Fabric Nation

Crafty Pint handmade Christmas

2011-10-25T12:10:00.004+01:00

Day Three on the Lightship

2011-09-01T08:34:00.008+01:00

We love our new Seaside Sisters shop in the ship's signal room.

This is where the morse code messages are sent from.

There were lots of little paper origami ships left here from a previous workshop, we like them so much we have left them hanging up.

If you can tell me what the morse code is for Seaside Sisters I'll pop little prize in the post to you! Leave a comment with the code, and I'll pick a winner on Monday.

Day Two - all hands on deck for brooch making

2011-08-30T08:25:00.002+01:00

We had a perfect day, sitting in the sunny lookout, making brooches with our lovely visiting shipmates!

Our drop in workshops are available all week to Saturday 3rd September, 11-5pm, on the Lightship, Gillingham Pier, Pier Approach Road, Kent ME7 1RX Map & directions

www.lv21.co.uk

Printed Wonders has made this postcard specially for our ship visitors.

Day one on the LV21 lightship

2011-08-29T22:07:00.008+01:00

Our week long residency on the beautiful LV21 Lightship opened today with magical mermaids enchanting us with the singing deep down in the ship...

We feel so lucky to be in such lovely surroundings. We set up our shop in the radio room, and brooch making in the lookout, and enjoyed amazing views from the end of Gillingham Pier.

We ran a print your own tea towel workshop in the stern where everyone made amazing printed tea towels, from our youngest nautical knot inspired printer...

to our lovely fishy printer...

We set up installations in the boiler rooms and cabins...

and installed our vintage seaside souvenir collection and shop in the control room.

We even have signal flag treasure hunt!

Thank you to everyone that visited today. We are open all day the rest of the week, and on Saturday. Drop in for souvenirs, Seaside Sisters shop, brooch and pennant making and to enjoy this very special ship and some of the hidden treasures we have created for you deep in the engine rooms. We are easy to find, a 10 minute walk from Gillingham station to the Pier or follow the signs to Gillingham Pier, off the A289.

Visit our Souvenir shop this summer...

2011-08-04T15:45:00.004+01:00

I'll be joining my Seaside Sisters this summer for two exhibitions celebrating our love of seaside souvenirs, haberdashery and mid-century modern design.

We have an exciting programme of workshops for you as well.

Wednesday 17th August 10am-5pm - Vintage inspired fabric printing summer school - Details and booking here.

Wednesday 17th August 6.30pm-9.30pm - Print your own souvenir tea towel - Details and booking here.

Friday 19th August 6.30pm-9.30pm - Print Gocco cards and notebooks - Details and booking here.

Saturday 3rd September 12noon-3pm - Print Gocco on a lightship! - Details and booking here.

SW Craft Club Summer pop-up

2011-07-22T19:32:00.003+01:00

Look forward to seeing you here this weekend - I'll be running a brooch making taster workshop. Make a brooch to match your new Swish & Pout outfits and decorate with your Got Craft buttons, leaving time to try some Tooting Tram raspberry cider and a Ms. Cupcake.

Vintage inspired fabric printing

2011-06-23T11:43:00.029+01:00

My love of vintage fabrics has followed me since I first unearthed a pair of 1950s barkcloth curtains at a jumble sale and stitched them up into dress, and then later discovered sweet fifties and sixties cotton print frocks peeking out of the rails of my local ramshackle charity shop. It was pure glee at first sight.

My other passion has been printmaking which I have been lucky enough to explore under the expert tuition of the talented tutors at the City Lit. Last year I combined these to launch vintage inspired fabric printing workshops at my Sprout exhibition.

My vintage inspired fabric printing workshops aim to give people the opportunity to explore and handle vintage fabrics and to delve into my library of mid-century textile designers. Taking inspiration from these, participants can then design their own images for hand printing.

Sneak peek at some of my books

Participants will create lino blocks for printing from their designs and using non-toxic textile inks, create a repeat pattern using their blocks or in combination with readymade printing blocks. At the end of the workshop, everyone will have created their own handprinted vintage inspired fabric suitable for making up into a cushion, bag, lampshade or even a pinny.

If you've been inspired by the recent exhibitions of Lucienne Day's work at the Pallant House Gallery, the Horrockses dresses at the Fashion & Textile Museum and the sixtieth anniversary of the Festival of Britain, vintage inspired fabric printing might be just the thing for you this summer!

Lucienne and Robin Day at Pallant House Gallery

Horrockses display at FTM

Horrockses Display at FTM

No previous experience is needed, and in small groups you will have one-to-one tuition to guide you through each stage. Have a look at my past workshops to see what can be created by people using lino printing for the first time!

The next workshops are in July at CraftyPint North and the We Make London pop-up boutique. At longer workshops, participants can create their own designs and print a large piece of fabric. At the shorter sessions, ready made blocks are available to create your own fifties inspired fabric. I'm really looking forward to seeing what people create at them.

Lucienne Day at Pallant House Gallery

More workshops are planned for my Summer Shows with the Seaside Sisters at Vintage Hemingway, Craft Central and LV21 in late July and August. If you would like to find out about my workshops, please do get in touch by email, leave a comment, or check the events section of this blog.

Museum of '51 at the Southbank

Here comes the sun...

2011-06-16T22:41:00.007+01:00

This summer looks to be full of workshops. I've been busy since christmas having a few amazing adventures, which I will tell you about later on. One of these include working with the lovely Louise to set up Handmade in Tooting and Crafty Pint. We will be championing our talented home grown designers as well as encouraging people to shop local and providing affordable workshops in informal settings.

The Crafty Pint brooch making workshop proved so popular, I decided to take it North to the We Make pop-up boutique. And my vintage inspired fabric printing workshop will also be travelling North with a Festival of Britain twist. We also linked up with the fabulous Zoe from SW Craft Club and will be putting on Crafty Pint taster sessions in Tooting and Clapham. Read on for more info about all my workshops this summer...

5 July Fabric brooch making

We Make Summer Boutique, Oak Studios, 8 Perrins Court, London NW3 1QS

Delve into Fabric Nation’s stash of vintage, upcycled and contemporary fabrics to make several pretty styles of flower, all deceptively simple to sew. Use them to brighten clothes or bags, wear as a hair clip or brooch, or make them as gifts for lucky friends. Pair up flowery, polkadot or striped prints, 50s barkcloth and US quilting cottons with vintage buttons, trims and felts to create unique and colourful designs. These flower brooches and hair clips are deceptively simple to make, perfect for the beginner, and offer more experienced participants a chance to explore different techniques and work with a range of different materials.

Gillian will provide step-by-step tuition in different brooch making techniques and one-to-one help for those with little sewing experience. All materials are provided, including home baked cakes. To book a place and for more details visit the We Make Summer Boutique

8 July Vintage inspired fabric printing

We Make Summer Boutique, Oak Studios, 8 Perrins Court, London NW3 1QS

At this all day workshop, Gillian will be sharing her mid-century modern fabric and textile book collection for inspiration and providing tutorials in lino printing and textiles. No previous experience is needed and all materials are provided. By the end of this workshop you will have gained insight into textile design, created your own lino block for printing and will take home your own printed fabric suitable to making up into a cushion, bag or even a pinny. All materials and homemade cakes are included. To book a place and for more details visit the We Make Summer Boutique

16 July Vintage inspired fabric printing

Crafty Pint North, Stapleton Tavern, Stroud Green Road London N4, 2pm-5pm.

Join me for an afternoon of vintage inspired fabric printing at Crafty Pint North. Taking inspiration from my collection of mid-century modern fabrics and textile design books, you will be able to create your own hand printed fabric in the lovely informal surroundings of the Stapleton Pub. All materials and homemade cakes are included, you just need some beer money. Visit Crafty Pint to book a place.

Details of all our Crafty Pint workshops North and South of the river are here.

24 July & 7 August

Tooting Tram & Social, SW17 & The Landor, Clapham

SW Craft Club are hosting two weekends of crafting South-West London style and Fabric Nation will be joining other crafters and makers to showcase all the amazing talent that lies south of the river. Visit SW Craft Club for more details.

16-21 August Seaside Sisters Souvenir Shoppe

Craft Central 33-35 St John’s Square , London, EC1M 4DS

I'll be joining my Seaside Sisters for our annual exhibition of seaside inspired textiles and prints along with vintage inspired printing and sewing workshops.

29 August - 3rd September Seaside Sisters show on the LV21 Lightship

LV21, Gillingham Pier, Pier Approach Rd, Gillingham Kent ME7 1RX

The Seaside Sisters are being let loose for a week of nautical filled fun and making. Join us to make and create a ship filled of crafty coastal delights.

Visit the LV21 website.

Look forward to seeing you!

Fabric Nation xx

Shiny happy eskimo girl

2010-12-07T16:13:00.003Z

I've really enjoyed making these. She looks so happy, her smiley, sunshine face makes me smile back. These sweet dolls are made from vintage printed linen. It's nice how they are all different. Sadly, I can't find out who the designer was. We had these on the stall as well and one little girl looked so much like this little eskimo with her bobbed her and big grin, her mum bought one for her. I have just a few left now and have listed them in my Folksy shop.

Handprinted bunting making at Eco Design Fair

2010-12-04T21:05:00.006Z

We had a lovely time on the first day of the Eco Design Fair. As well as our stall full of print gocco and recycled vintage fabric wares, we have Xtina's fabulous new wrapping paper on offer.

As is usual when the Seaside Sisters get together, we also ran our bunting making workshop. We had a stack of vintage fabrics to choose from and the Xtina printed them up with our chosen messages, images and names.

I choose this sweet xmas tree girl. It was hard to choose from so many lovely images. Here are some of my freshly printed pennants drying on the rack. It only takes about 10-15 minutes to dry so we could run a 'while-u-wait' printing service for shoppers.

I'm really pleased with the finished bunting and can't wait to decorate the house now.

We also printed up lots of cheery xmas messages on lovely tweeds, silks and velvets.

For people too busy to stop, Xtina had her ready-made bunting for sale.

In between printing and chatting to our lovely customers, I managed a little xmas shopping, including a snazzy ring pull clutch bag, a recycled wool rug and a bangle made from sugar tongs. Beautiful and tactile. There are a wonderful array of sellers working with people around the world to create beautifully made and ethically traded original homewares and accessories.

We will be at the Eco Design Fair again all day (10-5pm) on Sunday, so do pop buy for some inspiring xmas shopping and bunting making.

Eco Design Fair

2010-11-30T07:20:00.003Z

We had lots of fun at Bust last weekend and are looking forward to our next outing to the Eco Design Fair. We will be running our bunting making workshop there and are super excited about seeing everyone transform the amazing fabrics we have been collecting for the event.

Bust Craftacular

2010-11-24T10:11:00.004Z

Looking forward to joining my Seaside Sisters at the Bust Craftacular this Sunday. We will be setting up our igloo specially for the occasion, all shimmery and snowflakey!

And very excited to see my brooches featured in the Life.Style.Etc Bust Craftacular Preview!

Making a mark

2010-11-17T19:00:00.006Z

As part of our show at Sprout I held a textile design and printing workshop. We spent a lovely evening looking at vintage textiles and mid-century designers before designing and carving our own blocks. We used softcut blocks instead of lino as this is easier to cut and safer to use with children.

I had spent a while researching fabric inks that would work with softcut and transfer well to fabric. I had come across Permaset inks and wanted to try these as they are water based and non-toxic. They are intended for screen printing rather than relief or block prints, so I was worried they would not be sticky enough, but the nice people at Colormaker in Australia who manufacture Permaset inks very kindly gave me some advice and suggested using a sponge roller. And I'm pleased to say the Permaset inks worked a treat. It's been a while since I've done any printmaking and it was really satisfying, I've missed making work this way. One of the lovely things about our exhibition, apart from working with a lovely local artist, is having a bright airy space where the outside surrounds you and space for larger printing projects. Very different to sewing in my back room, and especially nice on these crisp glowing days we have been having.

Next week we will print our lino blocks and then make our fabric up into something fancy for the home, a cushion, a tea cosy or a bag!

Earlier in the week we had a special session of our ceramic painting workshop at Sprout for making little hand and foot prints. Lovely Cara gently took prints of babies and toddlers onto ceramic cups, plates, tiles and even xmas baubles. She then adds dedications and decorations and fires them at her studio. We will repeating this again on Saturday and Monday.

Indie Craft

2010-11-14T13:11:00.005Z

The lovely people at Nude asked me to review Jo Waterhouse's new book, Indie Craft. This was such a treat, some of my favourite textile artists and makers are featured here.

To find out more about the book, you can pick up a copy of Nude here, which also features illustrator Gemma Correll who I have long admired since meeting her at Clutter City in Norwich. I am proud to say I have every copy of Nude magazine, it hits the spot in terms of writing about cultural happenings and I always look forward to the latest issue, so it is well worth taking out a subscription.

cat heads, cat heads, roly poly cat heads!

2010-11-12T12:55:00.000Z

These cheeky chap have been cheering up my sewing box and are enjoying their new home in Sprout. I like sewing the flirty eyes on them, and they all look so happy they cheer me up on the windiest wettest of days.
For some reasons when I'm sewing them I think of this song!

Come in, we're open

2010-11-11T13:05:00.006Z

We set up our Handmade in Tooting show this weekend. We were feeling a a wee bit apprehensive about it and panicking about having enough stock and hours in the day to set up a show and have time for our loved ones, but now it is all up we feel very proud and quite bit excited about being shop girls for the next three weeks.
The first few days have been lots of fun, with people we know locally popping in for a browse and a chat, a cup of tea and a little bit of brooch making. It is so nice being able to work locally and share the things we enjoy doing with people living around us.

The space used to be a green grocers (hence it's new name, Sprout Arts!). It is lovely and bright and as well as playing shops I'm also looking forward to working in this lovely light uncluttered space during the day. We have set up a making table in the centre of the art space for our workshops and so anyone passing by can come and join in and spend a little time making and creating. If you are passing, do drop in and say hello.

Fabric Nation on tour!

2010-11-05T13:44:00.007Z

There are lots of craft events and workshops coming up over the next few months and it would be lovely to meet you if you can make it to one!

Handmade in Tooting exhibition
9 - 27 November
Sprout, 74 Moyser Road, Tooting SW16 6SQ Open Tues - Sat 11am to 6pm. Tooting Broadway Tube and then 333 or 57 bus; Brixton tube and 333 bus.
I'll be joining local illustrator Caragh Buxton for our Handmade in Tooting exhibition of vintage textile accessories, hand painted ceramics and prints in our local art space. We will be on hand everyday if you want to drop in and join in our textile, printing and pottery painting sessions or for a cup of tea and a chat. Details of all our workshops are here.

Brooch making workshop
Saturday 13th November
Sprout, 74 Moyser Road, Tooting SW16 6SQ Open Tues - Sat 11am to 6pm. Tooting Broadway Tube and then 333 or 57 bus; Brixton tube and 333 bus.
Drop-in workshop recycling vintage textiles into brooches and hair decorations. No experience is needed and Gillian will be bringing her collection of vintage fabrics and haberdashery for you to choose from. Prices start from £6. Open to all ages, children will need an adult to help with the sewing. All day Saturday.

Textile printing and sewing workshop
Tuesday 16 and 23 November
Sprout, 74 Moyser Road, Tooting SW16 6SQ Open Tues - Sat 11am to 6pm. Tooting Broadway Tube and then 333 or 57 bus; Brixton tube and 333 bus.
Two part workshop where you will print your own vintage inspired fabric and then make it into an apron, bag or purse. Gillian will be sharing her vintage fabric collection for inspiration and providing tutorials in lino printing and textiles. No previous experience is needed and all materials are provided. By the end of this two-part workshop you will have gained insight into textile design, created your own lino block for printing and will take home your own printed fabric made up into a usable item of your choice. A children's session runs from 3.30pm to 5pm and an adult session 7pm to 9pm. The cost of £25 per adult or £15 per child (accompanying adults are free and need to stay and help with the tricky bits!) includes two evening sessions, tuition and materials. To book a place and for more details, email me.

Sparkle Contemporary Craft and Gourmet Food fair
Friday, Saturday and Sunday 19, 20, 21 November
Landmark Arts, Ferry Road, Teddington TW11 9NN. Open Friday 6pm to 8.30pm and from 10am to 5pm all weekend. Regular trains from Waterloo to Teddington station and a short walk or bus ride or tune to Richmond and R68 bus.
Once again I have teamed up with the fabulous Mandy Treptow to bring you beautiful fused glass homewares and jewellery and vintage textile accessories. Together we are taking part in the Sparkle Contemporary Craft and Gourmet Food Fair at the Landmark Arts Centre in Teddington. We are amongst 60 designer makers who will offer jewellery, glass, textiles, ceramics, handknits and and other quality crafts as well as a separate area for scrumptious food stuff, all in a beautiful disused church. The gourmet food on offer is yummy, and there are lots of free tasting and sipping sessions! We also have free tickets for the Friday evening and two for one tickets for the weekend, Please email me if you would like one and I'll pop it in the post.

Handmade Christmas, drop in workshop
Saturday 27th November
Sprout, 74 Moyser Road, Tooting SW16 6SQ Open Tues - Sat 11am to 6pm. Tooting Bec Tube and then 333 or 57 bus; Brixton tube and 333 bus.
Caragh and I will be running a drop in workshop all day to help you make homemade christmas presents. All materials are provided including textiles and ceramic painting. Homemade cakes too! Prices start from £6. All ages welcome.

Bust Craftacular
Sunday 28th November
York Hall, 5-15 Old Ford Rd, London E2 9PJ . Open Sunday 12pm to 6pm. One minute from Bethnal Green tube station.
I'll be joining my Seaside Sisters for our annual outing to the marvelous and amazing craft spectacle that is the Bust Craftacular in the glorious setting of York Hall. We will be offering our colourful collection of upcycled vintage textiles homewares and accessories and print gocco cards and bunting from Fabric Nation, Handmade to Measure and Xtina Lamb alongside over 70 other fabulous designer makers.

Eco Design Fair and print gocco bunting workshop
Saturday and Sunday 4th and 5th December
Islington Town Hall, Upper Street, London N1 2UD. Open Saturday 10am to 5pm and Sunday 10am to 4pm.
Another chance to take part in the Seaside Sisters' popular gocco printing and bunting workshop at the Eco Design Fair. We will be running our workshop all weekend to help you create beautiful bunting from our vintage textile collection and print gocco screen print stencils. Perfect for personalised xmas presents and unique christmas decorations. We will also have our Seaside sisters stall with lovely upcycled vintage textiles homewares and accessories and print gocco cards and bunting from Fabric Nation, Handmade to Measure and Xtina Lamb.

Look forward to seeing you!
Fabric Nation
xx

Birthday bunting

2010-11-01T10:00:00.001Z

A friend asked me to make some bunting using up fabric left over from some curtains she had made.

This is a nice way to decorate a room, and I had fun matching my felts to the colours in the fabric and adding the birds. There is also enough to make a cushion, and perhaps a little line of singing birds! My brief was to make something that was not too busy for a small room. I think for a more fancy style, I'd like to make some more, cutting round the birds on the line to make this the top of the bunting so, with the help of a little interfacing, they are sitting in a row across the top of the bias binding. The fabric is by Sarah V Battle for almedahls. I really like her use of collage and printed ephemera such as computer print-outs in the birds.

Electric Forest

2010-10-26T12:11:00.004+01:00

Bedgebury Pinetum lured me back again this week for the truly magical Electric Forest. A light and sound installation throughout the pinetum. We made our way round the pine scented trail in the moonlight from one pool of light to another.

Underfoot the soft pine needles made a gentle carpet as we discovered fairy groves and pixie glades and magical floating trees.

We encountered strange echoey sounds and then made our own as the trees shimmered, shone and sparkled to our whispers and whistles.

I loved that outsidey excitement you only get a few times a year on bonfire night and the magical splendor of the colourful lit landscape. Such landscapes have always cast a spell over me, from the little fairy light attraction that used to light up a grassy bank in Southend (does anyone else remember tht, I I loved it!) to the gaudy ravines of Shanklin Chine. However, this was a very different experience and really beautiful, and really well planned with fire pits half way round for warm cups of cocoa and marshmallow toasting and a candlelit cafe at the end. The Electric Forest is at Bedgebury until 7th November before moving to Thetford.

Tweets and woofs

2010-10-25T00:37:00.001+01:00

Spent today making brooches for the forthcoming Handmade in Tooting exhibition. Sewing the owls' sleepy eyes makes me feel very calm.

Looking forward to sewing the cats whiskers, they are very dandy!

Chestnut Sunday

2010-10-24T10:00:00.001+01:00

Traditionally, Chestnut Sunday is the second Sunday in May, when people celebrate the flowering of the chestnut blossoms. For me, it is those crispy autumnal Sunday afternoons, coming home with handfuls of shiny conkers to admire and pockets of spiky sweet chestnuts to roast. These sweet chestnuts were from our walk around Bedgebury Forest. The adjoining Pinetum is beautiful and I'm looking forward to returning to see the Electric Forest.

Halloween brooches

2010-10-24T00:44:00.003+01:00

I'm making more of these brooches again. I'm not keen on fancy dress but I like to wear one of these as a subtle way of celebrating Halloween. As well as putting a few on sale I'll be giving a few away to the trick or treaters along with the chocolate eyeballs! The fabric is from the US, I really like the little cats with their masks.

An apple a day...

2010-10-22T00:23:00.003+01:00

Saw these cheeky chaps in one of the local charity shops today. I really liked them in all their appleley weirdness. They were made in China 2006, but what for? Are they souvenirs from an Appleworld experience out there somewhere? I love all the apple permutations, toffee, sauce, peeled and cider looking a bit sick from too many apples! I wonder if there is also an apple pie chap to complete the set. I didn't buy them as I'm having to come to terms with a home that is already full to the brim, but looking at this photo now I'm fighting the urge to nip out again to the charity shop. I hope someone buys the set and gives them a fitting place in their home.

Foraging

2010-10-18T01:14:00.002+01:00

Orange peel mushrooms, originally uploaded by Fabric Nation.

We spent a lovely day out in the woods and with the help of a local fungi expert, picked an exotic collection of edible mushrooms, including these beautiful orange peel fungi.

We didn't pick this one.

And this one had an unpleasantly lingering spicy after taste...

They had wonderful names, like this one, called Elf Saddle...

And we found all of these...

Which we cooked up into a delicious forest picnic.

We added some garlic and thyme, but the best flavour was knowing we had picked them all ourselves (after our fungi expert double checked we hadn't snuck anything deadly into our baskets). A perfect autumn picnic.

I'm having an exhibition!

2010-10-17T14:51:00.004+01:00

I'll be teaming up with local illustrator Caragh, for an exhibition in Sprout, our new community art space from Tuesday 9th November to Saturday 27th November.

We will be filling Sprout with all things handmade, from Cara's hand painted ceramics, original artwork and prints to Fabric Nation's bags, brooches, purses, cushions and other vintage textile treasures.

We have an exciting programme of ceramic and textile workshops for all ages throughout November. No previous experience is needed and all materials and tuition is provided. Full details are listed on the Tooting Artists website. Please contact us for more information or to reserve a place.

Look forward to seeing you. xx

Brooch making workshop

2010-10-15T19:24:00.001+01:00

Brooch making workshop, originally uploaded by Fabric Nation.

Some of the lovely brooches made during my brooch making workshop during Wandsworth Artists Open House.

Seaside Sisters at We Make London

2010-07-01T12:21:00.004+01:00

I donned my Seaside Sisters hat last weekend and took the Seaside Sisters Bunting Making Party to We Make London. Linda and I set up in the beautiful setting of Chelsea Town Hall. I love this building, it is so grand and ornate, like being inside an exotic birthday cake, but so municipal as well with little brass signs and hatches for ticket sales.

My bunting adorned the entrance to the hall, and signs lured crafty fingers to our bunting making party. The lovely Sidney very kindly swapped places so we could take over the corner (we liked her hats) and we later spent the day swapping textile tales with her.

The highlight of the day was seeing all the lovely visitors of all ages to our stall create, decorate and sew fabulous bunting flags. Bunting makers rummaged through our stash of vintage and retro fabrics, trims and buttons to craft individual bunting flags or spell out messages. I love seeing how each person creates something so different and the pleasure they get from designing and learning. I never get over the different ways people can approach a simple idea that just needs minimal sewing skills to create something personal and fun. Many of our visitors were stall holder's children, who, not surprisingly, were very creative, including the lovely Cara's. Only later did I realise we had visits from Picciolo and Tobyboo's little people, both designers I really like and who's talent has clearly rubbed off on their children! We were also pleased to have a visit from Louise at ehive and enjoyed taking part in her We Make film and sewing with her daughter.

As usual, We Make was overflowing with beautiful creations, talented makers and lots of lovely people. Across the room, we admired Love from B, I liked their ice cream sundae fascinators so will be back for one of those and enjoyed sewing with Cariad. I bought a moustache adorned baby-gro for a friend's soon to arrive baby from Emily the Pemily - these are a very welcome alternative to the cutesville look that dominates baby clothes. We liked the orange maid lolly brooches from Mockinghorse, so realitistic they made our mouths water! Mary and the We Make team work really had to make these events a success - thanks lovelies!

All in all a buntastic day! Next stop Vintage Goodwood for the Seaside Sisters bunting-bikini-gocco making eco-craft-a-go-go!

Mass Observation Diary 12th May

2010-05-12T23:25:00.003+01:00

This blog post is a bit different to usual as it is my diary contribution to the Mass Observation project. I don't keep a diary and found that writing this was very different to a blog. There is a limit of 750 words which is useful but I found it hard to write about the entire day, retain everyday details and convey complex views that can take weeks of conversations to evolve and may come over as glib and sweeping without more explanation. I feel I needed to add in some explanations to the person in the future who may chance on this, and describe more everyday detail. It was quite tricky to write, but I guess it is just a glimpse into life on that day, and altogether the different diary entries from people of all ages across the country will create a picture of our lives.

"We’re woken up around 7.30am by our tabby cat, mewing loudly and nestling in the duvet. The day looks sunny through the gap in the curtains, but feels chilly. It’s so much colder than this time last year. There is a chill in more ways than one as we wake up to a new Conservative government. We talk about it over a breakfast of fruit from the organic box, juice delivered by the milkman (we like the reassuring clink of bottles on our doorstep), toast and honey.

I feel sad we have a new government based on privilege and the planned cuts to our services; thinking about this dominates my day. We talk about the many things that are hard to believe a Labour government could be responsible for, the war in Iraq, plans to introduce national identity cards, attacks on civil liberties, the deportation of people living with HIV to countries where they can’t access treatment. But I still feel sad that there is a change and that people who have such privilege are in control and the ideals of some of the Tory MPs, like the condemnation of the rights of gay couples may undermine the small progress we have had in the past 13 years.

My husband leaves around 8.30am on his bike to cycle into the West End where he works on website production. Before starting work I cheer myself up by posting video clips on social networking sites of David Cameron showing his true colours (Twitter and Facebook). There is one with David Cameron chatting to supermarket workers and he’s been told by one of his advisers to move the England football wristband he has on for the occasion so it’s more visible on camera; he looks very shifty and disingenuous. With a cup of coffee I spend a few hours on the laptop computer answering emails and promoting the gift shop I’ve been working and selling my handmade textiles in using social media sites. I have a mix of work to, planning some interviews with people working in hospitals to find a way of protecting them from outbreaks of infections, and helping out with a local festival by making some bunting out of recycled plastic bags.

I finish early today as I’m meeting a friend I haven’t seen in over a year in Islington. From Tooting the journey takes an hour by bus and tube. The tube passes through the city and I feel uncomfortable seeing all the suited people getting on the tube and wonder who voted Tory. I read a poster on the tube carriage about the boxer Frank Bruno and his experiences of mental illness. I meet my friend by Angel station and we walk up Chapel Street market as it is packing up and traders are selling off pots of geraniums. At the end of the street is a very cheap Indian vegetarian buffet café. It’s been there for years and seems little changed, serving a mish mash of curries, rice and bhajias. The walls are adorned with posters promoting vegetarian food. We drink Cobra beers and catch up about home, partners, family, our hopes and dreams. Afterwards, we walk around the back streets, past beautiful homes, parks enclosed in railings, towards the cool green calm of Regents Canal. I remember walking around here years ago as a student, I can’t remember what I was doing, but the area has echoes of familiarity. After a last drink in The York pub (diet coke and gin and tonic), we had home early as we have to be up for work the next day.

I get home to hear my husband's stories of his day. We laugh about the trend for labeling the new Conservative and Libdem coalition government ‘con-dem’ and us the con-dem’d nation, but the situation’s not really funny. We make cups of tea and watch Desperate Housewives, a TV programme so unrealistic and clumsy that we wonder why we watch it, but maybe that lack of reality is what we need. I have a poetry book to read, lent by a member of my local book group after she heard I like Adrian Mitchell. It’s an original 1971 edition, ‘Ride the Nightmare’. Sounds like just the thing for now and I find some poems to read before I go to sleep."

It's not too late to take part in the project and to send in your diary to Mass Observation.

We've popped up!

2010-05-05T01:08:00.014+01:00

Our window display is now on show at Craft Central - visible 24 hours a day from St Johns Square, Clerkenwell. We spent all of yesterday window dressing and making signs. I loved the way the sun shone through Xtina's bunting and made these shadows as we worked.

And Mr Woo made a special appearance, keeping an eye on Linda's stick-o-rock bolsters and gillian's naughty kitty...

We spent a long time hand stitching our Souvenir Shop sign so it was just right. The letters are sewn into an old, faded canvas door curtain. It is such lovely fabric and as we sat on the floor with our legs tucked under it's crispy swathes as we sewed, we shared memories of bungalows, caravans and summer days with our nans.

As well as the window, we have a display in the foyer. The display cabinets are amazing feats of engineering, jutting out of the wall and floating across the foyer. I had fun making some mini bunting and finding a use for my shell collection.

The 'Souvenir Shop' will be open for sales for one day only on May 8th running alongside our workshops.

Craft Central
33-35 St John’s Square
London, EC1M 4DS

Also hosting Seaside Sisters this month is Covet, a lovely boutique shop near Angel tube in Islington, full of accessories and beautiful handmade things by Britain-based designer makers. Find it in the road running behind Sadlers Wells between St John St and Roseberry Ave, round the corner from Bobbins cycles.

Covet
21 Arlington Way
London EC1R 1UY
020 7713 8453
Open 7 days a week, from 11.30am

Dulwich Open House May 8th

2010-05-05T00:24:00.003+01:00

Fabric Nation will be joining Hils Tranter and her lovely print works in her open house along with Chocolate Creative, Caroline d’Auria and Keren Cornelius. Our house will be open May 8th and 9th from 11am to 6pm. Tea and homemade cakes will also be on offer in the garden.

Here are a few pictures from last year, including Chocolate Creative's textiles and Hilary's prints.

With over 100 artists showing in beautiful locations across Dulwich, it should be an inspiring day out next weekend. There is some fantastic work being displayed, in many different mediums. I love anything vintage inspired and recycled, so hope to take a peek at Roddy & Ginger's prints, Clare Young's collages, Judy Hammond's pictures and the Skip Sisters discarded art. More women artists can also be seen at the SLWA showcase. As a longtime Londoner, I'm also drawn to work that explores our city and life in it. Adam Hemuss' paintings and prints promise just that as well as Helen Bridges' screen prints looking at the local history of Brixton. I'm enjoying the ways in which people are using different techniques to create new and exciting printed textiles, so hope to also see Trisha Needham's pea pod cushions and Sally and Peter Nencini's reupholstered furniture. Amelia Critchlow will be joining the Art Dog show, and finally, I don't want to miss Leah Germann and SLAG (South London Artists Group).

You can download the Open House guide here to find out where all these artists are exhibiting. We are venue number 90.

Seaside Sisters workshops coming your way...

2010-04-27T17:29:00.004+01:00

Seaside Sisters will be taking over Craft Central's window with a ‘Souvenir Shop’ style display of our goodies from 3rd - 8th May. It'll be visible 24 hours a day from St Johns Square, Clerkenwell.

On Saturday 8th May we are running two workshops to share some of our crafty secrets. Throughout the day you can learn how to make beautiful prints and create fancy bunting decorations, play the tombola, tuck into tea, cakes and sandwiches, and try your luck on the crafty hoopla. Drop in to the Craft Central foyer where we'll be showing off more of our wares in a display of portholes, and you can buy favourites like our lovely seaside purses, souvenir tea towel bags and bunting flags.

Print Gocco Workshop, 10am – 1pm

In the morning workshop, Xtina Lamb shows how to get the most out of a Print Gocco, the cult Japanese printing machine much loved by designer makers and artists. Topics include: creating artwork, DIY registration techniques, screen printing on cloth, troubleshooting, and creating larger prints with a standard sized machine. A range of Print Gocco machines will be demonstrated, example artwork will be on show and you can make your own prints using the techniques shown.

This workshop is great for those who have a Print Gocco machine already, or those who are curious about whether to get one. It's an easy process but there are lots of ways to experiment and push this lovely little gadget beyond the simple prints it was designed for. Bring along your own artwork, draw it on the day, or use the images provided in the workshop.

All materials are included in the £20 workshop fee, including screens, bulbs, cloth, paper, cards and inks.

Bunting Making Workshop, 2 – 5pm

In the afternoon bunting making workshop you can raid the Seaside Sisters' stash of gingham, vintage fabrics, buttons and haberdashery galore to make your very own bunting flags. Spell your name, make a slogan or just create and decorate!

£5 buys you a bunting making starter kit and additional flags are 50p each. All materials are included and the Seaside Sisters will be on hand to teach fancy embroidery stitches and provide demos of bunting making magic.

Booking
You can turn up on the day, but to be sure of a place, please pre-book places via email xtina@printedwonders.co.uk
or call 07949 491306

Seaside Sisters Workshops
Saturday 8th May, 10am – 5pm
Craft Central
33-35 St John's Square
London
EC1M 4DS

Seaside Sisters at Map

2010-04-26T23:25:00.000+01:00

The lovely people at Map have made a window display featuring all things Seaside Sisters. You can just see Handmade to Measure's felt stick-o-rock peeping out and Printed Wonders Love print at the front. I found some vintage seaside fabric and have been making it up into cushions. I love the colours in these fabrics. Now we just need a sound track, how about this...

British Seaside Window – April 19th - May 8th
MAP Gift Shop
93 Junction Road
London, N19 5QX

Waggy tails

2010-04-20T18:35:00.005+01:00

I'll be joining my Seaside Sisters at Dog Day Afternoon at the Cabbage and Frocks market this Saturday from midday until 5pm in the grounds of St Marylebone Parish Church, London W1.

Alongside the lovely handmade stalls at this sweet market, will be their annual Dog Show, with competitions for the most waggy tail, owner lookalike competition, and the intriguingly named "ain't misbehaving" game.

The Seaside Sisters will be making some special doggy-related gifts alongside our usual range of vintage fabric and gocco printed accessories. There may even be puppies... Hope to see you there wagging your tail!

Treasury East

2010-04-20T11:45:00.007+01:00

I tried out the new Treasury East feature on Etsy with this Malcolm McLaren inspired collection from DIY crafters.

I like the luxury of creating treasuries when I want, but wonder if without any limits on time or the number of treasuries an individual can make if we might get a bit overwhelmed and bored with them. Have you tried one? What do you think?

I had wanted to make a Malcolm McLaren inspired treasury a few weeks ago, but the main treasury was never open at a time that suited me. I don't credit Talcy with the invention of punk, but the publicity he attracted did bring lots of ideas into my home counties living room that have remained me with me. In particular a DIY ethos that has allowed me to engage in all sort of things that I enjoy, including making stuff.

C30 C60 C90 Go!

2010-04-09T10:53:00.000+01:00

C30 C60 C90 Go
off the radio I get a constant flow
hit it, pause it, record it and play
turn it, rewind, and rub it away

RIP Talcy

Psycho-rambling

2010-03-31T16:43:00.004+01:00

Well, the spring walk through the Sussex countryside to the sea started well. We caught the train.

Arrived at the start. Remembered to close the gates. Admired the abandoned cogs and local blacksmiths.

Then we found the lovely cosy pub, enjoyed a long lunch and assured the pub landlord that having lunch first wasn't cheating. Then we saw the advert for the Spring Show.

Lured by visions of bric-a-brac piled high, we made a slight detour. To be greeted by this amazing sight...

So of course we stayed. Chatted. Admired the eggs. Had tea and cake.

Wandered around the village. And met a lovely man who had grown up in the village, with tales of scrumping apples from Virginia Woolf. We caught the train to the sea instead, full of stories and memories of past village life.

And to celebrate all things sprung, I made a little treasurey.

Birthday bunting and bobbins

2010-03-07T15:48:00.000Z

How fabulous is this cake, made by a lovely niece who knows what brings a smile to my face. Thank you!

My birthday weekend coincided with the monthly opening of the wonderful Sewing Machine Museum. Behind an industrial facade on a busy south London street, up the steps to the first floor...

There are over 600 sewing machines, from the earliest, in all shapes and sizes, including Queen Victoria's and and cute kids versions.

The museum is open the first Sunday of the month between 2pm and 4pm. Particularly satisfying is that this collection belongs to the business owner and his industrial machine business is still going strong after many years.

Birthday treats also included buttons to wear, seeds, vintage tins and jangley jewellery and homemade handcream. Very treated. And of course a trip to the pub, adorned with teacups and bowls club memorabilia. Treated.

Giveaway - win tickets to the Affordable Art Fair

2010-02-28T11:30:00.007Z

The lovely and talented Amelia Critchlow is celebrating her forthcoming show with Artdog at this years Affordable Art Fair with a giveaway. Visit her blog to leave a comment and a chance to win tickets for two for the opening night. Amelia combines textiles, embroidery and collage to produce work exploring female identities and their relationship with the media, I really liked this one and I'm now lucky enough to have it hanging up at home.

National Doodle Day - 5 March 2010

2010-02-16T18:13:00.000Z

National Doodle Day - 5 March 2010

Day trip to Chichester

2010-02-15T16:23:00.007Z

Source: Culture24 via Henry Moore Foundation Archive

I was lured into deepest Sussex last weekend by the temptation of seeing Henry Moore textiles at the Pallant Gallery in Chichester. About 20 charity shops later, we were in need of a cup of tea and still hadn't made it to the gallery. The streets of Chichester are lined with all sorts of charity shops, from pristine colour coordinated displays to totting piles of treasure. Treasures I picked up included bagfuls of Babycham glasses and a 1950s embroidery magazine. I liked this dandelion design.

One of the wonderful Opie collection books was spotted and a Ladybird 'lever, pulleys and engines' book - which on closer look we renamed as the Ladybird guide to poltergeists and telekinesis.

Chichester is also home to an old fashioned sweet shop (tongue tattoos were bought in abundance), a wonderful tea shop, serving up organic vegetarian lunches and yummy lemon almond cake, the fabulous Kims Books, and its very own vintage emporium, in the form of the One Legged Jockey, crammed with clothes, annuals, crockery and all sort of vintage accessories a day tripper might need (a set of lucky shot glasses made it home with us).

Although anyone tempted to don a flat cap they had purchased might be in trouble...

Oh, there is a cathedral too, but that will have to wait until another trip. The buildings are lovely too. I liked this disused shop within a shop, tiled lady and door knocker and the little alleys and backstreets.

When we made it to the Pallant Gallery, we were distracted first by the building and then by the Eric Gill woodcuts - simple lines, the hand of god, eyelashes, stars and a bit of cheek too. Finally, we made it up to the textiles exhibition where we were treated to beautiful examples of Moore's work with Ascher Fabrics, printed linens and rayon, silk scarves, dress fabrics and wall hangings. At first look, they seem like batik prints, but seeing his sketch books, the fabric prints are based on his designs worked in wax crayon and washed over with black water colour. I loved the scribbles and loose lines that transformed into abstract patterns, tigers and standing figures and were printed up in fantastic shades of raspberry, taupe and mustard. The exhibition is interspersed with film, small sculptures and photos, including one of Mrs Moore running up a pair of curtains with some of the fabric.

Source: Christies

Source: Culture24

The exhibition is on until next weekend, and well worth a trip. But make sure you allow time for the rest of the gallery too, which I stumbled into about 5 minutes before closing time, most of which I idled away being bemused by the large pine cones placed on the antique chairs to stop you sitting down (although I wasn't so sure if this was the case in the surrealist room) before being swept away by Susie MacMurray's Shell - the highlight of the day.

Photo: Susie MacMurray

If you can't make it down there, then get the crayons and water colours out and try out your own designs. Or collect some shells.

Seaside Sisters at the Valentine's Love-a-Fayre

2010-02-05T15:13:00.007Z

Fabric Nation will be joining her Seaside Sisters at the Bethnal Green Working Men's Club Valentines Love-a-Fayre this Sunday. Treats galore for visitors to one of our fave venues. I visited last year and had lots of fun, so we are really pleased to be asked to join in this time. I am excited about the cute valentines fabric I had shipped in specially from the states to make some textile treats to celebrate lurve. Hopefully get some pics up before the day is out.

And, next week I hope normal service will be resumed on this blog! So many stories to tell and not enough time right now! In the meantime, fabric lovers, take a moment to celebrate the textiles of Lucienne Day, who sadly died earlier this week. I love her fabric designs and I am lucky enough to have a few beautiful panels. In my teens, I used to search jumble sales for fifties textiles. I just loved the colours and shapes and had no idea about design, the Festival of Britain, or the names of designers. I was drawn to them because they were someone else's beautiful rubbish and a chance for me to make something from nothing. So cast-off Calyx curtains we remade into frocks and skirts and worn until they fell apart. These days I'm more likely to turn my fabric finds into cushions and purses, but if I'm ever lucky enough to own a pair of these, I might be tempted to dig out one of my curtain frocks and have a Lucienne Day dressing up day.

Speak soon and take care until then. xx

Bust craftacular

2009-12-09T14:50:00.002Z

Looking forward to seeing everyone here! I'll be there with my Seaside Sisters in our beach hut! xx

Pop-up Xmas boutique at Truman Brewery

2009-11-16T11:21:00.005Z

The Seaside Sisters will be here every weekend (Thursday to Sunday) from the end of November.

Dulwich Craft Fair

2009-11-06T23:04:00.001Z

Dulwich Craft Fair

St Barnabas Church Hall
Dulwich Village, London SE21

Sat November 14th, 2009
St Barnabas Church Hall
10am - 5pm
Nearest Stations: Dulwich North & Dulwich West

Happy Halloween

2009-10-31T10:40:00.003Z

How lovely to have Halloween on a Saturday. A spooktasitc day ahead of crazy pumpkin carvings, trick or treaters, chocolate eyeballs and halloween art. I've been busy making halloween brooches for trick or treaters and party goers.

We had lots of fun with our spooky stall at Bethan Elfyn's Mini Boot at the Social (alas no pics until I find my camera!). Our homemade gingerbread went down very well along with the pumpkin chocolates. We met such lovely people and the venue is fab - very simple and stylish, and great music. We were charmed by Barefoot Dance of the Sea - harmonies, flutes, maraccas and sweet songs.

If you're over at Camden Market today, take a peek at my fellow Spooky Sisters stall - Handmade to Measure. She will be inside the Camden Lock Market with a selection of halloween purses, her wonderful owls and some of my Halloween brooches.

Spooky Sisters... at the Social

2009-10-19T18:16:00.004+01:00

The Seaside Sisters will be swapping seagulls for spiders and anchors for pumpkins and stepping out as the Spooky Sisters at Bethan Elfyn's Mini Boot at the Social. Expect crafty halloween treats galore alongside musical offerings from Milberg + Spencer McGarry Season + Barefoot Dance Of The Sea and Dj spots from Bethan Elfyn. Come and visit us...

Bethan Elfyn's Mini Boot
Tuesday, October 27, 2009 from 7pm - midnight
The Social (nr Oxford Circus underground)
5 Little Portland Street, London, United Kingdom

Affordable vintage fashion fair

2009-10-07T12:02:00.005+01:00

The affordable vintage fashion fair hits the streets of London again on October 25th. I can't wait! Lots of vintage goodies and another chance to sample the yummy delights of the Lady Luck Rules OK Pop Up Tea Shoppe! I'm also taking my Fabric Nation stall there, featuring vintage fabric bags, hair slides, brooches and purses. There will be over 50 STALLS OF THE FINEST SELECTION OF AFFORDABLE VINTAGE FASHION, ACCESSORIES AND HOMEWARE in collaboration with http://www.ragandbow.com/ as well as...
HANDMADE AND RE-WORKED FASHION
DESIGNER VINTAGE LABELS AT AFFORDABLE PRICES
KILO STALL – FILL A BAG AND PAY BY WEIGHT
LADY LUCK’S POP UP TEA SHOPPE
TRAID RE-MADE SALE & ‘CREATE YOUR OWN’ WORKSHOP
WAH NAILS POP UP NAIL BAR – AS SEEN IN GRAZIA

Scrutton Street is located just off Great Eastern Street, 3mins from Old Street Tube and a mere skip from Liverpool Street.

The Affordable Vintage Fair
Sunday the 25th of October
12:00-17:00
Sustainable Studios
65-71 Scrutton Street
Old Street
London EC2A 4PJ

Beliefs and promises

2009-09-20T14:00:00.002+01:00

Today is a special day. We were married on a sunny afternoon in a Devon pixie meadow surrounded by our smiling friends and family, after 17 years together. This is our first anniversary. More than yesterday, less than tomorrow.

'Beliefs and promises' by John Hegley

I believe in dog, the rather all bitey.
I believe that saying I will do something
makes me more likely to do it.

I believe that a bus is less well served by a single operator
than if you crew it
but I still believe in thanking the driver when I get off,
although if the exit is through a middle door
you can’t make eye contact with your thanks
unless you go down to the cabin before leaving
which all seems a bit much for this small courtesy.

I believe that Jesus would have been a smoker.
I believe that Buddha would have been a good goalie.
I believe there is a greater whole which I am part of.
I believe in not ending sentences with prepositions.

I believe that rules are there to suggest the possibility of
breaking them,
but I don’t believe that rules are made to be broken
because that’s just another rule.

I promise to remember that you are beautiful.
I promise to remember that I too am beautiful.
I promise to be less negative and paranoid,
who are you looking at?

I promise to sing.
I promise to dance.
I promise to love.
I promise to kiss.

I promise to think before I speak.
I promise to speak before I think.
I promise to spink before theak.
I promise to know when to stop.

Jam tart

2009-09-17T22:40:00.011+01:00

It's been a little quiet on the blogging front as I have been busy helping set up this... It's T'Art, a group of artists, designers and crafter-makers working in Tooting. We met each other as we are taking part in Wandsworth Artists Open House and despite not knowing each other, in just a few weeks, have set up an art group with a website for Tooting Artists and organised an art trail for the open house with fabulous prizes. Totally inspiring! I am lucky to have such fabulous neighbours and they are all T'Arts! I like the name too. It's all about being dressed up and out there. Creating and flaunting what we all do. It's also a yummy pie, each slice a different flavour, textiles, printmaking, glasswork, painting, photography, sculpture, jewellery... and it's all in Tooting!

it's all about the leaves

2009-09-09T16:06:00.005+01:00

September is my favourite month. Leaves and leaving. Leafing through books and photos. It's all about the leaves.

Some of my favourite 1950s and atomic textiles have these lovely leaf images on them and I have been sewing them into brooches with little beads, hanging them in my tree and waiting for them to fall so I can make a wish.

Each leaf you catch is a lucky day next year.

scared of love

2009-09-08T17:02:00.006+01:00

I met some nice people at the weekend who reminded me of this.
A record cover I made for a Small Factory record called Scared of Love / Lose your Way, that we released on our bi-joopiter label with Slumberland records about 15 years ago or so. A Small Factory record was beautifully painted on a page of lost records on Atherton Lin's 2010 calender. They have reminded me, now that autumn is here, to make time to draw and listen to records. And don't turn the calender pages until the month is here.

Fancy...

2009-09-04T17:34:00.005+01:00

...is a new Etsy Treasury up from Quercus Silver. Thank you lovely for including me and all those splashes of autum yellow.

See you at We Make Autumn Fair this weekend in good ole Stokey!

Shop revamp

2009-09-02T18:46:00.001+01:00

I so should be working very hard indeed right now. But thought I would give my shop a little makeover with the help of this.

hair slides

2009-08-24T22:35:00.006+01:00

Someone asked me if I made any of my flower brooches into hair slides, so when I found some vintage plastic hair combs, I had to give it a go. I love the colours of these plastic combs.

And as I won't have time to write about Bust until after We Make, read all about it here and here and here and here and here and here!! And interviews and films here.

We Make and Of Cabbages & Kings Autumn Fair

2009-08-23T18:30:00.005+01:00

Phew! Bust Summer Craftacular was fabulous. Lots of stories to follow. All that creativity under one roof was overwhelming. When I had a chance for a quick scoot around the stalls, all I could think was 'wow, that came out of your head' - it was all fabulous and the Seaside Sisters had lots of fun. I'll catch up with all my storiess later as there's lots of work to do as it's the Autumn Fair in a few weeks!! In the meantime, some stories here.

Bust Craftacular

2009-08-21T10:38:00.007+01:00

The Seaside sisters are busy getting their outfits ready for tomorrow. I spent a fab weekend with some crafty lovelies making my seaside sisters pinny. And we are very lucky to have some specially made seaside fascinators for the occasion handmade by Hatastic - take a peek here. We will be showing these off tomorrow along with all our seaside wares, and if you're quick you can buy one of these amazing one of a kind fascinators too! More on that crafty weekend to follow. In the meantime, see you all tomorrow and don't forget the secret password.

Seaside swap

2009-08-03T15:55:00.009+01:00

This week has a seaside theme. Loving all things seaside, I couldn't resist taking part in a seaside swap organised by Contented. I enjoy taking part in these handmade swaps, it's inspiring seeing seeing the different ways interpret the theme and all the inventive handmade crafts that emerge. I also like the challenge of thinking of things to include. My partner was imagingermonkey, who makes beautiful quilts. She applied these skills to creating a lovely picture for me - I love it, I like the worn denim sea.

My parcel arrived as I was on my way to Craftwerk and I couldn't resist a peek before I set out. Lucky I did as the bucket was immediately put to use to display my new bunting anklets on my stall.

I love all my swap gifts, I'm a fan of glue&glitter, and it was nice to see both me and my swap partner associate cups of tea with the seaside (I sent her some teacup buttons on a cafe postcard) and the different seaside buttons we found.

These are some of the things I sent her. You can just see the Solitaire postcard peeking out and some ephemera including seaglass and a Blackpool tram ticket.

I found out she liked Norfolk and Suffolk, so made her one of my seaside purses from the area and used the opportunity to try out a new seaside bag design.

I also found an old postcard from one of her favorite seaside spots. I had trouble finding seaside sweets in south London that didn't contain beef, but I think the coconut ice I found fits the bill. It's pink and sweet and one of those things I always wanted from the pier when I was little. I was so pleased to see the sherbet fountain in my parcel. I had just seen that those shortsighted Barratt people have change the packaging to a horrible plastic tube and wondered where I was going to find an old paper packet. This joins my gallery of sweets past (so far a smarties tube!).

And this was an opportunity to buy some seasidey gifts from fellow folksters, so my bag of goodies included Ilike postcards and a Treaclezoo lolly brooch as well as some seaside inspired buttons I added to my own seaside pics. It seems we have similar tastes as I also received some Ilike postcards back! Perfect as I love these but wouldn't have bought them for myself. Thank you! Seasidey wishes for you!

Makey Do!

2009-08-03T14:58:00.007+01:00

Brooch making all round at the Makey Do! This was a few weeks ago, but I'm still catching up after a frenzy of craft fairs. Here are some of the sweet brooches made by children and adults at the Makey Do organised by JennyFlower a few weeks ago. I spent the day showing children how to sew and being impressed by the wonderful colour combinations everyone picked from bowlfuls of buttons, felt and crochet flowers. It was lovely seeing boys as well as girls making brooches for themselves, their mums and teachers. Some were already confident sewers and others were sewing for the first time - it was a great privilege to teach them.

It was lovely to meet Jenny at last and with over 700 people through the doors of Sandwich Guildhall, all her amazing hard work really paid off.

I had a very early start, leaving home at 5am to catch the train from London in time, but was rewarded with a lovely day out, seeing the meerkats in their wooliness and meeting new sellers, including makers of mermaids and all sorts of loveliness, including knitters, embroidery, biscuit and chutney makers and these buttons...

And we were kept going with homemade cakes and cups of tea served through the Guildhall's panelled serving hatch. This building was fill of all sorts of nooks and crannies that I could have spent all day taking pictures of.

And it was lovely seeing familiar faces again from Handmade Craft Fairs, including the lovely Kali who shared some celebratory chips with me and the rest of the makey doers outside the Guildhall, and drove me all the way back to London - thanks, you're a star. She has been updating her shop with lots of lovely new jewels, so take a peek.

Sandwich looks a sweet and interesting place from the few glimpses I had, so hopefully I will pop back for a day trip.

Seaside sisters

2009-08-03T14:25:00.005+01:00

All hands on deck for the Seaside sisters! We met up for Craftwerk on Saturday and have tons of plans for the Bust Craftacular. Sewing frenzy starts now!

Craftwerk

2009-07-31T17:25:00.004+01:00

stitch and sew and stick and snip... getting ready for Craftwerk tomorrow. Lots of crafty fun at St Aloysius Social Club from 1pm this Saturday. Made a stack of seaside purses, bags and new for craftwerk, some bunting anklets!

And managed to squeeze in some sewing for our niece's birthday pressie. I made up one of the lovely clothkits dolls and a little wardrobe to go in her spotty suitcase!

...and popped my seaside swap in the post - just a sneek peek for now! Phew.

Craft goes pop...

2009-07-28T09:11:00.009+01:00

... at the Midland Railway in Butterley! aka the home of the Indietracks happening once a year, where Fabric Nation teamed up with Printed Wonders to run a bunting making party in the indietracks workshop wigwam.

Indietracks is a delightful music festival run in the grounds of a railway museum. It's been going for just a few years and is a lovely, perfect small celebration of all things indiepop. This year, for the first time, they included a workshop wigwam. We zoomed up the M1 on Saturday morning, pitched our tent and arrived just in time to meet the lovely Alice and transform the workshop wigwam into a bunting world.

With stacks of felt, sequins, buttons and teacakes on hand, we spent a fab afternoon with indie bunting makers. We were thrilled by all the lovely designs and bunting love, most especially, the girls who made birthday bunting for their friend and later met her off the steam train and wrapped her round in it!

The workshop wigwam was buzzing with creativity all weekend. As soon as we scooped up our pins and needles, Tatty Devine took over with a jewellery making session, helping indie campers create jewellery out of campsite finds. There were lots of train tracks and choo choo whistles being transformed into necklaces. We loved Alice's train track necklace.

Tatty Devine also where they were selling fab indietracks jewellery, including a bunting necklace, which of course we had to have!

Later on we joined Hey Ho Let's Sew to make felt and fabric corsages, really simple but effective designs and endless possibilities.

Here's Alison showing how to make a felt corsage, and Xtina modelling one she made.

It was lovely to meet the Craft Guerrilla's too. They run crafteroons in East London and had made a felt cassette brooch kit specially for the festival. I wish Walthamstow was a bit nearer to South London as their craft events look really good fun.

These scenes were typical of the weekend in the workshop wigwam. Everyone into whatever they were making and really enjoying it.

The craftiness was rounded off with a crochet and knitting that sprang out of the Buttons for Eyes portable workshop.

We also met Rachel from Kathleen and Lily, their shop is named after their nans! I loved their bingo earrings.

Even the indie popsters were getting in on the craft act, including this handmade CD cover stitched in felt from Little My.

We had such a lovely time, and I've not even told you about the steam trains, old buses, choo choo whistles, singing 'love is in the air' with a spainish popster, chatting with bar tenders about cheeky ales, riding steam trains, doing the indie dance with MJ Hibbett, dancing on the tracks, the happy express, tents with doors, sipping beers in old train carriages, guitars between the pews, falling asleep to boys singing 'we are the pipettes', and lots and lots of photos of vintage formica! Oh, and there was music too! More to come soon...

Winchester - part II

2009-07-22T09:28:00.016+01:00

Still playing catch up... here's what we got up to at Handmade Winchester. The Guildhall was a lovely grand venue and brimful of lots of wonderful crafty people.

I was looking forward to my new stall set up with the Fabric Nation bunting and a traditional postcard spinner for my postcard purses.

Alas the pop-up card display was not! I met someone at the Makey Do as well with one of the same dreadful contraptions and he had ended up making his own. Looking around the craft fair I was impressed by the ingenious homemade displays people had constructed. Raspberry, had homemade clamps that could display her bags and string decorations across her stall. Hatastic used a chandelier, and Ruby May London made a rack for their teacosies. Funky Mutts had a homemade display for their dog collars with clever use of towel rails!

I had lovely neighbours in The Soap Fairy and 23 Beech Hill, with These Charming Things and Sarah Dodd across the way - I loved the table cloth These Charming Things had embroidered for their stall with cups and plates.

There are too many lovely crafters to mention, so for now I'm just going to mention some of the other textile crafters who were there too. I finally got to see the famous Half an Acre sock bunnies and saw more lovely textiles from Non Such and Menina Feliz, Junky Chicken, Kate Talbot, Monda, Coco Crafts and Tomato Tea, who along with Hearts and Skulls is setting up the oOak Tree network for crafters in the South. Kate Talbot's work was very inspiring, she is a textile illustrator and her work included pages from a children's stories and wonderful textile illustrations of tarty chaps and robots to name but a few!

And finally, lino prints from Five-in-the-morning. I had been admiring these online, so it was lovely to see these full size, and he had brought some of the linos too, which look amazing. I couldn't choose between the vegetable print and the fish.

It was a good day, thanks everyone for your hard work! And all of you who stopped by for a chat. Knitted biscuits all round (courtesy of Kate Talbot)!

Nice start to the week...

2009-07-20T13:59:00.004+01:00

Just popped into Folksy for a quick peek ( I should be working!) and had a lovely surprise as they have a new seaside themed front page, and one of my postcard purses is featured! And in such nice company too. Smiles all day!

Bust London Summer Craftacular

2009-07-16T20:26:00.003+01:00

Yippee! Hot off the press is confirmation of our beach hut at the Bust London Summer Craftacular. Fabric Nation is teaming up with Printed Wonders and Made to Measure to bring you for one day only, the delights of The Seaside Sisters. On offer in our pop-up beach hut will be our postcard purses, bespoke alphabet bunting, vintage tea towel bags and many more seaside delights. And a chance to win more goodies with Guess the Number of Teabags in the Thermos! Find the Sarnie in the Sand! and The Lucky Lolly Picker! Pack your flip flops and swing your beach bag down to Bethnal Green on August 22nd!

Winchester

2009-07-15T10:17:00.005+01:00

Lots of catching up to do! So here's a belated write up of our Handmade Winchester weekend. We set off from Waterloo on Saturday for a day at the hat fair before Handmade. The hat fair is a collection of street performers, the hat refers to the hat passed round to collect money. We had a lovely afternoon, starting with lunch in the Cathedral cafe - a lovely spot with lots of outdoor space and a little orchard. We sipped beers on the cathedral green surrounded by performing artists and took a little trip around the amazing insect circus - we were astounded by the snail harness and gasped at the antics of ladybirds and butterflies.

We spied this house and wondered if this is where the insect performers live...

We slipped into the cathedral which is just beautiful, so vast and calm and full of sound from the organ. Deep in the crypt is an Anthony Gormley. I liked the rows of chairs with little shelves for books (this would be handy at home) and handmade cushions - each one different.

Winchester was buzzing - no recession here! I guess that may have something to do with the public school population. The place is full of amazing buildings and hidden courtyards, but feels a little unreal and privileged. Reading about the buildings, it's clear this place has a powerful relationship with church and state. And is also ideal for picking up charity shop treasure! I managed to pop into a few and picked up some ladybird books, including the 'What to look for in Summer' series and Swallows and Amazon stories. I love these illustrations.

Best of all were the water meadows. Towards the end of the afternoon we wandered out of the town, down a pretty lane into the water meadows. We walked along rivers, across bridges, through fields and deep into rushes to listen to birds and watch flurries of butterflies. Also attempted some nature spotting with our new ladybird books. Blissful.

On the way back to our b&b we stopped off for supper at the Wykeham Arms (bonkers link to 'ladies who lunch in hampshire'!!). Full of old school artifacts, including little school desks for tables. Not sure how we managed to pack that all in! And in need of a good nights sleep before Handmade. Sunday Handmade stories to follow...

Happy treasury

2009-07-12T14:37:00.003+01:00

Thanks Quercus for including me your happy treasurey! I love your spiral rings!

New shopping bags....

2009-07-08T16:30:00.004+01:00

Woof! Woof! Here comes Poppy the dog to give you a hand with your shopping. I've applied the vintage dog pattern I have been using to make some sturdy shopping bags.

I had fun adding secret buttons to them...

And added some cats too...

I still have a few dog bags left , so have listed them in my shop. More pics from Winchester and Handmade Winchester craft fair to follow.

Greetings...

2009-07-02T10:28:00.003+01:00

Planning my display for Handmade Winchester!

I had lots of fun making this bunting, especially cutting out the felt letters. I can see why designers like Lupin like using felt so much, it's very satisfying to work with, and there are so many lovely colours. I'm also finding I prefer hand sewing to sitting at my sewing machine so will be exploring more opportunities for this in my work.

I took these photos on the roof of the B&B I stayed the day before Winchester - the bedroom windows led onto a flat roof, but there wasn't a wall so it was a bit scary! I had to remember not to step back too far!

all in together girls...

2009-07-01T12:59:00.005+01:00

...never mind the weather girls... is a skipping song. And the reason why I have been a bit absent from here as I have been involved in a local oral history project and interviewing people who have lived all their lives in the area since the 1930s. Meeting and hearing the stories from such lovely people has been a great privilege, and a wonderful experience as the streets around me have come alive with layers of history and stories. Here's one for now, as I must get back to cutting, sewing and stitching for Handmade Winchester this weekend....

"Two of the mum’s would take down a washing line that went the whole length of their garden and one mum would stand on one side of the road and the other on the opposite side. And one would start and call ‘all in together girls, never mind the weather girls’ and the whole while the rope was tuning. We would all jump in. Until we were all in, seven or even ten girls."

(Photo by Kryn Taconis)

All in together girls

Never mind the weather girls

When I call your birthday, please jump in!

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December!

Do you remember any games from your childhood? What about French skipping with a loop of elastic? Or playing ball against a wall? Do you remember the chants that went with them?

Garlic for gloves and depressed carrots...

2009-06-22T12:18:00.011+01:00

We had so much fun on Saturday, and were once again, completely entranced by everyone's imagination and creativity.

We had over 40 entrants who carved, stuck, cut and squished vegetables and fruits into all manner of wondrous creations.

It was really hard to choose winners from all of these.

First prize, and winner of Hatastic's carrot top fascinator went to this beautiful jack-in-the green, patiently made from layers of spinach, courgette and broccoli and topped with broad bean tresses.

Second prize went to this broccoli monster, made by one of the youngest entrants. It looks a bit scary with the spikey tomato mouth and I think perhaps it's a manifestation of how lots of children feel about broccoli which is fast becoming the brussel sprout of 21st Century kids...

And third prize to the adorable Miss Pepper. It was hard to resist her jaunty hat and carrot peel bow, not to mention the ingenious use of broad bean eyelets embedded in the garlic head for her alluring eyes...

Runners up included this lovely elephant. Our first entry and a favorite with everyone who visited...

This family entry is a crocolator with very busy eyebrows.

and here is a sweet mousie...

a depressed carrot with sad eyes...

and this boxer relaxing in his melon armchair, but ready for action with his onion headband and garlic gloves.

Thanks again everyone for all your support. We raised £102 for epilepsy charities and all had a vegtastic time! More pics over on flickr.

Animal or vegetable...

2009-06-19T18:51:00.006+01:00

Vegetables donated by Abel and Cole arrive today... don't they look yummy! And I didn't even try the tasty looking cherries. All of these are destined to be carved, shaped, cut and molded into vegtabulous creations at tomorrows Furzedown Funday, raising money for epilepsy charities.

The response of Folksy sellers to my request for donations of prizes for our animal vegetable competition has been overwhelming. I have been touched by the thoughtfulness, kindness, generosity and creativity of fellow Folksters.

And just look at these amazing prizes... We have one of Lapwing Printworks lino prints along with a hand printed notebook and letterpress and lino printed seed envelopes.

Handmade creatures from oddsox and treaclezoo.

Artwork from Fatema and Natnat...

One of Glassprimitif's glass fish, a Silky Prudence jug cover and a ZennithZark Knitted bag.

And sparkles galore from from Gladwyn, AkomaDesigns and Christals.

Thanks to everyone for your donations, including Hatastic who is featured in the previous post.

It will not rain tomorrow!

Vegtastic!

2009-06-18T16:22:00.006+01:00

Here's a peek at one of the prizes on offer at our Animal Vegetable competition...

...a vegtabulous fascinator donated very kindly from the talented Hatastic. Pics of more lovely prizes to follow... In the meantime, preparations underway... just spoke to Abel and Cole who are packing some boxes of veggies for me, uncrumpling the bunting, dusting down the gazebo, making some prize winner rosettes, and a special dog to add to the prizes.

Go handmade issue 1

2009-06-15T07:55:00.003+01:00

Lovely Seethewoods has just published the first issue of Go Handmade, featuring a whole stack of Folksy sellers. There is a sock gonk make from theothermousie, themed reviews of Folksy shops, including weddings and summertime, interviews and yummy lemony cake recipes.

It must have taken ages, and is beautifully set out. She's even included my postcard purses, over on page 27! Thank you! Happy reading, and have a good week.

Richard of York gave battle in vain

2009-06-11T16:41:00.008+01:00

Fiona from Jewellery My Design has been creating showcases for Folksy sellers using all the colours of the rainbow. She very kindly included my dogs in Blue and Green! Pop over to Fiona's blog to see all the colours of the rainbow and to find out more about the people featured. Can you spot my doggies? Thanks Fiona.
And thanks to Aleximo for including me in Folksy Beach finds!

I've been tagged!

2009-06-09T14:44:00.010+01:00

I've been tagged! By the lovely glue and glitter...

Here are the rules: 1. respond and rework; answer the questions on your blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your invention (guess which one!), add one more question of your own (don't feel obliged as it's quite long already!)
2. tag eight other people

And here are some answers...

What is your current obsession? As always, vintage fabric. I can't resist. Even though I have never found any at my current local charity shop, I still have to look every time I go past, just in case... And in response to the BNP wins at the Euro elections, hassling our media to not give a platform to racists.

What is your weirdest obsession? Animal vegetables! Currently planning a competition with these at our local festival. And for years, I have been compiling photos of locks in public loos! It's a long story, but has an idea behind it.

Coffee or tea? Cups of tea. Earl grey (no milk) in a Berylware cup in a cafe with a Formica table. And in cafes that bring out a tea cup, sugar, milk, hot water, tea strainer, a tea pot and tea spoon, until the table is covered, all for one cup of tea. Any excuse for a cup and saucer.

What’s for dinner? Something warm as it's cold outside now. We have lots of potatoes from the organic box and lots of cabbage too. So may be bubble and squeak. Any suggestions for potato-cabbage combos are most welcome. Washing up first though!

What have you just made? I've just made some appointments with some lovely women to do some local oral history interviews. I can't wait to hear about the haberdashery shop that used to be in our now much depleted shopping parade.

What are you listening to right now? 'My wife's nightie' by Lord Kitchener. I'm a fan of the linked up randomness of lastfm and have Lord Kitchener tagged for this afternoons playlist. The words can be dreadful! But make me laugh. And I like the tunes. My fave is 'London is the place for me'.

What is your favorite ice cream flavor? Hockings vanilla ice cream from the van on Instow beach.

What do you think of the person(s) who tagged you? Glue&Glitter's work is great. I have bought some of her bird in a cage buttons. A very talented and creative illustrator and designer.

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go? I'd go back in time and have a lovely long chat with my brother.

Which language do you want to learn? Japanese. Written and spoken.

What’s your favorite quote (for now)? "There is more than one way to burn a book" Ray Bradbury (I was thinking about Gov Schwarzenegger's plans to replace books with the internet in state schools).

What is your favorite colour? Blue. Sunny sky blue.

What is your favorite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe? My collection of 1950s dresses foraged from going to jumble sales every weekend for the whole of the 1980s! A long term project is to make some postcard prints about these.

What is your dream job? I have my dream job, a mix of research, interviewing and making things.

What is your worst habit? Internet!!!

If you had £100 now, what would you spend it on? If I was given £100 out of the blue, I would spend it on lovely things made by the Folksy sellers for up coming birthday presents.

Do you admire any one’s style? Not really. I like my friends' dress sense but admire them more for how they think, which affects their 'style' I guess. I still think printed cotton dresses and DMs (for winter) or deck shoes (summer) look fab. I love seeing how people have taken 80's style and mixed it up for themselves, but really like the fashion sense of Tweed CC and if I had some spare pennies I would buy an outfit from Old Town.

Describe your personal style? Make do and mend! I like to dress up in a nice frock and matching neck scarf.

What are you going to do after this? I have some interviews to listen to. And make some vegetable badges for everyone taking part in our animal vegetable competition. And then finish off some more seaside purses. And later tonight, go on slug patrol! Hmm, but maybe a cup of tea first.

What are your favourite films? Miracle in Milan by Vittorio De Sica (1951). B&W matinees on a rainy afternoon and film noir movies late at night.

What is your favorite fruit? Apricots freshly picked still warm from the sun.

What inspires you? People who act on their beliefs. Today I was cheered up by the successful efforts to stop Nick Griffin from holding a press conference, even if some of them were a bit naughty. And handmade wonders scattered across the pages of blogs, Folksy and Etsy. So many creative, thoughtful people. And so generous too. I have been overwhelmed by responses to my request for prizes for our fundraising animal vegetable competition. Although I work in fabric, I love prints, especially etchings and can look at them for hours. The last art I saw was Martin Grover's mentioned on Wee birdy the other week and I fell for his work at once. I love it, especially "Al Green outside CarpetRight singing 'Strong as death,sweet as love'", I found it very poingnant. I enjoy seeing what these people are doing too.

Your favorite book? Tricky... I don't have a book I keep re-reading and have enjoyed many so it is hard to pick one. I like big books about printmakers and othe artists, old penguin paperbacks and illustrated children's books from the 50s, 60s and 70s. I use my vintage knitting and crochet directory a lot. My favorite book is one I can fit in my pocket and take out to read whenever I want. I'm enjoying Patrick Gale at the moment.

Do you collect something? If only it was just 'something' and not many, many things. Fabric is piled high in my work room, tea cups in the kitchen, board games in the spare room, prints on the walls, books by my bed, toys on the shelves, records on the turntable, ideas on my mind, ephemera in my pockets...

What is your favorite smell? A sunny day by the sea.

What are you most proud of? Our wedding last year.

How many times do you press the snooze button before you get up? Ha! No snooze with cats sitting on my head purring for their breakfast.

Cats or dogs? Three cats.That chase dogs away. Oh my word, I have just looked over to one of the cats keeping me company and I'm sure he is nodding his head to Nora Dean!

What’s your biggest fashion mistake? Oh gosh, where to start. What shall I confess to you! Hmm. How about the black boiler suits three of us wore to a concert. I'm not even going to tell you who we saw! It was a long time ago. A very long time.

Complete the following: Love is… more than yesterday less than tomorrow.

What would you like to make next? Apart from a cup of tea, I want to make some collages from the fabric scraps too small for seaside purses. And I have lots to make for Handmade Winchester and the Makey Do.

And I've tagged a selection of people who follow my blog or have left comments... Vintagegirl, theothermousie, angeltreats, seethewoods, bobobun , Linden, Beadypool, and nickynackynoo. Please don't feel obliged as I know you are all busy. I enjoyed doing this but have lots of catching up now!

Not in my name

2009-06-08T11:52:00.004+01:00

HOPE not hate
Celebrating modern Britain

Contact R4 Today programme to protest against airtime for racists http://bit.ly/3iL6zE and demonstrations TODAY: Liverpool 5.30pm Town Hall; Manchester 5.30pm Piccadilly Gardens; Sheffield 5pm Town Hall; Preston 6pm Flag Market.

Plastic Bat give away - ends today!!

2009-06-08T11:34:00.002+01:00

Plastic Bat is having a give away - this fabulous Camera Necklace! It reminds me of my Diana camera, which I'm pictured with here...

Handmade Winchester

2009-06-07T23:19:00.008+01:00

Thanks lovely people at Handmade Winchester for including me in the Etsy Treasury!

Only four weeks to go!

Normal service will be resumed soon

2009-06-05T13:18:00.003+01:00

I seem to have deleted all my photos when I removed that folder cluttering up my new Picasa album! Gradually adding them all back in! Not sure how Picasa manged to take control of my blog pics! Could do with this instead...

Don't forget to vote

2009-06-04T19:03:00.006+01:00

Our polling station is in a local church. It's a building I never go into apart from voting, but is lovely inside and has a very nice village hall feel to it.

I was shocked to see BNP top of the ballot paper, and they have so many candidates. Here's hoping enough people turn out today to keep the BNP out of Europe.

I wanted to take pictures inside, but I'm sure that probably isn't allowed. I wonder where all the special stubby voting pencils are stored from year to year.

Seaside purses

2009-06-04T17:08:00.006+01:00

Just listed some new seaside purses in my shop. I love the way this fabric is printed.

I've also added some scottish themes purses, with tarten mohair on the back and a little scotty dog!

Clutter City

2009-06-04T13:11:00.005+01:00

Cassette purses, cats and kittens, cameo brooches, cute birdies galore, ceramics, costume jewellery and cosy clad teapots at Clutter City! I loved the cassette purses by Bagpussbags.

I had a lovely day after a stopover with friends in Essex and a pretty train ride to Norwich, were even the stations have bars overlooking the fields. I was lucky to have wonderful neighbours, so could chat about fabric and knitting in between sales. On one side was Sasha. I loved her textile work, especially the cat cushions and wished she had a shop (but I have an email if you want to get in touch). And on the other side was Becky, minding the Ericka Eckles stall for her sister, with a tree full of sweet felted birdies. Thanks both of you for a lovely day!

There was some lovely work on show, including Lady Luck, Cherry Cherry, Miss Blue Eyes, Daisie Bee, Susan Holmes, Super Duper, Anna Wadham, Miss Magpie, Pinkworks and Morely Mouse and many more that were all fabulous. And then into the lovely sunny day for tea and cake (raspberry and pear, yum!) with an old friend before hopping back on the train for London.

More pics here. The next one is July 11th and looks well worth a visit.

Distracted

2009-06-04T12:54:00.003+01:00

How can I work when this is going on!

Craftwerk! Summer special

2009-06-03T15:41:00.002+01:00

I'll be there too. I really enjoyed the last one and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's summer goodies. Check it out here.

Lettuce for eyelashes

2009-05-28T12:12:00.010+01:00

We are running an animal vegetable competition at our local community fun day on June 20th to raise money for epilepsy charities (National Society for Epilepsy and Epilepsy Bereaved). We normally rotate a mix of traditional fete games, but following the amazing success of the animal vegetable competition we held at our wedding (yes, a wedding with a twist!) we have decided to hold an Animal Vegetable Competition at this year's Fun Day. Everyone really enjoyed this and the ideas and creativity just blew us away! The fun day is part of an annual arts and community festival, two weeks of events all organised by volunteers living in Furzedown. If you are passing through South West London, do drop in!

Button Willow Bazaar

2009-05-26T21:49:00.008+01:00

Get away from it all at whitsuntide

2009-05-26T10:47:00.013+01:00

Hope you all had a lovely bank holiday and lots of outings this Whitsuntide. We went to the London Transport Museum. These posters are from their wonderful poster collection.

The museum is one of my favourites. I love old transport, and here you can climb aboard and take little trips to the past.

We also played London Transport bingo! And marvelled at the very nice cushions in the shop made from unused old seat material.

But best of all, I love the celebration of design. The design of the interiors, the fonts, maps, signage, even the LT Canteen biscuit cutter that stamped 'LTB shortie' onto the staff biscuits. We guessed that LTB stood for London Transport Biscuits! All made with such style and joy of good design. The poster collection is just beautiful. These are all from the Whitsun series, but I also spotted adverts for 'Blackberry Sunday' and 'Chestnut Sunday'.

I love the idea of weekends dedicated to seasonal events like picking blackberries. There was even a travel guide to the best blackberry sites! I suspected these were LT travel gimmicks, but to my surprise discovered there is Chestnut Sunday every year in Bushy Park to celebrate the blossom in May! I quite fancy the idea of sloe gin Monday, a day off in the countryside picking sloes! What would be your seasonal celebration Sunday outing?

More ice cream

2009-05-26T10:05:00.008+01:00

Must be something to do with the bank holiday, but here's more ice cream art from the lovely people at Solitaire (did you spot the giant cone in Xtina's print?). This image is available as a tea towel, t-shirt and a postcard. I like the wasp.

P.S. Just seen another one over at British Cream Tea .

P.P.S. And Aleximo has just found some more on Folksy.

Do you have some favorite ice cream art?

Sneek peek

2009-05-23T12:20:00.005+01:00

Hopefully the recipient of this will have received it by now, so here's a little peek at what I made for the UK Handmade Secret Swap.

And first attempt with the new labels!

Gocco galore!

2009-05-21T00:33:00.002+01:00

I've been meaning to write about Xtina Lamb's work for a while, and what better excuse than to celebrate her new Etsy shop. An artist and illustrator, Xtina has been producing beautiful print gocco work for a few years and took part in Mark Pawson's Print More Postcards Gocco project.

She uses her Gocco machines to produce cards, prints and artists books, and she can regularly be found at Artist's Book and Small Press fairs as well as this years craft events. Her inspiration includes seaside towns and the beauty of the coast, such as this beach inspired book 'Swept away', which has also influenced her larger pieces.

These influences can also be found in her photography, which was included in Glimpse Margate. We were very lucky to have a specially made picture from Xtina using gingham from our wedding and seaweed from the beach near where we married.

Her work also draws on a love of quirky 50s design and everyday ephemera and urban life celebrated in her many postcard prints and artisits books, such as 'The world belongs to Jane and me'. A page from this is at the beginning of this post and this work is available to buy from her website. Her latest venture, over at Etsy, is Printed Wonders. She has produced a range of alphabet bunting in candy colours available in a choice of interchangeable printed letters or numbers in a fancy vintage typeface and a range of symbols. Perfect for weddings, birthdays or any celebration or to customise a room. Good luck Xtina!

Cones

2009-05-20T12:35:00.014+01:00

I've recently developed a fondness for cones. Ice cream cones. The plastic ones used to advertise, well ice creams.

I've started taking pictures of them and I'm wondering why I haven't done this already. I've also discovered I am not alone! They have to be a particular type to grab my attention - no cornetto impostors here! Generally these ice cream signs have a 99 or Mr Whippy look to them and seem to be in varying states of disrepair.

They are mostly found in seaside towns outside piers and shops. Although I have yet to search for their urban counterparts, I suspect inland ice cream signs are mostly in the form of the evil cornetto (a parody of an ice cream that lacks the irony of a Mr Whippy and with packaging that misses the point of the cone).

I must admit, I'm not that keen on Mr Whippys, having been spoilt by the yummy Hockings.

But I'm a fan of the signs. I like the simplicity of their design as well as the naive silliness of using giant versions of food as advertising. I guess they resonate with my nostalgic love of anything from my childhood that looks as if it has a diminishing future. These signs I'm sure will gradually be replaced by over-coloured cornettos (you may have guesed I really don't like these!).

But most of all I think it's the incongruity with their surroundings, run down seaside towns, rainy holidays and cold grey days on the coast. And whatever the weather, a seaside ice cream is always something special. Especially a giant plastic one.

on the Naze

2009-05-20T11:13:00.006+01:00

We had a weekend in Essex with friends and were introduced to the unexpected delights of the Naze Tower. Overlooking the Naze peninsular, the Tower combines tea shop, art gallery and viewing platform. I liked this glass by Daphne Sandham, made with beachcombed pieces, and the cow prints in the tea shop.

It was very windy at the top, but lovely views out to sea and towards Harwich.

We walked along the coast into Walton-on-the-Naze and were treated to all the icons of gentile british seaside, including beach huts, seashell walls, out of place architecture and municipal shelters...

and hints at Walton's possible revolutionary past with the ruins of modernist villas and the socialist realism cinema... We wanted to rescue the house from the creeping uPVC.

We were rewarded on Walton pier with fairy cakes and a game of bowls. The pier is dominated by an uninviting shed that covers much of the structure, but once inside I grew to like it. Mainly I think from the sight of some real fairy cakes for a change, not this cupcake nonsense!

The bowling alley is at the end of the 'shed' complex, through a desolate arcade and fair. It's a fab location, with a view of the waves as you bowl and lanes named after planets. I really like the design of the chairs. They are common in lots of bowling complexes. I also liked Super Sonic! Like most arcade games, they are nothing like their names, but have big dreams and what's wrong with that.

Labels

2009-05-18T12:07:00.012+01:00

Exciting parcels in the post today as I have just got my Fabric Nation labels. I'm really pleased with them. Up until now I had been using woven school labels, which I really like, but wanted something with my logo on. I used Tanners Woven Labels who were very helpful and sent a 'proof' version before they made them up. I had trouble deciding on the colour as I use so many different colour fabrics. In the end I decided on orange as I love the way it blends with browns and yellows, but really brings out blues and greens too. And as for orange and pink... I love it! They are designed so I can sew them into the seams or hand stitch around the edges. The logo design is based on 1950's hotel and motel signs, like this one, which we went past tons of times on holiday a few years back, but never managed to get a photo of.

Look carefully...

2009-05-15T19:45:00.019+01:00

...these little gems are hidden

and come in many shapes and sizes

and beautiful colours

worn smooth by the sea.

I amazed myself finding all these from just two beaches during our week away. I love the sea blue gems that are washed up on the beach. But feel sad as I search for these drops of sky when I find broken bottles on our beaches. It's such a shame that our beaches can be so easily destroyed, but we are lucky, that some of this rubbish turns to these little jewels. Shame we can't be as lucky with all our pollution. I love the feel of sea glass, the act of searching and not seeing and then discovering, their beautiful worn edges, and how the best colours are the hardest to find. Can you guess where I was looking...

I have plans for these, along with my collection from glass beach in California. I need to practice drilling little holes so I can string a few on a silver chain. Searching for pictures of glass, I also came across the work of these talented jewellers who combine silver and glass and a little inspiration from the sea. Here are just a few, working with glass washed up on beaches all of the world, that could have come from anywhere. At Folksy, the UK based Beach Shack Project.

and blueboxstudio.

Over in Canada, I love how Seaglassdesigns combines the glass with silver seaweed strands or creates little sea creatures...

...and the use of pottery fragments worn by the sea, but this is a favourite.

And from Puerto Rico, Oceano Seaglass makes these pendants and lovely silver spirals.

and in the US, Artwithannie makes rings with her seaglass.

I can almost hear the sea.

Postcard swap

2009-05-15T17:10:00.009+01:00

Lovely Magic Alice has been organising a postcard swap over at Folksy. I was very lucky to be paired up with the multi-talented KittyNoir who sent me this beautiful card made using paper quilling, and one of her lovely bracelets. Thank you!

I sent this one of Brixton to Beckycheeks. It's up the road from me and the idea of 'Greetings from Brixton' made me laugh! I think it's the contrast between the hustle and grime of Brixton and 'Greetings from...' postcards that portray idyllic holiday scenes. Also nice to see what was there before KFC. I quite like the idea of urban greetings cards though. I'd like to make one that celebrates the Brixton I like: the markets, Ritzy cinema, people everywhere, open access print making studios! I like the idea of alternative seaside cards too, in particular the work of Ilike who sells her postcards on folksy.

Tweet treat

2009-05-12T13:54:00.005+01:00

I arrived home from holiday to discover a lovely secret swap from Foundlings Jewellery. It's part of the UK Handmade Secret Swaps. Lucky me! I have to get on and make mine for my secret partner now! And lots of posts to catch up with over the week. It's nice to be back.

Lovely poster for Clutter City!

2009-05-02T09:27:00.002+01:00

out and about in May

2009-04-23T10:59:00.010+01:00

Fabric Nation is joining Hilary Tranter at her Dulwich Festival Artists Open House this year on 9th and 10th May from 11am to 6pm. Come along for some fabulous art and craft, yummy cake and fine company! It would be lovely to meet you. As well as Hilary’s lovely printmaking, there will Caroline d'Auria's jewellery, Chocolate Creative’s screen printed cushions

And I'll be there with my latest Fabric Nation homewares and accessories made from vintage fabrics. The full brochure with maps and addresses can be downloaded from the Dulwich Festival website, we are number 73 on the map, so why not make a day of it and take a tour of the Dulwich Art Festival.

And at the end of May I will be taking a trip to Norwich for the Spring Clutter City, 30th May, 10am to 4pm, Norwich Arts Centre. Lady Luck will also be stepping out to join the fun, so it will be a fab day! I'm looking forward to meeting lots of Norfolk based artists and designers.