Summer Supper

Fresh picked from the garden. '...broad beans nestling in their blankety beds'....

Exciting me now

Making clothes with nuno felt is exciting to me now! This picture is in Lizzie Houghton's new book 'Felting Fashion'. The texture, the soft drape and the art to wear one-offness of these pieces is totally inspirational!

Sweet peas from the garden

All the fun of the Fete

A donkey ride for the children

A keenly fought tug of war.
I had a stand at Beech Village Fete on Saturday when all the residents came together to make money to revamp their village hall.
I met some nice people and bought some amazing books :'The Fiberarts Book of Wearable Art' - (I might post some pictures from this amazing book later) and the hefty coffee table book called 'Pierre Herme Patissier' with sumptuous photos of strawberry tarts, florentines and croissants and their recipes, both for 20p -not bad eh?

New buttons

The buttons on the left remind me of butterfly wings. These are buttons I made today. A larger selection is available to buy on http://jennystacyshop.blogspot.com

New stockist

My painted wood buttons are now stocked by The Black Sheep, a new shop in West Street, Midhurst.

Watching green finches with a friend

This week a friend hosted an 'Art Week' in her glorious garden. Her artist and maker friends sketched and painted with all this inspiration around them.

So much to see. As we sat chatting half way up the garden three green finches swooped and fed just a stone's throw away.

I love the colour and smooth texture of this gate against the pale stone wall.

What a paradise! Stone steps lead up through the garden to a vegetable plot beyond a gate at the top. Everywhere there is detail and decoration -smooth sun bleached wood on end as sculpture; chain arches and an amusing scarecrow made of threaded together plant pots. This garden could only have been created by an artist. It is a wonderful achievement.

Lovely delphinium in the garden

Flowers and thoughts

A few flowers from the garden and you can blame the garden for keeping me from blogging this past week.
It's so nice to potter about outside and to work on stock and orders outside while the sun shines. And today my kind neighbour lent me her sun umbrella so I can stay even longer outside without worrying about shrivelling up into a dry prune. I am knitting a tunic and it's taking far longer than I reckoned but I think it will be worth the time and effort when it's done. I've asked Rowan if I can have wool at wholesale prices as there are more garments in the pipeline - I'll find out on Monday.

I've also been thinking about workshops. What sort of things to teach? I have now come up with a list of workshop options for groups to choose from and I think I will learn from those taking part just as they will learn from me. If anyone is interested in joining a fun creative workshop let me know. More details on request.

I have three sales coming up: Saturday June 20th I'm at Beech village fete which is next to Alton in Hampshire;
Saturday June 27th I'll be selling in Bakery Lane, Petersfield - buttons, dolls and badges, not the textile jewellery which is exclusive to Tricot Too in this area.
Saturday July 4th Farnham Maltings in The Barley Room 9am to 4pm

At Farnham Maltings

On Saturday I had an enjoyable day selling at Farnham Maltings in Surrey. The dolls were especially appreciated and I'm planning to make a lot more of those. Buttons, necklaces and flapper girls also went down well. Although this is a once a month show for makers and antique dealers the stalls are so popular that I don't know when and if I'll be invited to do it again.
My next event is selling buttons and dolls in Petersfield on Saturday June 27th. Then you can see my work in the big display cabinet for the whole month of July in Havant Library.

This week in Tricot Too

Pretty cardigan worn with one of my necklaces.

Love this clean and cool outfit for hot summer days.

Red flower necklace with red flower print dress.

Making dolls

These are the first two of five dolls I hope to complete this week. I love selecting colours to make the dolls. The other three have hair and painted faces and today I'll try and make their dresses in different colours from those pictured here.

These dolls are for sale on my new shop blog http://jennystacyshop.blogspot.com/

Shopping for Cats

One of the first items to go on sale in my new shop blog is Cedric here, one of the 'cats in cardigans'. I am hopeless with things technical and for the time being have given up on installing Pay Pal. So if you want Cedric I'm afraid it's still payment by cheque in Jenny Stacy's world. See Cedric and his friend Wilbur on my new blog http://jennystacyshop.blogspot.com

Good display

Opposite me at the Petworth Costume and Textile fair last weekend were Sam Hogg and Lynne Wallace who display their work so beautifully. Different heights. Clean and uncluttered - I could learn a lot from these two!(see post below)

Lean mean green machine!

Last weekend I met the delightful Amy Aardvark, who prints textiles and her boyfriend JP who owns this totally cool bike. Very fast apparently. It looks to me like a 'green' version of a Harley Davidson. I hope to see Amy at Cockpit Arts in London where she has her studio. Her lively company was one of the highlights of the fair. (see below)

Petworth's Costume and Textile Fair

I spent the weekend and Monday in this rather beautiful round tent. It had a chandelier and billowing drapes, quite the grandest setting I have ever experienced! It was a lovely fair with talks on fashion and clothes through the ages. A large marquee of textile artists, another large marquee of beautiful fabrics - ethnic treasures, French antique linens, hand embellished clothes. Plus textile hangings and pictures by groups and individuals. All really interesting.

My table, and the words 'could do better' come to mind. But in spite of the rather messy display and totally wrong white mirror I had a great time. I met some really interesting people. I sold hundreds of buttons, lots of badges and a few pieces of jewellery. Hopefully the Petworth House Costume and Textile Fair will become an annual event.

Tricot Too, Petersfield this week

Perfectly in tune with the grey paint surround. This week Tricot Too's windows show desirable clothes in monochrome with a touch of colour from Jenny Stacy's jewellery! And don't you love the giant pear?

Shop latest

The shop blog will go online next week.

More buttons

I made these colourful buttons yesterday. I'd like to spend today making buttons as well but that's not on the 'To Do' list!
It's more important that I continue making necklaces.

Sue Clark's work

This silk fibre, hand dyed and machine stitched vessel is made by Sue Clark, a Sussex textile artist and member of the Embroiderers' Guild.The autumn leaves are so life like it looks as if she has stitched into real leaves rather than making them from scratch from silk paper. Sue had also made an exquisite butterfly wings vessel for people looking at the Open Doors art trail last weekend to admire. Based around Chichester this trail offered 40 open studios. I also loved Rosie Morgan's portraits and Jan Guest's coastal art. See www.RosieMorganPortraits.com and www.janguest.com

Painting big beads

After a day of trying to sell buttons in the rain along with fellow artists and makers I got home and cheered myself up by painting these lovely beads. I'll use them in my textile necklaces.
I have lots to make still for Petworth House's Costumes and Textiles Fair next weekend May 23rd to May 25th. Oh yes, and I was happy to be invited to have a stand at Farnham Maltings on Saturday June 6th. It's raining again today so I think I'll visit friends taking part in Chichester's Open House art trail. Pics to follow! First I'll sew up dolls for next weekend.