Bird in the hand

Bird in the hand

Stop the presses! I just got an email from the super-talented Etsy seller The Wren, telling me about her brand new bird purses. Without a second thought, I zooted over to her Etsy shop and snagged the beauty above!

This one below was a close second place for me, and there are more to choose from too. But hurry, these are ones-off!

And while you're there, check out her beautiful bags, and read The Wren's blog too.

Mugs - now in my shop

Mugs - now in my shop

At last, I have a new teatowel design in my Etsy shop . I drew all the vintage teacups and mugs in our house, and turned them into this design, which I'm calling Mugs. It comes in three rather odd, but quite delicious colours that somehow ended up being given berry names.

The first colourway (also above) is Gooseberry...

This one's called Raspberry,

And this one, fairly predictably, is Blueberry.
If you like them, hurry over to my Etsy shop and click BUY. The first few people to buy will get a nice surprise, so hurry!

Embroidered

Embroidered
Love this Japanese embroidery book from Etsy seller Pomadour24 , and adore these embroidered teacups.

I'll have some teacups of my own to show you next week, so watch this space...

Happy weekend!

Guess how old this design is...

Guess how old this design is...

Well, amazingly enough, the little buck I used in repeat for my Multibuck design is over 2000 years old, and comes from a cave painting in the Cederberg region of the Western Cape.

My cartographer friend, Peter Slingsby, knows all about this region's topography, history and art, and has published books on all of these topics. He's also the person who lovingly traced the image from a photo of the painting on rock and kindly allowed me to use it in my design.

These two Multibuck cushions are now for sale in my Etsy shop, and Pete's books are for sale online at Mapshop, as well as in bookstores all over South Africa.

Plumberry Weeds

Plumberry Weeds
I've admitted before that I have a strong aversion to the colour purple, but for some reason, I felt compelled to print Summer Weeds in a rather purpley new colourway. Maybe I'm starting to soften on the purple issue at last. And just in time too, it seems: I heard Design*Sponge saying on Tuesday that purple is hot hot hot!

Anyway, to distract myself, I'm calling the colour "Plumberry", and I actually think it looks really nice! Hop on over to my shop to see more pics.

PS: I was supposed to have a brand new teatowel design on my Etsy shelves this week, but it seems I still have lots to learn about the silkscreening process. Sniff. Still, watch this space cos I think it'll turn out well in the end...

It's official

It's official

Etsy seller Absoluut has the best vintage fabric pillows in the world. I'm putting these up here as a displacement activity to stop me from buying them myself.

Actually, my arid bank account is what's stopping me, but nonetheless, they Must Be Bought, so here they are, folks. Go geddem.

Jesse's Coffee

Jesse's Coffee

Last week ended on a high note with Jesse's launch of her graphic novel, I Don't Like Chocolate, and look what I got my hands on: Mmmm - "Coffee".

I'm the lucky bum who has the original exquisite ink drawing, but you can buy a print of the same from Jesse's prints shop on Etsy. Go quickly! It's a limited edition!

PS: Thanks to everyone for all the great comments on my papercuts. I've been overwhelmed by the positive response! I'll keep you posted about what I end up doing with them, but for now, I'm just enjoying making things for absolutely no reason!

Hanging with Annie

Hanging with Annie

This is too sweet. Annie from Chicago, one of my most loyal customers, has sent me pics of the "garden" she's made with her lovely fabric flowers and a collection of Skinny laMinx teatowels, all on the wall of her quilting studio. Thanks so much, Annie! It looks fantastic.

Thanks, too, to Katelynjane of EtsyAlberta blog, for posting a little interview with me, which you can read by clicking here. Much appreciated!

Aprons at last

Aprons at last!

It's not like I haven't had them lying around my studio since November, it's just been finding the time to take all the product shots. And also finding a way of photographing the back that doesn't making my bum look big!

But here we are at last - aprons in my Etsy shop, available in Orla and Spoons prints.

Ouno

Ouno
This amazing bedspread made from vintage scarves (including some by Vera) is by Ouno Design and is for sale both on their website and in the Ouno Etsy shop.


Lots of Ouno's recycled and upcycled things are very interesting. There's also some fur stuff that kind of scares the vegetarian me, although I'm sure our cats would lurve it!

ps: I've had this post mouldering away in my drafts folder for ages, but when I spotted Ouno on Style Files yesterday, I thought I'd finally give it wings.

Shop update

Shop update

I've finally got a few new cushions in my Etsy shop.

Two in my Summer Day print, and one in red Eep!

I luv u

Skinny luvs...

Sales in my shop have been spectacular this Christmas season, but I couldn't have done it without my trusty sidekicks, including Royal Mail, the friendly Postnet in Kloof Street, Etsy and Blogger.

I also want to say thanks so much to all the lovely people who visit my blog and shop. All your comments, support, kindness and friendliness over this year have been fantastic. xoxo

Abigail's everywhere

Abigail's everywhere!

After a very satisfying and friendly swap with Scottish jeweller Abigail Percy last week (that necklace will soon be mine!), I sat down this morning to prepare a post about her beautiful work.

Before starting, I took a quick visit to Bloesem, where she had written about Abigail's collaboration with Portuguese illustrator Ana Ventura. Aren't these little earrings adorable? They're available in Ana's shop.

Then, when I clicked through to Design*Sponge's Design Blogger's gift guide, I saw that Abigail's planning to give my teatowels as gifts this year! Clearly, Abigail's in the air, just everywhere!

Keep up with what Abigail is up to by visiting her blog, and keep checking into her Etsy shop so that you don't miss any of her one-off pieces.

Scandi Love forever

Scandi Love Forever

More mugs. This time on the wall of a kitchen in Stockholm, found on This is Love Forever. The author, Kayte Terry, appears to share my lurve of Scandinavian design, and has written a great trends post on the subject over at the Storque (she gave my Borrowed Spoons a look-in - cool!).

(Photo originally from Stockholm's Love Apartments by Jeu de Paume)

Pink bloesem

Pink Bloesems

Irene from Bloesem has been such a kind blog friend to me (essentially, she's the one who got me to open my Etsy shop!). So I'm very pleased to be able to return the favour by telling you about the elegant and beautiful jewellery Irene has made, called the Pink Collection, now on sale in the Bloesem Etsy shop.

This one's my favourite - called Number 20. Hurry! They're all one-off pieces!

Wood Belt

While we're on the subject...

Talking of pretty belts, I’ll be picking up this beautiful buckle from the post office later today. I got it from the very sweet people at Star of the Sea Supplies in Turkey. Isn’t the Internet fantastic?

PS: The belt in Thursday’s post was made by the brilliant Chloe Townsend of Missibaba. You have to check out her leather bags and belts on her website. This girl is super talented.

Kittyblog? Absoluutly not!

Ooh, look! My beautiful new cushions from Absoluut have arrived.

What? Did someone suggest I'm just using cushions as an excuse to post lots and lots of pictures of our beautiful little Monkey making lurve to the camera? Who, moi?

Jesse on Etsy
Check out Jesse’s gorgeous hand block-printed fabrics, now on sale in her Etsy shop!

And if you’re keen to try some block printing yourself (I am!), read Jesse’s great tutorials on the subject. Start here, then go here, and finish here.

Summer Day - new on Etsy
I've got a new teatowel design in my Etsy shop today!

I've called this one Summer Day. The element making up the repeat is a cutout I made from a diagram of a floral inflorescence, but the overall design makes me think of dandelion seeds drifting across a summer sky.

It's printed in two colourways, which I've called Poppyseed and Dry Grass .

(And thanks for the great plug, Grace!)

Concentric calendar

I'm so impressed with this beautiful limited edition calendar made by Etsy seller, Debi van Zyl.





It's printed and bound with a wood strip, and then Debi has cut the concentric circles by hand!

Beautiful! Check out Debi's blog to see more of her work and inspiration.