Two Little Jaunts

I've had a couple of little jaunts this week. Sunday morning saw me tootling off through the Norfolk lanes to the village of Castle Acre, where, with Stitch and Bitch chum Yvonne, I visited the Castle Acre Village Hall Craft Fair. Organised by mosaic artist Carolyn Ash, the fairs run four times a year, and Yvonne and I were keen to check them out, and to introduce ourselves to Carolyn with a view to discussing possibly taking part in one or two events next year. (You can see some of Carolyn's work above.)

And here is Carolyn herself. Right at the bottom of the hall, wearing a blue top, you can see my friend Bev (ex-nursing colleague, and musical mate) attending to her own stand of beautiful glass jewellery. In the confusion of meeting up with another textile chum - Magie Relph, of the African Fabric Shop - I forgot to take a photo of Bev's stand, but I shall do next time.

Providing the incidental music to the event, was another old musical pal, Pete Alison, joined by Moto for part of the day on piano accordion, whistle, and harmonica! Pete did ask whether I might have my fiddle in my car boot...alas no, but maybe next time I go I will do a little busking with him. Why not?

       Beverages, savouries and cakes were provided by the team from the Deerly Beloved Bakery.

And, amongst the other stands I discovered Debbie Osborn - new to me, but an old friend of Yvonne's!

Debbie works with screen and block printing onto textiles and paper, creating wonderful patterns to which I was instantly attracted as they are very reminiscent of the folk art designs I love and work with myself.

    And yes, I did buy FOR MYSELF the colouring book! And some lovely packs of printed cards.

Debbie and I had a lovely long chat about design and textiles, and I am going to have a couple of hours drawing tuition with her (when we can both find the time).

Another purchase I made came from a stand outside the hall, a lovely guy who wove birds out of willow. I bought one for our garden, hoping it might scare away the rooks. To no avail - but it does look lovely!

By the time we left, the sun was shining and it had turned into a really nice day; even better, when I got home, Jim had prepared a slow pot-roasted chicken and all the veg so it was a guilt-free trip out! Lucky me.

This morning I was out again, this time up to the north Norfolk coast, and a little village where Madeleine Spencer lives. I met Madeleine at the Craft Fair at Letheringsett last month, and fell in love with a silver and turquoise pendant she had made. Unfortunately it had sold, but Madeleine promised to make me a similar one, as she just has three tiny turquoise beads left from an old Victorian brooch she was in the process of cannibalising.

Here's Maddy at the threshold of her garden studio - the rain had JUST stopped for me to take a photo!

Inside was a lovely mix of working tools and eclectic "mess" which every good workshop/studio should present. We had a long chat about textiles, silver, design, craft fairs and pricing...and somehow wandered into the realms of health visiting, politics, Wales and the Welsh language..... I had a grand time!

    And here is my beautiful pendant, which I love so much. A birthday present to myself! Precious!!

And lest you think I have been doing nothing but gadding about round the countryside, let me tell you I have spent most of the rest of the time stitching away furiously, when I haven't been sorting felts and threads, and drawing designs. Here you see some of the fruits of my labours, a cushion cover, and the beginning of a folk art panel.

Well this has been a bit of a marathon of a post, I hope you are all still with me! I hope you all enjoy the fruits of YOUR labours this week.

Christmas Craft Fair

I know! I'm sorry to have mentioned That Word already, and it's only September - but there are some things you need to prepare for, and I have about SIX WEEKS to get some stuff ready to sell. I have spent nearly three weeks finishing the Large Wool Cushions, which may or may not be taken by someone who spoke to me at the Letheringsett Craft Fair. I just don't know when to stop once I start embroidering!

Still waiting to get round to finishing these three large cushions, buttons are made, they are all cut out and ready. I set to and completed this Blue Bird cushion over about three days hard stitching, as usual, my camera does not show the green up very well.

 My thoughts turned to Christmas wreaths, and I am working out how to make them in felt, yet have a little bit of weight and substance to them. Yet for what I could charge for them I don't want to spend too much time and energy making them! With that in mind I began on a prototype this week....it needs tweaking a bit, more appliqué, and a swifter way of construction. I'm not too sure about the background colour either, but it can't be green or red..... decisions, decisions!

 Cards are another option, I need to speak to my friendly local printer who is very amenable to all kinds of ideas. Tons of ideas run through my head the minute my head hits the pillow, but there really isn't too much time to be experimenting with things which may not work and need to be rejected. Felt tree decorations are one idea, but to be honest, people are not prepared to pay more than a couple of pounds for a decoration, and so they would be pretty sparse and mean-looking to make them worth making. It really is a fine balancing act between materials cost, and effort, and what you can ask for your wares.

I have an Angel panel commission too, and I should like to make some modified panels for the craft fair. Meanwhile, I've begun work on another smaller cushion .

Entirely removed from sewing, I'd just like to say,I sat up and watched all but the final hour of the Referendum last night/this morning on BBC Scotland Live. Fascinating. Personally I am glad we still have the United Kingdom, as I believe we are stronger together, but it is time the politicians pulled their fingers out and opted for BIG CHANGE. More transparency, more accountability, less cronyism, less cosying up to Big Business and doing deals  behind doors which do not benefit the citizens of these fair isles. But there are a lot of Scots out there hurting at the moment, so much passion, emotion, hard work, on both sides, and so many dreams dashed. I hope the breach can be healed and we can move forward to change government for the better.

Have good weekends, be creative, be political, engage!

Cherish Your Friends

Well that's stating the flamin' obvious, isn't it? You thought, on reading the post title. However, it becomes more and more obvious to me as I get older (Cripes, she's getting serious now!!) that cherishing ones friends requires a little more than a passive amiability of attitude towards them. You have to actually WORK at cherishing. It doesn't require grandiose gestures or expensive gifts. It doesn't even, in some cases, require that you see them face to face, or make frequent phone calls. But it does require that you feel that fondness in your heart and that you - in some way - make it known to that person.

I'd also like to be pretty vague about who I mean by 'friends'. I include relatives. Old friends you've known for years, and new ones you have recently made. And yes, even Face Book friends!  I have FB friends in countries far far away who I will probably never ever get to meet, but I enjoy their 'company' and their wit and wisdom; we've shared some highs and lows along the way these last couple of years, and I think of them as Pen Pals, who give me an insight into their lives and their worlds.

Blogland is another fertile field for collecting friends too! There are bloggers who I regularly read with whom I have a pleasant, easy relationship. Hardly friendship, you might say, but we share bits of our lives, our hopes and dreams, our ups and downs, and there is something there which, if not friendship, could be on the way to becoming. Regular readers of my blog, who are in the habit of leaving me comments, I also think of as embryonic friends, especially the chatty ones, your words cheer me up, and your opinions are valued. Some of us have even met in person, and this is terrific when it happens.

Regular readers will know about my annual visit to the Burwell Bash. This is a coming together of people from all over the world, actually, to play music and be part of a very special experience. Burwell folks get together when they can, keep in touch and consider themselves true friends, even though they may only meet once a year! But year on year, I find I see more and more of my Burwell friends 'in the flesh' and it enriches my life.

So yes, quite a vague interpretation of the word 'friend', perhaps just someone whose sense of humour tickles your funny bone, and brightens your day, or some one with whom you you instantly see eye to eye on maybe only one topic - be it textiles, or music or food, or books - let us cherish those relationships too.

Cherishing requires that we keep in touch, leave a personal, private message where you would usually make it public. Hugs are (nearly) always appreciated.

A bunch of flowers, the loan or gift of some books or cds or something you have cooked or baked. Some fruit or veg from your garden to someone who doesn't grow their own. And the gift of time is very precious - we seem to have so little spare time - so a nice long phone call or a quick visit can mean the world.

I cherish my readers by always replying to their comments - I hope you remember to come back and check! And I regularly comment on other blogs, partly because it is nice to join  the conversation, and partly because it is nice to pass on the unspoken message "I am here, I hear you, and your words move me, I am responding" otherwise, well otherwise you are writing only for yourself!

Until next time, remember to cherish away to your heart's content, and believe me, you make me feel very cherished indeed! Thank you!

Edwina's Post

Hello, it's all pictures today! This post is for Edwina who has asked about the Sunflower Farm quilt several times. Edwina, I took some photo's outside this morning in full sunlight so they haven't come 0out terribly well, but have added some older ones of folded quilt and selected motifs. I hope you enjoy them!

                                           I wish I knew how to make photo mosaics!

The full length ones I took really did not come out very well in the sunshine, so have included these quarter shots with a bit more detail visible.

                                   There you go - don't say I never do anything for you!