Visited by a Lady and some Admirals!

Last week I finished reading "The Behaviour of Moths" by Poppy Adams. It was described by the Guardian as "A gothic tale of madness, sibling rivalry and lepidoptera, Adams is a skilful entertaining storyteller". Lepidoptery being the study of moths and butterflies. Now I'm no fan of moths - we have a love hate relationship. They loving living with me and I hate having them. They have long outstayed their welcome in Ticking Towers.

I had hoped for some insight into why they should always choose the better quality and more expensive jumpers rather than the blanket I picked up for a pound at the charity shop. I was appalled to see they had munched through my favourite, bought only last winter Joules cardigan but had left alone the chunky Aran ("don't think you're wearing that with me, mother")jumper. Sadly I was disppointed. I learnt a lot about the life cycle of moths and what is within a cocoon (don't ask - its disgusting)but nothing as to their food preferences. Any hope of tempting them out of the cosy confines of my wardrobe with something else they might enjoy feasting on was dashed. Having said that it was a good read although not quite the page turner I had expected.



I thought nothing more about the winged creatures until I was hanging the washing out on Saturday and ducking dark shadows overhead which all seemed to be aiming for my overgrown ivy. I actually can't stand things fluttering around my head but these little beauties stopped me in my tracks for a good half hour. There were lots of them so I rushed for my camera and took some shots.



Apparently there was an influx of Painted Ladies earlier this year and "Autumnwatch" had been urging people to contact them if they knew where they had all gone to. I did spot one Painted Lady (she was took quick for me to get a picture) but the rest after a quick google check were Red Admirals whom I'm sure should all be cocooned up nicely for winter.



Anyway they could be seen for most of the day having a final flutter around the garden and basking on the ivy in the lovely autumn sunshine and sunning their fabulously vibrant wings.



I'm not the best at taking pictures but I have to say I like this final one with the detail in the antennae.



Hope you aren't having too much troubled with winged creatures...

Have a good week.

Love Wend
xx

Uoldbag!

Yesterday I worked at Somerset House in London so took the opportunity to visit ORIGIN The London Craft Fair which is being held in the courtyard this week and next. It consists of 300 makers showing their work over two weeks - one set of designers this week and another set next week. After picking myself up off the floor at the £10 entry - I know I'm mean - I handed over my money and browsed for a couple of hours. I know we all have our favourites when it comes to crafts and most of mine centre around textiles and anything vintagey so I thought I'd share a couple of designers that were new to me along with an old favourites. (With apologies to the ceramics and jewellery lovers but there is plenty for them too at the fair!)

UOLDBAG.com - Love the name, love the product, lovely lady!



Lisa Tilley makes "vintage bespoke accessories using reclaimed materials". I loved all these old bags combined with bits of maps, pictures and old patterns. The picture above was taken at the fair but the ones below are her pictures taken from the internet (as agreed with her)



Aren't they fabulous - she has actually embroidered the cross stitch design on this one.



Too gorgeous to use but then I just love the idea of standing at a carousel just to be able to shout - that one's mine!!



Then "Smith and Coates"



This lady makes the most gorgeous childrens clothes from recycled woolen jumpers and her own details - liberty fabric trims and beautiful crochet edging. The first picture is from the website but the other two were taken at the fair and haven't turned out as well as I'd have liked.



The colours are beautifully muted and soft - it made me wish my gorgeous girl was 10 years younger!



And in case you haven't come across her before I must introduce you to Jennifer Collier who makes dresses and corsages and 50s bathing hats and shoes and brooches and more from found bits and pieces... (These are picures from her site - again agreed with Jennifer yesterday)



For the woman lacking a sense of direction or for someone who knows exactly where she's going - a pair of stilettoes made from an old map.



A paper hat or hair pin (waterproofed just in case its brolly weather)



And finally a dress made from postage stamps... Those of you who have visited before will know I have a whole stash of stamps waiting to be used...No I don't think I'll be attempting anything quite like this - I know my limitations. I'll stick to covering the odd wastepaper bin. I've followed Jennifer's work for a couple of years now and have a couple of her brooches. I'd love to have one of the dresses in a box frame.

Hope you're finding things to brighten your week! Do you have any favourite designers to share?

Love Wend