To Market, To Market

The Magpies and I market is this Sunday at the M Shed in Bristol. I've been stitching, sourcing, painting, printing and packaging for the last few weeks (in between the day job!), and finally feel that I'm nearing readiness. I've been trying to anticipate how the market is going to go; I don't know whether there is any way of predicting the success or outcome of a day spent presenting ones wares to the world (or a corner of Bristol at least) but I feel satisfied at least by the efforts and I have LOVED the process of preparations. 

Take a look at my Vintage, Upcycled and Handmade items, and come along to say hello on Sunday. 

Photoshoot

I was lucky enough to spend a wonderful afternoon with my good friend Amy of Hearthwitch Cottage yesterday. She is in the process of building a photographic portfolio, as well as quite an impressive collection of vintage and modern cameras! You can see her exciting 2012 project here. Amy was kind enough to take photos for me and of me for the market marketing. It was such a beautiful day, and even though I tend to be much more comfortable behind the camera than in front, I actually quite enjoyed myself!

The Joy of Travel

I have itchy feet. I suppose this has something to do with the fact that I have been confined to my sofa with a chest infection for a week now, but also because the weather is just a little too nasty and grey; I want to get away. 


There was a period of about 8 years, during my late teens and early twenties, when I seemed to be travelling around all the time. A gap year spent travelling 'around the world', university holidays backpacking round Italy, jet-setting adventures with friends when I was living in London, a long, working trip to America, and a rather gruelling solo-cycling trip through France, but since I started teaching full time, I haven't been able to manage travels in quite the same way. It's a sign of feeling more settled, which is wonderful, but it also has to do with having more financial obligations and ties, which is frankly a little dull. 

I don't think I realised how much I missed it until last week, when I booked myself flights to Spain for a friend's wedding. I've decided to go a little early and spend some time in and around Madrid, and all of a sudden, I am remembering the joyous feeling of anticipation of a trip, and how wonderful it feels to be somewhere unusual and just a little warmer than here! 

Madrid. Photo from www.laspalmas24.com

Being a creature of habit, I quite enjoy the rituals of being on a holiday. Days spent walking around exotic cities, long, lazy lunches in the sun followed (preferably) by a little siesta before heading out and about just that little bit later than you would at home, and feeling just a little more relaxed about what time you get in to bed. The smell of warmth, the taste of food that has felt the sun, the unfamiliarity of a local drink or delicacy. It is on these kinds of trips that memories are seared into our minds because the simplest things are so much more out of the ordinary for us. 

Jardins du Luxembourg, Paris, 2009

We often try to recreate these rituals at home. Sometimes successfully, most often not. My coffee drinking habits are most certainly influenced by plenty of cafe noisettes in Paris, and I am increasingly able to settle to reading some trashy novel imagining that I am away from the ironing, the marking, the housework. But that feeling of holiday ritual is so special, so particular to being away that I don't really mind its elusiveness when I return home. Home is home; secure, familiar, day-to-day. Saving those unfamiliar rituals for unfamiliar climes helps to maintain their exoticness, and makes the anticipation of travel all the more thrilling.

Les Tuileries, Paris, 2009

Pastries, La Durée, Paris 2009

Saturday Lunches

There is no better meal in my week than Saturday lunch. Without any pressures of work, it is very much wind-down time; the morning chores have been completed (today's involved taking a very unhappy cat to his check-up at the vet - and the more pleasant task of booking some flights to the sun...) and evening commitments are a long way off. I have always preferred eating at home to eating out, finding the formality and expectation of a meal out sometimes enough to ruin perfectly good food, but Saturday lunches epitomise casual, homemade and delicious meals at their best. 


For today's lunch, I made a family favourite of gorgeous guacamole with a good salad of local salad leaves, fresh bread and good cheese. The recipe below is tried and tested and is sure to be appreciated by all - adjust the chilli to suit those eating. 


2 ripe avocados
1 clove of garlic
2 ripe tomatoes
Half a red onion
Juice of half a lime
Fresh red chilli to taste
Generous bunch of coriander
A glug of olive oil
Salt and Pepper


Peel and chop the avocados and put into mixing bowl. Chop and de-seed the tomatoes, dice the onion and crush the garlic; add to the avocado. Add the lime and a generous glug of olive oil, followed by the coriander, roughly chopped. Add chilli to suit, and season with salt and pepper. 


Serve in a pretty bowl with crisps, crudités or pitta bread.

Satchel Love

My friend Vic has a new satchel. It kind of makes mine look a bit tatty, but I don't care - I still love them both! One tatty and vintage; one smart and monogrammed. Lovely.

Exceeding Expectations

This weekend had been in the diary for months as one to look forward to. Two of my favourites had booked in a visit as something of a retreat; we all have busy lives and January had taken its toll. In the days preceding, (my last few of term), each of us had our little challenges, but exchanged regular, excited texts, tweets and emails in anticipation of the weekend.

Generally when visitors arrive at mine, we have a list of plans and expectations for their inevitably too-short stay. Most of my friends still live in London, and so there are obligatory visits to pretty, provincial towns, markets and usually some time spent in Bath, but this weekend, we decided to cancel our plans in favour of just hanging out at home.

We chatted, we drank good coffee, good wine and a bottle of prosecco left over from my sister's wedding, toasting all the good things in life. We took a walk and came across some lovely men planting trees, who kindly let us join in and plant an oak tree each, and then we crafted - two of us cutting out letters for my market sign, and one of us making a collage for a lovely boyfriend.

It was a wonderful weekend.

Paper

Working with collage means that I have developed a magpie-like eye for colours and textures. I once bought a table on the basis that I liked the peeling paper that was stuck to the top, so taken was I by the fragile texture and shade of the paint that cracked and crept across its surface.

Working on the Art Journal all Year project has meant sorting through the boxes of collage papers and magazine cuttings that I have been storing for a long time. It is wonderful to be using them for a good and constructive purpose.

Old, amaretti papers (although I prefer to call them amoretti which means little loves. Apt), a receipt that once fell out of a charity shop book, pattern papers and linen cloths. And Dolly. I can't wait to use this image for something!

The journal asks that I layer images from magazines, papers, fabrics and embellishments, before adding a 'journal challenge' thought. I downloaded a laptop wallpaper the other day which had the phrase 'give yourself a break' printed across it. It is a useful reminder at the moment. Luckily, half term is on its way...

Create Me Challenge

Being part of the CreativeFolk Collective has been a joy over the last year. Not only has it been refreshing and encouraging to spend time with friends who have the same intentions and dreams of running their own creative businesses, but it has also felt like I've made a commitment in the right direction towards my own plans. Along side personal projects like the Art Journal all Year, which is well on its way, we have a collective project, the Create Me challenge.

The premise of the Create Me challenge is simple; we send postcards like to one above to friends and family asking to be challenged to make or design a product. They must send the postcard back to us with a suggestion of something to make or do that is realistic and affordable. Even as cards are still being sent out, replies are coming back in and we are beginning to tackle each idea, big and small, from designing a set of pin badges to learning how to build a website...
Take a look at the Creative Folk Blog to be updated on our progress, or follow me on Twitter.

Friday Night on the Waterfront

As soon as the bell went at the end of school on Friday, I shot off to Bristol for an evening by the waterfront. In the summer, I quite often drive into town after school, to have a drink in the late-afternoon sun and to feel connected to the buzz of the city after a day in the classroom; in winter, I don't make it nearly as often. Last night, I wrapped up warm and headed for the harbourside, stopping for exhibitions at the M Shed and Arnolfini before relaxing with a hot drink and a chat with a good friend.

Community Spirited

The Whitfield Village Pantry is a gem. Nestled at the bottom of a hill in the Northumberland village of Whitfield, The Pantry provides a warm community hub in this otherwise quiet idyll. With shelves of essentials; marmite, mustard, an array of Heinz and every Sunday paper, local and national, that a girl could want, The Whitfield Village Pantry was opened by David and Ed back last April, in an effort to provide a stylish and welcoming place to eat, drink and socialise for the local community. Locals have indeed taken warmly to the arrival, and as word has spread, business has grown, and even on a damp and misty Sunday morning in January, the tables are full of families enjoying a coffee or a fry-up.

The atmosphere is warm and welcoming, and for my two-year-old niece, the puppy, Pippa, adds an extra air of excitement to a Sunday morning hot chocolate.

It was lovely to discover the shop and cafe this weekend, down the road from my sister's new home. What was even more exciting, was to discover that David and Ed have been joined in their venture by Katie, owner of the creative workshop company,  MAKE Recycled. Having been based in nearby Allendale for a while, Katie has begun 2012 by moving premises, to the spacious room above the cafe.

Climbing up the stairs to the workshop was like stepping into a grotto: I didn't know where to look, so full was the beautiful upstairs room with pots and baskets of buttons, ribbons, fabric and papers. The walls were lined with shelves and cabinets, stacked high with projects from workshops and Katie's own work (a rather intriguing collection of paper horses caught my eye) - it is a dreamy and inspiring place, home to workshops and creative gatherings throughout the week. Katie runs all sorts of courses herself, and invites her talented friends to teach their skills as well. Catering for children and adults, at birthday parties, hen dos and weekend courses, the space offers the local and not-so-local community a place to indulge their passion for all things crafty. As I explored the workshop space, camera in hand, I couldn't decide where to look, so beautiful were the treasures in every corner. If ever you find yourself Northumberland way, I highly recommend you stop by, for a coffee or some crafting, it won't disappoint.