Martha Hollyhock

We've spent the weekend decorating our bedroom in Laura Ashley's Martha Hollyhock wallpaper and a lovely shade of blue called 'favourite china'. 

I absolutely love the wallpaper, In my mind it seems to sit neatly somewhere between a 1950s  illustrative print and a Del Boy style bamboo print!

 Here's a little close up of the paper next to the first wall to be painted.

Our room is still in need of a door handle so you have to claw your way out of the room.
We also need to find/buy/aquire a bedside table for james so we can return the 'daddy' of the nest of tables to it's home in James' dad's house!

The blue wall seemed the perfect home for the lovely bevelled edge mirror i found years ago in house clearance for mere pennies!

New life in Stirchley

Sorry for my absence recently, we've been very busy moving house and doing all the important things like painting the kitchen green and shed purple!

We'd collected so much furniture and bits and bobs between our various houses that by the time we'd got it all in the new house it was filled with things and felt like home pretty quickly.

I can't quite believe we actually own it, I still find myself walking from room to room feeling proud of it! [That said, there are some rooms I am not as proud of, the C1970 avocado bathroom and the studio/packed boxes room, to name two]

The new house is in Stirchley/Kings Heath, Birmingham which is a happy little place with lots of charity shops and nice pubs.

 Here is our newly green kitchen

Here is our through dining room/lounge

Watch oil and watch pins for hairsprings

I've been hoarding 'small things' for ages and they've been looking for a home. The printer's tray that J bought me for my birthday will provide a perfect home, as well as giving me even more of an excuse to buy 'small things'.

Dad has given me this lovely old Watch Oil bottle which he says was his dad's [ I think he used to make clocks as a bit of a hobby]. It's branded J.D. Windel, and has such a funny little label that i had to draw it.

Also in my collection of 'small things' is this little box which neatly follows the watch maker theme. I found it in a charity shop in Kingsbridge last summer. and still contains 3 of the original 'watch pins for hair springs'.

Charity shop treasures

At the moment days off work seem to always end up with me shopping. Today was no exception; I nipped into to Age UK and bought a burgundy belt with a little gold buckle, a snap bracelet with an inlayed bird scene, and a shiny gold & cream button which will surely be adorning something soon! and all for just £1!

Embroidery and Cider Mills

A little bit of embroidered mildew

The embroidery in it's new home

This weekend we went to visit our friends J&J in their new beautiful new house.  [Out in the sticks and complete with a cider mill in the kitchen!]

As a little housewarming present I did an embroidery based on an extract from the book 'The ABC of Flower Growing' which I had found in a charity shop a few months ago, all damaged and mildew-ey it was a perfect source of inspiration.  I mounted it in an old frame I found and its been displayed pride of place in their new kitchen, on the cider mill.

Papergirl Night: Images

Some creatively displayed work on show.

My submissions, displayed in amongst some lovely fruit and veg boxes.

The '48 Sheet' Project space, within the Mailbox, Birmingham

A selection of customised and beautifully adorned bicycles.

Last night we went along to Papergirl Night at 48 Sheet in the Mailbox.

It was a lovely evening and it was good to finally get to see everyone else's submissions to such an open brief. There was lots of illustrations, photographs, prints and etchings - infact, an enormous mix!

 The work was creatively curated in areas throughout the space alongside customised bicycles, projections and small hands-on-project areas [including a spirograph workbench!].

There was tea served in eclectic mix-matched cups, homemade cakes and sweets.

Papergirl Birmingham Night: 24th April

Tuesday night is Papergirl Birmingham night at 48Sheet project Space in the Mailbox, Birmingham.

An array of Birmingham-made artworks will be on show before their free distribution to the city on Saturday 28th.

Hopefully see you there!

Lost in Lace.

Annie Bascoul - 'Moucharabieh'

needlepoint lace, cotton.

Annie Bascoul - 'Moucharabieh', and 'Jardin de lit, lit de jardin'

Assemblage, Feathers, brass wire and cotton.

Close up of the large scale needlepoint lace.

Chiharu Shiota, 'After the dream'

Suzumi Noda 'Juxtaposition'

Knitting, painting, cardboard jacquard punch cards, lacquer, plastic fibre,

wood and thread.

Piper Shepard, 'Lacing Space'

Drawing, screen printing, hand cutting.

[link to Piper Shepard's lovely website]

Reiko Sudo 'Tanabata lace'

“Our NUNO textile Tanabata Lace is pleated like origami, then finished by hand using a heat cutter to create a repeating pattern of slits and a fun feeling of motion”.

Ai Matsumoto 'No Reverse'

Casting, embroidery, handkerchiefs, silicone, thread.

More of her work available to see here

Michael Brennand-Wood, 'Lace the final frontier'

Cutting, painting, aluminium, acrylic, wood.

Here are a few images I took from the Lost in Lace exhibition which took over the Gas Hall at BMAG from October until it closed on Sunday.

The exhibition showed a variety of works from lots of international as well as British artists all working around the broad theme of lace. There was lots of intricate large scale work which occupied spaces and challenged the perceptions of what lace can be.

I absoloutley love French artist Annie Bascoul's piece 'Moucharabieh' [see top 3 images]

Typhoo Tin

I found this lovely old tin in the garage - Dad said I could keep it as he didn't even know he owned it! It's a bit battered and worn, but you can mostly still read the branding and the lid still fits on.

I decided to do a little ad hock drawing of it. I quite like it actually, so I might do an embroidery.

What I didn't realise is that Typhoo is a Birmingham brand, and that it was initially used medicinally. The Typhoo website says:

'Typhoo Tea Limited has a long and rich heritage, stretching back to 1903 when Birmingham grocer John Sumner developed and sold a blend of tea in his shop. John’s sister, Mary, was the inspiration behind the product development, as she highly regarded tea as a cure for indigestion.'