Summer exhibition

Sorry it's been a week or so without a blog post but there's been so much to do to catch up after my two weekends away from the computer.
The exhibition last weekend went really well. I sold more cushions than ever before and the really nice thing was that it was mostly local people from East Harling that bought things. I'd made quite a few cheaper cushions thinking that because of the recession no one will buy anything expensive! On the contrary, I was left with all the cheaper ones and the most expensive and glamorous cushions went on the first day.
Here are some pictures of them on site at Sheila's house, unfortunately it was pretty dark and cosy in there so I had to use the flash.The one below on the right on the window sill, sold before we even opened the doors and almost every person after that wanted to buy it too. I can't get any more of that particular fabric but I have managed to find some with the same patterns of embroidery but in a different and even more gorgeous colourway
Here are the three exhibitors looking slightly gaga after all the hard work of getting everything ready. Maz Jackson on the left, Sheila McDonald in the middle and me trying to look keen on the right.
Here's Sheila looking a bit more relaxed in amongst her glass cases of beautiful enamel ware.
This is what she does...and another photo a little bright and hard to see though.

Here's Maz..
and her beautiful work, using egg tempera and gold leaf.
Thanks girls for a wonderful event and if you missed it, we'll be doing it again closer to Christmas. Email me if you would like details as to where and when on exocush@hotmail.com

Joe and Fern's wedding

Phew. At last I can sit down at my sewing machine and sew, instead of racing around a makeshift kitchen for hour after hour a bit like the white rabbit in Alice in wonderland. I've been away helping a couple of friends cater for a wedding in Worcester. We worked for 17 and a half hours on Friday (after I twisted my ankle on Thursday catching my foot in a rabbit hole). Ouch. It didn't however stop me from dancing crazily for hours on Saturday night in the fabulous circus big top that Joe and Fern (the happy couple) had erected for the weekend.
I must admit that the wedding, was the most UNBELIEVABLE wedding, (no, make that EVENT) I've ever been to. The wedding bar has been raised and will not be seen this high for at least a year or so to come.
We had all sorts of helpers though...
this was the kitchen that we had to work in...it took Clarry and Lisa 8 hours solid to make all the mini sausage rolls.
the only way to stir that much sausage mince was to get right in there up to your elbows.
We made hampers for 200 people. Here's one we prepared earlier.
Joe and Fern had booked the whole campsite of the most amazing farm and recording studio called "The Hatch" here's a photo from their website (I hope they'll forgive me for using it).Everyone brought tents and camped in the orchard.
A great time was had by all.

This is what it looked like apré wedding!After it was all over, I decided to keep going West and make a short detour to Wales instead of setting off at 6pm on Sunday for the 4-5 hour trip back to Norfolk.
We have Welsh ancestors somewhere in our lineage and I'm not sure if it was autosuggestion or not but it looked REALLY familiar. I drove to Brecon and stayed in the quietest hotel you could ever wish for. I slept for 10 and a half hours solid.
And guess what? Wales is beautiful just like everybody says.
What the hell were those green shapes in the landscape though??? Oh I get it they're hills.

On fire

Somehow in the last few weeks, I've managed to get organised.
I've managed to go for a walk every weekday morning at 6.45 with my friend Cath...
then come home and meditate for 20 minutes. (No image for that as it would be really boring for you to have to look at the insides of MY eyelids).
I've managed to not spend toooo much time checking my emails and facebook. (No image for that either for much the same reasons).
And, AND....... I've been managing to tie myself down to the sewing machine and make lots of cushions.
I've had quite a few commissions lately. The first, some bolsters for a narrow boat called 'Moonbow'. The leaf printed silk came from a friend in Australia and it's so soft and luxurious.
The next was for a cushion for a girl who teaches yoga (crikey I hope she doesn't read this blog as I've just posted it off to her and I think it's a surprise). Her lovely partner got in touch with me after seeing a cushion that was only on the website for about 2 days. You might recognise the purple and green theme from the tiny Liberty miniatures.

I took photos of the precious pieces I had left that we could use and this one took his fancy. It's ancient and from an altar cloth that had mostly disintegrated.
The last commission was for a tenth wedding anniversary present.
The tenth anniversary is symbolised by tin so we made it from silver silk. I appliqued their initials in gold kid on the sides of the silk.

and I used one of the last pieces of this beautiful embroidered fabric from an "Uchikake" or wedding kimono.
Finally after finishing those pieces, I started to make cushions for an exhibition that I'm having on the weekend of the 15th, 16th, and 17th of July. (If you'd like an invite, email me and I'll let you know where to come ..... exocush@hotmail.com)
More of that stunning pastel embroidery.
so thick you could eat it.

Mid Summer

I thought it was about time I relieved you all of the sad D.H. Lawrence poem in the previous post!
So here are some photos of what's been happening in the world of summer in Harling.
Whenever Spring and then summer hit here, I always forget about certain flowers and the ones I've forgotten this year are the hollyhocks.When I was little our Nanna used to have the obligatory Crinoline Lady embroidered tablecloths. I always loved their fairy book quality and never thought such flowers or places really existed. Then I came to Harling and found they did.
Look at this double beauty.
The first time I saw a snakes head fritilary, I was flabergasted that the flowers I'd thought were made up, were real. How could you possibly think that a checkerboard flower was real?
Inspired by the colours of the fritilary, I decided to send some tiny models off to Liberty to see if I could interest them in my cushions. I've had some of these tiny fragments of embroidery for at least 20 years now and never been able to use them on anything before as they were so tiny. It was like making dolls clothes and took me easily as long or longer to make them than full size ones. I was swearing as I unpicked the tiny piping on the bolster for the third time to get it just right. Luckily no tiny zips were involved.
The perfect pieces of olive green silk with embroidery on them were from some old vestments that were in the main part, too tattered to use. The stitching on them is immaculate. The regal purple velvet was a perfect frame for them.

Let's hope they like them.

My favourite poem

D.H. Lawrence
MOUNTAIN LION

Climbing through the January snow, into the Lobo Canyon Dark grow the spruce-trees, blue is the balsam, water sounds still unfrozen, and the trail is still evident Men! Two men! Men! The only animal in the world to fear! They hesitate. We hesitate. They have a gun. We have no gun. Then we all advance, to meet. Two Mexicans, strangers, emerging our of the dark and snow and inwardness of the Lobo valley. What are they doing here on this vanishing trail? What is he carrying? Something yellow. A deer? Que' tiene amigo? Leon- He smiles foolishly as if he were caught doing wrong. And we smile, foolishly, as if we didn't know. He is quite gentle and dark-faced. It is a mountain lion, A long, long, slim cat, yellow like a lioness. Dead. He trapped her this morning, he says, smiling foolishly. Life up her face, Her round, bright face, bright as frost. Her round, fine-fashioned head, with two dead ears; And stripes in the brilliant frost of her face, sharp, fine dark rays, Dark, keen, fine rays in the brilliant frost of her face. Beautiful dead eyes. Hermoso es! They go out towards the open; We go out into the gloom of Lobo. And above the trees I found her lair, A hole in the blood-orange brilliant rocks that stick up, a little cave. And bones, and twigs, and a perilous ascent. So, she will never leap up that way again, with the yellow flash of a mountain lion's long shoot! And her bright striped frost-face will never watch any more, out of the shadow of the cave in the blood- orange rock, Above the trees of the Lobo dark valley-mouth! Instead, I look out. And out to the dim of the desert, like a dream, never real; To the snow of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, the ice of the mountains of Picoris, And near across at the opposite steep of snow, green trees motionless standing in snow, like a Christmas toy. And I think in this empty world there was room for me and a mountain lion. And I think in the world beyond, how easily we might spare a million or two humans And never miss them. Yet what a gap in the world, the missing white frost-face of that slim yellow mountain lion! D.H. Lawrence (1885-1930) was an English novelist, poet, and essayist famed both for his writing and for his unconventional opinions.