I'm so touched by all of your kind and supportive words. Thank you for taking the time to write them, it means a lot. This morning my dearest dad's heart had enough and he died. I'm saying this now when I can as it's just not real in my head at the moment so it's easier to say it. I don't want to hide from the bare fact of it. I'll be back when I can and it'll be normal service of happy. Not because I pretend it's all ok, but because life just goes on and he'd tell me off if I wallowed for too long.

The Good, the Bad and the How it is

I'm not a great one for saying how it is on here. I have absolutely no problem in my real life, but I choose this as my happy space where I celebrate and embrace the good things in life. Sometimes though life catches up on you and then it's time to take a breath, stop and think. I really enjoy writing my blog as I do, but at the moment my head is struggling with being all jolly and creative and I think being honest is what I need right now. 

It's been a roller coaster of a week. It started with the news that my aunt who has been battling with severe mental health problems took a million steps backwards after so many slow slow steps forward. On Monday I celebrated my adopted birthday with my parents. It's the day I was born to them and means I have two birthdays which is a bit of all right isn't it. Next we got some great news. In January Miss Rosey sat a three hour school entrance exam for high school and passed. We found out this week we've been awarded enough of a bursary so she can go to this school. It's been a long and stressful wait not knowing for sure what's happening in the next big step in her life, but so exciting to know at last. That night I rang my mum to let her know Miss Rosey's news, but I couldn't get through. That was the night my dad got rushed into hospital again because he couldn't breathe at all. They're working hard to stabilise him, but other complications are setting in. Mr Bun was going to visit him tonight on his way back from an awards ceremony at Duxford, but his car literally died on the way there with smoke pouring out. We might be lucky enough to get a bit of cash for it as scrap, but no car. He's had loads of cars die on him and they never think to do it near home for some stupidly stupid reason known to the law of cars. Finally, tonight my mum called when she got home from the hospital to say another aunt has gone into hospital.

It's my mum I worry about the most in all of this. There's only so much one person can take and she's taking a lot at the moment. She finds it really hard to accept help and prefers giving, but tonight she asked if she can come and stay at the weekend. The Bun's adore their grandma so they've planned a sleepover all together in the lounge with a midnight feast, she'll love it. We can provide the spoiling and looking after the lot of them.

I feel so much better writing all that down rather than just banging on about the good stuff. Normal will be resumed when I get my head screwed back on again. Hopefully I'll be able to fit in a spot of blissful sewing tommorow before I visit my dad. I've plans to make the Bun's suprise washbags for their first ever school trip away. That's why I've been adding to the stash yet again.

Weekend Mischief

On the way back home on Friday I bumped into a friend, who told me about another friend who had a friend who was opening a new vintage shop on Saturday. Are you with me so far? Now this friend and my other friend have an eye for the good stuff so I knew it was worth swapping our planned lazy Saturday morning to a treasure hunting one.

We all bundled into the car and headed off over the border into Suffolk to Beccles. When we moved up from Brighton we stumbled on this market town and knew it was perfect for us. We stayed for seven years and then got the countryside itch so off we went a bit further down the road. We still love it here and it seems it's getting even better with Vintage Mischief opening up.

There was so much to ooohhh and aaahhh over. Not just the fabulous vintage goodies laid out on the different floors of the old dairy, but also the pared down styling which meant the building became as much part of the experience as the vintage treasure. 

I was good and only picked up a few goodies as I wandered about. I saw one lady with this fabulous poodle apron in her hands and then luckily for me she put it back.

How could I resist adding these florals to my stash? The cheeky imp with his washing flapping in the breeze was spotted by Miss Rosey and quickly added to the pile.

There were fabulous aprons, barkcloth curtains, pyrex, china, an old typewriter, chairs and so much more that we could have popped in my basket, all just too tempting. The thing with vintage treasure hunting is that most things you find are one offs. If it's something I've been after for an age and the price is good I find it really hard to resist.

Danielle and Simon, the owners of Vintage Mischief, have got it spot on with their new shop. They also plan to hold vintage markets here in the future too, so lots to come back for again and again.

While we searched upstairs Mr Bun got cosy in an armchair. My friend Amanda, who was also having a rummage, found a stunning blanket (see her foot peeking out) to add to her pile of goodies. 

In the room across the way Miss Rosey was going about her own search. Both girls have found their own style in a mix of hand-me-down, vintage and homemade and now love looking for stuff on their own. The 1960's dress Miss Rosey is wearing is a real favourite of hers. Little Bun is hoping she'll outgrow it very soon so it'll be her turn to wear it.

Once we'd finished our treasure hunt we headed off for a wander around the town and to find some cake before heading home to start that home day we'd planned. 

Can you believe there was no rain this weekend, the sun was actually shining, that was all it took for life to feel perfect. We had a bit of time playing in the garden and doing some animal cuddling. All of our animals were heady with joy. Two of the ladies hung out in their favourite spot while the other sunbathed. They've looked genuinely miserable with soggy feathers day after day.

 

Pixie had a lot of overgrown grass to chomp through. She was so bouncy and thrilled to be out of her hutch, lets hope we get a bit more of this stuff.

On Sunday Mr Bun came to his first ever car boot. He has kind of been before, but he wouldn't get out of the car. He really loves all the stuff I bring back and I swear he could bring back even more stuff than me if he got the bootin' bug. He just couldn't face all the people and the tons of junk you have to wade through to find the goodies. Now he's admitted to liking it even though we only came back with some potatoes, Big Ears, but no Noddy and ate four 99's (that's an icecream by the way if you're not from the UK).  

After that we headed off for a walk around the old Roman town and chatted with the sheep there for a while. Life's so much better without the constant wet stuff.

Don't forget my Craft it Forward is open until this weekend if you haven't entered. Thanks to everyone who's already joined in and added the button to their blogs. A few of you asked how you add it. Hopefully I've got this right - first off you right click on the image, then click on save image and save it in whichever folder you want. In Layout on your blog design you go into add gadget and I think it's add html link. Then you can upload the image and the link which always starts http:// (put the blog name or whatever here) and ends with a /. Think that's it from memory.

CIF Time

As promised, here I am with news of the Craft it Forward I mentioned. 

I fancied something was needed to mark my three and a half years of blogging and to say thankyou for stopping by and reading what I waffle on about.

There's two chances to win a Craft it Forward gift made by me for you. All you have to do is leave a comment letting me know why you love making things or love handmade stuff and then what you would like me to make for you if you win. Do you fancy a Spring Posy Brooch, Whoopie Doo Pincushion or a Jolly Good Egg Cosy?

After you've said hello and made your choice all you'll need to do is paste the Bobo Bun Craft it Forward badge onto your sidebar to be entered into the draw. That way we can spread the crafting goodness around. I'm hoping that once the winners get their crafty parcel from me they'll hold their own Craft it Forward to keep on spreading the making and sharing around.

Aswell as making one gift for each of the two winners I'll also pop in a small selection of fabrics and buttons to give a little something to your making stash too. Don't worry if the colours I've shown here aren't your favourites. If you have a peek into my etsy shop you'll see there's quite a choice of colours for you to choose from.

I'll leave the Craft it Forward open until Saturday 19th May and announce the winners on Sunday 20th May. I think that's everything you need to know.  I'll look forward to hearing a bit more about what you love best about this making lark.

Muddy May

Three lovely days have whizzed by in a blink. Bank holiday weekends are definitely the best sort of weekends. Just enough days to do everything we want. Saturday was a home, relaxing and doing what we all wanted kind of a day. I spent my time stitching a thing or two and to Miss Rosey's delight I finished her Ruffle Skirt.

On Sunday we left the frills behind and headed off to the woods. Alfie Blue went to cosy up with the grandparents in his new Cone of Shame. Poor boy keeps chewing his hip until it bleeds so he needed a lampshade to sort him out. He seems fine with it on and best of all it means he can't lick his feet which he does literally ALL DAY (it drives me insane that gulpy wet lickety spit noise).

We headed off and explored Foxley Woods which is an ancient woodland and known for the wonderful Bluebells

It all looked very blue and lovely. Little Bun loved searching out trees and places where fairies might live, Miss Rosey had a grand old time sloshing through the mud.

Every muddy puddle had to be properly jumped in and explored before we could move on.

On Sunday we went exploring and ended up at a Georgian Hall. It was a thoroughly English affair.

 

A brass band played while we shivered and licked our ice creams waiting for Waggytails to entertain us. Our favourite dog was Daisy the terrier who whizzed round the course.

 

There were dogs off all sizes and speeds from Collies and Labradors to Terriers. The slowest dog all was Dan the Lurcher who once he had done his stuff had just enough energy to saunter in a chilled manner around the course.

They were wonderful and were far more fun to watch when they did the opposite of what they were meant to do.

Now I know I did promise to announce my Craft it Forward in my next post, but I want to let you know about it in a post all of it's own. As I'll have my teacher head on for the next three days nothing else will be happening in my Bobo Bun world so I'll be back by Thursday I think it's safe to say.

Addictions

I can't imagine my life without making stuff, it's something I've always done and will probably always do. On the way I learn new things and try our different ideas. I'm also constantly swapping what I love doing the most. At the moment I can't keep away from my sewing machine. There've been times I've got very angry with my machine, but really it was me causing the trouble. Finally I seem to have worked out all sorts of stuff and so I'm trying out new dressmaking things as part of my new addiction to sewing.

Part of this addiction means I have to stock up on fabrics and notions, there's no choice in this matter you understand. For a long while now I've wanted these heart, leaf and flower pins, but never got round to getting any. Yesterday I finally pressed yes please in etsy. If you pop on over to That Crafty Fish you'll find she has a few etsy shops selling all sorts of lovelies to tempt you like I was.

Hiding underneath the pins are a few more bits that fell through my letterbox this morning. I bought the pinky fabric down below from Jane because I just knew I'd need it sometime. Jane being the lovely that she is popped a few more bits and scraps in my parcel aswell. Now I had two choices. I could start another patchy project, even though I've got two others on the go and I need an excuse to use these fabulous plastic paper piece templates. Can't tell you how thrilled I was to find these as the hexagons I've made are beyond awful.

I decided to make a quick and easy garland inspired by Dottie Angel. Breakfast all done I wandered off in my jammies to attach myself to my new love, my sewing machine. In a short while I'd cut up some of the squares so they weren't all the same size, sewn a strip of bias binding to the top and hung it to admire my new garland. Lovely indeed and all made possible by Jane's generosity you see.

Once my garland was up I got on with finishing Little Bun's Lila Blouse before attacking Miss Rosey's Ruffle Skirt. In the middle of the week I finished a jersey tunic for me, but it's been worn and gone in the wash before any photos were taken so I'll tell you about that one another time. Warned you didn't I, I've got it bad at the moment.

Do you remember me mentioning my problems with shirring elastic? Well I've found a cure and it's brilliant. The lady in John Lewis put me on to it and it's left me wanting to sew elastic thread on to everything. Basically it's a strip of the stretchy stuff and all you do is sew it down while giving the elastic a real hard tug. Leave the fabric well alone and when you let it go after sewing two or three rows it all puckers up.

For the waist I used the whole width and for the neck and sleeves I cut it in half. 

It doesn't come with instructions so I had a bit of a fiddle around. All you need to do is pin the start and then just pull taut and guide the needle along the strip.

After a whizz round and lots of stretching and pulling, a top was born. I held my breath waiting to see if it would fit Little Bun. I always worry that I might have gone nuts and cut the wrong size or something else as daft. Turns out it fits perfectly and she loves it as it's really comfy.

Like all the designs in Tanya Whelan's book, I found this one really straightforward and fun to make.  She suggests different ways of playing with each thing to get a different shape or style if you fancy which makes it even more addictive. Just Miss Rosey's skirt to finish and then I've a few more things to have a go at.

On another note, I saw this is my 401st post which seems a lot of words and pictures to me. As I missed having a new years blog birthday I think it might be time to do something a bit different. I've been thinking of having a Craft it Forward event for a while now to say thank you for stopping by and to link up with some other bloggers. I'll set the ball rolling on this in my next post and explain what I mean, in case you're wondering what on earth I'm on about. 

See you then.

Shelf Filling

Mr Bun gave me this postcard a while back now after a trip to the big smoke. It's from the Children in War collection by Cecil Beaton and sits on one of the mantlepieces. The little girl in it is three year old Eileen Dunne who was a blitz victim. It's taken in 1940 in the Hospital for Sick Children. 

Every time I look at it I have so many questions to ask about little Eileen. I wonder if she's been orphaned and that's why she looks so wary, is it because she's in pain or is it just the strange surroundings and the strange man taking a photo of her? Perhaps it's all of them.  She clutches her rescued doll to her for comfort and is safe for now in her cosy bed. As a mum I find this postcard incredibly touching and want to snatch her out of the photo and give her a cuddle. I often wonder what became of little Eileen and hope it was a happy ending.

The reason for mentioning Eileen is that she ended up being the perfect backdrop to some photos I was taking the other day and I thought you might like to know a bit more about her too.

Before I got my camera out I was busy stitching. Do you remember that fabric I bought on Saturday? Well on Sunday I cut a bag shape from some of it and on Monday I stitched it into a Happy Shopping Trip Bag. Little Bun was poorly which rescued me from having to help out Mr Bun at work. Extra time with my lovely girl and stolen back making time aswell.

I lined the top half with a pink polka-dot. Ever since I was a teen I've loved polka-dots and always use them in my sewing when I can.

 

Rather than making just one bag, I made two. As I've a fair sized pile of my favourite ever (at the moment of course) fabric, I decided that some of it should become another Happy Shopper.

 

This one got the orange polka-dot treatment inside.

 

I got such wonderful comments from you all about the Happy Shopper I made for myself that it gave me the kick up the bum to make some more to share. I used to make all sorts of bags to commission, but haven't done so for years now. I really enjoyed getting back into bag making again and think a few more will be making their way off my sewing machine very soon.

To be honest that kick up the bum, combined with the fact that the daft rain cleared off on Monday, meant the light was perfect to take photos of my makes. For an age now I've been trying to update my etsy shop and last night I beavered away filling the shelves and having a good old tidy up. 

If you fancy a peek around my spic and span shelves you can find my etsy shop  here:

Bobo Bun

Thank you all for giving me the ooommmphh to get on with things. Sometimes it's just what's needed.

Little Red Rooster

One of my favourite vintage fairs came to town this weekend to Dragon Hall. Little Vintage Lover tours all over Norfolk and has recently shown up in Stockholm too. I've been lucky enough to have a pitch at the fairs ever since they started a few years back now. The atmosphere is always great, lovely sellers, with a mix of vintage goodies, including a DJ, barber and pop-up library.  This time we went along as visitors in search of treasure and to catch up with a few friends. 

Lovely Zoe, who's behind Little Vintage Lover, moves between Norfolk and Sweden where Little Majorette, the band she's part of is based. When I googled their music a while back I came across a review in The New York Times and followed the leads to this video of Overflow which I loved immediately. It's the first time I've tried putting videos on here so fingers crossed it works as I'd love to share it with you.

Right if your toes are still tapping I'll show you the things I found. First off I found my friend Emmie, who was having a bit of a house clearout, which was good as her house is full of wonderful stuff (lots of gnomes). Little Bun picked a small china cat and I spied the jolly cock. I got all round agreement from Mr Bun and the Bun's that we should take him home. Apparently his name is Mr Roos so I'll be polite from now on. I'm not sure if Emmie really wanted to part with him, so I might just be rooster-sitting.

Then when we were catching up with some other friends, one pointed out this gorgeous fabric - which I'd stupidly missed. See I wasn't looking properly or just too much chatting. A bargain of 2 3/4m of lushness. I'm not sure what the fabric is, it's a barkcloth type print, but not barkcloth as it's too heavy a weave.

After a bit more shopping, cake and chat we headed off for food and then home. The Bun's went off to pick up where their game had been left, Mr Bun did more thinking up great ideas and I got to work on a garland inspired by the colours in my new fabric find.

Today I managed to sneak in a bit of sewing time as it rained in a really stupid way today so home stuff was best all round. I started a couple of bags, one in my new fabric and got going on Little Bun's Lila top. When it came to sewing with the elastic thread I gave up in the end. I just couldn't get the right tension and decided that the nice lady in the sewing shop might know what to do.

As I offered to cover some sessions at work last Friday and I'm doing a half day tommorow, there's not nearly enough making time at the moment. I need to get my days off back and I'll be happy - I shouldn't be married to the man whose projects they are should I and I wouldn't say yes so easily.

See you sometime in the week I hope.

On my own Cloud

Part of organising the Pick 'n' Mix Makers Markets is that I get to meet incredibly talented people.  Some have become friends who I love to catch up with now and then. A couple of them have arranged a get together next week for a few of us, plus a few more creative women I've not met before so I'm really looking foward to that. 

This week I popped in to see a friend who always comes along to Pick 'n' Mix as I'd asked her to save one of her new designs for me. I love visting her home as much as seeing her to be honest. I don't have any pictures to show you, but try to imagine the most magical place, stuffed to the gills with the most stunning thrifted treasures, fabrics and makes. I could just wander staring at it all and probably nicking one or two things if I was a naughty person.

A while back I'd seen her Happy Cloud hanging from a shelf and asked her to make sure she kept one for me. I even bumped into a textile designer who loves Sasha's work. She thought I was lucky to be getting a cloud of my very own.

I hadn't had the time to visit for a while so kept thinking of my lovely cloud and wondering where I'd hang it. Now finally it's home with us and I love it. I had the choice of a few and I couldn't resist the sparkly green sequins.

Across the room from the cloud is my snowman, who hangs there all year round. I love him too much to take him down with all the other christmas decorations.

Little Bun has quite a few of Sasha's creatures too as she's a real fan of her work. There's quite a few creatures to choose from to be honest, all dressed in recycled and vintage knitwear, trims and fabrics, I always want them all.

At the moment she only sells through markets and word of mouth, maybe one day she'll sell online so more people can have one of her gorgeous toys.

Sasha rarely does emails either, instead she sends me the most lovely vintage cards and pictures she's jazzed up herself. I think there's something to be said for this as there's nothing quite like getting a card or a note in the post. 

Thanks for all your lovely comments on my last post and hello to new followers. I really enjoy writing this here thing, but it makes it even better when I know other people enjoy it too so I appreciate you telling me.

Stitching for You & Me

Righty O - before I say another word I'll let you know what the wonder pink stuff is called that bypasses horrible sanding. Sorry I forgot to mention it before, I should have known there'd be loads more like me out there who just want to get on with the lovely painting bit and not faff with the boring stuff. It's made by International and it's got a really easy name to remember - Easy Sand. Look for a tall square tin and you'll be in business.

Today, in-between meeting Mr Mortgage and waiting for my plumbing mate to turn up I chose one of my favourite day off things to do. I plopped a few fabrics, paper and pens on the table and got busy making patterns, cutting out shapes and managed to stitch a shopping bag.

I've a few projects I want to make from The Liberty Book of Sewing, today I fancied the easy shopper. Pretty much all the patterns in the book are straightforward and I could make them without the book, but sometimes it's good to just sit back, be lazy and be guided by the hand through the whole making thing.  I did have to work out all the measurements and make my own pattern first off so it wasn't all hand-holding to start with.  I used a metre of a 1930's playtime repro print that I'd bought last week. I fancy making a dress or a blouse in this fabric too if I manage to get hold of anymore.

As I was in the mood for chopping up fabric I traced the pattern for the Lila blouse that Little Bun has chosen next. Pale blue birdies from Tanya Whelan's latest collection to go with a pattern designed by her. The only problem so far is that the pattern told me to buy far more fabric than I actually needed so if you use this book I'd say measure your child and ignore the book.

The other bit of cutting going on was Miss Rosey's Ruffle Skirt (from the same book). We're moving out of her black clothes only phase thank goodness and now she wants all sorts of colour and print. I had strict instructions that it had to be large roses for this skirt and I think I did ok with what I found for her. I didn't get a chance to start sewing either of these today, but at least I've done the worst bit (the sewing equivalent of sanding for me).

After all the cutting out I got on with stitching up my bag. I guess as it's in a patriotic red, white and blue it'll be my Jubilee shopper.

It was such a quick and easy pattern to whip up and I really enjoyed making it.

When we road-tested the bag after school, I was amazed with how much stuff we could fit in it. It's so light and floppy that I can chuck it in my bag and use whenever I need more bags. I'll definately whip up a few more of these as it's been really handy already.

The day ended perfectly as after school my clever friend fitted the shower pump and then took the taps off, did stuff and finally solved our lack of bath problem. I never thought I'd get so excited about having a bath as I did tonight.

Have a lovely week.