Saturday 16 November 2013

Swanton Novers


This morning was so dreary - a typical November day you might say - so I was so pleased to have something nice to look forward to. A month of facial swelling, pain, and dental/ hospital visits has been a bit of a strain, you just never know with facial 'things' and it has been preying on my mind a bit. Still waiting for yet another hospital appointment, but at least we know it is a sinus problem and nothing more sinister. So I was well in the market for a bit of cheering up. And when I got to Yvonne's, it was clear she was feeling in need of a bit of happy therapy; sadly, last week dear Arfa - known to you from my posts about Stitch and Bitch - really could not manage to totter on any longer and passed away. He couldn't have been rescued by a more devoted owner, and without Yvonnes's love and care Arfa would not have lived so long or so happily. Both of us were in the market for a Good Time. (ahem)

So through the damp and muddy lanes we trundled to Swanton Novers for the village craft fair. We got there at a minute to 10 and pinched the very last parking space , and just in time as a whole stream of cars queued up behind us! The hall isn't very large and was packed with stalls selling really excellent crafts. No crinoline lady toilet-roll covers to be found here, let me tell you! And on our way in we clocked the tea-room, already doing a roaring trade, and agreed to pop in when we'd finished inside.

Making our way straight to the back of the hall we found Jane-Ann with her stall Piece Works.




              Lovely up-cycled textile pieces inspired by the garden, and beautifully presented.

Next door we found Nadine with her bright and cheerful rag rugs.



                     Nadine works traditionally, using recycled fabric on a hessian backing.

Auriel Mims's stall was packed with wonderful carved wooden dolls and sculptures. She also makes traditional jig-dolls, which I have seen used at the East Anglian Traditional Music Day so we had a chat about folky stuff while I snapped away with my camera.






Then I came upon a new friend from Jane-Ann's group, Jackie Grimble, who was there with her incredible hooked dog portrait cushions. Jackie uses the softest merino wool for these faces and they are wonderfully life-like.




Kate Brouwer, makes thrown and hand-built porcelain items, and I had to treat myself to the prettiest pair of blue and white earrings! Like I need more earrings!




                  Her stall was almost Japanese- like in its simplicity. Lovely delicate colours.




How could you resist these wonderful textile animals? Helen Akers uses recycled fabrics for her creations.





These lovely garments and accessories for children were made by Auriel's daughter who works as "Mim's Heritage". Each item is made from restructured boiled wool, and individually hand-made and finished. I thought these little tunics were adorable.





I was very taken with Madeleine Spencer's hand-made silver and beaded jewellery, and very tempted too!

Unfortunately my camera battery died on me - yes I know I should have checked it last night, but I didn't. So there are some stalls which I have had to miss out, sadly. But I did manage to include this stall, and I would have been spitting feathers had I not!

Meg Foster's stall "The Yarn Gardener" could have been laid out with Yvonne in mind - look at this colour scheme!





That ball of wool above has my name on it - and into my bag it did go!!  Meg, it turns out, actually did a rag-rug course with Yvonne some years ago, and now writes and produces beautiful knitting patterns and kits, using the most mouth watering wools you could imagine.

And speaking of mouth watering - we did go and have a cuppa and a piece of cake - you should have seen the size of the meringues! All baked beautifully by Back To The Garden, a farm shop, cafe and restaurant in Letheringsett.

So I hope you've enjoyed your virtual tour round the craft fair, it certainly cheered us up. Wrap up warm in the days to come, the weather report doesn't sound too good - and I m off up to Harrogate on Friday - no snow yet, please!!

22 comments:

  1. Oh how I wish I had known about that, just up my street and also in need of cheering up!

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    1. Oh Dc!!! I did mention it a couple of posts ago! (But I know, things go in one ear and out the other, figuratively speaking, I can never remember unless I write things down.) I hope your own circumstances are steadying, I read your recent post. Best wishes to you both!

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  2. Good Morning Lynne, what a lovely time I had tagging along with you. You two did the right thing by getting up and out of the house and going to this marvelous fair . . . Sometimes dusting off a blue and moody morning with a good friend is the best medicine ever. I'm very sorry to hear about your sinus pain and please know that you are in my prayers.
    You know you have a wonderful way with words. I love reading your posts, have you even considered writing as a profession? The more I know you the more amazed I am at your endless talents . . . You Rock!
    Keep Smiling,
    Your blogging sister, Connie :)

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    1. Thank you Connie for your good wishes, and , as always your lovely positive comments about my stitching! I do love to write, and have had one or two articles published with the possibility of some more opportunities in the near-ish future - watch this space! And yes, it was just the ticket for the pair of us, we had a lovely morning. Lx

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  3. Now that is what a call a proper craft fair Lynne! WoW..lucky you. I think I would have come away a little bit poorer if I had gone to it. I love those felted slippers, they are so me. The jewelry and ceramic stores too beautiful. My fav has to be the Yarn Gardener store, those beautiful yarns, oh my goodness. Beautiful yarn you purchased too.
    I'm please this cheered you and your friend up and I am sorry for the loss of Arfa. Always difficult.
    Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekending xox Penny

    ps. Re: the crochet shawl, I decided that because I only had one ball of the sock Noro, I would end the shawl when I got the end of the ball and it's not too bad size wise, more of a scarf than shawl, 2 balls would have made a lovely huge shawl. I'm planning to block it soon and will see how much bigger I can get it to be and show it on my blog when done. The pattern really is easy. I used the diagram as I prefer these as a reference instead of written patterns. Hope that helps x

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    1. HI Penny, yes, it was a real bonza show, as they say! And thank you for the clarification re the shawl. I'm thinking I should make mine a scarf rather than a shawl and then there should be plenty of wool; looking forward to seeing yours completed. Lx

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  4. You are so lucky to have had a craft fair like this to look around. Every stall was a delight to look at through your eyes. I'm afraid I went to a craft fair today and it was full of toilet roll holders and alas my camera stayed in my bag. So thank you so much for taking us around! Have a wonderful weekend. xx

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    1. Hi Chel - what a shame your craft fair was of the 'naff' variety. There are so many of these about - they give craft fairs a bad name. This one was definitely NOT of that ilk, as you can see. Enjoy your weekend too. Lx

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  5. sounds like you had a lovely day out - so pleased that you know what's wrong with your face - let's hope you can get it all sorted and soon - have a great week xx

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    1. Hi Lynne, yes, it was lovely. ANd I am hoping DESPERATELY to get seen and something DONE this week. I had a really bad evening yesterday with the pain and am a bit knocked off eith tiredness today. Heigh-ho - worse things happen at sea! You have a good week too. Lxx

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  6. Hi Lynne, thanks so much for taking the time to pop over to my blog! Thanks too for your sweet comment about Chel and being pen pals! I would love to follow your blog and hope that you will follow me to too so we can become blog friends. I love this craft fair that you showed everyone! I would love going to one like that and buy some beautiful wool and what gorgeous colors! I love crocheting and I knitting! Take care and thanks again. Julie at julieslifestyle.blogspot.com

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    1. Hello Julie, lovely to see you here, yes I will pop back and follow. It was a super craft fair, wonderful items for sale, quite bucks one up!

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  7. So much prettiness! A wonderful craft fair. The rugs, the jewelry, those lovely green stripe socks! And the doggy pillows are really life like! Thanks for allowing us to follow along!

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    1. Hello Linda, there are some awful craft fairs - and I have been to them! But this was exceptional; I'm hoping to be invited to take part next year. Thank you for visiting and leaving a comment!

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  8. I did enjoy the browse around! I loved the robin brooch and the rugs. I can easily see a like medd to my own dog!
    Thanks for sharing your photos!

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    1. Hi Kath, thanks for passing by and commenting - I've popped over to see you too! There were so many little details I had to go back twice to each stall in case I missed anything!

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  9. Sometimes you just need to get out to cheer yourself up and this would definitely have rocked my boat. I love all those wonderful stalls and the goodies for sale. The tea shop would definitely have been the icing on the cake - no pun intended! Hope it doesn't get too cold too early. Hope your sinuses improve soon and wish you a speedy recovery.
    Patricia x

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    1. Thanks Patricia, I'm feeling ok - it comes and goes, the thing that's annoying me is the lacksadaisical attitude at the hospital, a week here a week there, .....but hey, no-body died. And we certainly did cheer ourselves up with our little jaunt, and I do love meeting craftspeople and chatting to them about their work. Lx

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  10. Your tickets are now on there way :) Do hope your face is better soon, My other half has sinus problems, not nice.
    What an amazing craft fair, so many interesting things, thank you so much for showing us around :)
    SueXxx

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    1. Bless your cotton socks, Sue! We will find you as soon as we can when we get there on Friday! xx

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  11. I somehow missed this post Lynne. So sorry to read about your sinus issues ... as one who has suffered I know how miserable that can be. But the craft fair does look like the best kind of antidote :)

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    1. Hi Annie, yes, it was a good bit of therapy! Sinus a bit better now because I'm on antibiotics - still waiting for hospital appointment!

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