Rescued and Revived

Kew Fair this Saturday!

2010-06-17T16:22:00.004+01:00

Galliers here. Well, we finally got our stuff together in one place and "mocked up" our stall for the fair on Saturday. See photos. Having purchased a lovely rosey red pop-up tent thingy on Ebay we finally got it out of the bag and set it up in my garden on a dry and sunny afternoon. Easier to set up than anticipated I am glad to say. A bit of "right a bit, left a bit" and wishing we were about 5 inches taller but we managed. Two wallpaper pasting tables covered with old curtains and all our hard work displayed on top.. didn't look half bad.. although the delightful rosey red glow of the tent did cast rather a strange shade on all the stuff... but then hopefully the punters will consider their purchases in the front in the natural light. The Rescued & Revived bunting looks rather fabulous if we say so ourselves, gives a jousting tournament tent look I feel. SO... we just now need a dry and pleasant day (not too hot though), and plenty of people to visit us. The Fair should be a lovely day out anyway, on Kew Green between 11 am and 6 pm, there will be a Pimms tent, food tent by Anthony Worrall-Thompson, a dog show, a Victorian Fairground, craft marquee and lots of stalls. There are also bands and musicians playing on a stage throughout. We decided not to go in the craft marquee but to have our own little tent outside in the fresh air. We hope to see you there! ALSO! stop press we have finally updated our Folksy shop - do take a look.

Tea Cosy Heaven

2010-05-10T21:12:00.003+01:00

Yes, it's me, Botkin, it may have looked as if I left my shoes on the jetty in Florida and disappeared a la Reggie Perrin, but in fact nothing so extreme, I'm just here in Kew, ensconsed in a tea cosy making mania. It must be to do with life "out there" being totally strange and alien, and everyone seems in a jumpy frame of mind, and I absolutely believe there's nothing quite like a nice cup of tea ...... here's one in progress (now finished) there's more on the way ...... watch this space ...... Visit us at Kew Fete on Saturday 19th June ..... though if the world carries on like this I might just take to my bed under Sam's "Bed of Roses" - isn't it just so gorgeous - and not emerge until the world has sorted itself out. Adieu xxx

Our Bed of Roses in a Gypsy Caravan....

2010-05-09T15:56:00.008+01:00

Finished "Our Bed of Roses" yesterday... looks a bit lovely... if I say so meself... I feel a Gypsy Caravan theme coming upon me... I aim to follow this through with some bolster cushions and bedroom wallhangings and other stuff with blowsy roses and bright and sometimes clashing colours...here are a few photos which do not do it justice - the lighting was all wrong, the green of the blanket looks a lot fresher and more that particular shade of green I always think of as "1930s green".. but you can get the overall impression. There is a photo of a tea cosy cover (unpadded) I made for myself in ticking - Victorian style. Also I photographed my bedroom muse Isadora - who is dressed rather in the Gypsy Caravan theme this spring.. in a bright chintz 1930s gown weighted down with a collection of necklaces and a silk corsage...Roxy has made two wonderful tea cosies "Builders" and "Bankers" which we hope to have photos of next week.. they have already had "first dibs" put on them by a friend of hers but she will be making more!....

Stitching til our fingers bleed...

2010-05-04T10:59:00.006+01:00

Galliers here. We are now fully paid up stallholders to be at both Kew Fete on Kew Green 19th June and Barnes Fair on Barnes Green 10th July. Now we just have to make stuff to put on them!...... I am halfway through another "skirt-into-bag" - a lovely bit of magenta cashmere with handfelted flowers beads and embroidery... also into a bedroom "comforter", or small bedquilt, which is from a lovely faded 1930s green "Swando" brand blanket appliqued with bits cut from a vintage cashmere shawl and the words "our bed of roses" in soft red canvas.... two things in production... managed to sew through the tops of BOTH my index fingers yesterday in my efforts to push ahead... so literally "stitching till my fingers bleed"!... luckily no drops of blood on the fabrics so thats ok. More haste less speed... or something like that. Roxy is steaming ahead with her tea cosies. We have a page in the local free magazine "Living in Kew and Richmond" devoted to us this month ... "A day in the life of Rescued and Revived".... how exciting!... my friend Pippa who publishes it kindly offered to put us in and drum up a bit of interest for our stalls, she is also a mover and shaker organizing the Kew Fete. Few photos of my on-going items to show you. Also a photo of a mosaic for my garden which I started at least 2 years ago and finally finished - just needs the back and edges waterproofing and it can stand outside and brighten up a gloomy corner. More photos of items for sale when they are finished which hopefully when my savaged fingers heal up will be soon...

Spring is finally Sprung....

2010-03-25T13:47:00.006Z

Galliers here.....Our early spring break on Siesta Key obviously put us in such a laid back mood we came home and did almost nothing for about six weeks.... but are now full of good intentions to plan and make... here are a few photos of a couple of little projects I have managed to undertake....a beautiful old baby blanket dredged up from my Pa's houseful of the flotsam and jetsam of life.... the moth have had a feast and moved on... it has been lovingly laundered in soapflakes and dried on the washing line and lived to tell the tale of... Spring!... Hare in Foxy in the Springtime - I thought I would back it with some vintage cotton and it could be a little wallhanging for a nursery, motheaten but still beautiful I think. The label is lovely "Swando" registered by the Institute of Hygiene, so that's alright then. The other photo is a shoulder bag made out of a pink tweed skirt I got at a jumble sale ... I took the zip out and sewed up the gap, cut the whole skirt in half across the width and put a seam across the bottom, edged the top with pink velvet ribbon, created a strap from some wonderful vintage black and white striped hessian upholstery webbing (charity shop find) and more pink velvet ribbon, stitched a turquoise flower on the front. The flower was made last spring in a period of "let's make felt" where we felted beautiful hanks of wool into flowers with strands of Angelina (heat fusible shiny rainbow coloured fibres) mixed in and handsewn beads. We made smaller ones for corsages but I made 3 large flat ones in various colours which lend themselves very well for stitching down onto cushions and bags. Final touch to the bag was to make a couple of ribbon ties one with a wooden bead from a 1970s necklace and the other a tiny toe-ring of tiny pretty dangly bits! I am rather pleased with it myself, I have another little bright magenta cashmere skirt to make into a bag too, so there could be a run of these. We have already booked our stall at Barnes Fair in the summer July 10th and are in line to have one at the Kew Summer Fair on Kew Green in June. SO we better stop procrastinating and start stitching! It was my birthday this week and I received today from my friend Mairead the most beautiful handtied bunch of amazing flowers (see photo) including pink lilac, purple clematis, sweet peas, deep pink peonies and more... her shop is called Rebel Rebel and is in Broadway Market in Bethnal Green.

Blimey, I think she can do it!

2010-02-18T19:19:00.002Z

A successful posting, so I shall carry on a little. Rescued and Revived spent a week at the beginning of February in sunny Florida - how lucky are we?? Chilled out, laid back, at least one bit of sunshine everyday, we mostly pottered on the beach in our pjs every morning picking up shells - watched the pelicans, shags and gulls in the lagoon behind the house and generally reeeelaaaaxed. Danced a couple of nights away in the front room and Galliers now officially has the best ipod music ever. Bought trimmings and stitching gadgets and the odd "must have" fabric at Joanne's - a supermarket of all things stitch - never seen anything like it in my life, and that's the truth guvnor. Oh happy days! Needless to say Botkin's suitcase way too small so things had to be left. Here are my beach shoes on the jetty (look at the texture of that ageing wood...) just waiting for my return ......

2010-02-18T19:10:00.002Z

Botkin here - I am rubbish at this. Think I'm publishing a photo of a Don't Panic teacosy, but not at all sure. This one, has stamped on the back "Have a Nice Cup of Tea and Plan your Revenge". Currently its on display at Monica Boxley's shop in Church St. Twickenham. Pay the shop a visit its a little cornucopia of wonderful handmade things. I shall try this one and if I succeed I've lots more to report!!! Toodlepip x

We are in gear for the New Year

2010-01-07T15:21:00.004Z

Right! Happy New Year to all, Galliers here. The photo is of Botkin and Galliers at their mate's 50th birthday party on 2nd January in the Coxswain Bar at Ye White Hart, The Terrace, Barnes, SW13. We danced, we drank, we did NOT fall over, we embarrassed the teenagers! Yippee. We are v. close to finishing another "Lie back and think of England" blanket - the same as the lovers blanket EXCEPT... it is a wallhanging .... and very beautiful it is too, destined to hang on the wall of The Breakfast Club in Hoxton, East London. It was commissioned by the owner who saw the original hanging in all its glory at Coralie and Kristie's Christmas Cooler last month. We are so looking forward to going to eat brunch there and sit underneath it... sigh! .... This week we are going to be making bedpost baubles for Valentines Day - little heart shaped pouches made from tweed, fine black leather, lace, silks and satins, to hang from the bedpost and keep your rubber johnnies in (now I bet you've not heard that name since you were at school! - or was it just me???) - they will be embellished with the phrase "Something for the weekend Sir?" and possibly Madam too. Its brass monkeys weather at the moment so hope you are all keeping warm - teacosies! ... that's what Botkin has been working on a lot recently - lots of lovely quirky teacosies - soon to be photographed and put on here. Keep warm out there.

BUST Christmas Craftacular

2009-12-12T19:19:00.006Z

Galliers here.... (now that Botkin (Roxy to those who need to know) has decided to get involved with blogging we need to differentiate between postings - so please note these are our sign-ins). Today we went up to Bethnal Green and had a wander around the BUST Christmas Craftacular in York Hall. We were not picked to attend this - so it was interesting to attend as punters. My favorites were: Jazmine Miles-Long - Ethical Taxidermist (www.jazminemiles-long.com) - her beautiful creatures preserved in their deathly loveliness for ever can be seen in the accompanying photos - I was very keen on the handsome crow but I would not have been able to bring it home - it would have been banned by my nearest and dearest, shame... she is very talented, clever and need I say, brave! - they are all "roadkill or died from natural causes". Also Corinne Bannister - www.bannbee.etsy.com who makes handmade undergarments - very lovely - very covetable - Botkin bought some flowery knickers but would not pose with them for a photo!.... (but see photo of Corinne and her stall). Also Andrea Garland - andreagarland.co.uk - a fabulous use of pretty and entertainingly worded old tins and pillboxes. She makes delicious natural face, body and lip balms and fills the tins with them - also larger tins such as the Noddy and PC Plod one pictured - as travel kits with tiny potions wrapped in a vintage silk hanky... so clever and so original. I bought after much deliberation - so much choice of container! - a little round gold tin labelled Hollywood La Bonita with lip balm in. AND you get a voucher so you can post the tin to her when its all gone and she will re-fill it for £5!! love it.

Breaking News

2009-12-11T17:31:00.004Z

Botkin here - very new to this, so I hope i shan't b**** it up - but very very excited - because back here in the 21st Century - we've sold "Lie Back and Think of England" - it will be remade as a wall hanging and is apparently going to hang in "The Breakfast Club" in Hoxton. I am on a mission now to find out where the phrase originated and will let you know!

Other news - I'm stitching tea cosies - check out "Don't Panic" in our Folksy shop, and another's in the pipeline, or at least up in my stitching space - the loft.

Tomorrow B&G are off to BUST's christmas fair at York Hall, Bethnal Green. Currently loving anything "East" - must be the time of year!!!

I'm coming over all 18th Century.....

2009-12-09T18:09:00.000Z

I am steeping myself in the 18th Century this week, fired up by the lady I am in the throes of making, in fits and starts!.... I have been looking at portraits of women of the time and the costumes and the wigs.... did you know for instance that the women's wigs were powdered with a mixture of ground starch, flowers and orris root (which is a fixative used in the past in pot pourri)and was often coloured lavender, pale blue, or pink... but they used mostly their own hair with added bits, if you could afford it human hair, or horse hair (although mostly men's wigs were horsehair).... the colours would only have been used for parties and balls, not everyday... that's alright then... I fancy a bit of a Marie Antoinette revival myself... I would love to swan round Sainsburys in a big powdered wig, smallpox patches and a big embroidered dress.... I am so bored with walking into all the shops and seeing endless re-hashes of the 1980s - been there already, done it, did'nt like it much... why is it back? every 3 years it gets trotted out, then the shops are full of neon hoop earrings and stonewashed denim (that was NEVER a good look).... ahem... I digress.... here are a few photos of my latest recreational stitching (I have put dolly divine on hold, got a bit bored) a nice domed glass frame which had a manky old print of venice in it, bit of calico with wadding in between and I am stitching an 18th C. lady on it... from the sketch I did from a postcard... also two recent cushions using my handmade animal templates, I did a sketch and then copied it onto the back of a cereal packet and cut it out and then in bondawebbed fabric... voila!.. they are made from a lovely ochrey mustard linen tablecloth from a charity shop, there is a bear too but its in Kings X at the moment. VERY IMPORTANT NEWS!!!.... THE MAIN REASON FOR THIS BLOG TODAY.... is that Lie Back and Think of England lovers picnic blanket is now up for auction on Ebay all proceeds go to the Sue Ryder charity... so if you like it please bid it up! I would hate for it to go for tuppence ha'penny!... also lots of other lovely things from the Upcycle competition - "Ingrid" the lovely lovely reborn Barbie with a chest reduction (I know how it was done, it sounded painful!) is there, very tempted by her myself. Please look!!!

Upcycled away......

2009-12-07T22:16:00.000Z

Well!.... have our little tiny shop on www.folksy.co.uk and entered our "Lie back and think of England" blanket into it beginning of November... very excited.... lovely to have stuff looked at and it was being judged by India Knight and Wayne Hemmingway amongst others.... BUT.... the competition closed on Saturday and I thought today "ooh, I'll have a quick look at the site and see what happened" and clicked onto the list of entries, saw Feltbugs there, and realised the blanket was missing!! clicked onto the shop listing for it...yep, it said it was entered into the competition and was NFS etc etc. then back to the folksy page and saw a tiny entry from someone on twitter saying 14 entries in competition not recognized including "this lush blanket"... (lush! how nice!!) ... so have since been informed that because I tagged the entry with Sueryder. (note the all important full stop that is what caused it not to be considered by the judges) and not SUERYDER or sueryder or Sueryder... sorry, your problem, not ours, you should have followed the rules... well! I thought I DID !!! ... the embarrassing thing is that this all because of a typo... and I was a legal PA, speedtyping secretary person 15 years ago... !! need to brush up my accuracy. Nothing I can do, competition is finished, tough titties. Would have been so nice to have had it looked it by the likes of the man behind Red or Dead, that was the thing I was excited about most I think... but not to be. Still, will double check every single detail of everything another time and not take it for granted that because it LOOKS like its all fine and dandy... it actually IS!! ........disgruntled of Kew.... AND mice have got into the drawer in my desk in my sewing room where I keep my secret stash of choclit!! and nibbled and shat and looks like they have been running and shitting in my little sofa in there too... so now I have to take the whole bloody room apart, open every drawer and cupboard and basket and box and take out all the fabrics and check for mice communes breeding in them!!! and we had pet mice a few years ago and let me tell you they breed faster than rabbits and are doubly incontinent, they literally run about trailing pee behind them.... as you can see its been a bit of a day today!... but I did win a handmade xmas cake and a voucher for a pedicure at the scout christmas concert raffle.... swings and roundabouts ay?!

Saturday night at 9 Caledonian Road

2009-12-06T09:49:00.000Z

Kristie and Coralie's Christmas Cooler opened on Thursday 3rd December 2009 and yesterday was the "opening party". Roxy and I went along with her partner Jules and daughters Eisha and Bee and friends. It was a horrid wet and miserable night and the Piccadilly line was jampacked mainly with young Europeans and their enormous suitcases coming from Heathrow! so we felt rather mangled by the time we arrived at the shop. Every seat in the main room was filled with people drinking cocktails and mulled wine and two tables of "makers" cutting and sticking things. The shop looked great (see photos)... and although K and C assured me that they have had very little sleep recently they both looked fresh as daisies to me.. (ahh! youth....) and seemed to be enjoying themselves whilst working hard. We met our bookclub friend Jane Cairns and her friends including the lovely Katya whose style is 1940s in a glamorous way, as opposed to tea-stained legs and a headscarf!.... she looked amazing and kindly posed for a photo, LOVE that hairstyle, and the dress and the shoes...... after a few rounds of mulled wine we left the young people to get on with it - the place was filling up. We were all hungry and took a chance on an Italian old-style Trattoria restaurant opp. Kings X station and it was very good, Roxy said it was like the Italian restaurants of her youth, murals of couples on terraces, vines, and chianti bottles... but the food was great, and the staff actually Italian!!..... on the way home we decided on a new sewing project.... will be attempting it this week and posting a photo.... - On a completely different note I stumbled across a wonderful blog today "spitalfields life" by the gentle author - he/she is attempting to post every day until 2037 and so far they are lovely, full of interesting people in the area and great stories and photos... do please google it and take a look, I will be following it now.

And finally.... luncheon.

2009-12-01T18:27:00.000Z

A lovely fry-up - well it is a cold and frosty day, got to keep me strength up.... the nice young man in the blue shirt and khaki trews was the barman at The Fellow last night - he looked like he had stepped out of the Blitz - I timidly told me I loved his style and could I please take his photo and he graciously obliged!... love the 'tache and short-back-and-sides, and the dolly with the big hair I started yesterday as a bit of recreational (as opposed to Rescued and Revived) sewing, she will be a Marie Antoinette type with a big head of hair (mohair wool) and a large quantity of garments, starting with a lace trimmed chemise (already done but not in this photo), petticoats including a farthingale (if I can fashion one out of a bit of bendy wire), boned corset and big sumptous dress - there is a lovely doll in the V&A - in the textiles dept. I am inspired by - she is in a glass case and you pull out drawers underneath to see all her wardrobe - she is very exquisite and a little creepy! - go and see for yourself. And the photo of ME! is outside the pop-up shop to be - Kristie and Coralie's Christmas Cooler - at 9 Caledonian Road, it was just round the corner from The Fellow pub so Mandy took the photo.

FOLKSY! Meet up at The Fellow Pub, Kings Cross

2009-12-01T12:11:00.000Z

Well! what a very nice evening I had last night - at the FOLKSY christmas meetup. My mate Mandy (Feltbug) told me about it and took me to The Fellow public house in York Way, Kings Cross. We met James, Rob, Charlie and Frankie of Folksy who are very lovely and chummy, had a few glasses of wine, listened to the man from Sue Ryder (sorry! forgotten his name) who is very enthusiastic about the upcycle competition and bringing his charity together with Folksy to promote using charity shops to source items to re-use and re-create. A few people gave impromptu chats about what they did - including Robyn, of RoseLullabyDolls who gave a demo of how she turns sticks and masking tape into small, beautiful and enchanting people - see her on Folksy - you will be amazed at her ingenuity. (See the photos here) Mandy gave a quick show and tell of her wonderful hand-felting and making fabric coiled bags from strips of cloth and yarn - see photos! JamesB of Folksy a little chat about what they do and hope to do and various other crafters joined in and views were aired. Vanessa and a lovely blonde girl from NZ (sorry! forgot name again) showed us how to fingerknit - by cutting up some old clothes brought by Sue Ryder man into strips - how quick! how easy! how addictive! I met Sarah of Silky Prudence (shop on folksy) who makes soft and tactile knits in gorgeous colours - I want most of it. Dee who hoards mens shirts and turns them into origami-style flowers and roses in the blink of an eye (she also turns boxer shorts into girls tops - ! we were all amazed at that idea, I never thought there would be a way of re-using men's pants but she has found one!) The lovely thing about the evening was that everyone was very friendly and interesting and interested in everyone else - no egos on show! that I saw anyway, and it felt like a very nice little club by the end of the evening. I am so inspired and fired-up today and am looking at Folksy with fresh eyes - now I have met the real humans behind the web-pages and realised how enthusiastic they are about the site as more than a way to make some cash!! - In fact, I've had me lunch (see photos!) and am now off to the sewing room to create.........

Roll up, Roll up, Grand Opening!

2009-11-30T12:26:00.000Z

Roxy and I piled her car up with all the picnic rugs, cushions and throws on Saturday and drove up to Kings X. The pop-up shop at 9 Caledonian Road, a stones throw from the station and next to a rather tasteful sex shop and The Radical Bookshop was still in the process of being transformed - Kristie and her team were there in the red and white candystriped interior painting and nailing. The vintage furniture was already in place and the cocktail bar (which apparently was from the set of a Clint Eastwood movie!) - we are looking forward to seeing it in all its glory on Saturday at the opening party. This is from 6pm to midnight if anyone can make it! The shop itself will be open from 3rd Dec to 20th Dec every Thurs-Sunday. There are about 14 or more different craftspeople/makers wares on sale as well as facilities to make and do yourself - or just eat and drink! After handing everything over and browsing next door in the Radical Bookshop - everything in the basement £1!! and some very interesting small circulation magazines ("One Grey Eye" - short stories of strange and lost London being one - which I am now going to subscribe to... very interesting!) unusual books and t-shirts too ("Legalize Conkers" - had to get that one)... we carried on up to London Fields and Broadway Market - popped into our friend Mairead's flower shop "Rebel Rebel" to find her and her partner Athena recovering from a night of cocktails and dancing - effortlessly and artfully putting together fabulous bouquets of things like Snapdragons and fresh mint with deep red roses... the shop smelt wonderful! out into Broadway Market, stalls selling a huge array of handmade cakes and pies and delicious food, and handmade lovely things. See the cards I collected for details! The shops lining the street were also very different and vibrant. We had a wonderful day and want to go back there more often... so much to see ...

CHRISTMAS SHOP OPENING

2009-11-23T17:46:00.000Z

Here are details of the shop 2 mins from Kings Cross Station, London which is displaying our work .... we will be there some of the time in person... very exciting and hopefully lots of fun!

Christmas Shop in Kings Cross!

2009-11-23T17:44:00.000Z

Foxy and Pig

2009-11-13T21:20:00.001Z

I drew a nice fat sow pig and made a cardboard template from it. My son loves pigs and wanted it on a cushion so I stitched it onto the blue velvet cover I was given by a friend to do something with and added the letters which were foam stamps, stamped in paint, then cut out to provide cardboard templates. A very time-consuming task but now I have them I will do lots with them - need them laminated really though as they are only cereal packet card. Foxy is the template from my mate's special birthday cushion I made for her from vintage tweed and 1970s printed fabric. Want to make some more animal templates, fancy a hare and a bear for starters... any suggestions?

Baby its cold outside

2009-11-11T23:40:00.000Z

Had a fabulous holiday on Siesta Key, Florida, very sad to be home in the dark and the rain and the cold...... BUT.... finally got my act together to sign on for a shop at www.folksy.co.uk - check us out - rescued and revived - we have actually got 4 things for sale! whoopee doo! am still waiting to hear if we have a stall at BUST craftacular in Bethnal Green in December - apparently they were so overwhelmed with applications it has taken longer to choose but we are promised an email by midnight tonight ..... hope we get picked.... but at least we have three weeks in Caledonian Road, Kings Cross 5 to 20 December in a fab pop-up shop venue... watch this space for more details!

Song of Solomon

2009-10-21T11:06:00.000+01:00

Have been reading the Song of Solomon and been inspired to do a bit of random stitching with words and images I silk screened from 1920s silent movie stills in the summer - here they are!

Autumn again

2009-10-21T10:48:00.000+01:00

After 2 days at the Knit & Stitch Exhibition at Alexandra Palace at the beginning of the month Roxy and I received our new sewing machines this week - how exciting! After trying out a few at the K&S we are now owners of Pfaff Creative 2.0's - Rox has already been playing with hers but mine is only out the box as I am loathe to move my beloved old Bernina 830 from my workbench and will have to sort out an extra foldout table affair to accommodate both in my sewing room. We have been notified by BUST magazine that they are hosting another Craftacular in Bethnal Green in December so we are going to submit some photos and hope we get picked to have a stall again... with sofa throws, cushions and sundry interesting items hopefully... I have also managed to acquire a lovely old set of signmakers' wood and rubber stamps after many attempts to win one on ebay - this set is in a lovely old box and has both right and left pointing hands which I lurvvve..... have been playing with all my stamps on old thick calico and stitching...dirty flies and flying swallows...

BUST

2009-08-23T17:40:00.001+01:00

Photos from BUST Craftacular 22 August 2009

2009-08-23T17:33:00.000+01:00

BUST craftacular London August 2009

2009-08-23T17:01:00.001+01:00

We did the BUST craftacular at Bethnal Green, London yesterday. We were up til midnight the night before attempting to start a sofa throw - and drinking a little wine in the process.... Roxy drove and miraculously found the way with just her memories, nerve and me with a tiny A-Z - set up our table in the big old York Hall and admired all the trendy young things setting up stalls with us... we were probably the oldest crafters there! (as we thought we would be...) there was some very lovely stuff and we were pleased to see The Seaside Sisters set up their fabulous seaside inspired tent opposite us - complete with fairy lights, buckets and spades, bunting and even "guess the number of teabags in the thermos" and "pick the lucky lolly stick" games.... not to mention their lovely outfits (see photos)- their stuff was very beautiful and clever and we had a nice time chatting to them. Other highlights were the fabulous New York lady "Hand of Fatima" - her stall was mobbed the whole time and I bought I necklace, Mandy (Feltbug) bought some earrings with the jawbones of a mink hanging from them - she had dressed her table very cleverly with old cases open to display her wares, old photos, old medicine bottles, her jewellery was fashioned from found objects, mostly Freemason's badges and religious bits and pieces and the odd small animal bone, all very beautiful and stange and different. I could happily have come away with at least 4 necklaces but reined myself in and settled for one. She has a shop on Etsy and should be checked out! Another favourite were Lost at Sea who make beautiful tattoo inspired brooches and necklaces from handdyed and veneered wood, very talented. There were lots more but I forget their names..... There was a queue round the block to get in at 12 noon so we were very excited and everyone who thronged in seemed to be young and very interestingly dressed - lots of vintage outfits and we enjoyed people watching from behind our pile of blankets and cushions. We sold 4 cushions and a corsage and had a blanket reserved by someone - we could only take cash on the day so it was hard to sell the blankets as not many people are walking about with £120 plus on them for one purchase. We had lots of great positive feedback from people, everyone loved Roxy's latest cushions "Don't Panic" with original Australian artillary army badge on it and her "relationship cushions" - "Love you forever and ever..." "Sorry I over-estimated forever..... Goodbye" - two of which were sold and also her "Everything is coming up roses" cushion and my "Fly" cushion. It was a very long day, packing up shop at 8pm and getting home at 9.30pm but we had lots of fun and met lots of lovely people. Our one complaint was the DJs who were playing on the stage next to us during the afternoon/evening - it was too loud (we are OLD LADIES after all!....) and we did not understand the ladies in the lurid ponchos who were having a little party of their own on stage for a while - was it meant to be an act? - (see photos!) It was great to see our bestest mate Mandy who always shows up for us and her lovely daughter Jamila and friends, she told us to enter for the show in the beginning and we are very grateful to her. We are going to be setting up a website in the next few weeks and putting more stuff on our Etsy shop - making lots of sofa throws and some more cushions and the odd wall-hanging. We are keen to do the BUST show in December - if we get picked again.... !

Our collection so far....

2009-08-11T22:39:00.001+01:00

Latest stitching.....

2009-08-10T16:12:00.000+01:00

Countdown to BUST craftacular!

2009-08-10T16:01:00.000+01:00

Well the summer hols have been very busy and Roxy is now in Florence drinking beer and sending me texts about the fantastically dressed women she sees - and I am off to Stockholm on Weds. and we are running seriously short of time to make more stuff for BUST craftacular on 22nd August at York House, Bethnal Green - I have made a few cushions (see photos) but need to make more and some sofa throws too - will sign off here and go straight up to sewing room - and ignore the large insistent piles of laundry that need sorting/ironing/distributing..... maybe they will go elsewhere > ? - Please come to the Fair on the 22nd if you can - if will be very funky!

Making a path through the forest of fabric.

2009-07-18T12:21:00.000+01:00

We were given a huge mountain of fabulous velvet and satin from Mairead who has a funky florists in the East End, "Rebel Rebel "- used for displays purposes by her we think - and spent a day emptying cupboards of unused childrens' art materials (dried up paintpots, glue, feltpens etc) and filling them with our new stash. Then I have tackled my little sewing room - my sanctuary - which I was unable to enter due to the chaos of the past two weeks making stuff for our stall last weekend. I had to bring some order, in order to find anything. After starting at the doorway I worked my way into the room and have attempted to colourcode cottons into a storage system! Hurrah! how long it will last I don't know but I have good intentions (and we all know where that road leads to......!) - so now nearly ready to actually start some stitching - got lots of ideas. And the great news is that we applied for a stall at BUST magazine's summer craftacular on 22nd August at York House, Bethnal Green and were accepted. So now we really must get cracking - two weeks are out because of summer holidays - to make more cushions and some sofa throws. I post a photo of my bargain of last weekend - a lovely dark green leather sewing box full of lovely things a fiver! and the rescued teddy - about to be properly revived.

Keeping the ball rolling........

2009-07-15T09:33:00.001+01:00

Screenprinted onto calico.

"Butter me up in the buttercups" with serving suggestion wicker picnic hamper.

Close up of detail on "Butter me up in the buttercups" picnic blanket.

Rescued and Revived stall at Barnes Fair 11th July 2009.

Having a rest from sewing to catch up on all things housework and family related - my fingers are itching for stitching ! We have a commission for a wallhanging to think about at the moment - very exciting. Managed a little excursion to some charity shops for supplies, lovely old wool blankets and embroidered things (stained but usuable) and a slightly sad but still smiling charmingly at me from a basket of old toys - teddy - not old but so well-loved his nose is bald from kissing and his fur all matted and curled. 50p - how could I resist -I had to rescue him! and I will revive him by giving him a little knitted tanktop and a Rescued and Revived Ltd label and use him as a prop for cushions etc. - look out for him.

We are Rescued and Revived Ltd

2009-07-13T22:12:00.000+01:00

We are two English ladies who love all things tactile and textile. We both inherited vast collections of fabric and trimmings and haberdashery from our Grandmothers/Mothers and have decided to stop kibbling about and set up a business pursuing our enthusiasm for creating beautiful things from rescued materials. We love to rummage at bootfairs and charity shops to add to our stash . On 11th July 2009 we unveiled our collection of adult outdoor pursuit blankets/lovers' blankets made from rescued vintage wool blankets and fabric appliqued with quirky phrases. We also made some cushions from vintage wool blankets and embroidered linen trayclothes. These were, to our delight, very well received and we are completely enthused and have lots more of ideas in the pipeline including sofa throws to keep you warm in winter.