Just been featured in my Local Paper!

How exciting - a little ( well partically a FULL page !) feature in my local paper - the Wiltshire and Gloucestershire Standard .. FAME AT LAST ....!

Many thanks to Charlotte Shepard for the great write up - I enjoyed our cuppa and chat - and to Richard for , against expectation, managing to make me look half decent in a photo. Do not underestimate the difficulty this presents as I usually pull a stupid face !

The immediate result was one of my very lovely nieghbours popping round to order some Christmas gifts :)

' It's beginning to look a LOT like Christmas....! '

This year you can find all my Christmas items in one shop on Christmas at AudreysCat on Folksy .

SO not only can you get a wide range of fabulous gifts from me you can get Christmas angels and fairies, vintage fabric Xmas stockings, robins and Xmas brooches too.

Is it TOO early for Christmas ? well I've been selling Christmas decoration at a steady rate since July sooooo.... nope! don't miss out as I doubt I will have time to restock again before 'The Big Day ' !

A Vintage Hunters Guide to Cirencester

I am lucky to live in the pretty Cotswolds town of Cirencester. It's not a large town but it has an interesting mix of indepent shops and great places to eat.

For quite a small town we are pretty well able to cater for the vintage hunter if you know where to go! not to mention about 13 charity shops - well run with good quality stock too. For example we have bought many bits of funiture from the Sue Ryder shop ( near the town center Tesco )  - like this display cabinet.

SO vintage fans if you want to visit Cirencester here's a few places you might like to check out !

• Sheila at SheUnique . Although Sheila has closed her shop now she is still involved in many local vintage events and also provides vintage makeup and hairstyle makeovers - very much in demand for weddings and hen dos! her facebook page is here  https://www.facebook.com/sheuniquevintage.cirencester?fref=ts&ref=br_tf.
• For 20 century Furniture you need to head out of town to the Love Lane Business park to Mark Parrish's place. A treasure trove of great funiture ( that chair in the photo above came from there as have several other pieces of our furniture) here's a  selection of Mark Parrish's items. If you want to see what he has make sure you contact him first to arrange an appoinment !
• In the Market place there is a great antiques center with a coffee shop , The .Cirencester Antiques Centre people are very helpful and there's a great range of items. Open Mon to Sat.
• Every Friday 9 - 3 pm we have a great Antiques Market in the Corn Hall in the Market place directly opposite the Cirencester Anitiques Center
• If you have a nice bit of furniture that you'd like repainting to get that Shabby Chic look head out of town towards Stratton on the Gloucester Road / Cheltenham Road junction to the Lavender House Interiors and Coffee Shop  . The ladies there do a great job renovating old furniture AND you'll get a great coffee too AND they usually have one or two items from me!
• We also have  Lavinia's Tea Party  based in Stratton. Amongst other things they can hire out vintage tea sets for wedding and hen dos - very pretty things.  
• I noticed last week  that the little Jewellery shop Joli Beau run by Nicole near the Post Office had a cabinet FULL of the most devine vintage jewellery so I'd advise you to check that out! 
• There is often a lovely lady selling vintage clothes on a stall in the market place, and my friend Carole https://www.facebook.com/vintageupcycling often has a stall in the Corn Hall.  
• For General shopping info here's a good site Cirencester Shopping 

 and OF COURSE if you want to see a great range of vintage fabric for fabulous cushions , bags and other homewares contact me for an appointment - I'll put the kettle on !  I am based in Stratton - a mile outside of Cirencester Town Center - as well !

Events

 'Vintage and Artisan Fair'

 At the Corn Hall, GL7 2NY  Cirencester Sun 29th April 10 - 4pm . Organiser : Augusta Wreay 07970859703 - I believe some stall slots are still available. Lots of other shops. pubs and cafe's are open on a Sunday in Cirencester so you can make a day of it!

'Vintage Heaven' 
At the Organic Farm shop  Now Being planned for next Autumn, pencilled in for 15th Nov 2nd 2014 .
It was such good fun last time and Emma / Hilary did a great job organising it - lots of charity money raised too. Details to follow nearer the time !

'Cirencester Toy and Train Fair'

Organised by Ronnie Rocket , who also has toy stall each week in the Corn Hall Antiques Market each Friday. Details are here http://www.cirencestertoyfair.com/ . I think the next one is on August 2014 . The last one had about 40 stalls so it's worth a trip if you are a toy / train collector .

I do LOVE a vintage fabric washing line

It occured to me that I really don't mind washing when the result is a pretty washing line.

I then relised that I have a LOT of pictures of washing on my line! so what the heck lets share 'em

 

This is becoming something of an obsession - this morning I found myself considered the order in  which I arranged my washing on the line to get the best photo.... OPPS! 

The Last Major Harvest ?

Well this could be it - the last bit of tender stuff !

It's been a better year than last year ... a bit of a fail on Pumpkins ( 1st time in 12 years without homegrown) but everything else has been pretty good!

Hope you have had a good growing season! 

Cuteness OVERLOAD! - baby bib and bootees sets from vintage fabrics

Oh my WORD these are so cute !

I've really enjoyed making these from some of my vintage fabric - the bootees are sized to fit 3.6 month old little uns, fully lined, NO raw seams with elasticated backs. The bibs are reversable and have a velcro fastening. They are £15 plus £3 P&P.

I have a little Bootee Giveaway running on my facebook page  - and I will select a winner when I get to 500 page likes - all you need to do is comment on FACEBOOK and share that giveaway link . Teh ones I'm giving away are the red bootees top middle :

I haven't listed any of these in my online shops yet as I am taking them to a few fairs first but if you do want a set  you can buy via contacting me here or on facebook.

Here's a close up of my favorite!  its  another set I've just finished

Want to come for coffee ! .. and cake... lots and lots of cake....

Hello my lovely likers and followers  - do you live near Cirencester ? let me know how to message you and I will send you an invite to my Macmillan coffee morning on the 27th Sept and to my Autumn Open House Event the following weekend - it would be lovely to see you! 

On the Macmillan Coffee morning -

• there will be Coffee, Tea and cake
• you can enter an Audreyscat and homemade yummies raffle
• all attendees will be entered into a FREE raffle to win some AudreyCat bunting
• all my AudreysCat stock will be displayed and I will donate 10% of all of my sales and paind for commissions to Macmillan
• I have a number of local creatives displaying some of their items and Laura will be there with some of her vintage jewellery and other pretties
• small selection of vintage cake stands and crockery will be on sale

On the Autumn Open house the following week all my stock will remain available for sale and I will be open in the afternoons for tea , cake and chatting - no need to buy just pop in to say hi ! - although it you DO buy 10% of sales and paid for commission will also be going to Macmillan. 

Hope to see you here ! 
Dawn x

AN UPDATE: the final total including, donations, raffle money and 10% from my sales and also from sales of Laura and Carol's Vintage Emphemera was .... £341.50 ... AMAZING thanks to everyone who came :) 

GIVEAWAY Summer is over! .. so have some bunting to cheer yourself up!

At the moment ( start of Sept ) the weather is still fab BUT that'll be changing now summer is gone ( sob sob ...) however to keep you going through the winter months I am giving away some bunting !

The details are on my facebook page AudreysCat  so head on over for a chance to win  a 3m 9 flag length of bunting made from these fabrics . Winner will be chosen on Sept 30th 2013.

Our entries ( and some success! ) at out Local Horticultural Show

As usual we entered some crafts, baking and photos in our local Horticultural Show. 

Lots of beautiful exhibits and lovely things to see !

My eldest  won the bread section ( 2nd year running) with this bread rolls ....

  I won the 3 items of craft section ....

and we loved the veg animals made by some local kids .

I also got 1st in a number of the Art section and OH and youngest each had 2nds in various photo categories.

Our successful day was nicely rounded off as I won a hip flask ( YAY!) and a roast dinner voucher at a local hotel.

It was a lovely day, well organised by our local Stratton and Baunton Horticultural Society and I hope that then Macmillan charity raised lots of money from all the super events and stalls on the school playing field!

Yes ... still wearing 'curtains' ....

  Well not STRICTLY true! ... however a few year ago I bought 19 m of this lush gold/silver/brown leaves on black silk dupion. I think I paid about £160 on ebay ? It was intended for some full length curtains for our bedroom ...

Which  , yes ,  I did indeed make.. but since then I've been making clothes with it too! you can see the curtains and the 1st dress ( vintage vogue pattern) I made with it here ....

I've recently pulled this roll of fabric out again, and I have a couple of formal dinners coming up. So I've made a full length dress , teaming this fabric with some fabric my OH bought back from India for me. This was from an adapted '60s vintage pattern. I have also made a full length - almost circlar - lined black skirt. This last item is perhaps my favorite - fabulously 'swishy' and glamourous !

I think so far I've made that £160 outlay work pretty hard !

What's next ? I think I have enough left for a 50s swing coat ... watch this space ... ( but you may have a long wait .. i've been doing A LOT of sewing recently! )

WOW! featured in House Beautiful

So those lovely people at House Beautiful contacted me regarding how I use vintage fabric in my home and they have kindly featured our house in their Sept issue ( out 1st August p64 ) . Enjoy :)

( the house stayed this tidy for a couple of days ... but then the piles of vintage fabric slowly invaded again !  )

.. and when I'm not sewing.... gardening and cooking !

So when I'm not sewing I'm gardening and cooking.

These are my outdoor Cucumbers

 ... and my courgettes ( zuchinni ...)

It looks like there will be a be a bumper crop of cucumbers and courgettes this year so I guess a few people might like this recipe. I use it every year and my Mum in particular is addicted to it .

1.5 KG of diced cucumber and/or marrow and/or courgettes
1.5 KG of diced cooking apples
225g of finely chopped onion
100g of Sultana, 100g raisins, 100g dried apricots, 100g finely chopped ginger, 50g almond flakes
1.5 kg of sugar
900 ml malt vinegar
60 ml Whsiky - optional 

Spices  4 teaspns Mustard seeds, 1 teaspn chilli powder ,  1 teaspn salt , 1/3 teaspn ground cloves, 1/3 teaspn nutmeg

Bung it all in a BIG pan and cook for 2 hours . Bottle / Jar up into CLEAN STERILISED jars. As with all pickles whilst you may use straight away it is MUCH better if left for a couple of months.Great Christmas pressie too ....

ENJOY!

Aren't People LOVELY ! some of my Favorite folks

I have been delighted by some recent gifts and prizes by some super people who I have met here in cyberspace and I thought I'd share their kindness with you :)

1. A talented Etsy 'Craftyfolk' team mate thought of me when she came across some fabric and kindly sent it off to me. I recieved it today and it's LOVELY ... xxx

SO MANY THANKS! to the fabulous 'FloNightingale' ! she has a great Etsy shop FloNightingale - here's my fav item in her shop - it makes me smile :)  ( click on link for the shop ) ...be expecting something in the post 'Flo' x...

2. I had a fab little gift from LauraMillen too ( click on link for her shop ) - a cute heart pendent ! I had sent her some of my tiny vintage fabric shops thinking she could do something with them.... and so she did! her resin jewellery incorprating vintage fabric is very sweet . Here's the pendent next to one of my bunting flags .... THANKS xx

3. A couple of weeks ago I won a competition on facebook run by the fabulous Holly of H.E.R. Vintage . One of the prizes were these sunglasses .. and I have worn them constantly ever since ! ta Holly - if you like vintage clothing pop over to her facebook page ( click on the H.E.R vintage link above)

4. And a final belated thankyou to Janet of VintageGirlUK ( stunning range of vintage patterns ! ) - we had a lovely chat a few weeks ago when she bought over some fabric she was clearing out and I have been busy this week making up some skirts for the summer from it ... CHEERS M'DEAR !

P.S. a while ago I bought some super fabric from a lovely lady on Ebay and used it to make curtains for our hallway . She had a little reluctrantly decided to parted with it but I thought she'd like to know it had found a good home so I sent her to the link to this blog ref: purple hallway post and she was pleased to see it being used. Anyway yesterday I recieved a surprise parcel from the kind Heather -thanks very much Honey :) LOVE it ALL !

.. and another thrifty vintage fabric project....

So when I get vintage fabric it is frequently in the form of curtains. I unpick the seams, wash , dry ( outside preferable WHEN we get sunshine.... remember sunshine....?!? ) and I iron the lovely fabric.

HOWEVER one is always left with foldmarks where the hem was - so you can have quite long strips of fabric to use up in some way - because NO WAY will you throw away even the smallest scrap . This is what I've been using the hem remenants of some of my favorite fabrics for :

1. Spend ages selecting your remenants - and BOY I have a lot ....

2. Sew them together like a big fabric jigsaw, pressing out seams ( I also sew flat) and adding co-ordinating trim as you go . You then need to cut the front patchwork fabric to match your cushion size.  I like to make my cushion covers a fairly tight fit so for a 50cm by 60cm cushion I will work with a 53cm by 63cm piece giving a 1.5 cm seam allowance. I cut my backing fabric ( usually plain white/cream lining cotton ) for the patchwork piece a bit larger as I can trim it later

3. I tend to like piping on my cushions  - you can make piping or buy it . If you want to make it this is a good tutorial http://sewfearless.com/2011/12/13/taking-the-leap-into-handmade-piping/ .  Sew on piping as per the link, making sure the  piping stitch line matches the cushion size - ie. about 1.5 cm in from edge of patchwork piece.  

4. I then tend to use an envelope closure for the back of the cushion. You can follow the stitch line from piping as a guide.Here's another useful link http://www.ehow.co.uk/how_4762220_sew-envelope-back-pillow-covers.html . Sometimes I use a zip closure but in a boy'ish household there's a chance of cushion/pillow fight tomfoolery and a zip in the face isn't much fun...

5. Trim the excess fabric from seams - I like to zig zag the raw edge. Turn inside out, iron and  stand back and admire ... :)

"The cobbler's children go unshod "

Are you familiar with the phrase "The cobbler's children go unshod" ? It means that the cobbler spends so much time looking afer his customers' needs that he has no time for his children's.

Now my kids DO have shoes .... but I spend so much time create goodies for my customers my own projects get sidelined. My cushions were looking particularly scruffy - not good for someone who has SO much lovely vintage fabric! 

So my cushions are getting updated - these 'new' vintage  ones are for the family/dining room - where the colour theme in accents of orange and blue. I still have more to do for the front/music room ! I've also  got some fabric framing projects to do and some skirts to make for myself ... so... I'd better get busy!

PS - My shops are shut over half term whilst I play with the kids and play "catch up" with my projects :)  Back to work on Mon 3rd June.


Dawn x

WOO HOO ! AudreysCat is the Featured Seller on Folksy this week

VERY EXCITING NEWS!

Hang out the ( AudreysCat) bunting !

The lovely Folk at Folksy have selected my shop to be featured this week on the main shop front page and on the Folksy Blog this week Folksy Blog ! Meet the maker ... AudreysCat

Please pop over to comment and shares would be lovely :)

To celebrate I will add a little bonus for customers this week

You could win a £10 'voucher' to spend in my Folksy shop - you could buy a mouse, bird, put it towards some bunting, a bag, a cushion or one of my owls !

Everyone who buys something between 10 am Tues 7th May and Sun 12th midnight will be entered in the draw for the prize.

So if you've been thinking about buying from AudreysCat nows the time to go for it!

Purple Hallway progessing slowly ...!

So I have some bunting to finish and door curtain to sew BUT I have managed to cover this linen basket and make this fabric panel .... we do like a splash of colour here !

Here's the bunting I'm making ... too subtle maybe ... (!?!?!?)

UPDATE! Pretty much done now :) May 23rd 

Giveaway time! 3 items this time

Dear All,
Celebrating getting to 4000 followers on Twitter with another AudreysCat giveaway .

This time the lucky winner will receive all 3 items  - a purse, a hanging  bird decoration AND a handmade brooch .

THE RULES:

To enter you must :

1. Promote one of my shops or a specific item from one of my shops

2. Tell me ON THIS BLOG blog what you promoted and where - it can be on any social media such as twitter, facebook, pinterest, stumbleupon, flickr, google+, blogging.

3. You can of course promote as much as you wish BUT for the sake of simplicity there will be one entry to the draw per person.

4. RT's on Twitter , shares on Facebook of the competition details would be fabulous but by themselves won't count as an entry - you MUST do 1 and 2 please.

Here are my main shops http://folksy.com/shops/AudreysCat , http://www.etsy.com/shop/audreyscat and my website http://www.audreyscatvintage.co.uk/.

This is me on Twitter https://twitter.com/AudreysCat and on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/AudreysCat/255819394466640 .

I will close the competition on 9pm Saturday 20th April  and I will select a winner at random on Sun  21st April and announce it on my blog/twitter/facebook (one of my kids will pick a name out of a hat!)

Thanks ! Dawn

Latest House Project - hall revamp 70s style !

A work in progress -  but we have started by painting a Hall way wall purple! Watch out for future photos....

These are other things to do with some of my vintage fabric for this project

1. Cover a HUGE canvas with this fabric to go on wall

2. Use some of this as feature fabric on a cream or beige full length door curtain ( it's a Heals barkcloth called 'Pageant' by Jyoti Bhomic - expensive stuff )

 3. Learn how to cover lampshades in the fabric above!

4. Find a spot to also hang this large painting that I did a while ago

Ok it won't be subtle but it also won't be dull!

Pictures to follow when complete - hopefully in a couple of weeks :)

Some rather fabulous Vegan cookies

I'm always on the lookout for interesting Vegan, vegetarian or dairy/gluten free recipes as a few of my kids friends have this dietary requirement. This is the latest one I've tried :) 

 Vegan Cookies

Great for vegans, vegatarians, people who need dairy free,  and anyone who likes cake! I guess it could work with gluten free flour/rice flour but I haven't tried it myself.

NOT suitable for people with Nut or seseme seed allergies though ! 

Sorry US measures which I haven't converted but there's loads of converters online if you need them!

Make 20 cookies ( which will disappear very quickly...) 

1 cup flour
1 1/2 cup oats
1/2 teaspn baking soda
1/2 teaspn baking powder
1/4 teaspn salt
1 teaspn ground ginger
1 teaspn ground cinnamon
1/2 cup dried fruit raisins or dates even apple
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup ground almonds
3/4 tahini paste
1/2 cup almond milk

1. Preheat oven 375 F and 190 C . Oil or line a large baking dish.
2. Blend well tahini paste, almond milk, and sugar in a bowl
3. In another large bowl mix together the rest of the dry ingredients  EXCEPT the dried fruit
4. Add the wet to the dry ingredients and last of all add the dried fruit
5. Drop mounds of the mix onto baking tray - they WILL spread during cooking so give each one some space !
6 Bake for 13/15 mins, cool on pan for 5 mins before transfering to a wire rack to finish cooling

Owl 'tastic ...!

Starting to list my owls in my Folksy shop - kinda cute and I'm slightly obsessed with making them now. A great way to feature some of my vintage fabrics I think - I hope you agree ?!?

Check out my website

Like what  I make but haven't yet seen something in your ideal vintage fabric ? 

Love to see more of my vintage fabrics ? 

Well...  head on over to my my Web Site Audrey's Cat Vintage

What's It All About?

This shop is all about custom making YOUR item from MY vintage fabric.
1.Select the item you'd like - cushion, bag, animal ...
2. Select the fabric you'd like  - prices vary according to age/condition/rarity

Here's some examples :

I'm adding fabric options most days through out Feb - there are 40 already and many more to put on!

Love to hear what you think and which fabric you like best - I even have a few for sale ... although it PAINS me to let them go I am now middle aged enough to need reading/sewing glasses and need the £££'s  ... sigh...