Friday 30 March 2012

Interim Post

                                                         view from the back door


A very quick post to say that Sue is unable to continue with the venture  (adventure?) at the moment, so I will be stitching and blogging solo for a while. This is where it gets very interesting for me, as Sue has been the brains and skill behind it all; expect the odd faux pas!

However, I am still working away towards the craft fair in May, and am getting to grips with the camera and the blogging process. Expect a new post very soon!

Textile Jaunts


This post's header photograph was taken by Sue whilst on a visit to Wells on a beautiful day, what a contrast to the previous post!  Who can seriously doubt we are in the midst of climate change, the weather is all over the place.

This was amply born out the day we decided to set out for our first Textile Jaunt; the skies were grey, it was cold and miserable, but we didn't let that deter us.  Sue and I popped up the road to Nottingham to visit this major emporium:



Just as we arrived the heavens openedHey - ho, we didn't have to worry as we were going to be indoors for a good spell.  We have a similar attraction to all things storage, so spent some time looking at shelving, box files and the like.  Spotted some great table ideas for the craft fairs - good job Sue's car is like a black hole when the back seats are down!

We were very circumspect at the household/kitchen department, and only picked up a couple of items each, then we headed for stitchery mecca: the Textile Department!

Well, what a let down!  IKEA appear to have cut back sharply on their textile lines; we'd been certain we'd be able to pick up a good selection of stripes and ginghams but they had none.  Oh, well we found this:



and this:



but no gingham at all.

However, we found some very reasonably priced calico, and bought yardage of the following:



So, all in all, we did pick up a few bargains, but not as many as we'd hoped.  We also picked up the table, and ...er......yes, you guessed it...........some meatballs!

Both of us have had a busy time since then and each has indulged in a mini-jaunt ie a jaunt not expressly undertaken to purchase textile goodies, but which does in fact result in arriving home with some eye-candy!  Sue went to Peterboroughwith her other half, and managed to get her hands on these few pieces:


I went a little further afield to The Smoke with J, ostensibly to catch a performance of War Horse - which was incredible, such a wonderful  experience.  Sitting in a pub waiting to go into the theatre we considered what to do the following morning.  A quick emergency text to Sue provided one answer, and on Tuesday we found ourselves here:



Where I picked up a few odds and ends like this:



Not a bad month for jaunts, I'm sure you'll agree.  Next time I'll show you some photos of a few of the items we've made because, of course, that IS the whole idea of buying fabric, isn't it?  Well, isn't it?