Making up for lost time

Elder Stubbs alottment festival this weekend...

Before that, lovely Noirmoutier, France...

Guilty feeling...

Uh-oh... I've just discovered another place to spend my money. The newest member to the Oxford indie gang is Gilt & Grain - purveryers of lovely vintage and antique furniture. Perilously close to my house, full of very lovely stuff, and with some of the best prices I've seen inside bricks and mortar.

Last week saw two visits, and now three items are nestling comfortably with me at home. A cute little 50s coffee table, a cool posy vase, and this awesome planter...

Old Pill Factory

One of my favourite places for vintage homeware is The Old Pill Factory in Witney. Sometimes I imagine I live there. Here are two of my recent finds -  vintage Mothercare and an amazing, outsized 70s fabric cushion by Emma Boyne. The cushion was a dilemma, but in my eyes, there's always room for one more 70s textile in the house. For once, Mr Loulabelle agreed!

My new cushion as a Work in Progress! Source: Emma Boyne Designs

Fruits of the forage

Alongside perpetually sunny summers and white Christmas', the stained fingers and slightly gritty teeth of a blackberry forage are abiding memories of my Norfolk childhood. But somehow, over the years, I stopped picking berries - maybe too much time spent in cities with folk vaguely suspicious about edible wildlife.

But this past fortnight, I've started to look at hedgerows properly again thanks to a wonderful day of foraging and jam making with the lovely people of Abundance Oxford.  Based at Hogacre Common, an old college cricket ground, Abundance is run by volunteers passionate about urban fruit harvesting. Our guide Joe, was particularly interested in medicinal properties of plants - while quite a lot of the things he uncovered for us tasted of "green" my favourite plant finds were horseradish (never knew that the leaves are tasty too) and mustard. But it's definitley the fruit that got me all fired up - plums, apples, hoar berries, rosehips, and sloes to name just a few of our fabulous finds.

 

We've since been exploring the fields and hedgerows near us, and have been amazed at just how many sloes, elderberries, damsons and blackberries there are.  On our foraging day, we learnt how to make jam and jellies -  I'll definitely be attempting to achieve  a good "gel matrix" again at home, thanks to our Science of Jam lesson from the incredibly knowledable Andy. However, it has to be acknowledged that so far, pretty much everything I've foraged has been put into gin!

The highs and lows of a November weekend

The highs... Oxford's Chrismas Lights Night Market

The lows... accidentally letting go of Freya's much loved balloon! (bad, bad Mummy!)

Truck 2012: done and dusted!

Hurrah, the sun finally remembered what it’s supposed to be doing – just in the nick of time. Last week was spent manically stitching while keeping fingers, toes and ears crossed that the rain would stop for Truck Festival... and it worked!

Highlights included: the amazing range of vocal sounds illicited by handmade vintage fabric knickers; witnessing the brilliant sales skills of a 2 yr old daughter (“do you like my mummy’s shop, there are lots of colours...”); meeting our stall neighbour Geoff the Vintage man; and holding a serious sales conversation while wearing a zebra mask on Wild Animal dress up day.

Camping is definitely good for the soul – nothing tastes better than a cuppa in a field or food with grass in it. And as ultimate testament to the restorative powers of fresh air and no showers, Mr Loulabelle has just installed a new outdoor light without either swearing or throwing about of tools!

Made by Zoo-labelle

Bestsellers

A weekend of wonder

I was just flicking through my phone picture gallery and realised what a busy - slightly surreal, possibly kitsch - weekend we had! Saturday was Oxford's Alice Day, celebrating the 150th anniversary of first telling of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.  We haven't introduced Freya to Lewis Caroll yet, so we feared she'd be wierded out by Alice related madness. But no, she loved the 10 minute Alice Musical (what's not to like about dancing prawns), went cuckcoo for crafting a Mad Hatters hat, and completely enthralled by story telling from the Storytelling Laureate (it's all about the eyelashes!).

 Sunday was strawberry picking day, vamped up with a little mouse face paint and jazzy green nails.

Then today we watched the Olympic Torch go past - try explaining what that's all about to a toddler! However, I have learnt that in toddler land, no reason is needed for a spot of flag-waving and flame-watching:  it's totally reasonable - in fact, expected - to be standing at the side of a road making whooping sounds at random strangers.

I guess every day is pretty much full of wierd and wonderful stuff when you're 2 and a half and like putting a bandage on every finger.

As for Esther.... well, she just came along for the ride...

ReFashion

Okay, so let's just skim over the fact that I've not posted anything since September and pretend like I've been here, wiffling away as usual... I've got lots to tell you (honestly I had good reasons for the radio silence) but I'll start off gently with a quick report on the fab - and first ever - ReFashion event at Oxford Town Hall last week.  Swishing, swapping, upcycling demos, an ethical fashion catwalk show, and lots of vintage goodies.... seriously, there was nothing not to like!

Not only did I get to spend the day talking about upcycling and hanging out with the lovely Jo of Darn it and Stitch (caught on camera in my quick snap above), I also ended up going home with a big bundle of fabric, and two new-to-me tops - bonus!

O3 Ethical Events Craft Boutique

I'm really excited to be a part of this event at the O3 Gallery in Oxford. Organized by Feng Ho, the gallery's resident ethical fashion expert, the event features some fantastically talented designer makers and I'm all of a tingle to be included alongside them. If you're in Oxford or nearby on the 25th, come by and say hello!  For more information, check out the O3 Gallery events page.