Sew, anyway … As in ‘I don’t care what you think, I’m going to sew anyway.’ Or ‘Sew, anyway, what do you think of my latest creation?’ Or … Oh, I’ve run out. Never mind. I had gone off the previous incarnation of black and neon green, sorry if you wanted to see it. Maybe in few more changes time I’ll set up a little museum cabinet full of the old, discarded ones.

For now, read on, Macduff, and enjoy!

I’ve just remembered what my Nana called this. She’s from Lancashire originally. I can only do a phonetic spelling because I’ve never seen it written: rack at thay. It means rake of the eye, and was most often used when straightening a picture on the wall by eyeing it rather than measuring it. It’s a lovely little saying, isn’t it.

Do you know any little sayings that have been handed down in your family, but have never heard in the wider world?

I’ve decided on the Windmill Earrings from Shixie, but woe! Those Seaweed earrings by PolishedTwo have sold out! So I’ve had another window shopping session and here are some more beautiful earrings to choose from, if that’s possible.

Lace Earrings by RobinsonArtGlass. Tiny pieces of lace trapped in glass really shows off the lace.

Matte Metallic Khaki Iris Earrings by ss10001. Having searched through thousands of pairs of earrings, it’s wonderful to find real craft, and this might be the best use of macrame I’ve ever seen.

Blue Dodo Illustration Earrings by InLimboArt. Bottle tops beatifully recycled, and a little humour. I like the length of wire making them into longer drops.

Colador Earrings Bordeaux by Meetalls. Enamelled, hammered and pierced copper, a simple yet striking design.

Beach Bum Vintage Blue Enamel and Sea Urchin Lucite Earrings by Poetica. I love everything about these, the texture, pattern, colours. All the differences pull together and do make me think of wind swept days on pebbly beaches.

Forever Love X’s and O’s – Vintage Typewriter Key Earrings by GemmaBeads. I like the idea of wearing old type writer keys, but not until I saw these did I want a pair. What a perfect combinations of elements.

Petite Drop Brass and Aqua Enamel Earrings by go2girl.  Although these are definately smaller than I would wear, I love the design and enamel.

Chartreuse and Peridot Cluster Cup Earrings by tekaandzoe. These make my heart flutter – they look so delicate and pale, like coral that might shatter to the touch. I love love love that the backs of the little cups have been coloured as the front, and then the little ruffled edges that are bare. Beautiful work.

Antique Needlepoint Earrings by ThatOldBlueHouse2. Recycled embroidery? Win.

Seaweed by polishedtwo. These are made from shards of porcelain. I love the colours.

Spoon Earrings Arbutus Raindrop by dankartistry. Recycled cutlery – you didn’t guess, did you?

Tin dress earrings by shixie. I’m having the biggest problem choosing one pair of these super-cute earrings, so I’ve put up this pic that was a custom listing, so you can see my trouble … I think my fave here are the blue and white delft style on the top row. Other ones I  love are the striped ones, but I don’t wear a lot of red, and the old fashioned florals, but again, the colours are hard to choose. I wear a lot of blue, and white will go with lots of things.

Finches Recycled Vinyl Record Silhouette by RandomPrefect. I could see these little birds as earrings, and I love that they are cut from records. Songbirds!

CLICK by stonestudios. I again had trouble choosing one colour of beach found stones, so have chosen these multi coloured ones. I fiddle with my earrings and I love that the seller describes how the stones click against each other.

Victorian Scissors Necklace by mamaslittlebabies. Oh to wear Victorian drawings from one’s ears … I would choose a non-matching pair with a relation to sewing, with a little colour to bring them together.

So these are my favourite finds so far. Let me know what you would choose, or if you think I might like some other earrings that you’ve seen.

UPDATE:

Shixie has made two pairs of Delft tin dress earring for me to choose from. Which would you choose?

Actually, I got two tables for the price of one cos they had the space, and my friend Ellie had the other table to sell her dolls. After we set up, we had a chance to chat to other stall holders. The biggest thing I learnt from a few die-hard sellers is that it doesn’t make much difference whether you sell at the Indoor Market, Craft or Gift Fair, they mostly see the same crowd of buyers. Another gem I learned is that people don’t tend to buy straight away, but like to come back. So that might mean come back today, or another day. Which means you have to be a regular seller to make an impact on the minds of the buyers.

I was pretty pleased with how my stall looked, and I had spent most of Saturday preparing. I drew some price labels on the backs of packaging boxes. I covered a couple of cushions in those monochrome colours so the broaches would stand out (hand stitched on the back though, so don’t look!). I made a few extra pairs of earrings and got them all carded up. I sorted and priced a box full of vintage fabrics. I found a box to put the Little Treasures in, a vintage bread tin to put the lavender hearts in, and fabric (curtains) for table cloths. I made the display cards for the envelope drawers. And then I packed a kit box so that I could work all day behind my table. So you can see why it took almost all day. But, I’m pleased with how the table looked, and all that preparation most definitely paid off for a calm and organised start to the market day.

I have to admit that I also had two crates of Lego, Star Wars, Dr Who and various other collectable toys. These were from DG’s days of Ebaying. I have to admit they were there, because by the end of the day, they were many less in number and paid for the table. In fact, I only sold one set of envelopes and a few Little Treasures. Not how I envisaged the day going.

However, I am not discouraged. Not one bit. Because that’s the optimistic kinda gal I am! Plus, I got lots of great of lovely comments from browsers. One lady in particular got really excited about the zip broaches. It felt amazing to see someone so enthused. Shame she didn’t buy one though. Many people picked up and flicked through the envelope sets, cooing slightly. It was a Snoopy set that went on to greater things than sitting in my For Sale box.

I was foxed for a while as to why so many older gentlemen were scratching through the Little Treasures box. As I was gazing at one such, and pondering this question, it struck me that he looked like a train spotter. Ahhh! Trains. Model trains. Well, I guess there’s not much of interest in my box of Little Treasures to the older gentleman train modeller.

This is Ellie with her dolls

I spoke to a couple of stall holders who know the venue well, and they both said what a slow day they’d had, with many browsers and few buyers. Still, I did get a lot of work done, finishing and making some broaches, and I cut, folded and glued an entire book’s worth of envelopes. They were from a fishing book that was all in the comic strip style. I’ll put up a pic to show you.

So I enjoyed the day, even though it wasn’t that profitable. Ellie and I are going to try other markets and venues, in other towns. I’ll let you know how they go too. At the moment, I am pitching my envelopes and broaches to a bricks and mortar shop in the Brighton Lanes. More on that to follow …

This till has  a broken bit on the side at the bottom, but DG pointed it out on the 20p pile, and when we rung it open, it had play money inside! I think it might look cute in photos, so for now it’s a prop. But how could you resist?

Then I found this little bag, made of wood, kind of Japanese style.  I wasn’t struck straight away what to do with it, but I knew I loved it and just had to have it. I think it needs a few fabric flowers to brighten it up, and to cover that little mark on the top.

There seems to be a theme with money today. I found this green metal cash box, and it has the tray inside. I have a larger black one already, but I just think these are cool. This one makes me think of the scouts, maybe the colour and it’s on the small, cute size.

I found a few books for making into envelopes, my favourite is the Van Gogh. I’ve been thinking how good some art envelopes might look.

And finally, I treated myself to a necklace. I thought recently that I’d like a grown up sort of necklace. This was all in a tangle on the table, and the man only wanted 50p. When I got home I had a closer look and it’s silver. How marvelous!

So that’s all my bargains of the day. While DG was fixing up the camper on Saturday, I cut up some of his old pants to experiment with doll making. This is in preparation for a series of workshops I’ll be doing with Hazel at a local day centre. We are going to be making dolls, so I figured I’d better have a go. I’ve been doing my visual homework, and I’m pretty pleased with this doll. She seems to have quite a personality even though she has no face, yet. I just haven’t been brave enough yet! More research required there. She took more stuffing than I expected.

Tomorrow I want to tell you about the market I did last weekend. Totally out of chronological order, I know, but better late than never, right?

and here’s another pic, I just turned the pile over to show off all the colours.

You can check out the broaches I’ve started making with these metal teeth zips on my Etsy.

My favourite is the first one I came across, named What If. Here Jude documents her experiments with stitchery, and I am much enamoured with her workings.

She also sells some of her work on Etsy.