Showing posts with label Frankie Magazine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Frankie Magazine. Show all posts

Friday, December 17, 2010

Dolls house.

You know when you buy someone a present, and it is a little left-of-centre you begin to worry they might not like it?

Well, my friend Mel had a birthday at the beginning of this month. We have been friends for ages, and over the years she has spoken many times of the dolls house she used to have when she was a little girl. She loved the tiny furniture, the way each room was decorated, and the way the wooden object captured her childhood imagination for hours on end.

Years have past and Mel does not know what ever happened to that beloved toy. Recently, Frankie magazine did an article on a lady who keeps a retro dolls house in her linen cupboard. Mel and I both saw this and it reignited Mel's reminiscing about her old dolls house.



With a little over a month until her birthday, I knew what I wanted to give her for her birthday, and I began my ebay search for a dolls house.

The criteria?
- Not pink.
- Multi-story.
- Stairs with doorways (so many had stairs but no hole for the little people to walk through - how were they supposed to move about each room? I mean really...).
- Plain enough that Mel could make her own 'mark' on it without having to do too much prep work.

After an entire month of searching I had lost hope, and conceded that I wasn't going to be able to find Mel a dolls house, and would have to make Mel an apron instead. That was until, 5 days before her birthday, I came across this gem...


I bought it! I gave it to her! Mel LOVED it!

And she has already made some purchases for it off Etsy...

Retro Kitchen!

Tiny items!!!

Isn't the tiny stuff just too sweet! Mel it is going to look amazing! I'm so glad you like it :-)

Sam xox

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Too much of a good thing.

When you log into your etsy account, and it reminds you to leave feedback for 20 items, you know you are in for a treat. I have been falling in love with the fabrics featured in Frankie magazine, and have been thinking (hard) about making a simple tied quilt made from 8" squares of vintage florals. I turned to etsy to satisfy this urge and discovered Zwizzle, a store that sells the most amazing retro fabrics that are cut to a really useful size (fat quarters or larger).

Zwizzle were having a sale, so I purchased 20 fabrics, and because they are based in Australia I only had to wait 2 days for the parcel to arrive!


My photographs did not do their packaging justice! The photo above was taken before my parcel was sent (it is now featured in each listing) and shows the beautiful packing details so much better than my photos did. Brown paper tied with fabric strips. Perfect.


Unwrapping my parcels I found that I had been sent 5 extra fat quarters plus the two doilies! Such an awesome surprises. You can see that I have already put one doily to use under my vase.

Some of the beautiful fabrics.


Watch this space. This quilt is going to be super quick to make and I want it finished this month. I think I will either use a light weight batting or no batting at all, as it is intended as a summer quilt. I need to find a nice sheet from a thrift store to back it with, and some thick white thread to tie the quilt together. I also need to decide how big I want to make it. I am planning on doing the cutting tonight, and if time allows, I might even get the quilt top sewn.

Thanks again Zwizzle, you made my week!

Sam xox