I went AWOL from blogland.

Sorry I've been rather absent this last week, but its going to continue I'm afraid. We spent the last weekend at my aunt and uncles in lovely Shropshire, generally relaxing, walking and sleeping. When we got back the parents were here, looking after the cats for us, and they go home tomorrow. They've been up here because they want to move nearer to me (aww how sweet), because we're getting married, and the likelihood is that we shall live here for most of our lives. I'm an only child, and a 5 hour drive to see my parents isn't fun. So anyway, they've been looking at houses etc, and are waiting for *the call* just now from the estate agents. So when they go tomorrow, I'm following them back down the country to clear out some of my stuff that still lives with them. To be honest, I'm not really looking forward to it, their house was where I was born, and although I've lived here seven years now, maybe eight- I don't remember - our village is still my home. I know its just bricks and mortar, I'm just very sentimental. I'm not good at goodbyes, but I've got to say some. So I'm afraid that I won't be here for most of the weekend either. I'll still be checking in I suspect, but i don't expect i'll post anything much.

In the meantime, heres a photo from the weekend...

Also, completely irrelevantly, if I were to get Rosalie a wedding present, it would have to be these. They seem to have tons of cute things, I just found them in a magazine ages ago and went to get the link for this. too too cute.

centrepieces

I've been contemplating the centrepieces for the wedding again for the last few days. I should admit that this is largely due to the hydrangeas not drying the way I need them to so far :(. I saw this harvest bowl one a while ago, and its taken me the best part of a day to find it again. Its not quite how I remember it, but I think the colours are lovely. I can't let go of the candle idea, Crosby Lodge is quite ornate in its country hotel way, and I don't think it needs much decoration, but I believe the owner often lights the candles in the dining rooms in the colder months, so to have a candle on each table too would be lovely. Plus the dining room there is red :)

bowl centrepiece: a practical wedding candle centrepiece: pink street

These were my own thoughts on centrepieces, I might add, made from things I had lying around at home so they would look better than this!

I have to say I really like the chillies, what do you think?

handmade #1: Baby blanket

I said I'd put some photos of my work in a post, so here it is.

This is a baby blanket I finished last week for a friend who sort of commissioned me (it sounds far too official to say that!). It was to be a present for a friend of hers who gave birth last monday! It is woven with a relatively chunky eco cotton, which I dyed with indigo, brazilwood and weld. I'm actually surprised at how much softer this one is than the first blanket I made for another friend, purely because I've woven in a different pattern. I tassel the ends by hand, and then back the blanket with really soft brushed cotton.

I hope you like it! I'll put some more photos of my work on here at some point, unfortunately the pictures don't really make them look that good as we only recently upgraded the camera, but I've got two other pieces on the go at the moment, so I'll show you them once they're done.

jeans and shuttles and potfest Oh My!

Exciting parcels have been turning up the last day or two. Well, exciting to me. After Hannahs treehugger post the other week I decided to go look at Howies again - they had a sale on, and because I'm on the mailing list I got a code for an extra 15% off. so I treated myself to some new jeans, because I never do that. Truth be told, I didn't expect them to fit, I'm rather tall, but have wide hips, and its horrible going Jeans shopping usually. But these fitted perfectly :D and they're organic cotton = double :D.

and you can find them here. If you've not been to howies website before, you really should. Not only are their clothes cute, and well made, their ethical and ecological policies are really strong. These jeans came with a label which explains so well why they use organic cotton. This is a longer version of it here (although its not so long that yo can't read it in a minute or so.) That's why I like Howies, their are very transparent as a company, All their beliefs are on their website, and their catalogue reads more like a manifesto for life at times.

Anyway, packages. the other one which will probably make no sense to anyone, is something I bought as a result of selling a piece of work to a friend (in fact my wedding dressmaker :)) She asked me to make a baby blanket a while ago for one of her friends who was having a baby - born last Monday - And when I got the money for it I thought I should put some of it to good use despite being skinted, so I bought myself my first boat shuttle for my loom.

This type of shuttle, for anyone who doesn't know, can be sort of thrown through the weaving as they are very smooth (you can get ones with rollers on the bottom too) so it makes the weaving process much quicker. Wierdly owning one of there makes me feel rather grown up.

For anyone who's interested I am going to do a post with some pictures of the blanket in, and maybe some other bits of work, so you will get to see it!

We're off to potfest today hopefully, there are two potfests, organised by the same people and they happen two weeks apart. this one is the original, its slightly more of a free for all, as its first come first served gets a stand, as opposed to the one I posted about a few weeks ago where you have to apply for a stand and be chosen. So I'll tell you about that later probably! Happy Sunday people...

the doctor evil chair.

You guys, I'm super excited because this morning, a chair arrived. This chair is parker-knoll, it WAS black leather, a sort of wingback egg chair (I'm not good with the proper names). It had been sitting in the in-laws garage for many years, literally gathering a lot of dust, and generally not doing much. I begged, not much, since they were going to get rid of it anyway, and we got it. We've just had it recovered in a chenille that looks like needle cord in a champagne colour, and it returned this morning at a time too early to mention. I loves it! :) James reckons this chair is going to be his, but I have other ideas. I, after all, wanted it, petitioned the pa-in-law, chose the fabric, and found the upholsterer. No, it will be mine. So now, following the sorting of the spare room yesterday which ended up being a complete re-arrangement of the room, involving the help of ma-in-law, a not-to-scale plan of the room with all the furniture, and a tape measure, we get to do the same in the living room to fit the new chair in! Is it sad that I enjoy this? I love re-arranging rooms, and I can't wait to move so I can start again! Anyway, I'll finish this post with a photo of the chair, which is known around our house as the doctor evil chair.
Please excuse the mess, and the godawful carpet, its in the spare room at the moment until the old armchairs leave tonight (again via freecycle-if you want stuff, or want to get rid of pretty much anything, you really should join your local group)

todays etsy wants.

pincushion ring: artnestshop

A pincushion ring?! cute, dangerous, or just plain amazing? I think I need this...

ipod cozy: onaroll

I want one of these, it almost makes me want a proper ipod so that it would fit in here :) but alas, no money, so instead this idea is for Hannah (yet again, these days I find my entire blog is written for you!) since shes gettng an iphone soon.

I'm off today, waiting for parcels to arrive, and considering sorting the spare room as its where I work, but also where my parents are staying in a couple of weeks, and now where we're storing one of two super cheap sofas we bought last week. there isn't much room to move!

The Time Travellers Wife

book cover: wikipedia

I've just started seeing adverts for the film of the time travellers wife, a book by Audrey Niffenegger. I'm worried its going to ruin it for me if I go and see it. This is one of the only books I've ever read that I've cried at after reading, it is beautiful and wonderful and lovely. If you havn't read it do. I'm still thinking about seeing the film, I just think it looks too hollywoodified? Is this out in the states yet? has anyone seen it? I so want it to be good, but really? is it? opinions or reviews, please?