A CHRISTMAS WALK

Which started pretty well but ended not so great! Ben got given a pub walks book for his birthday and keen to test it out with friends we set of the other day around half 2. We set out from the Half Moon pub in plumpton. The weather was beautiful - a low, warmish sun and pretty winter light. All was well with the babies snuggled and warm in their backpacks.

Yes it is true - we have matching backpacks we both bought off eBay! (Vaude, if you are interested...) the walk was only 3 miles long, and although it was uphill for a bit of it, it was totally worth it for these views.

Everything was fine until right after I took these photos of the cows. Then both kiddos decided they'd had enough at exactly the same time and without any real warning just decided enough was enough with the walk and they started to cry. Pretty loudly, and would not be comforted or bribed with snacks. Both myself and and my friend had to remove babies from back packs and wobble downhill carrying them in our arms with cries of "mummy mummy" still coming from them!

To add insult to injury the pub kitchen closed 10 mins before we got there. Still, what we learnt from this experience was to go a little earlier in the day when it was warmer, no further than 2 miles, and always check pub kitchen timings! At least we enjoyed a swift ale and some warming up time by the open fire before heading home. I now more than ever though want to move to the country. Around where we walked is ideal, such beautiful countryside, nice pubs and lovely little villages. Money is stopping us move for now, so the farm dreams will just have to wait a while. At least it is only a few minutes drive from our house at the moment to experience this stunning countryside....and I can keep dreaming of course ;)

THE BLANKET {sarah elwick}

This is my second review of one of my very clever friends over on the left. This time it is the lovely Sarah Elwick up for answering a few questions about herself and her *new* on line shop she has set up. I was very lucky to receive one of her gorgeous baby blankets in the post as a little swap for some artwork. I was excited when it arrived as I'd seen little peeks on instagram and facebook. And my oh my did it not disappoint, it is gorgeous in the flesh. My husband LOVED it too and didn't even say "do you really need another blanket" which in itself was a flipping miracle!

I used to go to art foundation with Sarah (I know it does seem like I'm a little biased and only currently reviewing 'Sarah's'!) She has moved up to Winchester to teach and create these masterpieces. She has recently exhibited at MADE in London and will be showing and selling her beautiful stuff at MADE in Brighton on Friday 23rd, Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th November. Make sure if you are in the area you pop in and have a look, or check out her shop on line.

I asked her a few question so you could get to know a bit more about her and her work...

WHAT DID YOU STUDY TO GET WHERE YOU ARE NOW

I studied for a BA(hons) in textile design, specialising in knitwear at Winchester School of Art, graduating with a 1st in 2003. I then went straight onto study for an MA in Menswear Knitwear at the Royal College of Art. Both courses were absolutely fantastic, and really taught me to think creatively, and developed my personal handwriting as a designer.

WHY IS PRODUCING AND SOURCING MATERIALS FROM THE UK SO IMPORTANT?

After I graduated from the RCA I worked as a knitwear designer for a company that mass produced knitwear collections for clients in the US. They manufactured this knitwear using factories in the Far East, where the motto seemed to be 'make 'em cheap and pile 'em high', and any slightly more interesting construction technique,  high end yarn, or stitch pattern would usually be ruled out because it would be too expensive to produce.

This experience really opened my eyes to the conditions that cheap knitwear is made in, and gave me the impetus to want to start making something here in the UK, being able to design products that I felt passionately about, using high quality yarn, and supporting the extremely skilled knitwear, and yarn producers we have in the country, hopefully helping to keep this important part of out manufacturing heritage alive.

WHAT INSPIRES YOU TO MAKE SUCH AMAZING COLOUR COMBINATIONS!

This year for my new geometric merino collection, I was inspired by patchwork quilts, and other traditional 'folk' textiles, such as Scandinavian Fairisle knitwear, and traditional welsh wool blankets, as they all have quite bold, graphic colourways and patterns, which I always seem to be drawn to. I got particularly inspired by this blog called Folk Object: http://folkobject.tumblr.com/ which has whole a wealth of inspiring Folk art and textile images to view. 

I then digest this information over a period of a few weeks/months. At this stage I tend to procrastinate for ages over a wide variety of inspiration and imagery, and then gradually designs and patterns seem to come naturally to the front of what I'm working on. If my gut reaction says 'YES!' then I go with it! It's difficult to know which designs and colourways will be popular, but I think you have to rely on your gut instinct about what makes you feel most excited as a designer, and try and take a few risks with new work each year.

WHERE CAN PEOPLE SEE YOUR WORK AND BUY YOUR BEAUTIFUL THINGS.

My work is available to buy through my online shop on my website: http://sarahelwick.com/ through Notonthehighstreet, or through a few shops I have listed on my website. I am always on the look-out for suitable new outlets, so please get in touch if you would like to stock my work.

Other than that I've just shown my work at MADE LONDON, which was brilliant, and from the 22nd-25th of November I will be exhibiting at MADE12 in Brighton: http://www.brighton-made.co.uk/ please pop by and say hello if you can!

DO YOU HAVE A PLAN OF WHAT YOU'D LIKE TO PRODUCE NEXT?

After really great feedback on my work from MADE LONDON on my new geometric merino range of accessories, I plan to continue to develop this range of products next year. I want to design a new range of womens luxury fineguage merino scarves, that really showcase the beautiful merino yarns to their full potential.

DO YOU FIND TEACHING A BENEFIT TO YOUR PROFESSIONAL PRACTISE?

Definitely. I think having to explain techniques, and approaches to students really enhances my knowledge and understanding of certain processes. I also find it really inspiring to see what my students design, as they are looking a process with fresh eyes, and so can often be really innovative and push the boundaries of the discipline.

ASIDE FROM COFFEE WHAT CAN YOU NOT LIVE WITHOUT?!

Well I'm more of a tea person to be honest, so tea, and red wine, oh and probably houmous. I eat it pretty much every day!

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE SOMEONE WANTING TO START UP THEIR OWN BUSINESS

Be prepared to work ten times as hard as you think you will need to. 

Do shows where you can sell your work to the public as soon as you can. The feedback you will get on your work, what people like and dislike about your products, and whether ultimately will you be able to sell them to make enough money to make a living out of it, will be invaluable. 

Don't undercharge for your work. If something is handmade, using good quality raw materials, people expect to pay a bit more for it. If you're only making a couple of pounds profit from each item, you're never going to be able to sustain it as a business.

Ask for advice. From your peers, tutors, other people running a similar business to you, organisations who run workshops. Ask what shows they recommend, how they price their work, how they produce their work, etc, etc. As long as you're not in direct competition with them, they will probably be happy to help you.

Always thank people who have helped you along the way. Whether it's tutors, show organisers, suppliers, friends who photographed your work for you, or modelled your work for you, whatever it is say thankyou, and if you can't pay them offer them something in kind. In my case, some knitwear in return for something I need help with always goes down well, and you never know when you might need them again...!

Me and Stanley also did a little photo shoot for Sarah to help with images on her website. You can see more here, but a little glimpse of what we got up to is below. I think it is so important to support these hardworking individuals as best we can. There are so many huge brands out there making tonnes of money by selling cheaply made things out of not very nice, unsustainable materials. I think if we can buy a little less but buy locally or from people we know then just perhaps we can make a real success out of good, talented people.

MEETING FRIENDS

And by friends I mean internet friends. I always started blogging as a way to show my working methods in my illustration. Bits and pieces that inspire me - other work I love and my own books and illustration. Recently as you know I have included Stanley in my blog as he is obviously the main part of my life and this has led me down a different blogging path and into the paths of other like minded bloggers. I am not one normally for the whole social networking scene. I'm not on twitter, I don't have time for it and I know I'd be too concincious about how many followers I'd have...I'm needy like that! So when I started blogging and being brave enough to come out of the woodwork (or lurking I think it's called in the internet world!) and comment on a few nice blogs I started to feel good. Meet other like minded Mums that were blogger Mums but not typical mummy bloggers if you see what I mean! In that group I have met designers, makers, vintage collectors, inspiring workers and generally amazing Mums. I'm really enjoying blogging at the moment, I feel relaxed about it all, happy to blog as and when I feel I need to. I just wished I could jet all over the place to meet these new people in the flesh. For the time though I'm happy seeing what they are up to in the world of cyberspace and planning a few more UK based trips. A while ago I recieved the most amazing parcel from one of my favourite bloggers Jenny. (Who unfortunately is stopping blogging in just a few short days) She had a vintage sale online and was good enough to send to the UK. She slippped in an extra goodie for me and wrote the sweetest note, what a thoughtful touch from someone I have never officially met.

I'm happy to have 'met' people like her, and hope to continue to do so. As we speak I am off tomorrow to meet up with two bloggers I know on-line but have yet to meet in real life. I'm looking forward to the little trip down to Bristol to see Abbi and Fritha. I don't feel weird about it, I know we'll get on because we've all been chatting for almost a year. I do sometimes feel though that I have to justify my friendship - like other people think it's odd. It feels sometimes that the word 'internet friend' is a dirty word. Which is silly because I remember before the internet days penpal was never a dirty word - it was encouraged to keep up correspondence and find out about other lives around the world. I think any friend no matter how you know them is still a friend. That is not to say the my friends round the corner mean any less or more, they are just there for me in a different way. Jenny posted a great piece about it on her blog recently and the sentiments she expressed I totally agree with. Heck if it wasn't so far and so expensive I'd be making trips to see Jenny herself, Drea and Ashley if they'd have me and Stanley for a visit!!!

A LOVELY WET WEEKEND

We had very good friends come and stay with us this weekend. We have not see them for almost a year  as they live in Somerset so it was lovely to catch up and see our little boys play together so well. They are about 9 months apart in age and really were totally lovely togther. Sharing toys and holding hands for most of the weekend. It was cute to watch and made us feel very happy and relaxed knowing they were getting on so well. They of course did not mind the rain and actually it seems that whenever we as families meet up the weather is normally like this! So we took it in our stride and went out anyway. Stanley tried and LOVED his first ever hot chocolate - I think we'll be sharing more of those if this British Summer continues!

Sunday was a much better day weather wise which was great. We went on the little Volks Railway line from the Marina to Brighton Pier and had a traditional seaside fish and chips of course! We stopped in the Fishing Museum which is tiny but very cute with all it's local fishing paraphernalia. Wonderful time spent with friends in weather that was ok in the end! Hope you all had great weekends too.