Festive craft fair at the straw bale cottage

Heck It's December, I can look back and think how miserable November has been, I've been ill with colds for most of it. I think I was clear for a few days in the middle of the month but then at the end I got the variety of cold with the persistent cough which I've still got and I also lost my voice 4 days ago. After many home cure remedies, the worst was eating raw shallots with sugar, I am just starting to get back a croaky voice. It's years since I had this and I'd forgotten how inconvenient it is, I've not been able to go out to the post office and 'ask' for things to be weighed so I've shut my Folksy shop just now. I'm way behind with festive making and selling and I'm very reluctant to go out when I do feel better and can speak incase I catch any more germs.

Anyway in between all this I had promised my friend who builds straw bale cottages that I would attend their craft fair and cottage open day. I knew it would be a lovely event and if I felt particularly rough then I could pack up early. I also wanted to see the unveiling of their nearly completed, large new straw farmhouse so off I went last Saturday with cough sweets, and tissues.

Here is my stall

I'd managed to make some new textile brooches, festive reindeers.

On the stall next to me was Gill from Lavender and Pinks, she had some lovely wreaths and herb hearts.

The event was to raise some money for Yorkshire Air Ambulance and sales of these lovely cakes and teas and a raffle were going towards that.

Look at the cosy fire which Carol had lit for us, it was very warm as we started to get visitors.

I sold a few bits and bobs but that didn't really matter, it was a warm and friendly event with a lovely atmosphere. I tried not to talk too much as I was having coughing fits but it's difficult not to and I felt a bit rough the day after.

I bought myself a lovely little felted brooch off an East Riding Artist members stall, Lorna Soar had made this.

So glad I went though and got to see their new straw bale 4 bedroom farmhouse which Carol and her son have been constructing over the summer, here it is. It has a beautiful terracotta coloured wash to make it in keeping with the red brick of the area.

I have some pictures inside too.
The straw bales are beautifully curved and shaped around doors and windows before lime washing.

In the hallway picture below you can see a round frame they call a Truth Window, it is a little bit of the straw bale they frame and leave visible, they've done that in all their cottages.

I'm sure they will have the internals finished in no time at all and then it will look super duper.

The 2 smaller straw cottages are available as holiday lets.

www.strawcottage.co.uk

PS. thanks all for voting for my fabric but I didn't win.

A new design for a competition

Last week I rustled up this design along the theme of trees and vegetables for a competition at a UK fabric printers. I think it is a relatively new company called Lacuna Press and they have launched the competition on Facebook and are asking people to 'like' whichever design takes their fancy before the end of the month and the winner will receive a £50 fabric print voucher.

I would like to thank all the bloggy friends who are also FB friends for popping along to vote for mine. If you'd like to join in the voting for mine or any of the others, there are only a few and I think someone has entered the same design a few times in different colours which is confusing as I assumed it was one entry per person, anyway if you fancy joining in and you're on FB just search for "Lacuna Press" and you will see the designs on their most recent post.

It's a long shot but if I did win then I'll put all the liker names into the hat for a giveaway.

Thanks everyone.

Dad's Army being filmed in Bridlington Old Town

Did you know the new Dad's Army film is being filmed on location in Bridlington and Flamborough, I gather 70% of the film is being done up here.

Now I'm not someone who is a bit bothered by celebrity this and celebrity that and spotting the stars out and about but I have been curious about the set and how the High Street in the Old Town has been transported back to the 1940's.

The last fortnight has seen a wonderful transformation and filming is still in full swing.
I had to call in to Gallery 49 last week and their shop was being transformed into a gentlemen's outfitters. I hope Liz will not mind in me lifting her pictures from a recent G49 newsletter to show you as I have no pics of my own.

The High Street, to anyone who knows it, needs little help to look authentic, it is one of the best preserved Georgian Streets in northern England and it looked tremendous with the flags and bunting strung between shops.

I was in Brid yesterday, it was sunny and I drove past with half a mind to try and get some photos but the area is completed cordoned off now for filming and with security men in place allowing only pass holders in.
So sadly no pics of my own but there are some nice shots on this link to Brid Free Press, takes a minute to load but lots of pics.

http://www.bridlingtonfreepress.co.uk/what-s-on/out-about/more-pictures-dad-s-army-in-old-town-1-6956941

My new collection Art on a Scarf nearly ready to roll

Over the last couple of months I've had more of my scarf designs back from the printers and whenever I've had a spare moment and the the light has been good I've been trying to finish them off.

The crepe de chine they are printed on presented me with the problem do I simply roll the edges of the scarves or do I line them. Rolling the edge was one issue, I tried one by hand and it took ages so I began researching a rolled hem presser foot for my sewing machine which was a whole other issue. 

I decided to line them because crepe de chine isn't quite as nice as silk would have been if left unlined, because the crepe was a vivid colour on one side and pale on the other it made them look unfinished.
Because of my vivid colours I wanted equally interesting colours for the backs so every time I was near a fabric shop I was on the look out for contrasting or similar colours and began collecting 'linings'.

 I think I became overwhelmed with all the colours and patterns so it's taken me ages and the last few weekends to sit down and choose colours and stitch them up. I can happily say they are almost done and will be ready for me to put in my shop soon, as Art on A Scarf.

Be warned, I've attached lots of pictures to this one!

First up, vintage caravans

Flower Girls

Vintage memories

My Woolworths artwork

Various assorted

Festive Fair, end of month, E. Yorks, free stalls

Just a quick post to promote something for my friend and if anyone local would like a free stall just leave me a comment. 

My friend who builds with straw bales is holding a Christmassy Fair on Nov 29th at the straw bale cottage (it is near Howden), it's the first time they've done this and they are offering us free stalls. I will be taking some of my festive gifts and jewellery to sell.

It is also an opportunity to see the latest of their straw bale houses which is nearing completion and they will be doing tours around it. Entrance fee is for the wonderful organisation Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

I know not many local people read my blog but if you are and you do want a stall just let me know and I can give you further details.

October - not a great month despite juicing!

October is nearly done, it started quite positive but tailed off when I got a horrible cold last week and so I'm just trying to get back to normal this week. It was one of the worst colds I'd had for a few years because for 2 days my temperature was hot and cold within minutes and I couldn't regulate a steady comfort level in this house so being in bed was the best place.

Not like me at all, I couldn't even be bothered to pick up a crochet hook, all the coughing was giving me a constant headache so I was good for nothing. 
What made this so annoying was the week before I'd had a binge of juicing to combat signs of feeling generally run down. We had a full day of no solid food just veggie juices which I planned into a Saturday so that we could stay in and if we felt weak or a bit rough with the lack of sugar etc we could just sweat it out.

I had a wonderful mix of veggie juice 'meals' with the odd bit of fruit in too and I found these milk bottles in Lakeland which were perfect for making a big batch and storing it in for the 24hrs. I survived the day albeit a bit weak and a bit peckish by the evening but hopefully it boosted me with vitamins.

During the cold I made a more citrus and spinach based juice (below).

Early in the month I did this little embroidery for a birthday card.

Still beseiged by huge spiders which I hate so I bought this from Lakeland, not sure if it has made any effect as the house seems to be beyond warding spiders away from cracks and crevices but it's worth a try.

And talking pests, we are having a bad year with mice here and it's just adding to the feelings of miserableness I have. I know on the scale of it life could be worse but it gets me down at this time of year and now the days are short I'm feeling pretty much can't be bothered with most things.

I bought this light bulb to add much needed good light for working and hoped it might cheer me up a bit to get back to crafting.
It's a fabulous eco bulb and gives me equivalent of 150w and not a bad price at £5.99.

Anyway, still with a cough and sniffling I've done a few gentle crafty things, I found some things lying around and fabric printed them, shells and doilly.

Ah, the stress free joy of something simple! Of course all the time I've not been doing anything my mind has been racing away coming up with new ideas of things I want to make and getting myself frustrated at my lack of energy for it. 

Sorry anyone reading for having a moan, hope to have some nice new crafty pics soon.

Logo for local WW2 Memorial

October all ready, I think that's the end of summer and the fine weather which I've been hanging on to, it's gone so quickly.

A couple of months ago I was asked by a local community group to design an RAF style logo for a memorial they are planning at Carnaby near Bridlington.
The particular airfield at Carnaby the memorial represents operated what was called a FIDO system, Fog Investigation and Dispersal Operation which was in simple terms a flame lit runway were the heat lifted the fog and provided light for the bombers to land safely. 

Anyway on the logo they wanted Lancaster Bombers and the flame lit runway.
Here are my designs, the one they choose is the last one shown here, not necessarily my favourite but they were very happy with that.

Retro fabric design for this weeks Spoonflower contest & other fabric designs

It's been quite a while since I entered a Spoonflower fabric design contest. This weeks challenge was chairs & tables and in my back catalogue of designs I had a retro chair fabric which I always felt lacked a bit of oomph (see pic below) so I decided to rework it.

I immediately considered a new colour palette and also a few new design elements, colour is the quickest way to ring changes and by the time I had added some new drawings it started to take shape and turn into a more retro kitchen style fabric which I was pleased with.

The contest entry I've gone for is the bright yellow version although with hindsight I think the brown version is probably my favourite.

Also reworked this last week was another of my butterfly waltz fabric designs.

It's been a busy few days with Spoonflower stuff as I took delivery of some crepe de chine scarves I've had printed with an assortment of my designs. I'm in the process of preparing them, some are having hand rolled edges and others I'm backing with a contrasting fabric, also embellishing the blue flowery one with beads and sequins. Results later when I'm all done.

Meeting a fabric designer at work

I was delighted to find out the other day that a fabric designer whose floral work I admire was doing an artist in residency just up the road from me.

Once again the destination was Burton Agnes Hall to seek out Nel Whatmore.

Nel is in the middle of a fortnight stint and I think she is there until the end of Sept. The weather has been mostly grey and misty the past week so waiting for a lovely sunny day to visit Nel was not going to happen so I just went for it last Sunday.

I found Nel in the little artists conservatory working on a fabulously colourful picture.

Ok the top picture is one of those 'auto awesomed' things but I thought it looked like a painting in it's own right.

Nel works mainly in pastel, it has real depth the way she builds it up, and you can see her tray of pastels below.

It was great having the chance to talk to a 'proper' artist / fabric designer and pick her brains about pattern repeats, creating collections etc, she was absolutely lovely and I can't wait to see what fabric designs emerge from her latest artwork.

Nel creates fabric for Westminster fabrics and here are some of her other pictures on display. You can find her on Facebook and follow a diary of what she is doing whilst at Burton Agnes.

http://www.nelwhatmore.com/
http://www.nelpatterns.com/