Like sticks of rock made of felt...

Craft club convened at mine last night -  a slightly smaller group than normal, but it was probably best as R taught us how to make felt sausages; this involved lots of hot soapy water, making sushi out of wool 'roving' and drinking lots of wine... in no particular order.. maybe :)

The sausages are then cut into slices to make beads - you can see the concentric layers of the colours you've used like sticks of rock made of felt!

Felt bird workshop

Amy asked if I could run a felt bird making workshop at the launch of The Crafter Culture Handbook in Notting Hill; I assumed there would be a bunch of us who'd contributed projects to the book doing them, but no only me! I felt honoured (or maybe I was the only one to say yes :) ) Anyhow A prepared everything brilliantly; all the pieces were cut out ready, there was plenty of thread, needles, fabric pens and more importantly cupcakes! yay...

Happy St David's Day!

Not that I'm Welsh or anything but M is, so I made him a Leek and Goat's Cheese Tart (without the bacon!) to celebrate... :)

In other news, am doing a swap with this lady; making her a felt ring in return for one of her beaded ones and in April am volunteering for a few days at the Sarah Raven's Cutting Garden - yay! hopefully I will learn some, but it will be lovely to just see the place and all the spring growing that'll be going on...

Loose threads

this afternoon whilst in N London I had time to kill before an appointment, and wandered into The London Bead Company. I wasn't expecting much, but it was one of those shop that seem like Alladin's cave; they keep unfolding more and more things the further you go in. It's a combination of bead shop (at the front) and super good haberdasher in the back with miles and miles of threads! The only thread I've ever used to embroider with was the Anchor tapestry wool and DMC cotton. But here were silks from Kaalund (I thought they only made yarn!), The Thread Gatherer's Sheep Silk (my fave), Cotton Sampler Thread from The Gentle Art*, and Watercolours by Caron. I couldn't resist.... :)

They also have lots of books about knitting, embroidery, quilting, beading (including some Japanese ones) as well as yarn, needles (knitting and sewing) and  loads of other useful things - I definitely recommmend a visit!

*I love that they have grey-brown colour thread called LA Haze :)

Sheep & Snails...

The long awaited 'deviant view of cinema' has arrived. V's new monthly film magazine, Electric Sheep, is launched and a cinema club is planned... Have a go at the Film Roulette - you might win!

Other animals: If you remember the felt snails I made last year, you might be interested to know I've done a tutorial on how to make them for the Plush You! book coming out this November. There'll be a bonus pattern online for a mollusc-y morsel to feed your friend later this year..

Knots...

Just saw that Softies Central linked to me for the french knots on my snails :) They are running a softie competition, so I put in the snails and one of the creatures to see how they fare... good luck felty friends!

Silkscreened fabric... now a bag!

I needed some more project bags for new knitting projects so used some of the fabric I silk screened last year to make this... :)

Snowflake sewing cards

There's something very soothing about threading coloured wool through punched holes... It reminds me how much I love the 'stringing beads', 'drawing with crayons' and 'cutting pictures from a magazine for your scrapbook' pictures in Richard Scarry's Great Big Schoolhouse:)

Eeek!

Getting to the end of all the things I have to get done before our trip including making these little dingle-dangles for the Ornament Swap... must... keep... going...

:)

Ornamant swap - received one already!

Wow - received my first one already! :) I'll have to re-think my pinecone-stamp-on-felt-idea though... (I think this one is gocco'd)

* why am I wearing mittens in these photos? here's why...

U75 craft club

So funny to see our pics of our craft club in the December 06 issue of Crafts Beautiful Magazine... :)

sketchbook painting...

Woke up too early again this morning so did a bit of painting before breakfast...

The pear's a bit floaty and the flowers look like they're in a cup of blue tea but it was fun to do them... :)

busy like a bee....

You know that feeling that your day is already full and you couldn't possible squeeze in another minute to do anything? and yet somehow there *is* time to do everything... Other days you have ages to get one tiny thing done - and don't... time is a mysterious thing....

So anyway... I was up at quarter to seven doing some drawings for Singapore Airlines magazine - and because they are 8 hours or something ahead, it meant the deadline was deadlier than I had supposed - phew! all done now though... back to the real work I'm doing for UKTV...

Just a bit of time to post up about some craft though; the ornament swap I've signed up for (just think - 8 surprise packages from around the world will be sent, and arriving - exciting mail again!). And also the book the lil birds are in - look, one even made it to the cover - yay! Got the proofs back for my section so it's looking like it'll be out soon.. :)

Lastly - tonight the Actionettes will be over at The Bethnal Green Working Men's club dancing at Legal Tender...we'll be on about 10ish so come shake a leg and say hello!

Plush You! 2006

So the Plush You show 2006 is now open... If you're in Seattle, pop along.. it's on until November 2nd. Hopefully there will be a book along soon too, with instructions on how to make one of these fellas included :)

Busy week, busy weekend...

Have been working up in town for the past week so excuse my lack of updates... However before that, I managed to finish off Cyd! yay... only took..er... a year to complete :) On Friday Mr HDIF put on a gig at Jamm where both I'm From Barcelona, and Suburban Kids With Biblical Names performed. It was great! IFB managed to combine balloons, confetti, kazoos, wholesome Swedish pop and arm movements to a song about a treehouse to create a bonkers party atmosphere, and SKWBN nipped down after their gig in N London to play (mandolin?) guitar-y indie electronica and wear cute shirts and glasses... Saturday we went along to the Thames Festival (which has now turned into a two day affair..). There was tons of stuff on; music, performance, digging in the river beach, boats and fireworks.. We had to miss the fireworks and head back to Mau's for a welcome-home-from-Paris party and then on to a birthday drink for N...phew!

Fear of zips...

This is the second thing I've altered since reading the 'Altered States' feature in Bust (lovely illo by Mr Werewolf). One of the things it tells you about is how to just *cut straight across a zip*. I was shocked - surely it can't be that easy? I had a dress that was waiting to be made into a skirt, but the zip went up too high, and a dress that was waiting to be made into a top (photo on the left) that had a zip that went too low... and all had to do was just cut straight across it?  Wow... the secrets of sewing never cease to amaze... :)

Getting ready for September...

Had to make up a bunch of these iron on transfers for our shirts... they are part of the costumes we'll be wearing on September the 9th - the night of the Actionettes present... Bad Girls! night... :)

Swap with Tutti Fruiti

The lovely B wrote to me via Flickr to see if I'd do a swap with her in Australia... She wanted one of these cupcakes, and as it's always interesting to see stuff from other countries, we included some yarn, homemade things, fabric and patterns as part of the swap...

Am thrilled with the things she sent:

• Cherry Ripe (eaten - yum! have never had that before.. kind of a dark chocolate bounty with cherries in it..)
• Handmade pincushion, tape measure cover, tissue holder and cuff - so cute!
• A Jo Sharp book - Eclectic... also some tiny books about other Jo Sharp yarns that include patterns too.. such a cool idea :)
• Some freezer paper - have been keen to try out making stencils with this..
• some lovely fabric

and I think she is happy with the stuff I sent over to her too - a good swap! :)

The snails are in Seattle!

Cool - they arrived! and Whip Up has a photo of them in their link to Plush You II... :)

79 jars of jam!

We picked 12kg of raspberries to make 79 jars of jam between 9 of us! No not an old fashioned maths problem, but the annual craft club trip away... We stayed in a bunkhouse in Kent and spent a lovely weekend picking fruit, making jam, drinking wine, eating numerous cheeses from the farm shop, lazing on the beach, reading the paper, drinking cider, riding bikes and generally having a great time!

Needles and pins...

Boy did we learnn about pins last week...! Every metre of fabric had to pinned out as flat as if you'd ironed it to within an inch of its life.. Managed to print up about 9 metres of patchwork-bird-y fabric...and...er... now do something with it! :)

Snails were finished last weekend too for Plush You II but am having trouble finding out where to send them... the deadline to receive them (which I am now for sure going to miss) is 20th July... please get in touch Miss Schmancy!

felt birds (and snails...)

I forgot to blog about this mobile in June.. It was a project for a book that A is writing (coming out later this year). I loved doing the making and documenting of the project, but the bio bit? - eeew...way harder to write about yourself than how to sew French knots! This weekend am making some felt snails for this year's Plush You... better get to it...

Food dye knitting

Just had a go and hand dyeing some white wool with food dye... We don't have kool aid over here so thought I'd try some supercook food colouring I have in the kitchen.. Managed to get a good range of colours from just red, green and blue... not sure how fast it is though!

conkers

Visiting my granma's house in Nottingham brought back many memories for me. One of them was sitting on the kitchen counter making conker furniture... Little did I know as I picked this book from one of her shelves, that this is 'Something to Do' in October...

Secret pal parcel

Yay! Thank you secret pal, for the lovely parcel waiting for me upon my return from Wales!... Bamboo yarn (which is *so* soft) and some of my favourite sweets - oo sour!

Finished things

Cannes is finished! Also the website I designed for Atom is live... A day of finished things today...

Another summer knitting project!

This lady writes a beautiful blog, and has just answered my 'hmm what shall I knit now, now that it's summer, yet still raining and a bit chilly?'. Jess looks great, having seen the other patterns A has written / made, I hope I do it justice (and she knits *so* fast!)

Bits & pieces

There is still a 'drought' here in the South East and to really hammer it home, rain(?) and wind for the past 4 or 5 days! it's bizarre... The outlook is rain for the rest of the week too, which is good for the water tables but sucky for picnic tables.. got little F's birthday picnic on Wednesday and mine (maybe!) on Sunday... I can say for sure the seasons have changed since I was little.. My birthdays were *always* in the park, with hot sunshine.. (only once did we have to call it off)... now it's nearly always wet... brrr....

In an attempt to feel summery, I've finally picked a summer knitting project!

Ok, better get my skates on - have got some toys to make for this show, and am making a mobile as a project for Amy's new craft book

Spring I love thee....

Despite looking very dead over the winter my Clematis Montana survived to have hundreds of pretty white flowers... yay! for spring.... We went over the visit Mika, the newest of my friends' babies to be born (that spring thing again..) and made her some 'left & right' bootees..

Ok, here are some of the answers to the questionnaire for Secret Pal 8 (so excited about doing this - always saw other people participating and now I am too!!)

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
Favourite yarn? hmmmm...I think I like most yarns - I love tweedy ones (with fresh colours) and am always keen to try out some new ones (bamboo? how does that work?!...). I really don't like plain acrylic - I don't wear it and there's that particular red that just makes me on edge!. However I've knitted happily with acrylic mixes (ones you don't realise *are* acrylic!) or yarns that incorporate the 100% fake, ie a bit of ribbon, glitter etc... I tend to go for how a yarn feels... I've yet to find a pure cotton I like to knit with... it splits, it hurts your hands (but it looks so pretty when it's done!)

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
A tin! On my to-do list is to make a needle roll (especially for circs as they get tangled) but, is has been on that to-do list for *a while*

3. How long have you been knitting? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
I learnt from my granma when I was little, but I pulled too tight, my hands were too hot, I gave up... then started again say about 4 years ago and have made a jumper, lace shawl, bootees etc so umm... a learning intermediate? :)

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
Yup

5. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)
Eglantine, Lilac, Vetiver, Rose, am addicted to the smell of Smitten (but haven't found any other almondy type scented things that don't smell too marzipan-y). Anything in this scent... Don't like vanilla though.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
Sour sweets, ones with cool packaging, dark chocolate, licorice, peppermints!

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
I love making things! sewing is become more interesting / less scary to me!.. Keen to make a start on crewel after reading this book..haven't spun but would give it a go maybe...Oh and maybe amigurumi too...

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
argh - this question is so hard.... it depends if I'm dancing just out and about, dancing with the actionettes, or just listening... ok random stuff I have just listened to recently: Erland Oye, Phillip Glass, Cat Power, The Modern Lovers, Talking Heads, Radio 4 (BBC radio station, not the band!), Portico Quartet, The Be Good Tanyas, Sam Cooke, Antony & The Johnsons, The Streets, Fela Kuti, The Blow Up cd, King Sunny Ade... er.. is that enough?

9. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand?
No favourite colour but do tend to go for things in groups of colours: pinks / oranges or greens / yellows... and then they might have a weird accent colour added too... Not a huge fan of grey / beige / brown / pastels but they can look great when used with a bright pink  / green / sky blue... I am a pattern nut - plain stocking stitch looks great but bores me... I will go for something like this or this (if I had the patience!)

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
Living in a flat with M, we have no pets / babies / car but a balcony, bikes and views!

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
I wish London got colder during the winter as there are probably only a few weeks when you really need the whole hat, scarf, glove combo... I do like them though... verdict is still out on ponchos - would be keen to make a kind of spring / summer version for chilly evenings though...

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
Anything I think! The bootees were a revelation - they knit up all in one go! only one teeny back seam to sew!. Also I discovered log-cabin knitting, that's pretty cool... Socks I have to re-visit... I took the swatch, what swatch? route and ended up with a wellington boot size sock - I gave up.... :)

13. What are you knitting right now?
A cardi made from Colinette Prism, a diamond tank-top made from Rowan Felted Tweed.... Actually that's pretty good - only two projects on the go! ah no - I just remembered... the Orangina top too...

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
Yes! I think it is so lovely that someone has taken the time to make something especially for someone else.... yay!

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
straight wood, addi turbo circs, bamboo dpns... have you seen these?! Aesthetically I love multicoloured plastic ones but they are a bit bleurgh to knit with...

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
nope

17. How did you learn to knit?
See above: 3 but a: granma b: books/ internet c: craft club!

18. How old is your oldest UFO?
A year? This one took a year, but I learned a lot 1: swatch, swatch and swatch again 2: buy an extra ball than you need in case it *does* take you so long that in fact they stop making the colour you're after!

19. What is your favorite holiday?
Spring and summer holidays... oh like Christmas or something? Well all of them I guess! Halloween I can go without... Easter, yay! Bonfire night, yip! Seaside holidays are best of all (this is British seaside btw - big waves, windswept walks along cliffs, ice cream, rock pools to explore for hours, water so cold it makes you gasp!)

20. Is there anything that you collect?
Not really...

21. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
I'd like to try out Lamb's Pride so I can make the Fairly Easy Fair Isle, oh and I got one ball of Jo Sharp's Silkroad DK Tweed from New York and I'd love to give that another go - for some reason nowhere in the UK stocks this..I subscribe to Rowan, but look at Knitty, Interweave Knits, Knitscene (new issue out in June, people!), Vogue Knitting, Rebecca, Knit 1 etc when I can get hold of them... Would like to take a look at some Phildar stuff too...

22. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
It's always good to learn new stuff, but there's nothing specific at the mo'...

23. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
I had a disaster with the last (one!) I made but will give it a go again, if only I could get rid of the ladders that happen between each dpn... this happened even when I pulled the first stitch of the next needle nice and tight.. :(
Anyhow foot measurements - It's the length of your foot and circumference just behind your toes tight? ok, L: 27cm / 10 and a half inches, c: 23cm / 9 inches

24. When is your birthday?
May 30th

plasticine

The latest sections in AW are getting more and more relevant for me... not least the chapter about having lists and lists of things to do, but not adding in any fun stuff or playing... it gets pushed to the bottom of the pile, after work, admin, household stuff.... ah yeah, *then* I can do the good things... (in about 6 months time!)

Last time I visited the Art shop I picked up some plasticine, remembering the smell and wanting to buy some...'computer says no', so I put it back and forgot about it until earlier today. J had some hand cream - smitten from lush - and it has the smell of a mixture of plasticine and bakewell tarts... (actually it is a lot nicer than it sounds - I am a bit 'smitten' with it!). I remembered about the little treats bit in the book, and bought some.

A not terribly inspiring terracotta colour, but as soon as I opened the pack, I was away - a coil pot, squidgy blobs... this little bird came out and I remembered the stop frame animation I did at college (loved doing it, except the studio was effectively a cupboard which got very hot from the lights, very quickly and melted things!)

So plasticine = a good hour of fun! (Oh and check out all the cool creatures that are made from it!)

I see you...

I forgot to post up these great little eyes! T gave them to me for Christmas... I think it's cos we were talking about KS's photos of anthropomorphised stuff she'd done with stickers...

Looks like my deliberation may soon be over (before it began)

Twice I went into Pearl Paint in NY to buy the Gocco kit... twice I umm-ed and ahh-ed about the cost, and the weight to carry home on the plane... but now? Well it looks like Gocco will be discontinued anyhow - :(
I'd really like another chance to head back the art shop and, third time lucky, buy the blasted thing to get printing! Please help and visit the Save Gocco campaign website...

Advent - 18 Dec '05

Dec 18: Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a family revalation!

Went over to west London today to see uncles and aunts for a delicious dinner.. Aunt G just finished writing the A-Z of Italian cookery (after 2 years - apparantly the previous author had taken 20 and the editors were keen to keep her from doing the same thing!). Aunt J took her earrings from where they had been making up part of the Christmas tree decorations. Uncle F poured champagne and Uncle J said that in fact that our family name was a nonsense as his real great grandfather had... [family secret resulting in stony silences, changing of topic etc etc for the past 50 years] and in fact our name had come from my great great grandmother's 3rd husband who had brought up the family as his own... Christmas wouldn't be the same without stories like these.. :)

Later that afternoon was the annual Craft Club Christmas where the festive florentines made an appearance, as did fluffy kittens messing with our wool, home-made mince pies and mulled wine - yum!

Advent - 14 Dec '05

Dec 14: Last day for posting to Europe

Ok, so I missed the last day for mailing to the US, but am pleased I got mayself together enough to make cards this year. I did a painting & then had elements from it turned into stamps. Am hoping to do some fabric prints with the same stamps in the new year too..
:)

New York Stuff

I have (paper) notes from my trip away, but stuff has to be written out / scanned in so for now here are just a couple of links, thanks to bits of crumpled paper found in the bottom of my rucksack whilst emptying it!

We went to Cinders Gallery that had an exhibition of posters by bon goût - made me super happy looking at them and then a bit cross I wasn't doing more drawing myself.. one of the books reminded me of work done by Nate Williams so here is a link to his site just because it's good to look at..
:)

... got some cool ideas about doing a new Banjo show...

oh and I bought a copy of The Drama cos it featured an interview with the amazing talented Geneviève Castrée about her, and her new book - Pamplemoussi.

Also saw in ReadyMade mag a link to fallenfruit.org and it reminded me of how we made the jam this summer -  blackberries from Wormwood Scrubs and apples fallen on the grass in K's back garden.

Also on the plane home watched the film Crash (Paul Haggis) a brilliant film about people living in LA and their racial (in)tolerence... made me cry...

New York Yarn!

The part of the trip M was thrilled by* of course, was visting all the cool yarn shops out here! :) We went to Purl - at last... the previous visit we had a few hours before catching the plane and the blasted place was closed! - and saw the beautiful, *tiny* balls of Habu textiles.. aesthetically wonderful by themselves, goodness knows what they're like knitted up!
Also checked out The Point, a cafe-come-yarnstore which is such a great idea... you think you're done getting all you need, but sitting down over your latte and home-made cupcake, ah ha! you spot a ball of [insert cmuch coveted yarn here] up there on the wall... The one I went for was some boucle mohair made by the Be Sweet people, some Misti Alpaca (sooo soft!), Heavenly by Artful yarns and some Jo Sharp - for research, honest.. want to get people to stock this in the UK...

*secretly, I bet...

Creatures @ Stuffed (TINA festival)

In the nick of time...(thank god for Fed-Ex!)
These little fellas are going to be in the science dept. area of the show - kind of germ-y, monster-y mexican wrestler-y chaps...

STUFFED is a group exhibition (part of the This Is Not Art festival) incorporating soft sculpture by emerging Australian and International artists. The works are inspired by the aesthetics of plush toys and their relationship to human behaviour, investigating social norms and a darker side of 'cuteness'.

If you're in Oz and can get to Newcastle, then the address of the show is: Stuffed, Shop 7 Civic Arcade, Newcastle from the 29th September. 12 noon to 5.00pm.

plush you!

Just received the catalogue from the show in Seattle from K - good to have something 'real' to say the little birds really did make it all the way there! The two big birds have found new homes, but the little one is still up for sale..

bits and bobs...

Still trying to get this done, whilst finishing these and starting a submission for this...
These stitch markers are very satisfying to make and I feel sure that I'll end up making way more than I'd ever really need so either my crafty friends will be getting given them this xmas or they will become earrings!

Birch2 - only 3 months late!

So... it's only 3 months after MM's birthday has been and gone and now high summer, so probably not the best time to receive a snug shawl... but there you go! As MM was the first person to teach me to knit, and to watch as I yanked the poor stitches to their knotty death, I can only hope she enjoys the improvement!

On another crafty note - some of the Banjo birds have flown to Seattle where they are part of another show called Plush You! - it is happening at the Schmancy shop from 12 August 2005.
Also some photos from the Banjo Artshow are in the new edition of Lodown (layout by banjo member  joyful impression)

badges 'n' barbecues

The Mangle and Peepshow present a...
T-Shirt Sale and Badge Exhibition at Crown Works, Temple Street, London.
11 & 12 June, 12pm - 5pm... incl. beer and bbq!
Contributors include Banjo (goldtop and mr werewolf), Rob Ryan, Get Casual, Death Race 2000, Rachel Cattle, Tatty Devine, Hatley Pink, Yacada, New Future Graphics, Mark Pawson, Nina Ogden, Dan Inwards and the Peepshow Collective.

Ever been to a cross stitching political demonstration?

Cross stitching and .. ahem.. 'needling' politicians to take place in front of Downing St next week as part of the Make My Cross Count. There will be a mass stitch-in - you can make your own (very mini!) 'banner' to take along, or get going once you're there... how can anyone resist! :) I hope there's tea and cakes too...

Banjo Art Show

I have some little birds in the Banjo art show on at the 88B Gallery (underneath the Cide skate shop)... go say hello to them... :) and see some work by other Banjo people too

Banjo Art Show
6 April - 1 May 2005
88B Gallery, 88 Lower Marsh, Waterloo, London, SE1
FREE!

waking up at 4:30 am does have some plus points...

...I suppose! I got to finish reading Bannock, beans and black tea by 5am and also finish off the sleeve of the diamond pattern sweater from Vintage Knits by 9!

recycling aeroplanes...

So this is my first foray into actually making use of the sewing machine, now it is handily out on a table, not gathering dust under a pile of I-will-do-that-ironing-soon....

Inspired by afternoon of tea, Greek easter cakes and chatting at Miss M's I attempted making a lined book-bag with half remembered instructions and little scratchy sketches.... the lining process is a magical thing - there you are thinking you have sewed everything backwards and inside out, and then Lo! you kind of flip it all around and you get nice set-in handles and a neat seam between the outside fabric and the lining... yip!

The areoplane fabric is from the curtains my mum sewed for me when I was little that no longer fit my windows and have faded bits - so am recycling it by way of this test project then a knitting-bag and hopefully a skirt too!

nice things and nasty things...

M has a feature on his website about The New Piccadilly Cafe (incl. a panorama), which we went to on Monday - yum!

So this dinner was a nice thing but the past 2 days have been the nasty thing with tax form hell, with their website so slooooooooooow as people panic and go online at the last minute to try and sort it out... still it is done, cash sent to them - ow! - and it's all over for another year... (hastily stuffs all illegible workings out / receipts / statements into a dusty box).

Another nice thing was the first craft-night meet up at L's house last night... the rain (or as T claims - snow, although he is up the hill!) outside, a coal fire burning, home-made yumminess* and wine/cava on the table. with bags of wool and needles getting all tangled up with the 9 ladies who turned up... : ) Even those who for this was the first time they'd ever knitted made stuff and got enthusiastic - so much so knitting was continued on the tube home! N, who was making this out of this and R who was making something like this out of this, had their work oohed and aahed over, and I reckon the ante has been upped for next time.. heh..

* parmesan and herb muffins, cherry cheesecake, chocolate-chip cookies, flapjacks and the florentines... add to this: olives, feta cheese and pitta bread and you're there... yum, again!

a stitch in time...

Had a bit of time to make things recently and so, inspired by recent crafty visits, little sewn books in boxes for S and M's birthdays.... Got cold feet about giving them, as felt like I was just indulging myself and that they'd think I was bonkers / a bit simple (delete as applicable) but they were well received... :) and I felt better for getting glue on my fingers / felt on the floor / paint on my trousers.... much more satisfying sometimes than tip-tapping away on a keyboard....

more covetable jewellery...

Grainne Morten's Bird on Twig brooch (top of the page) & Button Bracelet (bottom of the page) are beautiful!... and - inevitably - mucho dinero...

lovely prints...

Inspiring prints from Galbraith & Paul (via Loobylu).. I will, I will, I will get myself on that fabric printing course......

.... at some point...
:)

Friends back in town (ish)

Went over to M's this afternoon to see world-travellers S & J on their 48 hour return - they are off up north and to France to see family for the next month, and so London friends ran on over for condensed friendship chat / tea / round-the-world stories & biscuits while they could! It's odd but it felt just like I hadn't seen them for a few days with only the tales of indian palaces and asian beaches to show they had been away.. I now miss them more than ever!! but will have news of travel for them next time we meet as we are off to Santorini for a friend's wedding in a few weeks!

Meanwhile was suckered by this butterfly pattern in the Rowan mag and had to try it out (even if I won't make the jumper as it's too 70's for me)... now have to figure out what I can incorporate it into as it is... apols for poor swiss darning - is tricky with the lurex shimmer and my first time!

little

Just been over to see the littlest Actionette, Sylvie (born 2 weeks ago today to Miss Crumpette) is so small and fuzzy! and - phew - has a way to go before fitting into the sparkly top (I'm pretty pleased with how it came out - see pic) ... a good thing for Christmas time I hope... It's easy to go all Oooh and Aaah over baby stuff because everything is just so *tiny*, but new mums must get a bit 'Hey *I'm* still here' I reckon... A is taking it all in her stride and I left her making plans for their european tour and eating some Prestat chocs I brought over!

dancing and drawing....

Well first off big congratulations to this Actionette on the birth of her daughter - Sylvie... yay!!
(this means I *really* have to finish off that little sparkly something I've been knitting for her...!)

On Fri M was guest DJing at HDIF and it was great - esp. Buzzcocks' Everybody's Happy Nowadays... even got A and B out on the dance floor!!

We sat reading Chris Ware's Acme Novelty Datebook and the Little Nemo book by Windsor MacKay yesterday - there is a fine line between being inspired by people who are obvioulsy so brilliant at what they do and slumping down in a disheartened heap cos you will never be half as good as them!

good beginnings...

Stitch Stitch a site I was directed to via a button badge of Scarlette looks like it has good things coming... (can't wait til the 'Stitch' link is live!)

grey... or is it khaki? or mauve?

January... my least favourite month.... even if the days are supposed to be getting longer it feels dark and grey... the tinsel taken down and the thought of resolutions to stick too - ugh.... buds and blossom and bulbs seem a long way away...
so... have given in to the curl-up feelings and am knitting Birch... it will be an after-Christmas present for SK as I ran out of time before and it is so soft and lovely - perfect for curling up in! I thought the wool was a soft pale green (Khaki) but it is looking rather grey at the moment... it could just be January casting shadows.. although the sky was looking optimistically mauve instead of grey this evening, so things are looking up!

Bone-ios?

Getting ready for our performance at the Wild Weekend this Friday... We are dancing on the night of 1965 BC so are getting some Flintstone type dresses on the go and have made some 'bone' beads to accessorise!... Mike reckons they are more Bonio than bone, but I am undeterred... Got some leoprd print beads to go in between too - tasteless? moi?
:)

ok, so I learnt about the thickness of wool...

..and how it affects a pattern!.. ahem...
Well at least I finished it & it came out kind of right.... just a little too big....
:)

Shaping fear...

Is finally overcome! Tempted by the Shocking Pink Coif from Knitty I went to JL* for needles & wool, and started to follow the instructions... And see it beginning to take shape before my own eyes!!

forgive my excitement - but this is the girl who when shown how to knit by her grandma ended up with a neurotic mess of stitches - I pulled the wool too tight and my hands were too hot!

but now.. not one but two projects in, I am doing ok... :)
The pic on the left shows the scarf - Rowan's Biggy Print , and on the right the start of the Coif in Paton's Chunky... one thing though... you can really tell the differences in the price vs quality of the wool... the Rowan one is all soft and cuddly with 100% Merino wool wheras the other is 40% nylon which makes it a bit plasticky... hmmm...

*one day they will sell all their haberdashery stuff online? I can dream...

half hat / half scarf...

this is cute from knitty....
:)

Crotchety crochet...

More 'make it yourself' stuff!! This time I fell for Rowan's The Next Big Thing (all Big Wool patterns) which has a mixture of projects in it including some super-simple-I-can-just-about-manage-it things like this Bloom. They have it as a deco, and also a detail on a v cute sweater called Halle.... and for the jazzy laydeez out there some ankle warmers (Toast) and weird mutant wrist warmers (Crumble!). So, so far out of the jumper I have done...... the detail... ahem... well I feel proud anyhow..
:)

erm...

But I like this ok? So next time I'm 'in town' and have a bag it will look like this.... maybe....
: )

this & that...

i) badges made to date: 1200....!! at this rate I will have popeye arms...
ii) Graphics International has become Grafik. (note the full stop) and has gone the way of Glamour... Now it (almost) fits in your handbag!

badge-o-rama

Yip! My foray into badge making seems successful... made some for Sophisticated Boom Boom! and they sold out.... (don't worry kids, there's more for next time....)

stick-out skirt...

Going to see my mum and walking past my old school, saw that the mural we had done age 6 or 7 was still on the playground wall (mine is the girl with the stick-out pink skirt all out of scale with the rest of her body!) Funny thing is I can still remember painting it.. I wonder if they still have maypole dancing on Mayday?....

Ache

Actionette practise was particularly energetic Tuesday night - we are going to have to do some serious back warm-ups if we are not to cripple ourselves! heh... Some girls buy Prada shoes, I buy a badge machine.... Expect some nice goldtop related badges to be on sale here soon, or pick up some lovely Actionette related ones at the next Sophisticated Boom Boom! ...

Free!!

Today's the last day of my full time employment..... feel like I've jumped off a high diving board... but in a good way....

: )

Plenty to get on with though - Day 4 of Silkscreen class tomorrow and then The Actionettes are doing a club in a new venue tomorrow night!

sunny weekend

Best gig I've been to in ages: My Computer and Erlend Öye at the ICA on Friday....

First day of silkscreen class on Saturday & it was good - (even if it is a schelp to get to!) like being at college again only with facilities and not 20 different people after one print bed!... will put some stuff up to show you soon...

: )

squeegee

Got confirmation from the silkscreen place to go on their course today... expect some nice new printed things on the site in springtime... yip!