Of remnants and doilies

Perhaps, still being fairly youngish (32 this weekend) I should be spending my Saturday nights out with my friends, pretending to have fun in crowded bars and checking my watch to see whether it's decently late enough to make my excuses and go home. Instead, I find myself watching Strictly..., three glasses in to a bottle of prosecco and making new cushion covers. And, by golly, am I proud of these.

Most of the fabric came from the Katherine House Hospice charity shop in Banbury market place. They have two things that put them a cut above many of the charity shops around here: a fabric remnants bin and a Random Crochet Doily Bin. Random Crochet Doily Bin is my favourite place to go rummaging and most of the bits I bought have been hand dyed and stitched to these cushions. I honestly didn't think they would turn out any good so I am really surprised. Now my bed is a lovely picturesque and comfy space to lay and read my books and listen to the thumping bass coming from the flat above, grumbling like the crotchety old spinster I am surely becoming.

Autumn mists and a bit more nesting

Yesterday was exactly the kind of day I like. Misty, dark and damp and perfect for doing nothing except maybe reading a book and grabbing a pile of blankets to hide under. However, I went on a pilgrimage to find the perfect coffee table at Barn Antiques which is truly a place I love. I'm glad I did venture out, mainly because I managed to take these pictures on the way home. I got mum to stop the car whilst I ran out and stood in the middle of the road with my camera. The fog descended very quickly and, within 3 minutes, was gone again. I have a small canvas waiting to be used and I thought these photos would be great source material.

And the coffee table? Well, you know when you have an idea in your head of exactly the thing you want and you can never find it? Not so here, I could have spent a fortune on other lovely bits of furniture too, but this table is perfect in every way.

Season of mists and mellow melancholy

Sorry I have been away a while. Since starting this blog I have had a couple of unscheduled breaks from it because sometimes I find I have very little to say. Or I stop thinking that what I have to say is very interesting. One or the other.

Since the show went up (and came down again, yesterday, very sad) I have found that I don't want to start anything else just yet. There are a few projects and ideas bubbling away under the surface but I have given myself permission to not do anything this autumn other than go to work, teach my classes (apples and onions this week), nest, enjoy being around my lovely family and maybe bake a few things. I made rye bread on Wednesday. Hilarious. Lobbed deftly it could kill someone.

I'm sat here at the moment staring at the rain and feeling a bit sad about being single. I'm not one of those Bridget Jones types (really) who constantly whinge about not having a boyfriend but at this time of year I seem to miss the ex the most. Right about now we would be getting excited because the pub in our village has just lit its first fire of the season, praying for a good frost so we could legitimately light ours, snuggling up to watch telly on a Sunday night and planning crisp smokey walks to pick up leaves and conkers and spot animal tracks. Of course I need to remember that there is also a real possibility we would instead be having an argument of epic proportions about money and his lack of commitment etc. Rose tinted glasses and all that.

Weekend frivolity

I am pretty sure that for the whole of my life so far my poor mother has dreaded my tendency towards boredom. As I have grown older I have found productive ways to fill my time; little projects here and there, painting, generally making a mess, but, even now, in my early thirties, Mum still gets the occasional phone call: "it's my day off tomorrow, shall we go out somewhere nice?"

Friday saw us traipsing off to Oxford where I purchased a small set of seasonal candles from Culpeper and some poppy seed heads. I love seed heads and I love the Covered Market in Oxford where you can find all sorts of wonderful things. At Christmas the butcher hangs out whole deer carcasses and rabbits and pigs and I love it! I know that sounds terribly blood thirsty and carnivorous but it does feel so festive and Dickensian.

I also have home grown tomatoes ready for brushetta this evening and two vintage pillow cases purchased from a car boot on Sunday. I don't usually go in for second hand bed linen but these were so lovely and look and feel so old and of such good quality that I couldn't resist. The lady on the stall had a remarkable array of goodies; glass bottles of rose scented linen water, old perfume bottles and original oil paintings of small french villages. I go to enough car boots with Mum to know that these kinds of stalls are few and far between, it makes it worth wading through all that Primark and Matalan crap.

Term starts next week and I still have a huge amount of prep to do for my classes but for now I'm just happy snuggling into my sofa with my candles burning and a good book- there are two on the go at the moment depending on my mood Inkheart by Cornelia Funke and Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel.

The show is up!

Below is a photograph of the fabulous work done by members of the Cherwell Valley Embroiderer's Guild at a workshop I taught on Saturday. Despite having a show to organise, mount, frame and put up, I was more frightened by teaching a workshop out of my normal surroundings than of finishing my exhibition! I need not have worried though, it was a great day and thankfully the weather was good for drying pieces of printed fabric and paper.



Here are some images taken of the gallery space at the Mill with my work on the wall. Just over a year ago when I planned the show and booked the slot it felt like a really big deal. Today, however, I just feel a bit deflated. I think this might be tiredness talking though. Tomorrow is the private view so just a little bit more to do and then I can really relax and take it all in. On Friday I plan to take myself off window shopping somewhere nice for things for the flat; I have been too busy painting and prepping work to even think about nesting. I came home on Monday night and it felt so empty with all my paintings gone! It's really a bit too big for just one person to be honest, I need to make it feel a bit cosier some how.