Happy Christmas One and All! x

I would love a full set of vintage Famous Five books, just to look at the jackets if nothing else, as the designs are so charming. View lots of them here.

Phew! I have finally finished off the Lark Christmas orders, including a last-minute top-up for Meet Me at Mike's, whose delightful owners Pip and Cam have the best taste in town (Melbourne town that is!). I can finally start making some of the things I'd planned for my own kids, and have started with a Robot toy for Jules, made of course from scraps of vintage fabric. Here you can see it start to take shape:

I found the pattern at Wee Wonderfuls - the pattern also includes a 'Spaceboy', which I might make for Jacob if I get time.

New things!

Lots of vintage finds to report this week.


Firstly, some pretty fabrics from a garage sale in Daylesford.

And a super book about printing by hand, with some really fab designs.

A collection of 1960s beer mats with cute sayings! The vintage wallpaper in the background was also a garage sale find.

I also found a vintage Fisher Price bus, complete with driver and all its passengers.

I found this a little while ago but couldn't resist showing it off - a pretty and pristine 50s tablecloth. The colours are so gorgeous, I can't stop looking at it (must find a table to fit!).

And vintage labels to add to my collection.

And finally, some VERY cute old playing cards!

Finds of the week

As usual this week, most of my favourite purchases have been thrift finds, although I had a lovely surprise when the Tower of Doom arrived in the post and turned out to be not the plastic monstrosity I had feared, but a rather nice painted wooden toy. Even the set of characters that came with it '('The Bad Guys') have been well made and with a good dose of humour! The boys are going to go wild on Christmas morning...

Anyway, three garage sales this week delivered some nice vintage children's books including this 1960s book with great illustrations:

And I was pleased with this great little Peanuts book from 1962, which has gorgeous colours and a really nice format:

I also unearthed a huge pile of Japanese papers, about 24 packs. I can't resist the mini-prints on these! I have taken a few for my studio but the majority will be in the new art room I am setting up in the garden for the boys and I to play in (watch this space!)

I always look out for vintage handicraft books from the 60s and 70s - scored some good ones this week, which I will enjoy reading, as much for inspiration as for the memories they bring back of growing up in the 70s!

And finally I bought a stunning 1950s fabric on eBay - about 4 metres of this beauty, which will go in my stash and may well appear in the Lark 2007 range, which I have just started working on: