Hello there, I hope that you are all well and happy.

I have had a very nice week of stitchy craftyness finishing off lots of the things I started last week. Have realised I forgot to take pics of all the lovely gift bags that I have stitched before I packed everything in the bag for the Craft Fair (doh!) so I will have to get them out and do a photo shoot when we have some light.

My week has been rounded off with an excellent weekend with my lovely friend Kerry (from the re-enactment group) who came to stay for the express purpose of having an ornie making weekend and we have had a wonderful time. She arrived with lots of lovely fabric and ribbons for me as she has been decluttering her stash and gave me all sorts of great stuff.

Kerry spent the time designing and making her own set of beautiful tree ornies, 3 of which are pictured below. It was very nice to work with her as our styles are very different, she is a lot more minimalist than I am in terms of what she wanted as her house is very different to mine in terms of colour schemes and decor.

It is not obvious from the pic below but her fabric has a very subtle swirl in it which looks lovely with her tree design. She is very precise in her work and has great attention to detail. The medieval costume she makes is wonderful, she hand beads everything and searches out jewels and embellishments for her headdresses then paints them to get them all to match.

So we have had a very, very nice time drinking tea, crafting, catching up  and watching a film last night (X Men First Class, excellent movie – second time I have seen it but first for Kerry, well worth watching though sadly only 20 seconds of Hugh Jackman in it which I had forgotten!) I also taught Kerry to cross stitch and she made a start on a little ornie  while watching the film. It was a very happy evening, it is lovely to have friends who are into the same things that I am!

The stock for the Craft Fair in 2 weeks time is looking good, was a bit worried that I wouldn’t have time to make enough due to the general busyness of everything else but should have about 50 items in total. I have gift bags, gift stockings (small to hang on the tree for gifts of money), stocking ornies, heart ornies, baubles and pine cones and a few of the patchwork tree kits that I didn’t sell last year (if I can remember where I filed them!).

I have once again take a very organic approach to the design process which consists of getting my stash of fabric out and just seeing what I like, what goes with what and then going with the flow. I find that works better for me than planning everything in advance as then I end up with some really good combinations of fabrics.I also find that buying fabric over the years means that you have the joy of ‘rediscovering’  it later on at the bottom of the stash. I have finally used up some fabric I have had for at least 4 years in one of my bag sets and am very pleased with the results.

And as always anything that doesn’t sell can be used for the Craft Fair the following week for the Women’s Institute or be kept by me.There were many moments this afternoon when I said, ‘oh this one is too pretty to sell, I need to keep it’ , so if they don’t sell I won’t be too sad.

It was also very useful having Kerry as a second opinion on which fabrics went together and we designed some gorgeous baubles together this afternoon which I will take pics of when it is light ( tis dark at around 3.30 pm round here these days!).I am particularly keen on the top left bauble in this pic below, using some of this year’s Makower ‘Joyful’ fabric obtained from the Malvern Quilt Show earlier in the year.

All in all a lovely week, I do hope that you have been having similar fun in what you have been doing this week and have a very nice week ahead. I have graduation this week which is one of my favourite times of the year when I will be donning the gown and mortar board to celebrate the success of all of my lovely students from last year. It is a very special day for me as well as for them when I hear more about their new jobs and get to meet some of their families as well and I love it!

Also cannot believe that sometime next year I will get to attend Ellie’s graduation ceremony, it does not seem possible that she will be finishing 3 years at Uni next year. She is currently undertaking her third year placement at the National Trust Tudor house in Worcester she worked at last year , The Greyfriars, and finding out more about the last owner who was an avid textile collector. She has access to her archives of research which sounds amazing.

So have a lovely time until next week, thanks as always for visiting.