Having had a large order for spinning tops this week I thought I would give you some interesting facts on where and when they originated.
History
Spinning tops were invented independently in many different areas of the world. Clay tops have been discovered in archaeological digs that date as far back as 3500 B.C. in the city Ur, southeast of Baghdad. Spinning tops made of terra cotta were discovered at Troy that date to 3000 B.C. Egyptian, Greek and Roman tops have been found dating from 2000 B.C. to 27 B.C.

Function
Spinning tops have been used throughout history for many purposes. Children have used them for centuries as toys and pastimes. They have also been used in prophecy, gambling and as gifts to honor the Gods, or in some cultures, as items to take into the afterlife. Modernly, spinning tops provide play and distraction. They are also used in tournaments and championships in games of skill, and in role-playing games.

Features
The body of a spinning top has at least one axis, known as a principle axis, around which it spins. They traditionally have a peg shape in which the top of the body is much wider than the bottom, or tip. Spinning tops also include a mechanism to begin the spinning such as a spring cap, stem, string or pump. They can be made of a variety of materials including wood, clay and metal, and are typically brightly painted.



Read more:About Spinning Tops

Traditional, Old Fashioned Toys

My 6 year old son is doing a topic about old fashioned toys at school, a subject of obvious interest to me!So we have spent some time looking through Mummys shop to see what he could take to talk about and we also searched his toybox (as he has road tested the majority of our toys at some point) to see what he thinks would be of interest to his class mates. Here is what he came up with


Jacobs Ladder,Which is one of my favourites, dates back to Egyption times.





Yoyo, got to be another firm favourite.






Football Rattle, hope this isn't going to cause too much noise!

Is that the time ?

Well its been a while since I blogged, I have added "write a blog article" to my to do list every week, I even added it to my New Years resolution list but sadly it has been pushed way down on my list.
A quick update about whats been happening since I last blogged, well the snow/weather made life pretty difficult for our packed diary of craft events during November and December, lots were cancelled including the prestigious Lincoln Christmas Market which left myself and a lot of stallholders in a difficult financial position. Our saving grace came in the form of a stand in Nottingham's Victoria Centre, expensive, hard work but a huge learning curve!
We have broken into craft fairs gently with one in Feb, which actually turned out to be great and the weather was positively Spring like and one last weekend which was OK but bitterly cold and very wet.
I have been sewing but sadly not as much as I would like but as our contract at the Victoria Centre is coming to an end I hope to concentrate on this a little more.
I have added some lovely photographs of our stand at Victoria Centre, I hope you like them as much as me, to say I am very proud of our achievement is an understatement!

Sewing, my passion re-kindled

I started sewing at the tender age of 11 on my Mum's old Jones sewing machine, I think even back then I must have had a little glint of entrepreneurial skills. I can remember making slash neck tops (it was the 80's!) ironing, folding, bagging and labelling them and taking them into school and selling them for £2 !
I went on to make all sorts of clothing, I hasten to add I was very "way out and quirky" back then so a lot of it didn't require much dressmaking skills. This came later on in my 20's when I did dressmaking at evening class. I also did a a course at a factory using their huge industrial over- locker, now that was an experience!
I made all my maternity outfits, the childen's clothes and lots of homey stuff and did alterations but it slowed down (and eventually came to a stand still) when I started my business www.knotjustjigs.co.uk selling traditional toys and rag dolls.
I spent most of my time learning how to update my website, PR, marketing and selling at events, I had no time for sewing.
My passion was re-kindled a couple of years ago when I started making fabric party bags and reached it peak again early this year when a fellow business mum asked if I could make bunting!

I started a textile course in January 2010 and you haven't been able to stop me since!
I am well and truly hooked again, making such pretties as personalised bunting, fabric party bags, padded hearts, cushions and aprons. I plan to extend the range at the beginning of next year but at the moment these are going sew well (see what I did there) that I can just about keep up with demand.
We take custom orders, if there is something you would like, or a current design you would like in a different fabric/shape please get in touch!

Football Rattles

With the World cup well on its way we have been inundated with orders for football rattles or football clackers as they are also known.
We were lucky enough to have one of our football rattles in the Sunday people magazine in their World Cup feature as a must have!

These simple but effective wooden rattles are a noisy instrument, recalling those used from the early 20th century.
We have 2 types both priced competitively at £1.99 per rattle and also available in multi buys of 5 and as a filled party bag, great for football themed partys!

Wooden Push A Long Toys

Just had another delivery of these cheeky chaps, our push a long wooden dinosaurs are one of our great sellers at events and craft fairs. Children love them, as soon as they are able to toddle they can hold onto one and it will encourage them to stop upright! It also encourages a child to push and follow the dinosaur so it makes walking more fun (and quicker!)

Our youngest son had one from being about 14 months old and only really stopped playing with it last summer when he got too tall for it (he was 5 in October!). It came on walks with us and was pushed around our garden and played with no end. At £5.99 we think its a great value for money toy with lots of fun and adventure potential.

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