Back in the swing

January 15, 2012 in Studio | No comments

So much has happened since last summer, lots of family things, few illnesses, new Folksy launch, oh and Christmas and New Year of course.  So what was my best Christmas present ever?  It was the studio I moved into on 17th December.  It all happened so quickly that I didn’t really have time to stop and take a deep breath. So I’m happily back at Yorkshire Artspace, my home from home, after what seemed like the longest break ever (actually it was just over 3 months).  The studio is twice the size of my old one and is much higher up which means I have some nice sky lights, although the two extra flights of stairs are the downside for that lovely natural light.

So what happens now?  Well, I go back to printing of course.  The only problem is that when I had to move out of my studio I also had to get rid of quite a few things so I’m a little bare at the moment (I don’t even have a kettle) but over time I can build up my equipment again.  Also, I’m still full time at Folksy so I’m snatching time before work and starting nice and early, also I’ve been going in at the weekends to make up for the lack of day time studio time.  I now have one big problem to solve – the printing table.

I had a modest 2m x 2m table in my old studio but I now only have have the base hubby built and half of the top so that wont get me very far.  With my extra room I can now increase that to a 5m length table so I’ve been busy gathering quotes from various suppliers but these babies don’t come cheap (in fact they are bloody expensive).  With our general lack of funds (and impending central heating replacement at home) this isn’t looking likely, this means we’re back to plan B, which means building one ourselves.  Now starts the research period and the gathering of images.

In the meantime, even though I can’t print that much, I can sort out my stock and get some things listed on Folksy and Etsy.  Christmas Crackers at Museums Sheffield has just finished so I’ve had a few bits returned from that and will make sure I get things up this week.  I popped into the studio yesterday and took lots of photos, here is a sneak preview of some of the items that will shortly appearing for sale online soon.

Out with the old, in with the new

September 17, 2011 in General life ramblings | 1 comment

I’ve disappeared under a pile of cardboard boxes, literally.  I moved out of my studio on the 31st August and no sooner had we put the last cardboard box in the living room, I dashed off to Brighton for a few days with work as Folksy were attending the Brighton Mini Maker Faire.  I had hoped that when I came back that all the cardboard boxes would have been opened and neatly put away, therefore allowing us to reclaim our living room but sadly no.  My house looks like a warehouse and we haven’t actually been in the living room at all, mainly due to the fact that we can’t get through the door.  Lola still manages to get in and find an inch of space to park herself on the sofa though, pugs can always find a nook or cranny to sit in.

The last couple of weeks have been a bit of a blur really.  I’ve been trying not to think about the fact that I no longer have a studio, I’m just on an extended holiday really, albeit a holiday that means I’m working full time at another job, but still, the move hasn’t sunk in yet.  The living room is only housing half of my studio too, the rest is in storage, including my screens and washout booth.  I will have to make a decision fairly soon to either carry on renting storage or sell them.  If anyone wants to buy a washout booth, get in touch, she’s a good one, was especially made and is only 1.5 years old so in great nick.

So what do I do now?  My days are full of course, my 3 days at Folksy was increased to 5 days which has definitely helped me twiddling my thumbs at home.  It has been a while since I worked full time at one job though, thank fully mine is an incredibly varied one.  Still, it feels strange not being constantly split in two, or split in three if you count Craft Candy too.  I’m sure things will settle down soon though and I’ll eventually get all of the boxes unpacked, there isn’t room for it all though so I’ll have a few months of sorting and throwing away ahead of me.  Don’t you just hate to get rid of things that you really don’t want to, but just don’t have the room?  Moving sucks.

Garden inspiration

August 27, 2011 in Gardening | No comments

Our garden is looking great at the moment, late August and everything is in full swing, the allotment looks lovely too with the potatoes, cabbages, cauliflower and broccoli all almost ready.  I’m already planning for our Autumn/Winter garden though so we decided to pop out to Chatsworth for the day to enjoy the sunshine and to take a good look at the kitchen and cottage gardens, they are wonderful examples and so beautifully kept.

The kitchen garden was my favourite, we wandered around for over an hour just looking at all the wonderful plants and of course, taking in the view.  The series of raised brick beds were fantastic, if only we had a garden big enough!

Print-tastic

August 26, 2011 in printing, Studio | No comments

It’s a wonderfully rainy Autumn-like day in Sheffield today, I just love this weather.  The only slight downside is the fact that there is no sun in my studio today which means my screens aren’t drying very quickly.  I’ve not let a little thing like that stop me though.  After a quick trip to the opticians to pick up my new glasses (hubby calls them geek-chic!) we were off to the studio to fit in a full days printing.  Today is a special day though, my full day of screen printing will be followed by an evening of letterpress and I can hardly contain my excitement.

Cast your mind back to last November.  The Folksy team went off to Hallam University for the afternoon for our Christmas afternoon/evening out and we got to play for hours with the letterpress equipment, I was of course instantly hooked.  I’d always been a huge letterpress fan but never thought I’d actually get to have a go myself.  Tonight me and Andrew, our Folksy designer, are off to Butcher Works to sort out some equipment for our Brighton Maker Faire trip.  We’ll be demonstrating and letting the lucky people of Brighton have a go with the letterpress machine too.  Heaven!

Seeing as these are my last few days in my studio (sob again), I’m finishing off a few bits of work for Christmas Crackers, the Christmas selling exhibition at the Millennium Gallery in Sheffield.  I entered some work last year and was lucky enough to be asked again this year.  This year there will be more of my small printed notebooks and two new items, some fabric bound notebooks and organic cotton scarves, here are some of the scarves in mid print.

I haven’t made scarves in ages but managed to source some of the wonderful organic cotton percale that I originally made my scarves from back in 2008.  It’s a wonderfully soft fabric and works really well for a nice small neck or head scarf.  I’ll be printing these in Purple Pods, Aqua Bows and Black English Insults, there will only be 2 of each though, here’s hoping the lovely folk of Sheffield love them.

 

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Packing up

August 24, 2011 in General life ramblings, Studio | No comments


Today marks 7 days until I move out of my studio and it’s making me very sad. I’ve had a studio at Yorkshire Artspace for just over 2 years and now I’m moving out of my little home-from-home, I’m hoping that this will be a temporary arrangement whilst I find a larger studio I can actually work from but it all depends. I’ve been promising fabric by the metre for the last year, as soon as I find a larger space, I’m finally going to make that happen but in the meantime I’ll have to dedicate my time to designing from home.

So what am I doing with these last 7 days? I’m printing like crazy, that’s what I’m doing! I have the last few metres of blank basecloth to cut up and then once that’s printed that will be it for a while. It’s a scary thought to be honest, I’m so used to being able to print up a random piece of fabric as and when needed. In a week I’ll be relying on the stockpile of fabric I’ve been printing over the last month or so, I’m hoping that there is enough to see my through the Christmas period at least, but when it’s gone though, it’s gone!

Ercol, oh how I love thee

August 10, 2011 in Home | 3 comments

I’m a bit of an ercol nut, those of you who regularly follow my blog will know that I have quite a few pieces already. It all started with our dresser and dining table and chairs, my parents had these for years, me and my sister used to scrape our nails in the varnish when we were kids ( I cringe at that thought now!). Then when me and my husband got our first flat 8 years ago, his parents lent us their sofa and chair set, unfortunately we had to give this up when we moved into a furnished house so it passed to my brother in law and his girlfriend. Then when we bought our house last year my parents gave us the old dresser and table and we’ve been steadily adding to our collection ever since. We bought a replacement two seater sofa first from Gumtree, followed by a sideboard from eBay (the love of my life) and then earlier this year the pebble set of coffee tables, also from eBay. Now we’ve added the most coveted piece yet, the ercol daybed. I’ve wanted one of these forever and now I can’t wait for it to arrive. We just have to choose the fabric to have it reupholstered, we will probably do the sofa at the same time. Here is a photo of a lovely daybed surrounded by Sanderson fabrics, isn’t it gorgeous?

My husband wants me to print some fabric for both of them but I think I’d rather go for a plain colour which we can then add to with extra scatter cushions in a nice bold print. Our sofa at the moment has two of my cushions on it so we’re just getting used to having those prints in the house to see what we think. At least you can always alter the cushions, you’re stuck with the upholstery until it wears out!

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The preparation has begun

July 24, 2011 in General knitting ramblings | No comments

Is it too early to mention the Christmas? Hang on, let me rephrase that, is it too early to mentioning knitting for Christmas? “Hell no” cry a whole flock of knitters!

One present is finished already so I’m making good progress. Anything to avoid last years disaster which didn’t end with me sewing in ends on Christmas Eve as usual but ended with absolutely no knitted pressies. What a let down. Since then more and more yarn has arrived and made a new home in my cupboard, if that’s not an excuse to knit something quick then I don’t know what is.

Present number 2 ( socks…again) for my uncle are almost done, don’t be too impressed though, they were supposed to be last years present. Present number 3 is yet to be started, gloves for my dad, I’ve never knitted gloves before so this should be interesting.

In the meantime, I’m contemplating another Christmas related knitting project, or are these too mad? It would definitely help reduce the stash slightly.

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Knit happens…

June 28, 2011 in Favourite things, General knitting ramblings | 1 comment

The ever-so-popular John Lewis (Coles to us Sheffield folk) clearance sale is on which means I’ve been spending my time rifling through big grey buckets full of wonderful delights of heavily discounted Rowan yarn. It’s a bit of a manic push and shove, as this is a popular area of the sale, but you can usually get some wonderful bargains. I bought enough linen yarn to keep for going for years and started a new project at the weekend, one by my new favourite knitting designer – Kirsten Kapur of Through the Loops fame.

I’m knitting it in a gorgeous mustard yellow lenpur linen (half price in the sale!) so this should keep me going for a while.

On another, dafter knitting note, I’ve been trawling one of my favourite sites, KnitHacker. This site is always good for a laugh and for those “what a brilliant idea!” moments.  Here are a couple of my favourite new additions…

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Summer Solstice…

June 21, 2011 in Favourite things, General life ramblings | No comments

It’s June 21st and officially Summer.  We couldn’t have a better day for it here in Sheffield, rain overnight (which helped all the plants in my garden) followed by bursts of glaring sun this morning.  My studio has huge windows and can begin to reselmble a greenhouse in summer so you can imagine how warm it is in here this morning.

Here’s how I like to celebrate this summer mood…picking a few of my favourites from Folksy.
 

You are my sunshine print yellow striped top
Sun stained glass yellow messenger bag

 
Summer will mean a lot of changes for me which I’m finding a little daunting but exciting.  After 3 years of hard work and crafty events, Craft Candy will be officially ending with the next fair on 16th July.  I decided to step down as Chair which was a difficult decision but one I’ve been leaning towards for quite some time.  After a chat with the vice chair and committee we decided it was best to wrap up the group.  A friend of mine said recently that she thought I just had more hours in the day than everyone else.  She said she didn’t realise I was fitting my life in around Craft Candy, she thought it was the other way around.  I think it’s about time I started to enjoy my life a little more rather than trying to cram it in amongst my other commitments.  So that’s where I’ll be in July, a person with actual free time on my hands and I can’t wait.

 

 

Glorious bank holiday…

April 25, 2011 in Home | 1 comment

 

 

The weather has been beautiful in sunny Sheffield and we’ve said a huge hello to the bank holiday and the rest it brings.  As part of the huge number of self employed people in this country me and hubby always battle with what to do, should we go to work, should we stay at home?  Usually we do a bit of both, this time we’ve decided to stop at home and enjoy some time off.  This did have something to do with the fact that hubby is waiting on silver and I’m waiting on a huge fabric delivery, both of which have meant we’ve reached a stalemate on our current projects.  So, here we are at home and enjoying the sun, have we rested though?  No of course we haven’t!  The bank holiday began with a kitchen worktop demolition to move the Ercol dresser.   The dresser has been sat in the living room since we moved in and with the gorgeous sideboard I bought a couple of months ago, there just wasn’t room anymore.   We had always meant the dresser to live in the kitchen but didn’t have plans to start the kitchen as soon as this.  We have a horrible wet-room next to our kitchen downstairs, this was for a disabled lady who lived in our house some years ago.   As soon as we came to look around the house we knew it had to go to make room for a bigger kitchen (ours is teeny) so the plan was to knock down the wall, not yet mind you, but at some point in the next ten years.  My suggestion to move the dresser though spurred hubby on and as of lunchtime today, the sink, part of the toilet and all the tiles have gone from the wet room, he’s now started muttering about removing the false ceiling.  I’m off to the garden centre this afternoon to drool over the beautiful plants, I hope I don’t come home to a demolished house!

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