Crafty Fox Markets

I'm taking part in my first event in London this weekend. On Sunday you will find me at the Dogstar pub in Brixton as part of the Crafty Fox autumn market!

Shall I be seeing some of you there?

A Very Good Week

Today is a very important day because today I get to see Kate Bush live in concert, something I never thought I'd see. 35 years since her last performances!

Tomorrow is a very important day because it will be exactly 10 years since I moved to Liverpool. It was windy, it was pissing down with rain and my friend Sarah, who I hadn't seen for about 7 years took, me out for a meal at Marantos on Lark Lane. And the next day I had my induction at LIPA.

Ten years on and I'm not working in the theatre, or at least not much, but I am running my own business and it's not too shabby! So, to celebrate both these things, I'm giving you all 35% off everything in my shop until Monday.

HAPPY SHOPPING!

Away To Sea

Onward, to the National Maritime Museum! 

 You're right, that's not the National Maritme Museum, that's Borough Market.

I didn't notice at the time but look at this fantastic woman in the green check coat with the huge safety pin and grey hair and top knot and glasses!

I stopped for lunch, and cake, and more tourist gawping. It's fantastic, I would love to have a market like this in Liverpool, although I'd be very fat, and very poor.

Anyway, to Greenwich!

 Although I hadn't even been in London for 24 hours yet it was such a change to be that little bit further out, it felt so much calmer and more spacious.

 Those are streets that were made to be marched along.

I may not have mentioned it on the blog, though those of you who follow me on Facebook or Twitter will know that just before Christmas I started selling my knot jewellery at the gift shop in the NMM. I sell my work in here;

So what else is inside?

 A selection of rather impressive figureheads.

 A bit of a boat.

Some dashing chaps in very smart outfits.

Admiral Sir William Sidney Smith. Good name for a cat.

Captain Sir William Peel. Swoon.

 "At the seige of Sebastapol he picked up a live mortar shell and threw it over a parapet just as it exploded."

 What a guy.

 There's also some really incredible stained glass.

Salvaged from the Baltic Exchange war memorial.

And in the gift shop;

Very nautical, no?

Artist Textiles at the Fashion and Textile Museum

This post has now been moved to my new blog Should Be Sewing. Check out all the gorgeous photos here!

New Year, New Projects: Traces 2014

Happy New Year to you all, I hope everyone has eaten and drunk to excess and is now begrudgingly back in work! I personally had a rather busy festive period, full of the usual Christmas Fair mania and a some other new ventures that I will tell you about soon... For now, however, I will stick to one exciting event that I am completely thrilled to be a part of .



Straight from their page, because they explain it much better than I ever could;

Traces is an immersive and theatrical multi-disciplinary art & design event inspired by real stories and histories of buildings. Every story, however hidden, leaves a trace… Have you ever wandered through a dilapidated and empty building, wishing you could see it as the last inhabitants left it?
For ten days in February 2014, ‘Traces’ will take a neglected old building and bring it alive again with the smells, tastes, touches and sounds of days gone by. Immersive and theatrical, ‘Traces,’ is a new kind of art and design event, showcasing the work of over 100 artists. Painstakingly researched, it will map and elaborate on the actual stories of the inhabitants of our event’s secret location.
The public are invited to discover these histories for themselves; wandering through the rooms left as if only a moment before, and unpicking their secrets. Interacting with the specially commissioned and selected art and design pieces, to unravel clues about the building and it’s inhabitants, whilst also having the opportunity to buy their favorites at the end of the night.

How amazing does that sound? So while I get to work designing and making my pieces (all top secret of course) Traces HQ will be doing their best to raise the money needed to make the event happen, and that's where you can help! By pledging even just a little bit of money you'll be helping scores of up and coming designers, and the brains behind Traces itself, to get a platform for their work and create a truly memorable experience for everyone involved. There are lots of fun rewards for your pledge too, so take a look at the Kickstarter page to see what's on offer and find out more about the project.

And if you're in London, or could be, then I really recommend following Traces on Twitter to get the clues for the location of the event and get down there for some site-specific, immersive, theatrical, art and design fun!