Frame or no?

I was advised recently from a buyer at a fair I was at, that I would benefit from using purse frames instead of zips on my purses. That my stitched and printed pieces would work well with them and that they would be liable to move a lot quicker i.e. sell more!

So my question is this - what do you think? frame or zip?
All comments, thoughts and opinions welcome!

Thrifting and making............

What have you been up to lately??

I have been thrifting...

Old tablecloths and crochet doilies sent to me from a lovely lady I met at a fair, to reinvent into other things


A bag full of old trims and binding given to me by a work colleague (from her mum's over flowing stash!)


'New scraps' in the way of wonderfully colourful pieces from India from Yarnahoy. I have been looking for some really gorgeous colourful snippets of fabric to use in my work as well as the more muted vintage toned pieces



And making.....

Experimental new additions - cushions


Oval pins


Cushion


Hearts for a friend for her wedding, part of her gifts for a few special ladies. I'm waiting on a sketchbook through the post to cover for her for another v special lady too, will perhaps show pics when complete



A couple of page spreads from my journal, now that I have stitched all the pages into it.
I created these from paper and fabric scraps, such fun! I have used so many scraps up, bits of paper carrier bags, bits of random paper, photocopies of work, old monoprints, old used wrapping paper, old magazine pages and postcards with snippets of fabric stitched into the mix as well.



And finally a photo of my journal full with its pages, all handmade by me, I cannot tell you how much I have enjoyed making this

Now to be brave and actually use it, I don't want it to be too precious and be left unused!
Hope you're enjoying the sun wherever you are ;0 x

Journal commission.....

First of all, apologies! I was all packed and ready Friday for the Artisan Bazaar on Sunday, too organised I feel that I forgot to take my camera with me, I Never do this!!! and so I have no photos to share with you of the event and the other stalls there. So you'll just have to take my word that there were some v lovely items on the stalls there! I had a lovely day, sold items and made some new contacts with the other lovely sellers. Especially lovely items were to be found at Amma of me and Gill of Woolly Hearts stalls.

And so on to the next thing. I was asked a few weeks back about a commission of a journal cover by the lovely Leah in Australia. She had seen my journal cover on my flickr photo stream and asked if I could make one for her. Of Course I replied! How lovely to be asked to create something for someone else to use. She left the decision of colours etc up to me, so I was let loose with fabric snippets, thread and my sewing machine!

I had decided on blues, creams/whites after looking on Leah's blog and when I asked her for any likes she gave me the same choice of colours, so I was glad to know I was already on the right track to making a piece she would like and use! Mustard/yellow was added into the mix to add freshness and zest to the piece.



So here are snaps of the cover, showing you details and then the actual cover, but as always with such as this I don't think you can see all the details until you see the real thing!

swirly stitchery detail


fresh white flowers


teeny flower detail, this is one I made a while ago, dissolvable fabric with machine stitching


the spine with Leah's chosen words


fabric snippet flower


inside the cover


the final cover all wrapped up with it's tie


This will be making it's journey to t'other side of the globe v soon, I hope Leah enjoys using it. I can't wait to see what pages she fills it with x