midhurst meet the makers fair

This Sunday and Monday 23rd and 24th August I will be taking part in the 'Meet the Makers' Fair in the Memorial Hall in Midhurst. 

'MADhurst' 

Its part of the 'MADhurst' arts festival which takes place from 22nd to 31st August and features everything from music and dance to exhibitions and craft workshops.

I have been trying my hand at fabric jewellery, and will be taking along some wrapped bangles:

..and some wrapped bracelets and necklaces.

Also some of the teacup pincushions I've made before. Hopefully the revival of interest in home sewing of all kinds will mean that they will be popular.

Meanwhile, here chez molebags we are having a bumper year for sweet peas after a late start, and the best thing about them of course is that the more you pick the more you get. We have also picked pounds of blackcurrants and raspberries, and it looks like being a great crop of plums and apples too. 

So if the electricity goes off again this winter:

http://molebags.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/back-from-dark-ages.html

We will be well set up with fruit for another batch of 'blackout' jam!

shoreline colours

Last Sunday was a beautiful day to be at the coast, sunny and breezy, and the chips in the pub were delicious.

But the best part of the day was the impromptu exhibition of abstract art that was the dinghy park..

windowsill wednesday

rediscovering my artistic mojo..

Strange how the creative urge seems to switch itself on and off.

Since the beginning of summer my mind has been firmly fixed outdoors, i.e. taming the wilderness in the garden, which is inspiring in itself, but also exhausting.

We have had a busy summer elsewhere too, visiting exhibitions, gardens and museums and storing up colours and images.

So inspiration is always there, and must have been getting into my head, and
I never stop drawing, although the weekly life drawing group I go to has stopped until September. I always have a small drawing book with me though, and use it as a notebook too, an addition to my memory as well as a visual record.

But I would really like to give credit to lovely Jenny from Handmade Happiness:

http://jenny-handmadehappiness.blogspot.co.uk/

for restarting my creative mojo. Her shop (in my drawing above) is always full of beautiful and unusual hand made things, and she has been urging me for ages to make more items for her.

Here are some small purses and pouches I made last week, inspired by 'boro' stitching, and by the patches I have been adding to Mr P's gradually disintegrating jeans...

I have also made two enormous cushion covers this week for two big pillows we bought once in France- why are pillows so huge there? I haven't noticed that French people have particularly big heads.. A good use for some lovely velvet fabric samples I have been hoarding for ages, and the cats love to snuggle down into them.

Now I find I have lots more ideas for sewing and making. Its true that you just need to start and you open yourself to more. I hope to be back here more often from now on.