71/365

Grace in small things.

1. The Wonder Hill Market today at Tooting Tram and Social. What a cool venue, what a lovely, warm atmosphere (met lots of lovely sellers and bumped into Sinead from Crafty Fox and got to see her brand new fox cub - what a teeny cutie), and what a sweet surprise at the end! I had started to notice a few dapper young gentlemen and some very stylish vintagey ladies milling about, checking out all the stalls. And I wondered, where did these people come from all of a sudden? This is not your every day Tooting look. Then, a swinging song kicked out overhead, and the aisles of the market became a stage for swing dancers. Hence the dapper and vintage. Good fun.

I love that woman's dress.

2. Fresh fruit, muesli and yoghurt for breakfast. Mmm...

3. New pillows! Tempur pillows! And the matching bed coming soon! My back hurt ever so slightly less this morning when I woke up. I think.

4. Another free day full of lots of tiny power. One highlight of all I did: I turned one of Marcus's old snagged jumpers into my no-snags jumper. Easiest upcycle ever.

5. I've started making things for my new home. They will be photographed just as soon as I get to go make that new home mine.

ticky tocks for kids who are all growed up

Big ticky tocks!

Because I couldn't just make them for toddlers, could I? Question is, do I put them in the babybandito shop or in dito, my grown-up shop that I have neglected now for quite some time? They wouldn't be the only thing in the grown-up shop. I have ideas, you know. Grand plans. And they (of course) involve funny embroidery.

At a market the other day, a lady quite cleverly quipped, "It's a perfect holiday watch!" And she's completely right. Because when you're on holiday, you don't actually want to know what time it really and truly is. Luckily, these are all set at roughly brunch time or party time, depending on whether the sun or the moon is out. And everybody knows those are the two best times of day.

So what do you think? babybandito or dito?

63/365

Grace in small things.

1. Getting recognition for a job well done at work.

2. Dhari's been having lots of really good days! Now there's a kid who loves life.

3. A great day at the Crafty Fox Spring Market. I tried setting up my table differently this time, with the banditos out of their packaging. I think the result was good. Everybody had to touch them and then exclaim about what lovely fabric it was. You can't do that when it's all wrapped up in plastic.

4. Homeland is good.

5. Looking forward to getting ready for Easter. I made Dhari a cute little basket last year, and am planning a few more things for this year.

62/365

Grace in small things.

1. Today is a beautiful day. Sunshine has major restorative powers, people. Just don't forget your sunblock!

2. I held a poetry competition for World Poetry Day (tomorrow) at school, and got a LOAD of submissions. I've already read a couple from the older kids, who have greatly astounded me with their gift. I think of the sort of thing I wrote when I was 17, and I shrink in embarrassment. These boys are good.

3. I absolutely cannot wait for the Crafty Fox Spring Market on Sunday. I've been stitching away on new ticky tocks for what feels like forever, and I'll also be rocking up with some adult sized versions (digital, of course!), just to see how they go. Wish them luck!

4. Dhari's having a rare midday snooze.

5. The Hunger Games film is out this week. Woo! But I think I'll have to wait until next weekend to see it. Oh well...

61/365

Grace in Small Things.

1. Good news on a bad news kind of day. In this case, I am chuffed to announce that I'll once again be presiding over a humbly awesome table at the Crafty Fox Spring Market at the Dogstar in Brixton in March. Woo!

'Springfox' by Jimbobart

2. Marcus painted the kitchen an antique-white. It's suddenly a bigger room. Yay!

3. babybandito has been getting a windfall of ticky tock orders. Wahoo!

4. We're finally getting our buzzing radiators fixed. Now I can sleep with the heating on in my bedroom, without having it wake me up hourly. Shazam!

5. I have finished reading The Hunger Games. Courtney was right. It broke my heart, then put it back together, only to break it all over again. And again. And again. I can't wait for the movie. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

55/365

Grace in small things.

1. Volunteering at Fine Cell Work yesterday afternoon. We put together project kits: cutting and counting strands of yarn and thread, constructing colour keys, and choosing and assembling colour way kits for new recruits to practise their needlework. The last one was good fun. I decided to make a colour way inspired by my shirt.

FCW is a charity organisation that works with prisoners, but what makes them unique is they teach the prisoners needlework/embroidery, and then give them paid work. What they have found is that not only does it give them the opportunity to have money to do things like call home or save up for a better life when they get out, but the work itself allows them to have quiet, positive moments in their cells to reflect and to have positive, supportive interactions with fellow inmates who are also involved in FCW. 75% of the inmates involved are men. Amazing. The organiser read out a letter they received that week from a "lifer" who wrote how important FCW was to him and his own mental wellbeing, and his message nearly made me cry. I hope to do a lot more work with FCW in the future.

2. Adele got her needle book and it would seem that she loves it.

3. I'm going to the Concrete Market today. It's organised by Tobyboo, who I think I've mentioned before.

4. I crocheted a cowl last night with some yarn which I think is from the 80s. It is warm and fuzzy.

5. Marcus gave our bedroom a proper tidy up and clean yesterday. It now looks like no one actually lives there. I love it.

Renegade: a person who deserts or betrays an organisation, country, or set of principles

Given a rare morning off motherhood, I ventured out east to check out the Renegade Craft Fair, which has zoomed across the pond to offer up more amazing crafted awesomeness to Londoners (and the odd tourist, as it was conveniently located near Spitalfields Market and Brick Lane). It was weird being on the other side of the table as a buyer rather than a seller. Weird, but way more relaxing. No joke.

Anyway, Renegade set up shop in Truman's Old Brewery, which was a pretty fabulous space, from my point of view. The sellers were given ample space to display their wares, and there was the occasional crafting station here and there. The Make Lounge was there in full force, manning (or womaning, really) a free needle felting workshop.

I'd have loved to sit at that table, as I love me a good Make Lounge schooling, but I had a three year old's birthday party to attend, and I spent my allotted hour shopping.

Among the sellers were some old favourites: Janine Basil and Jimbob Art. I bought one of my nieces something from Ms Basil, and so wanted to buy this wonderful and punny illustrated side plate from Jimbob (that's not actually the artist's real name, but it would be amazeballs if it was, so I'm calling him that. So there.), but I didn't have enough money.

To steal a much loved Danaism, call the waaaahhhhhmbulance!

Aside from these pillars of the London crafting community, there were other Brits, some European types and of course Americans (it's an American craft fair, duh!). I overheard one seller tell someone he had flown over just for the event. I hope he sold lots of stuff. And now for my absolute favourite makers:

I fell in love with these wonderful little buildings. I wanted to compile a village of them and put them on the mantlepiece. I must keep them in mind for that distant and sparkling day when I get a house. I will have The Drawing Machine's village on display, yessir. 

And mr nico does this awesome camera wallpaper (Kat, if you're reading this, check it out!). Lekker Haas Paper was mind-blowing, with her giant hand-cut birds-eye-view of London (and Paris, and Brooklyn, and...) - all the tiny winding streets! I didn't manage to take a photo though. Boo. 

And eek! Take a butchers at these cuckoo clocks by Kate Sutton (also an illustrator)! Kah-yewt! Add that to my list of things to put in my non-existent house. 

And last but not least - oh no, certainly not least - was Stephanie Tillman. I had great fun chatting with her. She's an American, like me, and has married a Brit (sound familiar?). Her embroideries are so cute and ridiculously hilarious. My favourites? "What's up britches?" and "Man, I ain't trying to eat all these leaves today."

Crafty Foxes on the Craft Trail a la Thames Festival

I spent the days before the Thames Festival doing the following things:

1. Sewing, sewing, sewing.
2. Starting my new job.
3. Checking the weather forecast every half hour, willing it to change from rain all day to sunshine.
4. Rejoicing when the forecast changed.
5. Daydreaming about selling out of most everything before dinnertime.

On the actual day, I was initially excited by the sheer numbers of people who descended upon the Southbank. Unfortunately, it turned out that not many of them were actually stopping to shop. My stall neighbours and I seemed to be stuck at the edge of a thoroughfare, and the best shopping time seemed to be when it finally decided to rain, and everyone ran to the stalls for shelter. While my daydreams did not manage to come true, I still got to meet a load of lovely folks.

Sharing a table with me were Maria and Andreea of Magic Joys. They had baskets full of adorable little hand-knitted animals. They use all natural materials and have begun working with only organic wool. I loved the foxes, made especially for this Crafty Fox event, and my absolute favourite of all time was the little baby white owl pictured above. Andreea told me that would be the only one ever made like that, as the knobbly wool was very difficult to work with. I love the downy fluffiness of it, makes it seem even more like an owlet. I was planning to purchase it once I made enough sales to pay for my half of the table. Alas, alack!

To my right was Corey, one half of the husband/wife team behind Strange Fruit, a unique greetings card company that aims to design cards to "reflect Britain's colourful population". I love the collage stylings of the cards, and was most taken by a Christmas card featuring two gorgeous girls sporting Santa hats and surly pouts. Corey (a fellow American) also became my "muse", as every time I complained to him about no one buying anything, lo and behold, someone would come by and hand over their hard earned cash for something babybandito. Thanks Corey!

And check this out! Thanks to my stint at the Thames Festival, I've been invited to sell some of my goods at Things British, a new boutique at Kingly Court, off Carnaby Street. I've been wanting to expand my brick and mortar sales beyond Kansas City and South London. Carnaby Street will do just fine. Yessir. Americans, maybe you're sitting there thinking, Hmm, I know of Carnaby Street - where have I heard of that before? And why is Austin Powers music suddenly playing in my head? Or, if you're slightly cooler than me, you'll have made a more rock and roll link to The Jam. 

Another highlight of the day? At about 8 pm, Regan popped over the river (as you do) to give me some freshly popped popcorn and a thermos of hot chocolate, because she thought I might be cold and hungry. She is officially the Random Acts of Kindness Queen of my Life. She makes me want to throw shapes.

hello again

It's been nearly two months since my last post. Funny, the sun was shining and I was both productive and enjoying a bit of slow living. That seems so long ago! Marcus and I have been eagerly anticipating the day when life slows down a bit, a return to routine. I'm hoping that will be next week. In the meantime, I'm working like a madwoman in preparation for the Craft Trail at the Thames Festival this weekend. I'm excited to be sharing a new, cohesive collection of autumnal fabric colours and my first modest attempts at printing my own designs. Hopefully I'll get to post photographs before it all sells out (hopefully!) on Sunday.

If you're in town on the 11th come by. We crafty foxes (similar to nerd foxes but different) will be nestled in amongst some trees between Tate Modern and Founders Arms.

Wish me luck!

48/365

Grace in small things.

1. I've been putting my new shop together and one of my bags has already been added as someone's favourite!

2. I've also been working on a little present for my friend Amy and it's finished. I desperately want to show it off, but can't until it's in the hands of its rightful owner. It is awesome. ifidosaysomyself

3. I watched Capote last night, finally. What a great film. Philip Seymour Hoffman is da bomb (to bring back an accolade of old).

4. I've signed myself up for a very very fun sounding market, Playtime.

It's probably more of a one day festival than a market. Anyway. Keep your fingers crossed that it'll be a good day for babybandito! Even if it's not, a market/festival named after a Jacques Tati film and run by a French lady has got to be a good thing to steep yourself in for a day. It's next Sunday. You should totally come check it out.

5. Dhari still likes vegetables.

Wonder Hill High Market

There were some talented (and super-friendly) folks at the market today. It was certainly a slow day, so thank goodness for the quality company! Here are a few fine folks I found:

 moosetachelovely

laura-kate draws 

babybandito - oh wait! That's me!

And - what a nice surprise! - a twitter friend was there. A cute lady came up to my table, gave a funny look to it, then said, "I know you!" It was Tobyboo, who will be selling some of her awesome creations at Beanies Cafe. My favourite thing on her table was a stitched-up version of the tin man, but on his chest was embroidered, "tinned artichoke hearts". How awesome is that? And well, since I didn't manage to snap a picture of her table, I stole one from her website instead:

If you look closely, you can see the tin man in the top right, next to the cowardly lion and scarecrow.

44/365

Grace in small things.

1. That moment when, on an evening out, Dhari transitions from over-tired to hilariously delirious.

2. Finally finding a halfway decent Mexican restaurant in London. For some reason, people who are not Mexican simply cannot do proper Mexican food. Who woulda thunk? Mexicano Loco in Victoria was, in my opinion, satisfactory with good features. Which is a major achievement, as Mexican food in London goes.

3. Getting to hang out with Carol and Debbie! Carol's off next week to work in Nigeria for a while. Gosh I'll miss her.

Erm, does anyone else think the "Burberry" table cloths are a bit of a weird presence here?

4. With every item I cross off my list, I seem to add two more. Initially, I am consumed with panic, but then I get excited to do another exciting thing! (granted, I probably won't get around to it for a few months, but still...)

5. I'm all signed up to do another market in a pub. Yay! It's not until June though, because methinks May is going to become ridiculously busy here pretty soon.

38/365

Grace in small things.

1. The Crafty Fox Pop-Up Market. I have so much respect/gratitude for Sinead of Galavant, who organised the whole thing. What a huge undertaking! And what a rambunctious success! I did incredibly well today, which is really no small thing for me. In my mind, it is a massive thing because I doubt myself and my product and my vision everyday. Honestly, reflecting on my success has just made me well up with tears a bit. It could be the exhaustion. It could be the "I've worked hard today, so I deserve a drink" drink. It is probably a bit of both. But mostly, it is being able to tell myself that the craft I've worked so hard on and put so much of myself into, is quality craft. That means a lot.

2. This is very closely connected to number one, but it is AWESOME getting to meet with other crafters and artists. Everyone is so friendly and eager to share ideas and experiences. I discovered today that there is a close-knit community of crafters who have become friends solely through attending events like this. Over time, they start to recognise the same faces and begin to look forward to seeing each other again. The hour of setting up in the morning was like a hipster's high school reunion. Very cute.

3. Hanging out with Kristine and Dom last weekend. They're engaged now! Yay!

4. Thursday afternoon at Tanya's. I wish I had a garden! (Dhari does too, methinks)

5. Just now. Watching Dhari engage with the frog puppet I bought him today at Crafty Fox. He made the mouth move properly then said (in a funny voice), "Eat your lunch! Eat your brekky!"

37/365

Grace in small things.

1. A clean flat, largely thanks to Marcus.

2. Spending yesterday afternoon engaged in two of my favourite things: crafting and activism.

I met loads of lovely people, including Colin, a hilarious and chatty homeless man who joined in with the stitchery in exchange for tea, sandwiches and cakes! Good atmosphere overall.

3. A gorgeous little shop in Brighton called Fair, that befittingly trades in Fair Trade goods. Being a Fair Trade city, Brighton has a barrel-full of these places, but this one was particularly good. Lots of stuff from People Tree and elsewhere. One highlight was underwear that says on the elastic waistband, "Poverty is Pants". In the end, I bought some giant hoop earrings and a very cool necklace, for the bargain price of £24 (there goes my fun-spend allowance for this week...).

4. I'm getting really excited about the Crafty Fox pop-up market on Saturday. Be there, dudes and dudettes!

5. Having actual conversations with Dhari. It floors me every time.

32/365

Grace in small things.

1. Finishing my Red Nose Day bunting. I loved stitching Dana's (ahem, waterpenny's) super-cute protesting animals, especially as Dhari is going on the March For the Alternative with his papa next week. I like to imagine Dhari toddling along in solidarity with a turtle and a unicorn, shouting "Tories, Tories, Out-Out-Out!" By the way, did you know that COURTNEY LOVE is now a supporter of the Tories? She tweeted it, so it must be true.

"Tory now."

How completely random and bizarre is that? Nothing says rock'n'roll like conservative politics. I mean, look at Thatcher. The Sex Pistols loved her. I find this deeply amusing.

2. Meeting up with Claire and Hazel yesterday, and watching the madness that is four toddlers let loose on what would seem to be the greatest toys on earth. It was - and always is - an explosion of cute.

3. Being included in such a talented group of crafters at The Crafty Fox pop-up market. I'm really excited about this. I'm sure this is counter-productive, but I plan to save up some dosh from my weekly allowance (yes, it's come to this!) and pick one wonderful hand-crafted thing to buy at the market while I'm there.

4. Dana giving me a shout-out on her blog. Thanks Dana!

5. I raised £57.50 for Red Nose Day. I'm pretty proud of this as I have never been good at this sort of thing. Remember selling girl scout cookies? Or having to sell magazine subscriptions or those coupon books for your school sports team? Yeah, I pretty much sold some to my parents and that was it. And babybandito ended up donating a bit because a friend bought one of my stripy scarves.

If you're beating yourself up because you missed the deadline, not to worry. You can still donate here!

30/365

Grace in Small Things.

1. I've been invited to sell my stuff at the Crafty Fox Pop-Up Market in April! This is really exciting. It's a craft market at a bar (!!!) and is enthusiastically endorsed by Etsy UK, so it must be good. If you live anywhere near The Dogstar in Brixton, you need to come. We can make it a drinking game. Every time I sell a bib, you take a shot. I really hope you get wasted.

2. Dhari is giving away free kisses today. And I'm hogging them all. Mwah-hahah!

3. Old episodes of Mock the Week on Dave. I laugh. And laugh. And laugh. It's like The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, but with a quiz format. I can't wait for the new season to start.

4. Esther has helped me to Celebrate the Boy by ordering some more boy bibs. I made six last night!

5. "Sausages" and mash for dinner tonight. Mmm...