win a cushion!

There is still a chance to win a roddy&ginger cushion over on Kate's lovely blog the fabric of my life. Choose between Happy birds or Mermaid and let her know your favourite vintage find. At the moment Happy birds is winning hands down, poor old Mermaid is feeling a little left out! The winner will be announced on Monday 31st.

grownup aprons

The children's aprons sold really well at my open studios and lots of people asked if I could do an adult size, so I have. They are printed in blue and chocolate or pink and red onto white cotton drill and are available now in my etsy shop. Here they are being modelled by my kitchen cabinet and the lovely Lucy.

weekend finds

I found myself back in the charity shops this weekend and came home with a few bits of chunky pottery, some pattern inspiration plates and another odd looking owl. The cylinder vase is a piece of Rye pottery and is typical of their studio style, characterised by freeform pattern and scratchy matt glazes. I now have a collection of three! 

the fabric of my life

One of my favourite blogs is the fabric of my life a wonderful daily oasis of inspiration and soothing images collected and written by stylist and vintage magpie Kate Baxter. Kate is celebrating her first blog birthday and she has been hosting a series of giveaways. This week I'm really delighted that it's the turn of roddy&ginger. You can win one of our happy bird or mermaid cushions, take a look at Kate's blog here, answer the question - what is your favourite vintage find? (tricky one!) and have a go! 

day off 2

After the V&A I took a walk around South Kensington visiting some of my favourite shops selling things I can't afford - Scandium, Few and Far, Mint and Margaret Howell; home of the understated English style that I aspire to but can't quite achieve because of my boot sale and charity shop habit. Then on to the Kings Road where I checked out the new Anthropologie (do they sell anything without a bobble or a frill!?) in the old Antiquarious site, what an amazing building. Then on to The Shop at Bluebird via Sigmar where I fell for the hand blocked wallpaper, I may be able to afford one sample sheet! On the way I visited the good old Conran Shop in the fabulous Michelin building. It was like stepping back in time to the 80s, I swear their displays have not changed - Phillipe Starck ghost chairs still abound. They were also guilty of taking the annoying trend of arranging books rainbow-style to a new extreme, holes drilled into hundreds of old books to make a colour coordinated window display, it made me cross!

a day off

Apologies for lack of blog entries from me lately due to on going problems with my camera and a lengthy 'to do' list. However I awarded myself a day off yesterday and went to the Quilts exhibition at the V&A. There were a lot of amazing textiles on display but I felt most drawn to the Welsh and Durham quilts, meticulously stitched to make ends meet during hard times by the women in the mining towns of South Wales and The North East. The patterns handed down through the generations were often based on every day objects like a kitchen chair seat.

I bought this little book in a charity shop not long ago. With these detailed patterns and instructions I can make my own quilt, which I may well do when I am very old and look like Mavis or Florence.

roddy&ginger's open studio

Some pictures of our open studio. It was a cold wet weekend but we put on a cheerful face and visitors trickled in! Hoping for better weather for this weekend so we can get the bunting out and maybe have tea on our miniature lawn. It's all happening again from 11.00am to 6.00pm this Saturday and Sunday. Details on the Dulwich Festival website

aren't flowers brilliant?

I have a temporary problem with my camera so no pictures of open studios yet. But here are some I took earlier! Spring in my garden - new buds on my quince tree all curled up ready to burst, raindrops (lots of these at the moment) and amazing velvety tulips. 

open house

It's going to be a busy weekend, I have been getting things together for our open studio event happening this weekend and the next. Prints, products, mishaps and samples for sale. I haven't been very efficient about spreading the word so if you are in the Dulwich area please come!! The details are on the festival website click on Open House for a guide, we are entry no. 134. The downside of running it for two weekends is that I won't be able to get out and see other studios. If I could I would make for Sally Nencini (no.56) my sister Clare Youngs (no. 115) Schneider (no. 100) and Havelock Mews (no.127) for a fine selection of local talent.

twiggy shelves

I found these shelves at our local junk emporium, they were painted a sinister black so I repainted them a spooky white. They are very ecologically made from bits of tree and a couple of old planks. A bit of foraging in the woods and a few nails and you could have some too! I can now waste hours of time arranging suitable displays.