The very sad truth of the matter is that if I am writing this at the end of August, that pretty much means that summer is over. The leaves on the willow are mostly yellow already and flowers are sparse in our garden. It’s been a lovely summer, but a very busy one so I’m making a note to be more prepared next year. It began at the beginning of June with frantic sewing of bottle bags for Glastonbury Festival; then I just had a week to get ready for the three week American road trip; then I had two weeks to fulfil two custom orders for Oshun and get ready for my stall at the New Forest Fairy Festival; then I had two days to catch up on housework before my parents came for a a few days; then I had four days to make a mermaid wedding dress ready for a photo shoot in Cornwall. Which brings me up to two days ago! I’ve still got a couple of Khaleesi costume orders to make, but once those are done I can calm down a little. Oh and then it’s my daughter’s eighteenth birthday party. I’m hoping I get one or two days to relax before Christmas! ….
Oshun clothing stall
The New Forest Fairy Festival was utterly amazing. I probably go through the same thought processes as all the other crafters getting ready for the event: Is all this effort and money going to be worth it? And absolutely yes it was. In the run up it’s all stressful and full of doubt, but by Saturday afternoon I’m so so glad I did it. The weather was glorious and so were the people, and at the end of the day, that’s the best thing. The majority of my life is spent in my home study either sitting in front of the the sewing machine, or in front of my computer and never have any personal interaction with my customers. This is the first time I’ve only done one festival in the season, so although it made the preparation more time consuming, it was also my one chance to actually be in the physical presence of people who are seeing items I made. It’s probably fair to say that my target audience are at the New Forest Fairy Festival and they were so kind in their comments about my work, and it makes everything worthwhile and any self-doubt I have about the type of clothes I make completely vanishes! So, a big Thank you to everyone who came to see me and said a few words to me – it really is appreciated.
My series of interviews with other artists at the festival has now come to an end, and it was so interesting reading about how everyone got started in their craft
Sue Clyne
and how their businesses have grown. I would love to continue this part of my blog, so if you’re reading this and have a few minutes to spare to answer a few questions, please get in touch and hopefully I can send a little traffic your way. I’m interested in any small business as well as arty crafty ventures.
Earlier in the month we went to the cinema to watch Suicide Squad. I wrote a (quite cringey) review of Batman Begins eleven years ago and you may guess that this wouldn’t be my first choice of film to go and see, but they’re always better than I expect. It was certainly not as bad as many critics were saying, but the pacing wasn’t quite right and there was a point about three quarters of the way through, that although a lot was happening, it started to get a bit boring. I also got a bit fed up of the Enchantress waving her hips and arms around – they should’ve done a bit more with her character than that. The cast were all brilliant though and if you’re a fan of comics, then you definitely have to see it really! Also, Rain and Jude had brilliant fun dressing up as two different versions of Harley Quinn.
Harley Quinn x 2
Other highlights this month:
* Seeing Zoe Sugg (aka Zoella) in Lacock. First of all I recognised her brother Joe outside a shop, and wondered if it actually was him; then I walked in the shop and Zoe was there at the counter. My brain couldn’t handle this so I just gasped ‘Oh my god’ and turned round and walked out again! She just laughed. Then my hands were literally shaking as I tried to figure out my phone and pluck up the courage to ask her for a selfie when she came out. She was just as lovely in real life as she is in her videos and was very happy to join me for a photo, but annoyingly I think I was apologising at the time so I look awful in it! I’m still reluctant to upload any more photos on my Instagram though as the picture is about to disappear from my front page! (By the way, if, like my parents who were with me at the time, you have no idea who Zoe is, then she’s the blogging and vlogging queen and probably the most influential person in the world for girls between the age of ten and twenty (and probably older, whether we’d admit it or not!) She has eleven million subscribers to her You Tube channel. That’s just flipping insane!)
*Watching the Pirates of the Caribbean films with the family. I’d forgotten what bloody good entertainment they are.
*Walking Loki at sunset and literally feeling the warmth of the day leaving the earth.
My recent You Tube videos. The first will give you a bit of help if you’re thinking of ordering a custom-made dress from me. Following this is a usual sewing video showing how I made the pink and white fairytale dress for a lovely lady in America.
The second is just a short haul video with everything I bought at a recent Vintage Jumble Sale in Frome.
Things to be grateful for this month:
*Watching the gymnastics at the Olympics and feeling inspired to keep trying myself. I’m very glad there’s a place I can go every week that allows me to make a fool of myself while trying to kick out of a bridge.
*Those complements people said about my work at the festival.
*My parents coming to stay and not saying a single thing about how messy our house and garden are! We had a lovely few days walking the dog and visiting English Heritage and National Trust places.
*The campervan not breaking down on us on our recent mini-break to Cornwall. By the way, as well as getting a couple of good photo-shoots for Oshun, we also took photos for a new picture for the top of this website. Hopefully that will be ready soon.
*Seeing Jeremy Loops at Perranporth. This is honestly the best concert I’ve ever been to. (Review on its way.)
*Rain and Jude not killing each other while we were away.
*My husband, Chris. It was twenty years ago today (*tries not to sing*) we got married and he’s still putting up with my strange moods and daft forgetfulness and telling him what I dreamt last night.
Have a great September! I hope everyone with kids gets the new teacher they want!
