Tweedledum and Jubilee

Britain set off on a journey in 2008, a self exploration we embarked upon with stoic pride – packing nothing but a wicker hamper of vintage crockery and can-do spirit, we knotted our polka dot headscarves and marched straight into the maelstrom of recession.

Unfortunately we hadn’t reckoned on our new government’s spin beyond spin to take that can-do spirit and mix in some ‘generous’ austerity measures and Blam! double dip just in time for the Diamond Jubilee celebrations..!

On the other hand, we DO know how to throw a good bash in NoHo and I reckon we’ve thrown just about everything at The Big Jubilee Picnic this June at Delapre Abbey

Grrr. I want to steal these two girl’s jobs… They actually get paid to dress up and make everything lovely!      www.hattieandflora.co.uk

Everyone I know is doing something brilliant for the Jubilee and, rather fittingly for a girl who can’t say no, I’m doing three at once! I’ll be hanging out at a local primary school with the MakeIt! crew for some Blinging Papier-mâché workshops, helping the kids make such awesome crowns, medals and chains that they’ll want to come over on the day and march around like, royalty?

The Roses WI are painting the town red from our Wonderland Tea Rooms, where we’ll be dressed our Sunday Best, gritting our teeth and girding our patty pans for the “Battle of the Battenburgs” bake-off with Upton WI!

‘Roses’ getting into the spirit of the Royal Enclosure with a visit from NoHo’s best connected milliner, Michelle Macartney from On Your Head Be It!

Aaand, I plan to get a bit of crochet done over with that most elusive group of NoHo’s creative set, as I hear the Guerilla Knitta’s are planning a bit of a PicKnit an’all.  Good Times!

This might all sound a bit terrific but it’s only a teeny tiny bit of all the splendid stuff my good friends Lizzie and Tamsyn have been working specially hard on to give you all a right rollicking FREE good time on June 3rd, so log on to www.bigjubileepicnic.com for a blogfest… Oh and here’s a little film T and I made in the studio last week to get you in the make-do-mood!  X

Tags: BIGFATJUBILEEPICNIC!!, Delapre Abbey, NohoNeedsKnitters, Northampton, Roses, Schools

Nice Box

We have a lot of friends who cycle (not least the Ministry of Bicycles who hit their BomberDrome target last month, cheers all you generous planks!) and we have a lot of friends who like to dress like ladies (these are the girls NOT the BomberDrome Boys… though it has been known) and therein lies a problem, how do you wear your ditsy slip of a summer dress to do all the things you love whilst maintaining your dignity?

If the girl in this image was older, plumper and in front of a Stagecoach on Welly rd, she’d basically be me.

Last month my good chum Abigail K Jackson and I hit upon the solution.. BIG PANTS! 

The adorable Chloe modeling our pants for David Ikin in last months Chronicle & Echo

Our beautiful one off knickers come in French or Shorts style they are handmade from vintage silk and packaged in custom  boxes.

Hence the name NICE BOX

 On sale at the Milton Keynes Handmade and Vintage Extravaganza at the end of May and in the world famous Bicycle Basket Bazaar at The Vintage Festival in July.

HOW VERY THRILLING!

Tags: Big Pants, BluddyLuverly, French Knickers, Milton Keynes, NICEBOX, Tap Shorts, Vintage Festival, Wayne Hemmingway

Look out for the Lighthouse

Last year I spent some time with Harlestone and Little Brington Primary Schools for the N-Signs project where we asked the pupils to come up with designs featuring their beloved home town, as you can imagine the iconic Lift Tower featured heavily. 

Maks Swiderek’s incredible image, see more at flow-northamptonshire.com 

It’s often easy to overlook… err no, hang on it’s not is it? and it’s going to be even harder to ignore this Friday and Saturday night when Jo Fairfax’s laser installation beams across Jimmys End.

Tags: art, FlowNorthants, Jo Fairfax, Lasers, LiftTower, Light House

Burns St-st-Studios

I didn’t leave my house yesterday, I started watching The Bridge on BBC IPlayer the day before so it was easy to let the digital scandi-skies blend with  the overcast view from my window and prevent me from moving. But today I find myself parked on the edge of Abi’s cutting table, surrounded by colour and pom-poms and plaid ribbon typing to the sound of Essouria and (as long as I don’t peek out of the patchwork curtains) all is well in our happy fabric factory! 

Scarlet-haired studio intern Chloe has the best camo for Burns St!

Downstairs the HND Photography students are installing their end of year show, Oculi, which opens tonight from 7-9 pm. It’ll be up for the next 10 days and is the culmination of study for 11 folks studying in one of the hardest professions to break, so come down and give your feedback.

a menage a b&w in Burns St kitchen.

I’m really looking forward to next month’s Drink + Draw with Pub Art School.On tour from the hip boozers of Islington and Camden Town, Pub Art School is here at the Factory on 23rd June 12 to 3… to you mate, 15 nicker. Book up at abijackson.com

Tags: art, Burns St, grey, HND Students, Photography, Pub Art School, The Bridge

NoHo needs Knitters!

You’ve probably heard, if not seen, tell of Guerilla Knitting, Yarn-Bombing or Knit-Tagging but if you’re not familiar these are terms used to describe knitted ‘graffiti’ that has been installed in a public place, here’s a few random examples I’ve collected.

Now a little bird tells me about a huge underground project aimed at knitting, crocheting, weaving and felting our streets beautiful this summer…

Stand and Deliver!

The group dubbed, “NoHo Needs Knitters” plan to recruit through a series of events from Movie Marathons to PicKnits and could really do with your help to make this happen, no experience needed.

*hell why not get your whole family, office or class in on it?! *

If you can’t make one event there’ll be another, keep your eyes peeled for pop-up notices and if you’re not local but fancy subverting some N-Town minds with your snazzy cable stitch, join their Facebook crew and find out more! 

Ye Gods! it's a highway holdup. Oh. no hang on it's worse, it's those accursed guerilla knitters!

Friday 13th April, Knit-a-Long Moviethon Burns St Studios. Films from 12 noon to 10pm FREE

Tags: Awesome!, Burns St Studios, FREE NEEDLES, Guerilla, knit-Tagging, Knitting, Northampton, UnderTheCoverOfDarkness, Woolly Reprobates, Yarn-Bombing

Va-Va-Vintage

Yes, I know it’s been ages I’m not going to apologise because life, opportunity and adventure snipped away at my time and that can only ever be a good thing!

Springtime in Northampton is always a visual assault,red brick against blue skies boost my serotonin levels high above the chimney pots and the sun through my teeny winch room window paints my fingers gold.

The warm weather brings out optimistic fools and I was happy to join them this Sunday at the Fools Parade by the bandstand in Abington Park where I took this filigree-d snap of TamsynTN and her beardy half JoeRS pic-a-nikking on a gorgeous patchwork blanket T had crafted in preparation for June’s Jubilee Picnic at Delapre Abbey…

Keep Calm and Camp It Up

Yessir there is a huge amount of work going on across N-Town in preparation for this years Royal Party though I feel a vintage knees-up has been brewing for quite some time now, the Queens celebrations are just the excuse we all needed to put on something garish and parade about in public.

I’m going to be involved with the MakeIt! workshops and the NTRoses WI have challenged Upton WI to a Battle of the Battenbergs Bakeoff for which we’ve calculated we need around 60 cakes *gulp* but they’ll be put to good use as we’ll be serving them up from our Wonderland Tea-Rooms.

On the run-up to the picnic Tamsyn, Anna and Emma are holding some pretty/eccentric workshops, I don’t know the exact info yet but I have spied an incredible corgi bag and knitted crown that I’ll be first in line to make, ha!

Keep Calm and Jitterbug

I also spotted Little JoAMP in the park whose 1920′s alter-ego Madame Electrifie is back at the Bradlaugh on the 21st AND this month saw the return of The Buzz (last Saturday of the month every month) which means we’ve got a whole chunk of 20C tunes covered.

The pub is great – but it is a pub, Noho really needs an awesome ballroom to host these type of foot-stomping affairs – what’s the Black Cat looking like these days, aside from derelict…

Keep Calm & Spend Like it’s Fashionable Again

Ooh, *exhale* Right this is a difficult one, I kind of object to shopping because we all really do have enough of everything we could possibly ever need  - BUT I have to get over this as I’m sharing a stall at a vintage fair at Wellingborough school on the 19th and again next month in the decidedly unvintage Milton Keynes with AbiSNM and HelenWPW .I’ll be selling hand sewn bicycle baskets and BIG Knickers so I really need to revise my ideas.

(IF my other half ever reads this, there will be much eye-rolling and under-breath mutterings!)

…Lets just say if you’re shopping, buy brilliant lasting classics and there’s plenty of places to get them – I’ve blogged a lot about The Most Marvellous Place to Shop but there’s also The Old Bakehouse Antiques to get lost in, the hip Wolf & Gypsy warehouse sales to keep an eye out for and I’m looking forward to a poke around at the Vintage Fair and Jubilee Garden Party at the Spinney Hill on the 26th May.

Hoorah!

Keep Calm and Fund a Wall of Death

Before this post on all things chinzy ends, I think it would be beyond remiss for me not to mention Mr Hemmingway’s visit to the county this July as lots of my buddies are taking part in Vintage at Boughton House BUT lets not peak too soon on the details of that one, I’ll just say if you want to be there but can’t make it - maybe* your name could put in an appearance..?

*Don’t hold me to anything!!

Tags: Abington Park, BomberDrome, Boughton House, Fairs, Jubilee, Ministry Of Bicycles, MostMarvellous, Northampton, Old Bakehouse, Retro, Vintage

Good News! Good News!

I really love our local paper’s tweets in which the ‘Chron’ reverts to town crier, shouting out punchy headlines, in between informal banter and retweets of traffic or sport from other tweeps… But, every time I visit the site I get really downhearted by all the negative bitchy comments at the end of the articles

As a world citizen in the 21stC of course I believe everyone has a right to say what they think, we all know that there’s a global environmental/social/political/financial meltdown, high unemployment, the constant encroaching fear of everything, we are assailed by these facts everyday through the national media and if I wanted more of that I’d be logging on to the Mail website.

When I read articles in my local paper I want to hear about the triumphs of residents, the successes of our businesses, an underlining of our differences to any other place and a sense of the communities it serves, after all you probably know someone involved in the story!! so today I commented on an article

and then I couldn’t stop looking, and looking..

..and I thought, I wonder what the Chronicle & Echo site would look like if EVERYONE I know made a positive comment on an article they cared about??

So, in the spirit of St Valentine and because I am slushy as can be,  every person who finds something positive to say in support of Northampton who posts it as a comment on the Chron site and puts a link below between now and Valentines day I shall feed with cake. 

Posts must be more eloquent than, “Northampton is Awesome”, think of something to say that will warm a readers cockles, don’t be mean to anyone else no matter what they write in response to you,

Cake will be served to all ‘Good News Noho’ commentators at  my office in Burns Street Studios on Saturday 18th February, I will have baked it myself so can’t guarantee how tasty it will be but I am good at making tea

Please Please Share, we all deserve one week of happy thoughts and warm cockles… think of the cake!!

Tags: CakeBribery, Chronicle, Collaborative Goodwill, GoodNew, Northampton