feeling creative...

back home after holidays and all seems golden for the first few days...then all those things you have to do take over again...but this time I am determined to try and retain the feeling of tranquility and peace I enjoyed on Mull. Perhaps by doing less...after all when you're away from home you manage to fill your time quite easily and pleasurably without any stress!

everything seems so strangely unfamiliar when you've been away, home has existed in a parallel universe...or has it?  

back to abundance in the veggie patch...how many courgettes are now marrows?? don't you love the ruby chard against the greens?

a trip to the north east and I spot these beauties, the last of summer...

and then back into my studio...where reality really does await me...whereas the house is now primped and cleaned after months of neglect...the studio is more or less untouched after the busyness of earlier in the summer...and C-art is now only a couple of weeks away...

but somehow I get sidetracked by the lovely things I bought or collected on holiday, and a creative playing session takes over any desire to tidy or sort...but this in itself is valuable, as I haven't made since Artfest... and this will now get my creativity restarted...who knows where it will take me?

I love my 'new' camera soo much...playing with the focus so you get subtle changes...can you feel the hints of autumn? I'm loving textures and colours, sea-blue mug and rough greys and browns...fingers itching so I think it's an afternoon of sorting then some fabric and stitching time...

hope you too have a happy weekend! Emmaxx

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

reasons to be cheerful...day 4 hooray!

well another day is rolling past...I am so enjoying posting these daily goodies...I did a long 'photoshoot' yesterday and had a great time...being creative with your own home and your own possessions is a wonderful way to look at things afresh...and to see where things need cleaning, tidying, sorting....to be reaquainted with your own lovely things...and maybe not so lovely items...just for now I am totally focussing on the former...
.

 

comfy chair waiting...you can sit and chat...or look out of the window...or read a book...it's a funny old chair... a small bedroom chair... ideal if you have shorter legs...especially as it has a rather saggy bottom!...came from my grandparents flat in Whitley Bay so has happy memories of tea overlooking the sea...it has a cheap Ikea throw to disguise the fact that the seat is well overdue a major re-upholstering...

and a basket of beauty...another one handmade by my dearly beloved...a wonderful Christmas present...currently with just  the odd half-finished item...don't you just love knitting...the texture and feel of wool...the colours...just delicious to look at even if they are work in progress...

my favourite cushion knitted from some beautiful sea-blue wools...impressively I  even managed  buttonholes...and I love the texture of moss stitch...so simple but effective...

and the crochet throw made from some real odd mixes of colours but sentimentally attached as it was made by my old Guider so I love it...

and so does Bethany cat...a great judge of comfort and how to sleep anywhere...if a person isn't available a squishy old chair will do...cats are so good at just 'being' we can learn a lot...and always be willing to sit and spend some quality time communing with a purring knee warmer...bliss!

it's obvious really...

that if you go to the Knitting and Stitching Show you will be bound to come home several £££s lighter, with sore feet and aching arms and eyes like saucers...carrying bags full of all kinds of goodies, yarns, wools, magazines, fabrics, gadgets, chocolates... (chocolates? how did they sneak in??).... books and more books, just a bit more fabric sneaked in...totally exhausted and totally INSPIRED!!!

I had waited for 2 long years to go as I had bought tickets in 2009, sadly Cumbria flooded and we could go nowhere, last year the police were advising not to travel owing to 2 foot of snow everywhere...so finally....you can imagine my impatience...to get there...to see and explore and experience all the glories which I knew from previous expeditions awaited me...

if you haven't been...put it in your diary for next year......it is a fantastic show...a hotbed of creativity...with hall after hall and stall after stall of tempting wares, makers and their beautiful artwork...and such a variety of goods for sale...international artists...the graduate showcase...challenging modern artwork... traditional techniques on show alongside contemporary work...the working studio area where you can see artists demonstrating techniques...you will need to bring plenty of food and drink and wear cool clothes and comfy shoes!

I loved the wild knitting of the talented students in the graduate showcase..finalists in this year's UK Knitted Textile Awards

Sally Chown's exquisitely soft and sculptural work based around natural organic forms

Claire Nixon's amazing Big Knits, she was sitting patiently knitting yards and yards with such a fabulous tactile result...

Charlotte Waters had made incredible imaginative knits using recycled waste...stunning!

 Linda Sadler's fantastic knitted, de-constructed and felted pieces

Becky Dodman with her gorgeous Hundertwasser-inspired clothing, such glorious colours... and she was still knitting as I talked to her!

And it's not just the stalls and stands... there are so many creative women out there, wearing and carrying their creations....carrying bags and objects they have purchased...you could spend hours just people watching, wandering round the stalls, listening to the conversations...see the groups of women and girls in the Royal Hall drinking tea and TALKING and SHARING...it's wonderful!

And it's all the stallholders too...makers with their inspiring artwork...sellers patiently cutting fabrics hour on hour, talking to customers, sharing their knowledge and expertise,all sharing theie passion for making and creating... it's almost emotional...all these women, with domestic lives left well and truly behind for a day (sorry... and some men!)indulging, showing and sharing their love and passion...for knitting and stitching...

Daughter mine had a great time too, tho' a bit bewildered at times by the sheer amount of things...it's best to get a programme and plan your campaign in advance! Glad she'd old enough now to share properly in such a show. Husband was verry patient, drove us there and back and went round once...then headed to the Royal Hall with a newspaper....bless. Only one of about 40 men in among thousands of women, it's tiring...

Loved so many things...tempted to buy again and again...and I was delighted to meet in person several people whose work I have only seen on the internet...especially Jill Flower whose paper, print and stitched ruffs are exquisite...it was great to see her in the Working Studio...where she had challenged herself to create ruffled painted paper dresses which looked amazing...

and to meet Julia Jowett with her delicate tiny stitched textiles combined with wire forms and printed images of eagles...folk stories and heart and soul mingling...

I loved being able to see and talk to so many artists and makers and to experience the whole wonderful event...so inspired it was hard to leave....I just wanted to go again the next day!! ah shucks...just have to wait till next year....

and finally a little Christmassy thought...

a felted leaf bag for a fab Christmassy Open Studio party thing with Ian, Steph and Phil with all our wares and mulled wine and lovely people in Phils' beautiful studio.... and snow outside...who could ask for more?