Do you have a mental list of favourite smells and feels... I do. When I win the lottery I will have fresh sheets every day and should I take an afternoon nap, then the staff will iron them before I step inside that evening...I might have won money but I am still eco-friendly. But there is another smell and feel which outstrips this... it's a new book.
Just close your eyes, feel the weight of the book in your hands, hear the crack of the spine and then the smell of the fresh unsullied pages. Yet even better than this appeal to your senses is the dance that the printed letters will lead your imagination through.
So can you guess what is exercising my rant zone... my local council are threatening to close some of our local libraries. You might remember how I told you all a couple of years ago about my love of libraries, how I have never lived more than 10 mins away from one.
Libraries are so important, they are the door in the back of the wardrobe that gave me access to my own personal Narnia... through books, I have travelled the world, I know the Venetian canals like the back of my hand through the Donna Leon and the investigations of Commisario Brunetti, I learnt my way through American Law courtesy of Harper Lee and John Grisham, never said I was discerning, did I? I am an expert on romance, thanks to Katie Fforde and Jojo Moyes... and RF Delderfield, Mazo de la Roche and Tolstoy.
The library was and is, alongside Radio 4, my university... it has taught me and made me what I am. Our librarians no longer check in our books, but ask them a question from internet access to who else writes like Roddy Doyle and they are there in an instant, stretching your imagination. Who else would listen to small children bursting to impart what had happened to Angelina Ballerina, or why dinosaurs had died out and why Roald Dahl is really the bestest writer in the whole wide world and that they will never read anyone else. Yet now, these experts are being de-skilled by stealth, softened up for redundancies... but we need them... we really do need them. But this is not about us, it is about future generations, libraries are an inheritance we must pass on... if you don't believe me, read about what the library means to my little friend Camille and her mum.
Just imagine how tough it must be for the people working in the libraries, nip in, if you can and tell them that you will be supporting them, sign petitions, make a fuss, people need to know that you want to keep them.
So if you live in Leigh-on-sea, Southend-on-sea, Westcliff-on-sea and so on, lobby your local councillors, tell your MP that this is not good enough... we need our libraries, and right now, your library needs you!
Can you believe it? I am looking out of the window and it is only trying to snow again, so I wondered if I put up my pictures from my jaunt out in the snow on Sunday if that would make it stop as we have had our share for the Winter?
First you have to actually get out of the house... I loved the way that the snow had filled in the spaces in my gate. When I was little I really wanted a gate, our house did not have one, then I moved to London and lived in flats so it was not until I turned 40 that I had my very own gate. And the reason why I wanted a gate was a children's TV show called Sarah and Hoppity and she swung on the gate... the first night I spent in my new house I crept out surreptitiously that evening and swung on my very own gate... it was worth the wait, I promise you!
If you walk round the corner, you see the view that makes me smile every day, across the graveyard, you can see the estuary and in the distance the coast of Kent.
As you can see it is not just children who get excited, I spotted these three twentysomethings headed down to the cliffs to try out their brand spanking new sledge... not for them the tin tea trays of my youth... bet they never had a go cart made from the wheels of a Silver Cross pram teamed with a real tea chest!
This is one of my favourite trees in Leigh, it is a Monkey Puzzle tree, it look beautiful in the Summer but oh my, doesn't it look makestic covered in the snow?
I wish that you could hear how quiet the snow made the world seem here on Sunday, even the church bells at St Clement's which were pealing seem really muffled.
And finally, here is the view down Church Hill, I love the way the snow has caught on the balconies, it looks fantastic a night when the Victorian lamps are lit. And best of all is the mix of Victorian houses, juxtaposed against the the Essex clapboard houses... when I grow up I think I would like to live down there:)
I did something bad today... you know how it is... I wanted to walk past, but I just couldn't help it... I went into Belle Fabrics (aka to us oldies as Richardsons) in Leigh-on-sea, just to see if they had something that I might be able to use for this weekend's tutorial. What a mistake, they had just had a delivery of Moda Fabrics... I mean, how was I to know but by then I was in and there was no escape.
Moda have just released a new range called 30s Playtime which is based on the floral and chintzy ranges of the 1930s and have been designed by Chloe's Closet for Moda.
Now this is just a taster of a Jelly Roll pack, usually a selection of fabrics 2 1/2" x 44/45" and taken from the same range.
I was really taken by:
But then I spotted:
And then:
And one of these literally made it to the cut for the Sunday's tutorial... we will be making a cover for your ipad... or Kindle... or you can scale it down for your phone.
Now oddly enough I also got an email from MoDA (the Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture) and they have published a fabulous book to coincide with their travelling exhibition on the work of the Silver Studios and even better it is reduced in their January sale.
The book was written when Keren Protheroe was researching the work of the women designers who worked at the Silver Studios... elements of their art remains and sometimes, you do not even know who they were but what they have created is still used by people like M&S designers to influence their fabrics today.
Imagine being told that you can only use so many colours to create a design and yet create the illusion that you have used a full palette. They even have letters between the studios and the designers discussing their work and pay!
So, if you see that the travelling exhibition is coming to a spot near you, gussie up your skirts and get there as fast you can, it is small but I promise you that it is really worthwhile.
PS I have no links to Moda or MoDA, I just like em and know you will, too!
At the beginning of the year I wrote a piece about using shops or losing them, so I was really sad today when I saw that our local toyshop was closing. It took me back to saving up my pocket money to buy a tambourine from my local parade of shops, I have to be honest, it was something only a seven year old could love... On the face was a scene in a gypsy encampment with a wild haired girl dancing round the camp fire... but better still it had red and turquoise ribbons and frankly by the end of the day that I bought it, I could have joined the Sally Army such was my proficiency on the tambourine! And yes I did wear my mum's headscarf...
So I am asking you all to buy at least one Christmas gift from a local shop or a small website and to tell us who they are. Here are my local faves:
Cedar Tree - who are on the Broadway in Leigh, it is the best place to find the present you didn't know you needed
Natural Edge - also on the Broadway, it's where you go if you cannot find it in Cedar Tree
Goods and Chattels - on Rectory Grove, unusual gifts
Now on the web
1st Unique Gifts - Wendy does brilliant plaques and black boards, fantastic service
Red Needle Sewing - Caroline does fabulous free style embroidery and her items have a super finish
Claire Manwani - Pottery to die for!
Now let me know where else we should be shopping to support small businesses
