Tag Archives: Vintage Fabric

What’s on at The Green Shed…

More lovely Creative Art Classes with Caroline

Join us for another magical, Intuitive Arts session for Adults ✨ at
https://thegreenshedn10.com/ πŸ’š
Reconnect with your inner child and creativity πŸ’–
Walk or sit among the medicinal shrubs and trees in the expansive, beautiful garden. Experience the meditative art of shin-rin yoku (forest bathing) and reconnect to nature 🌿.

I will guide you and support you. ⭐ I will provide techniques that will help you to flow. ⭐
All Materials Provided ⭐

I look forward to meeting you 😊
lots of love and intuitive light ⭐ ✨ 🌈 Caroline xxx

Sessions:
Sunday July 7 1-4 pm Friday July 12 1-4 pm Friday July 26 1-4 pm Sunday Aug 11 1-4pm

Cost: Β£35 per workshop
15% discount if you book more than one.

No one session is ever the same πŸ’•

Call Caroline to book your place 😊 07939 224 758

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Illustrating Children’s Books Course for Adults

The price for the course is Β£200 for 10 lessons.

You’ll need to pay Β£100 in advance to book your spot (there are only 8 places available), and this advance payment is refundable up to a month before the course starts. 

The remaining Β£100 is due at the beginning of the course.

The course is open to all levels, and I will strive to provide personalised attention to everyone. If you don’t have a story, you can choose one that you love and recreate the illustrations.

You have to bring your material, but I’ll bring mine too, to try and share.

This course promises to be fun and relaxed!

For further information, please visit Judi’s Instagram page or her Website

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Children’s Craft Parties at The Green Shed

I ran 6 wonderful craft parties this weekend and the weather played a blinder so all the food was eaten outside. The children made the most beautiful bunting and lavender bags to take home and they all had great fun.

Lots of photos and reviews on my website and Instagram page.

The Green Shed N10

The Green Shed N10 Instagram

Nicky Grace Vintage Selling

Lovely day in June…

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Vintage Fabric Scrap Packs

I’ve been collecting vintage fabric and gorgeous things since about 1994 when I was making my mini bunting for The Country Living Fair. Since then I had my own bricks and mortar shop and made hundreds of lavender hearts for Cath Kidston. My home and work have been featured in many magazines and also β€˜Pretty Pastel Style’ book by Selena Lake. I live in Muswell Hill, North London and work from home. I have a studio called The Green Shed N10 where I do craft parties for children.

Please head to my Etsy shop

Vintage and newer scraps for journaling, slow sewing, the creative possibilities are endless…

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Filed under Adults Workshops, Childrens Workshops, The Green Shed N10, Vintage Fabric

Another Year and still haven’t got the hang of blogging.

But I really want to, for my tiny business so I’m going to keep persevering. I haven’t done a blog post for a long time and sometimes I’d pay a lovely local lady called Estelle to do them for me as I’m severely dyspraxic and it’s getting worse and find this soooo difficult. I’d tell her what to write and I’d give her the photos but she’s moved 700 mikes away to Orkney quite possibly to get as far away from my irritatingly special needs as possible !!

So with my nice new second hand phone I’m going to try again. I don’t know what I’m doing and all these signs, symbols and information don’t go into my brain so I’ll ignore them. I’m actually scared of them.

A few nice bits.

I’d hoped in the year I’ve been away from my blog that WordPress would have become simpler but alas not.

So I don’t know how to make the writing closer to the photos and I don’t know why this is in a box, but I’m scared to touch anything in case I lose/delete it and then it’ll be another year till I try again. This has already taken me half an hour as I get so distracted. It’s bloody ridiculous and unbelievably frustrating.

Lovely old wheel barrow in the nearby allotments. VW Beetle blue.

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Filed under 2021. Let’s see what happens !, The Green Shed N10

Double Page Spread in Evening Standard Homes & Property ! 10 years ago.

20140628-144114-52874606.jpgI’ve just realised that almost exactly 10 years ago the lovely Pattie Barron who was and still is the Gardening editor came with photographer Marianne Majerus to take photos of my house and garden.

20140628-145810-53890325.jpgThey wanted a colourful centre spread to coincide with Chelsea Flower Show, May 2004.

20140628-150254-54174248.jpgWe’d bought the house the house in a completely derelict state two years earlier and lived in it with no kitchen or heating or anything much.

20140628-150914-54554174.jpgBut it was Victorian with a big garden that hadn’t been touched for 40 years and I loved it.

20140628-151114-54674921.jpgWe renovated it ourselves gradually uncovering some lovely original panelling. I asked the people who bought our old house if we could have the kitchen units etc back when they replaced them! As I knew that unfortunately they were going to modernise. We’d renovated that house too. So one Saturday morning year after we’d moved here, they phoned and said that they were about to put kitchen in a skip so we literally raced round and got it and had it fitted.

20140628-152041-55241171.jpgIt’s just IKEA cupboards, an old sink and a plywood work surface that I’d painted but I was so pleased to have them back and they’re still going strong today and still looking ok for their age as they were in https://nickygrace.co.uk/category/my-home-featured-in-selina-lakes-new-book/ It’s all pretty much still the same apart from the room with the blue walls which we call The Middle Room which I used as a shop before I got my proper shop.I’ve now turned that into a little B&B with it’s own ensuite. The ensuite bathroom was actually the original kitchen when the house was built. There’s a lot of history in this house which was built in 1865.https://nickygrace.co.uk/category/boutique-guest-room-on-airbnb/

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Filed under Patchwork Quilts

Very tasty pin cushions

20140414-184322.jpgI’ve been making pin cushions out of damaged, vintage embroidered tablecloths.

20140414-184916.jpgThe embroidery was done in the Forties and Fifties and I only recently realised the pattern was already printed onto the linen so in that sense it was easy as they had a pattern to sew on.

20140414-185619.jpgYou can tell how good the person was at embroidery partly because sometimes they didn’t cover the lines properly so you can see bits of the printing which should have been covered.

20140414-190022.jpgThe real art though is in the colours. I’ve been collecting vintage table cloths for 20 years and so often I’ll see one which has been expertly made yet the colours aren’t very inspiring and I always think what a shame to have worked so hard and spent so many hours making it yet the result isn’t too enchanting. That’s unfortunately the case with most of them which is why when I find ones like these it’s like finding gold dust.

20140414-190842.jpgI wonder about the ladies who made them. Were they young, middle aged, elderly ? How did they even have time to embroider tablecloths when they had so much else to do, cooking from scratch, hand washing, looking after their families etc without all the mod cons we have.

20140414-191429.jpgSaying that though, they didn’t have televisions and if I didn’t watch so much TV I could probably embroider at least a couple of large table cloths every week πŸ™‚ I’m glad they did it though so I don’t have to.

20140414-192300.jpgSo here they are all together. I’ve also added some vintage fabric flowers to make them even more colourful and scrumptious.

20140414-192538.jpgAnd here they are all dressed for Easter.
I think a pin cushion should be beautiful because it’ll be next to you while you sew Β year after year. Mine is one of the very first things I made and I still love it.

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Filed under Vintage Fabric

Flowers, hearts and a pigeon in June 2013

Photo 10-06-2013 16 42 10Vintage fabric mini garland in my shop. I love making these so much as every piece is different and beautiful. There is old embroidery of hyacinths and patchwork in this one and I’ve cut out some flowers too.

Photo 12-04-2013 18 59 12Patchwork vintage fabric cushion covers with old Disney characters, embroidery and florals.

Photo 27-03-2013 11 41 00One of my cut flower collages which I make using vintage floral fabric.

Photo 15-04-2013 12 38 12Vintage fabric patchwork throw. Lovely over a settee or bed.

Photo 07-05-2013 12 57 29Flowers from my garden a couple of weeks ago. Tulips, wall flowers, bluebells and forget me nots in a tiny little glass.

Photo 08-05-2013 12 26 04One of my vintage fabric lavender hearts. This floral fabric was made in the thirties.

Photo 10-05-2013 19 08 31A small selection from my little on line shop.

Photo 08-05-2013 12 55 52Little patchwork pin cushion. The blue fabric is from 1940’s America and is so precious. I Β treasure every tiny piece πŸ™‚

Photo 16-05-2013 19 54 16The bluebells in my garden were extra blue and lasted a long time this year due to the cool damp May/June.

Photo 21-05-2013 13 44 38Flowers from the garden. Lilac, bluebells, wall flowers. I LOVE this picture………

Photo 27-05-2013 15 51 11Lilac, borage, ceanothus, forget me nots, fairy washing up liquid, my lovely pigeon card and cut out vintage fabric flowers.

Photo 27-05-2013 15 15 12More lovely blue and purple flowers. xxx

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Filed under Miscellaneous, My Old Victorian Garden, Vintage Fabric

Brick Lane and Spitalfields

spittalfields market 002This is where Jane and I started the day. I’d never been to Leon before.

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The food was nice and I love the graphics and illustrations they use,

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but this is what impressed me most. A lovely postcard with this printed on the back. I think every eatery Β should have them.

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Lovely original shop front over the Ben Sherman shop.

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I asked a very handsome man if I could stroke his Chiwawa. Not really my kind of dog but it was so sweet I’m sure I could be converted.

spittalfields market 007We had a wander round Rokit Β vintage clothes shop

spittalfields market 011went to a little vintage market….

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saw this gorgeous street art under a bridge….

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and went to one of our favourite shops call The Shop which is full to the brim with old table cloths, silk scarves etc all very neatly folded but not in an intimidating way where you’re afraid to touch.

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Beautiful old shop drawers in The shop.

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Lovely old cinema seats….

spittalfields market 019I Can’t remember what this shop’s called but it’s on a corner and it’s worth a visit.

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This shop really did rock ! It was lovely weather like today and they were playing records on an old turntable outside.

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Downstairs were hundreds of old books nicely stacked on shelves all very cosy,

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We then stumbled upon an amazing looking huge cake shop called Kahaila and had tea and cake.

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It has gorgeous yellow walls with beautiful prints hanging.

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We went in to the famous Beigel Bakery

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where we allowed a quick look in the back room to see them making the beigels.

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They were so friendly. This is the owner who started the shop about 40 years ago.

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It was a privilege to be able to see them at work and it was so busy as usual.

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The owner of this shop told me that these photos were from the sixties magazine “Queen”, later to become Harpers and Queen.

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A street artist was painting a wall in Bacon street

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and then a bright orange neon fronted shop caught my eye.

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It was a lovely shop selling all sorts of interesting stuff and there were 4 shop cats in there ! This one just sat looking in the mirror the whole time.

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The ceiling is hundreds of plastic milk cartons upside down with light bulbs inside.

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This is their card.

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I love these little bollard lights they sell.

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Cat on the counter.

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We started walking back to the station after a lovely warm day in London,

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I was very restrained that day and didn’t buy anything much but Jane bought some lovely vintage fabric.

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I love this little flower stall on the front of the apron.

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A lot of the area in Spitalfields has been modernized and I love the trees. I’m not sure if they’re the original trees or whether new mature ones have been planted.

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The buses were on diversion when I arrived back from town so I walked home which I never do, and spotted this lilac.

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I love this old police lamp outside our partially closed old police station which I think is now run by volunteers.

spittalfields market 065This is the local pub. It’s massive and is now a gastropub Β with fantastic food and a huge outside area covered with fairy lights. It’s run by George who pretends it’s a ship and he’s the captain. He’s very funny on twitter. This pub is famous because it’s where the kinks used to come and write their songs when it was a bit of a dive years ago. I saw Ray Davies in Highgate the other day.

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This is a lovely tea room and shop round the corner to me.

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Edwardian tiles outside the butchers.

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There is a house round the corner called “Fairport”. The band Fairport Convention used to rehearse there and they named their band Β after the house.

That was a long blog post !!

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Filed under London, UK

Three of my things on the front cover of Prima Spring Makes magazine April 2013 !!

Frans birthday 003It’s a beautiful magazine and the front page and the styling was done by Selina Lake. The floral heart (top left) and the moustache cushion Β are by Thimble & Bobbin, the Aunty card is by Abigail Warner, the little floral note books are by Emma Wilson, the LOVE postcard is by Cassia Beck, the lavender card and vintage lavender pillows are by Sesame and LillyΒ Β and the vintage embroidered hoop, lavender bag and yellow floral lavender heart are by meΒ !!

Blimey that took ages, I’m not a natural at all this copy/paste/link business but I wanted to acknowledge all the other artists on the front cover with me.

Frans birthday 004Amongst all the beautiful pages is a six page spread about stylist/maker Torie JayneΒ who’s well known for her amazing blog.

Birdhouse Key rack

Birdhouse Key rack

Torie's workroom

Torie’s workroom.Β I love that pink chair !!

Some of her lovely things

Some of her lovely things

Her business card

Her business card.

I met Torie at Selina’s book launch a few weeks ago when she came to my stand and introduced herself. I was quite taken aback because I didn’t know she’d be there. She gave me her card and I’ve kept itΒ safely because it’s SO lovely. One of the nicest business cards I’ve ever seen.

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Filed under Magazine Features, Vintage Fabric

Anemones and an article in Prima Magazine.

birthday cake, stork, anenomies 010I’ve always loved flowers but I remember being a small child and thinking that anemonesΒ Β 

birthday cake, stork, anenomies 006were fuddy duddy, musty, Β dusty old lady flowers. I’ve sort of grown into them now. Oh dear.

birthday cake, stork, anenomies 007They are amazing actually aren’t they.

birthday cake, stork, anenomies 014There’s an article about me in Prima magazine, the April edition which came out about 3 weeks ago. Mags are always weeks ahead of themselves it seems.

birthday cake, stork, anenomies 018It’s quite odd seeing what you’ve said written in print. A bit surreal. It was an article with three women, me being one of them, who had shops in their houses.

birthday cake, stork, anenomies 017Gosh it’s tidy. I wish it was always like that. I’m a very untidy person.

birthday cake, stork, anenomies 013Here’s a stork on the pond in the park where I take the dog. I think it’s a stork. I know that Β to people who live in the countryside it’s no big deal but for me it really is something special. It wasΒ absolutely freezing on that day last week and it just stood there completely still. I see it quite often.

birthday cake, stork, anenomies 004Lets have cake…….lemon drizzle anyone ?

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Filed under Magazine Features, My Old Victorian Garden, Vintage Pop Up Sales

Encouraging comments on Face Book

flower cards 001

I’m just realizing that the amount of people that see my posts on Face Book

directlyΒ correlates to the amount of people who leave a comment.

flower cards 005Β I get a few likes sometimes which is always nice and shows that people have seen the posts but it’s the interaction that counts, which means commenting about the post. The more comments the more people get to see it. I don’t know how Face Book works but comments seem to generate action. Β I’m not very good at explainingΒ things I don’t understand !

I’m a culprit myself. I’ll see something nice on someone’s page and press the ‘like’ button but not often comment because I can’t think what to say and whatever I do say sounds phoney or cheesy and it’s a bit cringe….. I don’t always want to comment anyway, I just want to ‘like’ and go. But now I realize that it’s the comments that make the Face Book world go round I shall make much more effort to do so.

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I’ve also noticed and been told by Β social media expert LindsayΒ that if you don’t comment on people’s posts or they don’t comment on yours that Face Book now don’t show you those posts any more and not only is that a real shame but when you have a business (fan) page it’s Β also detrimental. FB now want people to pay for postsΒ Β to reach more people which does work as I’ve tried it but I’d much rather deal in comments than £££.

To encourage such comments I’ll do little competitions sometimes on my page which is what I made these cards for. That was all a bit long winded wasn’t it. Never been good at explaining myself, sorry xx Press this !

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Filed under My Etsy Shop, Vintage Fabric

A lovely Selina Lake feature with a few of my things included.

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Prima Magazine (March) came out a couple of days ago and I thumbed manically through the pages as the stylist Selina LakeΒ Β had borrowed a vintage fabric patchwork throw and three cushions from me.

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Page 81-83 they’re on Β !! I was quite exited standing in the magazine section of Tesco at 9pm, my new shopping time which is quite relaxing as it’s not busy and the crying Β babies and fed up toddlers are all at home. I think that after about 9pm they should put out a few comfy chairs so that those so inclined could read the mags in comfort instead of leaningΒ heavilyΒ on ourΒ trolley.

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I could quite happily Β spend a whole day in Tescos. I usually spend about half an hour in the magazine section anyway and sometimes meet a friend upstairs at Costa for a niceΒ uninterrupted hour or two of quality catch up time.

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Then back downstairs to meander round shoppingΒ leisurely, readingΒ labels,Β peeringΒ at calorie contents, noticing how it’s all so expensive these days and wondering if my kids will notice that I’ve bought Tescos own brand of Special K. (They did and declared it inedible so I gave it to the birds)

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Then I’d go and buy a couple of news papers, go back up in the lift to Costa and Β have a nice cake or two which I didn’t have with my friend as we’reΒ fiendishly slimming (not)….

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Then I’d go back down and maybe browse through the ‘colds and flue’ isle wondering if it’s actually worth buying vitamins and then maybe saunter (wearilly, after those two cakes) around the electronic isle looking at phones and ipads.

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By this time I would hope that at least one of my children would have bothered Β to phone me to enquire as to my whereabouts….but probably not.

If my local Tesco had a bed and breakfast area for tired shoppers, like a little rest stop with own brand sheets, cheap slippers and mini tubes of toothpaste for those of us who couldn’t face theΒ inevitable job ahead of unpacking the shopping and putting it away then I’d book ahead. As long as I gotΒ tipple club card points.

My throw featured here was Β£140 but toΒ celebrate it being in Prima it’s now the amazingly good value of Β£95. The cushion was Β£45 and is now Β£38.

Stylist Selina Lake Β is launching her lovely new book ‘Pretty Pastel Style’ with a wonderful fair with fantasticΒ designerΒ maker stall holders. I went to her last one nearly a year ago and it was so beautiful and quite exiting. It’s in Kingston West London on Friday the 22nd March 2013 and everyone is welcome. There will I’m sure be lots of cake.

The photo here are by Sussie Bell

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Filed under Handmade, Magazine Features, My Etsy Shop, My home featured in Selina Lake's new book !!!, Vintage Fabric