What Delilah Did

My New/Old Toy

In a corner of every house we have lived in since I was old enough to walk there has been a little wooden table with elaborate iron legs and an interesting looking carved hood. It has been a resting place for piles of junk, a spot for one of my naughty sisters to scratch her name with a pair of scissors (though she did this everywhere - including the woodchip wallpaper in the stairwell of our childhood home), and most lately the perfect location for another of my naughty sisters to hide a bag of her dirty washing for an entire year. And yet since it has been in my mother's possession, not once has it been used for its proper purpose. So I decided to clear a space in my miniscule flat and comandeer it:

Behold! My beautiful new acquisition - a Singer 201K treadle sewing machine. Yes it may be very old and quite rusty...and I had to spend an entire day cleaning and oiling it just to get it to move...and it still doesn't technically work yet...but despite all of this I heart it a lot.

I do have a sewing machine already - a beige and brown plastic 1970s jobbie that my mum gave me when she upgraded a number of years ago - but it is so ugly that I have to keep it in the garage since I have no cupboard space left inside, and it is such a palava to get it out whenever I want to use it that more often than not I just leave it where it is and stitch things (rather wonkily) by hand out of pure laziness and fear of its speed. Despite the fact that both my mother and grandmother are excellent seamstresses, I am not particularly gifted when it comes to using a sewing machine, so I thought that if I had a simple, slow, sturdy vintage affair I would have less opportunity to go wrong. Plus it looks so lovely that I can keep it out all the time meaning it will always be ready to use, therefore encouraging me to make more things. Once I get it working again of course.

At the moment it seems to do everything but pick up the bobbin thread, so you are left with what looks like a line of topstitch, until you pick it up and find it is not actually attached to anything...any advice on what might be causing this would be much appreciated! I think a trip to the Singer doctor in town may be on the cards.

Delilah x

Rocky and Balls - Giveaway!

Bonjour lovelies!

Before Christmas I was introduced to the awesomeness that is Rocky and Balls (thank you Miss Mellor) and I became instantly obsessed. For a start their album is called "We Like Cake and Beards and Stuff" and I am well known to have a penchant for cake and for beards so they pretty much had me at hello!

Rocky and Balls are two girls from here in Britain who make wonderful music that is quirky and charming and lovable - pretty harmonies, funny lyrics and a big dollop of warm fuzziness. The best way I can describe them is sort of like a crafty British version of Teacups mixed with a hint of Ross from Friends on his keyboard (in a good way). Have a listen - I defy you not to love it!

Anyway, the most exciting part is that they have kindly given me a free copy of their album download and since V-Day is around the corner I thought it only fair to spread the love, so I am going to give it away to one of you lucky people! Since you know quite a bit about me by now I thought it would be nice to find out a little more about you, so to be in with a chance of winning all you have to do is leave me a comment below telling me one (or more!) of these three things:

1) Recommend something awesome - music/recipes/films/books...anything!

2) What would you like me to stitch next?

3) Do you prefer cake or beards, and why?!

Anybody can enter (including friends!), but only once. Entries will close at midnight on Saturday 18th February 2012 and the winner will be chosen at random (using random.org). I will post the winner on the blog so keep a look out to claim your prize! Comments are moderated but only to stop spam so they may not show up straight away but will be posted as soon as I see them (unless they are naughty/spam obviously!).

Good luck!

Delilah x

Christmas Starts Here!

My orders have been posted out, the tree is up and the office has closed for the next five days - I can finally let my Christmas begin! No better feeling.

One day I shall have a real tree, but until then I have made my inherited tree look as pretty as I can and for now it will do me very nicely. However we have had to cover the lower branches with washing up liquid to try and Maggie-proof it and she has already made a start on the light cables - she is an absolute menace!

Aside from the naughty cat though it feels so beautifully calm here now that I have packed away my little factory operation for a few days. I am planning to do only lovely things for the next few days: baking, seeing friends and family, and stitching up some orders and new designs (which I suppose is technically work but I don't think it counts because right now it is a treat just to sit down!).

A massive thank you to all of you that have made this season so busy for me, I am truly exhausted but have loved every second of it. And I just can't wait to share my new things with you! Not long now...

Delilah x

How To Build A Massive Twig Tree... And Transport It In A Mini

I cannot believe it has been almost a week since Clutter City already. It was wonderful this time around! I got to meet so many of my lovely online customers in person which was a real treat. Though I was struck by just how many of these local people had to go all the way to London to find out about my work - I really must do something about that.

I spent ages on this display but I'm afraid the pictures of it aren't brilliant because when I got my camera out at the fair I realised I had left the battery charging on top of the bread bin at home...what a muppet. Thank goodness for iPhones.

Anyway, about that tree: 



I knew that I wanted to have some sort of tree in my display but after many lunchtimes spent trawling the (frankly rubbish) shops in town all I found on offer was god-awful shiny Christmas tat that I wouldn't have associated with my products in a month of Sundays. But then came the wind! Truly awful for many people in the North, but every cloud does indeed have a silver lining, and this one came in the form of entire branches broken off by the manic wind littering the ground in the park outside my house. I wrapped up warm, went scavenging for twigs in the dark and came home looking even more like a crazy witch than usual with wild hair and armfuls of wood enough to make ten broomsticks.

I then proceeded to fight my way up the stairs with them and tied them into a trunk at the bottom with about a mile of string, all the while doing a stupid sort of twirling jig to keep mad Maggie-cat from destroying the lot. After this little mini-drama I was left with a floor littered with little bits of bark and mud, various scratches on the ceiling, and a massive, beautiful twig tree. Totally worth it in my opinion. I stole a basket from the bathroom shelf and wedged my tree in with screwed up newspaper, then hung all my hoops on it sat beaming at the whole thing until silly o'clock, massively impressed with my own inventiveness/frugality! A lovely stylish centrepiece and all for the price of a reel of string. 

However, getting it to Norwich for the fair in my friend's Mini was not so much fun! We somehow managed to get it there and back with not too many snapped twigs though (and only a few tantrums on my part...). Another argument towards my growing need for a Land Rover methinks. If only my darling tree didn't make such an appealing cat toy, it could stay in the house all year round.

***

Since I got back I have been feverishly re-stocking the kits I sold out of to make sure there are enough to go around in time for Christmas, so if you see that a kit has sold out, the chances are it will be back in stock a few hours later - I am making them up as fast as my little hands will go!

Back soon,

Delilah x

The Littlest Farmyard

Whilst I was in London I made a flying visit to my second favourite shop, Anthropologie, and was treated to the most excellent magnets I have ever, ever seen:

 

Between these and my stag, heart and bow magnets I now have officially the coolest fridge in all the land. I am so deeply in love with them! The rabbit, the pig and the cow are my favourites.

And just in case you need convincing of their awesomeness any more, the packaging is like a farmyard version of Operation! What's not to like?!

Delilah x

Photos: Anthropologie

Teacups

 

Meet Talita, Chelsea and Elizabeth aka Teacups.

They are a trio from the other side of the world (Aukland to be precise) who make beautiful, whimsical, twinkly folk music and they are my new favourite thing.

I heard one of their songs some time last year, I can't for the life of me remember how or where or even which one, but ever since I have kept their MySpace link on my desktop so that I wouldn't forget them because I couldn't seem to get hold of their album anywhere here in England. However a few weeks ago I finally found that it is now available on iTunes, hurrah! It has been on a continuous loop in my house ever since.

My favourite song is Lily's Eyes which is all about Harry Potter. Yes, I know I am predictable, but it really is excellent, and it is not even immediately obvious that it is all about him. Love, love, love. I am also rather partial to another about a 'quiet four-eyed bird watcher'. Lovely. If I had even an ounce of song-writing ability in my bones this is exactly the sort of music I would make.

If you would like something new and lovely to listen to, the album is called Forest Fiction and I cannot recommend it highly enough. The perfect soundtrack to stitching/baking/general merriment.

Delilah x

Illustration by Marisa McConkie from here.

The Return

I have returned from my week of castles and cooked breakfasts and am preparing to get back into the swing of things. My arrival back home has been made significantly sweeter by the seemingly magical appearance of not one, but two vases full of beautiful peonies. They are my absolute favourites and having them here just makes everything a little better.

I have new things to show you tomorrow, but right now I am off to curl up and dream of lovely things.

Goodnight,

Delilah x

I Heart Doilies

I found some pretty paper doilies in the pound shop a little while ago and I am quite deeply in love with them. They are my new favourite thing. I used one to wrap my little sister's birthday presents and whilst I normally like nothing better than simple brown paper and string, the addition of this one white doily makes my heart flutter just a bit. In fact I was so enamoured with the result that I wanted to unwrap it even though I knew what was inside...

Ever more frequently I seem to find myself falling head over heels for inanimate objects - I fear it may start to become a bit of a problem. Oh well.

Delilah x

Hello Again

As you will know if you have visited me here before, nothing makes me happier than nesting at home and making things. So I have been more than a little disgruntled to find myself rarely able to do either over the past month or so. Hence my absence. Sorry.

In a rare moment at home however I did manage a smidgen of creativity, even if it was just a very small thing. I did a little birthday decorating:

 

Some may think that at 29 whole years of age a person is probably too old for such things as cakes and candles and balloons, but I think that is poppycock. Everybody should have a little indulgence on their birthday, and I could think of nothing simpler and sweeter for this particular Peter Pan. He agreed.

Happy Birthday!

Delilah x