Bobbin lace pillow and more

bobbin lace pillow
Originally uploaded by snowberrylime

Here is my great find from last Sunday on the Belgian flea market. It makes a little more sense if you read my last entry... I like lace, no secret there, nice, old, cotton or linen lace.... I also love antiques... plus I love trying out every possible technique textile arts have to offer. Well, and the combination of all of these led me to purchasing this beauty of a bobbin lace pillow. Going to the bobbin lace museum in Brussels and seeing demonstrations probably didn't help either. Originally I planned to renew the top fabric and actually use it, but it would be such a shaaaame..... :(
We'll see what happens, but isn't it also just the perfect decorative item? ;)

On other news I did lots of dyeing and am starting to accept the fact that there is lots of pink in my colour palette - who would have thought!?
I also tidied my fibre stash, which was a terribly bad idea - I couldn't quite believe how much there actually was and how many things I had deleted out of my mind. This includes knitting yarns - hopefully I will have time to knit a few jumpers this winter, it would help. :D

There was also a beautiful frontpage treasury on etsy today created by http://lisahopkins.etsy.com, which featured my tree bark silk yarn.

In general all my thoughts are currently related to some upcoming craft fairs, I have made some pretty organised plans (now putting them into practise is another thing... hehe) and ama lready busy knitting some things as well from smaller skeins which never made it into the shop. :)

Belgian lace

Belgian lace
Originally uploaded by snowberrylime

Souvenirs? Why yes, of course! :D
Whilst in Namur/Belgium, I of course had a good look inside the boxes of the local flea market. Always on the lookout for gorgeous old things, and especially for fabrics and laces I have developed a bit of a radar for the promising boxes... well, this was definitely one of them, I picked my favourite laces out of it, as many as I could afford, really. Already more than delighted I continued and stumbled into an old woman's stall with probably many kilos worth of old lace and ribbons. She also had many old cameras, but I really don't need another obsession, although I do like looking at them.

Another really great find were those massive bobbins, one of them to be seen underneath the laces. The lady who sold them to me told me they were from a ribbon factory which closed down in the 1960s. I can see them working very well on craft fair tables, or just as decoration in general - the tattered feel of the wood is just gorgeous!

Off to Belgium

Indeed, I am off to Belgium for a long weekend and hopefully find some more spinning/creating materials or ideas on the way...
Having said that, when I went to France two weeks ago I didn't really find any crafty shops, but it did fill my head with new ideas, which is always good as well. :)

Bobblelicious yarn

Bobblelicious
Originally uploaded by snowberrylime

After I got my order of falkland wool from the Dunnose Head Farm (DHF) I wanted to challenge myself as to how much texture I could get out of a yarn when all I was using was this lofty fibre and some thread. First I spun some normal singles and then I went to bobble heaven. The yarn doesn't look as extreme on this picture, but the thin bits oppose some big, chunky, slightly loopy bobbles.

I am still loving this fibre, which is well respected for being some of the purest wool available. The DHF farm takes environmental and animal welfare issues very seriously and does not use any pesticides in the process. The wool is also naturally white, so no bleach had to be used. These sheep, which are a Merino cross breed and therefore very soft, graze on the falkland islands. You can read all about is here: http://www.falklandwool.com

The yarn pictured is available here, and another, slightly skinnier version will be posted soon.

A hint of peach and a big mess...

...that's all I got from dyeing today! It was a small disaster involving redwood, something went terribly wrong and I am not sure what. Hours of work and barely any colour on it. Plus I thought it would be ok to chuck the chopped wood in with the wool as I did not have any muslin - boy was I wrong. That stuff is as hard to get out of the fibre as vegetable matter from Alpaca fibre, not good.
Oh well, if I can motivate myself I will try to redeem myself with a bit of logwood dyeing tomorrow...
Perhaps natural dyeing was just not meant for me - we'll see!

However yesterday's dyeing turned out nicely, lots of yellow joined by red/orange/yellow and a big bunch of green soysilk will be the latest colours in the shop very soon. I also recently got some Angelina (who are we kidding, *a lot* of Angelina), so I have been working in the sparkle in a few of my latest yarns. I am still a little hesitant and need to muster up the courage though. :)

One of the next styles to go up for purchase is a really funky, bobbly yarn in pure white. I love it and hope they will go to a great home, pictures coming soon!

Still around

fabric cream
Originally uploaded by snowberrylime

Did I drop of the face of the earth? Perhaps a little bit. My absence was a combination of me being ill for over a week (not something that usually happens to me) and I guess I was a little discouraged by the lack of comments around here - until I realised today that there were plenty waiting for me to be released. :)
In the process I have also been tagged, but it is so long ago now that I will wait for the next one to come around, hehehe.

Thanks for providing me with an excuse to show off some more of my Bavaria souvenirs though... some lovely creamy cottons with interesting or plain beautiful prints (my least favourite being the pale one in the middle, but I love the stamps, postcards and the flowers on the left). To the very right is a gorgeous pure silk fabric with golden threads running through. As plain as it looks on this picture, it is extremely elegant.What else happened? Ah yes, my interview with the lovely Jodie is up here.
I thought the questions were really thoughtful and she has a really nice blog you should all check out.

In the bag department I have a nice one on its way from the above mentioned silk fabric.
The fact that I am getting back into sewing has led me to watching many seasons of Project Runway and I am currently working my way through the first season of Project Catwalk, which is the UK version and honestly not nearly as addictive. Yes, we all have our weaknesses, hehehe.
Spinning? Well, I desperately need to do some dyeing this weekend, but I do have quite a few yarns ready to list which have been waiting for me to get better.

A little teaser

First bag teaser
Originally uploaded by snowberrylime

Can you believe it? I actually finished one of my new bags! Attentive readers might remember this work in progress.

Well, that bag which seemed almost finished last month is still not actually done... however I got this one done, which is great fun.

It is completely my kind of style and I am loving it! I used an old British linen fabric bought during the literature festival in Hay-on-Wye / Wales and combined it with a sweet floral soft and drapey fabric. The closure includes a stunning handmade ceramic button from a very talented artist on etsy.
And yes, the brown top stitching on the handle is hand stitched.

I am hoping to finish a few more bags before taking some proper pictures.
Thanks for reading! :)