Random Postings about a couple of things…..

Tags

Cross-Stitch, Festival of Quilts, interweave, Jane Greenoff, Kaffe Fassett, patchwork, quilting, Twisted Thread, wip

Bits and bobs that wouldn’t necessarily make it into their own post:

The haberdashery section in the local House of Fraser seems to have been closed down (or moved and hidden into an area I’ll never find). It was never the best section I’ve ever come across, and the equivalent in the Birmingham House of Fraser seems to be much better in terms of stock etc. If the latter ever closes down, I think I won’t have a local haberdashery department I can walk into and walk away with something in my hand within minutes (I have the occasional rant about the number and quality of Bricks and Mortar shops and how they can compete with Internet shops, if at all).

I am progressing with my current Jane Greenoff Catherine Archer sampler, and have realised that I *am* going to have to do some frogging. I thought I might be able to get away with not doing but no such luck. It’s progressing at a reasonable rate, as the recent Bank Holidays here helped, but I am getting a little bored of it. I shouldn’t put it down before completing it, as I run the risk of never really going back to finishing it – as all the other WIPs in the corner can testify.  I have several WIPs that have been sitting in the corner for several years, which I should really get to finishing sometime. I also have one or more new cross stitch items to start, and then there are all the other things I want to do too!

During the last two weeks with loads of Bank Holidays, and the Royal Wedding in particular, I brought some lace making stuff (mainly bobbins) off the tinterwebs. Now I just have to find some thread I can work with and a way of reproducing some patterns and I’m away! I’ve found one book already that has some good step-by-step instructions and photographs, and that combined with youtube could get me well on my way.

The next main show in this area is, I believe, The Festival of Quilts being held once again at the NEC in August. They’ve changed the format this year, so that the social events are different – there’s no Gala dinner for instance and I don’t believe there’s a designer talk either.  I don’t know whether I’m disappointed with this change or not – I quite liked the Gala Dinner, even if the hotel themselves charged stupid prices for drinks, and I usually ended up on a table as far away from the main stage as possible whilst being in the same room.

I am still waiting for my magazine (101 patchwork Projects) from Interweave that I ordered about a month ago now. It’s good in a way, in that it has given me the chance to continue with some of my WIPS, but bad in another way in that it has allowed me to be distracted by other shiny things, and I have ended up with more stash rather than less! Knowing my luck it’ll turn up tomorrow, just after I’ve complained about it!

I really do need to do a sort though of my stash ahead of the FoQ, as I will need to have an idea of what to buy. I don’t want to get something I already have (enough) of, but likewise, I don’t want to miss out on a trick for something I don’t have. I hope The Cotton Patch will be there this year, as I would like to see some of that fabric in person before committing to buy. I like the idea of both the Amy Butler and the Kaffe Fassett fabrics, but when seeing them in person last year I wasn’t so sure….

Now that I have all these different crafty tools, I’m going to have to find a better way of storing them than just shoving them in the back of the cupboard and ignoring them. How does everyone else store their Knitting needles, wool, paint brushes, paints, bobbins, threads, pins, needles etc?  (I’m going to try out these storage boxes from Muji for a start)

Spring Cleaning

Tags

crafting, crafts, interweave

Having signed up to some regular emails from Interweave, I got one today abouth the Spring Clean and 5 tips on how you can de clutter your stash.   Some of them are quite good ideas, but as always am a little disappointed at the failure to mention (when writing about selling things online) about the potential tax implications about making income from selling things online. It’s not as if they need to be experts on every tax zone in the world – I understand the concept of time and space when producing copy -  it’s just that i would hope they would say “ensure you check the tax implications in your area” or some such. So, you have been told – sell online, make sure you understand your tax liability! You have been told!

Of course, Interweave is a business, so at the bottom is a link to one of their publications. Ok, fair enough. I will never have space to have my own studio. I sometimes wish  I had a little space to hid in to do my thing, but at the moment I could never imagine that being anywhere other than my sitting room, plonked in front of the TV (or occasionally with my iPod on) doing my thing.

The posting has however reminded me that I do need to go through my stash – again – and perhaps consider what I’m going to do with it. I have already realised that I will probably never get through it all – I just have to work out what I can get rid of!

ETA: I have done *some* spring cleaning – just not necessarily what I had thought I was going to do . I have looked at some of my clothes and decided what to chuck. Some clothes will be “repurposed” (I.e. I will remove the buttons for use elsewhere – why buy buttons when you can often reuse buttons  from shirts you no longer wear?) and the fabric – where I think I can use it – will be added to my stash. Yes, yes, I know this post was about getting *rid* of stash, but sometimes you need to have more in order to make something to get rid of stash…….right?!  The rest will either become rags or will be chucked. Some clothes will be put in the local charity clothes bin as it will be a bit of a sin to chuck them completely

Spring is (kinda) Sprung

Tags

Cross-Stitch, interweave, Jane Greenoff, patchwork, quilting, wip

Spring is definitely here (knowing the fickle British weather, some say that Summer has already been and gone) and with the longer days of sunshine I’m spending more time outside as and when I can. Sometimes I bring a project with me.  I’m currently working on another Jane Greenoff sampler – photos to come soon. Some times I just sit outside with a book and enjoy the sun.

Last weekend was spent doing some spring cleaning. The duster and vacuum cleaner were dragged out (and yes, actually used!), some cupboards were cleaned out, jewellery was rediscovered and cleaned, and much washing and ironing was done. There is still more to be done, but all this new space in cupboards makes me think of my stash and how better to store it and then use it. I’ve also joined a couple of communities over at Interweave.com, the craft publishing website. I’m hoping to get some inspiration for new projects, either in knitting or sewing.   I was on there the other day and one of their communities – Quilting Arts – have just published a special issue called 101 Patchwork Projects + Quilts, which I ordered in a fit of shopping madness. With any luck it’ll get through customs and prove to be interesting. I do have quite a few scrap pieces of fabric that I’d like to get out of the cupboard and into something interesting so with any luck this will give me some ideas.

How Do You Make Art When You Feel Blocked?

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interweave

This is in response to a post made on Interweave’s “Artist Daily” where the author is asking “How do you make art when you feel blocked?“

Like writers, many “artists” face a time when they don’t or can’t indulge in their creative outlets. I definitely get “Artist’s block”.

There can be months (often during winter) when I don’t want to be doing any stitching, even though this can be an ideal time to get it done due to the poor weather.  I have a number of uncompleted WIPs sitting beside my chair that I know I should finish, but never seem to get around to.  I do pull them out – at least once a year – and try and remember why I didn’t finish them. Often they are fiddly, I need some decent light to tell the difference between the three different shades of blue (or white), or I’m at that horribly tricky phase of  chopping and changing colours all over the place.

It’s been over 14 months since I did photography seriously. In no small part this was due to health problems, but I hadnt taken out the camera for a while before then. The seasons are always one “good” excuse – if the majority of your free time is in the dark, there’s little serious photography you can do unless you want to favour night-time shoots, and the weekends are always there to have a lie in and go see your friends rather than go out and take photographs.

As part of “The Artist’s Way”, one of the actions that a participant is supposed to do is to take some time out and go get inspiration, e.g. Go to a gallery and take in some art (paintings, sculpture etc), go out to a park and look at the flowers, take a camera out and take photos on any and all subject – anything to fill up the creative well.

For the writer of the Interweave article mentioned above, some of their inspiration comes from looking through Interweave journals. Ignoring the tie-in (they are writing for the very journal they claim to search through for inspiration), this is not necessarily a bad thing to do. I do buy some of the magazines off the shelves here in the UK, not always with a view to reproducing what is covered. However, I do like to see what other people are doing, what they do produce with stitching (and the different stitches they do), what kind of fabrics etc they use.