Cornish Treasure

The door-knockers of Penryn

Sometimes things work out rather nicely don't they? Mr Kitsch and I had no thought of going on holiday this year, when a friend asked if anyone fancied looking after her cats while she went away. And this friend just happens to live in a cottage in Cornwall. Suddenly we had the chance of an ultra-cheap getaway, and doing our friend a favour at the same time. Win-win!


So at the very end of May we set off for two weeks in Penryn (next door to Falmouth), and we had a brilliant time! I'd forgotten just how gorgeous Cornwall can be. There were wild flowers everywhere, and the sea was blue! Now, some of you may not be amazed by a blue sea, but those of us who live near the Bristol Channel are used to the sea being permanently brown, as all the silt flows out of the River Severn. So golden sands and blue seas are a rare treat for us.

We also benefited from the - ahem! - use of a pair of National Trust membership cards that were very kindly lent to us. Now before you 'tut tut' at this, you have to realise that without the cards, we wouldn't have visited these places at all, and we did buy a cup of tea or an ice-cream at the three places we visited. Two of them were gardens - Trelissick and Glendurgan.

On our last full day, we went to St Michaels Mount, (the third NT place). The sun shone its socks off all day, so the views across the bay seemed positively Mediterranean. It didn't feel quite like that though, as there was a violent wind blowing all day too. The climb to the top was pretty challenging - stumbling up over a steep uneven rocky path with my hair blowing across my eyes, and my knees in a sorry state from all the other walking we'd done. But it was a place I've wanted to visit for a while, and I'm so glad I got there. I loved the huge variety of succulents in the gardens - so sculptural.

Windows in St Michael's Mount

This travelogue stuff is all very well, I hear you cry, but what about the important stuff? Did I buy any kitsch? Did I? Oh, you know the answer to that, don't you? Penryn and Falmouth both had marvellous car boot sales, where I got a bit carried away. Yes, that is a teacup FULL of mother of pearl buttons in the picture below! (Gloat, gloat!)

And there were really good charity shops, where I got some wonderful bargains - (a pile of vintage knitting patterns and magazines for £1? I think so!). I really had to restrain myself, and I didn't spend more than £1.50 on anything - most of it was a lot less.



The knitting pattern ladies display a variety of 'natural' poses.

 Amongst a stash of cards from the 1900s to the 1940s, I picked up a few old photos including this formidable-looking old lady. I think the caption says she's 'Aunt Eliza'.

 

All-in-all, I had a lovely time with sun, sea and frugal vintage shopping. It reminded me that you don't need to spend lots of money to have fun - but it really helps to have such lovely friends!

North by North Somerset

Art = Happy

Last week was North Somerset Arts Week.  I didn't visit many places, but did go to see an exhibition by the Embroiderer's Guild. I'd bumped into a very friendly lady who was a member, and she'd told me about their workshops and the exhibition in the village hall in Cleeve. The standard of work there was amazing. Some of the stitching was teeny-tiny. I had to get my reading glasses out! (Yes, I am that old.)  Unfortunately I didn't get my camera out, so no photos, but there are obviously some very talented local members.

I am always drawn to textiles of all kinds, so was delighted to discover there was another textile exhibition in Cleeve - this one of weaving. (I really want to try some weaving, and was given a small loom for Christmas, but have yet to get to grips with it.) The extra-added-super-bonus was discovering it was attached to a small wool shop there that I didn't know about! It's called AlterKnit Universe and is utterly charming - full of lovely recycled yarn, locally produced alpaca and cute accessories. Their website is well worth a look.

Dodgy phone photo - yes, that IS my finger, top left.

They even have a yarn swap basket, where you can bring in a ball of yarn and swap it for a different one out of the basket. This might be just what I need, as I have a mountainous stash of yarn, and cannot possibly justify buying more.

My friend Rebecca was also exhibiting as part of the Arts Week, but unfortunately I didn't get as far as Loves Cafe in Weston-super-Mare to see her work. Her quirky prints combine the cute and the strange in a wonderful cartoony style.

Girl and Fawn by Rebecca Weeks

So who needs the big city for art and culture?

Hello? Is anybody still there?

Now, where was I? I just popped away from my blog for a minute, got distracted, and now it appears three years have gone by. How does that happen?

I'm not really sure. I've posted occasional weirdness on the Kitsch and Curious Facebook page, and I have pinned like the very devil on Pinterest, but I just haven't really been in the mood to write much.

A few finds I just couldn't resist.

But now I'm here again, and I suppose I ought to keep you up to date. Well. a few things have changed since my last post. I've moved house, for one thing. Mr Kitsch and I decided to leave Bristol, and move a few miles away, to the lovely seaside town of Clevedon.  Well, I say 'seaside', but to be more accurate, the dull brown water we can just see from the window of our flat is actually the Bristol Channel. But Clevdon has a beach and a pier and seaweed and gulls and ice-cream, so I think that counts as the seaside. And it has great sunsets...

When we moved in 2013, my plan was to give up selling vintage and concentrate on handmade craft makings. Yes, well...somehow, that didn't happen, as I kept going through my endless collections and thinning them out. The local charity shops received a lot, but I've also sold some too. My Kitsch and Curious Etsy shop has waxed and waned depending on how ruthless I was feeling.

Our flat is small, and I don't have room to keep much stock, so I still intend to wind down the vintage shop eventually. I'll never be a minimalist, but as well as a lack of space, a lack of funds has made me reconsider some of my collecting habits. Paying for a storage unit, as we did for some time, makes you think long and hard about the value of keeping some bits of vintage kitsch, just for the hell of it.

No, I'm not totally reformed...

So, although my shelves are still loaded,  I've reformed my vintage-collecting ways a fair bit in the last couple of years. But when I was feeling hard done by because I couldn't go vintage shopping, I received wonderful random things from people's attics or fabric stashes. Both from friends in blogland and in real life. You know who you are and I thank you.

I'm also immensely grateful for all the other support from family and friends in the past couple of years. Our financial situation has been up and down and is still a bit precarious, but we're still afloat. In some ways, I quite like the simplicity of not being able to spend money - there are less decisions to make. And we're not starving (far from it - as evidenced by my expanding waistline!).

I've been making textile jewellery and some other craft pieces, and I plan to have a new Etsy shop for those very soon. This photo is of some of the prototypes I made last year, but I think the newer ones are better.

So now I feel ready to share my collecting and making again. But is there anybody out there to share with? I'd really appreciate a quick comment or 'Hello', if you've found this blog.

Folk House Flea Market

In my usual absent-minded way, I forgot to mention this in my last blog post. I'll be having a stall at the Folk House Flea Market on Saturday, which is safely in the warm and dry in the centre of Bristol, so we don't have to worry about the weather. Phew! There's usually a nice mix of craft and vintage there, so if you're in Bristol, do pop in!

Crochet on a Wet Afternoon

It was very disappointing yesterday to discover our local bank holiday fair, the Redland May Fair, had been cancelled. Disappointing, but not altogether surprising, given that we are experiencing the monsoon season round these parts.

So we stayed in, watched some slightly trashy vintage TV (classic Star Trek and The Saint, with Roger Moore eyebrow-acting), and I did some cheerful crochet. I'm really enjoying these bright colours of yarn.

I did some colourful, doodly drawings recently, too. I used a doll's face as a starting point, and drew madly-patterned bodies for them.

It's very therapeutic, setting to with a bunch of felt pens and making patterns. I'd like to develop these further, but, as ever, I'm not sure how...

Giving and Receiving

Why is it that when I have time to take photos, the clouds gather, the rain pours and it goes so very dark? Needless to say, when it's bright, I always have to go and do something else. I've tried in the past to make some sort of photo set-up with artificial light, but it's never very successful. Partly because I just don't have the space or the time to set up anything complicated.

Like most of us, my "photo studio" consists of plonking an object down on the dining table, possibly with a sheet of paper behind it, if I'm trying to look 'professional'. I then take a couple of quick photos before I have to clear it all away again.

So anyway, the bad weather is my excuse for taking so long to show you the lovely notebook that Jane sent me in her giveaway a couple of weeks ago. Thank you so much, Jane! The collage cover is fantastic, and  I only wish my dull photos could do it justice. I especially like that there are photos of Jane herself peeking out from the cover. It makes it even more personal.

As you can see, the back is equally lovely, and so is the inside, as she has used all sorts of different papers. I think it might be too beautiful to use. I have a few notebooks like that! She also sent me some of her wonderful cards, which are clever and fun and stylish.

A few weeks ago, I spotted a marvellous little purse on The Custards blog, and knew that I had to have a go at making one for a friend's birthday. Here's my version.

It has such a pleasing design, as the whole thing unzips to become a length of ribbon, but zips up into a tetrahedron. I gave it to her yesterday, and she spent a lot of time zipping and unzipping it (it's very addictive), so I think it was a success! (Incidentally, the button pattern at the top of the blog is the birthday card I made for her.)

The purse tutorial is here http://www.craftpassion.com/2011/07/zip-itself-coin-purse-tutorial.html

Things have been quite busy here at the Kitsch Plaza. I have started doing some new (paid!) work, which although it's not creative, will help to put the focaccia on the table. (Well, you don't think I'd have just any bread, do you?)

And I have continued in my struggle to resist spending money, and to stop filling up the house with stuff. I've been quite good, but did buy a couple of things in a charity shop the other week. The little picture book is lovely - I might have to put the whole thing on here. And I think that's my new favourite plate.

Jubilicious!

It's a funny old world, isn't it? A few weeks ago, I got an email out of the blue, asking to use my strange Silver Jubilee souvenirs in an exhibition in London to mark this year's Diamond Jubilee. It was all because of this blog post on my other blog.

I wasn't entirely sure about it. Did they think I was some sort of royal fanatic, with Prince William pillowcases and Union Jack sheets? Or that I spent my days with a lifesize cut-out of the Duke of Edinburgh and knitted corgis? But the organiser seemed to know where I was coming from, and it was going to be a fun and quirky exhibition, as part of the celebrations in Battersea Park.

Then this week, the emails really started flying. I was asked for some more photos for an article to promote the exhibition in The Evening Standard. It was supposed to appear today. I don't know if it did, but my can of Jubilade has now put in appearance on the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant website!

I was also asked various questions, and to send in a photo of myself posing with my royal collection! I'm afraid I was way too shy for that, and besides, my 'collection' is really just a few random bits of kitsch.

They are asking for more unusual or personal items of royal memorabilia, like craft projects etc., so if you have something you'd like to share, why not contact them?

21/4 Update: They have now put this story on the BBC website, with quotes from me!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-17786831