Of cabbages, kings and thrift shops!

From "The Pleasures of Gardening" by Angela Stanford

I love thrift, or charity shops, the pleasure of going in and never knowing quite what I'll find, the thrill of spotting something special (well special to me anyway), knowing that I won't be charged the earth for it and the little I do pay will go towards supporting a good cause. We have 2 or 3 in Kingsbridge and I patronise them all. Some very wealthy people live, or holiday, in the South Hams and so there are often real finds to be had.

I search for vintage textiles, old shirts, pillowcases and blankets, all of which can be cut up and remade into DevonBears products as I adore patchwork and applique and have recently been moving back towards "painting with fabric" rather than watercolours, after all, fabric has always been my first love ....

Country Cottage Big Bag

As well as textiles I adore books of all kinds and was fortunate enough to come across a real treasure in Oxfam earlier this week. It's called "The Pleasures of Gardening" by an enormously talented lady called Angela Stanford - and my copy is signed by her too!! Sadly, after checking on Amazon and the publisher's website it would seem that the book is out of print, and I haven't been able to find anything out about Angela, but I would urge you to look for this book - it's wonderful. I love the way she combines beautiful detailed watercolours with flawless calligraphy and still manages to impart some useful facts. The pictures below (and the one at the top of this post) come from the summer section ...

Not that I've been in the garden very much this month. June was glorious, but July has been every bit as bad as the last two years and I don't think we've been promised much improvement in August. The fig tree at the top of the garden loves all this warm damp weather though and is busy creating its own rain forest, together with the hydrangeas which are romping away and the rambling rose which has rambled over everything creating a sort of jungle effect. I really must do some pruning - last night Ben woke me up 3 times convinced there were tigers at the top of the garden - and who knows, he could well have been right!!

Back on the beach!

The weather here in Devon has been cold and gloomy with icy winds for most of the holidays, so we haven't been to the beach very much lately. Of course the newfies adore this weather, and often beg to be allowed outside to bask on the cold cold slates and turn their muzzles to the icy blast! But today dawned bright and sunny, the tide was right so ... the beach it was! All is revealed in our video below...

Press cuttings

Isn't this just wonderful - such a shame that it's sized only for babies up to 6 months. What about adults up to 50 years? Anyway, the pattern was published in the Daily Mail earlier this week and you can see it by clicking on the image above - it was far too nice to keep to myself!

It most definitely wouldn't fit me anyway as I think my head has grown several inches this week after seeing the mention below in "Quick and Crafty" magazine - which took me totally by surprise! I feel very humble too as there are so many wonderful blogs to be found and mine's really very ordinary in comparison to a lot of them. But nice to be mentioned anyway.

As usual we are all becoming very busy in the village. Our Christmas tree hasn't gone up yet, but the Lunch Club party is next week and I've been nominated to make the bread sauce again - that's 12 pints of the stuff!! Don't mind really - that's the easy part. I've also been nominated to play the piano for the carols, now that really is scary. Hopefully 100+ massed voices will drown out the multitude of wrong notes that are sure to occur, and if they are heard, well, we'll all have enjoyed at least 2 glasses of wine each, and most of us probably more so nobody will mind anyway. (Note to self - remember to wear elasticated waistband this year!)

The Lunch Club party where so many people freely give of their time and money to make a really special occasion for our elderly villagers to me epitomises the spirit of Christmas. So often it is lost in the cacophony of shop tills ringing and raucous TV shows. I particularly like this extract from a poem which nearly featured on my cards last year ...

I do enjoy all the hustle, bustle, shopping and preparations for Christmas, but sometimes I think it's good to take a few moments to remember what it's all about.

OK, now you've done that get moving again - remember there are only 22 days left to do EVERYTHING!!

Amy's getting thinner!

Amy in her "Guess the Weight of the Dog" outfit.

Read about the time Amy was a competition at the Church Fete

Christmas is coming ... and the goose might be getting fat ... but Amy's latest diet is working!! Instead of her usual regime of food combining - that's any food she can rootle out, combined with any other food she happens to be able to obtain from one gullible Russian human in particular - she's been restricted to plain dog biscuits and limited portion of meat in the evenings.

My friend Elona is the worst culprit for feeding Amy, but she has been visiting her family in Russia, and while she was away Amy lost 8 cm (about 3 inches) off her rather substantial waistline. She now measures a (mere!) 104 cm (41 inches) around her middle! And I think this time Amy will have the last laugh as Elona is expecting a baby in the spring. Elona's convinced that she will never be as fat as Amy, but we're keeping a record and Elona has already reached 99 cm!!!

Meanwhile we're surrounding ourselves with all sorts of baby catalogues and planning to make lots of baby goodies in the new year to compliment our existing babychange bag. Watch this space! Meanwhile Elona is proudly wearing her DevonBears T-shirt...

Daughter's visit brings chaos!

"Let's have a photoshoot!" said Rosie.... none of my friends at Uni will believe how big the newfies are." So we did.

She invited Ben onto the sofa - this is normally TOTALLY forbidden. He became a little over-excited ....

and tried to sit on Rosie....

had to be restrained ....

..... then became totally hysterical.

Meanwhile Amy sulked as she adores having her photo taken and hates not to be the centre of attention. When sulking turned to petulant barking the photoshoot was cancelled and all canine participants removed for a cooling-off period.

Rosie also wreaked havoc with my little knitted mice! Now I'm not the fastest knitter, but had managed to complete 3 mice ready for the Yuletide Fair at Saltram House next weekend. I'd hoped to take at least half a dozen with me. But Rosie fell in love with them. Above you see Ralph, Alice and Fred. Rosie has now rehomed Ralph into her bag to take back to Bristol, together with a personalised hot water bottle cover, lavender heart, spiral bound DevonBears notebook and assorted sundries.

At least she didn't help herself to a needlebook - my answer to using up all the vintage blanket scraps ...

But she has thought of lots of things she'd like me to make her for Christmas!

Only a month to go!!

Christmas is coming!

Wow, I hadn't realised how long it was since I last blogged - time has simply flown past! Here at DevonBear Designs we've been lucky enough to have some of our products featured in various magazines - which has led to a significant rise in orders. Christmas paper bunting has proved to be particularly popular -

- I guess it's a bit different to more traditional Christmas decorations - it was certainly great fun to design.

As well as Christmas orders, I've also been busy getting ready for the Yuletide Craft and Food Fair at Saltram House next weekend and have added little knitted mice to the cupcakes I'm offering in support of the Gables Animal Rescue.

And yes .. that is Craft and FOOD Fair. Can't wait! All profits may well be spent before I leave the event!!

Meanwhile, Rosie's home for the weekend ... she's brought some work with her - but may well find herself packaging Christmas bunting if this rush continues. It's great to have her here to spoil, and husband's off to Twickenham for the England - South Africa match so we can have a really girly time together. Chocolate may feature prominently on our menu, whilst Bridget Jones is sure to find her way into the DVD player!

News from Ben

Hi everyone!

It's me, Ben Dickson, reporting in. Shockingly Mum hasn't posted in our blog for a whole month ... that's one whole month without Amy and me getting mentioned on the internet. UN-BE-LIEVE-ABLE!!

So .... what's been happening here in deepest darkest Devon? Apart from rain that is! Well, we've been to the beach a lot ....

We don't go too often in the summer as it gets very busy and Mum says me and Amy do not behave very well. But all the families with baby humans have gone now so I can charge around at 100 mph on the sand and go swimming again. All the families with picnics have gone too, so Amy can't plonk herself in the middle of their picnic blankets and refuse to move until they give her food.

We had our own picnic on the beach, Mum and one of her friends and our most favourite people, Elona, took lots of nice food - good - but sat up on the rocks where we couldn't reach the sandwiches - BAD BAD BAD!!

We sat and looked at them to show them how thin we were and to try to make them give us their food but they just laughed! Huh! We will call the Dog Rescue People!

Mum has bought us new collars. She said it's no good buying us leather ones because they just go mouldy and funny with all the swimming so she would get webbing ones. There was a problem though. It was easy to get a collar for tiny little Amy who only needs a size 24". But big strong me needed a 27" and Mum couldn't find one anywhere in webbing, just leather.

Then she found this wonderful American site called Big Dog Boutique. She chose a very pretty girlish one for Amy called "Pink Lemonade" and "Seaside Stripe" for me - very masculine. Here we are modelling them. It was very hard to sit with our backs to the camera but we managed it for oh about 0.1 of a second. Mum said she was very impressed with the site, the collars arrived in less than a week and not too expensive either.

Mum has been busy upstairs in her workroom for EVER. She says it is something to do with Christmas. But I don't understand. That's not for ages yet. I remember last year that I was responsible for pruning the Christmas tree while Amy helped with the cooking. Now I'm older and wiser I'm going to cook as well! Mum is sure to need my help too. Mum's been busy with some downloadable stuff for Halloween - this bunting thing again. Here's the Halloween bunting ... lots of it is black - just like me, so I know it's very attractive!

And finally ... for other Devon dwellers - you MUST get Devon Today October issue. An article about our Mum is in there!! A picture! And our names are there too - a whole page just about DevonBears. So we is famous after all.

Goodbye from your favourite newfie
Ben Dickson.

Competition Time!

Hi everyone - I need help! I have a new product for DevonBear Designs which I'm anxious to put on the website, but I have a problem - I can't think of a name for it. It came about originally because of the Babychange Bag .....

The Babychange Bag

Which, as you can see, has a very long handle - to go on shoulder or over buggy handles. Now this is fine, but it left me with a long rounded piece of fabric that was too small for most projects, but too big to waste. Then I realised that the shape was very like that of the bottom of the Amie bag - but probably just a bit narrower....

Here's the Amie Bag so you can see the bottom ..

The Amie Bag

And I had an idea ... initially just for the nursery. What about making some sort of container to keep things tidy. So, basing the shape on the Amie Bag pattern, but making the interior from 12oz canvas to give strength and some rigidity, I made a pouch shape - then put a large brass eyelet in the back for hanging. (Love all that banging with the hammer - great for working off stress!) And this is what it came out like .....

The new product

And then I thought - but it will stand up too, and why keep it just for the nursery (although it will be good to hang over the end of a cot - maybe with a velcro loop?)

So I made more .....

And then I made one in vintage linen. It looks great hanging next to the Aga piled high with my vintage moulds.

I'm sure other people would find them useful too. And I want to put them on my website, but can't think of a name (got hung up on tidy pocket, which does what it says, but isn't very exciting).

So, as I said at the beginning of this post, I need help. Suggestions for a name for this product would be much appreciated.

And the best one will win a "tidy pocket" by any other name!! Please leave your entry as a comment - the competition will close on 31 August when I'll contact the winner and let everyone else know the name.

Thanks for your help.

An English summer's day

Today has been a perfect summer's day. I consulted the Book of Days I keep on the study windowsill and was informed that "An English summer is three fine days and a thunderstorm." On Saturday we had the storm. Hailstones the size of grapes rained down in Kingsbridge - the town turned white with ice and Fore Street became a raging torrent as the hailstones melted and the water ran downhill to the top of the creek. But by the evening the sun was shining again. I am hoping that we have had the thunderstorm and are now enjoying the three fine days .....

The rose that scrambles over the woodstore is now in full bloom and shedding its petals on me like sweetly scented confetti when I water the old stone trough of geraniums below. It is highly fragrant too, but has wickedly sharp thorns and is very vigorous. I have to keep it well pruned, or it tries to invade the gazebo above and twine itself into the hair of unsuspecting diners when we lunch al fresco!

On these warm days, the house stays beautifully cool, thanks to the thick cob walls and cool slate floors. The hall floor is quite beautiful - I've never seen such a beautiful old floor. I think it must have been laid by the gentleman who improved the property back in 1838. I can be exact about the date as he left a letter hidden in the chimney breast for future generations to discover - in which he refers to "our new young queen, Victoria, a young lady of great promise."

Again consulting my Book of Days I discover that the Roman Emperor Nero was born on June 9th AD 68 and that he shares his birthday with Cole Porter and Johnny Depp (although of course they are considerably younger than him!!) Today is also the feast day of St Columba, the 6th-century Irish missionary who founded a monastery on the Scottish Island of Iona.

Finally, having carefully omitted to write about Amy and Ben in this post, I shall say that I spent some time yesterday afternoon painting Ben. I don't normally paint direct from photographs, but was enchanted by the shot of Ben carrying his teddy that Jack managed to take during our DevonBears photoshoot. So here it is .....

We are so lucky

We are so lucky at Lunch Club to have such a wonderful team of volunteers working with us. Our Lunch Club provides a weekly cooked meal for some of the area's most elderly residents, many of whom are well into their nineties. The food is fantastic - today we had sausages (from Durrants, our local butcher of course) braised in red wine, followed by peach (from the cook's own tree) and almond crumble. It's so interesting to chat to all the club members too as many of them have such exciting stories to tell - this week I was talking to one lady in her eighties who remembers driving a truck round the East End of London dodging bombs in the Blitz. Many still keep themselves up-to-date with new technology and are keenly interested in the progress of DevonBear Designs - after all, they say, such a business just wouldn't have been possible when they were my age.

The Parish Fete isn't far away now, and the fete committee meets today I'm told. Amy of course has already decided upon her contribution, while Ben is putting his paws up and taking a back seat after his heroic effort on the sponsored walk earlier this month. I've been asked to put together a bag design to sell canvas totes on the day - all profits will be donated to the funds.

Meanwhile we're making the most of the lovely sunshine after all the heavy rain we've been having lately. At Saltram the clouds opened on Saturday morning - as if a tap had been turned on in the sky - I was so glad that our stall was indoors. It was a great weekend though, we sold lots of stuff, met loads of nice people - and will be doing it all again in August!

For us Devon Bears of course, making the most of the sunshine means heading off along our coastal paths....

Here Ben is leading the way towards his favourite beach for swimming ....

As usual Amy becomes distracted and somewhat bewildered by the overgrown path. (Her brains do not match her beauty I'm afraid). Here she is doing her sheep impression.

Luckily I am taller than Amy so I can see over the hedge to take this photo of our beaches.

Ben takes to the water first and shows off his swimming prowess.

Amy isn't too far behind, but these days enjoys a gentle paddle more than an energetic swim.

And it's a long walk back up the path. But the most enjoyable way to burn up all those calories consumed at Lunch Club earlier in the day. And finally .... could this be the vegetable garden with the best view in England? We think it has to be a strong contender and love to peer over the hedge to check what's growing!

The Photoshoot!!

For days I had been anxiously watching the weather forecast. Sunny or raining? Raining or sunny? What would it be? Fortunately the day designated for the Coombe Leigh DevonBear photoshoot dawned fine and reasonably sunny, although there was a cool breeze. Never mind - we were on!!

Jack, our photographer arrived with his assistant/girlfriend Jen and began to set up the scenes. It was all very exciting and I was amazed at the amount of preparation that goes into what seems - when you see it - to be a very simple shot. Here are Jack and Elona (a victim - sorry friend) who agreed to model for me - setting up the picnic shot.

Meanwhile Amy and Ben appointed themselves as doorkeepers, anxiously watching to see who went in and out, and that no bones, stuffed toys or other canine treasures were being removed from the premises. Ben at least though, had other plans ....


When he saw Elona in the hammock, he felt that modelling was clearly a very simple task and one that could easily be undertaken by an enthusiastic young newfie.

Sadly both he and Amy had to be forcibly removed from the garden when Julie and Elona shot the picnic scene as neither dog would believe that the bags and flasks were actually empty. They were both convinced that cake would somehow miraculously appear - or even better - ham sandwiches!!

Soon it was lunchtime, and Ben took the opportunity to have a quiet word with Jack. Some sort of agreement must have been reached as the following photos appeared in the final batch I received ..

Seems like I don't even have control over my own photoshoot these days!! Trust Ben to have the last word. Seriously though, I'm so pleased with the photos, they really show off the DevonBear products to the best advantage. And all that energetic gardening paid off too, although some of that could be down to Jack's photographic expertise.

Now we're off to the Craft Fairs. Saltram House next weekend and Exeter a couple of weeks later. Still loads to do and not enough hours in the day.