Finally back from our travels. In between the diluvian rain the most glorious weather. View from our balcony out towards the Pentland Hills.

Already late July and we manage our first lunch on the balcony!

Heirloom cushion covers, tapestry squares by Ishi’s Great Granny turned into cushion covers by Granny. My contribution, a room to treasure them in.

A new to us old rocking chair, also a family find. It goes amazing well with Apple Papple.

Hedgehog mask from the Booth Museum in Brighton, the Victorians were so good at killing things!

Trying to keep up a constant supply of basil on our less than sunny kitchen windowsill.

Just because I like my flowers and plants.

Our resident urban fox after another deluge. Adam went out to check he was OK, foxy scarpered in lively fashion. Just a little damp.

Living in a rain bound city we get the most amazing rainbows by way of compensation. This was a double but it didn’t photograph well.

Paper raindrops put up in the spring, still relevant during high summer in Scotland. I am becoming more and more obsessed with the weather since our move North, could be age too!

Cloud postcards made an age ago, still waiting for ‘proper’ photographs. Seemed apt though.

Ishi had the most wonderful time exploring the county of Mummy’s childhood, beautiful Sussex in the south of England. Tree climbing at Wakehurst Place and Arts & Crafts delight at Standen.

Birmingham has some lovely gardens too. This one belongs to Granny. Ishi blowing bubbles and avoiding the bees.

The Booth Museum
Wakehurst Place
Standen House
Sussex

Ishi had his 5th birthday party last month, such a fun day, I can’t show you any party pictures, too many children’s parents to get permission from, but here are some cupcakes and one of the birthday boy. Can you guess that it was a space theme!

We don’t have much truck with Valentine’s Day but here are some loves regardless. Have fun whatever you are doing. Incredible image of dancer Tilly Losch 1928 (above) by E O Hoppe via The Observer.

Kenzo always pleases me, headgear from last year. Looks warm! Via Fashion156.

Serge & Jane.

Michaela Bruton’s work via CLOG

Le Spectre rouge via Fashion Film Festival

Adore this new print from Lizzy Stewart complete with quote from Lady Chatterley’s Lover. I definitely have a thing for fictional Gamekeepers (remember Scudder).

Sean Bean as Mellors in the 1993 BBC adaptation.

Loving Eerika’s new Tumblr Passenger Pigeon.

Happy New Year everyone, I hope that you had a wonderful festive season full of good things. We enjoyed ourselves immensely and I managed to (sort of, badly!) crack an old nut, look above and you will see the results of my return to knitting! Some of you may know that I exiled myself to a life without making for many years due to an earlier failure with wool and needles. It was a painful process but thanks to the patience & encouragement of my mother in law, Deborah, I can now cast on, knit stitches and cast off-the sense of achievement is intoxicating! I am looking forward to whipping up some creature scarves and maybe even some socks when I get a little more accomplished. I confess that I don’t find knitting as gratifying as sewing or embroidery, it takes so long, I think this will be a small adventure. It is high time I got back to some creature creation, I find myself ready to plug in the sewing machine again, it has been a long break.

We were introduced to the little pirate above on Christmas day, he bears a striking resemblance to Ishi don’t you think? Why do most little boys want to be fire fighters and pirates when they grow up, I miss the days when Ishi wanted to be a hairdresser, a ballet dancer or a builder!

Random shot of a corner of Ishi’s bedroom. I managed to hang the bunting made by the super talented Marichelle of Lifelix at long last too.

We had some spectacular snow fall before Christmas, I miss it, come back pretty white stuff. The light was incredible, other worldly, and so nice to laze around under the duvet with a big tube of sweets.

I was amazed by the show the ice put on for us in December. The images above were taken at Granny’s house in Birmingham, the plants look as if they are trapped in resin.

Very sweet that a tiny bit of our sitting room appeared on Decor8 just before Christmas. I am embarrassed by the untidy cables under the table! Thanks Holly.

Ok, so if I ever get any better at knitting I would love this book available over at Etsy!

Harum scarum March is here again, my favourite month. This particular March will be an incredibly full one and I hope to be able to announce some exciting news very soon. I will be keeping a low profile for the rest of this week as Mr A is out of town, just the bean and me, ballet rehearsals and lots of nervous nail biting.
Bob the Hare (above) from Kyoko Imazu.

Polar Bear Love print (above) from Spinster Summer

Sticking with the polar theme I am about to announce the winner of my little giveaway. Drum role for the random number thingamy – the winner is Diane (dkoss2) , hooray! I will be in touch a little later to ask you for your address and choice of star. Thank you so much to everyone who took part, that was fun, now I have broken my contest duck I won’t be so worried about doing another one. Watch this space!
Oh and the reason for the giveaway, the release of my exclusive for Schmancy, you can adopt one of the polar pack here right now!
I am pretty sure I had some other state smashingly interesting things to share with you but my jelly head isn’t cooperating. Ishi is obsessed with skipping/jump rope, we watched this video a thousand times yesterday. Malcolm McLaren annoys me but I confess I liked this song at the time. Ace skipping!

Ignore the title, this post has nothing to do with nonsense or balderdash, I just like the sound of the word. This post has everything to do with The Poppies, a virtual awards ceremony to celebrate the handmade community, over at Poppytalk. Click here to nominate your favourites. I have voted in some of the categories but I am not finished yet, it is so hard to choose! Here are my nominations so far, do add your voice to mine if you agree.

Margie Oomen of Resurrection Fern
Nicole Licht of Astulabee
Jessica Marquez of Miniature Rhino
Belinda Kemp of Gretchenmist
Julia Pott
Lizzie Stewart

and the nominations continue:

Mathyld of Encore Petite
Diane of Hibou Caillou Chou
Maya of Designs Maya Made
Maria of Psarokokalo
Regina of Every Eskimo
Melissa of Acts of Kindness

There is just enough time left to nominate if you haven’t already, quick, quick!

Here is a peek at a bit of embroidery work, I have some others along similar lines in (slow) progress, I thought they might be nice for Valentine gifts but I’m not sure if they will make it into the shop in time.

I can’t stop looking at Elisabeth Dunker’s blog Fine little Day. I think it is the light.

Wishing you all a very happy and healthy festive period. I wish that I could send you: A bird to keep your soul safe.

A Leaf Lantern to light your way.

A stool for an extra few inches.

A clock to mark the minutes.

Something pretty to keep you warm.

Somewhere to hold your tea.

And, that bird is for me!

I can’t lie, I will be glad to see the back of this year, artificial marker though it is, onwards.

Run My Children, Don’t Look Back.

The first day of advent, I must rush to the loft and get down Ishi’s Advent House. As is the norm this year, we are woefully unprepared to mark the beginning of the festive season. The 1st of December is a special date for me for another reason, it marks my 1 year Etsy-versary, can it really be a whole year since I listed the first items in the Lou Lou & Oscar shop? Another shop is celebrating its one year milestone today as well, what an incredible year it has been for Margie and Resurrection Fern. Happy Anniversary Margie! In case you didn’t know, Margie was the first person to make a purchase from Lou Lou & Oscar, a Catty Catty, really who could ask for a more generous and appreciative customer. I didn’t know it that day but Margie would become such an important presence in my life, supporter, confidante and most wonderful of all, a very good friend. I am going to stop now before I get all teary!

There is someone else I must mention today, really a huge source of inspiration, incredibly generous and an all round good egg, did I forget to mention that she also makes some of the most beautiful pieces of art it is possible to find, ok, now you know who this is! Thank you Nicole, Miss Astulabee, I don’t think Margie would have found me on day one without your sweet blog shout out about LL&O.

Nicole was also responsible for bringing another amazing person into my life, lovely Mathyld, aka Encore Petite, it is true to say we bonded over our love of all things Astulabee, happily the first meeting of the Astulabee Appreciation Society (European Branch, don’t you love our acronym!-Ha) went swimmingly, pictures will arrive here at some point soon.

So, a happy day to celebrate the wide web of connections and alliances this year has brought. Hello to all of the lovely people I have *met* since LL&O began. Now I am a little teary! There will be quite a few changes coming up in the next few months, our family circumstances are changing, I need to become more *professional* and self-aware, fresh starts all around. Urgh, price rises too, I hate to do it but if I stand any chance of keeping LL&O viable I have to. I know that pricing is an issue many of us struggle with, undervaluing our time and our work. As a UK based maker it is hard to be competitive in North America, I will do my best. I hope that our change in circumstances will allow me to try out other ideas and avenues to keep LL&O running smoothly, this is so exciting and a little nerve wracking, more about this nearer the time. Oh, secret squirrel!

I’m sorry not to have any big celebration or giveaway planned for today, when my new plans come to fruition I will make up for my lack of planning then. I do have a special little interview coming up later though. Be sure to check back to see who is joining us. I will be taking a break from LL&O over the next few weeks to prepare for christmas, spend some proper time with my boy , catch up with long overdue email and get those images of Paris up. And yes, that is another work by Lizzy Stewart at the top of the post, I am so obsessed! Happy December my friends.

Ok, so I am a few days late, happy September, I am so glad that you are here. The new month (& season) gives me the perfect excuse to feature some beautiful images captured by Margie Oomen you can see more over at her blog Resurrection Fern. If you are in need of some nourishment for your soul hop on over to Margie’s now, you can enter some amazing giveaways while you are there too. Let’s all imagine being in that Canadian forest…sigh!

If I could I would give you all a pretty tea cup full of mini eggs, exactly like this wonderful image from one of my Flickr friends AmySmiffy. I had to drop in to wish you all a very happy Easter and apologize for the quiet time here at LL&O. This little post is ghost written by my loyal amanuensis Adam, I am stuck under the covers with an ear and throat infection. I am so impatient to feel better as I am missing everyone terribly and have so many exciting projects sitting waiting for me. If you have a little to spare please send me some get well spirit. Love to you my kittens and a big thank you to Adam for acting as my ‘hands’ and for putting up with me!