 |
| Three cards by Liz Jones of Sew to be Happy and some pretty fabric. |
 |
| Gorgeous flower bought from Mercer and Rose |
 |
| Nice applique work by Hearts and Kisses |
 |
| Also by Hearts and Kisses, love the little figures she creates on fabric.
Yesterday late afternoon I hurried to the Country Brocante Fair in Midhurst after work. The first two pictures show things I bought there and the second two pictures show a stall I admired.
Brocante says to me - all things French and there was a lot of old French linen, dyed, embroidered or just sold by the metre or in small pieces. Linen from Provence dyed pink or blue, scraps of old French cottons sold in bundles to be used in patchwork or for making small hearts etc. Lots of pink accessories and off-white chipped painted furniture.
I particularly liked a stall run by two ex-teachers who offer stitching workshops for children and adults called 'Sew to be Happy' based on the idea of mindfulness or craft as therapy.
One of the prettiest stalls was Mercer and Rose with vintage habadashery and Swarovski crystal jewellery. So much to see. I'll definitely try to visit the next show... It's on Saturday August 26th at Wisborough Green in Sussex.
|
 |
| I love playing with paints and pastels to make pieces for collage |
 |
| Blue flowers from the garden in a blue vase |
 |
| Bee Mellor made this interesting brooch |
Strong colour can exert a powerful influence over us. Today a customer said she wished she had a shed in the garden filled with things from Handmade Happiness. What a lovely compliment!
I remember how I used to believe that wearing red at a show made me sell more. This really worked but I expect it was more because wearing red made me feel more confident, not because red was a particularly lucky colour.
I once painted my sitting-room sunflower yellow thinking that strong colour would make me feel happy all the time, In fact it quickly irritated me. I admire other people who can live with strong colours in their homes but for me the novelty quickly wears off and I prefer relaxing neutrals on my walls now.
It's fun to experiment with puting lots of colours together and sometimes deliberately puting clashing colours together. But for me, less is definitely more.
Colourful cushions and colourful artwork but for me to be able to relax,the walls have to be pale.
|
 |
| Bee Mellor made this stuning necklace using needlefelted fabric made by Jenny Stacy |
 |
| Another necklace made by Bee Mellor using felt and needlefelt made by Jenny Stacy |
 |
| Baby bootees knitted by Patricia in a Justine Jenner bowl. |
 |
| Fourth and final doll for the time being designed and made by Jenny Stacy |
 |
| Scrap packs of vintage fabrics £2 each |
 |
| Japanese style bags made by Pam Dew against Japanese style patchwork throw made by Niloo. |
 |
| New cards made by Kate Box |
 |
| New knitted bunting made by Kate Box
Two of Handmade Happiness' favourite makers have just brought in new work.
Pam Dew has been sewing bags using thick linen and fine cottons all in shades of indigo.
Kate Box, who makes popular wrist warmers, knitted throws and neck warmers has introduced some cards and some bunting into her range.
May saw the largest number of visitors to this blog ever. Most readers live in France. Then nearly the same number live in the USA and then come readers from Great Britain.
As this isn't a selling blog and readers from abroad are unlikely to ever visit Handmade Happiness the shop, I wonder what people find appealing about it?
When I started writing this blog 8 years ago nearly all its readers lived in Great Britain but back then I probably knew my readers personally as there were so few of them. Now this is just a small part of the huge cyber world out there that I still don't fully understand.
But if you want to see many more pictures than I put on this blog check out my Instagram posts. If you aren't familiar with Instagram it's a free app on your phone. Find me as jenny_handmade_happiness
|
 |
| Three birds made by Bee Mellor to sell in the shop. |
 |
| Bee Mellor's glorious birds available in the shop from today |
