From York to Sweden and back again

So where to begin? Do I start by apologising that it has been so very long since I last did a Sumptuosity blog -far back in January to be exact! Or do I begin by explaining the current 'travelling circus' that is Sumptuosity? or do I just get on with it???

Well, it has indeed been a good long while since I last wrote a blog for Sumptuosity. This has been because of the changing situation with the business and because once you get out of the habit of doing something it can be difficult to get back into the swing of it. Since the beginning of 2011 Sumptuosity has once again become me and John. The girls are spreading their wings, with Sophie emulating Dick Whittington and going off to live in London (although I have yet to find out if the streets are indeed paved with gold!) and Alanna (Banana) is doing her own work in between working for Gap and planning a trip to Canada. I promise to keep you posted with what the girls are up to as part of the general promise to keep up a regular Sumptuosity blog.

So where does the 'Sweden' part of the blog come in? well, I'll tell you. John was given the opportunity to do a bit of consultancy in Sweden (he is a design engineer by profession), in the early part of Spring of this year. The problems arose by the fact that we didn't want to be apart and of course the important issue of my beloved Sumptuosity! The post is a temporary one so we came up with the idea that I would come out to Sweden with John but with one of my sewing machines, lots of thread, lots of silk and bags of vintage fabric scraps. We come back to York every other weekend and then I can finish making up the work (filling lavender bags etc) and get everything packed and posted from our local York Post Office. Yes, it is completely crazy! to say the least and I can't begin to describe the nerves I had about the safety of my beloved sewing machine as it went through baggage control - not to mention the delicate attentions of the baggage handlers!! So, I do my embroidering in York and Sweden, although I haven't got around to re-designing my labels - I think that 'Handmade and designed in York and Sweden, with additional ideas coming while in Schipol airport, Amsterdam' might seem a rather long-winded! The contract was originally for three months but has just been extended another three months to the end of September.

It is hard work with the combination of travel and embroidery but there are great compensations in seeing the extraordinary wildlife in Sweden. The tiny serviced apartment where we live overlooks woodland and even when taking a walk with John to his office, you get to see wonderful wild flowers, birds and bugs. But more about that next time...

Bye for now,

Ruth xx

Three Beautiful Things (3 B.T.s)

1: The flash of Green Woodpecker seen flying past our balcony window.

2: Enormous Mountain Hares seen lolloping around the carparks and down the pathways.

3: The sight of Swifts flying above the offices of Kista.

Sewing, Wildlife and Middle-age.

Hello,

First I must apologise for my lack of posts this month. John will probably put this down to my exhaustive viewing of Spring watch - both on BBC2 in the evening and the webcams on the internet during the day. I must admit that there may well be a bit of truth in that, as there are only so many hours in a day and what with all the Sumptuosity sewing and Springwatch there hasn't been a lot of time in between! However, I must also admit to feeling somewhat down having had visits to both the Doctor and the Dentist - nothing major wrong just niggling signs of 'middle-age' - just what you like to hear! So I have been feeling a little maudling or to put it more accurately 'Mardy' as we say in Nottingham. I think I need a holiday, so it is just as well that John and I are off to Oxford on Thursday morning!

Speaking of Nottingham, John and I visited Mummsie today and we (that is me and Mum) did some gardening. I have managed to clear out the overgrown plants around her bird baths and so now she can reach them again. So she is very pleased. I have also promised to come back next Monday (after Oxford) to cut the front hedge, so she is even more pleased! It was lovely being in the garden (even if I do have scratchers from the dreaded Brambles!).

John is doing well with his O.U. course - he was busy reading about the latest subject (Benin Art) while Mummsie and me were in the garden. He has been getting very good grades and so wants to keep it up (Swot!), he has even discovered where we can see some Benin art in Oxford. I have discovered a real ale pub next door to a bookshop, so we should both be happy!

Meanwhile in t'Studio, we have done some samples for a Christmas project for Waitrose - yes, I did say Christmas. The main news is that we have finally finished and sent off the 1000 mirrors for the conference order. It was incredible how these mirrors completely took over the Studio for a few days! Even packing them was a mammoth job...

3 B.T.'s
1: I have loved watching BBC2's 'Wild Night In' - I think that the Spring watch team are great and am really impressed by the projects that the Wildlife Fund sponsor. - if you haven't contributed then please do so soon. xx
2: Clearing away the vegetation away from Mum's Bird baths and seeing her happy face as she cleaned and then refilled them with water.
3: Planning for Oxford. Lots of Museums, bookshops and pubs for us to visit.

Bye for now,
Love Ruth xx

Busy busy busy - but still time to be silly...

Hello There,

I know I keep saying it but we really are busy here at Sumptuosity Towers. The new 'shop' area is working very well (see picture) and I seem to be jumping up from my sewing machine every few minutes to welcome people into the Studio, so many people are busy with their Christmas shopping ! It has even inspired me to go on-line (well you didn't think that I would get out of the Studio did you???) and start my shopping.

We had a very mad week last week and did indeed stay late on Monday and Thursday. On Monday we sent John out to buy Chips and on Thursday we all had a Chinese take-away (not Barbara for those of you who know my big Sister). It was fortunate that we have had another ten kilo bag of lavender delivered so that there weren't any possible smells remaining of food in the Studio! So much work and such long hours means that we have had plenty of time for our usual philosophical debates - last week it was about how we all loved 'flumps' (marshmallow type sweeties), how many it would be possible to eat in one go and of course who would be able to eat the most. John and Sophie were both convinced that it was themselves...fortunately we didn't put it to the test! Sophie's boyfriend is very healthy and would probably be horrified at the amount of cake and sweets that we are eating at Sumptuosity Towers at the moment - he would probably think that we were a bad influence... don't think that he reads this blog so we should be safe....

Mind you nobody works late on a Friday ('POETS' day, as we used to say at Allsopp's Print Finishing Factory), although late in the afternoon the lovely Jo from Space 109 - the community arts project on Walmgate came in to ask us about the progress on some embroidered badges of their logo... I had promised her some badges a while ago but it had gone to the bottom of the work pile. I still managed to make some up in time to deliver them to her in our local that evening. She telephoned today to say that she had already sold them and wanted some more for this Friday morning. She is a nice woman and Space 109 is such a good project that I shall somehow magic the time to finish the order. I'll get John to take a photograph of the design and put it up on the next blog.

3 B.T's

1: Christmas decorations and lights are going up all over York and they look very pretty.

2: The staff in Cafe Rouge had a table seat for us on Saturday night, when we went to celebrate John's birthday. Lovely atmosphere and great food. plus we could look at the world as they walked past the window.

3: We had a telephone call from Kelmscott Manor and fingers crossed we should be doing some interesting work with them in the new year - just as well I purchased that bag of William Morris Indigo-resist dyed scraps of fabric (late 19th century)...

Bye for now

Love Ruth xx

sewing, drinking tea, lavender, embroidery

A day full of sewing, drinking tea and listening to Radio Four. We are really busy with the Christmas orders and the galleries requiring stock for their Christmas exhibitions - so there is definitely no rest for the wicked at Sumptuosity Towers.

Sophie came into the studio yesterday with a bag of goodies (not anything for us to eat) but wonderful textiles that had belonged to her Grandmother. It is a sad but necessary fact that when someone dies you simply cannot keep everything and so Sophie has been helping her Granddad to find new homes for lots of stuff. - She is such a lovely young woman! Anyway, she had brought in a number of 1930s/40s embroidered tea tray cloths and table clothes. One that she had particularly saved for me is embroidered with Budgies! It is really lovely and I am delighted to add it to my personal textile collection. I also had a tea tray cloth that was embroidered with the 'Crinoline Lady' (one of my favourite designs) and another table cloth that had beautiful spring flowers embroidered on it. Please note these will NOT be cut up by me for the business but will be used when we have tea in the courtyard next summer. Sophie also gave me a box of seashells that her Grandmother had collected, these are now in a glass jar in my library. So I have got lots of lovely things this week and I haven't had to spend any money - John will be pleased!

3 B.T.'s

1: As I walk past a hair-dressers I overhear a conversation between a young female apprentice and an older male hairdresser. She had obviously been trying to sweep up the Autumn leaves that were outside their premises and complaining that the brush was inadequate for the job - I passed just as the man took the brush from her and heard him utter the immortal phrase "it just requires a bit of elbow grease" and he proceeded to do the job.
2: Jimmy our friendly Fastway Courier arrived at Sumptuosity Towers this afternoon with a huge sack of lavender slung over his shoulder - Hello (I said) it is Santa come early! That is if you can picture a very cheeky Santa with the broadest Scottish accent and who travels in a white van.
3: Later as we walk home we overhear a woman on her mobile phone singing nursery rhymes presumably to her child.

Bye for now,
Love Ruth xx

Lots of visitors and a Halloween Window display to be done.

Lots of people have been into the studio today, including a York family who first purchased our wares in Cambridge and were surprised to find out that their purchases were designed and made in their home town!

It is always lovely to have people visit us in Sumptuosity Towers and our door is always open (a bit like Arkwright's shop in 'Open All Hours'!) but today we had problems keeping the door to our studio shut. This has been because it so very windy here in York today - I almost thought that we had an invisible friend coming in to see us. I am not sure what we shall do when Winter hits us but I'll keep you all posted.

We need to redo our windows at Sumptuosity Towers as it is now October and so we are now able to decorate for Halloween. It is something that all the Sumptuosity Fairies (Me, Barbara, Sophie and Alanna) have been looking forward to - especially as we will be making Pumpkin lanterns for display in the window; as well as lots of sewing Pumpkin brooches. John in case any of you are wondering is NOT a 'Sumptuosity Fairy' although he does work here. He is not the least bothered about window displays, that is as long as it doesn't take too much time away from our sewing and as long as it brings lots of people in to the studio. Barbara has found a Witch's hat that was once used by her daughter Charlotte as fancy dress and we will eventually incorporate it into a window display although first I have been able to do my impression of the Wicked Witch of the West " I'll get you my pretty and your little dog too..". Sad, I know, what those poor women have to out up with!

I am still mourning the loss of my computer and am writing this blog on John's beloved Mac - I had to bribe him with dark chocolate in order to let me use his 'precious'. However, to be fair to him he did let me go on Librarything this morning (my addiction) and has even put a map on my site so that I can see who has been looking at my book collections.


3 B.T.'s
1: On the walk to the Studio yesterday morning we heard the choir in York Minster singing - it sounded like the women's choir and it was wonderful.
2: John and I go for a walk at lunchtime and fins ourselves in the Merchant Adventurer's Hall Garden, from here we have a good view of the river Foss and are surprised and delighted to see lots of fish in there.
3: Tonight we see a pale but huge full moon in the evening sky as day turns to dusk. Absolutely beautiful.

Bye for now

Love Ruth xx

Monkey’s in a Zoo!

John came into Studio 1 (the one that faces out onto the Walmgate) and declared that it was like being in a zoo, because of the way that people look in through the windows at all the activity that goes on in Sumptuosity Towers. He even suggested that we have some bars or ropes to hang from the ceiling so that we could swing on them! This led to a conversation between me and Sophie about what type of animals we would want to be – Sophie said a Lemur, while I was in a quandary between being a Sloth (I like the idea of lazing around!) or a hippo (I am a ‘pleasantly plump’ vegetarian who is sometimes a little grumpy). However, we couldn’t decide what John could be (any answers, please drop us an email). In the end, I thought that rather than one animal he could be a whole colony of ants – I was thinking of the ‘worker ants’.

John and I eat our lunch together and have started to listen to Radio Four programmes on the i-player. This means that any programmes that I miss due to the rapid rattle of sewing machines I can get a second chance to listen to in full. So far we have been listening to Stephen Fry’s English Delight and ‘Lost, Stolen or Shredded’.

I still occasionally have people ask me if I am happy having left my academic life for ‘sewing’ – the answer is oooooh yes!!!

3.B.T.’s

1: A rainbow over Leeds City centre, it was low and wide and very pretty.

2: Sitting in Leeds Subscription Library and reading a book called ‘A journey to Medinah’ (1881) – it is very amusing, very upper class English in style. I leave a scrap of paper in it to mark it for next time I am there.

3: John said, I love to walk through York in the early morning when it is very quiet and empty of people – we then turn a corner to see about 50 American tourists all on an early morning tour.

Bye for now

Love Ruth x