Whine and a moan

It is time for a little whine and a moan.  I lost my voice last Tuesday- mid  class it went from singing and talking to whispering in 10 minutes.  The strangest experience, I have lost my voice before but not without warning.  It was the last class of the morning and I thought I would rest up and it would return. Hmm, Sunday, running a temperature, a mountain of tissues and wondering about how next week will be.  Two very welcome parcels this week though.  I did a fabric swap with Charise- what lovelies she sent, vintage in there as well as modern.  I can only fantasise  about her great her fabric stash is.

I have got to know Charise via Flickr and admiring her creations...take a minute to look at this.  See what I mean!   Thankyou Charise!

I was also lucky enough to win a giveaway at Wynn's ZakkaArt blog.  She has recently posted a tutorial for a lovely patchwork bag- see the links here.  A beautiful stack of 4 fat quarters in pretty colours, gorgeous and soft.  Thankyou Wynn!

So I am sniffing, snuffling and croaking away.  Other crappy things this week: my phone broke- life without my Blackberry is sadly a bit hard, there is a magic man nearby who is fixing it for a small fee, hoepfully back by Thursday.  The mouse on my computer bust, and my laser printer packed up too.    My head has not been up to speed either- I tried to dial my own phone number today, and numerous pans have been burnt, water left on etc.  A costly week.

Normal service will be resumed soon.  I was meant to be seeing Ben Howard play tonight, too poorly to go, I've sold my tickets and made someone else and her daughter very happy, so I'll leave you with this and stop the whinge.  I'll be better soon and  I will try and feel 'gracious' too.

Catch Ups and Shout Outs

 A bit of blog house keeping.  I have been meaning to mention this UK website- a great idea for selling fabric small scale- a little destash perhaps, and bigger scale if you have lots to sell!  The brain child of Emma Thomsen from Its All About the Fabric a great blog full of handy links.  The Fabric Market Place works a bit like Etsy, you register to buy and you can use the same details to register as a seller too if you have sewing related goodies to sell.  It is a great idea, I love Etsy but there is so much on it that you can drown in the results when you are buying or selling, this is so specific, I hope it catches on,  I have put a few bits on to see how it goes.  

I've just had a quick look at the categories- sewing machines, handmade makes, vintage- it just needs a few more people to go over and visit and add it to their bookmarks!  Emma is really helpful with any lisiting queries so if you want to dip your toe in the online selling or buying water, give her a try.  Her email is on her blog.

I have done a couple of Farmer's Wife blocks.  I tend to do these inbetween other projects as a bit of sewing rest and recuperation.  I am still quite new to traditional blocks so I am interested to see how more experienced sewing hands approach these.  Ayumi told me about Lori's blog- Bee in My Bonnet, what a great place to visit and Lori has some great tutorials for some of the Farmer's wife blocks.

80 Single Wedding Star

54 Kitchen Toolbox

couldn't resist the woodgrain (Joel Dewberry)  fabric here!

Plans

I have plans for this, I love to wear pink and green together but have not sewn this combination and it is one of my favourites and the easiest way for me to use green.

There are some colours that despite liking them I do not turn to often and green is a big one.  I like to push myself a little so this project is about going to the fabrics that get overlooked as I rush for the red and turquoise.

These colours I find a lot easier.  This sunny mix contains my plans for Marit's bee block  for Ringo Pie.  It was the longest day yesterday, officially the start of the summer (it is raining naturally).  My favourite thing about summer is light- there is so much more of it and for longer,  for my block I plan a big round sun!

Are there colours you like but don't use?  Do share!

Honesty

Last April my sewing space looked like this:

And now, unpimped and untidied it looks like this!

I thought I would show the 360 degree experience so this is the other side of the room, I will say some of those blue drawers are full of musical instruments, shakers, bells etc for the day job- it is not all fabric.

Do you like the sophisticated additional cutting area?  Art board and the floor, nice.  I have just put a table in the lean to next door as cutting on the floor is not a great idea.  You can see  I am organised but not tidy.

And the computer is where I spend a fair amount of time.

 Sad to say I love my Imac.

There is also a chaise longue with Lottie sitting on it and a piano.   And how big is this palatial space? Eleven and a half foot by eleven and a half foot!  Cosy is how an estate agent would describe our little house.

So that is my work space, no airbrushing.  

Want some deeper honesty?  Have a read of Amy's post, there is controversy and the comments will be multiplying.

Oh and a quick request.  I just joined twitter, I have no real idea how it works, I joined to get a big discount off a tea order (very topical once you read Amy's post) so I have no idea I am going to tweet or read tweets but if you are on it and use it regularly at least it will be a start for me, I am @verykb

And did you notice this but a lot smaller in the left corner of the address bar?  I guess you can't see it in reader, you'll have to click the post to go to the page.  I just found out that these are called Favicons.  The blogger favicon gadget failed to work but you can add one on blogger  using the help here- have a pic ready and it needs to be square!  Good luck with that x

Ringo Pie May Block

May is Ayumi's month in The Ringo Pie bee and she made a great inspiration mosaic- click here to see, the coloured pencils caught my eye straightaway and the germ of an idea started to grow.  And then Ayumi made this block, which is simply stunning!

All those colour colur envelopes and prints and some very cute fabric choices.  Just wonderful!  So I had to wait a while to recover from having seen this before I  started mine!

I wanted to do a colour wheel with coloured pencils but I didn't want rainbow order, I fancied a scrappy mix of vintage and new fabrics and more random colours to complement Ayumi's block.  I had to work out the logistics of the pencils first.  Each tip is foundation pieced on to stabiliser- I prefer this to paper.   Foundation piecing is very accurate for little fiddly things like this when the right shape is vital.

Here they all are in their wheel  doodling and writing Ayumi's name.  

She choose a great theme- I had other ideas about letter paper sets and stamps and could've made a whole quilt of blocks.  Each month in Ringo Pie is an education- sometimes the pleasure and pain of each block are a little close together and it was definitely a pain piecing that inner circle as it is on the small side,  but the themes have had so much potential and seeing the designs that the other bee members come up with has been amazing and constantly pushes us all creatively, it is always exciting!

North South Divide

This seems a slightly parochial subject, but even in a small country like the UK there are big differences between the North and South.  I live in the Southwest, pretty, hilly, not many people although I am in a busy urban lite bit, and we just returned form a visit to Damian's parents who are in the Northwest, big flat, lots of people.   The distance between us is about 260 miles. Back in the Victorian hey day of industry, the cotton mills were based in the North and even now fabric is easy to come by and at times unbelievably cheap.  Turquoise linen £2 per metre at the market, lovely soft quality too.

The shot green linen- one thread is pistachio green, the other amber golden brown is from Abakhans.   A huge great length for £6- UK sewers will appreciate the bargain of this purchase. I have mentioned Abakhans before, the website experience is not the same as being in in their bricks and mortar shop.  Big wire baskets of random craft fabrics meet you as you walk in the doors and you buy by weight or length.  There are lots of old Moda fabrics, other fabric companies odds and ends and seconds.   I found a big piece of green houndstooth check from  one of my favourite Moda ranges 1974  by Urban Chiks as well as a bit of Chloe's closet and a great little print by Sharon Kessler for Vera Bradley (both new names to me) but I love the pattern.  I have plans for the first two for my partner's little clutch pouch in Pretty Little Pouch Swap on Flickr

I couldn't resist these measuring cups- not in Abakhans but a garden centre/ lifestyle store/ cook shop kinda place.  I love nesting things although strangely not Russian dolls.

And these  cute tape measures were in Hobby craft, I was stocking up on Needle grip it pads and these were at the till, one for me, one for my partner.

Enjoying the new blog look?  Cleaner, fresher and about as restrained as I can get.  I struggled not to hang a million bits and pieces on the baker's twine but I try to remember less is more and stuff generally looks better that way, being selective, paring down, is all to the good.

Car boot Sale Explained

I have been asked by blog readers outside the UK what is a car boot sale?  So here is my explanation.  I arrive 7.00am Sunday mornings and most sellers are setting up or, on a sunny day like today, still arriving.  This location is a livestock market and 'park and ride scheme' car park out of town so it is big.

Each stall holder pays for the stall, it ranges from £7 for a car up to £15 for a trader.  The money is split between the council and local charities.  The charities go into a draw and when it is their week they provide volunteers who organise the parking and collect the money.  

If you arrive early you can find the best bargains.  Straightaway I see this, 

 I already have a version of this but with a bigger cabinet and more drawers, otherwise I would be tempted.  To be honest I was tempted with this one but I do not have the space!

Most of the stalls look like this.  People sell their kid's stuff, clothes, household bits and pieces etc.

There are traders too.  This is a German bakery and I get bread here most weeks.  They have a great selection and regularly sell out.

There are a lot of plant sellers, some are individuals with green fingers and enough surplus of plants, fruit or veg to sell, some are traders who are there every week.  I buy my plants here rather than the DIY superstore places.  The sellers have lots of expertise and are willing to share it, and the prices are cheap. 

This was a whole trailer of rhubarb!  The seller comes every year and sells produce he has grown, runner beans, chard, apples.  It is the first time I have seen him in a while.

This is where I get many of my fabric finds, the rag stall.  It is a mixture of household linens- duvets, curtains etc on the floor and clothes on board tables either side.  There is a big pile of house clearance boxes to rummage in too.  At 7.50 am, a crowd of regulars (including me) stand around this pile and around the clothes tables until the stall holder rings the bell at 8.00 am and then it is a crazy frenzy of mad fabric obsessed women. He started early this week, I got there just in time!  This is the remains after we all dived in and pulled out the good stuff!  

I talked to the lady who had this stuffed cat sitting on her car.  She said her husband always put it out for good luck.  She told me the story of a women whom she met a couple  of months ago who wanted to get pregnant and asked to touch the cat for good luck.  A few weeks later she came back pregnant!

There were a lot of sewing machines today, I must have seen ten as I walked round.

The seller on this stall is a lovely lady and I always stop and chat with her.  She has an incredible supply of vintage buttons and sewing notions.  I bought some buttons from her today- you'll see those later.

There are other random stalls, this one sold bikes, car repair manuals and lawn mowers.

There are pretty vintage style stalls too.  These are nice to look at but often expensive.

After a slow start, I did have bumper finds.  A massive stack of vintage cotton sheets- some unused and all in excellent condition.  They were from the rag stall.

I love these pretty tea plates, there were a little stack for 50p, they match nicely with the linens as well, should I want to eat cake in bed.

This was a cute little tin with its cocktail motif.

The buttons came from the stall you saw earlier and the cotton tape I found for 20p at another stall.

The lady showed me these buttons a couple of weeks ago and I had to buy them today- they reminded me of ducks!  The effect is lost once the stitch is in to hold them on but I probably won't use them, I like them like this and they are very tactile too.

So now I hope you are better informed!  This is a big boot sale and buyers and sellers drive from all around to come.  I am lucky, I live 10 minutes drive from it.  We thought about moving house a while back and this was seriously one of my considerations for staying!   As I come so often it is nice to get to know regular stall holders.  It is a friendly, quirky place- lots of families, dogs, even a ferret on a lead has been seen on some weeks.  And I always find something, a great place for a bargain!

Sunday

Up early for the carboot sale as usual.  Made a sweet dough for Cinnamon buns before I left the house, recipe courtesy of Megan.  We did a swap recently and she sent me this recipe, amongst other very lovely things.  I'll share more when my parcel to her arrives, but for the moment, just the baking.

I have never made so much dough and so many buns.  Cinnamon and brown sugar...  

and cinnamon, raisin and brown sugar.  I took these to share with Kathy and James, friends round the corner, we had coffee and buns, wow it was a great recipe.  Kathy is from USA and these reminded her of home.

Our dogs played, Lula organised playmobil and we chatted and ate and drank.  They had great finds at the carboot this morning, we squeezed three adults a G plan coffee table, G plan cupboard, a 2 shelf bookcase, a box of plates, bowls and cups, and  there was still room for my finds as well in the car.

Great aprons, I will keep one and the rest will go on sale in my Etsy shop, eventually.  I need to have them just a little while.  I loved the print on this tea towel,

and this apron.

and now even my scraps, threads and tissues have a pretty bin.

And these, although the pieces are small, were the best find.

Tomorrow work, worries, rushing around, but there is still some Sunday left x Enjoy.