Halloween hats!

September 19, 2013

By quirkyp

I did a little post a few days ago about a tea cosy that people kept asking me if it was a hat. Basically, I ended up making hats too as they were quite popular – here’s the post.

A similar thing happened a few times at fairs with my Jack O’Lantern tea cosy. Kids would rush up and then look a bit disappointed that it wasn’t a hat. This year I’ve decided to create a hat based on the tea cosy design. What do you think? I think it looks pretty cool 🙂

It’s clearly getting closer to Halloween as I’ve had a couple of orders for the Jack O’Lantern tea cosy, so rather than finish the TARDIS coffee cosy I started on, I’ve somehow become side-tracked and been working on Halloween hats. Yeah I know, I should finish what I started first…

So far I have a Jack O’Lantern, a zombie, a scary ghost and a skull hat. What do you think?

These can be made in 0-3, toddler, child or adult sizes. You can find them on my Etsy Shop.

Tea cosy or hat?

September 2, 2013

By quirkyp

I made these granny chic tea cosies a little while ago. I think they are pretty cool and look great on a tea pot. Imagine a lovely plate of homemade cookies next to them and some Earl Grey in the tea pot….

But, for some reason people keep asking me if they are hats. Every time I do a vintage or craft fair people are drawn to them and then say “Oh, I thought it was a hat”. Even when they are on a tea pot 🙂

Well they seem to be much more popular now as hats and I’ve had a couple of custom orders to make them as hats instead of tea cosies. Isn’t it funny how things turn out?

Here’s a little baby hat I made for a boy, replacing pink with bright greens and blues. I also added a nice big rainbow pom-pom!

It’s snow heels for me today!

March 23, 2013

By quirkyp

What is going on with the weather?

This time last year, I’m sure we were having a little mini heat wave.

Only a few weeks ago it really looked like spring was starting. The bulbs in my garden were poking out of the ground and giving a lovely splash of colour and the trees in the street were starting to get their blossom.

Then boom – people have started ordering my hot water bottles! These two particular bad boys have been flying around the world!

I’ve also taken UK orders this week for a bee and a purple flower design.

I thought I’d be packing these away until winter!

I know show evokes all the childhood memories of how excited you were when you woke up and the world was suddenly white. You could throw the stuff, build with it and slide on it. What could be a better toy?

When you’re an adult, snow very often becomes a bit of a pest. It appears and finds a way to stop you doing things. Something that might seem a good thing is when you can’t get into work so you can have snow day. At the weekend it’s going to be a pain for vintage and handmade sellers, as even if they themselves can make it to the fair or markets, the chances are, their potential customers won’t be able to.

For me today, the snow if stopping me wearing heels! I’m meeting friends for a shop (I’m playing personal shopper again) and then some lunch. I was going to wear heels but when I looked out fo the window I decided that I didn’t really want to see the inside of casualty later so it will be some chunky boots!

On the plus side, at least I get to wear the alpaca and cotton wrist warmers and head warmer that I made myself just before Christmas!

And a big bonus – I found some of the purple alpaca and cotton on sale this week so grabbed some to make myself a set to go with my purple coat 🙂

I spotted a mod on TV today…

February 15, 2013

By quirkyp

As any of you who know me or just read my blog, once a mod, always a mod. Anything 60s tends to catch my eye…

I’d got the TV on in the background whilst I was updating this website and out of the corner of my eye, I saw a beehive. It caught my attention.

The TV programme was just moving onto a cookery slot and a lady called Stacie Stewart was cooking a pie. She had a fab beehive! Once the TV had caught my attention properly I also saw she had a really cool 60s dress on as well.

So, I thought I’d better look up this lady. She actually describes herself as a mod and recognises that she dresses to blend in her love of the 60s and mod, so not a classic mod style. I like that. I think a lot of us do that to a certain degree. I can’t believe I haven’t come across Stacie before. Here’s a link to her website, Stacie Stewart Website, where she talks about how she became hooked on the 60s and mod.

Of course everyone knows these days that Bradley Wiggins is some new styled ‘King of the Mods’, in fact the BBC even wrote an article about mods during the summer olympics – Bradley Wiggins – what is a mod – so I guess it’s a little bit back out there in the media….

Is mod starting to return more strongly? I’m not just thinking about the more high-profile advocates like Mr Wiggins, but there seem to be more soul and 60s nights promoted near me. There’s one of the Quadrophenia Nights in Nottingham in a couple of weeks. Or is it just that I’m primed to notice these?

Anyway, this article from Mod Culture always makes me laugh – 10 varieties of mod. Which type are you? Do you recognise any mates there?

Oh and it’s the perfect opportunity for a gratuitous Quadrophenia picce 🙂

Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook – Quirky Purple Facebook page.

Getting ready for Walking Dead Day, ooops I mean Valentine’s Day!

January 16, 2013

By quirkyp

Well on one of my last posts of last year, Christmas Countdown, I mentioned that this year I would get a proper schedule together so I can focus on making things for markets, fairs and events. So, Valentine’s Day is the next big day on my planner…

Although I saw this and it made me laugh, I do already have quite a lot of zombie items on the Quirky Purple online shop here, so I thought I might try to make a few things that would make nice Valentine’s Day presents. Of course, I think zombie items would make very nice Valentine’s Day pressies!

Anyway, here are a few things that I have made that are now in stock and ready to purchase. I’ve been making things that have a nice retro twist, that you won’t find on the High Street, so you can be sure that you will be giving something special. I’m making more, so it’s worth checking out the Valentine’s Day section of the online shop as I’ll add them as I go along.

Baby rabbit with heart	Pink hot water bottle	Pink mug cosy	Purple flower mug cosy
Red heart bag charm	Pink mobile phone cover	Pink padded heart	Amigurumi panda

Don’t forget we make to order too, so just give us a shout with your ideas and requirements.

James Bond – girlies and gadgets!

November 25, 2012

By quirkyp

I went to see the latest James Bond about a week ago – Skyfall. I do love a bit of James Bond!

Basically I love all the old 60s and 70s Bond films, especially Sean Connery and a bit of Roger Moore – although only the early Roger Moore – when he started wearing pastel safari suits I kinda lost interest…

Oddly enough I even love all that misogynistic stuff that Bond does so well. There’s barely a Bond girl that doesn’t have to wait for Bond to save her (Oh, James, James) or jumps into bed with him during that first 20 minutes of the film and then dies some horrible death (painted in gold or has poison dripped into her mouth).
Still I also love the Bond girls and all their outfits from those first 2 decades of films. Then again I used to love Miss World and Eurovision during the 70s…. I loved the way the Saturday papers came with a centre page insert of all the contestants listed so you could add your own marks as the shows progressed.

Also let’s not forget those James Bond girl names – Honey Rider, Pussy Galore, Mary Goodnight, Solitaire, Tiffany Case,Chew Mee, May Day, Domino, Vesper, Kissy, Pleny etc.
As Bonds go, I do think Daniel Craig is a good Bond along the lines of Sean Connery. As someone recently commented (sorry, I can’t remember who), he actually looks like a Bond that could kill people – it’s in his eyes… The latest Bond , in my opinion, was missing a couple of big things – a massive car chase and Bond girls. Yeah, yeah, I know there were a couple of Bond girls but nowhere near as much as usual… even that lame ones.

Still it’s always a good excuse to share some piccies of Bond and some Bond girls just look at these fashions!

Hmmm, oddly enough once I’d complied the list above I noticed that the majority are eith in bikinis or in bed…

Now, who’s your favourite Bond or even your fave Bond girl?

I like reading zombie books on my Kindle, so…

September 11, 2012

By quirkyp

Well, I do like reading!

Until 18 months ago I liked reading physical books. I liked the whole experience of walking into a book shop, browsing the titles, liking the look of a cover and then reading the back and flicking through. Books even smell nice – that dry, papery smell.

I resisted those new fangled eReader jobbies. How could I flick through one of those and decide whether or not I wanted to read a book? Yeah, OK, I used Amazon to find books a lot more these days, and I like having recommendations based on books I read.

When I went on holiday, I’d take half a suitcase of books with me to read. They actually took up quite a bit of luggage space and resulted one year in a rather embarrassing encounter with customs guards in Cuba – and believe me you don’t want to have any fuss and bother with Cuban custom’s guards!

Well, to cut a long story a little bit shorter, because I love gadgets I bought myself a Samsung Galaxy Tab. Fab bit of kit. Loved it. Then I realised that I could but an Amazon book reader app on there and the lure of free books persuaded me to download it and give it a try. Once I’d downloaded it and logged on I found that I could browse my recommendations and then find freebies. I downloaded a few and was completely surprised… I quite liked reading on the Tab and that I read books even quicker than usual.

I took it on holiday with me for a long weekend in Spain but found that I couldn’t read the screen very well outside due to the glare. I got home and took the plunge and bought a Kindle. Why, oh why was I an eReader Luddite for so long?

I’ve downloaded whole series of books and read them one after the other. I’ve downloaded free and really cheap books by authors I’d never have tried before. I’ve read an awful lot of independent authors which I’d never have found in a book shop. And I’ve loved them. I now have new favourite books by independent authors who actually do their own Facebook pages and blogs. One independent author contacted me after leaving a review to agree with me and offer me a free copy of his next book.

Which leads me onto the title of today’s blog. I do love reading Zombie books and I’ve blogged about this before. But, on a Kindle, no-one has any idea what your actually reading (which is probably just as well if it’s one of those awful Shades of Grey). So, I decided to design a zombie cover for my Kindle. Then I got carried away and designed a whole raft of them. I did a skull, a daisy, a robot, a TARDIS, a Union Jack and a mod target (once a mod, always a mod).

They are all for sale in our new Etsy shop:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/QuirkyPurple

Here’s the link through to the zombie Kindle cover – https://www.etsy.com/listing/107013711/handmade-crochet-zombie-kindle-ereader-7

I’ve been thinking about some other designs too, maybe for Halloween and Christmas. If you have any ideas for new designs or would like a specific design creating, let me know!

Olympics, being British and Union Jacks!

August 14, 2012

By quirkyp

Have you been watching the Olympics?

I had to admit I was typically cynical Brit about the whole thing. Even when we had the Olympic torch coming through town I kind of thought I should go but wasn’t really that bothered. But I went along, the sun came out and there was a great atmosphere. It was a really excellent way of bringing the Olympics to all areas of the UK, without it being an exclusively ‘London thing’.

I’m not the biggest lover of sport but even I have been engrossed in watching the Olympics.I started just watching the odd bit where we had Brits in the finals and we stood a good chance of a medal. After a few days, I was watching all sorts of sports that I’d never even seen before.

Even the opening and closing ceremonies has had that quirky, distinctly British style to them.

I was in Spain last week, and I might add that I was still managing to keep up with the Olympics, and it was a little bit surreal. There were a lot of Union Jacks on clothes. Nope, I wasn’t in ‘British Benidorm’, I was in Alicante, and these weren’t all Brits wearing the Union Jacks. I’ve also seen the UK High Street creating all sorts of summer clothes based on Union Jack styling.

Has the Union Jack come back into fashion again? We all remember Gerri wearing the dress to the Brits and I certainly remember a lot of Union Jacks and targets on clothes in the late 70s and 80s. My mate’s boyfriend even had a Union Jack blazer, but then again we were in a mod club…
Anyway, it must have got me think and made me feel a bit patriotic so I decided to make a couple of new crochet designs for Kindle covers. I’ve got a Union Jack and a mod target. I think both look fab and fit most eReaders and 7 inch tablets (Samsung Galaxy etc) too, and can also be made to iPads and iPhones.

These are now available online in our shop.

There’s also a bunch of other designs too – a skull, zombie, robot, daisy, and a TARDIS. All can be Kindle, eReader, 7 inch tablet, mobile phone, iPad or iPhone covers. All are handmade which makes each one a little bit individual. If you would like something different or bespoke, please contact us with your request at https://quirkypurple.com/ask-us-to-source-and-item/

Stock changes daily so check us out!
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Quirky-Purple

Quirky Purple

Quirky handmade things for family, friends and home.

Tag Archives: british

Halloween hats!

Tea cosy or hat?

It’s snow heels for me today!

I spotted a mod on TV today…

Getting ready for Walking Dead Day, ooops I mean Valentine’s Day!

James Bond – girlies and gadgets!

I like reading zombie books on my Kindle, so…

Olympics, being British and Union Jacks!