Christmas Sacks

 A print session of letters for an Australian customer.  The Christmas sacks are back.  Round up all your nieces and nephews and you're sorted for present buying in one hit! Buy them here and here

State of Craft - coming soon!

I'm extremely excited about this book! 

A while ago I made some storage buckets to go in our hallway.  I used my pebble design for them.
They still haven't made it to my hallway but they are in this fabulous new book from Cicada!

From the pioneers of the new craft revolution in book form (Making Stuff) here is Ziggy Hanaor and Victoria Woodcock's latest page turner, State of Craft.

I can't wait to get my hands on it to see all the lovely stuff there is to make, with interviews and how to-s on every page, from some top folks of the crafting world!
My first serious step by step tutorial, you will find it in there somewhere.  A big thanks to Ziggy and Victoria for including my buckets.

 Out very soon!

Thames Festival Here I come!

Oh dear, long time no see me!
Sorry everyone who ever might read my little blog. I've been absent of late, sunning myself in France with the family then back with a whirlwind of things to do.

Only as I packed my boxes into Jessica's(aka of Cabbages and Kings) big Luton van this evening, did I finally admit that I will be having a stall at The Thames Festival this weekend.

Early start tomorrow then, getting it all looking ship shape.  I'm sharing with some super lovely people and hoping that the weather will be kind, it should be a fantastic weekend.

Find me at the Craft HQ with Sannapanda and friends , Cabbages & Kings and Craft Guerrilla - all info here or click on the map

Holiday Club Screenprint Workshop

Holiday Club screenprinting bags with kids, originally uploaded by Helen Rawlinson.

A printathon, bags galore, then t-shirts the following week. Just something I've been doing over the hols! See them all on my Flickr

Sunday Sewing....from Tea Towel to Tote

From Tea Towel to Tote, originally uploaded by Helen Rawlinson.

So much happening but no time to post. A birthday present to a friend inspired these new tote bags, made from my tea towels no less! I've just dropped them in my Not On The High Street Shop and will be adding them to Etsy very soon. I think a little tutorial might be in order. Watch this space!

Holidays and time for chaos

My lovely boy has just finished his first reception year at school.  He seems to have had such a great time and we're lucky to have such a nice school so near to us.
Time for chaos and disorganisation but hopefully some good old fashioned play. I'm looking forward to blogging a few of our days out for a change!
I dashed to the studio this morning to continue my back log of printing/making etc. etc (Stan went off to the cinema with his dad).  This gorgeous little tray arrived in the post while I was mid print, so I had to take a pic, along with my new mugs we fired last week  (I broke one in the process, outdoor windy weather hazards!).  I also took a few new tea towel shots as the last lot looked a bit cold.
Anyway, enjoy your summer everyone.  I'll be back soon. x

I found this via a rather lovely Treasury I was featured in thanks to Barbara from vintage Etsy shop Look On My Treaures  It's by Vera Neumann for Mikasa (I already have a plate see here) and I'm becoming a big fan.  I bought the tray from Kelly at another great vintage shop Patch Happy Pauper.  Sadly due to my rather impulsive purchase it was removed from the treasury during the RESERVED process of organising UK Shipping.  Luckily Kelly was very happy with the sale and I'm now a very happy collector!

Another shot at the tea towels and my new mugs now on Etsy

Poppytalk Handmade - the table is laid!

Just a quick note to say I'm pleased to be On The Road this month over at Poppytalk Handmade.
You can find my table here
There are some lovely shops, so I'll be sure to report back on my finds when I get another minute!

Etsy Loves

I am a big voyeur on Etsy and am not shy of liking lots of things.  If I bought everything I wanted I'd be seriously out of pocket.  Occasionally, I do actually buy something because I just can't resist.  The above little brooch is one such thing and when it arrived I fell in love! Cute or what?  Character, detail, frivolity, patience..it's all there in this mini miaow.

But now I want this one!
The lovely thing about Adatinė ( a partnership of friends, Elena and Ieva from Lithuania) is that new things keep popping up all the time and they are all just as appealing as the next.  So I better not look for a while or I'll have a whole menagerie pinned to my cardi in no time at all!
The clothes are lovely too!


I'm pretty sure I found Adatinė originally through Debbie over at Kickcan and Conkers.  Always a good place to go, to point you in the direction of lovely, unusual finds!

I'd love to pull up all the gorgeous things I spy and shout about them here on my blog...but it all seems to take so much time.  It's not all just about me, me, me, honest!  So, bravo to those that do find the time, where would we be without them? 
Hooray for the rare occasion that I do write a post like this, but in the meantime I'll just keep on adding to my Etsy faves, or hop on over to Pinterest and you'll find me there - pin, pin, pinning...on my big, fat mood board of everything!

Right, I really am done for the weekend. x

Moroccan Tile goes Tea Towel Tastic!

So I'm a bit excited and my titles are getting rather corney...but I'm very happy to present my new tea towels.
As I never seem to have enough time in the day, I've gone down the production line and had a whole heap of these printed onto gorgeous organic cotton. Available in blue and red in my Etsy shop now!

The parade print tea towels are enjoying a little flurry of sales and treasury turns so lets hope these will do the same.
Sadly I can't get tea towel blanks in the organic cotton in the size I want for my studio printing, but I'm pleased to say that they are made up in the UK and I use good old waterbased inks for all my printing.
As always, biodegradable packaging is used throughout too, so I'm doing what I can to reduce the carbon footprint
My organic cotton for my fat quarters is soon to run out so I'm trying to source other eco fabrics that aren't at sky rocketing prices...not easy on this here British Island!  I'm working on it....

As for the mugs, the red ones go really nicely together with the new towels.  The darker blue one doesn't match so well unfortunately, as it ended up a bit on the mauve side, so I'll have to re work that one!
More block print mugs are going in the kiln tonight in Jo's studio, so let's hope they come out OK.

Anyway - tea towels to go......have a nice weekend everyone!
I'm at The Make Lounge tomorrow doing a screenprint hen party! Let's hope all the girls aren't too dressed up...it can get a little messy!

Having Fun on the River

 

 

We stepped out of our Hackney zone at the weekend and ventured into Essex for a spot of pedalling on the River Lee.  Stanley enjoyed getting his hands wet and out pedalo was called Happy. That just about sums it up.