My latest craft project: vintage fabric applique rabbit hoop

At the start of the year I decided to try and make more time for creativity. I wrote a post about the therapeutic effect of being creative. Sewing makes me relaxed and happy, so I resolved to do more of it this year. Alongside this, I've launched a new blog linky called "Crafting is my Therapy", it acts as a place for people to share their crafty skills. With Spring on the horizon and Easter only a few weeks away, this months project is bunny-themed.

Over the past couple of weeks I have sewn a colourful applique rabbit using vintage fabric and calico. I love blanket stitch and try and incorporate it into my sewing projects wherever possible. This version uses a floral fabric in shades of turquoise and cobalt blue. A few months ago I created a similar applique hoop using orange and chocolate brown vintage fabric.

Over the years I have amassed a wide selection of vintage fabrics so there is scope for me to make more variations. I find this particular manmade fabric features colours that really pop and they rarely fade.

I love the finished effect, but they aren't the easiest things to sew. It's quite hard work getting the needle through calico and the thick vintage fabric. The smaller blanket stitch around the ears was particularly fiddly. Having said that, I do still enjoy making them.

Looking forward to next month's project I'm particularly keen to practise some new embroidery stitches. The latest Crafting is my Therapy linky goes live this Friday on the 4th March...the focus of the linky is crafting for pleasure, basically taking some ‘me-time’ to unwind in our busy lives.

It doesn’t have to be a finished project, I love seeing work in progress photos or tutorial posts too. I hope any crafty bloggers reading this will come and join in with Crafting is my Therapy #2

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if you'd like to sew more of my sewing projects, I have a "Sewing is my Therapy" board over on Pinterest:

Follow Pouch : blogging + craft's board Sewing Is My Therapy on Pinterest.

This week I'm linking up with:

The 'Making Home' link up over on www.mrscraftyb.co.uk

Blogger Club UK over on www.cuddlefairy.com and mudpiefridays.com

spring, sunshine and seeds

The past couple of weeks have been glorious here in the UK. Sunshine nearly everyday, above average temperatures and loads of time to get out & about in the garden. Spring has to be one of the most magical times, everything is bursting back into life. I adore seeing the blossom arrive on the trees and planning the seeds I'm going to plant.

I've been planting out calendula, nasturtium and some other 'purple flower' I grew last year. The calendula came out of packet of mixed seeds last year & I fell in love with them. With regular dead-heading, they flowered all Summer long. I saved a heap of seeds from last year's plants & they've been drying in a cup all through the Winter.

Our apple tree was really unhappy last year. It didn't fruit at all & the leaves turned brown. I gave the tree a prune for the first time & so far, it looks much happier this year. It's starting to bud with blossom and the leaves look much better.

I also love nasturtium. I'm a big fan of easy plants that look after themselves and churn out heaps of flowers. I've planted a couple of seeds per fibre pot. The good thing about fibre pots is you can put them into the ground & not disturb the seedlings roots. I bought mine from Wilko, they are only 80 pence for 12 so definitely worth buying a few for your seedlings. I also go around pushing nasturtium seeds in here & there around the garden & wait to see what pops up later in the Summer.


The unidentified 'purple flower' has already started to sprout & I will need to pot them on soon. They also came out of the packet of mixed seeds last year & once again I saved lots of seedpods from the plants & dried them over the Winter.

I think possibly one of the best Spring-time treats is seeing the cherry blossom appear. It's so fleeting, gone after a few days, but it is utterly beautiful whilst it is around. We have two cherry trees, so I get to see plenty of my favourite blossom.


This week I'm linking up with 'How Does Your Garden Grow' #HDYGG over on www.mammasaurus.co.uk

Fun making upcycled Easter hats at the Children's Scrapstore

I'm a huge fan of the Children's Scrapstore. I wrote a feature about them for UK Handmade back in the Summer of 2013. I love the ethos of taking varied scrap materials collected from local businesses and using it for creative play.

We often visit the Scrapstore on a Saturday morning & love spending time rummaging through the scrap. Children are encourage to create something on a particular theme, like robots or sea creatures. Last Saturday it was Easter hats.

There's so much to love about the Scrapstore, lots of large tubs filled with brightly couloured fabrics, stickers, card and foam. Magoo can never resist throwing herself on the neon netting in glee, it's a visual feast for any child's eyes.

Once we'd had a look round, Magoo got to work with cardboard, pens, glue & shiny paper. She made a natty rabbit-hat with decorated ears, a foam nose & googly eyes.

I also had a go at making a rabbit-hat. I used cardboard, foam and strips of the neon netting Magoo loves so much.

Only thing was, I got my measurements a bit wrong & it's too small for my head. It's even too small for Magoo's head. So teddy had to model it!

I'm linking up with Let Kids be Kids, #ordinarymoments over on www.mummydaddyandmemakesthree.co.uk, My Best Post of the Week #MBPW over on www.britmums.com

Capture by Lucy's Springtime Surprise Project

Back in January whilst I was pootling about on Twitter, I spotted the hashtag #springtimesurpriseproject. Curious, I searched for that particular tag & found out Lucy from the wonderful Capture by Lucy had created a little project to spread some cheer this Spring.

As Lucy explains on her site:

"The Springtime Surprise Project is about doing something nice, just because. Something kind, thoughtful and all for a stranger. It's about celebrating all that is good about the connections we make on the internet."

I thought it sounded like a great idea, so I registered my details on the Surprise Project website & waited to hear about my Surprise Partner. Lucy tinkered with the matching & organising and after a few weeks I received an email containing my partners address & her gift preferences. It was quite spooky because my Springtime Surprise Partner lived a few hundred yards away from a place we used to live about a decade ago.

I received my Surprise Gift in March. The project had been in the back of my mind, but it was still a surprise when the parcel dropped through the letterbox because I had no idea exactly when it would appear. It was so lovely to receive a parcel with four carefully wrapped packets with a hand written card explaining in detail why each gift had been chosen.

The gifts pretty much ticked all the boxes for me, handmade, vintage & bright colours. What more could I ask for?

I hope Lucy decides to run this project again because it certainly creates a connection between people & hopefully brings a smile to someone's face.

Spring has arrived at Court Farm in Somerset

It looks like Spring has finally arrived. We spent a fun day bottle feeding the lambs, cooing over the chicks, watching some baby goats settle into their new home and lots of fun on the zip wire at Court Farm in Somerset.

In Britain we love to moan about the weather. But if we didn't have the damp & dreary Winter months, I don't think we'd appreciate the re-emergence of the sun & lazy days outdoors quite as much. My Mum has a friend with a son who is an artist in Los Angeles. He loves to travel back in Winter to his parent's house in the UK just to see the beauty of a frost in the morning.

Saturday was the first day this year we've all been out & about without our coats on...a red letter day for us Brits!

It really was lovely to feel the warm sun on our faces.

Court Farm is located about 2-3 miles outside Weston-super-Mare and in my opinion, March & April are two of the best months to visit. They have lots of baby lambs to feed & all the children who came along to sit on a straw bale got a chance to hold a bottle. Some were brave enough to hold very wriggly lambs for a cuddle. Magoo loved holding the bottle, although it's always a shock to see how strong these small lambs are when they get a whiff of some milk.

We also saw baby chicks making quick progress around the farmyard...with the mother hen never too far away.

There is plenty of farm land to roam over and we took a stroll down to the lake to say hello to the donkeys.

Alongside the newer residents taking most of the limelight in the large barn, there is a selection of more 'mature' sheep, goats, ponies and pigs in various other barns dotted around Court Farm.

Enjoying our first outdoor ice lolly of the season...

Court Farm also has plenty of outdoor play space, including a large wooden fort, trampolines and Magoo's favourite - zip wires!

I'm linking up with these lovely blogs Country Kids, #ordinarymoments over on www.mummydaddyandmemakesthree.co.uk, #magicmoments on theoliversmadhouse.co.uk, Let Kids be Kids, ‘Living Arrows' on Shutterflies blog and last, but not least #brilliantblogposts over on honestmum.com

First signs of Spring

It has been cold here in the UK. In fact, it has been the coldest March since, well, I don't know, since a long, long time ago! I cannot personally remember a March this cold. But, having said that, I prefer cold and dry weather to mild and damp, which is the other default setting for weather here in the UK.

The past few days have been freezing but bright, clear and sunny. Despite all the plants shivering deep down into their roots, there are some signs of Spring emerging.

Ever the optimist, I ordered loads of seeds a couple of weeks ago. Whilst the sun was out I thought it was the perfect time to get planting. So today we've sown Basil, Green Beans, Beetroot, Nasturtiums, Rudbekia and Sunflowers. This is the first year my daughter has been old enough to help me plant the seeds. She loved dibbing the holes in the soil and carefully dropping the seeds in. Obviously tiny fingers are perfect for holding all those lovely little seeds! So, we just need to sit back, keep our fingers crossed for sunshine and let nature do all the hard work...

Spring 2013 Issue

Brighten up a drab and dreary day, and blow away those cobwebs with the UK Handmade spring issue!

Alongside the regular selection of gorgeous handmade goodies, tutorials, recipes and reviews, UK Handmade brings you exclusive interviews with inspiring designers and makers who use their own unique creativity to provide us with a fresh take on everyday items. So throw off those winter woollies, fling open your windows and breathe in some FRESH air.

You can view it here

UK Handmade is a design led online magazine committed to showcasing and promoting the best creative talent the UK has to offer. You can find out more about the magazine and submitting articles here

New colourway! amber and chocolate

I've just listed these lovelies in my Etsy and Folksy stores, a brand new colourway - amber and chocolate!

Made with vintage fabric in my absolute favourite colour combination, brown and orange - it's the two colours that scream 'vintage' whenever I'm sourcing new fabric. I think most of my clothes were brown in the 70s and I remember asking my Mum when I was little, 'why is everything in our house brown mummy?' and the answer I got was 'because it's fashionable'!

This gorgeous fabric came my way via Sally at Tinkering Textiles, also something of a vintage fabric aficionado!

Hope you like them! Lavender rabbit in amber and chocolate

Charity listing - Lavender rabbit in spring green

Back in January I wrote a blog post about creating some vintage fabric rabbits to raise money for my local children's hospice. I have now completed the rabbits and they are now available to buy in my etsy and folksy stores:

Etsy listing of Lavender rabbit in spring green
Folksy listing of Lavender rabbit in spring green



I am raising money for the Children's Hospice in the South West of England. 50% of the retail price will go straight to the charity. The Children's Hospice provide invaluable support for families looking after children with incurable illnesses. The support they give extends to the whole family, into bereavement and beyond for as long as each family needs them.

You can find out more by visiting their website
Children's Hospice South West

I want to try and raise as much money as possible, so if you are on twitter please feel free to tweet about this, if you write a blog and would like to feature my Spring Green rabbits, then please feel free to do that too! If you would like further info, or more images, please contact me and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

Spring Cleaning

I'm not sure if you can say you 'treat' yourself to cleaning products, it depends on how much you love housework I guess. But I have to say, I'm a tiny bit in love with the Earth Friendly range of cleaning stuff!



I am something of a reluctant domestic goddess at the best of times, but even I love using the Parsley surface cleaner - it has such a fresh smell and leaves everything sparkling. Plus the skin isn't stripped from your hands, your nose isn't affronted with artificial chemicals and whatever gets washed down the sink wont harm aquatic life.

When I ordered my latest selection of Earth Friendly products, I received a free gift - a Michael's Originals washing-up luffa. they are designed to be used instead of those plasticky scourer sponges you can buy. I must admit, it does feel a bit strange doing the washing up with a loofah, but they certainly work well. As it says on their website, they have been used for many years in other countries - sometimes traditional ideas are the best.

"In the Philippines, luffas have been used as washing-up scourers for generations. Continuing this tradition, Michael's Luffas are grown to organic principles on his parent's farm for this purpose. Ideal for washing-up, Michael's luffas are supple enough to bend round rims, reach into corners and have plenty of scrubbing power. They last for between 3 and 12 months and when they are worn out can be composted, saving landfill."