Creating in the Mouse House

These little fellows are guardians of the Mouse House. They watch over me during my creative outbursts.
Oh, how I long for an organised space, I look at some fab -u -lous studios on so many blogs and can only dream of being so sorted!

I bought this Arts and Crafts dresser a couple of years ago for £100, it is far too big for my room but I love it. The top holds my collection of china but hidden away in the cupboards and drawers are my creative bits and pieces, paints, beads, threads, all those little things. Can you spot those darling mice?

My Dining table is my workspace, I fold fabric for workshops and fairs.

It is my main creative space and can get rather busy.

The chairs belonged to my Great grandmother, I remember them being in her bedroom they were made by her husband. The pencil drawings on the wall were done by my grandad in the 1950's.

Those ladies are so elegant.

It's so nice to be surrounded by my families creative efforts.

I love making patchwork quilts and have recently been machine quilting.

When I am using my glue gun I settle down on my sofa and really make a mess.

Every New Year I resolve to be more organised and less messy.

I honestly do keep trying, I manage to create in all this mess which is a miracle.

Those mice must really be my guardian angels!

When I finish my work I can walk by the beach and gets lots more inspiration or go on a blog hop and dream of a tidy workspace.

I'm actually having a good time in my tiny messy creative space. I'm full of ideas so if you don't hear from me for a while I'm buried in a muddle making beautiful things.

Gifts for a special friend.

Its my second post this weekend as I wanted to show you the goodies I made for my friend in Winchester who I am going to visit on Tuesday.

My friend is a Quilter who has been so busy with house renovation and work that she hasn't done any stitching. I put together a little book with the hope of inspiring her.

I've put a few goodies inside that I think will be useful. A tape measure, a pack of quilting needles, a notebook for jotting down ideas and instructions for the clam shell piecing she liked so much at the exhibition at the V&A in London.

Finally a couple of piece of fabric to stitch!

My friends Mum has been under the weather since being stuck in her car for several hours in

last winters snow, she has been not feeling herself for a long time. She is a talented embroiderer so I made her a book too,

I hope these little books will cheer them up, I spent a couple of pleasant

hours making them and I'm really looking forward to my day out!!

A taste of Italy.

A little taste of Italy has come to Babbacombe Festival with an Italian Market in St Marychurch shopping precinct. Lots of lovely stalls selling all things Italian, fabulous cheeses and salamis, parma ham and olives, delicious wines and wonderful olive oils.

Along with breads and cakes there were scrumptious soft nougats and gorgeous chocolate.

What a great time I had shopping for supper. A bottle of smooth red wine, some creamy gorgonzola, parma ham, salami and olives. What a treat!

Finished off with some dark Italian chocolate.

I am not a World cup fan so I enjoyed my Italian supper watching an English film about gardeners.

Enjoy your weekend my bloggy friends,

xox Angela.

French General goes Crazy.

I bought these beautiful fabrics last Christmas. They are Rounneries by French General for Moda. I love the soft reds and faded browns. They have been sitting in there bag with a bar of French soap and every time I get them out to look at they smell divine.

I have been looking at them regularly since January waiting for inspiration. I want to use them in my sitting room which is also my studio. ( remember this apartment is a Mouse House so has tiny proportions, every room is dual purpose.)

Following Pats progress on her crazy quilting http://patwintergatherings/ gave me the idea of Crazy Quilting .

I love to have some hand stitching with me when I sit on the beach and usually get lots more done during my summer expeditions than in the winter. Outdoor light is so good to stitch in.

So out came the fabrics once again and this time I have made the first of my cushions.

Here's the pieced fabrics, I have kept the pieces quite large so that I can enjoy the fabric designs.

Having collected some threads and trims I'm ready to start stitching.

I haven't done much Crazy patchwork before but it combines my love of hand stitching with a passion for fabrics so here goes. I need to get these done to give my room a makeover for next winter. These lovely colours will warm up a dreary English winter. I've started on the first seams keeping to the colour theme. I'm of for a long walk today and my stitching is coming with me so that I can sit on the beach and sew for an hour, I think I am suited to 'Crazy' quilting, I'll update you on my progress.