Folksy Friday - Get your wellies on!

Quiet on the blog front again this week :( But I'm determined to do a Folksy Friday every week, whatever happens!

This week, as I have a long weekend planned down at the allotment, Folksy Friday is all about the garden :)







Click the images to go straight to the item as listed on Folksy

I'll have some photos of the allotment this weekend to post, although there's not a huge amount to see so far - a shed with some plastic on to stop the leaks and some empty veg beds - but its taken alot of digging so we're pretty proud of it!

Enjoy your weekend folks, if anyone is heading to the Farnham Maltings for a wander round the Unravel Festival of Knitting I might just see you there!

Whats in your book bag?

So, when I'm not working, sewing, digging the allotment or doing other far-too-dull-to-mention chores I tend to read a fair bit so I thought I'd share a couple of books I read recently and really enjoyed:

This is the first in a three part series (there is a fourth, but it doesn't contain all the same characters, just the main one) and I had to read them all, one after the other as I couldn't wait to hear the outcome!

Its based in London - but a London ruled by magicians who summon magical entities such as the main character, Bartimaeus, to do their bidding. Its cleverly written, mainly in two parts - one from the standpoint of Nathaniel, a young magician, and the other from Bartimaeus which is jampacked with funny footnotes that actually had me laughing out loud at parts.

I don't want to go into too much detail about the actual plot as I'd hate to spoil it for anyone, suffice it to say you should definitely have a gander for it next time your passing a bookshop! Its probably in the children's fantasy section but don't let that put you off - I guess you could say its as much a kid's book as Harry Potter, it has elements that will appeal to a younger audience but its written in such a way to keep readers of all ages hooked!

If anyone has any reading recommendations please share as I'm always on the lookout for new books! x

Folksy Friday - Needles and yarn at the ready!

If there's one craft that I'd love to be able to do, its knit. I've tried and tried and tried but the only thing I've managed to finish is a scarf and some fingerless gloves which were pretty much just rectangles of knit 1 row, purl 1 row etc. There's just something about yarn that inspires me, plus the fact that its a bit more portable than a sewing machine! I'll have another crack at it at some point, but for now I've gathered together just a small selection of the knitted goodies available on Folksy. Enjoy :)







Ok, so I snuck (sneaked?) a crocheted item in there, but it still counts! One of my missions this year is to learn how to crochet a granny square - so far my crochet adventures have been limited to amigurumi toys with varying degrees of success, although I have to say I'm pretty proud of the great white shark I made last year, if you're lucky I might just upload a photo of him at some point ;)

As always, click on the image to be taken to the item as listed on fabulous Folksy!

Quiet in blogland...

Its a a bit quiet in The GF studio (ok, so its a corner of the living room really, so sue me ;)) this week - between the new allotment, making a trial of the invites I'm making for my Dad's wedding and work its turning out to be a bit on the hectic side. But on a super plus one of my owls flew off to his new home yesterday! Really hope his new owner loves him when he arrives :)

So, hopefully in a couple of days I'll be back in my sewing corner but for the time being enjoy these random images that made me smile x

from here

from here

from here

Enjoy your Thursday, I'll be back with a Folksy Friday selection for you tomorrow! x

Folksy Friday - Wish list

This week's Folksy Friday is from a selection of things I've come across on Folksy since I've been a member and favourited for future gifts for friends and family (and perhaps the odd treat for me!)







As usual click on the image to go straight to the item as listed on Folksy :)

What is everyone up to this weekend? We're going down to our new allotment to get it cleared - think there will be some aching arms and backs in our house by the end of the weekend!

Free printable papercraft calendar!

I've been meaning to post this for a while now - the Curiosity Group have a free printable calendar to download, print and make each month, and the first two have been completely adorable. I've not had chance to make them myself but I'm determined March is going to be my month!

How cute are they?!

Enjoy your Wednesday - half way to the weekend! x

Showcase Sunday - Iyobo Designs

Ok, so I'm a day late with this one - but Showcase Monday just doesn't have the same ring to it!

This is my first Showcase Sunday, and I'm featuring Beata, from Iyobo Designs.





I bought three pairs of earrings from Beata recently, and have only just been able to blog about them as one pair was a gift for a friend's birthday, and I couldn't risk her reading on here about it!!! My friend loves them, and I've had numerous compliments on them so I strongly recommend you head on over to either the Folksy shop or Beata's dedicated online store

Folksy Friday - Valentine's Day part 2

Following on from last weeks gifts for the girls this week's Folksy Friday is a selection of the best gifts for the special man in your life :)







Click on the pictures to go straight to the item on Folksy, or head to the Folksy homepage and click the Valentines heart on the right side of the page to see all the Valentines's Day goodies that are available!

New stash!

We had a trip to Ikea last week - I highly recommend going in the evening, it was half empty and soooo peaceful! Hardly had to queue for our meatballs at all!

Anyway, meatballs aside we didn't get much this time, but I did load up on fabric from their textile department:

Quite a big print, so can imagine this will be appearing on some tote bags soon

I love love love this one! I got a load of plain orange to use with this one too

How bright and cheery is this? Love it!

What can I say, theres always room for pink stripes in my sewing corner!

Unfortunately for me life and work has caught up with me again so its going to be a day or two before I can get back to my sewing corner, but having this little lot waiting for me will atleast motivate me to get my work done!

Spring is just around the corner! (and disappointing carboot action)

On Sunday Phil and I had a wander round a local car boot, on the lookout for some bargains. Now I don't know about anyone else but carboots and markets in England just don't live up to garage sales and the like in the US. Rachel from Smile and Wave is always blogging about her amazing vintage finds like this and this. Envious, me?! (By the way, Smile and Wave is an awesome blog - you should check it out!)

But I shouldn't complain too much - we might have come home without any actual finds but I did get a bag of delicious homemade fudge and a bunch of daffodils that are brightening up our front room a treat :)