The ethel and edna Annual 2016

Well blog posts seem to be a yearly thing with me so the title seemed quite fitting.  I'm nothing if not consistent!

Seriously, I do hope to get a bit more 'on it' now as I shall have a lot more time to spend on the 'interwebs'.  We have sadly said goodbye to The Sewing Shop and closed the doors one last time.  Trade had really dropped off considerably, our rates were set to increase by £200 per month and as we were due to renew our lease we decided that ultimately we weren't making any money and it was not worth risking another 2 year stint.  The world wide web has finally beaten us. 

We could have set up our own website and run a mail order business, but that would have meant a total pricing restructure, and probably made the 'bricks and mortar' shop pointless.  As so many other traders know, you can run a mail order business from your own home, so why go to the vast expense of a business premises?

We had built up a fabulous community spirit within the shop - something which we always wanted.  Many of our customers liked to come in just because it was so bright and lovely  They became friends as well as customers.  This is fine until we reached the point where most people that crossed the threshold were coming in for a chat and not to actually spend any money.  Victims of our own success in that respect.

We will miss them all but at the end of the day we were a business and there to make money.  We didn't want a fortune, but after 4 years of paying ourselves less than minimum wage for very long hours and lots of sleepless nights...It couldn't go on.

But looking forward...

ethel and edna will be resurrected in the coming weeks and months.  I shall be moving out of the spare room and into a fantastic glorified shed/workshop in the garden.  It will be fully insulated, have loads of light and moving into it will give me a great opportunity to sort out my ridiculous hoard of fabrics, yarns, threads, notions and haberdashery and get organised.  I predict a destash sale in the not too distant future.

I also have many bolts of fabulous fabrics left over from the shop which will be sold online.  And I hope to sell some heavenly haberdashery too - both the basics and some more special bits.  No longer will I need to be ordering bra extenders and shoulder pads for customers. Instead I can search our suppliers' websites and catalogues, and at the trade shows for the frivolous and the fabulous rather than the utilitarian. 

Finally, I am so desperate to get my making mojo back in gear.  After 4 years of not being able to properly flex my creative fingers, I am itching to get stitching (aaargh!!).  I cannot wait for the arrival of the shed.  :)

I still have much to plan and prepare but I WILL keep blogging and I shall dust off the e & e Facebook page too, so everyone will know what is happening.

In the meantime I have a new obsession to contend with. 

Dewhurst Sylko name colours! 

 

They are amazing!  I know I'm not the first and I won't be the last to be hooked on these little bits of perfection.  I have a Mr Simms sweet jar full of wooden reels and I got to wondering whether somewhere on the 'net there might be a complete list of all the colours and their names and numbers, so that I could collect them all and have a check list to work from.  After not too much trawling, I found several others who have already made huge progress with this quest.  Over on Instagram Mandy and Kim have compiled a list and are going great guns at tracking the missing names down. 

Now I am scouring charity shops and car boot sales, trying to find those missing names.  If you have a stash of Sylko reels at home, have a look and see if you have any of the following numbers.  If you do pretty please let me know what the names are. We don't need to own them to add them to the list.  It's just the names we are after...to begin with at least.

30, 38, 75, 80, 83, 89, 99, 100, 102, 105, 106, 114, 138, 143, 147 - 155 inc, 157 - 159 inc, 172, 173, 180, 187, 200, 201, 207, 210, 226, 228, 230, 241, 248, 262, 271, 275, 281, 293, 307, 313, 329, 334, 336, 350, 353, 354, 355, 361, 363, 364, 365, 368, 371, 373, 378 - 384 inc, 388, 397, 398, 400, 404, 405, 412, 419, 430, 431, 432, 452, 462, 465, 469, 472, 473, 475, 477, 482, 484, 485, 487, 489, 492 - 501 inc.

That's 100 names left to track down.  Not bad going out of over 500 shades of thread.  Then the serious job of gathering and collecting begins.

Right.  I'm of to peruse some haberdashery and start to make some lists.  Any requests then let me know.

ttfn

Oh my goodness. Much is happening in the world of 'ethel and edna', hence the lack of blogs posts. Where do I begin..?

I know.

I've got a job!

Yes - a real live, bona fide, 'proper' job. And do you know just how perfect it is? I'm working in the needlework shop in Lichfield!! Are you jealous? :O) It has been through various incarnations over the years but is now called The Staffordshire Needlecraft Centre. Imagine - I get to spend all day surrounded by fabric and threads and haberdashery. Fab! SO if you're in the area on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays or alternate Saturdays, stick your head round the door and say hello. It's a proper shop where they believe in customer service and being friendly and passing the time of day with customers, rather than trying to rush you out of the door. :O)

***

So it's almost here. The Solstice Walk is tomorrow night. Here are my lovely wings from last year. Talk about planning... I still haven't sorted out the rest of my costume yet. I've bought several metres of net so tomorrow I'll whizz up the speediest fairy tutu ever.

I have been overwhelmed by people's generosity, especially considering the current economic climate. (In terms of sponsor money)I have beaten last year's total (£135) by at least £30. And there's still time to pledge some if you would like to. Just click on the Just Giving link on the right.

A mahoosive 'thank you' to everyone that has sponsored me, now matter how much or how little, it all adds up to providing more care and support when it is most needed.

***

In an effort to raise some funds for up-coming birthdays and other events, I have been having a bit of a de-stash on ebay. There are bags of these:

several pieces of fabric in a variety of sizes that have been sitting around for way too long waiting to be made up into something:

this scrumptious book by C June Barnes which I bought last year at Knitting and Stitching on a whim (for £18!!) and know I will never use (it's even signed!!):

and if you're one of the last remianing people on the plante who don't yet own a copy of Cath Kidston's 'make!' then here's your chance (starting at 99p!!).

I'm going to keep adding stuff over the next few daysm as and when it appears/I have time to photograph and list it. Oh and the all-important details - my seller name is sew_sioux_me_77. I don't know where it came from really - sew is quite obvious I suppose, sioux is as in Siouxsie and the Banshees who I love and the play on words was just 'cause I thought it was funny at the time. Sad but true.

***

On Wednesday kiddie and I travelled in Brum on the train to go and see 'ethel' (or is she 'edna'? we don't know ourselves!). Hallelujah!!! She - Ann - has finally finished her degree and is almost a free woman! We went to the private view of her final exhibition and her installation which included a tiny contribution from me. I shan't go into details ('cause apart from anything it's all a bit deep and over my head now I'm out of the Fine Art envirnoment), but did a teensy bit of machine lettering to go down the spine of a businessman's suit.

I'm so glad she's finished and so is Ann. She plans to buy a stack of wool and sit and knit just for pleasure. Not for any reason or deadline. It doesn't have to have a context or meaning. It's just making stuff for the sheer pleasure of it.

Amen to that. :O)

***

On Thursday I went on a medieval pilgrimage to Lichfield Cathedral! Yes I know I live there. It was with kiddie's school and i went along as an adult helper. It was a brilliant day.

We had a whistle-stop tour of 12 stations of the cathedral in the morning, incorporating the story of St Chad (to whom the cathedral is dedicated). Then after lunch we processed around the cathedral, stopping off in the choir for a mini lesson about and demonstraion of the organ. WOW! I love church organ music, when you can feel in through the soles of your feet. Then we were shown the skull of St Chad from the balcony of the Chapel of ST Chads Head. This is what the pilgrims of the Middle Ages journeyed to see. All my life I have lived no more than 7 miles from Lichfield yet I've never seen it before. We finished off with some of the children offering special coins and lighting candles at the altar of St Chad, while the incense burned and smelled amazing.

It was a really well orgnanised, if rather long and tiring day. I never grow tired of visiting the cathedral. There is always something new to see and learn. It is such an incrediby beautiful and historically fascinating place, regardless of your beliefs.

Right. I must go now and try to make a fairy outfit for myself. Doing 'The Walk in my tracksuit would be a bit of a disappointment. Tinsel and glitter and fluff and frills are required.

ttfn

xx