Lots Going On

I have not blogged for a couple of weeks, I seem to spend lots of time on twitter as it is more instant and you can also chat to other crafters while you work :)

I was embellishing these little hats last week. After teaching lots of teenagers how to do blanket stitch over the summer holidays while making mobile phone socks, I realised I could do it myself, I had not been able to do it neatly before, its still not perfect but I am pleased with the results.  I have used found bits of fabric and embroidery to add onto the hats a great way of recycling little bits of fabric.  I have cheated and not knitted the hats first, the credit for those goes to Bridgette my knitting angel :) using the Adriafil Mirage yarn. I have just realised i have not put those on my website..lots of updating to do next week :)

On Saturday I ran a Needlefelting workshop, always great fun. I cover the table with all the lovely Merino wools, a mixture of the embellishing yarns I have in the shop as well as beads, buttons and findings so everyone can take home finished items.

This is what every body made Tina aka Mollimoo has blogged about the workshop :)

One of the ladies went home wearing her cupcake and leek brooches she made during the class and was also armed with enough knowledge to go and teach needlefelting at a craft workshop in the school where she works.

I am getting ready to have a stand with The Travelling Anonymous Market at the Bison Centre East knoyle On Saturday.

Arthur helped me to paint these lovely old potato trugs, he loves doing little jobs like this,

and cocentrates very hard :)
I chose some colours I thought looked a little bit vintage and would look great sanded down to give an aged feel.
Then I realised that I had been influenced by the colours in the car museum..inspiration can come from anywhere, it is funny that I took the picture above while we were at the car museum, it obviously was ingrained in my brain. As I took the picture below I had a feeling I had seen it before and had to search back through my photos for the one above ;)
They have come out quite well considering they were covered in mud and looking very shabby.
Now I can put my yarns in them and they will stack on top of each other (easier to use sack trucks to get to pitch) and then go straight on the shelves saving me some setting up time.
George said they look like 'farmers market' but with yarn instead of veg, well that about sums it up I think?

Fibre Fest, Coldharbour Mill.

I had such a great time at The Fibre Fest in Devon, organised by the lovely John and Juliet. 

 I arrived at 8.30 on Saturday morning , and had volunteered to help two mornings in return for getting in free and staying on the exhibitors campsite.  Obviously I did not do this to save money as I realised after I volunteered it was only £6 to get in if tickets ordered in advance :) I thought it would be great fun meeting other Ravelers and there was mention of spending time in the Phop knitting tent.

So I arrived on the gate armed with knitting.  I met the girls on the gate and was a handed a high vis waistcoat to put on, then I was thrown in at the deep end by Juliet and sent round the exhibitors tent to hand out the Fibre fest brochure to all the exhibitors.  Which was fab cause I got a sneak preview of who was in the marquee before the general public arrived (good job cause it got so busy later it was hard to get to any of the stands) what i didn't realise was that with the lovely green jacket on I looked like I must know every thing, 'where are the toilets?' 'can you get me a ladder' etc.. I just smiled and said I had just arrived which didn't go down so well lol.

When I got back to the gate all hell had broken loose and there was a long que of people going way up the street..and thats where I stayed.  The girls on the gate were fantastic and kept smiling all day dealing with any problems that came up really quickly.  It was great to see so many people coming through the gate many of whom I recognized.

Dee and Debs arrived on Saturday so i spent saturday afternoon going around the fest with them, Debs was trying to make up her mind between one of the fleeces or a gorgeous big handmade basket.  The setting for the Fest was perfect the marquees were put up in the grounds of Coldharbour Mill a working textile water mill.

There were animals outside alongside basket weavers and music playing next to the knitting tent.

A great atmosphere!
Above is a little bit of the yummy tops I bought for spinning and felting, I was trying not to add to much to my stash as we may be moving soon and I already have soo much!
Dee fell in love with this gorgeous fleece, the colours in the marquee were fantastic, but I did not take any pics of the stands, I was put off at Ally pally last year when I asked if I could take pictures the standholders said no and glared at me as if i was just going to copy them. So now I am very careful, what i need though is a more discreet camera.

On Sunday I worked again in the morning and was lucky enough to do the Vintage sock workshop in the afternoon. It was great fun and I felt like I had used one before, though I did get lots of holes! I'm sure with practice a pair of socks could be knitted in no time. I will be on the look out for one of these little machines :)
I fell in love with all the bits inside the mill especially the bobbins which just look amazing with the yarn on. Debs bought some from The Threshing Barn with lovely multicoloured yarn wrapped around them.
I really enjoyed my time at The Fibre Fest and was more than rewarded by John and Juliet when they sent me a box of mixed bobbins as a thankyou..I was so excited when I opened the box :0  (not pictured) I now have them on display in my shop. ( though I will not be selling them they are just for looking.)

I forgot to mention all the lovely people I met up with like Picperfect and knitcave and puddytatpurr.  

Blog Awards

Ya, I have been given 2 blog awards one of which was a little while ago and i hadn't noticed.

The first one is from Woolyholic (and she lives up to her name. ) Her crochet skills are amazing, and make you wish you were part of the Granny Square swap..take a looksee :)

                                              

Thankyou Woolyholic :) 

My second award was from the lovely Mollimoo her blog is full of loveliness and sharing as well as the crafty things she makes for her Folksy and Etsy shop, she is also a bit of a buttonholic so when she pops into my shop for a visit we don't stop talking!

                                       

For this I must make an acceptance speech..so here goes.

I would like to say a huge thankyou to all you bloggers who pop in to read my little blog and leave comments.  It is a great comfort to know there are so many crafty folks out there and I am often inspired by all of your blogs and creations.

*tears welling up*  stumbles off stage.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I will pass these on my next post, which will also include the fun i had at the Fibre Fest in Devon.

Holiday snaps

We had a fab break. It was raining and grey as we headed down to Lymington to catch the ferry to the Isle Of Wight.  We got on the ferry and as it crossed the small distance to IOW the clouds cleared and the sun came out Ha Ra!
We drove straight to the beach, and spent the rest of the day enjoying the sunshine, very unexpected! The boys had a great time, George and Harry are so good with Arthur. I sat on the beach and crocheted flowers in lots of different yarns while sipping tea perfect :)
The Hotel was hidden down a little lane and on a cliff edge though the trees blocked any view of the sea.  When we arrived we were told that we no longer had the rooms we had asked for as there had been a mix up, we had booked a suite of 3 rooms and two bathrooms..before getting cross we went to look at the alternative, which turned out to be 2 rooms one of the rooms had 5 beds in it!  Any way it was not what we wanted at all.. the man got on the phone and came back to us, with an offer of a suite for the teenagers and we have the first suite with Arthur, the only problem is (he said) that they are in two different wings of the hotel..you should have seen George and Harry when they saw there rooms! They were over the moon, and next to the snooker room, swimming pool and table tennis.  It worked out fab, they could have there time and we met up at dinner. 

Tony managed to find a quiet spot, and on Sunday I spent the morning sat in the garden on my own reading a book, lovely.
The boys taught Arthur to play golf and table tennis (Arthur occasionally went in search of George and Harry, they all loved it, and also met in the pool before Arthur went to bed.
Sunday afternoon we went down to the beach near the hotel, no sand, but it was very quiet and unspoilt and very hot! I yarn bombed a few pebbles, Harry did some cave painting..

George found a quiet spot, and sat thinking..
mainly about skate boarding, and what he could do instead..
Jumping the rocks seemed like a good game!  I took photos and tried very hard not to shout be careful or don't be silly, I have learnt that he needs these extreme times and nothing I say will stop him.  There is quite a big gap between the rocks in the photo above.  
I took a lot of photos as the colours were fantastic,
I love these weathered roots of an overturned tree,
There was weird red sea weed everywhere which contrasted beautifully with the azure blue of the sea.

We did drop George off at Vetnor on the Monday so he could get his skateboard fix, and we went off to Shanklin for a walk up the chine and a play on the slot machines to get that real seaside holiday feel :)

It was a lovely break and we were so lucky with the sun. We got back to Lymington and it was pouring with rain and we drove through torrential rain all the way home. What a fluke :)

For the love of flowers..

The other day I met up with two of my close friends who I have not seen for sooo long. Lotte and Barbara used to work with me in my shop in Warminster, for 3 years. We had some great times :)  Everyone used to think Barbara was my mum! She is a very trendy dresser and used to wear all the clothes from the shop ( which were quite hippy and glitzy) and she always looked  amazing.  Lotte worked on Saturdays while she was doing A levels, I was pleased to hear she is off to Falmouth to study Contemporary Crafts, so she will soon be outshining my work!!

We went for Tea and yummy cake at Pythouse a lovely cafe with a walled PYO garden. We thought we'd go and pick some raspberries, and filled up our little basket only to find we'd picked logan berries instead doh! So then we filled up another basket with raspberries.
Lotte left us after lunch and I decided to take Barabara to Flowers Of Hatch just around the corner from Pythouse, a large field full of flowers with an amazing view over the countryside..a great 'escape' place.  Arthur went straight off with his scissors and bucket, he did like chopping the heads off the flowers so I had to keep an eye on him. We put the heads in a bowl and around Barbara's garden when we got back, so they were put to good use:)
I love the colours of the flowers, it's been ages since I did any paintings of flowers, due to lack of time , so it is great to be able to take lovely photographs :)
Echinacea's are one of my favorite flowers not only to they look gorgeous but they are used to keep colds away..handy at the moment :)

Gorgeous daisies and cornflowers, to remind us its summer..
and my lovely bucket of flowers I took home.
Barbara loves to see Arthur..she is his adopted granny ! They chatter for hours!

Barb was very happy with her flowers :) We also went home via the Dairy House as Barbara had never been there, Arthur enjoyed showing her every floor and all the little rooms full of yummy antiques, it was very difficult for me to go further than inside the door as thats where all the lovely fabric and buttons are kept ;) A fab day and I hope to meet up with the girls again soon, I have been so busy I hadn't realised how much I missed them.

Happy Day!!

I had a lovely day off on Monday, we decided to go to Lyme Regis whatever the weather. It was very grey when we left and even when we got there, but first stop was our favorite cafe for lunch so it didn't matter that it was raining.

This is the Bakers at Lyme Regis.  They have long tables and benches, I remember taking Arthur when he just started to walk and he just went up and down the benches holding onto them...now look at him. Straight in there with his apple juice. They have big jugs of milk, butter and jam out on the tables and you just go up and help yourselves and tell them what you've had at the end. 
We sit down and just feel ourselves relaxing, the food is always delicious. 

When we got to the beach, the clouds stayed behind us and we had blue sky for four hours..bliss
Not sure who was enjoying making sandcastles most ?

Arthur bought his big hat at Lyme Regis when we were on holiday earlier in the year and has not taken it off!

A beautiful day, I also knitted all the way down and back so have a few mobile phone socks to finish now :)