TinkeringTimes

pepe and friends
where I will mostly be spending my birthday money this year

open letter to Elsie

Dear Elsie,

Is it sunny where you are? Are you young again? Did you find your sisters and do you sit in corners giggling, whispering secrets, hands over mouths about Cottingley Fairies? Did Bert come home from the sea?

Are you glamorous and athletic, do you play tennis and dance? Have you found Arthur, is he handsome? Are you the quiet, unsung heroine outside the dancehall looking at the attic window?

Do you cover your spaces in tapestry; do you make do and mend? Are your evenings laced with melody and concerto; with discoveries and discussions of stellar matters, with concerns of constellations? By day do you hear the tap tap zing of the typewriter? Do you practice your shorthand and fly through Esperanto?

 

Have you taken in sad, grumpy stray cats looking for homes? Are your gardens tended, blooming with roses, flushed with raspberries?

On Sundays do you drive to the countryside and listen to birdsong, hunt for bee-orchids? Do you look down to your Sunday best, your leather gloves, gold trefoil pinned in the corner of a collar?

l;

Do you scold small children who won't eat their greens, who are shy and tired, who are just being children? Are your shelves piled high with cakes, biscuits, tarts? Is Monday your washing day? Do you cut sandwiches into triangles, and cut off the crust? Does tea always come in a pot, with a gold edged cup and saucer where you are Elsie? Is your soap made up of forgotten flakes of old bars ?

Do you watch us tenderly pick over the treasures and trinkets of your life, unconvering stories, piecing together the jigsaws of your history? Do you laugh with us as our boys grow, tumble, stumble, trip, talk and learn about the world? ....

 .... or are these just memories, stories, fantasies, to be packed up in an old biscuit tin and put back on the shelf in a small dark pantry in my mind? Have you gone? Are you there?

shopping in Chinatown

This weekend freedom beckons. The small moop has been dropped off at Grandma's leaving the mister and I free for my birthday weekend.

After a reminiscent lunch at a lovely Thai restaurant, bringing memories of our wedding and honeymoon flooding back, we head into Chinatown for some slightly drunken shopping.

Perspex panda money box.
We have been after the perfect money box for ages. I think we finally nailed it.

Hand drum.
Which, it turns out, is broken before we even got it home. But it looks cute and will still make an irritating enough noise, and we're still a bit drunk, so we don't care.

Ridiculously large plastic / oilcloth type bag. Really, it's nearly a metre square.
We kidded ourselves we had a really practical use for it - toy bag, washing bag, moop's bag for weekends away. We have absolutely no geniune use for it but it was too adorable to leave in the shop.

the art and craft of saving the world: part 1

 
Science isn’t my thing. Never was. It boggles and baffles me. So when I went to the Hayward Gallery’s ‘The Art and Craft of Saving the World’ event, billed as a cross-over event between art, craft and science, science was the last thing on my mind.



crocheted coral name badge by rockpoolcandy

Imagine my surprise coming away from the day understanding what a hyperbolic plane is, and being able to understand why mathematicians say that maths is a beautiful thing, or the difference between the essential composition of a living thing and a non-living thing. Yet I did. And I revelled in it.

My motivation for going along was as part of a project I’m putting together next year exploring DIY crafts. As part of the research for this I’d come across the aspect of communities, in real and virtual worlds, working together to share their love of craft.

An example of this was the Institute of Figuring's "I've got a coral reef too" project. It started off as a chance discovery of the mathematician Dr Daina Taimina’s crocheted model of a hyperbolic plane. It bore uncanny resemblance to coral. The Institute of Figuring had been doing something similar as part of their aims to communicate science in more accessible, visual, tactile and other ways. Margaret and Christine Wertheim, founders and co-ordinators of the Institute of Figuring contacted Dr Daina Taimina and started a journey of discovery of crotchetiers across the world; each separately, slowly and beautifully creating their own coral. The result is a stunning touring exhibition and ongoing series of projects showcasing the coral pieces.


A lovely lady called Amber who helped me with my crochet

Having got over my science fear, I should also own up that crochet was never my bag. I love it as baby blankets and have two I cherish. Other than that I never really got crochet, I can’t explain why but it didn’t light my fire. Until now.


Rachel Matthews helps Dr Mark Miodownik get hooked

Amongst the day’s proceedings, just before lunch, was a quick session in which the whole room learned to crochet. Everyone. Scientists, mathematicians, artists, funders, students and all. Including me. I am addicted. After row 1 I felt pleased I’d picked it up. By row 3 it became clear how easy it was to create a piece of coral and follow the metabolic plane theory. By row 11 I found myself asking the workshop co-ordinator if I could borrow the hook for the three-hour train journey home.

The room learns to crochet - or at least those who couldn't already

Lu Summers

I love green, as you know. I also love the work of mixed-media artist Lucie Summers. I've bought a few of her pieces and this one sits over my desk to keep me inspired and refreshed every day.

In celebration of her blogger-versary, lovely Lu is giving away this new piece 'lowercase' to some lucky person. If you love her work as much as I do and fancy your chances, pop down and visit her here

mystery

It appeared out of nowhere, a mysterious green cluster on a crazily clashing leaf.

Follow the story so far
here :: here :: and here

denim patch dress

denim patch dress, originally uploaded by Highland Fairy.

Just because I do really rather like this dress a lot, and for no other reason at all it's in the blog.

It just looks like it would fit a real woman with actual curves, has such simple but gorgeous decoration, and is a work of sheer construction genius.

If someone hasn't beaten you to it you can snaffle it up all for your very own at http://www.heidimoon.etsy.com and if they have, maybe you'll find something else there you like.

ooooh post!

I love a good bit of quality post to brighten my day. A parcel makes things better still. Imagine my utter surprise and disbelief when the lovely Laura sent me a crate of haberdashery goodies for no reason at all other than to celebrate the newly established partnership between her company Robson & Mason, and our Manchester Craft Mafia group. Feast your eyes people...

Scrumptiously womanly sewing box crammed full of goodies:
ribbons, needles, beads, bias binding, thread, tape measure, markers, pins, ric rac and more...

Heart headed pins, and I've been coveting some of these for a while, the woman's a mind reader.

Beads, sequins, threads and clasps for magpies like myself.
In a magnificent organising tray, the ideal gift for obsessively organisational nuts like myself.

Bag handles - the one thing I was actually expecting!

Paper basket books of needles, I haven't seen these for years. They really made me smile.

Gorgeously oversized green button. Green, you know how I love green.
And buttons. I'd say it's about 5cm across.

Cascade of ribbons, grosgrain, ricrac and bias binding

Jars of beads and buttons

And even a present for Jude, what a lovely touch.

As well as the gorgeous lemon polka-dot fabric it's all laid out on.
I feel like it's my birthday!

fickle blog love

I'm a serial monogamist when it comes to blogs. Well almost. I may dip in and out of the odd one here and there if there's a free sewing pattern to download, but mostly I find one I truly love and subscribe on the spot.

I duly read its posts day in, day out, over my morning cup of earl grey. At times I may extend the love and subscribe to several, but I will be equally faithful to them all, pouring over the droplets of instant culture they shower me with.

Until it dawns on me that this obsessive involvement in the life of a stranger is rather odd. I question if I really want to know about their family road trips, the tin they covered and turned into a pencil-pot (albeit with a perfectionist's eye and an extravagant line in Japanese linen), the waxing and waning of their creative career. And then, as quickly as it came, the love disappears. And I delete them.

Then find another, and it all begins again...

My current relationships are with:
H is for Home
How About Orange
Craft: Magazine
The Storque

and my newest love BUST (I know I'm so very very late to this party, and I'm not sure how long I'll stay - the deep brooding ones make you melt at first then leave you drained and lost at times...)

Some of my lost loves (remembered in fondness) include:
Kitty Genius
Hello my name is Heather
Risa De Muerto
ShimandSons
KeptinaJar (they say you should never go back but I think I will...)

the beauty of concrete

Something reminded me of this photo today. It reminds me of why I love modernism and industrial materials - the smooth peacefulness they offer helping light and form bounce around undisturbed.

This was in the entrance area of gallery of Modern Art in Turin, July 2005, when I was lucky enough to spend a week on a Summer School in Arona by Lake Maggiori in Northern Italy. Very hard work but a really inspiring week. Beautiful beautiful scenery. Concrete included.