The light at the end of the tunnel

I must apologise for my absence.  The last few months have been extremely hectic in this household. Lots of new and exciting things, and some not so.  I can see the light at the end of the tunnel thank goodness, so I am back and must say I have missed all my blogging friends. 

One of the things that has kept me occupied is the opening of my Etsy shop, the Inspiration Packs sold so well my days were spent dyeing, washing and sorting fragments of lace, fabric, trims etc.

The new Vintage Eclectic packs have proved popular too.

vintage bits and bobs

 

I have been sourcing lace and fabrics at my favourite flea market.  This weekend I met a lovely lady who was selling some of her grandmother's linens.  I bought some gorgeous pieces that she had made.

 

 lovely daisies

beautiful hand worked doilies

 

I have spent some lovely making days with my friends Gill P and Gill W, on Monday we had a day at my house, lots of tea drinking, home made turkey broth accompanied by a pain blanc from Castle Bakery and for pudding apple, blueberry and plum crumble and cream. ( well girls' need sustenance whilst creating).

 

 

 

 

 

Gill P was making her garden flower brooches, Gill W was sorting her boxes of beads, papers and general card making supplies.  Lots of tea was involved, oh and some Cadbury Giant Buttons!!!

A surprise visit from Emily and baby Thomas (my li'l tuppence) just rounded the day off nicely.









 I have been trying to develop some new work and this is what I made on Monday

 duck egg blue kilt pin embellished with tiny trinkets

 details

 tiny star and leaf with a lovely old linen button

 

 

ruby red embellished with a selection of vintage decorative buttons

 

I find myself looking for old and interesting books to buy (not sure why) and I did pick up a couple on Sunday at the flea market...

 



The Children's Pilgrim's Progress

Philips' Handy Volume Atlas of the World

 

Gill P and I are having a stall at Kirkley Hall Christmas Fair so as it is in November, we better get cracking.  I have been trying to keep up with facebook, Etsy, pinterest and blogging but there are only so many hours in a day.  If I haven't commented lately, please forgive me.  Until next time.... Jayne x

 



 

 



 

 



Hello and how are you all?

The summer has flown and the nights are drawing in, the temperature has changed and autumn is upon us.  I have had a very busy summer spending a lot of time with my daughter Emily and grandson Thomas.  We have had some lovely walks along our stunning coastline, enjoying the sunshine and stopping for tea and cake at some lovely cafes in our area.  I hadn't realised how long it was since I had written a blog post.

 I am so thrilled at the response I have had to my Etsy shop and selling my Inspiration Packs on facebook, it has kept me very busy over the last few weeks.  I have had to replenish my crochet trims and laces, and so took myself off to Tynemouth flea market.  Jean (the lace lady) has a stall every few months and had telephoned me to say she would be there on Saturday.   I just couldn't resist this lovely battered and tattered duck egg blue tiny case, ideal to display and photograph my work on.

A friend of mind Anne has a lovely Vintage stall selling all manner of interesting things from trims, laces, fabrics, jewellery, handbags etc. and she always has something a little out of the ordinary and yesterday was no exception!  I just had to have these gorgeous fragments of oriental embroidery.  The colours and hand sewing attracted me to them, I have no idea what I will do with them, if anything, but I do think they are beautiful.

Gold thread embroidery

 

I am wondering why it is only part finished, but it has been well worn.  A mystery that may never be solved.  I will try and find out more information when I speak to Anne again. 

 

Jean always has some incredible pieces of lace, some out of my price range but gorgeous to see nevertheless.  My first purchase.......

 

 cotton fabric and lace layers

 

 

the bottom section of a dress over a hundred years old

 

strips of cotton embroidered net

 

 a selection of tiny crochet motifs and doillies

 

 

hand made needle lace

 incredible workmanship

 

 

a bag of assorted crochet and cotton trims

 

mother of pearl buttons

 

lovely old tape measures, still in feet and inches just like me!

 

 

Time to pop a few fragments of my lovely new trims and lace into the dye pot. Thank you to all of my blogging and facebook friends who leave me lovely comments, and to new followers of my blog, I really do appreciate each and every one of you. Jayne 

 

p.s. baby Thomas melts my heart - such a smile.....

Sunny Days, Making Days...

Last week at the local flea market I came across a few lovely bits of vintage crochet and linens.  A lady was selling lovely little bundles tied up with string.  When I got home I untied them and found a few treasures....

 

hand embroidery

 

 

fragments of crochet trim

 

 

part finished embroidery

 

 

transfer printed linen and exquisite embroidery

 

 

There were several lovely pieces of old linen part embroidered and this led me to ponder on what I could make with them.  I love hand embroidery and always embellish my work myself.  However there was something about these linens that inspired me.  I decided to try and use them to make some new work.

 

A making day was arranged with Gill P for Friday.  We sat in the sun in Gill's lovely back yard amongst pots of geraniums, hanging baskets, lanterns and fairy lights, happily sewing in the sunshine.  A lovely lunch of home made quiche and salad followed by a chunk of chocolate cake. Gill was making a purple frayed fairy.  I decided to cut into my lovely linens and started to layer them on top of each other with hand dyed vintage linen in shades of ochre in between. 



 

cutting and layering - a work in progress

 

 

linen and mother of pearl buttons using matching threads

 

 

layered corsage with hand embroidery and buttons - the finished article!

 

 

I am hoping to make a few more of these vintage style brooches - not a piece of lace in sight.  I will leave you with an image of a cuff I am working on in shades of ochre, again a work in progress...

 

 

 

 

Until next time........ hope the sun is shining where you are. Jayne x



 



 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Obsessions revisited.....

I realise I have been neglecting my blog lately, in fact I didn't realise that so much time has slipped by.  My latest (in a long list) obsession has definitely taken over.  I decided to make some 'Inspiration Packs' using hand-dyed fragments of lace, crochet trims, fabrics and motifs.  I am so delighted to say that they sold extremely well and lots of different colours were requested....

Yellow Ochre

 

Every container that would hold a dye bath was utilised, washing machine full of net bags containing varying shades, ironing board (yes I did say ironing board!) was permanently on stand by to iron each and every piece once it had dried.  Our kitchen table was littered with fragments to be sorted, pressed and displayed before being photographed.

 

Rich Teal

 

Housework ignored, a last minute dash to buy new boxes of dye before the store closed, the array of colours went on and on... my obsession was taking over!  Ashes of Roses, Shades of Grey, Purple Haze, Green Earth, Raspberry Crush, Sea Foam, Sugar Almond, the list was growing by the minute.

 

Sugar Almond

 

The hoover was working overtime as I was cutting, ripping and tearing fabrics, trims and lace in preparation for dyeing.  My Etsy shop was left to its' own devices, not even checked as my dyeing gained momentum. 

 

Shades of Grey

 

and then - I came to my senses, having dyed enough fragments to stretch from here to California I decided enough was enough!  Time to get back to the real world and actually make something with some of these fragments.  There was a gorgeous set called Bitter Chocolate which was a duck egg blue tinged with chocolate edges.  I had dyed a small amount of velvet which I was particularly pleased with so I decided to make a couple of corsages with it.

 

 

 

 

 

the finished corsages

 

Normal service has been resumed although I do have a confession to make.  At my local flea market I did buy some lovely bits and bobs which are just dyeing (excuse the pun) for a dye pot!

 



trims and tablecloths 

 

Until next time, hope the sun is shining where you are...... Jayne

 

p.s. I have to admit I have an ochre and brown dye bath on the go tonight - ooops, well you have to wean yourself off slowly...



 





 





 





Show &Tell - Woolfest

I do love a day trip.  I am not a good traveller on a coach but make an exception as The Knit Studio in Newcastle organises a visit to Woolfest in Cumbria.  It is held in an auction mart in Cockermouth and it really is all about fibres.  Animals such as rare breed sheep, alpacas, angora rabbits rub shoulders with stall holders, designer makers, spinners and weavers all sharing a love of creating. Gill P, Gill W, Anne, Wendy and I all spent a lovely day meandering through all the stalls.  I always buy lots of bits and pieces to use in my work and yesterday was no exception.  My first purchase was wool tops in two lovely colours.

wool tops for felt making

 

 

a dinky jar of my favourite mother-of-pearl buttons

 

Gill W and I spent a happy half hour on the coach on the way home examining each and every button, there were an awful lot in such a tiny jar!  A few gems included - a couple of hand carved tiny buttons, some smoke mother-of-pearl and a few very large buttons.  

 

 

I do love a button

 

 

silk carrier rods for dyeing

 

 

hand dyed silk fibres from Oliver Twists

 

 

a lovely old tattered table runner

 

All in all a very enjoyable but tiring day spent with friends.  The carrier rods and tattered runner are in the dye pot as we speak.  I am going to try out my new fibres tomorrow.  Until next time.....

Jayne x

New Ventures........

After much deliberation and advice from my lovely blogging and facebook friends, I have done it!  What may you ask - well, opened an Etsy shop.  It is something I have thought about for a long while.  I am a ditherer as you may have gleaned from my blog posts.  If something can be put off, I am your man (woman) so to speak.  Procrastination should be my middle name.  I gave myself a good talking to and got to grips with listing, taking photographs, describing, measuring etc etc, oh and then there was how much should an item be!!!

Bespoke Vintage Lace Corsage

 

I have been making lots of accessories with a view to opening a shop online.  I took a lot of images of my work and listed away, until my friend Gill told me about online photo editing!  Back to the beginning and enhancing each and every image and re listing them.

 

 

Vintage crochet duck egg blue neckpiece

 

 

detail of corsage



A few wrist cuffs were listed to complete a small selection of work for sale. So after much tweaking the shop is now open. 

 

pale grey and pink on linen

 

 

It is so lovely to see the sun is shining, and summer has finally arrived.  Until next time......





 

 



 



 







 

 

Back to normal...

After all the excitement of the last few weeks things were settling down and getting back to normal and then out of the blue a tummy bug hit.  The best laid plans etc, out of the window.  However, a week on and I am raring to go (well almost)!  Inspiration packs have been selling like hot cakes and Etsy shop opening preparations going well. 

Raspberry Crush

 

Gill P and I are having one of our 'making days' tomorrow to fine tune my Etsy shop.  Chorizo, squash and pasta dish prepared, strawberries washed and hulled, teapot rinsed and at the ready!  Hopefully it will be ready to open by the end of the week. 

 

At Tynemouth flea market yesterday a lady was selling tiny doillies, something I always look out for to use in my work.  I bought twenty five lovely pieces....

 

 some unusual shapes and sizes

 

 

Today some of them ended up in a teal/grey pale dye bath, they have been soaking all day, I am really pleased with the result a very antique looking grey shade.....

 

 

shades of grey in the making

 

 

A fantastic purchase today from my favourite charity shop as it was closing - just in the nick of time to find this box.......

 

 

as you know, I have a bit of a weakness for a battered box, what would this contain I wonder?

 

 

a bolster pillowcase

 

 

pure Irish linen double sheets and pillowcases

 

I own one vintage pure linen sheet which I inherited from my grandmother, and have been looking for another for quite a while.  Imagine my excitement when I realised that this was an unused set, scalloped edged and a little drawn thread work.  The only fly in the ointment is that they are very grubby so will probably require a lot of tender loving care to restore them to their former glory.  I am wondering if they were a unused wedding present.

 

Until next time, so lovely to see the sunshine, Jayne x