Merry Christmas!!

I wish you all a peaceful Christmas x x x Lorna

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D.U.M.B.O

It is so cold, wet and windy here in London, that I have decided to perk myself up by looking back at part of our trip to New York this summer. One day we walked the full length of 'The Highline' and discovered this cooling water feature, perfect on a warm summer's day as our feet were tired from pounding the streets!

One of the highlights of this trip was visiting the offices of Etsy situated in downtown Brooklyn in a place called Dumbo - Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass. A group of us were invited to their weekly workers lunch, quite a big affair as I think there are over two hundred people working there! It took us a while to get in as everyone was at a meeting, luckily the lovely receptionist above heard us knocking at the door and came to our rescue!

We ate our lunch in a cosy relaxing room decked out with handcrafted good galore behind these curtains (picture above). Everyone was really friendly and happy to talk about Etsy and their work. After lunch we were taken on a tour which included the open plan offices, meeting rooms, film - makers office, telephone booth.....every space big and tiny seemed to have some activity going on it, finally we were taken up to the 'Etsy Labs' where members can use the art and craft facilities.

The lab is equipped with letterpress 

and screen printing machines,

materials and equipment to inspire and excite...

And look at this lovely sewing machine and display of threads!

 They also have a photobooth machine in the lab for members to use, together with a basket full of dressing up regalia to play with. What fun! Here we are - there were actually five of us crammed into that tiny space!

Thanks for inviting us over Tara!

Rejects?? Nooooooooooo!

I told my eldest girl (now a woman!) that I was having a sort out at my studio and was going to unstuff the toys that no one would ever want to have, a kind of recycling. She was horrified and reminded me that there was no such thing as a reject - mum, don't you remember the Raggy Dolls?! Well shame on me, I had infact for a brief moment of blind madness forgotten that tv cartoon series from our daughters' childhood which had a great theme tune, and by the magic of You Tube and so that I will never forget, here is 'The Raggy Dolls'....

And if you'd like to sing along here are the words..........

Opening theme tune lyrics:
It’s not much of a life when you’re just a pretty face,
Just to be whoever you are is no disgrace,
Don’t be scared if you don’t fit in…
Look who’s in the reject bin!
It’s the Raggy Dolls (Raggy Dolls!),
Raggy Dolls (Raggy Dolls!),
Dolls like you and me,
Raggy Dolls (Raggy Dolls!),
Raggy Dolls (Raggy Dolls!)
Made imperfectly!
So if you got a bump on your nose or a lump on your toes, do not despair,
Be like the Raggy Dolls, and say I just don’t care,
‘Cause Raggy Dolls (Raggy Dolls!),
Raggy Dolls (Raggy Dolls!),
Are happy just to be,
Raggy Dolls, Raggy Dolls,
Dolls like you and me!

Closing theme tune lyrics:
It’s not much of a life when you’re just a pretty face,
Just to be whoever you are is no disgrace,
Look around and you will find,
People of every kind!
Like the Raggy Dolls (Raggy Dolls!),
Raggy Dolls (Raggy Dolls!),
Dolls like you and me,
Raggy Dolls (Raggy Dolls!),
Raggy Dolls made imperfectly,
So if you’re not at ease with your knobbly knees and your fingers are all thumbs,
Stand on your two left feet and join our raggy doll chums!
‘Cause raggy dolls, raggy dolls
Are happy just to be,
Raggy dolls, raggy dolls,
Dolls like you and me!

And waiting at my studio is a big bag full of 'Sad Sacks, Hi-Fis, Lucys, Claudes, Back-To-Fronts, Ragamuffins........... which like all other toys I'm told, come to life when you leave the room!

Tabby Cat Meeow

I've had some lovely tweed fabric sitting on one of my shelves for yonks. I thought it would be purrfect for making tabby cats and kittens out of - here they are......

Kitten Meeow!

Today I made this kitten version of the Cat Meeow that I created recently. It fits snuggly in my hand, infact it could be a great stress buster if you don't mind strangling kittens! It's the first attempt so I'll probably make a one or two more variations until I'm happy with the design. Below are some of the embroidery yarns that I use on my toys, found in charity shops over the years - I love the band designs.

Bernina Bonanza!

Well, I think I've found the perfect sewing machine for sewing fiddly denim items with - hooray!! And here it is sitting between my other two Bernina Lovelies until I find a suitable resting place for it that is. (It's a Bernina 700).

Cat Attack

.....some feline friends for you to purrrloin a peek!(?)

Cat Meeow!

Here's my latest creation, a cat to add to the menagerie!

Finished!!!!

I forgot to post this photograph of the attic quilt in it's final resting place. I think it will be a while before I make another one!

Down To Margate....

Last week me and The Other Half visited Margate. One of my favourite artists Alex Katz has an exhibition of work showing there at the Turner Contemporary up until January 2013.

(Turner Contemporary)

It's a great show and well worth going out of your way for. The show incorporates a collection of Alex Katz's paintings from the 1950's to the present day. Within the show are a collection of films, one of them 20 minutes long and is of Alex painting on quite a large scale, this is accompanied by a soundtrack by his friend Meredith Monk. We sat mesmerised watching the maestro at work, he made it look so fluid, so simple, it was beautiful to see!

We also walked around the old town where we found a nice vintage clothing shop called 'Madam Popoff Vintage', I bought the above fabric - a pair of curtains from the 1970's. I think I might run up a few dachshund draft excluders from it....

Rewind Wool

I knitted up this jumper using 'vintage' wool. Judging by the colour and the Woolworth's Winfield logo of yore, I guess this yarn dates back to the 1970's........?

Manchester News

A while back we went up to Manchester (the other half taking part in a group show - see here). As always I looked out for haberdashery/wool shops and he looked out for vinyl record shops, which we found, incredibly on the same street only a few doors apart from each other!

 My find is on two exciting levels, the place is crammed with all types of fabrics, buttons, trimmings, patterns wool you name it.

In one section the fabric was sold by the kilo as you can see above in a rainbow of colours...

  and in my favourites denim and.....

and corduroy..... a seamstresses delight!

Daddy Long Legs

Here's another photo for The Rouges Gallery. Meet Daddy Long Legs, the new feline addition to my friend Bev's family.

Emily Found A Thing

If you live in the East Midlands why not pop around to Rachel and Jim Grevatte's 'Emily Found A Thing' a new gallery showcasing ......'hand made one-off treasures for the home. Find an inspiring mix of unique and playful pieces designed and crafted from repurposed materials by the most ingenious British makers and creative recyclers.'

Thursday 4th October - celebratory opening between 6-9pm.

At:

Wymondham Windmill

Butt Lane

Wymondham

Leicestershire

LE14 2BU

You might spot some of my creations!

Edging Towards The Finish

The last step to finishing was to edge the quilt, wasn't sure at first what to use but then of course realised that it had to be denim!

OMG!!! I've finished it....YAY!!!!

Nearly There!

      
        I stitched all the blocks together....

then added the borders..............

Just a few buttons to sew on......

Patch It Up

I'm determined to finish the quilt that I've been working on all year this week! I over-estimated how many logcabin blocks I'd need to piece together, mainly because I used a narrower seam than I'd planned thus making the blocks much bigger, so instead of 100 blocks, I've made up 80 blocks and will have striped borders at the top and bottom edges to add a little bit of extra length.

These pictures show the border that I'll be using...

New York, New York!!!

Just back from a week long visit to New York. As always we packed in loads of sight seeing, art exhibitions and caught up with friends. The main reason for the trip was for the other half's show at the Sohotel Art Space which as always was fabulous - well done that man! I will be posting more photos of our adventures in the very near future as I gradually get back into my routine, which is going to involve more walking! We walked across two bridges this visit, the Williamsburgh and the Manhattan added to the Brooklyn Bridge we moseyed across a few years back. Wherever I go on my travels I always try to seek out haberdashery/ wool shops. This time I made a beeline for a shop called Purl Soho which satisfied all of my fabric and wool stroking tendencies as well as bombarding my eyes with a multitude of gorgeous colours and prints - ahhh bliss! I think I better go and lie down now, feeling woosey.......

I'm Nowt Without My Snout!

I was quite happy with my latest long legged bear design but thought that maybe a snout might give it more of a 'bear' look. It took a few attempts, but I think I'm nearly there now....have a lovely weekend!!!

Stamp Happy!

I had such a good time this morning. I was playing like a child with this great printing set! I re-cut my old bear head out of a rubber and arranged some tiny little rubber letters to create a new stamp for my goods.....

Happy in Hastings!

Our summer holiday finally came to an end at the weekend. Me and the other half spent an afternoon in Hastings looking at shops old and new. I always like to pop into 'Made In Hastings' where I couldn't resist taking a photo of this cute kitten on a tambourine by artist Claire Fletcher. I also bought a lovely pair of soft and warm socks in preparation for cooler days in my studio!

We'd been looking forward to a very special treat of lunch at 'Hendy's Home Store' and we were not in the least bit disappointed! We both tucked into this delicious sea bass cooked by supremo chef Alastair Hendy. The whole experience was delightful - from wandering through the home store which is full of useful but pleasing to the eye utilitarian household items all arranged beautifully in a setting that takes you back to another time to sharing delicious freshly cooked food .....tucked away at the back of the shop. We're hoping to go back in winter time when they'll have open peat burning fires!

And much later that evening our youngest daughter cooked  - a scrumptious Thai green curry for us! (we had to have a small plates because we were still full from our lunch!). What a great day!

Attack on the Quilt in the Attic!

Big apologies for the very poor quality of my mobile phone photographs of late............

Progress Report: I'm already swearing that I'll never make a quilt again!!! But I've gone past the half way point - I've sewn 70 blocks so far leaving 30 to go! I better get in front of that Bernina and get down to some serious stitching ....... Thank goodness for BBC Radio 6 and snacks!!!!!