My Love Affair with Ally Pally...

Hello my lovelies!

how are we all?

So as I write this, I am looking at a suitcase filled full of clothes, stitchy goodies and my train tickets... ready to venture off on my next little crafty jaunt.

Where am I going???

Well...let me tell you a little snippet of gossip...

I am trundling down by rail to the big smoke..aka London, for a fantastic event held in

a fantastic venue....

The Knitting & Stitch Show 2016

I fell in love with this event over fifteen years ago and have always loved it ever since.

I am SOOOO excited :)

So, what am I going to be doing?

Well...I am going to be spending the next five days working my little socks off chatting with viewers of  Create & Craft TV, other artisans, craft companies, bloggers, publishers, crafty peeps and many textile students.... as well as hopefully meeting loads of inspiring people with loads of crafty smiles.

My first visit to Ally Pally (of course officially termed as Alexandra Palace)

introduced me to a world of so many ideas alongside the crafts I was doing at the time.

I was enthralled by all the many designs on offer in so many different fields of craft.

Even if you are an amateur crafter I can guarantee you will find something that will bring a smile or two...or three or four.... you get the idea!

There are loads of retail opportunities to help stock up your stash of goodies as well as loads of exhibits, workshops, demos, free shows and tons of inspiration everywhere you look in every nook and cranny.

You will NOT be disappointed!

I shall be demoing on the Create & Craft TV stand with a fabulous Singer machine showcasing some

Free Motion Embroidery, decorative stitching and hopefully sharing some of my very easy tips & techniques for making your sewing journey a little easier...

Do come and say hello if you are visiting...

I'd love to meet you all!

Toodle-ooh for now...

September Equinox...

Morning my lovelies!

How are we all?

Today celebrates our September Equinox which welcomes Autumn with all her beauty... 

a change in the seasons...

Evenings will become slightly darker soon, curtains will need to be closed to keep in the warmth and  our gardens will turn their thoughts towards closing their eyes for a little nap as Winter waits at the front door to be let in.

For me, Autumn brings such joy....

Having had a very busy summer working at a variety of events around the UK this year, I have to say I am really looking forward to getting back into snuggling up on the sofa with a good book or sitting down to blog. doing a little slow stitching or even crocheting...

It is also a time that I feel I can re-connect with Mother Earth a little more...

I always think Autumn allows us time to slow down a little to notice those treasured snippets of beauty.

We are only here for a fleeting moment on this beautiful earth and are often so busy simply getting through our daily lives that we miss Mother Nature's gems. 

We need to nurture our planet with human warmth and kindness.....

often a walk in the woods, a glimpse of a deer saying good morning, blinking at a flock of birds migrating or listening to a Robin's chorus can bring us those happy smiles.

These are just some of the ways we can chat with Mother Earth...

to keep us grounded with what is real in life.

What really matters.

We are simply keepers of this land until a new generation comes along and each season reminds us of our own walk through time.

Instead of feeling down about it we should be rejoicing in all of our new seasons with a warmth for the ever turning tides of history.

how many times do we hear or even say "gosh I'm getting old, time is slipping away too fast..."

I hear it all to often on my travels.

My answer is always the same.... 

enjoy today

enjoy minute by minute

simply enjoy...

Celebrate Autumn with a little love in your heart for this beautiful time of year...

Let her hold your hand and guide you through the cooler evenings,

She's only stopping by for a short time before she visits her next family.

So enjoy her company, relax in her glorious golden tones 

and simply 'borrow a moment or to' from her to add to your patchwork of special memories

however happy or sad those memories may be.

Toodle-ooh for now!

Saying Hello to Autumn....

Hello my lovelies!

Gosh I've missed saying hello...

Where did the time go???

I always think it's that time of year that seems to be full of change when we welcome the door to Autumn.

We close our album of summer memories and holiday smiles....

to embrace the coolness of a new season debutante taking her first bow...

Children start a new chapter in their lives, students venture into the unknown and our thoughts start to stray towards that 'C' word.....

As much as I love to welcome Summer in for a cuppa in June, I do have to say I am quite glad to say goodbye to the heat she brings with her visits...

As a sufferer of Fibromyalgia you would think I'd welcome the heat but I struggle to control my temperature in both extremes; so, in summer I'm wishing for a bucket of ice to jump into for most of the time and in winter I'm found snuggled in blankets wishing warmth would grace my weary bones.... you just can't win can you!

So...back to September smiles for me...

September brings SO many!

birthday celebrations, golden & olive hues beginning to grace my garden, misty foggy mornings with dewy spiderwebs, crochet blankets in the wash, and scrumptious blackberries...

What's your September smile?

So, with the evenings closing in on us my mind is wandering towards those crochet hooks, stitchy projects and romantic girlie films!

Dear September, I am so looking forward to sharing my evenings with you catching up on your  gossip, slobbing in my PJ's, snuggly slippers, and getting to grips with tidying my stitchy basket full of threads nestling next to the crackling fire...

Before I can hang up my stitchy boots for the year so to speak,though  I do have one more major event to visit....

For anyone wanting to have a lovely stitchy chat with yours truly... 

I shall be at Ally Pally at the Knitting & Stitch Show showcasing free motion embroidery on the Create & Craft TV stand....

Do come and say hello!

In the meantime, I can be found in my kitchen digging out my dusty slow cooker and checking out some old favourite Autumnal recipes...

So excited as I LOVE casseroles...and apple crumble puds!

Happy Autumn my lovelies.....

Enjoy....

A Spoonful Of Sugar...

hello my lovelies...

Gosh I have so missed saying hi to you all!

Time always seems to propel faster when I want it to slow down...

Lately I have tried to regularly take a few hours out when I have got some spare time to talk with Mother Nature

and fill my sketchbooks with a few doodles...

Coming from the Fens of open land and vast skies I get the urge to reconnect with Mother Earth.

A day doodling is like taking a spoon of medicine when my soul is weary.

I always use my doodles as my inspiration when designing.

I've come to the conclusion that I was definitely born in the wrong era!

I should've been an Edwardian lady who meambled down the lanes capturing Mother Nature's

gems with my camera and notebook.

But hey... I can still be that lady just wearing my jeans and T-shirts!

I daydream all the time whilst on my walks

Something I was always getting in trouble for as a child...

I would make up stories in my head whilst walking of  animals meeting flowers, visiting different scenes.

Often I would write about them and my dream of becoming a writer has never waned... who knows one day...

Every little snippet of gorgeousness seems to capture my soul.

I'm an avid reader of all kinds of books but I especially love

the old ones (of course I hear you all say!)

Lately I have been building up my collection of Flora & Fauna...

So how do I use them when designing?

Well you may well ask the question but sadly I never have the answer 

My work is very organic and just evolves by itself...a little like a sourdough bread.

it has a life of it's own...

I start designing with thread, add in a little slow stitching and gradually add layers of texture and colour over a number of days, sometimes months or even days if I re-visit a design I find stashed away in a safe place every now and then!

Here's some of my work of late...

I never thought I would ever be lucky enough to indulge in a way of life that I hold so dear in  my heart and get paid to do it...

What ever form of crafting you lovelies indulge in, allow it to immerse itself around you like a great big hug.

Crafting is the best type of therapy needed for our minds to keep us on an even keel

in our busy society.

Indulge...

Inhale...

be still...

Enjoy.

Till the next time my lovelies...

Toodle-ooh for now!

Belated Birthday Wishes Bill!

Hello my lovelies!

Did you know that it would've been William Morris's 132nd Birthday recently?
William was an English textile designer, craftsman, poet, novelist and socialist.

I was lucky enough to visit The William Morris Gallery in Walthamstowe, London a couple of weekends ago....

such a real treat!

I have admired William's work since my school days when I took my 'A Level Needlework' (for those not having a clue what that was, it is the equivalent of today's exams at Sixth Form!)

Most people think of his Orange Blossom designs and not a lot else if I'm honest but he was SO much more!!!!

So why DO I admire him?

Well, he was a quiet rebel of his time, an advocate for preserving traditional textile and needlework skills and a pioneer in the textile industry.

He was also a firm believer in empowering people with knowledge and information.

All of the above reasons totally sum up my philosophy in life I have to say and I know that if I ever I met him we would have been good buddies!

~~~~~~~~~~

When he married his wife Jane and moved into their first home, he taught himself embroidery to 

make some linen panels to decorate the walls which I love the idea of.
He wanted to know how a design worked, how the stitches rested on the fabric and how the design worked with the rest of his home.

His love of embroidery and weaving extended into the textile industry and today his designs are considered some of the finest...
For me he had such a wonderful philosophy of life which I love...

I have always been inspired by his designs.

 I especially love the fact that he wasn't bothered his designs were only an interpretation of a plant, flower or tree etc rather than the actual botanical drawing... something very much frowned upon by many of his day.

He had his own style and own thoughts and again I totally agree with that philosophy.

His free flowing form of design provided the foundation for The Arts & Craft Movement.

Have you ever thought about that question, if you held a dinner party and could invite a guest of your choice from present or past... who would you invite?

Well, Bill (I'm sure he wouldn't mind me calling him Bill) would definitely be on my list...

At school I was forever being told I didn't conform to the usual rules of art...

I struggled to sit for hours attempting to sketch an orange or a vase of flowers and yet these days

I don't give it a second thought and quite honestly don't give a noodle if my drawings are not up to The Royal School Of Art Society standard.

I simply sketch what I see in a way I can interpret my view.

At school I thought I was a failure at Art simply because I couldn't get my proportions and perspective 100% right!

Would love to meet that Art teacher today and tell him my thoughts that's for sure!

Art in whatever form is only beautiful in the eye of the beholder.

There are no rules.

For any design student or anyone with a love of design and art I strongly recommend a visit to The William Morris Gallery.

I know you will be inspired...

Even his garden has a little of Bill's inspiration about it as you wander along the paths...

Explore the internationally-renowned collections of the William Morris Gallery and learn more about the life and work of this remarkable individual and his artistic collaborators by simply clicking on the link 

  William Morris Gallery

I try to sketch a doodle here and there every day as I go about my daily life...sometimes nothing special and yet sometimes something so very special... simple snippets of everyday life that

we all take for granted in our hurried lives

have you ever doodled?

Why not give it a go...

just remember there are never any rules in life especially when it comes to art.

Happy doodling my lovelies....

Tilly

x x x