FOLKSY! Meet up at The Fellow Pub, Kings Cross

Well! what a very nice evening I had last night - at the FOLKSY christmas meetup. My mate Mandy (Feltbug) told me about it and took me to The Fellow public house in York Way, Kings Cross. We met James, Rob, Charlie and Frankie of Folksy who are very lovely and chummy, had a few glasses of wine, listened to the man from Sue Ryder (sorry! forgotten his name) who is very enthusiastic about the upcycle competition and bringing his charity together with Folksy to promote using charity shops to source items to re-use and re-create. A few people gave impromptu chats about what they did - including Robyn, of RoseLullabyDolls who gave a demo of how she turns sticks and masking tape into small, beautiful and enchanting people - see her on Folksy - you will be amazed at her ingenuity. (See the photos here) Mandy gave a quick show and tell of her wonderful hand-felting and making fabric coiled bags from strips of cloth and yarn - see photos! JamesB of Folksy a little chat about what they do and hope to do and various other crafters joined in and views were aired. Vanessa and a lovely blonde girl from NZ (sorry! forgot name again) showed us how to fingerknit - by cutting up some old clothes brought by Sue Ryder man into strips - how quick! how easy! how addictive! I met Sarah of Silky Prudence (shop on folksy) who makes soft and tactile knits in gorgeous colours - I want most of it. Dee who hoards mens shirts and turns them into origami-style flowers and roses in the blink of an eye (she also turns boxer shorts into girls tops - ! we were all amazed at that idea, I never thought there would be a way of re-using men's pants but she has found one!) The lovely thing about the evening was that everyone was very friendly and interesting and interested in everyone else - no egos on show! that I saw anyway, and it felt like a very nice little club by the end of the evening. I am so inspired and fired-up today and am looking at Folksy with fresh eyes - now I have met the real humans behind the web-pages and realised how enthusiastic they are about the site as more than a way to make some cash!! - In fact, I've had me lunch (see photos!) and am now off to the sewing room to create.........

Roll up, Roll up, Grand Opening!

Roxy and I piled her car up with all the picnic rugs, cushions and throws on Saturday and drove up to Kings X. The pop-up shop at 9 Caledonian Road, a stones throw from the station and next to a rather tasteful sex shop and The Radical Bookshop was still in the process of being transformed - Kristie and her team were there in the red and white candystriped interior painting and nailing. The vintage furniture was already in place and the cocktail bar (which apparently was from the set of a Clint Eastwood movie!) - we are looking forward to seeing it in all its glory on Saturday at the opening party. This is from 6pm to midnight if anyone can make it! The shop itself will be open from 3rd Dec to 20th Dec every Thurs-Sunday. There are about 14 or more different craftspeople/makers wares on sale as well as facilities to make and do yourself - or just eat and drink! After handing everything over and browsing next door in the Radical Bookshop - everything in the basement £1!! and some very interesting small circulation magazines ("One Grey Eye" - short stories of strange and lost London being one - which I am now going to subscribe to... very interesting!) unusual books and t-shirts too ("Legalize Conkers" - had to get that one)... we carried on up to London Fields and Broadway Market - popped into our friend Mairead's flower shop "Rebel Rebel" to find her and her partner Athena recovering from a night of cocktails and dancing - effortlessly and artfully putting together fabulous bouquets of things like Snapdragons and fresh mint with deep red roses... the shop smelt wonderful! out into Broadway Market, stalls selling a huge array of handmade cakes and pies and delicious food, and handmade lovely things. See the cards I collected for details! The shops lining the street were also very different and vibrant. We had a wonderful day and want to go back there more often... so much to see ...

CHRISTMAS SHOP OPENING

Here are details of the shop 2 mins from Kings Cross Station, London which is displaying our work .... we will be there some of the time in person... very exciting and hopefully lots of fun!

Christmas Shop in Kings Cross!

Foxy and Pig

I drew a nice fat sow pig and made a cardboard template from it. My son loves pigs and wanted it on a cushion so I stitched it onto the blue velvet cover I was given by a friend to do something with and added the letters which were foam stamps, stamped in paint, then cut out to provide cardboard templates. A very time-consuming task but now I have them I will do lots with them - need them laminated really though as they are only cereal packet card. Foxy is the template from my mate's special birthday cushion I made for her from vintage tweed and 1970s printed fabric. Want to make some more animal templates, fancy a hare and a bear for starters... any suggestions?

Baby its cold outside

Had a fabulous holiday on Siesta Key, Florida, very sad to be home in the dark and the rain and the cold...... BUT.... finally got my act together to sign on for a shop at www.folksy.co.uk - check us out - rescued and revived - we have actually got 4 things for sale! whoopee doo! am still waiting to hear if we have a stall at BUST craftacular in Bethnal Green in December - apparently they were so overwhelmed with applications it has taken longer to choose but we are promised an email by midnight tonight ..... hope we get picked.... but at least we have three weeks in Caledonian Road, Kings Cross 5 to 20 December in a fab pop-up shop venue... watch this space for more details!

Song of Solomon

Have been reading the Song of Solomon and been inspired to do a bit of random stitching with words and images I silk screened from 1920s silent movie stills in the summer - here they are!