I'm hoping it tastes nice when I get to use it to make a tomato sauce.
Sunday, 21 March 2010
Preserving Garlic
The house stinks of garlic! Now the oven is back up and running I decided to use the cool oven to slowly roast a garlic bulb which I infused with smoked paprika. Have preserved the cloves in olive oil with some peppercorns.
I'm hoping it tastes nice when I get to use it to make a tomato sauce.
I'm hoping it tastes nice when I get to use it to make a tomato sauce.
Harlequin in York - great coffee!
Went to York yesterday and in the quest to seek out great coffee I tried another recommendation from the Cosy Coffee Shops blog.
The destination was Harlequin in Kings Square, up above another shop. I heard this was the best coffee in York and popular with locals and judging by the helpful proprietor who recommended a coffee for my chocolatey, nutty preference, I would have to agree. I had a coffee from El Salvador but I can't remember the rest of its exotic name, I also had a homemade scone which was delicious and they do it with jam and clotted cream if you feel indulgent.
The choice of coffee was great, I love Coffee Culture just down the road but Harlequin had more choice. What with Roasters in Scarborough & Cafe Leon in Malton it is so nice to have good coffee shops in the places I do most shopping.
Also saw this lovely piece of textile art on the stairwell in Harlequin.
Next weekend I go on the latte art course at Yorkshire sculpture park, can't wait.
The destination was Harlequin in Kings Square, up above another shop. I heard this was the best coffee in York and popular with locals and judging by the helpful proprietor who recommended a coffee for my chocolatey, nutty preference, I would have to agree. I had a coffee from El Salvador but I can't remember the rest of its exotic name, I also had a homemade scone which was delicious and they do it with jam and clotted cream if you feel indulgent.
The choice of coffee was great, I love Coffee Culture just down the road but Harlequin had more choice. What with Roasters in Scarborough & Cafe Leon in Malton it is so nice to have good coffee shops in the places I do most shopping.
Also saw this lovely piece of textile art on the stairwell in Harlequin.
Next weekend I go on the latte art course at Yorkshire sculpture park, can't wait.
Thursday, 18 March 2010
Demolition & old buildings
There's something quite interesting about seeing the demolition of an old, unsightly building. Of course it doesn't always mean that something better will appear in its place!
I saw this coming down in Hull yesterday, just off Albion St. The photos may provide me with some ideas for some artwork along the theme of decay and destruction.
Whilst on the subject of old buildings, I noticed this one still standing, also in the Albion St area. I took a couple of pics purely to remember some ideas a friend and I had to turn the building into something interesting. Back in 1990 we put down ideas and drawings to turn the building into a vibrant arts centre with craft outlets, gallery, cafe and a small green garden area to create a bit of an oasis in the city for folk to sit and have some quiet time contemplating. I can't remember if we ever submitted this to the council but it seemed a good idea at the time and 20 years on the building is still sat redundant despite millions being pumped into Hull for regeneration!
I saw this coming down in Hull yesterday, just off Albion St. The photos may provide me with some ideas for some artwork along the theme of decay and destruction.
Whilst on the subject of old buildings, I noticed this one still standing, also in the Albion St area. I took a couple of pics purely to remember some ideas a friend and I had to turn the building into something interesting. Back in 1990 we put down ideas and drawings to turn the building into a vibrant arts centre with craft outlets, gallery, cafe and a small green garden area to create a bit of an oasis in the city for folk to sit and have some quiet time contemplating. I can't remember if we ever submitted this to the council but it seemed a good idea at the time and 20 years on the building is still sat redundant despite millions being pumped into Hull for regeneration!
Hornsea finds & new mug
As I was photographing my latest Hornsea finds I had to show this wonderful and cute mug my friend got me. The bambi has a very fabricy look to it.
The Hornsea cruet set in Cornrose was found in Hull yesterday and only £2.50 for the set. I hadn't got any Cornrose in my collection and wasn't sure I really liked the design but it has a nice touchy feely quality to it as it is done in the glazed stoneware, vitramic style. The charity shop I found it in also had more of the same set in cereal bowls and cups, if I'd had a few more pennies with me I would have been tempted as the quality and condition were excellent.
The Heirloom butter dish without a lid was a very cheap purchase I found in Brid last week. Should be useful to keep buttons in.
The Hornsea cruet set in Cornrose was found in Hull yesterday and only £2.50 for the set. I hadn't got any Cornrose in my collection and wasn't sure I really liked the design but it has a nice touchy feely quality to it as it is done in the glazed stoneware, vitramic style. The charity shop I found it in also had more of the same set in cereal bowls and cups, if I'd had a few more pennies with me I would have been tempted as the quality and condition were excellent.
The Heirloom butter dish without a lid was a very cheap purchase I found in Brid last week. Should be useful to keep buttons in.
Green Ginger veggie cafe, Hull
Yesterday I met up with an old friend who I've not seen for yonks and we tried a newish veggie cafe in the old town called Green Ginger, not surprisingly it's in the Land of Green Ginger area. Had a lovely slice of cheese-cake with our coffee and I really loved the groovy artwork on the walls. The art was very Yellow Submarine in style.
I hadn't been in the town for a wander or a shop for years so my friend took me in Hepworths arcade which hadn't changed much, still had Dinsdales joke shop were I used to spend much of my pocket money as a child buying sneezing powder and the like. There was a new and interesting looking Kimono shop but it was shut, Beasleys still had a good supply of vintage clothes and I bought a small plain black bag to embellish.
The main purpose of the trip was to visit a fabric shop which is closing down in June, the shop is Dream Fabrics on Percy Street. I got quite a few bits of fabric as you'll see from this pic and also little gadgets to make origami style fabric things which you can use to decorate clothes or accessories.
I hadn't been in the town for a wander or a shop for years so my friend took me in Hepworths arcade which hadn't changed much, still had Dinsdales joke shop were I used to spend much of my pocket money as a child buying sneezing powder and the like. There was a new and interesting looking Kimono shop but it was shut, Beasleys still had a good supply of vintage clothes and I bought a small plain black bag to embellish.
The main purpose of the trip was to visit a fabric shop which is closing down in June, the shop is Dream Fabrics on Percy Street. I got quite a few bits of fabric as you'll see from this pic and also little gadgets to make origami style fabric things which you can use to decorate clothes or accessories.
Sunday, 14 March 2010
Cat buttons & cake
The weather was rather nice yesterday so had a trip to Scarborough as a bit of light relief from work and college projects. Visited my two favourite places, Roasters for a coffee and the sewing centre. I purchased just a few bits of fabric and also found these rather lovely and limited edition Laurel Burch enamel cat buttons. I have some of the Laurel Burch Fanciful Felines fabric and I love the vibrant colours so I couldn't resist these buttons.
In the evening I had a belated birthday treat as my dear friends Mart & Bri took me for an Indian at Saffron in Brid. We had a feast, it was quite superb and a complete surprise to me when a cake was presented after the main food. Despite being stuffed we all managed a slither and I have the rest to enjoy this week!
In the evening I had a belated birthday treat as my dear friends Mart & Bri took me for an Indian at Saffron in Brid. We had a feast, it was quite superb and a complete surprise to me when a cake was presented after the main food. Despite being stuffed we all managed a slither and I have the rest to enjoy this week!
Friday, 12 March 2010
Mushrooms on Solufleece
At the risk of doing Solufleece to death, this may be the last one for a while as I've run out of the dissolvable stuff. I need to work on this a bit more, so far I have appliqued these mushroom shapes together but it needs a bit of free stitching to add more interest.
Will then take some photos, dissolve it and publish the after results.
Will then take some photos, dissolve it and publish the after results.
Friday, 5 March 2010
Solufleece work
I've now had a go at using the Solufleece and got some samples to show. It is very strange stuff to work with, flimsy and papery. You have to think about placing elements so that they are connected to either bits of fabric or with stitches so that they don't unravel when you dissolve the fabric.
My first attempt is like a little landscape theme with plants & a tree. I prefer the second attempt which I based on honesty pods and it is more abstract.
I have shown befores and afters to give a feel of what happens when the backing fabric is washed away.
I quite like some of the photos I got from the honesty pods, I can see this is a technique I might be able to get some mileage out of and create surface designs for fabric or images for greeting cards.
My first attempt is like a little landscape theme with plants & a tree. I prefer the second attempt which I based on honesty pods and it is more abstract.
I have shown befores and afters to give a feel of what happens when the backing fabric is washed away.
I quite like some of the photos I got from the honesty pods, I can see this is a technique I might be able to get some mileage out of and create surface designs for fabric or images for greeting cards.
Tuesday, 2 March 2010
Packaging 2 - Bottle Green
I hadn't realised until I was rinsing these bottles for recycling that the floral designs on the shrink wrap are actually textile work.
Reading the back it appears that Bottle Green held a competition for textile students to design their festive packaging, what a wonderful idea.
Reading the back it appears that Bottle Green held a competition for textile students to design their festive packaging, what a wonderful idea.
Embellishing & solufleece
Yesterday at college we continued some embellishing in the style of Claire Coles using some scraps of floral upholstery fabric.
We've also been trying out Solufleece (dissolvable fabric) which is a thin papery fabric which you embellish your bits n pieces onto, then you rinse it and as if by magic the backing fabric disappears and you are left with the embellishings and floating stitches. I have yet to photograph my samples so will return to the subject of solufleece.
We've also been trying out Solufleece (dissolvable fabric) which is a thin papery fabric which you embellish your bits n pieces onto, then you rinse it and as if by magic the backing fabric disappears and you are left with the embellishings and floating stitches. I have yet to photograph my samples so will return to the subject of solufleece.
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