November in Pictures: Autumn Walks and Cosy Quilting

November was a busy (and quite stressful) month for me behind the scenes, but I still found time for some fun and crafty stuff...

I spent lots of time on the sofa hanging out with this fluffy fella...

... and braved the cold for some very nice days out - including a trip to East London to visit one of my favourite museums, meet up with an old friend (amazingly we hadn't seen each other for 16 years!) and do some shopping at this year's Renegade Craft Fair.

Look at all the lovely cards I bought at the fair! You'll find links to all the designers here.

 

A couple of my projects ended up in print in November: my sky pompoms were featured in Glamour magazine and two of my childhood collections were included in a fab little kids book about the joys of collecting. It makes me very happy to think that my collections might inspire kids to start collections of their own.

Meanwhile, here on the internet, I turned my Felt Autumn Wreath into a tutorial for the Village Haberdashery blog, shared a fun gift wrapping tip, and posted the last few tutorials in my free felt Christmas ornament series.

One morning in the middle of the month, the weather was just so gorgeous that it seemed wrong to waste it so I took a few hours off work to go for a walk with my dad (flexible schedules are definitely one of the perks of being self-employed!

We went for a walk along the Jubilee River, which is actually a man-made flood relief channel connecting to the Thames. It was so peaceful and so beautiful, and the day was so mild we didn't even need our gloves. Truly wonderful.

 

I haven't had a chance to blog about our walk yet, but I did blog about a recent visit to Kensington Gardens. After my autumnal walk through Kensington Gardens, I spent the rest of the day at the V&A and met up with a friend to see their excellent and fascinating Opus Anglicanum exhibition. If you're at all interested in textiles or in history, I highly recommend seeing this exhibition if you can! We said "wow!" a lot while looking round it.

I also blogged about a not-so-recent trip to Oxford, and shared a photo from a flying visit to Clevedon. My dad was baffled that I wanted to take a photo of the peeling paint on this door in Clevedon, but just look at it! The colours and all those interesting textured layers!

I shared a wider shot on my Instagram Stories as well because it was frankly too fabulous not to share:

Back at home, I was busy putting in lots of hours of stitching on the Christmas quilt I'm making for my Christmas-loving sister.

As I finished each line of hand quilting, I marked it off on a paper chart so I could easily track my progress.

It was hugely satisfying to finally get the last row stitched! My stitching is nowhere near perfect, of course, but I'm very pleased with how the quilting has turned out.

The quilt "just" needs trimming and binding now. I wasn't sure whether to go for red or blue binding, so I asked everyone for their opinion (via my Instagram and Facebook pages) and pretty much everyone voted for red... so red it is!

I want to choose the binding in person to make sure it matches the reds in the quilt, but I haven't had the time to schedule a binding-shopping trip yet. Christmas is approaching fast, though, so I'd better get my skates on.

Talking of Christmas... if you're looking for fun felt things to make this winter, I highly recommend Fa La La La Felt and 'Tis the Season to Be Felt-y. I am a teeny bit biased because they both feature some of my designs, but honestly these books are filled with festive felt-y joy.

You'll also find a few Christmas projects in my first book, Super-Cute Felt, including this snow globe ornament. If you make something I designed this Christmas, do let me know! It's such a thrill seeing what people make from my patterns :)

My final November adventure was a trip to Kew Gardens with my mama. She hadn't visited Kew since she lived in London (about 35 years ago) so I was delighted to be able to give her a tour of some of my favourite parts of the Gardens. She especially enjoyed the rock garden and the Palm House.

Then in the evening we followed the magical Christmas at Kew light trail through the Gardens. Christmas at Kew was one of my highlights from last winter - I raved about it so much that my mum was determined to go with me this year, and it didn't disappoint!

I hope you've enjoyed this little look at my November. I'll share another Instagram round-up next month, which I predict will be full of frosty mornings and festive fun.

I'm lauralupinhoward on Instagram - click here to visit my page and follow me. You'll also find me on Facebook and Twitter.

Renegade Craft Fair London 2016

A couple of weekends ago I visited the always awesome Renegade Craft Fair. I've been to this fair for a few years running now - it's amazing.

With so many designers, makers, crafters and artists selling their wares in one place it's very hard to get out of the building without having accidentally spent all of your money on wonderful things.

It's also an excellent excuse to visit Brick Lane and explore the area. 

Here are just a handful of the lovely things that caught my eye at this year's fair...

Colourful textiles from Miesje Chafer:

 

 
Fun and happy goodies by Ladybird Likes:
 

Super sparkles from Pup Tart:

Kitty and dino cuteness by Emma Carlisle:

Charming prints by Rosemary Milner:

 

 
Gorgeous mugs and pots by Duck Ceramics:

 Laser cut awesomeness by Finest Imaginary:

And (last but by no means least) fabulous patterns from The Pattern Guild:

Aaaaand here's what I bought!*  As you can see, I've been stocking up on nice cards (you can never have too many nice cards to send).

Clockwise from top left: Chá com Letras, Sparrow + Wolf, Cactus Club, The Pattern Guild, & Cactus Club again.


*(Minus a couple of secret purchases I can't blog about because they're gonna be gifts, ssshhhhh).

Want even more shopping inspo? Check out my highlights from previous fairs! 

Renegade London 2015

About a month ago I headed to East London for one of my favourite autumn/winter events: the Renegade Craft Fair.

Renegade is always amazing (though not for my bank balance!) They have hundreds of designers, makers and artists selling their wonderful wares and I discover lots of new-to-me awesomeness every year.

As with any good craft fair it's great being able to buy from sellers in person, to chat to them about their work and say hi to people whose paths I've crossed online. I've bought lots of Christmas gifts at Renegade in the past but this year I mostly just stocked up on an assortment of gorgeous birthday and other cards to send to friends in the coming months.

Here are some of the stalls that caught my eye at November's fair...

Happy, colourful cards and prints from Cactus Club:

Fabulous textiles by Georgia Bosson:

Illustrated cuteness from Jo Clark Design:

Papercut gorgeousness from Sarah Louise Matthews:

Homewares and stationery decorated with bugs, birds, dinosaurs, butterflies and more at Chá com Letras:

Quirky stationery and gifts from Oh Squirrel:

Striking porcelain jewellery by Alice Shields:

Cards and prints with a folk feel from Dorry Spikes:

Mega cuteness by Revestreker:

 

Incredible embroidery by Sarah K Benning:

Prints and stationery from Charlotte Farmer (who also designs delightful homewares for New House Textiles):

Charming brooches from And Smile, creator of a secret society for stationery addicts:

Gorgeously detailed linocut prints by Jeremy Wills:

And last but by no means least, magical miniature worlds by Isobel Cortese:

 

So much creative goodness!

Renegade London 2014

It's been a while since I've blogged about a Nice Day Out, hasn't it?

Partly this is because recently I've been on days out with family and friends and haven't taken my camera along, but I've also fallen slightly behind with editing my photos (tsk tsk). So, there will be a few Nice Day Out flashbacks popping up on my blog over the coming weeks as I finally edit my photos and share some of my not-yet-blogged trips from the past few months.

First up: in November I took a trip to East London to visit the Renegade Craft Fair. Renegade is always amazing, with over 200 talented designer/makers and artists selling their fabulous wares and soooo many tempting handmade and indie-designed treats on offer.

It was lovely to see lots of familiar faces (including the always awesome Floss & Mischief, Made by Mrs M, & Debbie Greenaway) but also to discover some new-to-me sellers... and to be able to shop in person from some of the makers whose work I admire every time it pops up in my Twitter feed.

Here are some snaps of just a few of the things that caught my eye this year...

Cute cards and tags from Blank Inside:

Textile jewellery by Louise Dawson Design:

 

Quirky illustrations by Ella Masters Studio:

Lots of cat-themed goodness from I Like Cats:

Awesome pigeons from Scout Editions:

 

Cute kitties, dogs and guinea pigs by Jo Clark Design:

 

Fab cacti and succulent jewellery from Finest Imaginary:

 

A totally awesome wolf print by Dandiifluff:

 

Super cool ceramics from Stolen Form:

 

 

Fun jewellery by Kayleigh O'Mara (love those scissors!):

 


 Cats in glasses by Zuzanna Dominiak:

 

Pretty painted jewellery by Layla Amber:

 

Cross stitch awesomeness by Magasin:

 

 

Sweet gifts by Oh No Rachio:

 

Happy stationery-themed jewellery by Corazón de Galleta (that protractor necklace! OMG):

 

Delightful "LOSER" rosettes from  Dear Colleen:

 

Charming animal characters from Mister Peebles (inc. David Meowie!):

 

Fun illustrated cards & brooches from Bel's Art World:

 

And utterly adorable painted animal jewellery & ornaments by Emma Carlisle:

 

The full list of vendors at this year's fair can be viewed here.