

L Alma Tadema

 

....Pixie....

x

 

 

....These past few days i have been....

.....stitching......

 

 

 

.....stitching a new found obsession......

 

.....'' Mad hatter pocket watch brooches ''.....

 

 

.....lots of different sizes and lots of different designs.....

 

 

......they are guaranteed to give the right time at least twice a day.....

 

 

 

.....i am aiming at putting some of these in my etsy store.....so watch this space ...

 

 

 

......i have also been stitching .....cute little faces.....

 

 

 

.....these too are making me very happy at the moment and i want to get these into my shop as well.....

.....i just need to sit down with my sketch book ( when i get two minutes ), and come up with new faces to stitch....

 

 

 

 

.....what else?....oh yes......last year at this time i made some paper chains from a certain lovely clothes catalogue to hang from my beams for the yule period......well this year i thought with the same lovely catalogues i would make some paper balls to hang up.......

 

 

 

 

 

....these are mega easy to make....

 

....Here's how....

 

1...get yourself some lovely catalogues you don't mind chopping up, i always prefer to use the ones that are made from non shiny paper.....

 

 

2... tear a page out then draw 8 circles, about four and half centimetres across, then cut them out....

 

 

( i used a little jar to draw around for mine )

 

3...on the reverse side of each circle put a dot in the middle with your pencil.

 

 

4...now fold in three edges to the point, the point makes it easier to see the centre.

 

 

 

 

5...when you have done that and have a triangle unfold the edges and fold them over on the creases you have made on the other side...this then gets rid of the pencil dot....

 

 

6...now get some glue...

 

 

7....and stick all the edges together to make your ball decoration...

 

 

....tah dahhh....

 

 

.....and I'm not finished yet, oh no....

 

....i live at number 12.....so i bought myself a couple of numbers made from cardboard the ones you can decoupage and i have been decorating these to put up in my window.....there not quite finished yet, but here they are so far....

 

....just a bit more prettifying to do, they should look lovely in my window with my matching knitted bunting and Christmas wreath....

 

.....so there you have it my friends lots of crafte nook craftiness.....

 

.....hugs to you all my friends...

....Pixie....

x

 

 

 

....Im back....im back.....im back......Yaaaay...

.....Oh my goodness.....what an epic quandary.....

.....Don't you just hate modern technology some times,,i know i do.......oh but its good to be back...i had visions of saying '' Cheerio, its been nice knowing you all''....and pulling the plug, but Mr P and i have sorted it........thankfully it didn't mean me having to hand over large sums of cash to Google, though i would of done if it hadn't been for all of you lot out there.......

 

.......THANK YOU......oh so much to everyone that left me such lovely comments and emails, and to everyone who gave so much advice......it was such a comfort to know that i wasn't the only one experiencing these dilemmas......

 

......The problem was, that me being a bear of very little brain i have been taking nice big pictures with my lovely lumix and not realising that pixel size is most important when uploading to the Internet.....so now i have down sized my piccies i am now at the FREE photo size....Phew !!.......

 

....So simple....

 

.....Of course this means that the photos that i took to show you how to make a fabric wreath i now cant show you because i have used up my space for free big pictures, but i can show you a new picture of it finished.........and instead of the pictures of each step of making it i shall show you sections finished and try and explain it from there..........

 

...............So here it goes..........oh its good to be back xx.........

....So....firstly wreath all finished....

..( i think my photos may not be quite so clear because i now have to stretch them to fit in nicely)..

 

 

.....next....get yourself some strong fabric , a large dinner plate and a smaller plate, a pair of scissors, lots of bits of green fabric, needle cottons, pins etc...

 

.....Cut your fabric into a rectangle, fold in half, this needs to big enough to draw round your large dinner plate....

.....Now cut out your circle shape and draw round the smaller plate in the middle of your circle....then cut out the centre.....pin all round.....you should now have a great big polo mint....

 

....Sew all around the outside edge of your circle, then sew all round the middle circle bit leave a gap for stuffing......the edges will be frayed but it doesn't matter as no one will see.....

 

...once stuffed cut out lots and lots of different leaf shapes from your green bits of fabric, ( there's a template for some leaves in last months Mollie makes )...and tack these to your wreath........then just add whatever you like.......shells, buttons, acorns, bits and bobs, whatever you fancy......

 

 

 

 

 

.......Happy stitchin'.....

......Pixie...

x

 

 

 

 

....I'm still here.....

.....Yes I'm still sitting here in a quandary.....i still don't know what to do.......

......just sittin' here quietly stitching pocket watches, and quietly stitching flowers, and quietly crocheting away, and quietly annoyed by the whole thing.....

.....Do you know that google want me to pay nearly three dollars a month for some extra space, is that right ?....it works out about thirty quid a year.........that cant be right, can it?.....


.....Anyway, i shall keep you all posted, i wanted to show you my Christmas fabric wreath that i have made but it looks like that's going to have to wait a bit while i figure out what to do......

........so cheerio for now......

Pixie xx

....*&^ What ^*"....

......Hello my dear bloggy friends, i wonder if i might ask you all a question.....

 

.....Now please forgive my naivety,, i am but a simple pixie, but i was not aware of this in blog land....

 

 

......I have just tried to do a new post for you all and attach as usual some photos of my attempts at making things, i went to add a photo and a box came up saying i had run out of space and i needed to buy some more space ??......now i am aware that you have to delete a few images from picasa occasionally when you want to add a new picture in your side bars or a new header, i am always running out of space for these things,,,,,,,,,but i have never been asked to purchase more space so i can add pictures to my posts.............has anybody else out there had this happen, has anybody else out there now paying monthly instalments to Google so you can add a picture to your posts ??

.......Please let me know your thoughts and answers to this........am i a bit thick or am i being had, so to speak...........like i say, please excuse my thickness if i have got this all completely wrong.......

 

.....However, if i do need to be paying for my space to blog, what do i do? and how much should i agree to pay each month...........I'm confused..

 

......obviously no pictures to show as i am now not allowed....

Pixie ????

 

 

 

....Dedication # 2.....

.....Its been a really long time since i did a dedication to a top crafter.......the last one i did was on Julie Arkell way back when i first started this blog.......so its long over due for another one.......

......Now firstly i want to say there are an unbelievable amount of first class crafters out there.....absolutly tons of you who inspire me daily and leave me quite breathless with your incredible crafting abilities, and this does include pretty much all of you who follow me along on my little blog space or drop me a kindly comment or two,, you all are quite remarkable but there is one crafter that i have followed along for a couple of years now, simply because she really does produce the most incredible crochet and embroidered goodies that i have ever seen.......

.....This amazing french lady knits, sews, quilts, crochets, embroiders, dyes and spins, just about everything..

.....Everything she creates is inspired by nature, the elements, and the seasons.....

.....Here is a small selection of some of the hundreds of items that she creates......

......''Clothogancho''.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.....such an inspiring lady....

 

.....see you soon...

 

Pixie

x

 

 

 

.....Selvedge winter fair 2012......

.....Oh my dear bloggy friends what a fantastic show indeed......

.....I don't know where to start......i think every textile artist that i love and admire was there, the crafts were breath taking....i wanted to buy everything but i told myself i was there to reignite my own creative juices and not to spend everybodies Christmas present money that i had put aside on myself......( hard ),so restraint was most definitely the order of the day............but oh so difficult not to get that credit card out i can tell you.........



.....Anyway moving onto the second bestest day of the year ( first one being the workshop with Julie Arkell ), i went with every intention of bringing you heaps and heaps of glorious photos of this wonderful event......but guess what......''Photo taking was not really allowed''....''OH B*gg*r''...........


.....But never fear.....i very very discreetly took a quicky snap from my phone from the stage overlooking the whole thing,, actually this wasn't the whole thing, it was actually huge but this was the main hall.......and also asked the permission of one or two stallholders if they would mind if i took a picture or two........

.....sorry there not very clear, as the small amount of pictures i did take i took on my phone....

 

......here's another.....

 

 

 

 

.......Off course the wonderful Julie Arkell was there and we stood and had a little chat about this and that , i asked her if she would mind if i took a picture on my phone of her wonderful stall  and she really didn't mind one bit...........what a lovely lady......

 

 

 

....again dear readers i am sorry for the poor quality of the pictures..though i was most lucky to get these.....

 

 

......right next to Julies stand was 'Samantha Bryan', who makes the most gorgeous aeronautical fairies........she was a lovely person to chat too and was only to happy to let me take a piccy of her creations......

 

 

.....oh so cute....

 

 

.......Whilst walking around in a trance i came across the very talented 'Jessie Chorley'....her beautiful hand made vintage brooches and journals and many other fabric textiles have always had a place in my heart......and i did ask her if she would mind if i took a photo or two of her stall...and she was quite happy for me to do that....i promised her i would do a link to her gorgeous blog and her even more gorgeous shop ( more on the shop later ).......

 

 

 

 

......Abigail Brown was there too with her beautiful hand made birds, i couldn't get a photo here so i have used a couple from her website.....

 

 

 

.....The incredible ''Sophie Digard''......her scarves and brooches were there to buy......but you needed a large bank account for these beauties (  pictures used from Pinterest, i hope nobody minds as i couldn't get photos of these either ).....

 

 

 

 

.....This little beauty that i have a picture of in my Pinterest site i had in my hand, and came oh so close to buying him.........but i didn't.......how good am i?.......or am i an idiot,,,hmmmm...

 

 

.....Embroidered bird by 'Apolline'......

 

 

.......Wonderful doll maker, who is in the new Nov/Dec issue of Selvedge......''Sarah Strachan''......

.....her dolls are so cute....

 

 

 

 

.....Lets see who else was there......i mean there were tons and tons of stall holders....so many i cant remember them all......

 

.....Made in Hastings....

 

....Gudrun sjorden....

 

.....The black rabbit.....

 

.....Les soeurs Anglaise.....

 

.....So so many incredibly talented crafters, i think even Mr Pixie was impressed....

 

 

 

....So after leaving the show ( which i didn't want to, i wanted to stay all day ), we headed over to our favourite little part of London 'Spittlefields'.....i love Spittle fields, its such an alternative interesting part of London, with loads of vintage and unique one of shops......a top place for poets and authors to hang out, but there was one shop which i still hadn't been too,, this was ''J&B'' Jessie Chorley and Buddig's little nook shop......

 

 

.....And here it is.....

 

 

 

 

 

......Inside was an Aladdins cave of hand made bliss.....and i asked the lovely young lady in there if it would be ok to take a couple of pictures inside the shop to show my readers, and she said that it was just fine..........excellent..

 

 

 

 

....Buddug ( pronounced i think, Butthig ), is the other amazing artist who shares the same space as Jessie,  she makes lots of wonderful items out of enamel, please do click on this link to go and read all about the two of them, they are a truly talented pair.....

 

 

 

......I had such an inspiring day, and came away well and truly eager to get back into craft.........you see, i have had quite a drop in enthusiasm to create of late,, actually its been quite a while,, just haven't seem to be able of get the incentive to make, or even finish the half hundred weight of items all sitting about waiting for me to finish them off.......but now i think i may be able to get back to having a good sort out, i just needed a creative boost.......

 

......If anyone else went to the fair i would love to hear from you, what a great place to maybe meet some fellow bloggers at the next Selvedge fair......

 

.....Have a good week everyone.....

Pixie x