Craft Fairs One of my favourite pastimes is trundling round craft fairs. I love the colours, textures and sheer diversity of items for sale. But it's not always easy to find them and when you do it was held the week before!

These are some of the sites that I use to find craft fairs: -

http://www.craft-fair.co.uk/index.cfm

This is a marvelous site, you can find fairs by month, publications, materials for crafting, tuition all by county- worth a look.








http://www.creativecrafts-online.co.uk/html/events_.html
for craft fairs in the North West of England.

As it suggests a website for craft fairs accross Yorkshire, worth mentioning is that apart from a couple of places admission is completely FREE.

http://www.yorkshirefairs.co.uk/



Click to Give Free Mammograms

The Breast cancer Site is having a problem getting enough people to click on their site to meet their daily quota of donating at least one mammogram a day to an underprivileged woman.

It takes less than a minute to go on their site and click 'donating a mammogram' and it doesn't cost you a thing. Their corporate sponsors/advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate a mammogram in exchange for advertising.

Here's the website, please pass it along to the people you know. Thank you.

http://www.thebreastcancersite.com

Wild Fire Fibres

I've added a link to the side menu for Wild Fire Fibres . I first saw this producer at I was completely mesmerised by the range of colours and fibres.


All hand dyed and some actually hand spun as well. I told the lady at the stand what I was looking for and she couldn't have been more helpful.

If you knit or crochet and you want something a little bit different then I recommend you take a look at the yarns at Wild Fire Fibres and just to wet you appetite.







Pink Rose Bag (2)
If you take a look at my website, you will sea that I have sold out of quite a few of my bags this weekend/week so I won't have time for blogging until next week I would think - because I will be working hard to make more bags to re-stock - and I've been out buying the most fantastic material - but that's all I'm going to say for now!

Holidays and Trips

Knit and Natter

Now ladies (and Gentlemen knitters too) how do you fancy staying at this award winning, family-run hotel situated in the select area of Blackpool’s North Shore, close to Gynn Gardens, Queen’s Promenade and the spectacular Coastal Cliff Walk.

These holidays are ideal for singles who wish to combine their hobby with making friends and meeting like-minded people.

Places are limited as all guests have their own rooms and no supplements are charged. A discount is available to anyone wishing to share. Larger groups can be accommodated at other

dates and tailor-made packages are arranged to suit their requirements.

All levels of experience are welcome, and if you are having problems with a particular piece of knitting, bring it along and I will do my best to help you out.
There will be all the latest knitting titles and magazines to browse throughout your
stay.

Most important of all - BRING YOUR KNITTING!

Still some vacancies for these dates: -

August 10th -14th

September 7th - 11th

October 5th - 9th

Find out more at www.westcliffehotel.com

Bens Trip

I've just had an email from my son, Ben, laying out his proposed itinery, which is: -

Portsmouth,

France: Barentin, Reims, Nancy, Waldshut;

Germany: Ingolstadt ;

Czech republic, Slovakia, Ukraine border;

Ukraine: Lviv, Kiev, Odessa

and possibly back through Austria, Hungary, Italy, France etc, or around the Coast of the Black Sea to Istanbul, then back up through Bulgaria, Austria, Hungary etc.

Well I don' know about you but I'm exhausted just reading about it.

I had hoped to continue with 'bag making' but somethings cropped up, so I'll continue with that tomorrow,

Bag Making (1), Books and Competition

Books

Yesterday, I mentioned Barbra Michaels books. Today, I thought I I'd tell you what I'm reading at the moment.

Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovitch about Stephanie Plum, a bounty hunter with attitude.

Stephanie and Diesel, another bounty hunter who it is to be understood, is delicious to look at and taste, but not especially healthy and who has special skills when it comes to tracking men and pleasing women. Together, they are hunting Wulf Grimoire who is looking for world domination and Martin Munch who would be happy if he could just get a woman naked and tied to a tree.





The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff combines the story set in1875, of Ann Eliza Young who has recently separated from her powerful husband, Brigham Young, prophet and leader of the Mormon Church and a tale of murder involving a polygamist family in present-day Utah.

Ann Eliza Young was a real person and wrote a bestselling and controversial memoir, Wife No. 19, about her life as a Latter-day Saint and her plural marriage to Brigham Young.

I like having a choice, it's the equivelent of tucking into a KFC (Plum Spooky) or lamb in a redcurrent jus with dauphin potatoes and green beans (The 19th Wife).


Making Pink Roses Bag

I'm not sure interesting will be for you, but this is how it went yesterday - while listening to The Three Hostages by John Buchan in 2 parts I stated making PinkRoses Bag. If you want to listen to/record/download part 1, you will have to do it soon - only 1 day left before it disappears.

What I do first is think about the end size and draw that out on graph paper(2cm equals 1cm square on paper).

Then I look at the fabrics, size and placement of pattern design and that tends to decide how many and and size of pieces- you can see what I mean if you look at Cool Cats in post below - you don't want a head or a tail missing, though this can result in fabric being wasted with large patterns.


Next I determine the size of the fabric that will show and add 2cm to each edge for hemming. Once this has been done I write out the number of pieces of each fabric and size for cutting.

The cutting process involves marking out the fabric with chalk - making sure the pattern on the fabric is pointing the right way! Then I cut all the pieces out and press.

Next I chalk the stitching line ie 2cm in all the way round, making sure that the pieces on each side will match exactly when joined up.


I then select two pieces to sew, once again making sure the pattern is the right way up (who would want Cool Cats or Linen Lambs standing on their heads!), pin together then tack.

Next job - sew together along the chalked stitch line. Do the same again for all the pieces then remove tacking and press open the seams and the the good side.

Now I have two identical sides that match up perfectly - I hope, otherwise it's unpick and start again!

Bag creation continues tomorrow.


Competition

If you like hand dyed yarn I spotted a competition that closes midnight 15 July(USA time) on
Etsy.

Mama Jude says 'Help rename my sock yarn! My supplier wants me to stop using the name Texas (becasue they use it), so I'm having a contest. Convo me with your name suggestions. If I choose your entry, you will win two 4 ounce skeins of the sock yarn formerly known as Texas dyed to order. Contest ends July 15 at midnight. Entries are accepted in the order I receive your convo. No purchase necessary to win!'

These are some photos of Mama Judes lovely plant dyed yarns.









Cornwall

Before I disappear to get on with Pink Roses bag, I thought I would just let you see some photos from my April holiday in Polruan , Cornwall.

I know it sounds rather decadent - but I took this photo while lying in bed - you've got to admit its a fantastic view. Can you imagine the sound of lapping water, a warm gentle breeze coming through the open window - and a good man by your side!


Moving on .......


This is the view from the lounge, yes it's small but again what a view.








This the view from the small patio in from of the cottage. The only downside (for some) was the 60 steps down to the cottage and you had to park in the village - but that didn't bother us and it it was only £200 for the week.

Catch you tomorrow.

Bags and Books

New Bag

These are my new fabrics for some new bags - very girly don't you think? The fabrics are by Lorelie Harris for Lorelie Designs TM. I'm hoping to start right away after lunch.


Opening a Link in a New Page

You probably know this already - but if you want to open a link on this page in a new window so you don't lose my blog (of course you may want to), place cursor over link, right click with your mouse and choose the option 'open link in new window' at the very top.

Books

Last month Nancy Dickmann, a 33 year old publisher who lives in Oxfordshire but is originally from Missouri in the US became the 2009 Mastermind champion and the first female winner in 12 years. If you want to see Nancy being interviewed on BBC News, you can see it here.

I mention Nancy's success because one of her specialist subjects was the Amelia Peapody novels by Elizabeth Peters and I have never come across anyone before who has read these books.

I was also surprised because these are easy-reading romantic mysteries - not what you'd expect from a Mastermind champion! Personally, I prefer the authors books written under the name Barbara Michaels (real name Barbara Mertz), also easy reading romantic mysteries - but with a supernatural twist. See here for book list.
Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure you can't walk into book shop and buy one of these books or find one on your library shelf. But, you will be able to find them online. I find Bookfinder.com and Abebooks.com are great for finding books.

Recording Radio from Your PC

I'm sure there are lots of ways of doing this but this is the way I do it. I bought some software called Total Recorder (Standard Edition) now costs $17.95 (£12.21 - today) which won't break the bank.

You can record local audio files or Internet broadcasts reproduced by other programs, such as RealPlayer, Windows Media Player, iTunes, Musicmatch Jukebox, WinAmp, and many others.

I only use it to record radio but I think it marvelous, easy to use (which is a necessary feature for me) and never given me any problems, I contacted support once and they got straight back to me.


Ben's Motorcycle Trip To Europe

Ben is now in Wales, having a few days with friend before setting of to catch his ferry from Portsmouth to LeHarve next week.

After that, he has a few couches lined up across France. Yes, this is the modern way. Some people register a free couch and other people say yes I'll come and stay overnight on your couch. A great way to meet people and make friends, especially if you are traveling solo.

Yesterday, I showed you a photo of his very neatly packed bike , here is a photo on an earlier attempt, one where the packing technique still need work.







Hope Not Hate

On a more serious note, I'm going to include an opportunity for you to sign a petition and help show what Britain thinks of the BNP. It is an opportunity, the choice is yours.

Hope not Hate will be handing over the petition NOT IN MY NAME to the European Parliament on the day Griffin and Brons take their seats.

For your information, the BNP is dedicated to imposing apartheid-style rule in Britain. It wants to create a system that is based on the nonsense that white people are superior to all others. Black and Asian people would become second-class citizens under the law. The BNP constitution opposes any racial integration. Articles in BNP journals condemn mixed-race relationships as “mongrelising the white race”.

Consider,
All it takes for evil to prosper is for good men to do nothing.
Edmund Burke

Satan to Snowberry Yarns

What a Yarn!

Just look at this hand spun yarn - what beautiful selection of shades all in one skein, its absolutely gorgeous!

See more photos of this andmore of Snowberry's other yarns here on ETSY.





Ben's Trip to Europe

I mentioned yesterday that my son, Ben, was off to Europe on an old Royal Enfield motorbike - well this is a shot from a trip to Scotland earlier this year. The bike is so loved it warrants it's own photos, as nothing else does.

As you can see, all camping gear, cooking gear, clothes and tools etc are distributed across the bike. Having watched the packing operation - it is definitely a work of art!






Satan

Now if you like to hear a hilarious comedy based on Satan and his helpmate Scumspawn then I recommend you listen to Old Hary's Game on BBC Radio 7 by and with Andy hamilton.
Recent story lines include 'Hell's new arrival is a health and safety officer who moans to Satan about the lighting', 'Satan is cross with Yeats over a poem and Scumspawn and Thomas write their own verse' and 'Satan introduces the Professor and Thomas to Helen of Troy and her plain friend, Daphne'.

Thank goodness there are 7 series, because nothing makes me laugh out loud quite like this programme, I dread the time that they stop broadcasting it.
BBC iplayer is such a fantastic addition to the BBC services, not just for watching the last episode of Robin Hood when your DVD recorded Wimbledon which the BBC broadcast instead (thanks BBC)! But for listening to Radio 7 which is majic for serialised novels, comedies etc.

You can listen to programmes for up to 7 days after the broadcast. If you want to know how you can record through your PC to listen to a broadcast when you have the time or after you've recorded the whole series, I'll tell you in next post.


Talking of Robin Hood, I couldn't miss an opportunity to include a pic of the gorgeous Richard Armitage.

More pics here on his website.

Incidentally, the last episode is to be re-screened Saturday 11 July at 5.15pm


The bad news is that the Guardian is reporting that there won't be another series.


Google Tool Wins - I lose!

What am I doing today? Spendng far too much time on the web. I downloaded Google Toolbar yesterday hoping to use the PageRank tool - this allows you to see the ranking of your website on the 1 - 10 scale for search success on Google - so I'm told.

Hmm, I can't get it to work. When I looked on the help forum someone else had had a similar problem and mentioned the frog icon, he was told that he shouldn't have a frog. Unfortunately, I also have the frog. Perhaps some one can help me and tell me how to swap my frog for something more appropriate? Please?

This afternoon I have to do those horrible little paperwork jobs that I have put off every day this week - because tomorrow I want to create a new bag. So I better get on with now...well soon.

My Favourite Bag

Bag of the Week (not me!)

I just thought I'd give you a peek at my most favourite bag, here it is. I call it Cool Cats

The bag is made from black 100% linen and printed 45% cotton/55% linen. Fully lined with black cotton drill with a layer of wadding that provides the bag with substance and structure. It is machine washable on a cool wash.

The printed linen is a one-off design from Germany so this is a limited design that can't be repeated once I have used up my remaining stock of fabric.

It measures 16.5inches x 15inches with a single 40inch strap which is long enough to wear across the shoulder/body and incorporates two antiqued brass plated rings to add just a little bit more style.

Added storage includes an outside pocket for your purse and mobile, accessed through a discretely concealed zip, an small inside pocket and an inside pocket large enough for patterns, magazines. All fully lined in black cotton drill. If you want to know more or look at my other bags then go to my website where there's lots to look at.


My World

Whats on my mind? Well, my 24 year old son, Ben, is starting off on a trip to Europe on his 30 year-old motorbike - a Royal Enfield Bullet for all those of you that know about these things. I'm sure all Mums will know exactly what my state of mind is, whilst all the male population will be roaring YAY! Way to go!!!

Ah, I can hear the chink of ice in a gin and tonic with my name on it (well it is after 9pm and it's 30degrees in here) so must go.

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