Taking a quick 15 mins out, from my preparations for the Funk Fair, in Edinburgh tomorrow.  It’s a great event, which has a mixture of vintage and collectables, plus art and crafts stalls. I really enjoyed it last year. The turn out was great, despite all the snow we had at the time. I’ve got high hopes that it’ll be a good day again tomorrow – fingers crossed!

I’ve made a mock up of my stall. I’ve still got a few things to do, but hopefully it won’t be too late a night because I want to be fresh as a daisy in the morning.

Well, I like bright colour, but I’m not sure if I’ve over done it this time.  Hopefully it looks cheerful!

This is the first time I’ve used my old pink suitcase .  I hope  everything will fit inside…

I always worry about not having enough stock, until I actually try to fit it on the stall, but people do enjoy a good rummage don’t they?!

The Funk Fair is on Saturday 5th November at Picardy Place in Edinburgh, from 10-5pm .  See you there x

funkfair on facebook

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Spent the morning visiting this great new Gallery in Edinburgh. It’s the latest venture from Stick Factory Creative Projects and it’s filled with a lovely mix of contemporary fine art, gorgeous wooden handmade furniture, plus lots of other goodies, including jewellery, textiles and greetings cards.

Tucked away, behind the Gallery space, there’s also a fully equipped workshop, where they make furniture, stage scenery, props and displays which can all be commissioned to your own specifications.

I’m very happy that as from today,  a selection of my textile creatures, purses and brooches can also be found there!

…including Suzy, who I made yesterday and have a bit of a soft spot for.

The Stick Factory Gallery – Fine arts & crafts

www.stickfactory.co.uk

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Coming up soon is the Magpie Market Summer fair, at The Hub, which is at the top of Edinburgh’s Royal Mile.

I’m really looking forward to it for 3 main reasons:

1. I have a stall and it’s always fun to get out for the day to talk to my customers.

2. It’s a really great event with more than 30 hand-picked designers from Edinburgh and beyond and it’s held in an amazing venue, which was formerly a church.

3. There’s a pop-up cafe in the middle of the hall, which sells tea & coffee as well as a delicious selection of tasty treats. Last time I couldn’t resist indulging in a huge cupcake, with Magpie themed black and white butter cream icing – yum.

So all in all it’s a pretty good way to spend a Sunday afternoon! Make sure you mark the date on your calender ;-)

There’s lots of great photos of the vendors, as well as pictures from their last Fair on Magpie’s facebook page.

Magpie Market Sunday 17th July 2011
The Hub Castlehill, Edinburgh

For more information see magpiemarket.blogspot.com

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Looking forward to taking part in the Magpie market Spring Fair on Sunday. This is a new venue for Magpie -  at the Hub. It’s in a great setting, at the top of  Edinburgh’s historic Royal Mile,  not far from the castle.  If you come along be sure and get there early,  as there are goodie bags promised for the first folk through the door,  and music from the fabulous Horndog Brassband.

Visit  magpiemarket.blogspot.com to find out more…

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Yesterday was the grand opening party of The Spider & The Fly. It was my first chance to visit the new pop-up shop, and have a proper look round.

It’s a real treasure trove!  It was brilliant to see work in the flesh that I’ve been admiring online for ages on sites like flickr and etsy.

The Spider and the Fly was thought up by Emily Chandler, who as well as hand picking all the lovely handmade art, craft and design work, has worked very hard decorating the shop in record time too! There’s so much to see and many things I’d love to have taken home with me!

I loved these brooches, but I’m sorry I don’t know who made them (if I find out I’ll give them the credit they’re due)

And these wonderful brooches by Jenny Mccabe, Meplusmolly, lostintheforest and others.

I saw some of my cats have found a temporary home with, amongst other things, knitted moustches to keep them company!

These girls are Julia’s daughters (no relation) who sang very sweetly for everyone – they were brilliant!

And there were cakes…yes all in all, it was a pretty good way to spend a Saturday night!

You can find the Spider and The Fly at 65 Bread Street Edinburgh, initially until the end of September. Keep an eye on the website, which has details of exhibitions and workshops, to be hosted there.

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This is something I’ve been working on recently- a hand embroidered envelope  I’ve submitted to  the Cut-Click travelling mail art exhibition, which will be hosted this Summer by the Spider and the Fly pop-up shop in Edinburgh.

I have a small stash of padded envelopes, from etsy purchases. I keep them in the hope that they’ll get recycled. This one came from Finland, and I liked the stamps  which were on it – red roses…and took my inspiration from them. I thought they fitted well with handle with care , which ties into the ‘mail’ theme.

I began by covering the surface with many little straight stitches to make it feel more interesting . The envelope was quite hard to stitch through at times, especially on double thicknesses, and occasionally little bits of the plastic bubble wrap interior poked through.

I was happy to let the design grow as I sewed.

As soon as I hear about all the details of the exhibition, like where and when, I’ll be sure to let you know!

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Just taking a break from the mammoth sewing marathon I’ll currently engaged in… The Magpie market is only a few days away now – Sunday to be precise…and still so much I want to make before then!

The  motif of the dress is a popular metaphor in the art world for the female gender. I’ve had it in mind, for a while, to make something dress shaped.  Here’s what I came up with – brooches, made with scraps of vintage & recycled fabrics,  embellished with little stitches, beads and sequins.  So now my days of mini-dress wearing needn’t be over!

And, two of my favourite dress songs , which fill me with nostalgia for dresses, dancing and very LOUD music!

…which leads nicely to a short  you tube video of Polly Harvey and David Byrne talking about their creative process – its an absolute gem.

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Magpie is a brand new venture aiming to showcase the best art, craft and design talent around. Magpie loves the unusual, individual and eclectic… and I’m very happy that materialised will be part of the very first Magpie event! It’s taking place in a converted Church, in the shadows of Edinburgh Castle, in the historic Grassmarket, on Sunday 6th December. There’s going to be a diverse range of  stalls, including many selling one-of-a-kind and vintage items – Great for Christmas pressies! I want to have a nice full stall, so for the next couple of weeks my plans involve – sewing, sewing, and more  sewing!   Read more about Magpie and the fabulous makers ,who’ll be selling their wares on the Magpie blog

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