CHEESELS ~ Whatever can they be....?

Just for you, the East Place kitchen is working on a recipe to make the best ever Cheesels... 

"but what ARE 'Cheesels'?" You say...

Well they're an irresistibly tasty combination of Cheese and Teasel -aka- cheesy hedgehog biscuits! Scrummy

Famous cook ~ the lovely Teasel hedgehog ~ will soon be offering up gorgeous recipe cards for you to cook up your own fun and delicious treats:

Look out for lovely gift bundles for keen cooks ~ of the both the young and more grown up variety ~ coming soon...remember YOU saw it here FIRST!

Great To Meet Good People!

After a late night, an early start and a long drive, we got to Long Melford this morning to be welcomed by Dee and set up our craft stall in The Old School.
It was a lovely friendly atmosphere and we felt privileged to meet lots of fellow Artisans - all dedicated to producing high quality products which showed their real love for what they do. If you're reading this then do keep in touch...
 

A blue-grey coat of paint worked a treat to unify the display too - and helped to pull together the overall look.

The dresses and pinafores looked gorgeous - and proved irresistible for a few customers...so thank you for showing your appreciation of locally handmade creativity and craft.

New for this fair - fresh striped draw string bags were popular - embellished by Annie's whippet and terrier designs

 The trellis Helen had sourced looked fantastic, adding height in a light and airy way to the space.

As always, meeting and chatting with people today was a big learning curve - time for reflection now - thanks to lots of constructive feedback.

Preparing for the next Craft Fair

Come and say hello - Next Craft Fair: Long Melford, 10am-4pm, at The Old School, 20 July
The paint pots have been opened - and a couple of new colours are mixed. Made up of some odds and ends of not quite finished tubs in the shed and a couple of sample pots, a pleasing array of bluish-greys has been arrived at and duly plastered over any wicker in the vicinity.
Three trellis panels will form a corner at the back of the stall, providing height for showing off some of the pinafores and hanging our name on:

How did that cheeky scooter get in the photo?

Now the stall will look more together - Helen and I got together on Sunday to plan what will go where - it's just countdown to Saturday after next1
If you're nearby - pop along - it will be grand to see you at the Craft Fair in Long Melford.

A Bit More Handmade

In an attempt to create a much more handmade look and feel to some aspects of the design work and products, I have decided to explore some simple print-making processes and started by carving a little Vanilla bunny from some lino block today.
It's difficult to tell from the block itself whether or not the image is working - to see how much has been cut out and if it needs any more removed.

The best thing to do is just made a quick proof print to check - and then cut again if necessary to make any adjustments to the design.

Using some black water-based printing ink (to hand in the little making shed!), I rolled some onto the block and made a quick print - which highlighted a couple of things that would be better changed - hence the second proof print (see if you can spot the differences):

The one on the left is actually the second print.

On seeing them, the four (just) year old son declared - "I don't really like the lines not attached." 

He didn't like the black either, suggesting "You could make it a girlish blue."

Salient advice - thank you dear boy!

Well - I shall be working on them, adding colour - maybe a 'girlish blue' is just what's needed! 

The aim is to develop a print of each character and one of the birdies too - Cards? Tea towels? - we'll see...