Quirky Shoes

For sale on Ebay men's battered Camper Twins

Mis-Matched Shoes
Twins by Camper

My favourite pair of shoes

I mentioned yesterday that I love mis-matched socks and shoes and Benta from  SLIKstitches  said she would love a pic of my mis-matched shoes. It got me to thinking about them - they are made by Camper, the only company I know of that makes this type of colourful quirky shoe. They are based in Spain and have been making shoes since 1877 and are available in their London Covent Garden Store. Looking at their site I was amazed to see that it is the 20th Anniversary of 'Twins'. so I thought you might like to see some of them ...

Another well worn pair!

What Do You Think?

Blocks and Squares

A Little Catch Up



A little stash of pretties



Remember the Amy Butler 'Riot Of Colour' quilt? Well it has not been forgotten. Sadly, I have been nursing a sick Brother (sewing machine that is!) It has been labouring in a very noisy fashion, and the stitching has been all over the place and the automatic needle threader refuses to work any more. Mr Whizz Kid has cleaned it and fiddled with it and shouted at it, and shaken it, ... it didn't take any notice at all and I finally realized that it should be in hospital. Meanwhile, (as I had been such a kind nurse), I bought myself a new Janome. Now my love affair with my Brother, (apologies to Sunni for pinching the pun), will definitely not end and I hope to see it back in my home very shortly. I miss it already!  Meanwhile the Janome is trying hard to steal my heart. It is such an easy machine to use and is very, very quiet. So ... back to the Amy Butler quilt blocks.














Stupidly I decided not to iron along the way (never a good decision) and consequently the backs were not perfect! I won't show you these. Each block has eight pieces - six inch squares, which join together in a four formation and make a block of twelve inches square with thirty two pieces -  and it all needs a really good iron! So far I have included twenty different Amy Butler fabrics.

Now did you see the knitting too? This is the seed stitch granny square in the lovely  Rowan  yarn called  'Savannah' for my baby blanket. The colour is called 'Grassland' (no grass around here that colour), which is a gentle teal and very pretty and soft. So now I have managed five of the necessary sixteen squares. This blanket is taking me forever.

So you can see that I haven't been shirking, merely resting due to the circumstances. Hopefully you may see a more productive me in future ...

Wisley Craft Fair

Craft And Design Fair

RHS Wisley Gardens

I so love Wisley Gardens in Surrey at the best of times.  (RHS. Wisley Gardens). The beautiful house and gardens with a superb garden centre, shop and cafe are a lovely place to visit. The flowers are stunning at most times of the year, sadly a little spoiled by the continuous wet weather we have experienced so far this year.

Stunning house

Pretty pond and waterfall

The pagoda

A few spring flowers struggling with the wet conditions

But we were really not here to see the gardens but to visit the Contemporary Craft and Design Fair, which was housed in large marquees erected throughout the gardens. It is organized by Craft In Focus  and runs from 3rd until 7th May 2012.

The exhibitors were many and varied and had come from far and wide. A few were exceptionally interesting and all were wonderful and very unique ...

Yellow Cymbidium

These amazing flowers were made in porcelain by  AshleyLouise. Their floral design stand had some beautiful things - very special floral arrangements for home and weddings in particular.

Pink Cymbidium

John Milner specializes in treefrogs. They were very unusual indeed. He makes frogs from all available materials, pottery and metals being very much in evidence. They were weirdly wonderful.  Their website says it all ...  www.geckoman.co.uk

Pottery wall hanging treefrog

Mary Mary makes colourful handmade jewellery in Cornwall and her stall was extremely bright. I loved these heart shaped pendants with sparkling jewels.

Pretty pieces from Mary Mary

The Natural Knitwear Company  makes socks. Not just any old socks but colourful cotton mis-matched socks. I so loved them and bought two pairs for Mr Whizz Kid. Last trip I bought some for my son and he says that they wash very well.

The colours chosen were 'Raspberry' and 'Woodland'

I love this whole mis-matched thing. I also have some mis-matched shoes called 'Twins' by Camper Shoes, which make me smile when people do a double-take. Why on earth should socks or shoes match? I like weird!

Excellent knitwear from Lorry Marshall

Some stunning designs

Lorry Marshall makes these beautiful knits in Newcastle using a variety of textiles. Her company is called  The Original Hand-Made Knitting Company  and her knitwear is truly original.

These amazing tables really caught my eye

And this jewellery was most original

These colourful items were all made from glass and resin and the tables were hand-made in wood with glass and resin inserts. The company was called  Giddygecko.

Hand-made hats with knitted flowers by Lavender Heart - loved these!

These hats had gorgeous knitted flowers decorating them (sadly not available seperately) and were made by Lavender Heart who also made lots of other pretty knitted items.

Superb knitwear

And my very favourite crafter  Heidi Rhodes Textiles

Heidi Rhodes is a wonderful young textile artist whom I come across on a regular basis in the South Of England. She makes the most original pictures using a variety of materials. Her work is quirky and colourful and really makes me smile. More of her work can be found here at  Heidi Rhodes Textiles. Do take a look as it is so wonderful. I could not resist the one below and bought it for myself. Isn't it adorable?

And this is one I bought!
'Tea With The Queen'
Heidi Rhodes

Detail of 'Tea With The Queen'
Taken in the sun!

Wonderful original ideas - 'Guards at Buckingham Palace'

My photo's do not do justice to this amazing work

So I had a great day out in the rain with a friend and we finished up having lunch (yes I truly belong to that club of 'the lazy ladies who lunch') at  Carluccio's  in Cobham. It was very good indeed!

Floral Design by Ashley Louise

Do go if at all possible!

Knitting

Knitting Club News

Well the J. L. class went really well with a huge turnout and there were the usual inspirational projects going on ... but drat it ... the camera was not behaving well and I just could not work out what was wrong with it ... I managed to get some pics of this really gorgeous scarf/stole/wrap, which was made in the softest most delectable green linen and silk yarn. It draped beautifully and I just loved it and it looked spectacular on its's owner who has the shiniest red hair ever!

This is so amazing

The pattern is so intricate and it took hours to make

I so loved this item - and many more besides but after these photo's the camera would not co-operate with me at all! When I got home and sorted out the problem (dratted technology!) I took a little photo of my own work so far, which is feeble by comparison  ...

My virtually complete Rico Loopy Boa

Another square for my granny blanket in 'Arid'

The colour for the next square - 'Grassland'

Remember these wonderful textures and colours?

All these soft yarns are by  Rowan  and are called 'Savannah' - they are 94% cotton and 6% silk and have a super soft texture and are highly washable - just perfect for a baby.

Do you remember the granny blanket?  It has sixteen nine inch squares all in different colours and different stitches (the same range and texture but some with 'bobbles') and should finish up being approximately three foot square, colourful and soft and perfect for the new baby (due this month). So far I have only completed four squares but they were with the most difficult textured stuff and now I am on to the easier yarns and patterns so should sail along a little quicker. I choose this simple stuff for the weekly knitting meetings as anything more intricate seems to go awry while I chatter and do not concentrate sufficiently.

Crochet container

And finally, this pretty crocheted teal blue container was made for me by a friend and is so useful for storing small bits of embroidery wools. It is made in 'Cotton Jeans' by  RYC  a lovely texture for baskets. It is beautifully made in Italy from 100% cotton and has the look of washed denim and has a very special tweedy effect, which is lovely. Thank you G. for this thoughtful present. xx