elizabeth and gerald rose

I have a small collection of children's books written in the 60's by Elizabeth Rose with brilliant illustrations by Gerald Rose - what a team! These pages are from the Gingerbread Man, they are so full of life, they always make me smile! I found these in a second hand bookshop a few years ago, they were selling the discontinued contents of a children's library for 30p each! It's almost impossible to find books like these in charity and second hand shops these days - where have they all gone? probably all to abebooks!

more fun with paper

We had a lot of fun with the giant origami at Kids.Modern (the flapping bird was made by a lovely little Japanese boy and rather put our bunnies and boats to shame!) We had some sheets left over so I am experimenting with diy patchwork wallpaper. I love printing onto paper - no baking or stitching required. I will be printing up sets of nine squares ready for our Open House event in May to see how they sell. Open House is part of our local Dulwich Festival and we will be opening up our studio on the weekends of 8/9th and 15/16th of May. More details on their website.

scissors and glue

My sister Clare Youngs has been very busy snipping and gluing and here is her latest book, Stylish Papercraft published by Hamlyn. An inspiring collection of paper projects from simple mobiles and decorations to stunning 3-dimensional objects. Full of ideas and simple step by step instructions to re-use and recycle scraps and ephemera into useful and stylish statements. It is a great celebration of the delights of pattern and endless possibilities in a simple sheet of paper.

odd finds

I found this abandoned dolls pram beside the road in Penge yesterday, in one of the posher parts of Penge I have to say. It has a rather sad feel about it and goes with these other odd boot sale finds, a bracelet of engraved silver four-penny bits, and a little piece of victorian embroidery, is it a sleeve? is it a sampler? is it a place to keep shiny buttons? I'm not really sure.

roddy&ginger go modern

Here we are at Kids.Modern. It was a very sunny day and what with the volcanic ash cloud crisis we are having here in the UK a lot of people must have been a) having a barbecue or b) still on holiday. So there were not as many attending as we could have hoped for. However, it was all good fun. My lovely daughter Lucy was a huge help, an excellent sales person and organizer of giant origami using paper still a bit sticky as we had printed it the night before. I was very lucky to have great neighbours to chat to in my corner of the show, Sally Nencini with her lovely knitted companions and exquisite hand embroidered upholstery, Helen Gordon with her beautifully detailed children's wear and accessories displayed on bespoke chunky oversized dolls house style furniture and Winter's moon with their enviable stash of vintage children's toys, books and furnishings. The restored cupboard made a fine shop fitting and it came home with me, I hadn't the heart to sell it!

storm before the calm

This is the state of my studio at the moment. Still work in progress for Kids.Modern on Sunday, my fault for leaving everything till the last minute and wasting time making experimental bunting! For anyone in London, Kids.Modern will be a fine day out with lots to see and do. Come and say hello, it would be great to see you. All details above or on the website.

mermaid romance

Mermaid has found a boyfriend! She is a bit of an uptown girl but has fallen for a handsome pirate (oh dear, I am making up stories about cushions, I must be working too hard, should get out more!) I have been printing an edition of this pirate print to go with the cushions already in my etsy shop. 

battered old suitcase

I bought this old leather bound suitcase at the weekend to display some of my cushions. It needs relining so I am going to print up  some cloth and get gluing, can't decide which pattern works best.

a good day for drying

I love it when it's sunny enough to dry my prints on the line. Mermaids, pirates, birds and origami patterns for Kids.Modern.  All rather last minute as always!

roddy&ginger's shop

I will be taking roddy&ginger to Kids.Modern on 18th April and opening up shop for the day.

Kids.Modern is a fantastic once a year event organised by the Mid-Century Modern people and it showcases the latest furniture, fashion, toys and collectables for design loving parents and their lucky little ones. This lovely old '50s kitchen cabinet is going to be my 'shop'. I didn't realise quite how grimy it was when I bought it from our local junk emporium and it has been a labour of love to restore it involving a lot of scrubbing, sanding, painting and handprinting of lining paper. The idea is to sell it on the day - but after all this hard work will I be able to part with it? 

spring chickens

I have been sorting out my bookshelves, this is one of my favourites. Wake Up Farm first published in 1966 with fantastic illustrations by Roger Duvoisin creator of Petunia the Silly Goose. Lots of Easter chickens and lambs and one poor old bunny in a cage. 

easter books

I found a clutch of these Little Grey Rabbit books in the charity shop last week. They were first published in the 40's, written by Alison Uttley with charming illustrations by Margaret Tempest. Happy tales of little grey rabbit, hare, moldy warp the mole, fuzzypeg the hedgehog and the speckeldy hen, very cute!

Happy easter!