The View From My Window

I am very fortunate to live overlooking a 1930s park and the view from my lounge window at this time of year is stunning:

In a couple of months'time, this will be loaded with cherries. Passers by get to pick what they can reach and the birds get the rest. It makes for interesting coloured splatters on the cars parked nearby - if you know what I mean.

I bought some lovely looking tulip bulbs last year but because of the snow, I only planted them about 7 weeks ago. Imagine my delight to see them flowering already:

Remember my pink bags that I really didn't like here ? Well I overdyed them and although they're still not my first choice of colours, They look much better and if they don't sell, I'll be giving them as Christmas presents - YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Finally to all you cash-savvy shoppers out there. Buy a Telegraph on Saturday or Sunday (£1.80) and there will be a Body Shop voucher inside to the value of £5 with no minimum spend.

Bags of Bags

Last Friday after visiting my good friend Felted House, I arrived home to find a package waiting for me - don't you just love it? Even when you know what's going to be inside, it still feels like Christmas Day, especially when it's something to create with. Well my package was full of cotton bags, just begging to be decorated ready to sell at a craft market.

Here are some small drawstring bags that I sell as small gift bags or tooth fairy bags; some medium sized gift bags and some shopping bags. These are all in unbleached cotton, from a reputable company with good ethics and environmentally friendly products.

I also bought a couple of Thai Monk Moon bags to see how they go. I was quite impressed with these- they are double thickness cotton with an internal zipped pocket and secured with a wooden bead:

I have printed small bags before with a linocut image that have been quite popular:

But this time I thought I would dye some as well. As I was perusing the dyes, I found a 'rose red' that was reduced. Now I'm not a warm colour person, but do force myself to choose them periodically, because not everyone's taste is the same as mine. So today was a day to dye for. After much scrunching and tieing, I popped them in the machine and duly waited. Disappointment! It doesn't look anything like a rose:

...and as you can see, some lost their ties in the wash to boot. Those that were heavily tied look OK -

 not stunning as I'd hoped...

.. so I was forced to get some bleach out and play:

My dip-dyed  violet ones are much more pleasing to my eye:

I had to stop for the school run, but I've tried my batik stuff on a few bags - leave it to dry and then dye another day tomorrow. Will post the results good and bad.