Summer Break.

Yeeha! - A quick round-up of what I've been up to recently, before I disappear again!

We had all of our gorgeous girls together last weekend...My daughter and her boyfriend came to stay, and they met their new precious niece for the first time.

It was such a pleasure to witness love at first sight...and to see someone so tiny receive so much attention! :)

In between all of that excitement, I've been working hard too.

I produced a collection of lavender filled lace bags, which I trimmed with chiffon, ribbons and millinery flowers.

I've been using up some of my vintage fabric scraps to produce simple lavender filled drawer sachets...

Which I've packaged with old cards.

There's been a selection of handbags hot off the sewing machine...

All with special buttons and trims.

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A gathered hand bag made from a pretty floral linen...

And an assortment lavender hearts which are scenting the shop beautifully.

A cute mini-handbag made use of the last of this vintage fabric that I had.

There's been a lot of cushion making...

I've reused lots of lovely fabrics and vintage hand embroidery.

I also used the antique silk hand embroidered panel that I mentioned I bought at the flea market.

I think it works well as a cushion and will hopefully be used and enjoyed for many more years to come.

I backed it in a heavy vintage brocade.

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I've rearranged the shop several times, after selling key items of furniture.

Drawers are both sold - Thank you!

So I had to work on some more makeovers.

This old basket-weave chair badly needed a clean and a new covering to the seat. (Love the little drawer in the base.)

I stripped it back and gave it a new Sanderson fabric cover.

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I also tackled this Lloyd Loom ottoman.

It too had seen better days and needed re-covering.

I wanted to work with the brown gloss paint, which had a 30's look about it, so I chose a coordinating pure wool Welsh blanket to cover the top.

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A perfect perch and storage box in one!

Other small items of furniture have moved-in too.

But I now need a break!

I shall be closing my shop for a week, for a recharge of the old batteries and to think about something else other than having my head constantly filled with ideas for cushions, paint colours, shop accounts and Shepton Mallet in general! I haven't had a week off since Christmas, so this will be very nice, thank you.

I will also be turning off my computer for a week as well!

(I shall be back to my usual opening hours on Tuesday 9th August - Sorry if this causes any inconvenience.)

I'll leave you with some summer sunshine and the flowers happily blooming in our garden at the moment.

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See you again soon,

Niki x