Festival Fun

I have been absent for some time now. This has been mainly due to me being away in Suffolk.  I took the children, with Mum, to stay with my friend Amanda in Essex and then we all went to stay in her family holiday cottage in Dunwich, Suffolk, a really pretty seaside village.

While we were staying there we also went to Latitude festival.  After enjoying Camp Bestival so much last year I decided it would be lovely to go to another festival. I wasn't too keen on the musical line up of Camp Bestival this year.  Amanda and I   had wanted to go to Latitude last year because our beloved Nick Cave was headlining but this was not to be as Amanda was in her final weeks of her 4th pregnancy and her husband had forbidden us to jump around in a field to the dulcet tones of Nick!  So, with the prospect of a comfy holiday cottage 10 minutes up the road from the site and neither of us pregnant we booked tickets for this year and planned a 10 day break together.

Latitude was great, really good fun. Having the children with us was a bit restrictive and we didn't get to see or hear as much as we would have done had we been on our own but nevertheless we had a great time and I will treasure the memories of dancing in the glorious sunshine, which we had in constant supply, to The Temper Trap, The Maccabees and Mumford and Sons.

My favourite performance came from this crooner though.  His voice is a delight and he is rather easy on the eye too!

I have never been to Suffolk before and was really amazed by it's beauty. It is very different from where we live and is about as far east from us as you can get.  I loved the towns of Aldeburgh and Southwold.  We went boating one day at The Meare in Thorpeness, home of the amazing House in the Clouds.

Amanda took the boys out on the lake while I stayed with the little ones.  Just in front of us in the queue to get on a boat was Jarvis Cocker and his friends.  He got on a punt and was quite a sight to behold, punting back, in his suit!  I love Jarvis and listen to his Radio 6 show every Sunday so it was quite surreal to see him in this situation!

All in all it was a great break away and so lovely to be able to spend so much time with my  friend who lives too far away for my liking and so I don't see her enough!

And so, I am back, and busy plotting my next festival escape.  I am considering Vintage at Goodwood.  Are any of you going?

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Press(ing) Matters

I am often asked for fabric loans by magazines and I am always happy to accomodate these requests when I can.

Recently, I was asked by BBC Homes and Antiques to supply rare and named pieces of 1950's fabrics for a photo shoot so I delved into my most precious collections to find my Marian Mahler, Lucienne Day, Barbara Brown and any David Whitehead fabrics I could.  These pieces are very special to me so with some trepidation (and a lot of reassurance from H&A) I sent them off.  I had no need to worry, they were sent back in perfect condition and very quickly and the resulting photo shoot is in this month's edition.  It's mouthwateringly delicious. Lovely to see other collector's pieces too.

Also out this month is an article I did for Sew Hip, together with more pictures of yummy fabrics.

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Bits and Bobs

The first Vintage and Handmade Textile Fair has now been and gone and was very well attended.  There were some beautiful stalls with both fabrics and handmade items of a textile nature.  Two rooms filled with some extraordinarily talented, and quite lovely, people!  I didn't take a single picture sadly but  there are a few others who did and there is also a flickr group so do check out the photos.

My stall was right next to Woo's so I got to spend lots of time with her and to see her beautiful handmade goodies.  Lucky for you she had a few items left so do pop on over to her Folksy store before they all go!



I got quite a few lovely bits from the fair myself including   this gorgeous knitting bag from Katie

This child's sized airer from Lizzie

This huge wooden bobbin thing, which I will use for my twine.

This pretty polka dot cushion, made from her own fabric, from Sarah Hardaker.

and fabrics of course!

Since being back I have been adding more pretty fabrics to the website, so here are this week's patchwork samplers!

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