Memories from Home - Good Sensible Shoes

My dad had this little ritual when me and my brother were young when it came to time for new shoes. My dad is abit of (well actually a lot of ) a 'Made in England' man. He would only ever drive Triumph cars, wear Marks and Spencers clothes (when they were still made in blighty) and wear Clarks shoes. Clarks Shoes is and always has been based in Somerset, England, although the shoes are now manufactured elsewhere. Famed for designing the iconic desert boot and the wallabee. Their shoes have always had a reputation for quality and good ergonomic design. And this is what my dad liked about them. He considered them to be 'good sensible shoes'.

Although these are now considered pretty darn cool, at the time they certainly were not. Fashion did not sit high on my dads list of priorities when it came to selecting 'good sensible shoes'. I remember sitting with my legs crossed in assembly trying to hide my shoes underneath my skirt so that the cool kids with their cool shoes didn't take the mickey.

I remember the sales assistants seemed very stern and important as they approached with their special machine to measure every contour of the foot which was a pretty scary prospect to a seven year old who has ridiculously ticklish feet. Although dad always saw the funny side of my nervous giggles.

After buying the shoes we'd go and buy a pasty for lunch which we'd eat out of the bag and then he'd take us to the swimming baths in Street. It became abit of a ritual for us so when dad said that he wanted to take Maggie to buy her a 'good sensible pair of shoes' whilst we were visiting home this year, I felt an overwhelming love for him and the little ritual that we enjoyed together. It was just as I remembered it. Thank you Clarks for years of happy feet in happy shoes.

Memories from Home - Montecute House

Promise you won't laugh? I know you will though, I would if I were you, but I get this funny feeling when I'm in old country homes. Yes I am about to absorb myself in dillisions of grandeur, so if you want to just look at the gorgeous pictures and ignore the dribble, I fully understand.

 

My mum has always said that I have "ideas above my station" and this just proves it. My friend Delia puts it down to some spiritual sensation suggesting that "maybe in a past life you were an aristocrat or something". I don't know, whatever it is, I just feel comfortable. I can spend hours wandering around the rooms, admiring the antiques, fabrics, furniture and art. The smells of old just make everything so real and strangely familiar. I can really imagine how life would have been back then. I can feel the history, imagine the family sagas and personalities that would have existed there.

I guess we can all dream and maybe that's just it, maybe I have an overactive imagination and have read too many historical romances.

On our visit to the National Trust property Montecute House it was such a beautiful day that we decided not to pay the entrance fee and just hang out in the gardens instead. We spent the whole afternoon strolling around the gardens, looking at the beautiful flowers, playing chase, watching the fish in the pond, waiting just waiting for Mr Darcy. See that's another thing, being a complete romantic means that I really do believe in knights in shinning armour who whisk woman away to a happy ever after life.

Mr Darcy didn't arrive that day but I am pleased that Mr Darcy has since revved into Delia's life, albeit on a bright shiny motorbike.

Memories from Home - Dunster Country Show

Don't we all just love a good country fare to evoke nostalgic feelings of happy childhood summers days? Pony rides, scones, fizzy pop, fair rides, face painting, sunburn, the beautiful sweet smell of hay and horses tack and Punch and Judy belly laughs.

As a parent it gets even better. Not only do you get to relive those memories but you get to relish in the enjoyment of seeing your little kiddiwinks experience it all. Plus, you discover a whole other side of the show - the adult entertainment. No I don’t mean of the risqué variety, but the local cider, microbrewed beers and gournmet farmers gastronomic delights. I have also entered into the official ‘boring old farts club’ by discovering an interest in the more traditional country crafts such as spinning and thatching which before would have made me adopt the “yeh right whatever” kind of attitude. I even went for a little lookie at the tweeds, no I didn't buy any, way to itchy for me, but I just wondered if I could mix it up abit with a couple of my vintage dresses and run a queenie type look!

But seriously is there anything more fun, I ask you? And with the backdrop of Dunster Castle, it was all pretty perfect really for us at the Dunster Show. See the castle? It's one of my favourite things to do in England, visit the National Trust country homes and estates. I'll be sharing some pictures from Montecute House real soon, where Sense and Sensability was filmed.

Kim didn’t quite know what to make of the ferret racing (it’s an English thing), but was very proud of his achievement on the clay pigeon shoot after the guy told him he was way to good and had to shoot blindfolded! Maggie as always loved all things horsey and especially enjoyed the fun games put on by the pony clubs.

This was all very serious, which made me giggle. Though I have always thought of hunting as a cruel sport with the prolonged chase and savage kill of animals just doing what they do, I do however like some of the associated traditions and respect the skills of the master of the hound. Hypocritical maybe.

Oh and did I tell you? There was even a crooked house. Remember these? I was so excited about going in this when I saw it (you see you can do things like this again when you have a child). Actually it was disappointingly 'pikey' inside, but I tried to see it through kids eyes and looked past the gaffer tap holding the boxing bags together as I exaggerated my bash into them each time the wibbly woobly floor moved.

Face paints smudged, we returned to our barn properly tired, dirty and sticky from sugar and sweat. I just flipping love it I do. When I say returned home, it wasn’t quite as simple as just popping the key in the ignition and off we trot as I had left a ‘thingy’ on and flattened the car battery requiring the local scout group to push us around the flat field a couple of times to bump start the car! I felt abit like Benny Hill.

Been Sewing

I've been back in Tasmania after my trip to England for five weeks now and at last I feel like I have my sewing mojo back. Feeling seriously homesick isn't psychologically conducive to creativity. I would mooch into the haven of my sewing room in a miserable state, sit for a while, drink a cup of tea and then mooch back out feeling deflated, uninspired and incapable.

How stupid is that? Just when I really needed that outlet, I couldn't find it in me. But I do think that brains and bodies can only cope with so much and sometimes mine just says NO! And on this occasion it was fair enough. I was seriously jet-lagged having found myself wide awake at night time unable to sleep. I was also redecorating Maggie-May's room after realising upon our return that there was no way she was going to fit into her cot. I was also trying to remain sympathetic to husband and child who had serious flu's, unpack 70kgs worth of stuff, deal with my own flu and make the house back into our home. Therefore, sewing up a storm on a new collection of childrens clothes was probaly asking just a little bit too much. It was time for brain to say NO - ENOUGH ALREADY.

But isn't it amazing that as soon as Maggie's room was finished, the patients were better and the house back in shape I went into my sewing room and whizzed up three gorgeous little 'gypsy dreams' tops and the following day I had fun making two more blanket dresses. I love the way the raw edges on the blanket dresses 'felt' (as in matt together) and improve with each wash. This A-line pattern came from one of my favourite dresses of Maggie's. When she was small (about one and a half) she wore it as a dress and now at three she wears it as a cool little vest. It's a really great shape. The blanket obsession will go on the back burner now until next winter as I start to think about more spring summer ideas. Thankgoodness things are looking a whole lot brighter around here.

I still have heaps more photos and stories of 'Memories from Home' to share with all you lovely readers so please feel free to become a follower if you're interested in hearing all about our English adventures. If you are interested in purchasing from me, email me claireyloo@hotmail.com I'd love to hear from you.

Farm Shops

Just a quick little post about farm shops. This is one that I became a bit of a fan of during our stay on my Uncle's farm in Over Stowey in Somerset, England.

It's just simple, how life should be.

They grow it.

We buy it.

Bobs your Uncle. Farm fresh locally produced fruit and vegies. Come on, lets all just buy direct from our local suppliers, find them, use them, it just makes sense. It's just one of those little things we can all do easily to collectively make a difference.

Memories from Home - Tracey Emin Exhibition

I had always sat uncomfortably on the fence on the subject of appreciation of controversial artist Tracey Emin's work until I went to her exhibition 'Love is What You Want' at the Hayward Gallery in London recently. Knowing a little about her controversial status in the contemporary art world I went with an open mind and ready to consider the ever looming question 'what is art anyway' and 'are you taking the piss'? Not surprisingly, the answer to those questions when faced with an exhibit of a used tampon was the latter and the constant references to her abortion experiences left me feeling awkward and emotionally drained.

Sure her previous work 'My Bed' (link here) could be considered abit 'lazy' and her tent piece 'Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963-1995' (link here) was a little unnecessarily informative but what I didn't realise about Tracey Emin is her uncanny knack with a needle. Check out the amazing quilts she has produced, they blew me away and not something I had expected to see at all.

 

She had patchworked, appliqued and embroidered snippets of her life in proper memory quilt style using old clothes, swatches and keep sakes. I can just imagine her sat in a little stitch n bitch sewing group stitching away on these........NOT!

One thing you can say about her work is that it's truly personal. She is outspoken. She challenges personal thoughts and makes statements that others might not be so brave to make. And whilst her mono prints were a little too dark for me, I could appreciate their rawness. They really make you feel like she's scratched out her heart and soul on the paper. Hmm serious shit really! And I guess that's what art is, expressionism. This is where it starts getting abit deep so I'll leave you with your own thoughts on this.

So do I like Tracey Emins work? Yeh, I love the quilts. And anything controversial is good for the mind. And yes I appreciate her abilities as a mixed media artist. I also love the way her work is so personal and tells her story, just probably not one to share with the kids though.

I chose not to put up pictures of her more controversial work, but if you're interested, Mr Google is always more than willing to oblige.

Memories from Home - Godney Gathering

Ever wondered what happened to that band, that did that song, that went "................"? Well I have a stonker for you here. Remember that song that went "put your hands on, put your hands on"? It's by a surfy/bluesy/rock band called Reef who are from Somerset, England - very near home. They stopped recording in 2003 after five brilliant albums but have recently reformed and here they are now.



I've been abit of a groupie since the days when they played grungy gigs in dodgy little pubs in and around Somerset.  I use the word groupie very lightly as this was really only in my dreams as I had/have a very serious crush on Mr lead singer, Gary Stringer. So on my recent visit home can you imagine how excited I was to enjoy a very special evening in a field deep in the Somerset countyside with the aforementioned Mr Stringer. Unfortunately so too were 4000 other faithful local fans, including Mr Gale. Who was quite happy for me to rock my little socks off  and even passed without comment on the not so delicately put "get your kit off Gary" shouts that shrilled from my lungs. I fully embraced the vibe in that edgy cider fuelled moshpit. What's a rock concert without a few elbow wacks in the head and cider spills down your cleavage. Look out for the Godney Gathering next year.



Gary Stringer and Jack Bessant (half the band) are keeping it real playing some seriously cool mellow yellow acoustic tunes on a side project called Stringer Bessant and Reef are back on the road better than ever. Schoolgirl crush aside, they are one seriously talented riff-ridden rock band with too many belting tunes, soulful slowies and singalong anthems to mention. They're often not shy of some proper rock n roll star gynastics on stage too. Gary you rock, and just for the record, I love that little bum wiggle thingy you do too:)

Two and a half months spent at home in England and so many special memories to share and record, follow the 'Memories from Home' posts by hitting the 'join this site' button on the right. Life's not just all about sewing you know:)