From the Cotswolds to Manhattan

What a weekend!   We watched The Wedding, of course, and loved every minute. That Kate is going to be a real asset to the Royal Family.     My feelings about some of the guests are perfectly summed-up by Hannah Betts' hilariously scathing article in the Telegraph - http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/Article/TMG8484892/121/Royal-wedding-the-best-of-styles-the-worst-of-styles.html.

But the highlight of the weekend for me was, of course, the chance to meet Lesley and Cathy, who were in Stroud for the International Textiles Fair and taking part in a workshop.   Richard and I drove through the beautiful sun-drenched Cotswold countryside to join them for a cuppa.  We stopped on the way at Painswick, the quintessential Cotswold village, golden stone, delectable architecture and fascinating history.   We had lunch in the courtyard of a tiny pub - Richard had a pint of Fairy Liquid this award-winning local beer -

apparently the hop leaves are left in to add colour.

Lesley suggested that we call in at the Gloucester Guild of Craftsmen Gallery while we were there and we found a room full of wonderful things.   Silver jewellery, ceramics, woven textiles, prints and the most exquisite felted items.  Purchases, needless to say, were made.

beautiful block-printed textile sketchbook by Sophia Blackwell

 

Meeting Cathy and Lesley for tea was a real tonic - although they had already been laughing together all day in their workshop, they certainly had some giggling left in them to share with us.  Lesley's inspired conspiracy to help me persuade Richard that I should use an electric sander for my felting was so subtly introduced that even I didn't twig what was going on for a minute!   And, if you are a dachshund owner, please contact me for a reference before asking Cathy to dog-sit....

Postman's Knock, round 3, brought me this magnificent 3-D pop-up card from Jane - full of my favourite Manhattan icons, even some bagels and a ticket for a Broadway show!  

I made a 'Windows' card for Jill to add to her collection.

My next card was due to be from Lesley, who decided to give it to me on Saturday when we met.   She had sensibly taped it securely into a box, so that I couldn't poke it and prod it to get any clues, and suggested, quite forcibly, that I shouldn't open it until the appointed date, a fortnight hence.   All I can say is, I've lasted this far ....

OK then, off to the physiotherapist for more pummelling for my poor old back!

Chrissie x

A Lady for today only

this card available at eighteen9 on Etsy

A friend on Facebook is encouraging us to make up a Royal Wedding name for the big occasion. 

Start with Lady (or Lord)

Pick the name of a grandparent for your first name

Use the name of your first pet for your surname

and 'of' should be a street where you lived

So, for today, I'm Lady Jessie Petrie Pooch of Trenchard

(curtseying deeply)

and he's Lord Alfred Tigger of Beverley

(bowing from the waist)

What's your Royal Wedding name?

busy, busy, busy

There must have been a lot happening in my life that kept me away from blogging here ....   Let me think what's been happening  ..... hmmmm

Well, there was the craft fair, a proper one, in a big building with three floors of stalls. We had lots of 'grazers' but it took a while before we sold very much, though I did have several good customers and took a commission for a big necklace to send to a lovely lady.  

Other stallholders were saying that custom was a bit slow, so we wondered if it was because there were too many of us, but who knows.  A wonderful ceramicist that I have come to know online but never had the chance to meet also had a stall that day - Karen from hodgepodgearts.   I've bought a few things from her over the years and I was so tempted to sweep up all her beautifully-displayed wares.   I managed to keep my purchases to some glazed ceramic beads, a cute button and a sweet little brooch.   You have no idea how much willpower that took.  

There was also a caff on site, with wodges of chocolate cake served by a young boy whose fingers were really clean - I know that because I saw him licking them. 

 

Then there was the concert that we organised as a fund-raiser in our Church Room.  

This is a 19th century building, opened by the Duchess of Bedford, and used as a resource not only for the church, but for the village as a whole.   Since the only village shop closed (after an armed raid), we have had a little community shop housed in the Church Room and run by volunteers.   Mostly the goods for sale are in a walk-in cupboard and the sales counter is an old school desk flanked by a wicker basket full of local eggs and a trolley groaning with penny sweeties.   The Church Room is a wonderful place to go and dunk your digestives and catch up on the gossip.  

In preparation for our concert we had to move all the shop stock from the main room into the cupboard, so that the performers could use the stage area (about the size of your average dining room table!).   And as the idea was to have the audience seated cabaret-style we had to put out all the tables and chairs early on in the day while the shop was open for business.   Michael, the duty volunteer shop assistant, kindly worked around us.   Sort of.   He's a bit of an ivory tinkler himself, with an eclectic taste in music.    While the committee got on with the furniture moving, Michael set up his iPod and selected some suitable musical accompaniment - Stephane Grapelli, Chopin then Bryan Ferry singing Cole Porter.   And just when I thought we might have more or less got the job done, a lovely man who lives further up the lane wandered in with a bottle of last year's home-made raspberry gin and his pockets so full of shot glasses that I feared his trousers might fall down. The gin, and Bryan* crooning in the background, all rather put paid to my Head Girl attempts to keep everyone focussed on the task.  

**

I rented the premises myself last weekend.   A small group of local ladies wanted to learn how to make felt, so I offered to do a workshop for them.   I started everyone off learning how to wet-felt a bobble and a 'sausage', so that they could see how hot and soapy the water needed to be, how to handle the wool fibres, and how much pressure to exert at various stages of the felting and fulling process.   Being a bright lot, they soon got the hang of it and wanted to get on with their own projects, which we had discussed earlier in the week.   These included wrist warmers, a collection of bobbles with embellishments for a bangle, several pieces of flat felt which would be cut up to become a brooch and a small hanging with an imaginative representation of rock strata.   It was wonderful, so inspiring and rewarding for me, and everyone having a very jolly time indeed.   Stupidly I forgot to take any photos, but one thing I did remember was to make sure the door was locked so that friendly gentlemen with jingly pockets and bottles of rosy pink nectar couldn't come a-calling.

Talking of workshops, Louise of Hope & Elvis produced a great little video of our Julie Arkell one.   I'm about 1 min 33 secs in, saying goodbye to Julie, me carrying a cardboard box and dressed head-to-toe in, well, brown - Julie looking gorgeous in a very gay collection of vintage garments.   

And for those of you who seemed excited at the prospect of being able to take part in such a thing, Julie is making a return visit to Hope & Elvis in 2012 - get your names down now!

a big Suffolk Puff bangle with workmen's buttons from my vast collection

Postman's Knock is going strong and we did our second swap last weekend.   Gina sent me the most painstakingly stitched image of the Empire State Building wreathed in clouds.   The intriguing pull-tag revealed ..... King Kong!   Isn't it clever - I know it must have taken all Gina's ingenuity to work out how to do it.

I made Angel Bright to send to my latest swap partner.   She does look a bit barmy for some reason.  The angel, not my swap partner.

Best wishes,

                                                           Chrissie

"Taxi!"

You may have read in a previous post that 12 friendly bloggers have pooled their various talents to take part in a fortnightly postcard swap, each having chosen a different theme for us all to illustrate as we wish.   My theme is NEW YORK NEW YORK!, which it was Cathy's turn to illustrate. 

We all posted our cards on Friday 1st April and most of the excited participants received them on Saturday.   But, as I live in the Outer Hebrides north Bedfordshire, I always have to wait a day longer than everyone else and not only that, but rarely get a delivery before 11.00 a.m.   So Cathy was drumming her fingers and drinking cups of coffee this morning, anxiously waiting to hear whether I'd received her creation.

Well, it was certainly worth the wait!   I absolutely love her interpretation of the theme and the yellow cab is sooo realistic, I could just jump in and whizz off into the bright lights of Manhattan right now!    And that cheeky and clever old Cathy has included a hilarious extra - try this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgMEPk6fvpg.

If you click on the Postman's Knock link on the right, you can see all the fab cards that have been changing hands for our first swap.   They're all wonderful and I'm so glad I'm taking part, it's such fun!

                Chrissie

Julie Arkell workshop

Until quite recently I thought a Suffolk Puff would probably be served up as part of an East Anglian cream tea.   It took a day with Julie Arkell to put me straight.   Now I'm completely Puffed out.

I was very fortunate to discover that she was taking a workshop at the wonderful Hope & Elvis in Nottinghamshire and got my name and my sister's down early to secure a place.    I can't tell you how excited I was.   Nearly as excited as lovely Louise Presley who arrived to open up the studio on Sunday morning and suddenly realised that she had forgotten to bring something.   Something really important.   Something that would spoil the day if it wasn't fetched at once.   Something called Julie Arkell.   Fortunately Julie was quickly gathered up and the day could start (once we'd all had coffee and cake).  

Julie told us about the quilt made of Puffs that had been displayed at the Quilt Exhibition at the V&A, each puff having a little central tuft of felt or thread, and how this had inspired her to make some brooches and bracelets using a similar technique.  

She did a little demo and then we were invited to raid Louise's suitcases full of fabrics to start making our own.   Most people plumped for making a bracelet and got their heads down to make the 8 or 9 puffs required.   I was a bit slow off the mark chosing some fabric because I was lost in a magnificent reverie just absorbing all the heavenly surroundings.  

Leather suitcases full of fabrics, tins of buttons of every size and hue, secret drawers hiding reel upon reel of thread, poppers, lace, pins and needles all stabbed into delightful pincushions.     Little shelves held old toys and photographs and loveables of all sorts.   And there was space, acres of it, to spread out and cut up fabric with big sharp proper tailor's scissors that went scrunch-crunch through the material.  

As a result of this dreamy admiration, (and a lot of nattering and conspicuous cake consumption), I didn't actually get my bracelet finished before it was time to go home.   So I finished it this morning.  

The one below is the one my sister Rosie made while I ran and fetched her poppers, fabric to be auditioned, and suitable threads (and cake).

I think it has a Japanese flavour, don't you?

Julie also showed us how to make the puffs into bunches of flowers to turn into a brooch

and her wonderful charm bracelets and watches were also on display to inspire us 

and so was Stanley

If you ever are tempted to take part in a workshop and live within striking distance of Nottinghamshire, then don't hesitate to jump at the chance to go to Hope & Elvis.   I thought we had driven a fair distance, 2 hours up the M1, and then I discovered that someone had come down from Dumfries for the day.   I know she won't have regretted it.

Did I mention the cake...?

Stanley went home with Rosie ....

Hope you're having a good week!

Chrissie

Gert & Daisy*

May I introduce two new members of the clan? 

Gert

Daisy

These two lovely ladies joined us last week.   We saw them advertised online by a farmer who was giving up the free-range egg business after 25 years because the supermarkets don't pay him enough to cover the cost of his feed bills.   Sad.   Fortunately he has managed to sell nearly three thousand of the flock, with another two thousand still to go before the end of March.

So we drove over to Silverstone, just beside the Grand Prix circuit, and joined a queue of people waiting to load their hens into some pretty fancy modes of transport.   Nothing less than a new Range Rover in most cases .... or at a pinch a BMW towing a horsebox.  Reminded me of a comment in a recent Country Living article about keeping hens now being a 'lifestyle choice'!

When our turn came I was feeling slighty anxious that the hens might take one look at us, under-dressed as we were without the Hunter wellies and Puffa jacket, (not to mention a vehicle that is more than three years old), and refuse to get in our cardboard box with airholes in it, preferring to wait for a better offer.  So when we were asked if we would like to come into the field and catch our own chickens, I said we'd be fine with two picked for us.  My husband stipulated that he would like pretty ones.   I'm not sure what the farmer's daughter made of this, but she did bring us these two sweet ladies who obviously passed muster in the glamour stakes!  

*Gert and Daisy

                                                                  

Settling them in has been a slightly troublesome business.   Madge and Fanny are not impressed at having their quarters invaded by two young glamour-pusses and have been making it clear what the pecking order is.   I hate all that, really hate it, so we've done our best to get them used to each other without subjecting the new girls to too much violence.   Bedtime on the first night took an hour and a half to negotiate, but we're now down to ten minutes, thank goodness.   The newbies are laying lovely eggs and having a whale of a time scratching up my veggie patch, so they seem happy enough, but all the growling from the other two doesn't seem to be completely subsiding quite yet.   I understand that it can take a couple of weeks (or more) for things to settle down - I hope Gertie's still got some tail feathers left by then.  

Anne persuaded me that what they needed was some toys to distract them, so we had a trip to the thrift shop to see what we could find.    I had to put my foot down about Anne's choice of a push-along plastic crab with nasty snapping claws.  She made it quite clear to me that, No, a jigsaw puzzle wasn't suitable.....  even though it was a farmyard one.    That's why we ended up with a tortoise with a revolving ball in place of a shell and a string of plastic people that rattle if you shake them about a bit.   I'll report back next time on whether these delights have been a success.   I think you can draw you own conclusions.

Instead of watching hens, my main activity at the moment ought to be making some things to sell at a craft and vintage fair I was contacted about a couple of weeks ago.   As it's not too far away from home and looks like it's well-advertised, friend Charlotte and I are taking the plunge and sharing a table.  I've made myself a display board - wonderful what you can do with a bit of Amazon cardboard box, a staple gun and some wadding - so that the brooches I've been making can be properly on show. (see my comment below for design credit)

I've also felted a few bangles, but need to get on and make some more.   I used some silk fibres and nepps that Lesley was clearing out from her stash.   That girl never ceases to amaze me with what she's got tucked away in corners!

And here's a cute button card that I treated myself to from Etsy

 and thrifted glass buttons with a sweet mother-of-pearl brooch that was amongst them

pretty pink

and we all know that the answer to this question is 'Sugar and Spice and all things Nice'

don't we?

Hope you have a good weekend

Chrissie

Postman's Knock

We're at it again! This time with a much expanded group of unwitting participants. I'm not sure they know what they've let themselves in for and, seeing Postman's Knock, the new blog that Cathy has kindly set up for us, neither am I! You may recall that Lesley, Cathy and I had a tag swap last year and really wanted to do something similar this year and invited anyone else who might be interested to join in the fun. So this time we're going to swap postcards, each chosing a theme that the others will use to make us a card to be sent each fortnight. There are 12 of us about to embark on this exciting creative journey, and I for one can't wait!   First postcard will be sent on April Fools Day - I'm taking that as an omen.