The Hambledon, Winchester

Who cares if it rains when you spend time in a gorgeous shop like this? 
http://www.thehambledon.com/ 

...and things I'd like to buy there...

Baby ballerina.
Liberty print shoes.
Don't mend! Iron on a patch!
Luxurious Rococo chocolate!

All seen and admired at The Hambledon in Winchester. http://www.thehambledon.com/

More Tricot Too Sale Picks

Smart, fitted coat from Out of Xile. Now £105
Lauren Vidal pretty dress with pink slip now £80.50
Lauren Vidal long dress now £55.50
Linen ekta dress now £59.50
Lauren Vidal dress now £97.50

Sleep

After years of waking to the slightest sound from one of my three children I am a very light sleeper. Now it's any little sound in the street. At 2.00am rain woke me. I got up to make a cup of tea and then read my book until sleep reclaimed me an hour or so later.

My current book is Nella Last's diary from the early 1950s. She writes much as I have just done about the little things in her life. What she cooks her husband for his dinner, who said what to whom and what she bought at the shops (with rationing coupons then). Nothing much happens but its compelling because of her natural curiousity and sympathy with everyone she comes across. Recommended for when ever you can't sleep in the middle of the night!

Wild Damson

I really like this palest blue 'armoire'. It's made of a solid, robust pine with removable shelves in the cupboard above and smooth gliding drawers below. £295 is a good price for it and somebody has bought it. 


There are lots of good painted pieces of furniture in Wild Damson in Dragon Street, Petersfield as well as a selection of linen cushions, vintage kitchenware and nice old mirrors.If you live nearby it is worth a visit. email: info@wilddamson.co.uk

Magazines

Pictures torn from the August issue of Homes and Antiques.

I have a love hate relationship with magazines. At Christmas I buy lots because I love the Christmas issues especially Homes and Gardens and any American magazine.
The rest of the time any magazine has to look full of interest for me to part with my money.


 A mistake I've made in the past is to buy a plastic wrapped magazine in the hopes that it will be good and then be bitterly disappointed when I get it home. Do they wrap a magazine in plastic when they know it's not as good as usual?


Now that Borders doesn't exist it is virtually impossible to buy an American magazine. I used to like Martha Stewart Living, especially the Christmas one with its good craft projects. And craft how tos is not something English magazines do well. Do you agree or disagree? What are your favourite magazines?


I also bought Vogue this month but Vogue deserves a post of its own!

Felt Flowers

I made these felt flowers yesterday to use in my new necklaces.

I start by making sheets of soft felt with wool tops and sometimes wisps of silk fibre. Once it's dry I cut out the flowers and re-felt them before finally ironing them dry. 
I've done 28 = 28 necklaces if they're all good enough to use which the odd one won't be.


Btw I'll post some more Tricot sale items soon.

Tricot Too Sale Picks

All clothes are now half price in Tricot Too and these are among my favourites.
This pretty Myrine and Me top in a medium is now £43.50
 
Myrine and Me bloomers in an XL are now £37.

Avoca Anthology long top, size 1 (small) is now £23

Lauren Vidal pretty pin tucked tunic now £57.50 available in a medium or large.

Busy (SALE) Monday

This is one of my cards with envelope stocked by Tricot Too.


It's SALE day in Tricot Too. All the clothes are half price. 
When I get to work there will probably be a queue waiting outside the door. It is bound to be hectic with people filling up the changing rooms and spilling over into stock rooms to try things on.
I'll try to take pictures of some of the clothes available to share with you tomorrow.

How is this made?

This gravity defying work of art is in the Swan Walk shopping centre in Horsham, West Sussex. It is beautiful and I'm curious to know how it supports itself.

The two upper swans are attached to the lower swan with just one wing tip. Either the whole structure is incredibly lightweight or there is a very strong pole passing through the wing tip of base bird to support the two other birds. What do you think?

Thoughts on Making Clothes

This picture is in Attire magazine illustrating www.onebutton.co.uk
I wish I'd been taught dress-making at school. That subject and Money Management could replace Physics and Chemistry...


To be able to cut confidently into a piece of fabric and produce a wearable garment is a talent I always admire. I remember once I complimented an unusual big print dress and the woman said she'd made it the night before taking the pattern from an old nightdress. What confidence, what style!


Yes, I've looked through the books of patterns but I see nothing I want to make. I want to make a simple cotton shift dress, round or v neck and long sleeves. I just got a book out of the library called 'Make Your Own Patterns' by Rene Bergh. It looks complicated but I must read it.


Looking at the new Vogue magazine it talks about 'the new soft line' which pays little attention to the contours of the body.
So now is the ideal time to cut into fabric and bash a dress together. Any mistakes, strange shapes, bad fit etc. I can attribute to new fashion.

Making Necklaces

On Wednesday someone brought into the shop a necklace she had worn and worn to show me. It was one I made two years ago. Now she'd like more  in other colours.

So I searched through my beads, my old buttons, my handmade buttons, my velvet flowers and reels of cotton thong. Assembling the ingredients takes longer than actually making anything!

Now I will paint some more of the wood beads in the picture and make some more yarn flowers and then I can start threading!

Layering with Myrine and Me

Love these Myrine and Me lace edged bloomers and long, layered skirt.
Over them, on the left, is a pretty Lauren Vidal dress with necklace by me and on the right a long vest by Moscow with angora top by Borland Noble. All in the window at Tricot Too, Petersfield now.

Newspaper decoration

My friend Bee sent me this photo of a homestead cafe in Queensland, Australia. I'm interested in the decorative newspaper on the shelves.

Was this done just to pretty the place up or did people line their shelves with newspaper to catch the dust and dirt and then replace it regularly?


I've noticed newspaper edgings on kitchen shelves in pictures of modern day houses recently. Presumably this is purely decorative. Or is it a sign of the times that people are thinking of cheap ways to pretty up their houses. And what could be cheaper than newspaper?

Dance

Did you know there is a contemporary dance group of people aged between 60 and 100? It's called the Company of Elders and performs at Sadler's Wells in London where it is based.


The 'elders' have not necessarily ever danced before in their lives but with the encouragement of professional choreographers they produce wonderful, uplifting dance performances.
I saw this on the television. Dance moves are based on individuals' physical reactions to past memories. 
To see an elderly lady close her eyes and then curl into herself with her hands over her ears as she relives the time she was evacuated in the war is really moving. All this is filmed and then becomes the basis for the choreography. The resulting dance is performed on the Sadler's Wells stage and thoroughly appreciated by regular ballet fans in the audience.

Maybe getting older isn't so bad if you keep dancing!

Biscuit tin discs

I saw necklaces and bracelets made from discs cut from old biscuit tins and sweet tins in Tatty Hatty in Petersfield.
 Original, interesting jewellery.     www.katehh.co.uk

In Tricot Too window now

I love these ekta pale blue linen clothes on the left. A dress and shirt worn over embroidered white Myrine and Me soft shorts.

On the right are Out of Xile jersey trousers and long sleeve tunic with a Borland Noble customised cashmere jersey.
On the chair is a Deryn Relph cushion and hanging behind it on the wall is an ekta linen top.

Physic Garden inspiration

There is an embroidery exhibition here this week. Many embroiderers and artists are inspired by the knot garden and the geometrically shaped hedges below. 


I am lucky to live in Petersfield where this lovely gardens - looked after mainly by volunteers - is right in the middle of the town. Office workers take their sandwiches here and mums meet with their pushchairs. 
It feels ancient but is beautifully maintained.
Phoenix Stitchers with around 100 members have their exhibition in the lovely brick building here this week. The exhibition is fascinating and worth visiting. And in October my friend Ann Hutchins, who does wonderful embroidered pictures of gardens and vegetables and I are having an exhibition here.

Blogs I like

Blogs I look at daily are:
 this is glamorous for the wonderful photographs of pretty clothes, luxurious homes and New York sophistication; a cup of jo for her sheer love of life; snippet and ink which although it's all about weddings has the best inspiration boards and rosenrabbatz, a popular German blog about making your own clothes. I don't understand it but I like the pictures!


They are  all listed in the right hand column of my blog under Nice to Look At.Click onto them there.