Out and about

Just starting to book the myfuroshiki markets for 2011 (carefully arranged around my son's sporting calendar!). Here's where to find us so far. Put a note in your diary to come by and say hello.

April

• Saturday 30, 10am-4pm, Handmade at Haworth  Jo from the Arts Factory has been busy arranging lots of great events for 2011.  This one's at the The Old School Room where Charlotte Bronte taught, just across from The Parsonage. Lots of handmade loveliness including jewellery, textiles, photography, arts and crafts, with tea and cakes from Trufood Catering (worth a visit in themselves!). Free entry.

July

• Saturday 2, 10am-4pm - Made-it craft fair, St Margaret's Hall, Horsforth, Leeds, LS18 5LQ Come along for a wonderful selection of hand made crafts, all sold by the maker, a cafe serving delicious home baked cakes and free children's craft activities allowing you to browse at your leisure. Free admission.

October

• Saturday 15, 10am-4pm, Handmade at Haworth in The Old School Room Back again for lots of handmade loveliness including jewellery, textiles, photography, arts and crafts, with tea and cakes from Trufood Catering (worth a visit in themselves!). Free entry.

December

• Saturday 3, 10am-4pm, Arts Market, Riddings Hall, Christchurch, Riddings Road, Ilkley, LS29 9LW Gorgeous handmade gifts and goodies - nothing bought in or mass produced - and catering from the ever scrumptious Trufood. Free admission.

Favourite finds - Jemma Louise Murphy

Jemma Louise Murphy applies kanzashi techniques to paper to create stunning artwork and brooches, which are available through Folksy. She also creates gorgeous ACEOs and digital artwork and then creates 3D versions of her illustrations, combining her love of origami with her little luvlee drawings. See more of her wonderful work here.

Happy New Year!

A cute, maneki neko cat, a present from my son, with his paw raised to beckon in prosperity - let's hope he has a busy year!

A little belated, I know, but after a rather frantic end to 2010 and then a couple of weeks rushing around tidying up after it, I feel that the new year's begun!  The boiler's mended (heating + hot water = bliss); lots of little things around the house that needed fixing have finally been done; the local Scope shop has benefited from several bags of donations; the spare bedroom, aka the myfuroshiki creation centre, is beautifully ordered and ready to replenish stocks and my diary is filling up with plans and ideas.  Welcome to 2011!

gift wrapping ideas - basic fabric wrap & homemade gift tag

I'm busy wrapping myfuroshiki fabulous floral gift sets ready for the Ilkley Arts Market next Saturday and the Christmas Charity Craft Fair in Saltaire on Sunday, using a basic, otsukai tsutsumi, wrap.  Here's how it's done.

Gather the items to be wrapped - in this case the bag handles, wrapping instructions, little origami crane (a tiny treat) and larger furoshiki

and place in the centre of the wrapping furoshiki, across the diagonal (I've folded the larger furoshiki around the handles etc to make a neat pile).

Starting from the bottom corner, roll the gift up in the furoshiki.

Start to tie a reef (square knot) bringing the lefthand corner over then under the right hand one.

Take your gift tag, if using.  I've threaded some beads and a bell onto a piece of ribbon and knotted it to form a loop, then threaded on a pretty piece of card (you could cut up and recycle last year's cards for this).  The decorated ribbon can then be reused as a little decoration or as the basis for another gift tag.

 

Thread the ribbon onto the left hand corner of the furoshiki wrap

and complete the reef (square) knot by bringing the lefthand corner up over and then under the right hand one.

 

And that's it, a pretty, easy, eco-friendly gift wrap!  

ps These sets are also available on Folksy and Etsy, and in red and green fabric - please take a look.

Take a moment

 

(photo by Heidi Burton)

It can be so busy at this time of year - presents to choose, gifts to wrap (with furoshiki, of course!) cards to write and family and friends to visit.  This afternoon, however, I'm going to take a few moments and settle down to browse through the winter issue of UK Handmade Magazine. 

It's packed full of interviews from UK based designers, Scandinavian inspired articles and treats as well as a wealth of useful business articles, events, tutorials and reviews - and it's free!  I am so impressed with all the very hard work that Anna Stassen and Karen Jinks and the rest of the UK Handmade team voluntarily put in to create such a high quality magazine.

And, being online, it's available immediately, at the click of a mouse and is carbon neutral - the perfect treat!

Snow go!

Well, the snow is still with us and a heavy fall on Wednesday made the roads too treacherous for me to venture out to the Baildon at Christmas craft market.  This was such a shame as it was a lovely event last year with a great atmosphere.  The same spirit seems to have prevailed this year though with some, more local, crafters truding through the snow and bringing their stock by sledge, in order to take part!

Tomorrow our son was due to have run in the ESAA Cross Country Cup final.  We were really looking forward to this as, having been held in Newquay in Cornwall last year, it was in the slightly more accessible Alnwick this year and, even better, in the grounds of Hogwarts :)  itself ...

(image via zoewanamaker)

which at the moment looks rather more like this ...

(image via ESAA)

... and so the race has been rescheduled to March.

But, GOOD NEWS, this does mean that myfuroshiki will now be at tonight's Eclectic Stitch

... weather permitting!!

Christmas is coming!

We've woken this morning to a very pretty wintry scene with clear blue skies and a dusting of snow on the hills and roofs.  I'm looking forward to making the Christmas pudding, following our traditional family recipe and, looking back to when I blogged about it last year, my tradition of being a week late in making it (apparently Stir Up Sunday was last week!).

Whilst the pudding is steaming I'll write our Christmas cards to family and friends who are overseas so I can get their parcels posted in time to meet the Royal Mail's recommended last posting dates.  I'm always surprised to find how early they are:

International Airmail

Monday 6 December South & Central America, Caribbean, Africa, Middle East, Asia, Far East (including Japan), Australia  and New Zealand

Friday 10 December Eastern Europe, USA and Canada

Monday 13 December Western Europe

UK

Wednesday 15 December Standard Parcels

Saturday 18 December Second Class

Tuesday 21 December First Class

I will, of course, post myfuroshiki orders as soon as I can.