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.