Right Place-Wrong Trousers

The one thing you don't have much time to bother about when you do a craft fair is your clothes, so I carefully planned each outfit before I went, washed and ironed anything that wasn't already done, wrote down my plans and packed accordingly.
On Friday night I thought I'd be smart in my new black trousers..so I packed my new high heels to go with them..and then because high heels and I have an uneasy relationship I packed my flat black shoes just in case.
Then I packed my black top and a red shirt to wear with my black trousers, and just in case it was too hot I packed an alternative, a black shirt and a cream top to wear with my best black trousers.
I also packed my new patterned top to wear with my new black trousers, should I need a smart outfit..

Then I forgot to take my black trousers.
So on with the brown trousers and anything else I happened to have squashed into my bag.

It didn't matter in the end because it was a very relaxed atmosphere and I had a great time at the Landmark Arts Centre Teddington.
Here's my stand..really awful photograph..



I had the luxury of screens....so I had to use them. Another dreadful pic but it was dark inside.



I took a ton of stuff, I sold half a ton of stuff and am now about to list the rest on ETSY.

I met some lovely people including Pat from Altering Thoughts and her lovely friend Marien who had both travelled a long way to get to Teddington.

One of the best things about the weekend was getting to see the work of Karen of Contemporary Embroidery in the 'flesh'. I can't begin to describe how exquisite it looks in real life, it has a magical vintage-luxury quality. Beau...(.oops.)Daren't say it..and Karen knows why.
I also met Kirsty of meplusmolly and saw her lovely work.

But I didn't take many photographs..too busy chat chat chatting...and avoiding the cakes on the stand opposite which winked at me all weekend.
Back home to a house in need of some major care and attention.
Now, where's that mop...


You have noticed I am on line and not mopping the floor. I have zillions of blogs to read and I even added more by clicking 'next blog' on the top bar of blogger....just try it...random fun.

Because I need to

Its almost as long a time since I posted as my blog break way back in September.
There were personal reasons for that which still haven't been resolved but perhaps I'll use pictures from that weekend that I would have posted if I had felt it appropriate.

We had a long organised re union of my husband's University friends and 60th Birthday of one of them so we went to the Midland Hotel Morecambe.
After we met in Staveley we went off to Blackwell overlooking Windermere.


A beautiful Arts and Crafts House.


I got into trouble taking these photographs but as I said in my subsequent e mail to them if they don't want people to take photographs they should have signs up where you can see them and not just 'one on the desk in reception'.
I looked very carefully and couldn't see any.


Anyway the Midland Hotel had no such qualms about photography



It was truly amazing, Art Deco, with quirky rooms and design solutions and all in all it could have been a thoroughly enjoyable weekend.
The sun set on cue over Morecambe bay. (OH! DO click this picture, please..twice if you like!)


I'd love to do it again in a less troubled time, but tis is not the point of this post..




the point is to tell you...

...I am ready now for the weekend in Teddington.
My goods are packed and my labels are printed.
I hope I sell a goodly number of my pieces but you just never know.

And when I return I WILL get on top of that ironing.
I WILL scrub the kitchen floor.
I WILL tidy the cupboard under the sink.
I WILL go for a walk EVERY DAY.

Yeah...right....

Textiles to Teddington by the Ton

First an apology to my cat Jools...


I blamed him for the spots on my side but it turns out they were shingles.
No wonder I was so down.
I'm better now .
I am taking tablets that look as though they were invented for horses but I am much more positive optimistic and creative.
So even though I have been very poor at reading other blogs recently here's mine.


Much much stuff had been made for next weekends event in Teddington.
Is it local to me?
No
Am I going to be there?
Yes.
Will you be there?
I hope so.
I do have some 'admit two' tickets for the Friday Preview , if you're interested as has Karen. Contact me before Thursday and they shall be yours .

Efficiency means adding all the labels as you go along.

Blurry pics sorry. There's very little light at this time of the year.

New Harris Tweediness..

I get pure enjoyment from combining colours and patterns.

Felt brooches..well these were made into pendants before the pin got them,

It was hard to choose which to have as pendants

but there's a bit of everything here.
I thought afterwards I wonder if its beyond reason to think of hanging a brooch from a ribbon so its optional, but maybe the back would dig in?



Harris Tweed hearts have exercised my mind and hands, they take ages to finish but I do love them.


I know I know you're probably sick of me extolling the virtue of the gorgeous woolly stuff...

and do you think I've gone a bead too far?

Just let me loose on the sofa of an evening with my big box of beads and all judgement flies out the window.

I do love piles of finished stuff.

And flocks of it..

Harris Tweet time!!!

I think they are like the Mona Lisa..their beady eyes are enigmatic.
(I know she hasn't got beady eyes..its her smile but you catch my drift)

In the last post I showed you the ad for SPARKLE which appeared in a magazine so I was really pulling out the stops with the felt brooches to live up to the publicity.
They didn't seem to look as good as the picture until they were organised into colours.
I put them in groups of 9 and took the pictures in poor light but what other kind is there at the moment?
Oh yum.
I love colour.













These are my favourite..I've always loved blue.


Quite a lot !


Thank you thank you for voting for me in the Dorset Cereals award. I am at the top at the moment. Only another 15 12 days to go...the egg cup is within my grasp...please get your friends and families on the case.

And finally...I am in in Selvedge Magazine.!!!!
Well more particularly a picture of my work is in Selvedge.
A Gallery in Knutsford have used my pictures in their ad


Woooooooohooo!!! Way Hay!!! Its one way to get into Selvedge. Its even got my name on it.
The print version of the mag isn't out yet but I've been a-snooping and a-sneaking into their web pages.

I'm looking forward to next week when I can do some housework and catch up with all your blogs.

See you in Teddington?

Bags of work.

This afternoon I was a bit fed up and wondering why I bother making stuff, and then I had a session with a new colour combination of felt and velvet and realised why.

Its quite hard when you need to make volumes of stuff.
'The Great Christmas Fair push ' is on.
Slightly soul-destroying at times especially when you are trying to fit it in with hospital visiting neighbours, now thankfully back home.
It seems an age since I made these bags.
Harris Tweed.
I have to confess that the design isn't my own, it was from a bag Helen asked me to copy, but the interpretation is.
So hanging on my scruffy pin board we have a rather blurry bag.


I just decorate the band on the front so its a bit like making a cuff..

As you know I am a fervent admirer of Harris Tweed.

All I do is add a little strip of silk perhaps and some velvet.

The Tweed speaks for itself.


I enjoy accessorizing the colours to match,



and change the direction where appropriate.
This is a more modern tweed,



and this one is a traditional dog tooth.


I had fun deciding which colour to focus on in this 'plaid'

so I picked out the turquoise.

Finally here is a 'brown tweed'


It looks plain...


but take a closer look.


Since the bags I've made 15 round Harris Tweed brooches, 12 silk cuffs, 20 silk heart brooches and started some felt brooches.
I really must focus on the felt brooches.
Look what Lynsey sent me from a magazine called Craft and Design


An add for SPARKLE featuring yours truly.

I have been looking at some of the competition other exhibitors and am a bit worried.
Lots of beautiful pale blue and chintz dream purses and handbags. (With extra vintage buttons)and Karens beautiful pristine creations.
Mine all looks a bit homespun.

Thank you for all your votes. I am a bit ahead at the moment but there's a close follower behind me...

Calm

Thank you for responding to my tantrums and voting for my blog. I don't know whether to keep on 'thscweaming' until the end of the month, or be satisfied with the considerable number of votes I already have.
I'll leave it with you.
There are other blogs catching up.
The link for voting is above .

Now..I wrote the previous post before I went away and had it scheduled to appear on the first of November.
We had a very welcome escape to Northumberland, where my Goddaughter was getting married last Friday.
We stayed 36 miles away from Newcastle. A journey of about 40 minutes to the church.
However, it took one and a half hours so we were a bit late.
(It was the Friday of the Autumn half term week almost exactly a year on from this post in which, among other things, we were stuck in a traffic jam on our way to something important.)
We asked directions of a man coming out of a pub with an Alsation dog.
He answered
'Yer gan doon heeya and torn reyt then torn reyt again at the leyts and ye cannamissit.'
(Apologies to Geordies reading this)
We didn't believe him, but he was reyt. Correct.


On Saturday we rested, walked, and forgot our cares.


Taking time to look closely at the tiny things,


as well as feeling the warmth of the sunshine,

listening to the waves,

tasting the spray


and smelling the beautiful fresh sea air.

(If you click the above picture you will be able to smell the sea too. I'm sure.)
Of course we ate a lot too.
The breakfast speciality was smoked haddock and poached eggs. It was the creamiest most delicious smoked haddock ever.

Sunday's weather was another story so we went to Alnwick (pronounced Annick in case you didn't know) and to the old railway station which houses a huge secondhand bookshop.
There were roaring fires and old sofas, tea and books..lots and lots of books.
A toy electric train chugged around the tops of the shelves, which were joined by wooden bars painted with quotations from appropriate books.


The above is from the Song of Solomon, very appropriate in the Religion section.
Also pertinent as it was one of the readings at the wedding.

EDIT: Junorth posted the exact same picture on the same day..what a coincidence.
And I forgot to tell you that this bookshop is the place where That poster originated. It was found in a box of books there years ago and because I forgot, its funny I called this post 'Calm'.

It was pouring down outside...

The roof of this old building leaked...



We couldn't get into the town of Alnwick due to very deep water in the road.
We had a long journey ahead.




We had a small glimpse of the Angel of the North as we said goodbye to Newcastle.


Since I returned I've been chasing time to sit and sew.
(Haven't even unpacked my case yet.)
I have managed to make some bags which I'll show next post.
Byee.

I'll sthcweam and sthcweam until I'm sthick

Once, long ago, there was a little girl, who was usually a very good little girl.



One day her mother took her on a long journey to visit her Aunties who lived near a place called 'The Arboretum' , a beautiful magical garden with a lot of trees and a silver lake.
At the edge of that lake were rowing boats.
Now, as soon as that good little girl saw those boats she wanted to get into one with her Aunties and go out onto the lake.
But her Aunties did not want to get in a boat.
Not at all.
But that usually good little girl made such a lot of moaning and misery-ing that eventually her Mother and the Aunties hired a rowing boat and they all got in.
Sadly, her mother and the Aunties were not very good at rowing.
The boat rocked and rolled and they were out in the middle of the lake and the little girl was afraid that the boat would tip up and that they would all end up in the water.
But all the Aunties and her mother could do was shriek with laughter.
So do you know what she did?
She moaned and cried and made such a fuss that they had to row back to shore and get out of the boat which had once seemed such a good idea.

Now that little girl grew up (and learned to swim) and computers were invented and she started to write a blog.
She tried very hard to please everyone because whatever she did she tried to do it the best she could.
One day her blogging took her to a place where she saw there was a thing called
'The Dorset Cereals Great Little Blog Award'
and she wanted to get on that boat.
(She loved Dorset Cereals and had three varieties in her cupboard.)



So she waited and waited until eventually one of her blog friends nominated her blog.
But nothing happened.
Then another friend e mailed her to say she had nominated her blog.
But still nothing happened.
Then a third person said she had nominated her.
Still nothing happened.
And then in desperation she nominated herself. (She is quite ashamed of that)
And all the time she saw, on almost every blog she read, that they had been nominated for the award.
So that once usually good little girl moaned and misery-ed and wondered what could be wrong with her blog?
She had to know.
So one evening after she had had a glass of wine she e-mailed Dorset Cereals and asked them why her blog hadn't been added to the list.
She told them she didn't want a 'pity nomination' but just wanted to know why?
Should she do more crochet? have more buttons? more baking?some bunting? another baby?(But really she was far too grown up for that last one)
So the kind lady at Dorset Cereals said it had been 'An Oversight' and that after all her blog is now on the list.
But the grown up little girl feels a bit sick now.
A bit like she did on that boat.
Will she be tipped into the water..will anyone actually vote?

Might she just be a bit too obsessive about her blog?



If you would like to help row her safely to shore, please click this picture and vote.

( You might win a prize.)

Compilation

My 'Box of Delights'* is ready for off ..actually its gone..to The Platform gallery for Mirrorball their Christmas show.
It took a while to get into the swing of creating things but I feel quite happy with the overall package.


I love piles of things, boxes of stuff, rather like folded quilts.

They are all peeping out trying to get you to look at them.


Clamouring for attention.
Allow me to introduce a few.
Its great to be re-acquainting myself with my stash of Harris Tweed. This time I've added some felt shapes. (You may have seen one of these before)

As usual I've found that Harris Tweed has hidden depths and a piece I dismissed previously, because it didn't match my idea of HT, is now the love of my life.
Just look at the colours here.

There's another colourway but I don't have much of any of it sadly.
Just enough for a little purse or two and some hearts and circle brooches.

The round brooches take longer to make than you would imagine.
I tried them with big beads.

I especially like the blue ones.


The Autumn sun provided the light for these pictures.

I was doubtful it would be bright enough but I think the glow is perfect.


There's always a bit of fluff where you don't want it though isn't there?



*Please excuse me for judging my own work to be delightful..I just like the turn of phrase