the patchwork dress

my favourite thing...

this weekend was

firstly the money box for very honest small folk, and the expression on the frog. Does he look honest or guilty?

all about the fair...

It was fairly quiet at the fair this weekend, but what a beautiful location. We had a stall in a stall - literally an old stable...

...that's us there in the middle. My friend Suzanne's tweed pegbags on display, (her stuff looked great by the way) and the edge of my table just inside the door. So if you couldn't make it along, come inside and I'll show you my wares..

We had a lot of fun designing and arranging our tables. (I'll do a separate post on that this week, hopefully).

...there's some sage for spaceclearing there, one of my favourite cards with the hens on, and a glimpse of a large patchwork map picture in the background.

I'm just starting to make some birds - these are my first attempts at Soulbirds - yet to decide if they should have ribbon to hang by or just be..?

...and that's the recycled card packs on the left - which seem to be going down quite well!

luck of the irish...

This has just been such a busy time, but finishing up now for the fair tomorrow.

So busy that I hadn't time to think about or make a table cover, so crossed my fingers and went to Oxfam. The most amazing find - a damask linen table cover for £2.99! Again it looks like it had never been used, only a little grubby in the folds. So I took it home. I'm really beginning to love that shop.

I noticed it had little clovers all over it, but when opened up discovered this wonderful old sticker
and that it is Irish Linen with the word 'shamrock' embossed on one of the ends.

Now I really feel like I've got the luck of the Irish with me for tomorrow! Wish me luck!

a fine weekend

...to stay indoors getting stuff together for the craft fair next weekend.

but stayed out long enough to get a picture of these amazing poppies... just after the rain the grass seems so green!

...and also this serendipitous find. I was thinking of displaying my goods in one of those Ikea chests, as I have a couple - which I would need to empty out to use, when I saw this

for sale in the local charity shop for only £4. I turned round and it was just sitting on the floor behind me as if it had been waiting with my name on it! It looks brand new and very clean. The song playing as I paid for it was Abba's "I believe in angels" - I do actually, so thank you angels!

Prototype owl and a patchwork elephant couldn't wait to try out the new condo,

and that's some photos in the top there, I have been printing all day to make into cards.

musing

How personal to make this blog. I was musing on just this topic as I walked today. And then I mused on the word musing - it sounds like the type of word that should advisably be avoided by bloggers - like ramblings, mumblings, etc.

At the root of musing is the word 'muse', which is our inspiration. Sometimes musing on a walk, or just writing opens up a stream of ideas, the journey or writing path brings new creative encounters.

Most days julia cameron style, I try to write 3 pages every morning. I've been doing this for 8 years and it has really helped engage the flow in this sense.

There were many things on the walk that would have made good photographs - but today they didn't make it through the camera lens. Entering the lens of the eye, I let them stock the inner well, rather than the camera's memory card.

A friend in North Carolina came home recently to discover a pair of baby bears in her pear tree. A bear has been visiting the neighbourhood and the kids had tagged along. Had she gone off to get her camera, she would have missed the unique moment when one of the cubs ran up to the front door.

The temptation to document the walk through photographs was strong, but this time thought I would make a list for your own image-eye-nation.

the mental snapshots carried home...

• 6 or so robins singing evensong in trees. One had an upside down heartshape on its breast.

• an eccentric tiny garden shed 2' square with full architectural specification, gutters, downpipes and carved wooden bird - all done in jest (I think)

• dogwalkers in conference on the playing field, while their dogs ran with the pack. All except a lone man and his dog at the far end - the dog looking up, looking down, looking up -"just throw the ball!"

•a man delivering milk at 6pm from a white transit van - there are still milkmen!

•a cat waiting to get in at a window, the cat was same colour as window frame, a milky latté.

•single deep red peony by a garden wall

•a heron flying over, some of its wing feathers missing

...sorry if they were a bit blurry or out of focus, I'll use my camera next time - just for the shed.

feather clouds

The recycled cards got a mention in the Glasgow Herald today, courtesy of the lovely people at Entrading shop and café who have offered to stock them.

The article dug deeper into the ethics of our consumer lifestyle with the balance of being aware of our choices for the environment.

It's late now, so before I wheel out my Ecover Soapbox...

...this was the sky today. Wispy feather like clouds.

'the patchwork dress' now has two types of recycled cards in production/development, and some new designs and makes in fabric coming which I hope to show soon. Still lots to do to the blog, loading photo galleries, showing past projects and current ones... oh, and preparing for the craft fair here on 26-27 may!

pinch punch

Short but sweet, just to share this "happy accident". I have been paperpunching the scraps from the recycled cards with a mini-envelope punch (great fun, bit sad, I know). I'm developing "punchers elbow". Because it's a bit hit and miss, the results are randomly framed, so I was particularly pleased with this one!

I just love the way he turned out! (Think the original maybe Alessi? figurine, it was in an old Elle Deco.)

More on these little chaps in future post... Just one of those strangely satisfying moments.

another day at the office

One of the things I love about working from home is that I don't need to. I wondered if I was doing what they call a "geographical", ie. running away - the lesson in which is wherever you go, there you are.. But no, it was I decided on the drive up, about getting some distance and perspective.

I don't commute at the moment, so occasionally I take my office out with me. A cup of coffee looking down Loch Lomond (...aaah!) was quite refreshing. I cleared my head, and my paperwork appreciating the view.

No watercooler, just some ducks waddling past. It's a great spot to birdwatch. They come down to clean up the crumbs. Didn't notice at the time, but there's a little bird on the table in this picture.

A quick look across to the Ben before going back...

...is it me, or is he looking a bit peaky?

serendipity saturday

batch #1

Maybe it's because the starlings behind our bookcase have hatched, but woke early this morning.

Every season they come back to the family roost under the eaves and raise another batch. This winter I noticed mum and dad stayed over. You could hear whistles and the rustle of wings against the wood as they shifted around. They cleared out last year's nest by taking it across the road and dropping it down the chimney pot. It was cheeky, but I quite liked that.

batch #2

Seizing this early opportunity, I had an urge to bake some biscuits...

...and some chocolate muffins. The recipe comes from 'Evelyn Rose's International Jewish Cookbook' - a fail-safe must have. You can replace the flour with gluten free, and the recipes in this book will still always work out. This just really got me in the flow, and felt like playing around a bit, so wrapped up some of the biscuits in greaseproof paper and tied a new patchworkdress label on! A chance to practice my 'photostyling'.

batch #3

Browsing in the local secondhand shops later brought this wealth of fabric for £1.50!!

The background fabric is Irish linen. Also these amazing old silk handkerchiefs which have never been used, they still have a 'sale' sticker "Sylqueena pure silk". Thought they may be 1950's, but now wonder if they are older?

Especially pleased with this one...

...it's almost too nice to use.

A friend recently asked what did serendipity mean to me. The dictionary defines it as "faculty of making happy discoveries by accident" Finding those handkerchiefs was serendipitous, and an opportunity not to be sniffed at...

Girl in the patchwork dress

"You're the girl in the patchwork dress."  

This was once said to me by the father of a friend who worked in advertising.  I was surprised that he didn't judge my choice to step away from a well paid 'media' job and do something else for a while.

It's a statement that has really stayed with me over the years. It sums up how I feel about my total creative experience/s - professional and personal - how, stitched together, they became a cumulative fabric that is not only my life, but creative output.

After several years of commercial burnout, I decided to readdress my personal creativity and get back to enjoying what I create both in life and art - and this seems like an ideal name to encompass this idea.

I've recently enjoyed reading lots of creative and crafting blogs - this seems like the ideal medium to share not only the products but the process. Now I've begun I'm not even sure where it will go...

...the patchwork dress is growing new patches everyday.

"Here's something I made earlier"

These cards and envelopes are made from cutting out images from old magazines. Then themed into packs of 4 similar colours/textures/subjects. I love how the envelopes look, some of them are even reversible!  

The card images are selected to match and extend across front and back of the card.  It gives a reuse for the magazine paper without having to go through another recycling process, no bought envelopes are required.  The images are stuck to recycled card stock with non-toxic glue.

...and the back showing envelopes...

A pack contains 4 cards (100x100mm) plus envelopes and 8xstickers to seal and address. Each pack is a one off, handmade and unique!   £3.50 ($7) includes p&p **As of August 2007 the packs are £4.50/$9 via Etsy plus p+p** (as discovered they take a lot of time!)

While I'm building this site, and deciding the best way to display & sell things, please email me at thepatchworkdress@gmail.com - where I can reply to your enquiry and/or arrange to receive payments via Paypal.