Shop update

I have finally got round to updating the shop and adding the latest flower brooches that i have made...



I have also braved the cold today and finally photographed (outside as the light was good) the remaining handmade decorative dolls and have added them at a reduced price.


Isadora is a decorative fairy doll perfect for the top of the tree. (has a hanging loop at the back of her neck) We only have six left now but they are dressed in a variety of wonderful vintage prints. Each doll has been lovingly designed and handmade by either Alice or myself and we really hope they will find new homes this Christmas. (they are boxed and i could really do with the space now as my studio is very cramped... hence the reduced prices).



Matilda is probably the doll that we have enjoyed making the most. We have three different Matildas left. I think this gold one is my favourite as i just love her skirt which is made from such a beautiful sumptuous piece of fabric.



Lastly our Flora gardener dolls, most sporting Liberty print Tana lawn blouses recycled from Liberty print blouses. They all wear a quirky little flowerpot hat and have an apron to keep their garden twine and seeds safe.

All the dolls are placed on a bed of raffia in a specially made and decorated box. They do make a lovely gift. Please take a look at the website at our other designs.
thanks
ginny x


Edit to add.... Author signed copies of our book Sew Fabulous Fabric now available here with free postage to the UK.
We have had a lovely review of the book in the latest issue of Sew Hip and I discovered by chance a great review here at Whip Up... a fabulous site that if you haven't come across it before I urge you to take a look. x G

One day soon...

One day soon i will have a work space at home. This is very exciting. It will be in the building in the middle of the garden. It has needed a lot of work. In freak weather the space was flooded in the past so, although it is unlikely to happen again we decided to to protect it by raising the floor.

My man has once again found hidden talents and a use for all his beloved tools. I am so impressed. He is not a tidy worker, but he is a really hard worker. Over the Easter weekend he was out in the snow working on this project.

The room will be a place for me to work, a place for the girls to craft and paint and we are also hoping to fit in a tiny laundry area and space for food storage. So it really will have to work hard for us all. It is not huge but will be perfect for our needs.


I am in the process of clutter clearing both at the Flour Loft studio and at home.
The Flour Loft will close next week. Alice and i will continue to collaborate as 'Alice and Ginny'. Not a particularly inspiring name i know but ours nevertheless. We will be changing our website and Not on the High Street to reflect this.

Until the space is ready I will be sewing from my dining room table. Not such a bad place to be as the room is nice and light.

I would like to get back to posting about sewing soon. I am working on something for a special lady, who has been very patient for the wait.

Happy day. enjoy!

More blue...

It does seem that i am drawn to the colour blue at the moment. I don't feel 'blue', but i do feel somewhat reflective lately. I suppose January always is a bit like this for me..... and this year things are changing. I have started my new job and after an intensive first week filled with a full on but extremely informative induction course, i can now gently ease myself in to the day to day practicalities of the job and get to know some of the new faces about on the campus.

Alice and i are still meeting up regularly at the studio and are into first layout stage of the book. We have just seen the mock up for the cover design, so all very very exciting. It really does seem real now, although i know i will still have to keep pinching myself when i see a finished copy!

Thank you for all the bed sock love.. a banal question i know but so happy i got your feedback. I do suffer from cold extremities and often try and warm my feet up on my husband' lovely toasty ones but i usually get kicked off (my feet are very icy). So socks in bed for me. The ones my grandmother used to knit were of the lacey variety with tie cords and pom poms, she probably had a matching bed jacket pattern too. So you see, if worn with a 60's style 'baby doll' nighty and matching bed jacket, i'm sure bed socks can be sexy after all.??

The above photo shows a little brooch i knitted for my sister. It is taken from a kids how to knit book (usbourne) which was a present to my youngest at Christmas. .. yes and i've knicked it! As i have said before i am the least knit one, in my family but i have recently found a renewed interest so any good knitting sites or book suggestions would be gratefully received.
Roll on the weekend.. nearly there. Enjoy.
g
x

A woodland walk, a car boot and some more brooches

Last weekend i joined my mum and my girls for a beautiful walk in the local woods near to her house. The weather was crisp and dry and the autumnal colours so stunning. I love walking through forests at any time of year but the deep carpet of leaves beneath out feet was just amazing.
My mother, as usual, set a nature trail for us. We were to find or see something for each letter of the alphabet. This is how we got on....

a
berries
conker
dog
e
flower ( and a great footprint)

great tit

holly

ivy

j

keys (sycamore)
leaves
mud (and moss)
nettles
old mans beard
puddle
q

roots (which we kept tripping over as they were hidden beneath the leaves)

sedge (and sheep)

trees ( particulary beech trees as it is a beech wood)
u
v
wagtail
x sign (x marks the spot)
yellow leaves ( yes cheating i know)
z ( ?)

I think we did ok.. it was a lovely walk and just what i needed!

We got home just before it started raining.

This Sunday i went to a local car boot and found amongst other things some sweet Beatrix Potter books (my youngest collects them).

There were along with The Tailor of Gloucester and Squirrel Nutkin, some with which i am unfamiliar;
The Tale of Mr Tod, Appley Dapply's Nursery Rhymes and The Tale of Little Pig Robinson.
I will keep them for her for Christmas.

I sometimes call my youngest 'Hunca Munca', though she isn't really very naughty.

I have also been making more flower brooches. I really love making these, especially choosing all the colour and fabric combinations. Alice is at a Charity Fundraising evening tonight and has taken some of these and other bits and bobs to sell. She has just telephoned me to say that she has won a bottle of Champagne from the raffle. Now i wish i had gone! She also says the turquoise brooch has sold. I knew it would but was half hoping it would end up on my jacket.
Still i could make some more?





The rest of the week will now be focusing on finishing the text for the book. This requires a different type of concentration than with the pattern drafting and sewing and above all requires copious cups of tea and lots of chocolate!!
Thank you for all your comments on the last post... please be assured that although busy i am at the moment keeping all my 'balls' in the air.. i am being kind to myself and taking time to chill and part of this is doing a post, as is catching up with all your blogs.
G
x

Countdown.....Day 7

Hello, it's Day 7 in my countdown. It is exactly one week before the Gala Preview at Hampton Court Flower Show. Can't get off that rollercoaster now!
It does seem strange to be writing again so soon, so will just fill you in about progress today.

Picked up some knitted teacosies first thing from a lovely lady who lives in our village who has been kindly making some up for us. Then on to my mums who after a quick call to this morning said she would look after my 6 year old small person who threw up all over the landing last night! Poor little love. She woke up this morning full of beans as if nothing had happenened, but could obviously not go to school (just in case). She packed her colouring things, glue and scissors and was delighted to have nanny all to herself. I then went on to the studio.

Today i wanted to sew up some more flower brooches, many of which i had prepared some time ago. They are all different and each one is individually designed, from fabric combination to thread stitch colour through to final button finishing touch.

Threads chosen and ready to sew

I try and vary them as much as possible so most people can find a colour combination they like. So some are wacky and retro, some pretty and tonal and some simple and natural... and lots more in between.

A finished flower


Me and my summer brooch. I have 3 in different colours.

Alice has been finishing handbags today made by recycling various collected fabrics and giving them an Alice twist. Will try and photograph for you to see before the end of the week. We will only have a few but they really are special and we feel very original. A case of the fabric leading the design.

Our young friend A popped in today too and helped me prep some more flower cards.

A was one of our work experience students from a local secondary school last Summer. She is extremely talented and has a fantastic confidence with colour. She has just left school and is awaiting her results. We work with a scheme called Trident who organise work experience placements for year 10 pupils. We had 2 girls last year and are due another mid July. A very worthwhile thing to do and our way of giving something back to our local community.

See you on day 6.
ginny
x

The Watts Gallery and some new brooches....

The Watts Gallery may be familiar to those of you who watched BBC2's Restoration programme last year. The Gallery is a museum dedicated to the work of Victorian painter and sculptor George Frederic Watts– the first (and now the only) purpose-built gallery in Britain devoted to a single artist. It is still very much in need of funds to safeguard it's future. If you would like to help please go to The Watts Gallery link (on sidebar) and click on The Hope appeal. Thank you.

There is another building close by connected to the Watts family and if you are ever in the area do go and visit. You will be enchanted.



This is the beautiful Watts Cemetery Chapel at Compton in Surrey. It was designed by Mary Watts, wife of George Frederic Watts in 1895 and built from local clay under Mary's guidance by the villagers of Compton. George and Mary were dedicated supporters of the Home Arts and Industries Association which aimed to revive the dying art of handicrafts among the working classes. The Chapel is a unique Arts and Crafts community memorial.

The exterior is amazing with terracotta relief friezes, inspired by patterns from celtic art, softened with art nouveau forms and full of symbolism.

Standing inside the small mortury Chapel is overwhelming and extremely moving. It is covered in gesso panels in reds, blues, greens and golds of angels, cheribium, and intertwined with swirling tendrils of the Tree of Life. Along the lower half of the walls are flowers - 'the gifts of nature' which were all painted by local children. It is these flowers and motifs from inside the Chapel which have inspired some new brooches which are to be sold in the Gallery Shop. We have been making them up this week and are really pleased with how they have turned out. We are also working on more designs including some sumptuous handbags, which i can't wait to do. It's always good to stretch ourselves in slightly different areas as it leads to new possibilities.

They are having a fete this Saturday so hopefully they will sell well for them.

We have also been making up some of our own little flower brooches, cards and hairbands this week as we are doing a local fundraising craft evening tomorrow night in aid of Chase.
Although we are working tomorrow evening ( not really work.. more social ), Friday is usually our day off from the Studio. We will still meet up though in the morning for yoga. I am starting back tomorrow after .. hmm.. about 4 years off.. bad girl. Know it will do me the world of good and will hopefully help me relax as this i often find hard to do. My little mind is always busy. Must go and rest it now on a big squashy pillow.
Goodnight.
G

Making flowers

I love it when my girls say, 'mama, can you help me make ...... ?'

Here's my 8 year old busy plaiting some strips of cloth to make the centre piece of a brooch for her friend Katie's birthday present. She chose the colours and the fabrics and we made the brooch together. It is a version of our 'Raggy Flowers'. The centre piece made from plaited strips and the petals stitched either by machine or as we have done here with a simple running stitch and with pinked edges. These petals were backed on felt as an experiment. It gives a more structured feel. (whereas the others below still have that blousy soft feel which i rather like).

It looked really sweet and her friend was delighted.

The pretty floral fabric is from a soft lawn Laura Ashley dress that my youngest used to wear. We have a cupboard at home full of precious fabrics for special projects. She wanted to use some of her special fabric for the gift as she loves Katie too.

Here are a few more which are available at not on the high street ...

Pretty pink floral ....


Soft blue pale denim feel...


Whacky vintage green floral.....


Fun red and white polka dot...

G x