Local Flavour

So, imagine my delight on returning from our half-term jolly to find the above catalogue on the mat, featuring my little bits and pieces inside!
Jarrolds is an independent department store, local to Norfolk only. Earlier this year it was voted by readers of The Times as the UK's favourite department store, and personally, its always been a favourite of mine, even though I am not a Times reader!


Jarrolds now run The Forum Shop, which focuses on products made in the region or which capture the region's unique character. They sell a lot of my little hanging decorations and thought they might sell well over the Christmas period.

Speaking of which, the lovely legs below belong to a larger version of the little angels in my last post. This larger angel will be part of a Christmas Exhibition which I hope to take part in during December - of which more later.


I particularly like the message on the ribbon and hope she will eventually find a home with 'someone special'.


I also finished this Christmas piece destined for the same exhibition. I got a bit fed up with Christmas Trees, so I went for old-fashioned building blocks instead. Am quite pleased with the outcome.


Am not pleased with my new camera, though .... so apologies whilst I get used to it and find out quite what all the 'menus' are about. I think they are about 'progress', but am yet to be convinced!

Sing Choirs of Angels ....

So, here are the girlies ... they survived 1040 degrees and their true colours are shining through. My 'army' of angels, as I called them out loud the other day. We then all tried to work out what the correct term is for a group of angels. A 'flock' of angels sounded ok, but I knew that wasn't quite right. Then I remembered the above words from 'O Come All Ye Faithful' and before I knew it we were singing carols in the kitchen before October's out!

But actually, the correct collective noun for a group of angels is a 'host' or 'chorus', apparently. I remember learning all these oddities of the English language, along with my synonyms and antonyms, back at primary school. I know - giving my age away there - they don't learn this stuff these days.

I always liked 'a gaggle of geese' and a 'parliament of owls', and 'an embarrassment of riches' was an oft heard phrase in our house as a child. But I digress ....

There are patchwork angels -


and Flowery angels (below), and stripey ones, dotty ones, zigzaggy ones, plain ones and many more. All are now on my site in the 'Christmas Gallery'.

They look so sweet all sitting here dangling their legs over the edge of my stock shelves. Very cute ... speaking of which, I meant to publicly thank Cuteable.com for doing a feature on my work in their blog back in September. Its a delightful blog and will be great for tracking down unusual little Christmas gifts. Have a look.


I do wonder if I should really concentrate on my more serious work, but the galleries did ring to ask if I do anything especially Christmassy, and of course, little bits like the angels fit into all the little gaps in the kiln around the large pieces, so no space is unused, keeping firing costs down.

Larger pieces like this one below, which came out at the weekend. Its my own contemporary take on a patchwork, and was commissioned by someone who visited my Open Studios back in May. They've had a ridiculously long wait for it, so hope they'll think it was worth it!


So, what do we think the correct term for a group of Bloggers should be? Don't think there is one at present. I like a 'babble', but that is already used for a group of .... Barbers .... believe it or not!

Pieces finished, in progress and just ideas ..

..... IN PROGRESS

So, the above picture shows work in progress ... armies of Christmas angels waiting to go into the kiln this weekend, after which their true colours will shine out. They will then get their ribbon legs and little slippered feet attached and can fly off to their new homes. Will let you see the finished results next week.

.... JUST AN IDEA

Below is what I bought at the Norfolk Quilters' 30th Anniversary Exhibition held at the Assembly House in Norwich this week. It is officially a 'table runner' but as there is never a table clear enough for long enough to put it on in this house, I have just draped it over the back of our old oak settle for now. I loved the colours - very Christmassy - and had the idea that I might make a quilt bowl to match it. I should of course have asked what the quilt pattern is called - but I forgot. Just as I forgot to take my camera with me, as the quilts on show were quite staggeringly beautiful, and I would have liked to show some more.


Anyway, I also bought a book of raffle tickets to win a full size quilt, so maybe I'll show you that one when I win - ha ha!

.... AND PIECES FINISHED.

The piece below is the finished commission I blogged about earlier for a couple with five year old twins. The pattern is called "Crazy House" and whilst they absolutely love it, they are almost too frightened to put it out for fear of two sets of little hands getting hold of it.

Have a good weekend everyone.

And Pigs Might Fly

Well, these look as though they could! Thought I may as well make the pigs fly since all my other hanging decorations seem to have wings. The baby birds are learning to fly ...

and the owls can swoop ...

and a heart can take flight and even soar, once in a while ....

Mine certainly fluttered a bit when these were given to me earlier today.

What was the occasion? There wasn't one.

Full of Care !

I feature on the UK Handmade blog today.
Have a look if you have a few minutes.

The definition below of the word 'handmade' is simple and to the point.
The crucial words there, I think, are 'with care'.
That's what makes handmade products so special.

And whilst I often feel like a machine when I am really busy,
a machine could not put its heart and soul into the finished product,
cos it aint got one!

The 'craftsmanship' is for the end-user to judge.
But I like to think that it is something which flows fairly naturally
out of all that 'caring' about what you make.

Handmade Lace and Handmade Pots

This lovely old lady above is one of a small group I saw recently demonstrating the tradition of making lace by hand, as it has been done down the centuries.


I was in Bruges and, it being famous among other things for its tradition of handmade lace, I made a beeline for the Lace museum and gazed in awe at these wonderful works of art.


The fine detail was quite staggering. I then went into the Lace-making demonstration and watched it being done for real. I found it quite mesmerizing; this group of 'little old ladies' sitting over their work, their hands whizzing around at the speed of light, moving numerous bobbins under and over each other, producing the most delicate and intricate work, as if it were second nature to them.


I love lace - not to wear, I hasten to add, as I am not really a 'frilly' person - but to impress into soft clay, as above, in order to reproduce the lace pattern onto the finished piece. It creates a great effect, and is especially appropriate for my pieces as they are mostly influenced by textiles anyway.


And then I drop glaze into the lace imprints to get a border for the quilt-block design on the bowl.
It would be nice to think that the tradition of making lace by hand (and anything else by hand, for that matter!) is kept alive and passed onto the next generations. It would be sad for it to be just something to be seen in a museum.

Speaking of Handmade, I think my little article I contributed to UK Handmade is being published on Thursday this week on their blog - so do have a look and let me know what you think.

The Personal Touch

Yes, I know ..... you're thinking ' They're not very colourful, not her usual style'. That's because they are only at the first stage of making - the wet clay is dried hard and now ready to go into the kiln for the first firing. Then I shall glaze them in wonderful colours and fire them again.

These two are recent commissions and I so love to do commissions, because they are so special and its so much more gratifying to make things for people who have particularly asked for them, and if you actually know the individuals personally, so much the better.

The one above is for a friend who is Irish. She asked me to make something for her, but was happy for me to choose the design. So I was able to choose something specific to her and the quilt-block pattern marked out on her bowl is called 'Dublin Steps'.


This one is for Michael and Alison, who have a very busy life with twin five year olds. They were specific in their colour choice - this has to be eventually glazed in blues and greens. The design is for me to choose, and so I went for a quilt-block pattern called 'Crazy House'. I know them well and they will appreciate the gentle humour in that choice.


This, of course, is not a bowl and was not a commission, as such. It was for the Hubby for a Big Birthday. He dreams of owning his own bookshop, and now he does, thanks to me. It was great fun to make and he loved that so much time, effort and creativity had been put into his present - something you just don't get with a shop-bought product.

We are off to Bruges this weekend to celebrate our Silver Wedding Anniversary, but being so busy with orders for other people, the only thing I have made for him this time is his card! But it is good one, if I say so myself.

Am looking forward to getting back next week though, just in time to see an article I wrote for the autumn issue of UK Handmade published, I think, on Wednesday 1st September. Crikey ... can you believe its September already? Have a look at it next week and let me know what you think.