a soggy christmas and a happy new year

turquoise, taupe, blue, green, pink

Today we took my newly finished messenger bag for a test run at the seaside:

Just think, we could have been fighting the crowds, doing Christmas shopping... instead we were filling ourselves with beautiful colours:

and watching flocks of starlings and geese doing their aerial ballet, whilst drinking mugs of tea in the beach cafe.

a lovely way to begin Christmas.

One of the best bits of this bag are the natty inside pockets! Here it is inside out. The smallest 'hip pocket' is just right for a phone, and the zipped one on the left is made from the fly. Very satisfying working out how to re-use everything.

the festive shop

The creative community that is Handy and Divine had a great week at our Christmas pop up shop last week. The Upholstery Shop in Midhurst kindly let us into their shop, and even provided a beautiful Santa's sleigh for the window.

... its looks as though Santa left his hat behind! 

There were lots of lovely things to choose from:

bags, decorations, wallets, lavender bags,

and lots of things for stocking fillers, and all locally hand made.

I just love these mice, and they are sold in aid of the charity Mind.

and how could anyone resist the sock monkeys?

we will be popping up again at Easter!

booty

I think I could easily get addicted to indoor car boot sales. What a civilised idea- no standing around in a cold muddy field for a start, and it seems to be really difficult to buy anything for more than 50p!

I went to one last Saturday with a like-minded friend and bought a tiny 'present from Bognor' mug (50p)

..which is the brother to the splendid 'present from Southend' teacup I already have:

I think this one is really old- I can imagine a skilful Victorian Hoopla thrower winning it at a fair..

Also a delicate transparent teacup decorated with a lovely camp Chinese man (£1)

Probably even older- the lady on the stall said 1820's (and who am I to argue?)

a vintage pyrex casserole- my special weakness (50p)

and two little willow pattern cups and saucers (50p the lot) and a 1950's tablecloth ('Oh if you like it, Love, you can have it for nothing')!

Mr P, however is unimpressed. He thinks my friend and I should set up our own stall at the next sale and 'get rid of some of the junk we already have'! Actually we might do just that......?

Nearly ready for the Christmas shop!

popping up again

Good news- the Handy and Divine pop-up shop will open again in time for Christmas Shopping! Which means I need to hurry up and make things in time for Monday 3rd December. This time the shop will be hosted by the Upholstery Shop in Midhurst High Street.

http://handyanddivine.co.uk/wordpress/

I love these leafy pins, which I bought for a specific project, but I think I'll have to keep them for myself....

....anyone for tea?

Upcycled teacup pincushions!

busy busy busy

Well, life in the Molebags household has just moved up a notch to Very Busy Indeed because Mr P is now working from home, which means he is sharing my creative space (a posh name for the spare room!)

So while he is working on the computer and my big white cat Molly is trying to sit on the desk between the keyboard and the screen, I am trying to make things in the corner!

I have a lot of little cups which are going to become pincushions, and hopefully they will be ready for the next Handy and Divine pop-up shop in the first week of December. We are having trouble finding somebody in Midhurst who will let us have a shop for a week, so fingers crossed that it happens in time for the Christmas shoppers.

I am also making myself a bag from this tutorial:

http://www.noodle-head.com/2010/01/tutorial-messenger-bag-from-cargo-pants.html

...using a HUGE pair of shorts which I bought in a charity shop for just £1. I like the idea of the recycled pockets!

Miss Mouse's quilt is coming along too- sometimes I don't know which project to spend time on next....