A little bit of nostalgia.

Beautiful old wooden spools of thread.

Retro fabrics.

Lovely old thread box.

More retro fabrics and retro patchwork.

Old matchboxes fronts and backs.

Marimekko is a Finnish company that is mostly known for its bold and colourful patterns, along with simple and ageless clothing. This year Marimekko celebrates its 60th anniversary and just recently opened a store on 5th Avenue in Manhattan, New York.

Midweek Meander

Whilst looking around for ideas on how to display my work I visited one of our makers blogs and found these great ideas, thanks www.made-to-make.blogspot.com

This one is even a little mobil craft store.

I think that the suitcases are a great idea, transport your stuff, open it up et voila

brilliant, now I just have to hunt down some old suitcases!

WE SHOULD ALL REMEMBER

JUST A THOUGHT, ENJOY YOUR DAY.

Midweek meander.

Carrying on with our 'Meet the Makers' theme here is another talented 'crafter' who will be helping us make a success of our open day at 'Studio 15', Naomi Lock.

'If you go down to the woods today your sure of a big suprise'

'He's my favorite'

'or maybe this one, I'm a sucker for beach huts'.

These look fun

something different on the Christmas tree or how about a Christmas garden?

This is a super little bag, nice one Naomi!

Maybe something a bit more flowery?

To see more of Naomi's products visit www.woolylakes.co.uk

or come and buy from her direct at

'Meet the Makers' 10.00am-5.00pm 22nd October

'Studio 15' above 'Just Sew' Penrith.

Midweek meander.

Hi again, I hope that you all had a good Easter break, really enjoyed mine catching up with family and friends. I thought that I would revisit the theme of collections having called in at a great local shop called RE. www.re-foundobjects.com they were kind enough to allow me to photograph some of their lovely stuff.

Collection of dressmakers chalk.

Vintage tableware, doesn't it look beautiful.

Put it all together, beautiful tablecloth and fantastic tableware, party time!

Even the dishcloths look seductive! Just goes to show, presentation is everything.

Grouping things together into collections increases the appeal.

Collecting is is my joy,

it gives me great satisfaction.

Ursula Andress.

Midweek meander

Continuing the theme of collections here are a few of mine.

Homes to let, the beautiful colours and shapes of snail shells.

Conkers, stones, seedpods and skulls.

Fossils, traces of times past.

A day at the seaside.

'She sells seashells', like a child I come home with pockets bulging.

Inspirational shapes, textures and colours from the natural world.

An understanding of the natural world

and whats in it is a source of not only

a great curiousity but great fulfilment.

David Attenborough. 

Midweek meander.

More from the collections of Guy Selz.

'collectors, more than others, experience the nostalgia of a world

that is disintegrating and they need, each in their own way and

as far as possible, to save pieces of it that they may serve as testimony'.

Francois Mathey.

Reliquaries.

Birds and animals.

Figurines.

Beasts.

Aren't these wonderful yet again, and, they make me feel so much better about my own hoarding habits. Maybe one day a museum will want my stuff-well maybe not!

Midweek Meander

This week I'm thinking about collections, I collect anything and everything, a magpie comes to mind! I enjoy seeing things grouped together and gather lots of ephemera for collage and assemblage. Last year we took the students to Barcelona as part of their  personal development, visiting galleries, private shows and small businesses. From the Museu Del Joguet de Catalunya there was a small (unexpected) exhibition on the ground floor and there I discovered the collections of Guy Selz, for me it was like hitting a seam of gold! Here are just a few of the photographs , please excuse the quality of the images as the collections were all in glass cases.

The 'Collection of Collections' of Guy Selz.

The collection is of a series of collections that Francoise and Guy Selz put together over a half a century (1925-1976) it was donated by Philippe and Dorothee Selz who have themselves gone on adding to it.

Shoes.

Dolls.

Clay pipes.

This text is a quote was from the press release of the exhibition.

Now being presented in Barcelona, the inventive universe of this 'Collection of Collections'-scraps, crepe paper, reliquaries, crosses, votive offerings, birds, dolls, animals, masks, lead soldiers, popular prints, albums of stickers,toy boats, etc-reflect the spirit of the collector who seeks to capture the energy of the past in groupings of objects..............

Masks.

Every passion borders on the chaotic,

but the collector's passion borders on

the chaos of memories.

Walter Benjamin.