12 Days of Christmas...

Its a distinctly bleak tuesday afternoon in my studio, but not lacking in festivity! Carols from Kings is on iTunes, there's gift wrap and ribbon everywhere and even the dog has her Christmas jumper on. Amidst the happy chaos of our first Christmas with a new baby, and a new business too, time is a bit pushed! I've been desperate to blog and share my website, but didn't want to compromise due to lack of time, so in the ended I resorted to the old favourite - a Nice Big List. Christmas, weaving and lists are up there with my VERY favourite things, so I've combined them all into my very own...

12 Days of Christmas [or, 12 of my favourite things!]

These are all things that help me work, keep motivated, and make me smile whilst I'm making - I hope some of them make you smile too!

One the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

-A BERNINA SEWING MACHINE-

Everyone designer I know has their own favourite sewing machine, and this is mine. It was my mum's too - in fact, this is her machine! I've had my own, used different types in studios and workplaces, and borrowed other people's, but this one is the ONLY one I trust, like and enjoy - it chugs happily along, is basic and sturdy, has no nasty plastic bits to crack and fall off, and most importantly, still has its lovely original red box! Its very well looked after and even has a little piece of handwoven cashmere to put under its foot when its sleeping...

On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

-TWO WOODEN CREATURES-

Inspiring because they remind me of the frozen North, sentimental because I bought the seal from St Davids in Pembrokeshire during a very happy time of my life, and special because they now both belong to my son, Magnus. They sit in my studio, and look over my desk and Magnus' play pen.

On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

-THREE HAY BOXES-

Hay must be the last word in cool for storage nerds like me - these are so perfect I have two sets, and they are ideal for holding all my haberdashery and weaving equipment. I love the slightly 1970s colours here, and their precise step formation pleases my OCD nature immensely!

On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

-FOUR POTTERY PEN JARS-

If weaving and family are my two big passions, then pottery is my third, without question. I come from the Potteries, and have always been surrounded by beautiful pieces, some new but mainly old, and I can still remember when Stoke on Trent had a few remaining bottle kilns in its skyline. These pots, excepting the second from the left which is Norweigan, are all vintage Portmerion. During their heyday, their designs were bold, daring, colourful and always adorning fascinating shapes of vessel. Its now very collectable, and I particularly love Totem, the design here in blue.

On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

-FIVE WOODEN SHUTTLES-

Shuttles, like any craftsman's tools, are very personal to the weaver. I love these ones - I bought them when I bought my lovely Louet loom six or seven years ago. The larger ones at the top are Canadian Maple, from Leclerc, and feel beautiful to hold - they seem to balance perfectly as you take them through the warp, and have a very soft shape. The other three are Swedish and are made of Birch. They're much lighter and slimmer, and I like using them for silk and cotton warps where the ends are delicate and can't take too much weight.

On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

-SIX PENS AND PENCILS-

The blue one at the bottom - a Pilot 01 Drawing Pen - wins hands down here, and I panic buy a pack of 12 every January to get me through the next year; they are such a great multitasker, and I use them daily for writing, designing, and drawing. Likewise, the Pentel 120 mechanical pencil - I'm greedy and have four in different lead widths and hardnesses. (The lead cases are very pretty too!) The others at a glance are a Tombow brush pen, a lovely chunky Stabilo colouring pencil, a Derwent pastel pencil in a lush shade of pale citrus, and the newcomer - the Pentel Brush Pen. More about him soon...

On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

-SEVEN VINTAGE BIRD BROOCHES-

I can't remember when I started collecting, but I still remember my first bird brooch find - the little gull in the top left hand corner, now broken and muddy from being squashed under a car tyre; I can't let go of him though. The others all came from charity or antique shops, and some were given to me - all are treasured and worn regularly. I love the feel colour, and milky quality of bone and horn jewellery, and I think a lot of them appeal to me because of their naive, illustrated feel. There are many more than seven, but these are the most precious.

On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

-EIGHT ROLLS OF WASHI TAPE-

My first brief as an undergraduate Textiles student was called "Tape it!", and I haven't lost my obsession since. Tape is amazing. Amazing, amazing, amazing - it makes everything better - letters, presents, packages, pens, notes, breakages - there are even books about what to do with the stuff! I just like squirrelling new rolls of it away and finding them at a later date to stick all over my journals, walls and sketchbooks - MT is the proper stuff, but there are some pretty impressive impostors out there, and I'm not picky.

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

-NINE JARS OF BUTTONS-

This is a hotchpotch muddle of little pottery storage jars and jugs, and everyone is chock full of buttons. They're all sorted into types - vintage trouser, resin, casein, glass, bone, and lots more, and I have a photographic memory of my stock! They've mainly been sourced from a particular antique button dealer who really knows her stuff and always finds me special cards and samples, but some have been collected from other people's tins, old clothes, and charity shops. My favourites of all are some very rare little glass ones with enamel sailboats in them, and some Victorian underwear ones made from bone.

On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

-TEN NOTEBOOKS-

Second only to pens, in the great scheme of things...you can never have too many, and should always pick them up when you see a nice one. Moleskines are, of course, lovely, as are Muji's own range, and I've found some really beautiful little A5 paperback ones recently in bookshops and on the highstreet. I once came back from a working trip to Paris with my hand luggage so heavy from new notebooks and stationary that I couldn't lift it and had to do a very last minute redistribution...If like me you love writing, or if its something you just do daily and you keep a journal, the chances are you'll have at least three or four going at any one time, so its important to get the right sort. Dorris Lessing saw to this in her novel, 'The Golden Notebook'. I currently have three in my handbag - demoted to the nappy department,yes, but definitely not forgotten.

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

-ELEVEN AUTHORS-

Such a hard choice, but I'm very happy with my selection. My absolute favourite desert island pick would - I think - be Excellent Women by Barbara Pym, (who has been described by many as a modern day Jane Austen) - just such a brilliant book, and so beautifully imagined and written. The Mayor of Casterbridge is in there too, as is Emma, and a collection of verses by George MacKay Brown, whose writing about the North always startles me with its poetic sagas about the lives of ordinary, yet extraordinary, islanders. Tove Jansson - Moomin creator - is in there because she is my only real heroine; I have learned such a lot from her work, and love it more and more every time I look at it. Anyone who has read Roger Deakin will understand why him and Roger Macfarlane are favourites, and no book collection of mine would ever be complete without the Famous Five - I'll still read it when I'm 90.

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

-TWELVE CHILDREN'S ILLUSTRATORS-

My vice - children's illustrated books. The loveliest, loveliest things in the world. Even to contemplate choosing just twelve would be ridiculous, so I've put a small selection of them on here and you can pick your own!I have loved them ever since I was little, and collected them throughout my life - now that I have a little son of my own, I have the perfect excuse to buy and read more and more, and story time is some of my happiest time of the day. To be able to illustrate like these illustrators is such an incredible, fantastic talent, and with the growth of publishers like Flying Eye Books, and Tate, as well as old favourites like Walker, children these days are spoilt for choice. I was lucky enough to work with a very talented illustrated, Andrew Kulman, and I would have given anything for his collection of children's books - I remember them just lining the walls of his office, and the whole place just felt like another world. I'd really love to work in illustration myself one day, so 2017 is going to be a year full of pencils, pens, and dreaming...

Here are some links to lovely sites to look at between wrapping presents and eating mince pies...enjoy!

http://flyingeyebooks.com

http://www.octaviasbookshop.co.uk

http://www.theanthology.co.uk

http://www.muji.eu

http://www.hay.dk

https://www.burford.co.uk/children/