Workshops Galore!

This year so far I've been lucky enough to attend a number of different workshops. It's such a luxury to be able to spend a whole day just doing something crafty that's not work related & even if there is an element of learning skills to use for work purposes it's still lovely to know that you can spend the whole day doing it without having to worry about anything or anyone else.

 

My first workshop of the year was Intermediate Crochet with Nicki Trench http://www.nickitrench.com/ This was a whole day spent in the very comfortable surroundings of her neighbour's house near St Albans & we were fed delicious homecooked food & some naughty but lovely cakes & biscuits while I & 3 other learners were able to choose which projects we wanted to work on. By the end of a very relaxing day's crocheting I had tried from left: Tweed Stitch, Diamond Stitch in a laceweight yarn (top), Hexagons, Catherine Wheel Stitch (top) & Intarsia. I loved every second of the day & can't wait to use my new favourite stitch the Catherine Wheel & eventually when I have time I will definitely crochet a blanket made up of Hexagons!

                          

 

The next workshop I did was spread over two Saturdays a month apart as I couldn't do consecutive days but it worked out quite neatly in that I was free for the first day of the first course & the 2nd day of the 2nd course! On these two Saturdays I got to revisit the lovely Paula Watkins' (http://www.paulawatkins.co.uk/) Fabulous Felt Course which she runs for CLP (http://communitylearningpartnership.blogspot.co.uk/) the organisation that I also work for. I enjoyed this even more than the last felt course I did with Paula as this time I came with an idea of what I wanted to do & was so pleased with the results!

 

 This needs embroidering to bring the details out a bit but this is my representation of a river with the sun just glinting off the waves. It's definitely a day that's warmer than most we've been having lately!

 

My felt flower, I emebellished with beeds & embroidery & was most pleased with the results

 This panel below is the one that I am most proud of it just seemed to come together so perfectly & is a meadow scene just at the edge of a wood at sunset.

 This panel needs embroidering but it is a representation in felt of a painting I did at my third workshop, I was so pleased with the painting that I wanted to see how it would look in felt, I'm not quite sure how I feel about this panel at the moment but will reserve judgement until I've finished it!

                                                                  

 

Thirdly I went to my friend Anna Watkins (http://www.annawatkins-artist.co.uk/) for a blissful day of painting Aliums in her new studio. I was apprehensive before this workshop as  this is a totally different style to anything I've done before & I have always believed that painting is not something that I would ever be able to do well. But look at it! I'm so proud of what I achieved in just one day, we worked in stages & slowly built up the painting so it never seemed overwhelming & even the bits I felt sure I'd mess up like the brush stroke grasses & stems actually don't look to bad. It just goes to show that it's really worth having a go even if you're sure you'll be rubbish at it!

 

                                  

 

So I enjoyed my painting day so much that I went along to Anna's weekly Wednesday morning freestyle painting session, clutchin a canvas that I had rather thought would need painting over in white so I could start again (on the left) but with a lot of encouragement to be brave it became this painting on the right! 

 

 

            

 

                                                                               

 It sitll needs some more doing to it but I'm so pleased with how it's going & I can't wait till Wednesday so I can do some more on it!

 

So it's only March & already I've done all this, I can't wait to see what the rest of the year brings!

 

written by Camilla

Reasons to be Cheerful!

It's quite often very hard when you work for yourself to look on the positive side of things. Last summer was TOUGH, it was wet, muddy & people didn't shop. At times like these it can feel like you're throwing yourself against a brick wall & no amount of hard work will get you any closer to breaking through it.

Happily our Christmas season was better than the summer one & we finished the year in a better position than we'd hoped. We're still a long way from breaking through that wall though & 2013 in Lovely HQ started with a bit of a creative slump. Then one of our friend's suggested that, instead of concentrating on what we hadn't achieved yet, we looked at what was positive & concentrated on that for  a while.

So here are our reasons to be cheerful in both life & business:

We are still afloat as a business, that's a big thing, as the news reports that we're entering a third recession & business are failing all around us, the good ship Lovely is still afloat & we're patching the leaks & setting sail for better times.

We had a gorgeous & peaceful Christmas & then an equally gorgeous & not quite so peaceful 2nd Christmas & New Year with our Copenhagen family & Emily had lots of cuddle time with her Odd-daughter & my Oddson fell in love with my ipad!

Back in November I was lucky enough to be offered some teaching work with a company based in South Oxhey called the Creative Learning Patnership. They specialise in making learning fun for Children & Adults & specifically target people who have had a bad time in education. I've been teaching crochet & have been lucky enough to have very lovely learners in my classes!

Emily has gone back to delighting the customers of Little Italy in Haddenham with her cheerful service & fab coffee making skills! Even more excitingly she's planning to turn her love of baking into a cake baking business so it wont just be the traders at our various markets who have access to her delicious cakes. We just have to health & hygiene the kitchen first!

It's also the season of trade shows & we've been to the Spring Fair at the NEC as we always do & discovered that our trusty incense suppliers has a range of fab new smells that we will be stocking very soon. Most excitingly we were invited to go to London Edge Fashion Trade Show by the very lovely suppliers of our reversible skirts & we discovered a whole world of alternative fashion suppliers. I personally fell in love with the 50's inspired dresses & Emily is determined that we'll order a range of tights very soon!

So all in all there are lots of things to be cheerful about & we're cautiously optimistic about the rest of this year. We're booking up our events for the summer & are determined to make 2013 a bright, shiney, lucky & Lovely year!