What Delilah Did

It's The Book!

I have been itching to tell you all about this for so long, and with precisely one month to go until my book launches I am finally allowed to show you the cover!

Of course I am somewhat biased, but I really do think it is one of the loveliest book covers I have ever seen. When we were talking in the early stages about how I wanted the book to look, I said that I would love an illustrated cover and in my dreams it would be something a bit like the artwork that my favourite artist/illustrator Julianna Swaney does (she's the same lady that designed my new logo a few months ago)... well my publishers only blinking well managed to get her on board to do the whole thing didn't they? I was so excited when I found out. She has really outdone herself and created something even better than I could have imagined. The beautiful paper cover wraps right around the book with a cut-out for Mr Fox, and it just looks incredible. I can say that without blushing because I didn't paint it!

As for what's inside... the book is called Storyland Cross Stitch and is a collection of projects and stories set in a wild sort of a fairyland. There are patterns big and small; things for beginners and seasoned stitchers alike, and a lovely little miniature kit in the back so that you can start stitching something right away.

I hope to be able to show you more as we inch closer to 4th July when it launches, but if you hop over to the LoveCrafts blog in the meantime, you can see a sneaky peek of one project behind the scenes at the photoshoot. LoveCrafts is the website run by my publisher Collins & Brown, so it's also the place to keep your eyes peeled for more news on the book as they will have exclusive images/competitions/interviews/offers etc. before anybody else.

T minus one month and counting!

Delilah x

For The Love Of Brown Paper

 

My new postcards have arrived and they look AMAZING. I am so pleased with them that I kind of want to go into town and just hand them out to random strangers...but I shan't. From now on I will be putting one in with every kit order so you can see them in the flesh.
I designed them so that you can stitch over the top of the pattern and make them into something nice - such as a birthday card or bookmark - should you so wish. I like multipurpose things.

I got some business cards too. They make me feel almost like a proper grown-up. I sat lopping off all the corners yesterday (because I have a penchant for rounded corners and a special skill for creating unnecessary work for myself).

 

     I don't often divulge my suppliers because I spend an exhausting amount of time searching for them, but I just really want to mention Awesome Merchandise because they were so helpful and did such a brilliant job - if you need things for your own business you should absolutely give them a try.

Delilah x

The Best Logos In The World Ever? Probably.

                         

                                

I wanted to wait until I had finished re-designing my website before I shared these, so that you got the full effect, but since things keep stopping me from working on it I decided I couldn't wait any longer.

 

 

I am so in love with them! They make me smile every time I look at them. The fabulous Julianna Swaney made them for me - I have been enamoured with her work for so long and I am over the moon to have some for my very own. You can see some of the working sketches on her blog here, should that sort of thing interest you (it does me).

 

I have made do with my own little scribbled banner up to now, but with the book and all the new things in the pipeline for this year I really wanted things to look more polished. So I have stripped the website right back (above) and treated myself to a few little business-luxuries like the logos to start the ball rolling. I have designed some little postcards to send out with orders too and am getting some proper business cards made, all of which should arrive next week. I am so excited! Small things.

I also have a tonne of new things which I think are all going to be ready quite close together. I didn't plan it that way, but I have been trying not to rush things because that way I end up hating them. Plus one of my biggest aims for this year was to regain a bit of a work/life balance, so things are taking a little longer. I think they are going to be much better for it.

Whilst anyone who knows me will tell you that I still have a very long way to go when it comes to stamping out the workaholic mentality, in comparison to how things have been for the past few years I have been making epic leaps and bounds. We're talking occasional whole days off: making time to cook, swim, find my dream kitchen (here), become obsessed with Game of Thrones (obsessed I tell you), and spend time with friends old and new...

But the thing that I forgot about life is that it has a habit of biting you in the bum if you let it. It is unpredictable and uncontrollable and, whilst these can be the very things that make it so awesome, for a control-freak like me it can be a little hard to swallow sometimes. I think the point I missed was the idea of balance. I was craving life so much that I forgot I need both. The certainty that work brings - that if I put in enough effort I can affect the outcome that I want - is something I really can't live without. The one thing that I can control. The knowledge that when things go a little pear-shaped elsewhere I can fall back on something solid. And so for the first time in so long I am relishing the fact that I have a mountain of work to keep me occupied. I can't wait to share the results.

Delilah x

The One With The Harry Potter Valentine

It is no secret that I am a massive Potter geek, so when I discovered this little lot waiting for me yesterday afernoon I lost the power of speech for about ten minutes. It is without question the most wildly extravagant, imaginative and excessive Valentine's gift I have ever received.

In all honesty I was adequately impressed with the Hogwarts acceptance letter that I found on my doormat after the postman had been, but apparently the letter alone wasn't enough. Cue a gigantic Lindor truffle ("the subject of an Engorgio charm"), a miniature bird cage (for my owl, obviously), and a trunk covered in Gryffindor paraphernalia ("everything you need for Hogwarts"), filled to the brim with Chocolate Frogs, Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans, bars of Galaxy in an array of sizes, a heart shaped box of chocolates, and enough Lindor truffles to make me morbidly obese for all eternity. Utter madness + completely excellent.

Truffle anybody?

Delilah x

Wriggly Tin

Ok, so I know it is painfully tedious looking through other people's holiday photos, but I promise these are not holiday photos in the normal sense. I will keep it brief. I just really want to show you where I went because it was awesome and I thought you might like it too (working on the proviso that if you are reading this we probably share a similar aesthetic).

Home for the week was this shepherd's hut in the middle of a field surrounded by trees and sheep (naturally) in deepest rural Hampshire. I was given glamping vouchers for my birthday so I knew whichever place I chose would be in a wonderful countryside location, but what sold me on this one was the beautiful job Alex (the owner) has done of kitting out the hut. Just look at it:

Brilliant, no?

I was blessed with no electricity and no phone signal and was therefore forced to relax, spending my time playing with fire, going for lovely long walks, reading by lamplight and eating copious amounts of toasted marshmallows. Bliss. I also now need a wood burning stove in my life more than ever...electricity may be useful and convenient but it is just so very dull in comparison.

Delilah x

Find out more about Wriggly Tin here: http://www.wrigglytinhuts.co.uk/

An Awesome Wave

Oh. Good. Lord.

On Monday I got the new alt-J album and instantly fell deeply, irrevocably in love with it. It has been on repeat ever since. You absolutely need to buy it! It will make your life infinitely better I promise.

In case you haven't heard of them, alt-J are an amazing band from Leeds here in the UK and they make music that is so beautiful it almost hurts me to listen to it. The first time I heard the whole album I thought I might burst with my love for it. Reccommendations don't really come much higher than that. It's difficult to describe because it's quite unusual, but I suppose it has elements of folk mixed with a little MGMT, some guitars resembling The Cure, a hint of Bon Iver... awesome indeed.

I was meant to be on holiday this week but I have so much work on that it hasn't really worked out that way! I managed to spend the entire weekend between the beach, the pool and the trampoline and felt so good because of it that I don't even mind that I now have a heap of orders to catch up on (thanks to all of you lovely people!). So I am now sitting putting kits and samples together whilst alt-J keep me company. It hardly feels like work.

Delilah x

Picture from here.

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

Two More (Non) Sleeps!

It is so close I can hardly bear it...only two more full days of work before my day-job becomes a half-a-day-job so that I can concentrate on my stitching - I am so excited I think I might explode before February arrives!

Aside from lots more textile-related things, I fully intend to use the newfound hours for a few little luxuries which have been absent for the last year or two such as sleep, swimming, biking, walking, baking and catching up on my reading - as you can see from the picture above the pile of books on my bedside table is reaching mountainous proportions and actually contains two Alice Hoffman books meaning she is literally writing them faster than I can read them, which is frankly rather ridiculous. And that is not to mention the pile of unread magazines just waiting to be cracked open on the other side of the bed.

Just two more days... Must hold it together...

Happy (excited) Sunday!

Delilah x

Milleta

I have been unsuccessfully looking for a pair of lovely slippers to warm my toes for the past three years (I am incredibly fussy) so when I saw these little Milleta beauties here I snapped them up without a second thought - they are exactly what I have been looking for the whole time and they have hardly left my feet since they arrived a few days ago, yippee!

They are so warm and sturdy layered on top of my thin cotton socks that I literally feel as though I could walk bootless across a glacier in them and not even feel a chill. I love the colours, I love the patterned cuffs, I love the fact that they are one of a kind and lovingly, immaculately made with care by an actual pair of human hands and not a machine, I love the natural hand-spun rough organic yarn, I love that they come from Moldova... I just love love LOVE them! The only problem is that now I want another pair. When I manage to save up some more pennies I might see if she can make me some more with these brilliant little arrows on:

If your feet are cold, I cannot recommend her shop highly enough - you need never fear frostbite again.

Delilah x

Photographs: Milleta