Monday 22 June 2009

Garlic for gloves and depressed carrots...


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.

Friday 19 June 2009

Animal or vegetable...

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!

Thursday 18 June 2009

Vegtastic!

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.

Monday 15 June 2009

Go handmade issue 1

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.

Thursday 11 June 2009

Richard of York gave battle in vain

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!

Tuesday 9 June 2009

I've been tagged!

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!

Monday 8 June 2009

Not in my name

HOPE not hate: Celebrating modern Britain
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!!

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

Sunday 7 June 2009

Handmade Winchester

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


Only four weeks to go!

Friday 5 June 2009

Normal service will be resumed soon

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...

Thursday 4 June 2009

Don't forget to vote

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

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!