Road trip!

What's Tammy the HH 'Twinfit' dress form doing in a hall full of lovely artwork then eh?
Keep scrolling down and all will be revealed...

I get a lot of comments about all the stuff that I manage to cram into my lovely little basket with the green and orange handle. But yesterday we were grateful for all the odd bit's and pieces that lurk amongst the crochet-covered fruit, mp3 player and pliers...
We were heading over to Burnham Overy Staithe where the Norfolk Arts Exhibition 2011 was being held.
Look at all the lovely bunting!

Helen Brown and Paddy Peters along with some other great artists organise this event every year and this year the committee invited Halfpenny Home to showcase A Green Guide to Country Crafts!
Helen and Paddy are great friends of both Jacqui and I and their 'Old Piggery Pottery' is one of our favourite places, Helen makes the fab mugs that we use at HH HQ! We are also allotment neighbours but I won't bore you with seed talk right now...

Another great friend of Halfpenny Home is Danielle Wade of Polly's Textiles and her 'Dutifully Purposeful' items are wonderful so it's no wonder that the committee had also invited her along too!
We sell Danielle's hand-dyed and screen printed fabric at HH HQ and so we decided to make the long journey up to North Norfolk together!

We had a lot of fun displaying the lovely items that Danielle makes from her fabrics...

The suitcase that is usually at the bottom of the stairs crammed full of beautiful cushions!

Country Crafts open on the page showing Samantha Hayes wearing a Polly's Textiles Apron!

One of the beanbags that Danielle has just to started to produce sits alongside a Roman Blind that I made for another exhibition, we had this on display in HH HQ for a while and everyone loved it, the pleats show off the print perfectly!

Let's hope the visitors to Burnham Overy Staithe Village Hall, North Norfolk PE31 8JD between today - Saturday 16th July and Sunday 21st August like our crafty wares...Nic x

Country Buntkin...The Country Living Bunting Giveaway Competition thing...y

We've been waiting for this issue of Country Living to hit the shelves (or for subscribers their doormats...) with slightly higher excitement levels than usual!
We're in it - or rather, the things that we've made are in it and my (Nic's) hands are just visible...

Some of the 35 beautiful step-by-step projects from A Green Guide to Country Crafts are featured and amongst them is the gorgeous bunting made from old shirts, we LOVE this photo and have very fond memories of the day it was taken by the very lovely and rather brilliant photographer and cake expert (!) Gavin Kingcome.
We couldn't resist decorating this barn wall with it over at Green Lodge Farm owned by our good friend Val Beeson.

How gorgeous do the fabrics look against the black boards??!!

It was fun to make this bunting as we got to include the shirt details like this button tab...

How could we celebrate Halfpenny Home's first appearance in Country Living and getting our 100th blog follower?
Hmmm...

Jacqui had a fabulous idea!
A blog giveaway - a bunting kit with all you would need to make some bunting just like the one featured in Country Crafts and Country Living!

We've prepared some flags from the very same shirts that we used on our 'Bunting made from old shirts' which along with the old, red seam binding will mean that you can recreate your very own 'Country Living' moment (gate not included)!
You've got until Monday 15th August 2011 to enter and to be entered into the draw you need to be a follower and leave a comment and to get an extra go tweet Nic @halfpennyhome
We'll get Mike the Glassman to draw the winner out of a really lovely Czech glass bowl...
Good Luck!
Nic x

Shopped until I dropped...

I paid a visit to the Birmingham NEC at the weekend and had a fabulous time - it was the Craft, Hobbies and Stitch International Trade Fair!

I was supposed to be checking out the ribbons, buttons and fabrics for Halfpenny Home but couldn't resist a look at the Cico Books and Rylands, Peters and Small stand...

and A Green Guide to Country Crafts was amongst the titles beautifully displayed there!

How exciting! Here it is accompanied by the skeins of yarn from The Gedgrave Flock, we dyed them with woad, purple feather reed heads and madder - all beautiful rich and vibrant colours!

But I had a lot of shopping to do! We love ric rac and are always looking out for new and exciting colours and sizes of it. This gorgeous green and sky blue had arrived at Halfpenny HQ during the week but I have found some others, they will be with us very soon...

I was pretty pleased with the recent additions to our range of ribbons but again I have found some others that (I think) are even nicer!

Embroidered ribbon with a vintage feel is always a big hit with us and I couldn't believe my luck when I found several designs and colours that we haven't seen before - I've been frantically taking pictures of them all to get them on the website - they are so lovely!

There was so much to see and there are a lot of treats on their way to us including bias binding in floral prints, polka dots and paisley designs...I was quite worn out with all the excitement!

Visitors to HH HQ have been amused by my attempts to keep the big table clear for cutting fat quarters - I'm trying! I keep getting distracted by the new buttons, these are some of the new cotton poplin prints!

Lovely roses and daises!

Polka dot PVC table covering - who says it's just for tables?! We made bunting with it and with the fabulous gingham bias binding it sets off the OPEN sign a treat!

It makes everyone smile, Nic x

Humble Jumble preparations...

I've been busy making bunting for the Humble Jumble tomorrow, I thought that polka dots in red and blue would suit the Ark perfectly!

Humble Jumble is a lively mix of jumble, craft and cakes!

We are so pleased to be holding them at the Ark which is the Church Hall for St. John's Church in Needham Market and are looking forward to seeing some Halfpenny Home regulars there tomorrow.

Scoffin' will be there with their very lovely cakes, entry is a pound but that includes a cuppa!

Sam will be there with her pick'n'mix bunting, she will also have some of the felt goodies from Ericka Eckles on her stall...

These little nests arrived today, Lisa from Ericka Eckles has made Autumn versions with Autumnal coloured leaves! The little nests are for her gorgeous bird brooches, they can nestle in them when they are not busy adorning your coat.

The birds are so sweet and they are all handsewn and made from wool felt in beautiful colours.

Hope you like them as much as I do, Nic x

Old friends - new fabrics!

Jacqui has wanted to make a bag like my vintage rose bag with the bamboo handles for as long as I can remember! So when I found this version of the fabric in her colours we decided it was time to make one. It was also a good excuse to get Liz and Kay to join in, Liz chose this gorgeous vintage linen curtain...
It was the first time we had seen Liz since her wedding, we made her a cherry bakewell tea cosy as a wedding present, she is rather partial to them!
Of course we always have cake, usually homemade by Scoffin' but this time it had to be...




Here's Kay's bag in a 1979 Sanderson and lined in one of our new cotton poplin prints!




We've been looking forward to these polka dot fabrics for a while, aren't they fun!
There are loads of things I want to make with these two, the tiny flower print is so pretty.
Boys seem to get left out when the girls get to hang up their bunting and we've been searching for some nice non-girly fabrics to make bunting for them - I love the skull and cross bones and I'm just finishing off some bunting in it for my trade bike, he needs smartening up!
Hope you like them as much as we do, Nic x