I don't do weddings, but.....

Any one who knows me knows very well knows I don't do weddings. I've tried but they do nothing for me, I have never dreamt of the day I would sweep down the aisle in some overpriced meringue into the arms of my man, sorry I just haven't, the whole idea makes me shudder.
I recoil in horror when invited to the union of devoted bloke and besotted girl at fancy church and fabulous country club reception. I know I'm a crap guest at such events so I make my excuses and stay home instead. On the odd occassion my excuses have fallen on deaf ears and I've had to grace them with my presence I find the public declarations of love make me cringe and I have no interest in dancing with your Uncle Trevor because he doesn't get out much. (Clashing with the series finale of Desperate Housewives,apparently doesn't count as an acceptable reason to not attend!)
So I would like to thank Will and Kate for not inviting me, (they obviously know me well enough) and heres a right royal selection of Yorkshire Made treasures in their honour!

https://www.facebook.com/#!/ImogensImaginationUK

https://www.facebook.com/#!/giddydesigns

https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Kitsch-and-Stitch/128373181043

http://www.ourlittlecraftcompany.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Dottys-Heart/213921145287810

http://www.etsy.com/shop/feltmeupdesigns?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=App_Seller&utm_content=shops&utm_campaign=fb_seller_shop

Click the links to find out more about these patriotic pieces!

Lisa x

I never even knew this was here!

                                                     

Aaargh!

 The Easter Holidays have started, my house has been invaded by children, some of which are not mine and chaos reigns.

Jemma and Laura had a brief taste of what the next two weeks could hold for me on Sunday, when our attempt at “ladies that lunch” disintegrated into a free for all, sandwich bribes, stolen biscuits, spilt coffee and Jemma taking one for the team, when she deflected a large exercise ball from smashing the table with the back of her head! (Thanks Jemma and I’ll apologise again for my slack jawed inability to warn you of the incoming missile, despite watching it approach in slow motion.) Oh how we laughed.... Thank God!

Parents out there will sympathise with the now familiar feelings of excitement and dread that school holidays bring. How  can I keep them entertained?  Can my home physically take this kind of bombardment for the next fortnight? I want to get them out for the day but why is everythings so expensive? and wherever I do end up  everywhere is full to bursting with everyone having the same idea!

Aaaargh!!

  Well I’m not going to list a dozen days out to the same old places, that would be pointless, instead I’m going to tell you my secret...

Not really , I won't be turning to the bottle just yet!

No, this holiday when everyone else is queuing for ice-cream and juggling for position to get the best view of the invisible mountain goats or stressing at the  entry prices of yet another theme park, my family and  I shall be Geocaching,  or as my friend succinctly puts it, “using  state of the art multimillion pound technology to find Tupperware.”

No I have not gone mad, this is what we do.

Our first attempts were not always successful, probably because we were using my Dads satnav, but it is very addictive, and the £60 we spent on our Etrex gps navigator has probably saved us hundreds of pounds on days out.  (most of the new phones have gps on them now and there’s lots of apps out there to get you started).

 We love it because it gets us outdoors, having our own mini adventures, exploring places off the beaten track that we would never find time to before, more often than not we end up repeating the mantra “I never even knew this was here!”

The girls love it, we sold it to them as treasure hunting and they are as addicted as us, there’s something magical about finding a battered old box under a rock in the middle of nowhere and swapping one piece of priceless treasure for another. (Or in most cases a plastic novelty cracker toy, but you never know...)

Ok so I can dream I'd find something as lovely as a Penny Masquerade trinket but if you’d asked me last year if I’d be happy to wade across a river and sneak past a herd of angry cows to find a clue that may or may not lead to a  plastic spiderman, I would have laughed in your face, but now I’m already pulling on my wellies ready to go!!

Ok so it’s not the most craft filled post ever but if you click on the pic's you’ll find some fantastic Yorkshire Made stuff and I hope I've inspired you to get out and about exploring more of this beautiful county that we’re lucky enough to call home!

Lisa x

 

More than words...

Well, like many of you, I suspect the recent warm weather and sunny days have given you the feeling that Spring is in the air - with the promise of Summer yet to come! A perfectly normal reaction to what has been a rather pleasant couple of days! But I wonder how many of you, in response to the lovely weather, have just started thinking:

"Spring has sprung , and the grass is griz. I wonder where the birdies is?"

I'm guessing not many of you?!

This is just one of those peculiar phrases that is stuck in my family history. I have no ideas of it's origins - although I'm guessing Spike Milligan - all I know is that it's something my Dad used to say and now it's something that I say! There are many other phrases too...
If someone says "Yes Dear" to you does it conjure up any memories? Do you feel the urgent need to say anything following this statement? No - I thought not! But me, that's a different matter! Thanks to my Dad I now have to say:

"I wonder whether he's a good boy like you and cleans his teeth every night and every morning?"

Again I have no idea where it's from, why my Dad remembered it and chose to teach it to me, or even if the phrase "Yes Dear" was ever really followed by "I wonder whether he's a good boy like you..." or whether I've just made it up! But, like it or not these phrases are now a part of my life!

So to honour all of the crazy phrases, mis-heard song lyrics, special words and family in-jokes I thought I would create a treasury of the best wordy items that Yorkshire has to offer!

To find out more about the people behind these wordy wonders,
just click directly on the pic! Laura x

A ittle bit of my Yorkshire

This has been an unusually hard blog to write, for all the right reasons ,you see I have a magnificent view from my home...

 Conisbrough Castle

And I love it, even on a miserable winters day it gives me a thrill, I’ve taken hundreds of photographs of it over the years, I’ve sketched it, painted it, stitched it and even sculpted it back in my schooldays! Its the reason we bought the house I’m in. (And to think I worried that I’d miss my sea view in Brighton when I relocated rate far up north!) Its definitely one of my favourite places, which led me to thinking of doing a list of my  other favourite places and thats where the trouble started...

The problem with Yorkshire is its so big and so beautiful that what started as a simple idea for this week’s offering turned into a nightmare. The more I thought about it, the bigger the list got, from   tranquil parks and seaside haunts to the bustling towns and cities, I could write a book, and the stress of trying to pick favourites could make your head explode, (I know, mine has) and with that in mind this week I offer a very short but soothing list of inspiring calming and beautiful places you should visit this spring to gather your thoughts and truly relax...

Yorkshire Sculpture Park

You can’t get stressed here, take a picnic and enjoy the fantastic galleries set in acres of picture perfect parkland. Have a wander and discover the magnificent sculptures and finish with scrumptious cake and tea at the cafe.

An Introduction to YSP from Yorkshire Sculpture Park on Video

The Forbidden Corner

If its escapism you’re looking for I can heartily recommend this wonderful folly filled grown up playground (kids like it too apparently) near Leyburn. The website really doesn’t do it justice but I love this secret garden, it’s totally fairytale and fantasy, and don’t let the fact you have to book put you off, its to control the numbers so its never overcrowded!  

Roche Abbey

I do like a ruin and this beautiful abbey is hidden in a valley with a stream running through, take your camera and sketchbook and enjoy!

Robin Hoods Bay

I can’t do relaxing without mentioning the sea and this summer I am determined to get up to Robin Hoods Bay, for a spot of rock pooling with Eliza, Tabitha and their cousins.

I could happily spend all day doing a catalogue of much-loved Yorkshire places but as I browsed the internet this week I had a beautiful reminder from a fellow yorkshire based maker, of my other favourite place...

               

As a rule of thumb if I’m not in Yorkshire I’m here!

Lisa x

The 'C' word...

Everybody loves cake right? 

Here, at Yorkshire Made, we can't get enough of the stuff, and there's never a meetup that doesn't include it! Whether it's means you're sat whiling away the hours in your favourite bookshop cafe with a wedge of the good stuff, inviting the kids to come 'help' you with icing the cake for the in-laws, or if baking is your job, it's always guaranteed fun to get stuck into!

There's a cake for every occasion. Butterfly cakes, Batternburg, Eccles cake, scones with jam and butter (pronounced how you like, that's a whoooole other blog entry!).

Yorkshire can't claim to have come up with the best cakes there are (American chocolate brownies dating back to the 18th century for example -thankyou Wikipedia!) but we've come up with some ruddy weird ones:-


Yorkshire Old Wive's Sod...... and no this isn't from a disgruntled husband's choice vocab. It is in fact a crumbled oat cake and custard concoction that you bake... sounds odd, probably tasted delicious, unfortunately there weren't any pictures online so it probably would be a case of getting stuck into having a crack at making it.

Yorkshire slab cake, a variation on fruit cake...in a 'slab' (what are the chances?!), probably looks a little like this, fancy trying it? Here's the recipe.








Sometimes when it's not possible to dive face-first into a crumbling pile of cake, cream and calorific glutton, it's also nice to look at them instead, and see just how popular a theme it is with the handmade possies too.

It was Lisa at Yorkshire Made's birthday this week ('Happy birthday') and this was a beautiful card she received featuring not one but many sugary cake-y delights, it's making my mouth water at the sight of it!




Cake and craft must surely go together (after all it can't be coincidence that many social gatherings involve tea and cake!), let's see what's out there to tantalise our tastebuds and have us pondering over where the baking powder disappeared to!

A small showcase of what sweet-toothed goodies Yorkshire has on offer:-

www.etsy.com/people/littletimewasters 

 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/woollyduck

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://touchyfeelytextiles.wordpress.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.fancie.co.uk

 

 

 

 

On that note.....guess what I'm heading to the kitchen for a sneaky spoonful of?!

Jemma at Yorkshire Made
x

Rhubarb

I must start with a confession. I found this blog post really difficult to write!

Now, I'm not one that often suffers from writers block (I have my own blog too, and I manage to write something for that nearly every week), nor one of these people that is often lost for words (quite the opposite in fact!) but... never the less, not only did I find this particular post very difficult to write, I couldn't even think of a topic! I have the whole of Yorkshire, and all the lovely new followers of the Yorkshire Made FB page as my inspiration, and I was completely stuck!

But then, suddenly from nowhere, inspiration struck! I remember it clearly, and I expect the other half does too, as suddenly in the middle of watching a very tense footie match on the telly box I proclaim at the top of my voice...RHUBARB!

Now I know he thinks I have finally lost the plot, but I am very pleased with my choice as it links in with us on oh so many levels!


Last weeks blog post from Lisa was about a love triangle....

Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb is only grown in a very small area in North Yorkshire - called the Rhubarb Triangle!



Yorkshire Made likes to promote local sellers, suppliers and events....

Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb is, as the name suggests, locally grown! In fact it was awarded Protected Designation of Origin status in 2010 which means the name is legally protected and the growers receive European funding to promote the product.



Yorkshire Made likes a good party - especially if there is food (but more especially cake) involved....

The Wakefield Festival of Food, Drink and Rhubarb takes place on the 25th and 26th February!

 I also think there is something very special and fascinating about anything that is created in darkness and harvested by candlelight!

If you would like more information about the  

Wakefield Festival of Food, Drink and Rhubarb 

just click on the link.

For now, here's a snippet of info from the home page: 

The festival celebrates the traditional links with rhubarb growing in Wakefield, while offering the finest and tastiest regional produce and showcasing the most talented local chefs. The festival will include street entertainment, cookery demonstrations, walks, tours, a Deliciously Yorkshire market and visits to the rhubarb growers.

I do hope you'll forgive me for not writing a particularly art/craft/design focused post and will join me in a toast to Yorkshire Rhubarb and the spirit of Yorkshire Made! If any of you are visiting the Festival or have gone to see the rhubarb growing sheds already, I'd love to hear from you! I'm fascinated and would love to know more!

Laura x from Yorkshire Made

A crafty bit on the side!

Last week I was accused of having an affair! In a moment of blind panic I confessed I was having a bit of a  “thing” with Rufus Sewell, which surprised my other half as he had been referring to Yorkshire Made, obviously I kicked myself for letting slip about my illicit liaisons,  but was somewhat relieved that he seemed to be untroubled by this shocking revelation. (I later discovered that he thought I meant Rufus Hound and he’d planned to grow a handlebar moustache and win me back!)

In truth though, he is quite used to me sitting and sewing all night, while he plays PS3 but now I keep stealing his i pod to check for updates and to message new friends he finds it quite disturbing. The thing is I have to come clean, he’s right I m addicted!

When my sister and I first started Our Little Craft Company we only spoke to other crafty people at the events we attended and at the very beginning we were so nervous we only chatted to our immediate neighbours, but we soon realised that it’s not like the magic circle, almost everyone we’ve met has been friendly, helpful and an invaluable source of information with regards to other events, and sales opportunities.

We now think of these outings as social occasions and look forward to the creative buzz, idle gossip and compulsory cake tasting that follow; sales are much appreciated but are no longer the only measure of a successful fair.

 In fact its chance meetings at such events that have led to the formation of Yorkshire Made and we can already feel the enthusiasm and shared passion of so many other makers and creators out there! Never has Facebook been more in need of a “love” button, here are just a few of the treasures that I have discovered....this also doubles as a Birthday list if anyone’s stuck on what to get me!!

    

   

   

 Inspiration at the click of a mouse and it’s just the tip of the iceberg, so you can at least see why I’m always “working late” and how the afore mentioned accusation came about.

On the brightside he’s bought me a new phone as an early birthday gift so I can sew, surf and socialise without disturbing him, which is nice, although I’m hoping he still grows the moustache, I’ve always had a “thing” about Magnum!!

Lisa x