Why don't blackbirds....

..... eat strawberries in September?

( this post will be a little footnote to one or two others posted in the last few days)

re - 'Seasonal Uncertainty'
Our strawberries are cropping again. Last year, the plants produced a large second crop but they did not ripen before the first heavy frost. This year, as more fruits formed, we wondered about lifting some and re-planting the strawberry pots in the greenhouse. Dithering about whether or not this would damage the crop, we ran out of time. The first crop always requires protection, in the form of netting, from the blackbirds. Lifting the netting to pick is tedious and I had been wondering about planting some in baskets in order to get them into the fruit cage - 'ground level' being too full! Weekends away would then pose a watering problem. Now even I can smell these latest strawberries as I pass by en route to the washing line - yet not one has been pecked by birds! Do they have some sort of peculiar dietary aide memoirs of the sort which prompts us not to eat oysters in the wrong months? and if so what harm do 'September-consumed strawberries' do since I don't intend to let them go to waste!

re - 'Serendipity'
A fellow folkster very kindly advertised the free availability of some wool fibres - left overs from producing hair falls. I was delighted when they arrived! Those which have been partly processed into hair falls are felted "ropes" of wool about 1 cm in diameter. Absently fiddling about with them I came up with the idea of using a textile centre to my chunky bangles. The present examples have a rolled fabric core but I plan some based on a center of felted wool. Thank you to Jane of Folksy shop GaiaNoir for the lovely gifts of wool and ideas!

re 'Cataloging"
I spent the latter part of yesterday happily thinking, in an unstructured way, about my 'New Venture'. Today I am just as happily planning, having resisted the impulse to rush in ill-prepared. A shop front will appear during the next few days with a message about the opening date. Items will be loaded in draft and then, hopefully, will be displayed with little additional effort on the date in question.

Now doesn't that sound neat and easy - I  wonder......... Off to stitch a banner - literally!!

Cataloguing

... filing, storing, retrieving - fabric, threads, yarns..... AND products!

I have many, many fabrics. Some by the part roll, others by the metre, some fat quarters and others scraps. Then I also have fabric for recycling - T shirts for rag rugs and rug weaving, cottons for applique, children's much-loved baby clothes for memory quilts etc. Embarking on a new project I open drawers, tip out wicker baskets, reach down prettily coloured boxes, scrabble under my desk for plastic stacking crates; make a cup of tea to revive me; select fabrics and then what? I fold the selected fabrics into a work basket, the phone rings, I respond to an email, and still I have a mountain of fabrics to tidy away. I need a fabric (and other materials) storage and retrieval system. I have tried grouping by colour, fibre, weight, purpose (this has proved the most inefficient for retrieval as designs evolve and I move on!). I have bought pretty baskets, efficient plastic, recycled and pretty cardboard. I have crocheted baskets from plastic bags, re-cycled T shirts and yarns. I have woven boxes. Countless bags have been stitched/appliqueed/embroidered/patchworked - and the result is always the same. A labour-intensive period of 'harvesting' materials and a frustrating, usually partially completed, and tedious, task of re-storing.

I suppose relative simplicity would be found by producing a limited range of items from a limited palette of materials. I'm afraid that Lynwoodcrafts' Design Department (ie my cluttered imagination) doesn't function in that way. I like to shop in the stereotypical 'Aladins' Cave'- a surprise at every turn - variety, novelty.....I'm sure that it is a monumental mistake in marketing terms to imagine that my buyers share my personal shopping preferences. I do hope, however, that, both in decoration and purpose, my shop-browsers find a pleasing variety of items to muse over. A virtual shop is never too full of shoppers - the isles never too crowded and everyone is welcome.

Whilst the storage and retrieval of materials is a problem which my family would certainly like me to solve, I have become more concerned about the miss-match of items in Lynwoodcrafts' Folksy shop. I have filed by 'purpose of item' - brooches, pendants, needlebooks etc. The number of available departments is limited by the system but is perfectly adequate. Or at least it used to be. I felt that a variety of needlework styles - landscape, floral, abstract - using varied techniques (embroidery, felting, applique...) sat happily alongside each other - each benefitting from the contrast.

The addition of cute animal designs has been one variable too many. Popular and receiving many views and generous compliments - they are sprinkled in amongst the other items - a pincushion here and a brooch there. Difficult to find and looking a little lost. I have so many design ideas ready - featuring different characters, a variety of techniques. I would like them to adorn a range of items. All this creativity and the potential number of items which would be fighting for display space require an extension to my shop; the creation of a new department - or in 'Folksy terms' - a new shop.

You are witnessing the birth of a new venture. The name is in my mind - recognizable as being 'of Lynwoodcrafts', a banner and avatar are under consideration and sooo many products are clamouring to be stitched. Progress will be reported over the next few days - you will be the first to know!

Now where on earth have I seen the printed cotton with small sprigs of blue flowers which I last used for  one of Millie Mouse's frocks...........

Seasonal Uncertainty

A trip to Winchester (handy for open day at Southampton University), revealed a strange mixture of over-lapping seasons.

I'm not really one for very large crowds of people, queues, etc (unless at an interesting exhibition - ie craft related!!). Glad to escape from the open day but with only a few hours of daylight left, we found a trail guide to a local nature reserve and put our boots on. The map lead us up onto chalk downs, along one side, and then back along the other, of a gentle ridge. The views, also very gentle, were a pretty mixture of stubble and freshly sown winter crops.

The hedgerows and grassland had been sown with the most glorious mixture of wild flowers, such food for thought for my embroidery. I struggled to find a flower-free, 'bottom-sized' patch of grass on which to sit and admire the view - not wishing to squash any. At this point it would be great to show you some photos -  however, still feeling stressed from the open day, I had committed the dreadful crime of leaving the camera in the van. Both my husband and son did their best with their phones - perhaps they will send me the results later today - but I am sure these won't compare to the results from an SLR. My one consolation is that there was a strong breeze and most of the blooms were dancing merrily - and so likely to look blurred even with a decent camera. The bottoms of the hedgerows and meadows were dressed for summer - a little too breezy for many butterflies, but definitely a lovely summer scene. However, look a little higher up and the bounty of autumn was prevalent. Rosehips, hawthorn berries, sloes (gin beckons!), elderberries, blackberries...... Conkers! Why are horse chestnuts perfectly ripe and waxily shiny on the first weekend of September? I was intending to have a sweet chestnut gathering in October and have a trip to harvest bilberries - so do I need to set out now? A pity, if so, since we don't have a free weekend for a few weeks!

I have listed my first autumn item in my shop - but will also continue with summer themes for a little while longer:

Serendipity

.. a program which I seem to remember as a child, a sort of craft-based magazine program. I think a 'finger-mouse' glove puppet featured in every issue. Painted pebbles and something lovely with drift wood and shells, seem to come to mind. I know something was encapsulated in resin - but can't remember what. The main 'theme' was a re-working of found or tired objects with occasional new materials - or at least, that is my recollection - a little hazy after many years!

A quick google search results in the following definition of serndipity:

"the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for".

So it was with my new purse design. We spent a very enjoyable Bank Holiday weekend in Cardiff- the subject of a future blog. Having unpacked our 'van' in a somewhat random fashion - miscellaneous armful at a time, I was clearing the table of some assorted deposits. One of these was a small jewellery pouch - provided as a complimentary gift wrap with a necklace which my daughter bought for me. Small, soft and closing with drawstrings it is ideal for use over a weekend. Its shape has caught my attention several times this summer - something like a fat garlic bulb with a very wide stem. Absently fiddling with it whilst waiting for Folksy images to load, I loosened the drawstrings and folded the top down. That created a pleasing shape and, since the top was double (rather than a flap), was likely to be secure. Extending the 'neck' gave enough room for an embroidered design. A 'prototype' was stitched and passed around the family. It worked well - one button closing the purse effectively. A slight problem was that so long a 'neck' made it a little difficult for adult hands to select from the contents. The solution was to reduce the underside of the neck. The top portion forming a lining to neaten the reverse of the embroidery. A slit, the width of the 'neck', and a little way below the folding line has been the answer. The purse is deep enough and the opening still folds over - 'simples!' to quote a famous furry character. I have now listed three of these purses and hope you will like them!

Lavender...

..... a time-honoured remedy.

A fragrant herb suitable for culinary and many other household uses.

My first encounters with lavender were whilst playing hide and seek in my Grandmother's garden. She lived in an old cottage built to one side of its plot. It was surrounded on three sides by its garden, but there was no access around the fourth side. There were many places to hide. It was an old cottage and had a building, then a coal store/garden shed/outside loo, which had once been a stable - with a hay loft above. It was possible to run right around this and, timed correctly, this removed the need to hide. If playing with only one 'seeker' it was possible to merely circulate, out of phase with him or her. However, that ploy became a little monotonous. Alternatives were a large clump of bamboo - a little hazardous since the leaves were razor sharp, a hedge cut into a large archway, a small shrubbery, a short hedge enclosing a vedge plot, the front porch - entwined with a quince tree, and lavender bushes. The lavender was particularly useful since it was planted on a 'dead-end' path behind the cottage. It was a 'point of no return' - one either hid successfully or was captured. There was no possibility of worming on my tummy to other cover, or of making a run for it undetected. The lavender bushes were very large and  hosted a large and busy community of bees and hoverflies. They filled the senses. Soft and tickly to the touch, fragrant, noisy with the buzz of insects, beautiful to look at - and, as I discovered in later years, very tasty. It was almost a 'companion planting' principle. I 'planted' myself in the lavender and protected by the insects, which my sister feared, I remained hidden - or at least if some part of me should become visible she pretended not to notice in order not to need to get too close!

Some years ago a friend of ours bought us a gift of a fabric bag filled with 'Herbes de Provence' and attractively tied with a ribbon. We stored it carefully and it lasted for some time making a characteristic addition to many soups and stews. When it was eventually finished we tried many times to replace it, but always found our new supply lacking in something. We eventually realised that the lavender was missing from our alternatives.

I have many aromatherapy oils. The ones which I most frequently replenish are tea tree and lavender. Of these we find the lavender to have the more varied use. In checking my reference books before writing this I find that it may be infused as a tea (I'm off to raid our very small, juvenile bush as soon as I click 'Publish'). Its many uses center aound its calming and antiseptic properties. Strange it is that a plant which, when growing, attracts so many insects, and yet in dried form is an effective insect repellant. Successfully warding off, amongst other wee beasties, clothes moths - an animal to which I show very little mercy!

This is my latest lavender bag to be listed on Folksy:

Millie changed her frock and this one was added to my shop at WowThankYou:

Idea Soup.....

... and the ingredients?

In my case, the ingredients include a keen interest in acquiring new craft skills - predominantly those relating to textile crafts ('Jack of all trades and master of...' comes to mind - but I get by). A firm belief that I am not an artist, have no artistic traits/skills/tendencies and yet I can 'cook up' a good idea from the ingredients to hand. An unshakable tendency to hoard fabric(new and 'recyclable')/yarns/beads/threads.... A good library of craft books and magazines, including a lovely set of vintage 30s,40s,50s needlework magazines and a bound set of 'Golden Hands'. I learn techniques, pick up hints/tips/tricks but absolutely and rigorously observe all copyrights. I am guided by a firm belief in Fair Trade principles. For some reason, a love of tiny things and miniaturisation has always been quite central to my interests. I think this may have been born of limited pocket money and shortage of materials, as a child, coupled with some favourite baby dolls which were only about 6 inches tall and for whom I fashioned many wardrobes!

Many of the other influences are even less tangible. I have always had an interest in wildlife and the countryside, in the heritage and traditions of craft skills, in growing our own fruit and veg, in the effects of colour and texture on my mood. (The ways in which certain combinations can instantly and unexpectedly unlock archived memory files - causing recollections to flood out constantly causes fascination).

Why it is that the ingredients for my soup give rise to certain broths or creamy creations and not others I have no idea. Many of the ingredients in my store cupboard are personal and unique and are only in my possession. The exact combination of ingredients in that pantry is entirely unique - much of it based upon life's experiences.

I shall try to give you an idea of the ingredients selected for today's concoction. The aforementioned fascination with things miniature, a stock of printed cotton fabrics, a (possibly) rather strange imagination, an undeniable love of 'cute' themes - which I have tried to hide (unsuccessfully). The importance of family life and precious recollections of the many milestones along the way. Lastly, I think, a family of little robins. Published in a women's weekly magazine, each chapter in their life story was only a couple of paragraphs, together with a single illustration. Every Sunday my father cooked breakfast and mum had a 'lie in'. Difficult to achieve with a young family, her solution was to let my sister and I scramble into bed with her and listen to the latest escapades of Rowly and Rowena robin. Brief in written detail, most of their family antics were hugely supplemented by our imaginations.

My imagination, coached by the author of 'the Robin Family', has now embarked on the textile illustrations of the lives of Millie Mouse and friends. Your imagination will need to supply all the details. Today's offering is 'Isobel's First Day at School':

Millie Mouse and Friends

..... a recurring theme!

I have revisited my poppy designs many times - using different materials and techniques. Equally, the cheerful daisy motifs which I embroider have appeared on many different items in a myriad of colours. The  next theme to be re-visited is ....... mice.

As a young child, an elderly friend of may parents, who called on us once or twice a year, once came with a lovely little gift from the church fete - two little mice! About three inches tall, beautifully dressed, with little felt heads and tiny leather hands and feet, they were treasured. My father used to come in for lunch ( we lived next door to his business). He used my building bricks (a fore-runner of 'Duplo') to build houses - the mice were dropped in before the last roof brick was put in place. I would then peer at them through the windows. Some years later I looked for them to no avail - they seemed to be lost!

I played about with scraps of felt and fabric and made a pattern for my own version. A felt head and a little cylindrical body, male and female mice (including a bride and groom) were carefully dressed and given little accessories - baskets of flowers etc. They sold well as a fund-raiser at the school fair. This success in spite of their 'arms'. Now called 'chenille strips' - in my day, 'pipe cleaners'. I was unable to find suitable grey ones and my poor little mice had rather strange anaemic-looking white arms. Some were fortunate to have sleeves - fiddly to sew but they looked much better!

A few years ago I had the task of clearing my mother's house. A joyous discovery was made! In the dresser  was a collection of novelty egg cups - Noddy and Big Ears (complete with hats), a panda, some strange looking chickens... I remembered all of these and finding them was quite a reward for plodding through a tedious task. Next to them on the shelf, some coloured felt items turned out to be egg cosies - several made by my sister as a child. One of the cosies seemed a little 'rounded'. Too large a 'bump' for a spider, but, unable to imagine what might lurk inside, I peered in cautiously to find...two lovely little mice. Missing for more than forty years - but perfectly safe.

Millie Mouse and her friends are the products of my fabric store, nimble fingers and an imagination coloured at an early age by two little mice! I hope you enjoy them.