new cushion

I found an under-used screen and made a limited edition of these cushions for the Mid-Century Modern show at the beginning of December. And guess what? they outsold everything else. So I have put  the remaining few in my shop and they are available to buy now. Printed in shades of indigo (Dulux colour of the year 2014 don't you know!) onto white cotton barkcloth. Printing onto barkcloth is not easy and 9-10 pulls are needed to get a good coverage of ink, but the result is worth it, it has a lovely depth of colour and subtle textured effect. More colours and additions to the range will follow after Christmas.

weekend sale!

A quick post to say that I am having a weekend sale in my etsy and online shops. Use this code THREEDAY15 for 15% off all purchases (ends 2nd Dec) Happy shopping!

heart home

yes its me! in this issue of Hearthome magazine, lovely pictures taken in June when the sun was shining. Thank you Hearthome!

Smalltown is here!

I have just taken delivery of a batch of Smalltown wallpaper, and it's in my shop now. Available in three colours - hastings a charcoal black, margate a shell pink and camber a sandy yellow. You can find it here in my shop.

inky blue

It's been a while but I am still here! For various reasons this Summer has been a busy one so my poor blog has been somewhat neglected. I will try harder!

I needed some cushions for my newly re-upholstered sofa, so made this experimental print using an old screen. Inky blue looks just right for winter so I am going to print some more and get them into my shop as soon as I can.

smalltown progress

I'm taking a break for a couple of weeks and while I am away production will be going ahead on my new Smalltown wallpaper. I will be coming back to colour samples and then rolls should be ready for mid September, can't wait!

These are some of the images from my shoot with Heather Hobhouse earlier this year, we had a lot of fun propping these, my collection of house shaped shelves is growing!

boot sale sunday

I spent the weekend by the coast in Broadstairs and made it to two boot sales on Sunday, out of town boot sales are the best. I tried to be discerning in my purchases but for prices as little as 10p I came away with quite a haul. Classic English utility homewares - Denby pottery, New Hall stainless steel and Falcon enamel ware, folksy Vileroy and Boch platter, studio pottery vase, glass pear and marble candlesticks.

Meanwhile, I am turning part of my garage into a prop store for location shoots. A big garage clear out first, then ultra cheap shelving from Ikea and I can empty my cupboards and sort into categories, I cant wait. And of course a great excuse to keep spending my 10p's.

All this and more random pictures on if you follow on instagram

open studio day 1

First day of open studio over and it was a hot one, but all cool here and I had a good day!

The lovely watercolour sketch of my messy sink is by Liz Watkins who is making a sketchbook diary of the open studio venues.

Open studio - 6th-7th July as part of the Sydenham Arts Festival. If you can find my details on their website you are cleverer than me but you can download the venue broadsheet here or contact me for details. Open from 11am to 5pm and there will be buckets of bargains!

smalltown is here

I have just put my new Smalltown and Townplanning cushions into my shop. Both designs are handprinted onto smooth white linen with a charcoal grey reverse. Smalltown available in trendy black, pink, yellow and mint. Townplanning in black/pink, black/yellow and black/mint.

And here's a chance to win one of the first cushions off the production line, check out littlegreenshed where Lou has hosted a little interview and celebratory giveaway with me on her lovely blog!

This weekend 6th-7th July I will be having an open studio event here as part of the Sydenham Arts Festival. If you can find my details on their website you are cleverer than me but you can download the venue broadsheet here or contact me for details. Open from 11am to 5pm and there will be bargains!

job done

It has taken a while but I have finally finished re-upholstering a couple of sofas, a job I started months ago, the fabric was a £5.00 per metre bargain from Brixton market so not much lost if it all went wrong. New sofas prompted me to make a few other changes, new shelves above the sideboard - these are vintage dutch Tomado shelves - hours of fun arranging things, and a new colour in the kitchen. The books just because I love them!

charity shop round-up

I have steered clear of charity shops lately as I keep having the feeling that I have too much stuff. But every now and then I spot something and weaken, here are a few of my latest finds - copper plant holder and marble mortar and pestle (top trend for materials here!) more Pengiun poets, enamel tea pot, ship in a bottle (essential I would say) and yet another birdie. Cue massive clear out!

wild west

I have always thought that the Logpile wallpaper in woodsmoke would make a great feature in a boys bedroom so with this in mind I gave it a bit of cowboy style. Here's the result, starring my vintage rocking horse - I knew it would be a useful prop one day. Great photography by Heather Hobhouse who as usual reigned me in from my eagerness to over prop. I was ready with the log hooks, cowboy hats and wigwam which she gently managed to avoid using!

We also shot the new Smalltown wallpaper and cushions ready for a launch late summer - exciting!

catch up

Its been a couple of weeks since exhibiting at Pulse, busy ones, so I have just now found time to catch up with a few pictures of my stand. The lighting was not good so the pictures are a little stark. 

Most of my stand was made up from my kitchen furniture with the addition of a set of Ikea wall shelves, and looking round the exhibition made me realise how the majority of displays incorporated a piece of kit from Ikea, where would we be without them! 

The new Smalltown wallpaper and textiles collections went down really well so production is under way. I hope to have the wallpaper and teatowels by August. The cushions are hand printed so will be available a bit sooner - as soon as I find time to update my shop to be honest!

getting there

Its been busy here but hand printed samples are coming together for pulse (three days to go). My mind is so full of things to do that I am afraid updating my blog is a bit far down the list. I hope things will be back to normal after this weekend. In the meantime you can follow me on instagram for random pictures and general time wasting!

Deadlines

I was more than a little surprised and delighted to see that roddy&ginger was selected by Katie Treggiden in the Pulse Preview booklet as one of her three to watch at the show this year. Katie is the official blogger for Pulse and you can read my interview with her here on her excellent blog Confessions of a Design Geek.

So with only a couple of weeks to go before it starts I felt I had to get cracking on some printing. Yes, it's late in the day but there is nothing like a deadline to get things going. I have spent the week mixing colours, printing sample fabric for cushions and lengths of my new Small Town wallpaper. Most exiting of all I  found some log hooks at the local and very charming Alexandra Nurseries in lovely Penge.

If anyone is going to Pulse, details for registering are here, it takes place on 12-14th May at Earls Court and I will be on stand LP36, would be lovely to say hello!

more fino

Another place where we stopped for a fino (this became quite a habit!) An old favourite, Hostal Empuries, near the roman site at Empuries. The building dates from the 20's and the interior is an elegant mix of beachy scrapwood and contemporary design. On a good day the view stretches over the dunes across the bay towards Cadaques. Altogether a gentler place than the Parador at Aiguablava, but these contrasts are what I love about this part of Spain.