{ Mu'Mu } Design

Virtual Yard Sale - OPEN

 

So.

Here we are with a few things for the virtual yard sale. I had in mind more, but given that I am offering free shipping to anywhere in the universe some of the items would prove too costly to post (think pyrex, think plates, think ceramic nick-nacks, think BOOKS - oh the books), so have limited myself to only the things that won't shatter into a gazillion pieces in the post or leave me out of pocket.

At a real yard sale I would have offered everything individually priced and there would be so much more for sale, but because of shipping I had to bundle things together to keep it reasonable for both buyer and seller.

I don't know what you'll make of it all, but like any yard sale this is open for only a short while - not a day, obviously, but  two weeks for good measure? OK. Two weeks. 24th November is the deadline. These items are one offs NEVER to be repeated. Once they're gone they are GONE, and once the two weeks are up anything not sold in going straight to landfill - I will never list these again. EVER.

Mail me if you have any queries at qalballah AT gmail DOT com. I think the listings are pretty self-evident, but if you need to know more then convo me.

Shipping is free, so the price you see is the price you pay. Oh and as I've been listing things they've already been 'flying off the shelf' so grab anything you see while you can.

There is a selection of everything to keep you interested - and all my usual stock of shop things have BEEN REDUCED also - scarves, wraps etc.

Good luck! Happy thrifting! 24th November is deadline!

Virtual Yard Sale

Things are a bit busy around here at the moment; a lot of planning and rearranging in the works. A lot of letting go and a lot of change - good change insha'allah.

In tune with these changes, and in part to help them, I'm paring a down a few things - destashing, letting go. I thought it might be fun to have a virtual Yard Sale here? As well as a few new things to sell, of course.

So that's what I'll be doing next time I post insha'allah - a Yard Sale. Bits and pieces from here and there - some things found thrifting that I no longer have space for; some yarn I need to let go; perhaps some fabric destash if I'm brave. And a few other odds and ends you might like to snoop through.

Back after the weekend insha'allah.

Seasonal rhythm

Grey is November so sayeth Elsa Beskow, in case we didn't quite get it. And yes, yes it is, let's rub it in shall we?

I love these sweet books by Beskow (and others); I love the sense of seasonal rhythm they bring into our lives as we constantly shift them in tune with the time of year, year in, year out. The books we read in Spring and Summer have given way to Autumn and Winter offerings. At the start of every new month we read 'Around the Year' to centre ourselves on where we are; what came before and what will come after. I think for the little ones this is a soothing repetition for them.

Instilling a sense of season, and reinforcing the seasonal rhythms is important to me. But encouraging imagination is just as important.

I love the gentle nature of these stories, but also the imaginative play they instigate - simple tales of fantastical characters in nature. And the artwork is a feast in itself.

These books are heirloom books; I hope someday my children will pass these on to their babes too.

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Talking of seasonal rhythm, wherever you are have a great Bonfire Night! Stay safe! Wrap up warm! I hope whatever traditions you are making for your children that tonight forms some magical memories for them.

Linen Loot

Some recent thrifty scores - meant for use in some things I'm making, but in reality I'm having a hard time cutting into them. Perhaps I'll leave them like this on my worktop and call it an art installation?

It could work...

View from my Chair

Weather forecast : glum, from hereonin til whenever.

Mood : glum, from hereonin til whenever.

Activity status : slumpt in chair til further notice.

Crafting prospects : little to zero.

Mode : hibernation.

White balance : black

Flash : packed in

Need for hot chocolate : red alert! red alert!

Need for blankets : ditto

Books : high status

Toys : brain savers

Watching it all snug from a chair : the best I can manage. Til further notice.

Hello, November

Crafters from the Outer Hebrides

I toyed with the idea of keeping this find all to myself. But that just wouldn't be right. Good things should be shared - and good handmade things? Well they are worth shouting from the rooftops, I'd say...

A while back I stumbled upon Scalpay Linen blog - you might have seen it in the sidebar. It held a fascination for me - blogging from the Outer Hebrides from real weavers and spinners - from a woman who makes Harris Tweed for crying out loud! In a world full of crafty bloggers who blow their own trumpet for sewing two lines together, here at last was a real craftwoman to put all others to shame - spinning wool from her own flock, weaving linen and tweed - grappling mountain lions with her bare hands, ripping sinew out with her bare teeth to use as thread before going back to her real farm house croft thing to start a real fire with maybe flint and sticks  because there is no electricity.

I might be lying about the mountain lion thing. Anyway along with her own shop on Etsy Sheila also linked to the store I bought this yarn from - Calana Crafts (blog HERE). And it is a gem.

There seems such a concentration of crafters from these wonderful places; in a world that seems to be getting faster and increasingly more meaningless, dislocating people from the land, their families, even their ownselves, it is a real treasure trove to find people still weaving by hand, who still live in the place they and their family were born, keeping ancient crafts alive. I wonder if they realise how amazing their lifestyle is? How lucky they are?

And I think we, as UK crafters, have a duty in some respect, to support homegrown crafters too. The plight of  Harris Tweed in recent years has shown how little importance we in Britain place on our own heritage - if these people were in any other country I am sure they would have received World Heritage status by now and received some form of grants to ensure their survival. It is an indictment of our society when some arse like Brian Haggas can undo aeon of tradition based on nothing more than spurious market forecasting. {Spurious because evidently the man is a complete dick. Allegedly.}

Many of us have taken a pledge to support Handmade, but taking it one step further, how about supporting Homegrown Handmade? And not just homegrown, but Heritage Homegrown Handmade (that's a lot of H's)?

The yarn is gorgeous (I say that about yarn a lot, I know) and I fully intend to go back when my bank manager allows, and RAID the entire store for my stash. All of it. Mine.

But that would be greedy, and so I share the link with you all. All I ask is that you leave me some, OK?

And when Scalpay gets the Harris Tweed in that's mine too. Just saying.

A little bit of sunshine to keep those winter blues away... support Heritage Homegrown Handmade!

Crafting regardless

This time of year really affects me badly. I miss the light. I miss the light so much. I lose interest in everything. I just want to hibernate. Craftwise I've slowed way down, but am forcing myself to do things - to stay creative.

Oh but how I want to go to ground and sleeeeeeeeep.

Anyone else out there feeling the winter funk? How do you cope in the winter months?

I have this chair

Yes, that's really how this blog post begins - 'I have this chair'.

Bear with me as I try to find an angle for a post which attempts to be upbeat and perky when really what I want to do is hibernate under my quilts and blankets and wait for spring. Or Judgement Day. Either or. Not bothered.

So I have this chair which I thrifted sometime ago. It was one of those times I had to go back to the store the next day to get it, because I couldn't get it out of my head even though I couldn't put my finger on why. I just had to have it. The deal was clinched when my eldest announced:: Mum - this chair says 'get a cup of tea and snuggle up with your boys and talk about trains' - its snuggly. Yes he really said that. And how could I refuse. I knew what he meant - he meant 'cosy'. And I'm all for snuggly and cosy. It's what I'm about.

What I didn't like was the colour all too much - I mean, the colour was OK it just didn't fit nicely with the blue of our sitting room. I've been trying to disguise it and adorn it many different ways but nothing seems to look right.

I don't have the skill to upholster it myself and I'd have to auction a kidney to be able to afford someone else do it for me. So it stays like this - thrifted, colour unco-ordinated and jazzed up with quilts and blankets.

I'd say it fits right it with everything else in this place.

Already it's my favourite place in the house - comfortable, warm, the right height to reach for my teacup and best of all? Great for knitting in as the babes play.

Oh yes, it's seen a LOT of knitting in it's short Mu'Mu life. And now if you could all send me 'thrifting well wishes' for the sofa of my dreams (instead of the reality of my worst nightmares which is our current offering), perhaps this sitting room can be THE place for sitting with a cup of tea as we all talk about the important stuff in life - you know - trains, cars, David Attenborough programmes, things like that - cosily.

Most days are like this

The everyday mundane (shopping) coupled with the downright bizarre and/or memorable.

Most people go shopping with credit cards? I go with lions and crocodiles...

Altogether now::

Follow the yellow-brick road... follow the yellow-brick road...