Saturday 30 July 2011

Fun with Bunting


Some time spent with the family finally gave me the opportunity to make the Shark Alley bunting for my stall.  What a palaver - I started it on Sunday evening and finished it on Wednesday morning!  I probably made it more time consuming than it needed to be, but I was making it up as I went along and I wanted it to be super-perfect.  So there was cutting of templates, then selecting, reselecting, arranging and rearranging fabrics, buying more fabric, trying to work my Mum's sewing machine, cutting out letters and hand sewing them on, realising one long strand wasn't going to work and trying to find more tape for the 'string', then dealing with floppy triangles . . . . it was never-ending!  The latter problem was solved by spray-on starch - appearing in the form of this can from the 1970s! Amazing!  The contents are probably completely toxic by now, but still working nevertheless.

This was followed by visit to Wisley RHS Gardens - a beautiful and inspirational riot of colour and pattern that should hopefully go some way to inspiring some long overdue textile designs.
 


Friday 22 July 2011

And The Winner is . . .

I am so overwhelmed by the response to the otter naming competition!  

Such a big thank you to all who entered and to those who helped to promote it and 'liked' it on Facebook - what lovely, lovely people you are.

So as I sit here with my cuppa I am forced to decide on a winner and it's SO HARD as they are all so brilliant.  I didn't envisage this when I started and now I feel a bit sad.  So to make myself feel a tiny bit less cruel and beastly I am going to have an overall winner and two runners up, who will win otter keyrings, each featuring one of their chosen names and hobbies.

RUNNERS UP (in no particular order)
A cheeky little otter keyring is on its way to:
BECCA  - as your hobbies were all so brilliant (stamp- collecting and torches!) and
KEEPER - as I just howled with laughter at yours - 'at his happiest when viewing exposed piping' and Wellington's 'little otter brain' will have me chuckling for hours.

But the WINNER for the sheer depth and magnitude of her descriptions and because they made me laugh AND cry is:
LOULOUTE & BÉATRICE - who named them specifically in the order they appeared and gave so much information - what an imagination! 

They are so poetic and imaginative but quite detailed, so I can only include one otter here:

Olga : She’s the descendant of the Romanoffs and her grandfather came to
France during WW 1 after the Soviet Revolution and, after the war, he settled
in London where he married an English noblewoman.

Olga’s mother was prima ballerina at Covent Garden where she excelled
performing the dying otter in the tragic ballet “The Otters’ Lake”. Olga grew
up among many artistic Russian otters and she’s just unbeatable at quotations
of 19th century’s Russian writers. She tried to write a novel herself about the
migration of Russian otters but she finally founded a ballet school since she
wasn’t as talented as her mother. She’s very efficient though, preparing young
awkward otter pups to the opera ballet or to dance in British and American
films. One of her most famous pupils was the actor of Billy Otter.

She’s quite severe but she’s romantic and fascinated by her task. She’s very
quick and agile and of course playful like all otters. Her fur is particularly
brilliant and smooth. She’s nostalgic of Russian moors and snowy winters and
she’s still waiting for a Russian Snow Prince who’ll come and take her away on
his sledge.

If you feel you could be her Snow Prince, even if you’re not a Russian otter, so,
please, pester your keeper he’ll adopt her and let you have many little, squeaky
cubs !


Aristotle will be winging his way to you on Monday - he's terribly excited.

Can you email me your addresses so I can send you your little treasures? sarah@sharkalley.co.uk

Thanks again to everyone who entered - they were all fab, and it was a nightmare to choose! 
Yaaaay - we all have names! Gourmand, Hazel & Olga

If you would like to own a standy-up otter like Aristotle (and indeed like Gourmand, Hazel and Olga) they are currently available to buy from my Etsy shop and will soon be featured on my website 
along with other felty things that I have been stitching away at. I shall let you know when they're on there and it should be quite soon, as Phil is hard at work!  Please pop by for a visit any time.

They will also be on sale at the Makers Boutique event tomorrow in Brighton


So come and say 'hi' if you're passing - there'll be loads of great stuff there.

At this point, I'd like to say that 10% of the money I receive from the sale of all otters will be donated to the very wonderful Otters & Butterflies sanctuary in Devon to help them in their work looking after and rehabilitating orphaned and endangered otters.  They also need £90,000 to build a new feeding station, and keeper Matt Heaton is doing all sorts of sponsored things to help raise this.

Here is Matt being greeted (eated?!) by Asian Short-Clawed otters Paprika and Nutmeg


x x x x

Monday 18 July 2011

RAISING ARISTOTLE

Lovely people!

I just feel so utterly silly at the moment that I have devised a little competition for you.

Here's your chance to be the lucky winner of the delightful Aristotle Otter and then you could be the one RAISING ARISTOTLE (and he's really no trouble at all -  I was exaggerating in the last post).

With apologies to the Coen brothers

ABOUT ARISTOTLE
Aristotle Otter is about 19cm high and has a very cute face.  He and his chums are part of Shark Alley's new hand-stitched range - entirely hand made by me on my sofa (probably whilst watching the Mad Men box sets).  He is made from brown and white felt, is stuffed with hollow-fibre polyester and has sequins for his shiny little eyes.  I would probably not recommend him for children under three, as they do love to put things in their mouths and may accidentally chew off his ears or something.
Aristotle Otter - a magnificent and noble beast

Aristotle comes from a large (and ever-growing) family and I'm struggling to name them all.



 So here's what you can do to help and be in with a chance to adopt Aristotle:

HOW TO ENTER
Think of THREE OTTER NAMES along with their pastimes/hobbies/likes (along the lines of the ones shown below for the otter keyrings - but better!)


You can post them on the comments section here on this blog OR go to Shark Alley's Facebook page (and please feel free to 'Like' it while you're there, if you haven't already!) and post them there BEFORE 1pm (BST) on FRIDAY 22nd JULY.  If you feel shy, you can email them to me at sarah@sharkalley.co.uk

I will agonise over all the suggestions over lunch, have a nice cup of tea and then choose Aristotle's lucky new parent.

The winning names and descriptions will be proudly adopted by these little critters in time for the Makers' Boutique market the next day on Saturday 23rd July.

We haven't got names - awwwww


 Thank you and good luck!

PS If you want to get your hands on your very own otter, go here. Free postage until 1st September!

Terms & Conditions
This is a fun competition - so let's all play nicely!
The three names and hobbies will be selected at lunchtime on Friday 22nd July and the lucky genius will be notified that afternoon and announced on here and on Shark Alley's Facebook page (if you would rather not be named, please let me know). As soon as you provide me with your postal address, I will post Aristotle to you 1st Class Royal Mail, or Air Mail if you are not a UK resident. Shark Alley promises not to use your suggested names and hobbies if you don't win, use or share any of your details or bombard you with spam (Aristotle hates spam).


Wednesday 13 July 2011

SO CUTE, IT'S A FREAKIN' CRIME

WARNING!

Shark Alley's new range of hand stitched standy-up otters is to be launched on an unsuspecting general public at Makers' Boutique on Saturday 23rd July (Unitarian Church, New Road, Brighton 11am-5pm).

These otters are so cute, it's a crime.  They need to be put under house arrest immediately, and I shall be relying on you to help out.

Keep an eye out for these reprobates;




PLUS! 
A standy-up otter has been spotted on CCTV quite clearly being cute in a built-up area



They may also be operating in the vicinity of Oak Studio, Perrin's Court, Hampstead some time early next week, when they are thought to be launching the London phase of their terrifying campaign of cuteness.

FOR DETAILS OF HOW TO WIN ONE OF THESE CRITTERS IN AN AUDACIOUS SORT OF COMPETITION THING, STAY ALERT!   

Details to follow next week.

PS If you want to get your hands on your very own otter, go here. Free postage until 1st September!

Sunday 3 July 2011

We Make London Summer Boutique pt II

I went up to London yesterday to help out in the shop in the afternoon and attend the launch party in the evening.  It was lovely to meet so many crafters and swap ideas and experiences, and the location of the shop is perfect - in a delightful pedestrian street in the middle of Hampstead.  The quality and diversity of the work is amazing and very inspiring. 




Result - I'm there at the same time as the cupcake decorating workshop.
Massive shout-out to Mary and Julie who have put in an incredible amount of work to make this event happen.  I'm so proud to be a part of it.