Tuesday, February 09, 2010
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by Emma
You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat. - Albert Einstein, when asked to describe radio
RIP Tigga 1992 - 2010
to whom a meow could mean anything she wanted
Saturday, February 06, 2010
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by Emma
Well, I think it was worth doing - two whole weekends later and the floor is clear and the toys are sorted. Crafty creative toys all together with the sewing box, drawing paper and pads and pens together, and everything else stripped down to the minimum that'll actually get played with (I hope!). This all started when it was thought that the bookcase could be relocated from the back wall where the table is now, to sideways-on, effectively dividing the room into zones. Prior to that the table really had no fixed abode infront of the shelving and was always in the way. Genius eh!
Half way through the sorting:
Surely this is not the same room... the final result:
The pen pots on the desk were made at the National Quilt Exhibition a couple of years ago. They did some great activities for children. These are recycled tin cans covered with fabrics and ribbons, tres jolie!
This has to be my favourite radio ever.
Say Hello, Hamley... from Hamleys of London of course!
Aaaargh, what is this big pink furry thing... get me outta here...!
Bit of a house theme going on here. The first is a model of a 1940s bedroom, the second a Kenyan mud hut (!), and the last a fairy castle (!!) money box painted at a ceramic painting party two years ago.
Just how long will this last?
Saturday, February 06, 2010
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by Emma
No you're not going do-lally, I have altered my blog name. I was in the process of setting up a new
shop on Folksy and suddenly decided that I no longer liked Amoeba Handmade and thought it sounded a whole lot better as The Handmade Amoeba. The same but different. A little cosier. A little quirkier. A lot more me.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
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by Emma
It's not getting any better. I'm doing a massive, and I mean humongous, clear out of C's room. I've been wanting to get on with it for 6 months or more, but I somehow could never face it. The fact of it is she has far too much stuff that just doesn't see the light of day... ever. I've filled two large sacks with rubbish, stuff no-one would want, broken toys, general eugh really, which will go to the tip tomorrow. I've filled almost a dozen carriers with charity shop items, there's a pile of ten board games listed on freecycle, and there still doesn't seem to be room on the shelves to lay things out nicely so that they are visible. I am working on the less is more policy but it's taken three days with still no sign of the rug on the floor. I must take a picture of it tomorrow before and after and you'll hopefully agree that it really was worth doing?!
Saturday, January 30, 2010
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by Emma
What do we mean when we use these words? I thought they were all basically the same.. a substance that is flexible and made out of natural or man made fibres that are meshed together by a mechanical process (weaving, knitting, felting). I've used all of them depending on my mood and to whom I am speaking. But is there a difference and is one more correct than the other? A little reasearch later (c/o google, wikipedia etc) and I find that:
Textile: refers to any material made of interlacing fibres, as per my original thought above.
Fabric: refers to a textile that is made through weaving, knitting, knotting or crocheting - so not felt then.
Cloth: refers to a piece of fabric that is finished ready for use such as covering a table.
Material: is the same as substance and is essentially anything that is made of matter. So includes all the others then, but also everything else on the planet, in the universe etc....
Well whatever you decide to call it here are some pictures (at last) of some of the wonderful fabrics from the Cloth House in London:
This print was my first purchase and I love it to bits...
There'll be a few more pictures of my finds from this week soon... I'm going to have to avoid the place if my bank balance is going to survive intact!!
Then again, when back at home the charity (thrift) shop can sometimes come up with some gems. These two shirts will be perfect for a few makes from Sew Sunny Homestyle ;)
Friday, January 22, 2010
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by Emma
Have we had a dry day this January? I really can't remember a day without either snow or rain since before New Year. Well, the snow has thankfully all gone, and it's funny, now I miss it! I was so fed up with it being around, with the intense cold (for Britain!), with slip sliding around, with having to wear boots all the time. But now it's raining and dark. The one fab thing about snow is that it's never dark, not even at night. Looking out onto the street at night while it was snowing was like the middle of the day, so bright was the reflection of streetlights on the falling flakes across the city. Anyway, here are one or two pictures that celebrate the calm and stillness that always comes with a fresh fall of the white stuff.
Aw, sooo cute!
A snowy cushion
I just love this photo with the garden lights.. I just love garden lighting!
These really were taken in the middle of the night and it was way lighter than the pictures suggest!
To prove it, these were the daytime shots. You might spot York Minster in the distance - my view from the roof!
Thursday, January 14, 2010
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by Emma
No.47 Berwick Street Soho London
I just had to throw this post together... I've been down in London for a meeting today in the most delightful (not) Stratford area and as it finished early I decided to fulfil a promise to myself - to get to
Kleins in Soho. It's close to Oxford Circus so I thought I'd try and find it as I had an hour to spare before my train out of Kings Cross (nothing like cutting it fine!). Well I walked all around Noel Street and couldn't find it... however, as I was crossing over Berwick Street between the two halves of Noel Street I saw
No.47, the Cloth House - WOWEEEEEEEEE. How gorgeous is that store. Lovely staff (including a girl from York! coincidence) and it's stuffed full of amazing natural fabrics from all around the world.. beautifully displayed organic cottons, hemp, linens, denims, voiles, shirting, indian fair trade prints, trimmings, vintage buttons, and gorgeous vintage wooden reels, clothes pins... oh I could go on and on... and that was just the ground floor - I didn't have time to make it to the basement! The only thing that was missing was a selection of the new fabulous prints from Australia! Now I can assure you I've got no vested interest in the store, I am just so bowled over to stumble upon such a goldmine. If you're ever in the Oxford Street area, take a walk up past the front of Liberty's and find some gorgeous fabrics. There's another Cloth House up the road from No.47, plus several other silk emporia and fabric shops that I have promised myself to investigate next time I'm in London (next week!!) and have some time to spare (hopefully).
a sneaky peek through the door!
I did treat myself to a metre or so of some beautiful heavy vintage floral cotton (furnishing weight) and it was packed in a delightful indian newspaper bag.. so pretty and understated. It wasn't the cheapest fabric I've ever bought, but I bet it would have cost a good deal more at Liberty's. I'll post you a picture of it all at the weekend when there's a little bit of light.
Oh, I did manage to find Kleins after asking for directions from the Cloth House - it was right around the corner... a little bit tucked away which is why I didn't spot it first time... so I stocked up on a box of
brass self cover buttons - buying them by the 100 is so much cheaper than a tiny pack of 6 from Prym and they're rustproof.
Sigh, I wish York had such a gorgeous fabric store (and haberdashers) - I mean there really isn't any excuse when there are such beautiful materials to be found all around the world. It's something I dream about setting up, but I need to pay the school fees and rent so maybe a lottery win dream?! ;)
