A Celebration of Textiles

If you love textiles, then you should definitely head to Stroud in May. The Stroud International Textiles Festival, now in its 5th year, has all sorts going on, from exhibitions and talks to workshops and open studios.

I've been getting updates about the Festival in my inbox for a while now and thought it was about time I shared them with you all! Here's the latest news, hot off the press:

"The festival has leading names from the world of textiles alongside emerging, new talent. Norma Starszakowna, Jo Barker and Sara Brennan are joined by Mary Schoeser, Studio Seven Textiles, Matthew Harris and other big names from he world of contemporary textile arts and crafts. New this year is 'Students in Stroud', with 16 shops exhibiting work from 2009 graduates from three of the UK's top universities and also new this year is the link to the Highlands of Scotland's crafts. There's also a two day conference on 'Slow Textiles'..."

For all the details, go to the Festival's website.

Knowing that I write a blog, the Festival's Director, Lizzi Walton, kindly sent me some photos of some of the artists and work that will be at the Festival...

This is Norma Starszakowna in her studio. During the festival she'll be exhibiting her work in the foyer of the Museum in the Park.

I saw Matthew Harris's work at last year's festival and rather liked it. I'm certainly looking forward to seeing what work he has in store for us this year.

Kate Blee, a student at Edinburgh School of Art, will be exhibiting with Jo Barker, Sara Brennan and Henny Burnett at the Museum in the Park during the Festival.

Deirdre Nelson is the very first Artist in Residence at the Museum in the Park. She'll be unveiling the work she's created in response to the Museum's collections and her time during the residency. You can read her blog here.

Go along and be inspired!

A Vintage Weekend

I've had a gloriously vintage time over the last few days (and it was sunny...three cheers)!

My vintage adventures all began on Saturday when I went to the Stroud Rag Market...

Tucked away in the Old Town Hall were all sorts of vintage treasures.

One of the first people I saw when I arrived was the lovely Viv. Mr Treasure had stayed at home so I'd ventured to Stroud unaccompanied (alone in a vintage fair full of fabulous things to buy...was he not thinking straight when he let me loose on my own?!!) It was so nice to see a friendly face and made the trip even more worthwhile.

Viv had lots of gorgeous things to rummage through and needless to say I found some that just had to come home with me (Viv - your generous spirit is so wonderfully kind. Thank you!)

Bundles of vintage fabric were crying out to be bought, but I managed to resist. I'm being strict with myself and trying only to buy fabric that I can think of a use for!

The quilt in the left of the photo was made in the 1800s and everyone who'd worked on it had sewn their initials on to its panels. It was so soft...I could easily imagine myself snuggled under it!

It's always fun to rummage through tins of bits and bobs - you never know what you might find.

In amongst the quilts and pieces of fabric on one stall I found these vibrant shell necklaces. Although I'm not sure I could see myself wearing one, I was rather drawn to their pretty colours.

The smell of lavender that wafted from these sachets and hearts was wonderful. It's a shame smell-o-blogging hasn't been invented yet as the scent was just gorgeous!

Not content with just one vintage-filled day...

...we popped along to the Blind Lemon Vintage Fashion Fair at Pittville Pump Rooms in Cheltenham this afternoon. Mum loves vintage fairs too, so we all went as a Mother's Day treat (even Mr Treasure and Dad came along!)

It was really nice to see Lizzie at the Fair. It's always great to catch up with people from Blogland. Lizzie introduced me to another lovely blogger, Tracey. It does make me chuckle how introductions are made between bloggers..."Textile Treasure Seeker, this is lovevintagehomestyle". It's a great place, this little community of ours!

Vintage loveliness on Lizzie's stall.

After all the fun of this weekend's fairs, I'm rather looking forward to the next ones on the calendar!

Life on the Ocean Waves

If there's one thing I can't resist, it's vintage ephemera. "It's my one weakness" (as Dorcas Lane would say). Just as buttons, vintage sewing things, fabric, tins (the list could go on) are "my one weakness" as well! So imagine my sheer delight when I found this little lot bundled together in an antique shop...

There's all sorts of interesting bits that someone obviously collected and saved when they were cruising in the Mediterranean in April/May 1930.

This is the cruise ship - the 'Arandora Star'.

Inside the Blue Star Line's 'Guide to the Mediterranean' is a handy pull out map followed by pages of useful information and places to visit for all the stop offs on the tour. The introduction starts as follows:

"Passengers bent on garnering a full harvest of sight-seeing experiences from the present cruises, will doubtless have provided themselves with copies of the excellent guides published by Messrs. Baedeker and Messrs. Thos. Cook & Sons, Ltd...And while this guide is not meant to augment or understudy the voluminous literature written about the romantic and historical places of the Mediterranean Shores, it is published in the hope that it may be of some assistance to our passengers..."

The menu for the fancy dress dinner and dance on Friday, April 25th, 1930 reveals that the hors-d'oeuvres included Cavier Russes, Smoked Salmon, Devilled Herrings and Queen Olives. There was certainly lots to choose from for the main course, but dessert seems only to have been a selection of fruit, nuts and raisins (I'm afraid I'm a cheese board or gooey pudding kind of girl!)

The Passenger List gives the names of all those on board this cruise. There were even a few Lieutenant Colonels, Captains and Sirs! The Passenger List Competition looks like it was good fun. Clues were given to names of some of those onboard the ship, for passengers to decipher and arrive at their answers. Clues include: "'Tis said little boys should not be this" (Heard), "This Johnny was banished from USA in 1920" (Walker) and "Proverbially possessed by every dog" (Day).

There was certainly lots to keep cruise goers occupied on board ship...a library, hairdresser and a shop that carried "a large and attractive assortment of articles obtainable at reasonable prices".

I think the Fancy Dress Dances, Ping Pong and Deck Quoits sound like fun!

Passengers were given a card of 'Items of Interest for Tomorrow" every day. On the list for Sunday, 27th April, a note at the bottom reads, "During the Cruise it is proposed to hold a concert. Passengers willing to assist are requested to advise any member of the Sports Committee". I'm sure lots of people would have volunteered...I wonder what the concert was like?

Even though I have the sea in my blood (my Grandfather was in the Merchant Navy), I've never really been one for water. Still, with all the entertainments on board ship and excursions I think I could have managed a trip around the Mediterranean in 1930!

Taking it Easy

I caught Phoebe in this pose this morning. Oh, life's so tough being a cat!

Happy weekend everyone!

A Room of One's Own

One of the biggest luxuries in my life has to be that I'm lucky enough to have a whole room in our house that I can work and be creative in. Mr Treasure is very understanding of my magpie ways when it comes to textiles (and I think relieved that I've only managed to fill, thus far, just one room with all of my collections of fabric, haberdashery and works in progress)! My workroom has been in a bit of a pickle of late, but this weekend I went on a tidying frenzy and so thought I'd take you on a little tour...

I surround myself with inspiration and things I love. There are the photos and mementoes on my message board (made using the fabric of a vintage eiderdown and bought from Rosablue), my basket of Vintage Magpie bunnies and Cath Kidston sewing box which houses (no pun intended!) my sewing paraphernalia.

I just love books...and my collection is always growing!

This little embroidered house was very kindly given to me by Janet Clare at last year's Festival of Quilts. It's taken me ages to find just the right frame for it, but now I have it sits happily on one of my bookshelves.

I have buttons and fabric stashed away in all sorts of places!

At the moment, one of my 'only weaknesses' (to quote Dorcas Lane!) is tins and boxes. My latest acquisition is the oriental style Blue Bird toffee tin (left hand side, on the top).

I often change what I have out on this little shelf. At the moment, I have pincushions and other sewing bits and bobs on display. The photo is of one of my Grandmothers. She was a great seamstress and always wore the most elegant clothes.

I love jars of buttons! I need to fill up the empty ones, which I found in a local charity shop. Sometimes I tip out a jar of buttons and rummage through them, just for fun and to remind myself of all their different shapes and colours.

When I walked in this morning, the sun was streaming through the windows and my heart soared! It's so wonderful to see sunshine and know that Spring is on its way.