Beautiful pendants and brooches

Pendant made by Bee Mellor from fabric made by Jenny Stacy

Brooch by Bee Mellor and Jenny Stacy with appropriate button!

Heart brooch £15 by Bee Mellor and Jenny Stacy

Pendant £19.50 on silk tube by Bee Mellor and Jenny Stacy

Heart pendant with old lace £19.50 by Bee Mellor and Jenny Stacy

Embroidered needlefelt brooch by Bee Mellor and Jenny Stacy 

Heart brooch £15 by Bee Mellor and Jenny Stacy

Bee Mellor and I have been friends for a very long time and it is fun to work together on this jewellery project. I do the felting and needlefelting providing the base for our items. Bee cuts into and machine embroiders this  adding buttons or dyed silk ties making the brooches and pendants. We tend to like the same colour combinations and both love the designing/making process. This jewellery is only sold in Handmade Happiness.

I never know who is going to come into the shop next. Yesterday I had the first request for a Christmas raffle prize (I get lots of those and I'm not sure, to be honest, whether it is good for the shop to oblige or not!) And a joyful conversation with an expert knitter who loves knitting aran jerseys (the ones with all those cables). Her mother enjoys knitting Fair Isle patterns which I'd also love to have in the shop and her sister loves making all kinds of things. Fingers crossed they will be happy to see some of their work for sale in Handmade Happiness!

Just thinking...

 Like all of you I was profoundly shocked at the latest beheading of a good man.  A man who risked  his life to help others. And it makes me wonder how we can have a more effective response to kidnap and blackmail. 

Our current bombing response is bound to kill the innocent as well as the guilty. And by innocent I include young people swept up by religious fervour into a nightmare situation neither they, nor we can control. 

I have no hope of a James Bond type hero swooping in to rescue the remaining hostages. Our governments will not allow ransoms to be paid nor negotiations to take place. But if it were my son being held I would want my government to negotiate. By being seen publicly to be the voice of reason in the world we could potentially calm some of the blood-lust and change peoples' allegiances. Right now we are just increasing the misery...

Knitting, notebooks and pictures

Handknitted ear warmer headbands by Jenny Stacy

Leather bound notebooks by Sheila Barrow

Leather and painted collage notebooks by Sheila Barrow

View over the South Downs. Embroidered framed picture by Sheila Barrow

Wintery view over the Downs by Sheila Barrow.

Artist Sheila Barrow visited Handmade Happiness this week with these examples of her work and two big pictures, one of trees and and one of daisies and other flowers both not shown. I photographed them but the pictures aren't good enough to show you. I'll try again today!

Anyone who visited the shop this week probably saw me knitting these headbands. The idea was to do them wide enough to keep your ears warm. The wool/silk mix is especially nice to knit with. Like all things handmade I think I can do it quickly but it always takes far longer than I expect. Still a joy though, just a time-consuming joy!

I've also made some new buttons, felted some autumn leaves to hang in the window and I'm starting to collage some Christmas cards. Christmas stockings are also nudging to be made as are dolls and angels. As usual I wish I'd stockpiled for Christmas early in the year but as usual I haven't. I guess I like the sense of urgency that having to make a lot in a short time gives me!!

This month I am looking forward to baby Juno and my daughter coming to stay for a week. I hope Juno approves of the shop and finds plenty to catch her eye and be entranced by. When can I start training her up to be shop assistant extraordinaire?!!

When should shops start puting Christmas stock out?

Christmas notice board. The card is by Belinda Downes, tiny bag by Sandra Izard and reindeer by Natasha Rothschild.

Weeks ago the big tins of sweets were in the supermarkets ' for Christmas'. This week I've noticed advent calendars and Christmas cards in Between the Lines and Christmas table decorations and Christmas food in Marks and Spencer. But it's still September. I wasn't planning to have anything Christmassy in the shop until the end of October... But if I wait will I miss the boat? 

When people in the shop tell me,'I've done all my Christmas shopping now.' Or 'My friend shops for next Christmas in the January sales,' I panic and start to wonder if there is something wrong with me... Maybe I'm old fashioned but I still like to think in seasons. Christmas is winter and I don't like to be reminded of winter in the summer. On the other hand a comment I often hear in my shop is,' Oh I wish I hadn't already bought a present for X this is much nicer...'  So I mustn't be too hesitant to jump on the Christmas bandwagon or Handmade Happiness will miss out.

Maybe I'll start introducing Christmas bits to the shop gradually at the start of October and not wait until the end of the month. Even though seeing Christmas things too early in other shops makes me want to run for the hills. What do you think?

In the shop this week

Fairy mouse by Joyce Holland Hill £15

Sue Inglis' knitted creatures and cards

Knitted mice by Sue Inglis £6.50 each

Displayed this week in Handmade Happiness. See details below:

 This week Handmade Happiness has new applique cushions by Tanya Williamson.  Pictures to come.
Knitted creatures, as keyrings or as decorations made by Sue Inglis are especially popular at this time of year.

Displayed in the boxes above, left to right from the top are:

Phone cosy by Pam Dew; jug with gold heart decoration by Ali Cooper; handmade buttons by Jenny Stacy.
Vintage fabric inspired hearts by Kate Hackett; tiny brass kaleidoscope by Frank Higgins; blue knitted bear by Joyce Holland-Hill.

Dog brooch by Karen Boller; Strawberry jug by Kate Hackett; porcelain bowl with blue decoration by Ali Cooper.
Porcelain bowl with gold and green decoration by Ali Cooper; small brown mohair bear by Lindsey Agostinelli and small wheelscope by Frank Higgins.

This is a small selection of all the lovely handmade gifts Handmade Happiness is full of. Come and have a look for yourself.

Sanding floorboards

Sitting room floor after sanding

Sitting-room floor before sanding

My lovely younger daughter, Sophie and her boyfriend worked hard on Friday night and Saturday all day to sand the floorboards in my sitting-room, and two bedrooms. It was really hard work and I am terrifically grateful to them. The house feels transformed. And the work went on while I was in Handmade Happiness. Aren't I lucky! 

Now I need to decide whether to varnish or wax them. To bleach or paint them. I want them light not dark. But I don't want to use chemicals. My other daughter thinks they should be painted white but I don't want to cover the grain of the wood. Wondering if I can wipe white matt paint into the boards and then clear wax them...

Do you know when I moved into this house all these newly-sanded boards were covered in dark pink carpet. I hated the colour and the carpet. The carpet went but the real difference is having the boards sanded. The house feels as if it's taken on a new lease of life. 

The fun of felting wool

I knitted this then put it in the washing machine with all the rest of the clothes at 30 degrees

Pam Dew hot washed this Fair Isle jumper at 60 degrees.

Pieces of my knitting and crochet before being felted

The same items after their 30 degrees wash.

My daughter accidentally shrunk her pure wool jersey. Love the colour!

Talking to people in Handmade Happiness I realise there is some confusion over felting. You can accidentally or intentionally felt wool by puting it in the washing machine. And as you can see above even a cool wash will shrink wool ie. felt it. 

You can also make flat felt with wool tops (clean, combed wool) by simply layering it, applying soapy water and rubbing it until the fibres matt and shrink and form a fabric.

Nuno felting is when you rub wool tops into something fine like chiffon to create a draping piece of fabric.

Then there's needle felting which is completely different. Doing this by hand involves poking wool tops with a barbed needle until it hardens (felts). More like sculpting with wool if making a 3D piece. Or needle felting can be done flat over a sponge and with this method you can add detail to a flat piece of felt.
Flat felting can also be done using a needle felting machine, sometimes called an embellisher.

It's fun to see the difference felting makes to a piece of knitting (see above). These small pieces will be used to make small bags and some experiments which I'll tell you about later.

Handmade Happiness - outside

Photo taken in Dragon Street of Handmade Happiness

 Double doors open into two rooms. You can take a buggy or a wheelchair inside. The first smaller room has paintings on the back wall and the larger room on the right has handmade gifts by 35 people.

I hope that soon I can hire a sign writer to fill all those white spaces above the shop with beautiful hand-writing. And maybe provide a sign for the flagpole too. The building itself is around 400 years old although once over the well worn stone step and inside the shop I don't think you're aware of the building's age. Your eye is constantly taken by the awe-inspiring work of the clever artists and craftspeople. Colourful quilts, stained glass kaleidoscopes, delicately embroidered pictures, soft as butter knitwear, smooth wood and fine thrown porcelain as well as quirky little brooches and creatures. There are lots of cards too showing the work of local artists. Beautiful cards for £2-50 - less than in most other shops and most of these cards are only available in Handmade Happiness.

Come and browse. Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 5pm. We're next to the computer shop on Dragon Street and there's even parking in the layby right outside. (If full the M&S car park off St Peter's road round the corner is really close by.)

New sewing

Tanya Williamson's boxer cushion

Pam Dew's quilt and cushion

I love this bag. Made with attractive fabric and a pair of jeans by Pam Dew.

Dog brooches

Dog brooches by Karen Boller £9-50 each.

Yesterday after a catch up with talented designer maker Kate Box I had a delivery of dog brooches from Karen Boller. These are very popular. I thought they'd look interesting pinned to this old child's cardigan. 

Childrens' hand knitted cardigans is something I'd very much like to stock in the shop. I have made many tiny baby cardigans recently for my new little grandaughter. Right now I'm knitting her a dress for winter. But I don't feel I've got the time or sufficient skills to knit items to sell in the shop as well.

 However if you look at the cardigan pictured and know you or someone you know could knit something like that... If Fair Isle patterns don't frighten you and you can do cable patterns too please contact Handmade Happiness. I would love to talk to you about stocking your work!

Handmade Happiness - looking ahead

White silk velvet dyed for me by my friend Alison

Fine cottons for making baby clothes 

 Next month Handmade Happiness celebrates its third birthday. And I want it to put on its best party clothes for the occasion.

Just lately I've felt it needs a re-vamp and a re-energise. Yes, me too! Now I need to remind myself of the dream I had in the beginning of a beautiful and inspiring place and rein it back in to be just that.

 Now don't get me wrong, people love Handmade Happiness and constantly tell me so. But I'm the one that spends my life in that shop and I'm the one that needs to be excited by that special place. So there are going to be some changes before that birthday party. As I change the look of the shop I'll take photos to share with you.  

I'm thinking colourful and quirky. Clear and easily read displays. New makes from makers new to the shop - as well as new fresh makes from original makers. A working table where  items are being made every day to go out on sale. A gift wrap area. Ideally a 'Have a Go' table. Fresh flowers. A refreshment area so I can offer people who get chatting a tea or coffee. The list is endless! Watch this space. Today is Day One of the 3rd birthday preparations!

Incidentally isn't it interesting that most people reading this are French? Usually my readers are either Americans or British but in the last month French readers have caught up and overtaken them statistically. Donc bienvenue et au revoir!

More medals for sale

Medals for quiet heros made by Jenny Stacy

More medals £8-50 each by Jenny Stacy shown with new cacti badges by Carol Smith

Regular readers will know how I love to collect interesting buttons. I also have quite a few beads and charms just right for these medals. The fun part of making them is selecting what buttons and beads to use. Now I'd like to find some flat boxes - the shape of Swan Vesta matchboxes but with a lid - to decorate so each medal can be presented in a box. Ideas welcome.

Carol Smith, quilt maker, bought in these attractive cacti badges. These too could be offered with an optional gift box. And the need for gift boxes will get more urgent in the next few months! 

I often get asked for gift boxes for jewellery in the shop. I'd like to find something cheap enough so I could give them away or sell them for no more than an extra £1 or £1-50.
It is also much easier to do a good job of wrapping something in a box. The art of glamorous gift wrapping. Don't get me started on that subject. I'll save it for another time!!

New Hand Stitched Notebook Covers

Pam Dew's embroidered notebook cover

Birds on a TV aerial hand-stitched notebook cover by Pam Dew

Saturated colour! New patchwork notebook cover by Pam Dew

I had to share with you these beautifully made notebook covers that Pam Dew has stitched for Handmade Happiness.  They cover a hard back blank page book for notes, drawings or paintings. And the notebooks can easily be replaced with new ones when they are full.

Thinking ahead, wouldn't one make a special gift for anyone who's artistic? Or even anyone that needs to write 'To Do' lists like me! 

September thoughts

My painted beads. A reminder to paint more!

September already and time is running helter-skelter towards another Christmas. Time for this year's Christmas inspiration board to go up and to think of how this year can be even more special, more magical than previous years.

One day I think glittery forest, the next day I think inside a jewellery box. Shall we go natural or shall we go bling? Can we have a mix of everything and the shop still look good?

I need to have plenty of last year's best sellers and a whole lot of new, tempting handmade pieces that regular customers will not have seen before. And to cover all the price points from 50p up to £500 (well, maybe not quite as much as £500!)  I like to have something to show the child with his carefully saved pennies and also something utterly beautiful for those with a bigger budget. Years of selling tell me that most people have a fixed amount in mind that they try to stick to when buying presents. 

But hold on, what about summer into autumn? Days of 'mellow mist and fruitfulness'? All those rich rusts and aubergine purples. Golden yellow, pumpkin orange and Virginia creeper red. Wonderful colour inspiration for now. Sorry I was getting ahead of myself. Let's make the most of right now.  Wishing you a wonderful and colourful September.

Vogue magazine carrier bags

I find that Vogue makes the best carrier bags.

One from Vogue's inside pages recycled by Jenny Stacy

Vogue covers recycled into carrier bags in Handmade Happiness

Free Vogue carrier bag when you buy at Handmade Happiness

Years ago I saw a carrier bag made out of newspaper and that gave me the idea for making bags from magazines. I've always made these bags for Handmade Happiness customers but recently I thought I'd try just using the covers and these bags are stronger and look better. 

If only there was a way to waterproof them. Laminating would make them too thick but maybe coating the whole thing with pvc glue? Ideas welcome.

I also make small flat bags for little purchases and cards. These are made from house magazines and are far quicker to make than the carrier bags. In three years I've not had to buy any paper or plastic bags for the shop and many kind customers now bring me their old magazines instead of puting them straight into the recycling bin.

A Handmade Home

Beautiful quilt made by Pam Dew

Textile art by Sheila Barrow

Rag rug by Ruth Ellacott

I visited a very cosy house yesterday and the owners personality was evident in all the small details. It got me thinking about why I had been unable to get to grips with my own house and make it feel truly a home. And I realised that this house is the first house I am alone in. Happily alone but nonetheless for the first time there is no-one else to make a home for. It's like blitzing the house when someone is coming to stay. You want it to look its best for them. Life is all about looking after other people and it's a wrestle to accept the importance of looking after oneself.  And having a lovely home is all part of that self-acknowledgement.

So how to make a home friendlier, cosier and more comfortable? The answer for me is to create a handmade home. And if you are making things for yourself they don't have to be perfect. It's an opportunity to experiment and have fun.

 With so many homes having stripped or painted floorboards a rag rug adds warmth, colour and style. Making one seems easy with poking fabric strips through a canvas or hessian piece of fabric or crocheting strips in a circle. To be really authentic you'd have to only use fabric (clothes or curtains) that you were otherwise going to throw away or give away. Older customers remember threadbare boys trousers and father's suits being made into rugs. But now when we want particular colours we may have to buy some fabric. Car boot sales?

A patchwork quilt provides a cosy touch over the back of a sofa or imagine one as a door curtain to stop draughts. I have one as art on my wall and I'd love to have one draped over each bed, perhaps with tapestry cushions in toning colours on top. Hand-knitted cushions and knitted and crocheted throws add lots of comfort to a room. During the week a customer told me she had made a throw for an exhibition using just odd lengths of wool from her stash. It sold and she was then approached by an American who offered her £600 to make a similar one but she felt she couldn't repeat it.

What about patchwork curtains? Small strip patchwork looks really good in a small room and larger patchwork squares/rectangles for a larger room. 

Finally what about making your own artwork for your walls? Express yourself on paper, and you've literally made your mark on your home. Making it inescapably yours.

Arundel art etc.

Gorgeous stained glass in an Arundel door 

Inside Andy Waite's Arundel house with his atmospheric new paintings

Love Ann Hutchin's delicate hand embroidered pictures

The Arundel Gallery Trail is on this week. The advantage of this art trail over others is that you can walk it in one day. And Arundel with its historic buildings, steep hills and beautiful interior design is a joy to walk round.

Sandra Izard, whose cards are in Handmade Happiness has her paintings in one such house. It's old as witnessed by the ceiling beams, all painted white. The walls are pale shades of grey as are the painted floorboards. A wood burning stove in the fireplace, soft squashy linen settees and oil paintings on the walls. Lovely.

Andy Waite's house is a must-see on the gallery trail. It's big and completely emptied to display his paintings. Walls, floors and furniture tie in with the colour in the paintings. Dramatic oil landscapes and upstairs small icons of angel faces very different in style. www.andywaite.net 

I also really like Sarah Mills porcelain giant teacups and saucers in the palest green www.ceramicartistry.co.uk
Mary Bayford's jewellery using ancient trade beads, Carol Butler's delicate hand embroidery, Carolyn Genders big crooked matt ceramic vessels and Amy Fathers paper sculptures of flowers. Oh yes, and Gilly McCadden's paintings are worth climbing up King Street for!

Petersfield Art and Craft society's annual exhibition is also on now at the Festival Hall. That's where I saw Ann Hutchin's exquisite poppy embroidery pictured above. I love Ann's work and have her cards and frequently her hand embroidered pictures in Handmade Happiness. It sells quickly as seen by the red dots on all her pieces at the exhibition yesterday.

In the window this week

A white window for Handmade Happiness this week. See details below

From the top: Pink spot bowl, white heart jug, night light, heart bowl and dog mug all by Ali Cooper.  Standing bunny with carrot £8-50; striped grey mouse £6-50, sheep decorated box £4-95 and white chick £5-95 all by Sue Inglis. 

Middle row: wheelscope kaleidoscope by Frank Higgins, small size £88; needlefelted long tailed tit £29 by Michelle Green.

Flower jug designed, thrown and decorated by Kate Hackett £18;  padded silk spec case £19-50 by Bee Mellor and beautiful wood engraving card by Rosamund Fowler £3-50.

After a busy Saturday in the shop my head is buzzing with ideas. I hope that you too are having a buzzy weekend!

Does you know someone who deserves a medal?

Medal brooches by Jenny Stacy

More medal brooches by Jenny Stacy

The first brooches I made some of which have been further decorated, see above.

Do you remember the advertisement which said 'Award Yourself the CDM'? Those initials stood for a certain bar of chocolate. 

I've always thought that there are so many unsung heroes.  Those determinedly coping with a terminal illness, mothers alone with small children, ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Nurses, carers and teachers - many of them deserve more recognition for the jobs they do.

I was thinking that when I made these medal brooches. Receiving one doesn't, I'm afraid, involve meeting the Queen, but giving one is a nice way of showing someone you appreciate what they're doing and care about them.

Bright Beads

Necklaces and bracelets inspired by Frank Higgins' kaleidoscopes

Necklace by Jenny Stacy inspired by the Dreamscope kaleidoscope it rests on made by Frank Higgins

Looking through Frank Higgins' Dreamscope. Photo by Jenny Stacy

Noticing bright things at Ikea yesterday

Aren't these fun? At Ikea yesterday.

This kaleidoscope-inspired jewellery will go out for sale in the shop today. I'll show you more pictures of individual pieces soon.

 I remember the first time my little girls and I visited a bead shop and came home each clutching our chosen bag of beads. Sitting round the kitchen table stringing our beads together, guess who had the most fun? Years later I have many many beads to choose from including those I've painted or modelled myself. And it's still just as much fun playing, I mean working with them!