old friends and upcycling...

what to do when your trusty sewing machine isn't very well, for the first time in 20 years and you have  to take it to the machine doctor...

and then a 'Making in The Studio' workshop is happening and we are a machine down as someone's machine has come without a foot...

it's time to call on Singer and Jones...sounds like a double act or a firm of solicitors...but no, they are my old friends...

this is Mrs Singer...such a wonderful machine...smooth and well-oiled...daughter mine loves the smell of her!! 

 
and here is Miss Jones...a hand worked beauty with a lovely action and a tiny spindle-like spool hidden in her depths...both are gilded ladies fit for a fancy drawing room or front parlour...

sewing using a hand machine is soo soothing...clink and chink as the handle goes round and the needle smoothly moves up and down...

Victoria arrived equipped for anything...and brought a friend...a lovely Mollie Makes doll which she had made...and a fab pincushion...

Sandra did a show and tell ...a beautiful crocheted rug she had made and  gave me a gorgeous gift of a crocheted bowl, to which I added a lovely button and filled with threads...isn't it a gem?

I do soo love it when people bring things they have made to show...or send photos of items finished after they they go home...

Sandra's busy here sewing on to the front the pretty leaves which she had embroidered with beadwork...

  
Helen came with her cute little basket of goodies...

Sandie got to use Mrs Singer and enjoyed herself no end...and did hand sewing and then got on to making a corsage...looking good! She had made her pretty beaded bracelet by the way...so many talented makers here today!

and after a day of hard work and fun and concentration and sewing and cutting...and tea and cake...4 beautiful bags appeared...Sandie's has a bit to go to be finished as she made hers slightly differently but here is Helen's with pretty suffolk puff decorations...

and a later photo...thanks Helen...love the covered button...

and Sandra's gorgeous soft green bag with beautiful embroidered beaded leaves...

and Victoria's messenger bag...with fab flower in just the right fabrics after much debate in the studio...

Ladies I salute you! You have all made gorgeous handmade handbags...hard to tell that when you arrived these beauties were all old wool jumpers!

I soo love doing workshops and meeting wonderful creative folk who take a making idea and run with it! You are all an inspiration!

girlie getaway...

it may seem that I haven't been at home much of late ...with journeys here and shopping trips there but believe me I have and the tottering piles have been getting on top of me despite my best efforts... so the bliss of driving away with a packed bag...and boarding a train to York...was wonderful! Even better was that I was meeting up with my dearest school friends (sadly one down as Liz couldn't make it) but Jan, Chris Julia and moi gathered in a nice clean quiet Band B for some R and R and putting the world to rights and catching up on our lives. Hard to believe it is almost a year since we last met...and this time it's "Four of Our Housewives Are Missing!"

I love train travel...it's so simple to get on a train and sit and read and look out of the window with no responsibility other than to get on and get off...perhaps I could start a therapy called "train relaxation" and arrange the tickets for people to do just this and then come home again, you don't even need to stay away a night!

I love the quirky stations with their legacy of the amazing Victorian engineering now overlaid with all mod cons and electronics and wifi...and I love the smooth new trains and all the people I can watch as I travel...

I was in the purple zone at Penrith...not sure if that's just my state of mind...

the B and B was quiet and clean and restful...no 'stuff'... and it was easy to walk into the centre of York...I love the mix of ancient wonky walls and modern commerce..so many lovely independent shops and inspiring galleries...and of course Tea Establishments...

 

 

 

 

 

 

the beautiful and truly awe inspiring York Minster...

parts of the Minster are being repaired and it's amazing to see the simple blocks of stone being turned into intricate carvings...

 

just loved this sign..wonder who lives there?

and when you get to this point it's time to head back for a cuppa tea and a lie down before you head out for lovely evening meal...no cooking, no washing up and no 'what's for tea'...just sheer enjoyment and lots of fun as we celebrate friendship and simple joyfulness!

hope you had a great weekend too...back to making soon!xx

Haberdashery etc...

the joy of John Lewis's...something for everyone...and an insight into the secret world of women who wear make up and perfume and tights...Yummy Mummies, Working Girls and Ladies Who Lunch...wearas I am simply a Woman Who Does Haberdashery...who said scissors aren't sexy?...and as for the glamour of threads ...and pins...and yarns...and fabrics and all manner of stitching temptation to get your creative juices flowing...

 

mind you there were some items of loveliness I did rather fancy... delicious textured tights and scarves ready for the autumn chills... to warm the cockles through the winter glooms...and I confess it here and now...I did buy some C...mas presents...eek! It's very satisfying to find a little gift or two to stash in my present cupboard and to know I have started the getting ready for C...mas game off well...although I have to take care not to peak too early!

and here's a little bit of vintage and making heaven...can't have too many buttons...aren't these jars just so cute?

 and how often do you hear the word BODKIN these days??

and as it says here...

not forgetting...

  
these teeny balls of yarn surely won't hurt..they slip so easily into a bag...the best kind of take-away!

I think I would have liked to be a window dresser...don't you love the way shops arrange their beautiful wares...delicious colours and textures and prints... and so nice to see modern clean lines as I live in an old 'what I like to call' shabby chic house...well homely and lived in...

 

back home on the Metro...with just a few carrier bags full of necessitie(!) and sore feet...but very happy to have indulged in a lot of looking and a little shopping...

and here's a thought for the week to come...have a great Sunday xx