Blogroll

It's a pun, isn't it? Blogroll?

Because I have only associated it with the American blogs that I read and relish, I hadn't really seen the Very British Pun. Perhaps it is my imagination... please enlighten me.

In anycase, it has now become habitual for me to drink my tea and browse some blogs, meandering through my links to their links and beyond. Sometimes nothing much emerges, but occasionally something really good does. Today, via Katy Elliot, based in Maine, I stumbled upon Ben Pentreath who, funnily enough, is based in London. Found 'in a tiny Victorian shopfront' in Bloomsbury, Ben and his partner Bridie Hall, stock a delicious combination of prints, china, linen and furniture, which appeal to the senses and sensibilities of, well, me. Fortunately, they also have a blog, which is, as you see, another sheet of my blogroll.

In anycase. I have another project to add to the list, and a quick one at that. I found this tool carrier in an old shed the other day - under a pile of nails and old shopping baskets, it was on its way to the skip - but I thought it too good to loose. It is now my glass/plant/paintbrush holder - or will be, once I have scrubbed the grime off it.

Sunday

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Rich Pickin's

Listing a vague description is not enough; here is our selection of beautiful Liberty fabrics that we bought at this lovely department store yesterday. It is worth the drive for the discounts on the fabric and although the selection is relatively small, we always seem to find something.

From left to right: Silk for a tunic, inspired by this one; Tana Lawn for Ella's dress; Tana Lawn for a skirt a little like this one (perhaps a little longer!) and wool for another tunic.

Pit Stop

Mum and I have been planning a creative weekend, so this morning when my alarm went off at a very early hour for a Saturday morning, I knew it would be worth it. I drove from mine to my parents where we sat in the morning sun, basking in the beginnings of spring, enjoying our coffee and our garden. This was our little pit stop on the way to Statford upon Avon, where we were looking for Liberty Print fabrics to make some clothes for me, Mum and baby.

There is nothing more restorative than sitting in this same spot, with a warm cup of coffee out of a familar bowl, mulling over the week that was.

We found some beautiful fabrics; for Ella, the sweetest little magenta and green floral cotton; for me, some indigo silk with a simple print on and some purple paisley cotton; for mum, a petrol blue wool, made using the finest weave. Luxurious.

Tea and Toast

There are very few things that bring me as much joy as a large cup of tea and something...sumptuous. When the Toast catalogue arrives on my doorstep it seems to have an almost mystical power over me. I stop marking essays; I stop wiping down the kitchen surfaces; I stop planning my next weeks lessons/social events/food shop. I sit, with my tea and simply amble through the streets of whichever exotic location they have photographed so wonderfully (Tunisia, this time?) and imagine my life somewhere else...

Moodboards

'At its simplest, a moodboard is a collection of pictures of things you like. It just helps you make sense of all the ideas floating through your head. The trick is not to over-think it. Let your intuition guide you and, as your board takes form, so the unconscious threads that weave together your personal taste will come to the fore.'

I tore the quotation above from a copy of a design magazine about 6 years ago - the title escapes me now. I know that those 'unconscious threads' of personal taste have taken form, but for the last six years I have been keeping scrapbooks of cuttings, paint charts, fabric samples and drawings knowing that they continue to act as a source of inspiration for everything creative that I do. Now that I have the space, these scrapbooks have spread to the any available pinboards and walls too...

Sometimes I just sit and look through the scrapbooks, or sit at my desk gazing at the sumptuous pictures from magazines and newspapers, postcards and advertisements, wondering what it is that makes me so drawn to particular colours and shapes. Occasionally an idea for a project is sparked off by an image, but more often than not I just feel a general sense of appreciation for things which are, simply, pleasing to the eye.

Have you read this? You should read it. I mean it, really. now.

In fact, I haven't read Eat, Pray, Love. I lied. To quite a few people. What I did do however, was listen to it on tape - in my car, my house, my studio, for two blissful weeks between school, chores, trips and food shopping. I wanted to read it, so I went to Bath Central Library to pick it up a few weeks ago but all they had was the audio version. The wonderful thing was that the audio version was read by Elizabeth Gilbert and so the voice on the page came to life and the tone, the expressions, the nuances of the written word were exactly as intended. What a treat!

Now, I am not a successful journalist/novelist, and neither have I just left a marriage, and nor do I live in Manhattan (oh, I wish!) but there are some basic similarities in my 'new chapter' to EG's 'new chapter' (the details of which I will spare you). What is plain to me is that I am in a true period of transition and growth, and that this is firstly, hugely exciting but secondly, absolutely terrifying. Reading books like this helps enormously, and creates a perspective within which the challenges and confusion begin to make sense.

What Elizabeth Gilbert manages to do (and my mum and sister can attest to this as they really have read it since) is to be both firmly rooted in what it is to be human, and confused, and making mistakes, and trying to correct those mistakes (both successfully and unsuccessfully) and searching for answers, and yet, also to be clear about what one really needs. There are successes, and moments of absolute clarity, which are inspiring to read (listen to) and through the voice of someone like Gilbert, those successes suddenly feel within reach.