Hoorah for Sammy!

It has been a 'bit of a week' to say the least. We were seriously down on numbers as Alanna (Banana) was on holiday and Sophie was off sick, John was also poorly but was soldiering on (one of the few men that I know who doesn't get 'Man Flu'!). However, I was fine and we fortunately still had Sammy. She was on her second week with us on a work placement from University and I don't know what we would have done without her! She has been a real treasure, hard-working and with the ability to pick up new tasks faster than anyone I have seen. We were all really sad to see her go at the end of the week - and Sammy had even bought the team some Thornton's chocolates as a Thank-you. So it is a big 'Hoorah' for Sammy and good luck with her final year at university.

So because it was 'all hands to the pumps' at work, I haven't had time to add in the new bookmarks to the website. I do promise to do it soon and there is now the possibility of some new designs, poetry quotations from a poet that has joined our list of Sumptuosity friends on Facebook. So I'll keep you posted with how discussions with that new project are progressing.

On Saturday after taking the parcels to the Post Office, I went to have another little look at the booksale on St. Saviour's Gate....what can I say? except to quote the nineteenth century writer Mrs Oliphant who said that 'there was nothing so costly as bargains'.

Sunday morning was glorious and sunny and so John and I went to Askham Bog nature reserve. Most of the flowers have gone over at this time of the year and the few birds who are still singing are generally well and truly hidden by the leaves of the trees and bushes. Although I could distinctly make out the sound of the Chiffchaff and the Wren. There were some fabulous insects to be seen, Common Blue Damselflies and a Four-Spotted Chaser Dragonfly. The absolute hightlight was the Water Vole. We had been standing quickly by the sound of the pond looking at the insects, when out he/she popped merrily swimming along, gnawing at reeds and then taking the stalks back to it's house. It was tooooo gorgeous for words and even John (a.k.a. grumpy Yorkshireman) was delighted at seeing it and said that it was very cute, so you can imagine how lovely it was in real life. The photograph at the top is a 'valiant attempt' (his words not mine, I think it is great) by John with 'limited resources'.

Now it is time for our Sunday evening Martini....

3 B.T.'s

1: Working with the lovely Sammy, she has been great, to say the least.

2: Finding a book for my brother Ed at the booksale, I can't wait to post it to him as I am sure that he will love it...just hope he doesn't have it already. He does have quite a few books, although that is a classic case of the kettle calling the pot black!

3: Seeing the Water Vole at Askham Bog was wonderful and well done to Yorkshire Wildlife Trust for managing the site so well that such fabulous creatures can take up residence.

Bye for now,

Love Ruthie xxx

Re-organising in the Flat and on the Website...

Monday morning and it is our day off and so of course we are doing work on the website! John has been busy altering some of the images that can be seen at the beginning of the site and I am going through the shop area and seeing what we need to put up on -line. I have only just started with the bookmarks and am already up to number 45 (!!!) on my list. A few require new pictures as the original design has evolved but many of the designs that we now do simply aren't up there! I have even thought of a few new ideas while writing out the list of designs to be embroidered and photographed.This is something that I promise to get stuck into in the next few days.

Yesterday (Sunday) was our other day off - I know two WHOLE days can it be true? and so John decided that arrangement of the living room still wasn't quite right. The television was not in the right place but to move it would require a new longer cable and where could we find one at 3.45 on a Sunday afternoon? Fortunately we live quite close to Barnitt's in York and they sell everything under the sun and so we managed to get the cable. However, in order to move the television we had to first move one of the small bookcases. So I took out the books and arranged them on the floor but then in order to put the new cable in place we had to get to the television socket which was behind another bookcase....yes you guessed it I had to take all the books out of that one as well! Then I decided that I wanted to swap the books over from the first bookcase to the second one. Added into this fun mix is a beautiful but annoying rug that will NOT stay in one place and which must be contantly flatten back into position...However, in the end after much jiggary pokery we managed to get everything sorted. Yes, honestly, we did..... It is fab in fact, as we now have our dining table against the window and are able to eat our breakfast while gazing at the view (York Minster, archeologists at the Hungate Dig Site, the birds, fish in the river Foss and of course not to forget the men repairing the pavements...). Yes, I think that we have finally sorted out how we want the living room to be....now for the rest of the flat!

In the Studio we have had the company of a lovely student called Sammy. She is studying textiles at Demontfort University (one of my old stomping grounds) and wanted to do a work placement with a craft business. She is being introduced to all the glamour of working for yourself (although I hasten to add that I haven't got her to sweep up the floor or make the tea), but we are getting her to cut up the endless pieces of fabric for the embroideries (e.g. white blouses for icing on the Cupcakes). Don't worry, we are letting her have a go at the embroidery as well as and she is really picking it up very quickly. Although would you believe that the one problem that she is having is that her embroideries are a little too small! I know, hard to imagine but someone who actually embroiders tinier images than we do. Sammy is with us this week as well before going home for the Summer.


3 B.T.'s

1: Sitting on the sofa with a Martini after re-arranging the living room.
2: I have got three new friends on LibraryThing this week - I am addicted to this bookish site.
3: I went to a booksale at St. Saviour's gate in York and came away with a bag full of books and all for £8.60.

Bye for now,

Love Ruthie xx

Oxford and York

John and I had a fabulous time in Oxford. The weather was glorious and the sun shone down on the dreaming spires. It was a real mixture of culture and beer (a bit like an episode of Lewis - but without the murders!) and John and I found a number of wonderful museums and real ale pubs to visit. My favourite was the Oxford Natural History Museum, which is an absolutely beautiful building, although rather over fussy in John's opinion but that's Victorian gothic design for you. John enjoyed the Pitt Rivers Museum because he was able to do some research for his latest Open University Project. This assignment is about the Benin bronzes and while we were standing there, another couple walked up to the exhibition case and began to stare intensely at the objects. Hello, I said, are you studying at the O.U. as well? It just so happened that the man was, and then the next minute another man walked up to the case and began to make some notes. Hello, I said, are you studying at the O.U. as well? The man looked quite amazed and said that Yes he was but how did I know? Oh just a wild guess...... the fact that this wonderful museum was crammed full of objects and yet the largest crowd was in front of the Benin art in one small corner gave me a clue...

At the Natural History Museum, we had a coffee with Jennifer who runs the Museum shop, although we have talked and emailed quite a few times this was our first face to face meeting. Sales had been going well and she was interested to see if I could get any inspiration from the museum collections and/or the building decorations. She loved the new Dodo and Chamelon designs. The really exciting piece of news that she had to tell us was that the museum had been visited by Tim Burton and Helena Bonham-Carter and they had purchased some of our Alice in Wonderland designs! I was sooooo excited I couldn't wait to tell Sophie and John (whose Laptop is never far from his side) put it up on Facebook before you could 'Wonderland'.

Oxford was wonderful but it was nice to get home to York. The first evening at home we watched an episode of Lewis and enjoyed guessing which bits of the city they were in and/or which pubs! It is incredible the number of times that Lewis and Hathaway seem to be walking past the Radcliffe Camera (the picture at the top of this blog)!

An interesting job that Sophie and I have worked on this week, has been the embroidery of a preaching scarf for a friend of Father Tim's. It was a real 'rush job' as it was needed for Sunday morning and he didn't bring it into the Studio until Saturday morning. However, we did manage to get it done and he was very pleased with our embroidery. It had been a real departure for us as Ecclesiastical devices are not our usual type of thing - to say the least.


The Swifts have been screeching above the city of York although not as many as last year. These birds are one of my favourites. The Buddleia blooms are coming out along the side of the Foss and I am avidly looking out for buterflies. This is our first Summer in this area of York and so I have my fingers crossed that I will see more than I did last year. In fact any would be nice...


3B.T.'s


1: Saw a beautiful demoiselle Damselfly in the garden of the Merchant Adventurer's Hall in York

2: A Red Kite (bird of prey) seen spiralling over a field near to Tring Natural History Museum as we left to start our journey home to York.

3: John and his O.U. course - he is doing so well and is getting into his seriously into his study. Not bad for a 'thick Barnsley boy'! I am so proud of him.

Bye for now,

Love Ruthie xx

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

Spring Watch, Eye of Newt & the DHL delivery man

Sunday morning and I am at home with a mug of tea and the sound of the Canada and Grey Lag Geese kicking off outside. These creatures are some of the most noisy and troublesome birds I have ever come across. Still I don't really mind, it is nice to be able to hear nature and in between we can hear anything from a blackbird, to a Chaffinch to a Wren - not forgetting the pipping of Gold Finches.

This brings me to my one real complaint about Spring Watch (which I love), is that they rarely - if ever seem to feature nature in cities. Simon King is always filming in the wilds of Scotland (although this time admittedly he is in Dorset) and Kate and Chris are placed in the midst of a beautiful nature reserve. For many of us nature is seen on the way to work, or where we live and not simply a visit to a specific reserve. The river Foss is next to our flat and we see a variety of fish and birdlife, although admittedly (and sadly) we also see the detritus of city living, including beer bottles, fastfood cartons, etc so I suppose it wouldn't always make such a photogenic scene! However a walk around the city walls will soon give the observer an appreciation of the biodiversity that can be found within a city and I believe that this should be celebrated.

Meanwhile in Sumptuosity Towers, we have been busy embroidering bookmarks for Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. They wanted more of the 'Eye of Newt and Toe of Frog design', half in Scarlet and half in Firefly (orange) - the very bright colours are obviously the most popular! A really nice woman from California came into the Studio on Tuesday, she was over in England visiting her son and couldn't resist coming in to see what it was that we were doing, having first viewed us through the front windows! She bought a number of bookmarks and badges as presents for friends back in the States and also purchased a lot of the samples from our 'Runts and Orphans' bowl, these were to be used for her own scrap-booking. Everything was 'fabulous' and she even took photographs of the outside of the Studio as well as the work-room. Sophie and Alanna (Banana), also had their picture taken, which is not surprising as they are both very pretty!

On Friday and Saturday we started work on the Museum of London order, so lots of Fried Eggs, Teapots and Cups & Saucers were being embroidered. Sophie and I still have the Bowler Hats to accomplish but these will have to wait until Tuesday.

On Friday, John and I decided to enjoy a bit of the Summer sunshine and so we went and had our elevenses in the garden of the Merchant Adventurer's Hall, where you can have a nice cup of coffee from our friends at The Hairy Fig deli & cafe. We have been working so hard lately that we had started to forget how important it is to also take time to enjoy yourself. To 'stop and pick some daisies'.

3 B.T.'s

1: A mug of tea on a Sunday morning with the knowledge that today I can do what I like.
2: Spring Watch has started this week and so for three weeks I can look at nature even while in the Studio through the magic of their wonderful webcams.
3: Our lovely DHL deliveryman brought a parcel for me to the Studio even though it had our home address on it because he knew that we would be at work and he remembered that I was waiting for a parcel from the O.U.

Bye for now,

Love Ruthie xx

Kate's visit, eating & re-organisation

We have been busy as bees all week at Sumptuosity Towers, the new layout for the studio is working well (much easier for me to sweep the floor, etc!) and we have been trying new methods of organisation in regards to the sewing, making up and packing of the orders. Sophie has proved to be John's 'Mini-Me' and is always cracking the whip! John has also been busy with the website (it is not unlike the painting of the Forth bridge...) and has now grouped the Mirrors and the Bookmarks into relevant subject areas. This means that whether you are looking for flowers or fashion you can immediately go to the area that you want to look at. We have now finally decided to put Sophie's beautiful embroidered Alice in Wonderland pictures for sale on-line. The greeting cards are now firmly established and so we are now in a position to let them go...although to tell you the truth I shall be sad to see them go as they are lovely!

What is this I hear you cry all work and no fun at Sumptuosity Towers??? Don't worry, as usual we have had a number of pleasant diversions this week. On Thursday we were visited by a lovely student called Claire. She is currently studying illustration in Cumbria and wanted to visit Sumptuosity Towers to see what we got up to.... After swearing her to secrecy and making a blood oath (....only joking!) we demonstrated our various skills, including free-hand embroidery, being silly, drinking tea and even let her have a go on the sewing machine. Basically, I told her exactly what Naseem Darby told me all those years ago - just have a go and don't worry about anything!

On Friday, we were visited by our mate Kate from Oakwood Aromatics. She appeared as if by magic the second that Sophie said that she was going to make the three-o-clock cup of tea! She and Phil had been busy at their stall with 'Made in Yorkshire', but she still found time to come and see us (which is always great) and even better she had brought a rhurbarb tart for us all to eat. John had just popped out to do the banking but I was good and made sure that we left him a piece....no honestly I really did!

I am really looking forward to our long weekend in Oxford - this is to celebrate our wedding anniversary and not to do with the business....although we do have a stockist in Oxford that we will be visiting while we are there! Don't be too sorry for us, as it is the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and I am absolutely desperate to visit again as it must be nearly twenty years since I was last there...as a small child obviously.... (ho ho ho). I am hoping to get some more natural history inspiration for embroideries. I'll keep you all posted...

3 B.T.'s

1: Sophie and I went to Space 109's 'Gorrilla Cafe' for our tea yesterday. It was wonderful veggie food and a great arty/musical atmosphere - it reminded me of the sort of fundraiser I used to go to when I was a teenager living in Forest Fields in Nottingham... we also both ate a piece of Lemon Meringue cake..... fabulous!
2: Kate and the Rhurbarb Tart - always lovely to see her cheeky face at Sumptuosity Towers.
3: Re-arranging my bookshelves so that I can fit more on....

Bye for now,

Love Ruth xxx

Fish in the Foss!

The weather has been superb in York this week and all of the Sumptuosity Fairies have been enjoying it...well, I say all but Sophie (who is a little Alpine Flower) has been feeling the heat and been wilting slightly. She is very pale and so burns very easily as well and keeps covered up, while Alanna (Banana) is a real sun worshipper and has been completely in her element.

I enjoy seeing the sunshine, even if it is through the windows of Sumptuosity Towers as I sit and sew away! I did have some time off this week, as Wednesday was my birthday and I had an 'extended' lunch break to go book shopping. It would have been longer but we are super busy and so couldn't really spare any more time. However, I did manage to find some nice titles to add to the Brompton-Charlesworth Library. What was super nice on my birthday was that Alanna (Banana) had made me a gorgeous Chocolate cake! It was huge and we all had large slabs of it with our morning and afternoon tea breaks....mmmmmmmmmh! The girls had also got me some lovely birthday presents - a Salt and Pepper set shaped like Guinea-Pigs ( I am Guinea-pig mad) and the CD soundtrack of 'Bend it like Beckham'. This is one of my favourite soundtracks and I had previously told the girls about how my copy had got scratched to bits in John's Land Rover. It was so sweet of them to spoil me like this, although I hope that they won't regret buying me the CD, as we have played it about three times already this week! It does have a brilliant song (one of many!) called 'Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot'. We have decided that it is Sophie's Sumptuosity Summer Song.

Fiona and Alice from 'Grace and Jacob' (next door at No: 7 Barleycorn Yard), popped in on Saturday, with a large Chocolate Muffin (complete with candle) and a lovely felt flower brooch (made by Fiona) for my birthday. Isn't it incredible how everyone seems to know that I like chocolate......? It is really good to have another creative textile-based business here in Barleycorn Yard.

The sunny weather seems to have really brought out all the York Wild life, as I am pleased to state that the Swifts are back in York and flying high overhead and I have even seen a Swallow flying above the city walls (which is a first for me here in York). What has been really nice is that we have spotted two Grey Wagtails flitting about over the surface of the Foss and we are currently busy looking about to see if they are nesting nearby - fingers crossed! What has really amazed and delighted me this week is the sight of lots and lots of fish in the Foss. When the sun hits the water it is possible to see much deeper than is normally possible and both John and I have been 'fish watching'... a bit like bird watching but instead it is fish! I am sure that yesterday we saw a Pike lurking among the Lily pads and there are lots of fish with a dark line down the centre of their body, although I don't know what they are. I think that I need an 'Observer's Book of Fish'! Anyway, the point is that it is great to know that the Foss is so teaming with life.

3 B.T.'s

1: John and I have been watching a Grey Wagtail most mornings are we walk along the Foss on our way to the Studio. It is wonderful to watch it flitting above the surface of the water catching insects.
2: The swifts are back in York and can be heard screeching above the city and this morning I was surprised (although very pleased) to see a Swallow.
3: Book buying on my birthday. I have now increased my Gerald Durrell collection, including one written by his sister, which is called 'Whatever happened to Margo?

Bye for now,

Love Ruthie xxx