Wish list

I finally succumbed to my Amazon wishlist this week and got some books for me and the kids. I got this Papertoy Monsters book after making some from my mum's copy of the book with the kids.

 Squidbeak: coincidentally, my nickname

this is a joke: do not call me squidbeak

It's brilliant, probably suitable for kids 7 or 8 years + due to all the sticking required.

You press the monsters out from the page and then follow the very well laid out instructions to stick the monsters together. You need double sided tape.

 This takes me back to the Walking Dead, 

or maybe earlier this morning just after I woke up

In truth, the kids chose them and I made them, but I enjoyed it, and they liked playing with them after.

Anyway, I bought a copy as I thought it would make a great boy's birthday present (or girl's). I find boys particularly hard to buy for when my daughter gets invited to the occasional boy party. As far as I can tell they mostly like fighting and running around and what can you buy for that?

Me at meal time

I eat with a trowel

Next up, with my daughter's 7th birthday looming, I read a review of this book in the paper and it looked brilliant, so here it is.

I loved bubble-writing when I was little and so this really appealed - How to be the best bubble writer ever.

cup cake bubble writing

shooting stars bubble writing

ribbon bubble writing - could this book be any more girly?

next up kitten writing and cuddly toy bubble writing

grrr monster writing, that's better

and robot bubble writing

And finally for me, I bought the book with the worst title ever - Hand Job. Basically it's the adult version of the bubble writing book, with hand drawn fonts and other very cool illustrations. It's full of so much inspiration of things to draw and design, a feast for your eyes.

Last photo is my studio*

Ideally I'd like to have the young' un doing some bubble writing while I flick through this book, but no. It's half term, it's a glorious day and the although the wind has droppped considerably since I made the promise earlier, we are off to fly a kite. Or drag it along the grass for half an hour, i'll see how things pan out.



*This is a lie.

Books for Christmas

Simple Sewing, Kokka and Kiyohara fabrics

I think books are a great present for anyone who loves sewing and crafting and there are so many amazing ones to chose from. Here is a selection of books that I have given or been given and a few I wouldn't mind adding to my bookshelf too.

Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing (above) is beautifully laid out with straight-forward projects that you would actually want to make, (rather than just look at). I have this book and have made loads from it including several doorstops, a draft excluder and door tidy.

Meet Me at Mike's and the new and nearly available Sew La Tea Do are by Pip Lincolne from the brilliant blog Meet me at Mike's who has without doubt the best about page ever. These would make very cool gifts. I love any book that is spiral bound, and this book is not just about sewing, it shows you a number of different crafts.

Meet Me at Mike's and Sew La Tea Do

If you or someone you know loves all things Japanese and Zakka, then have a look at Zakka Sewing. You will be pleased to hear that the instructions are IN ENGLISH! I bought this book a few years ago, and still enjoy looking through the gorgeous projects and planning what I will make. I even have some felt for the teacosy on the cover (despite the fact I don't ever use a teapot).

Zakka Sewing and Denyse Schmidt fabrics

Anna Maria Horner has several books out. As you would expect they are beautiful, Seams to Me  would make a lovely present for someone new to sewing or Handmade Beginnings would be perfect for a new mum.

Seams to Me, Handmade Beginnings and voiles

If you fancy designing your own fabric by printing at home, then I recommend Printing by Hand book (which I mentioned before here). It comes with some beautiful stencils to use and covers stamping, screenprinting, stenciling.

Or if you plan to have a go at printing your own fabrics through Spoonflower, then here are some great reference books.

I use Pattern and Palette Sourcebook all the time, I can't recommend it enough if you struggle to find colours that go together.

Pattern and Palette

I have mentioned this book before too (I was given it for Christmas last year!), if you are a fan of 1950's fabrics and Lucienne Day you will love The Fifties by the V & A.

The Fifties

The Petit Pattern series of books has been on my Amazon wishlist, FOREVER. They are quite pricey but maybe worth the investment if you are a fan of a particular style. The  Scandinavian and Japanese ones are my favourites of course.

Scandinavian and Japanese petit pattern

And finally if you or a friend are thinking of doing your crafty thing for a living then I also recommend Craft, Inc (there is a brand new sequel Creative, Inc too). They are written for the American market, but the advice and ideas are relevant elsewhere in the world. Also it's a really pretty book, I'm a sucker for the curved edges on the pages.

Craft, Inc and Creative, Inc

Honestly I could probably carry on all day suggesting books, I have had to stop myself from suggesting a hundred pretty kids books and coffee table books. But if there are any good sewing books you would recommend, please do share with a comment.

Childhood influences...

A trip back home at the end of the week had me looking through some of my old childhood books. I just love the illustrations, here are a few badly lit photos that I took.

I've been obsessively collecting some gorgeous Autumn leaves over the last few weeks, so I was really pleased to find this page on printing with leaves following on from the fun of printing with apples.

Here are the instructions incase you are interested...

I also found some telegrams from my parents wedding, aren't they beautiful? It's a shame they don't do them anymore. Loving the boy-band bell ringers and the doves.

The final book was entitled 'Travelling by Land' and I won it at school for 'Endeavour in Lower Kindergarten'. Makes it sound a little like I had to climb a mountain every day to get to school. I didn't, Poole is quite flat, but it's good to see I was a girly swot right from the outset. I love this book, it reminds me of the 'This is...' series in particular This is London.

And I saved the best for last. Finally I understand where my strongly held beliefs about my place on this planet come from, it was here in this book that the seed was sewn, right back in Lower Kindergarten. Children go to school, fathers go to work, and mothers ...

French children's books

In France I bought a couple of gorgeous children's books. We went into this bookshop in Dinard, and as far as I could tell, it was just a plain old bookshop, but the kid's section was AMAZING.

This book, 'The Tree House" is a picture book and I think is originally Dutch, but as there are no words, it's not a problem. I have a bit of a soft spot for polar bears, and the illustration in this book is just beautiful, take a look...

Sometimes at bedtime my children ask for a 'tell story' basically one I make up on the spot, usually involving characters named after them and their friends. Looking through this book may give me a useful backdrop to make up a story or 2, usually by bedtime I have had all the imagination sapped out of me by the aforementioned kids.

Another book I bought was 'Premiers printemps' or 'first spring' if my rusty GCSE french is correct. There is a whole series of these books, and it was really hard to choose, I also loved this one.

The illustrations in this book are so reminiscent of some of the Japanese fabrics that I swoon over, and the pages are this beautiful, thick, matt paper. The pictures are simple and innocent and I absolutely love it. It is of course in french, but because it's a children's book, I can almost understand it.

And lastly, I picked up this one in a hypermarket, loving the cute animals and curly wurly font.