easily distracted by shiny things…
Posted in inspiration, writing on Dec 19th, 2011
Talent is what they say you have after the novel is published and favorably reviewed. Beforehand what you have is a tedious delusion, a hobby like knitting. Work is what you have done after the play is produced and the audience claps. Before that friends keep asking when you are planning to go out and [...]
Dear Internet, I have a confession to make. My name’s Claire, and I have an uncontrollable addiction to diaries. At the end of 2010 I bought a small, slim 2011 diary from WHSmith. It had a week to view, with a page for notes facing each week. Small enough to go in my handbag, plenty [...]
Posted in embroidery, knitting, writing on Jul 22nd, 2011
How exciting – I’m in a magazine! The magazine in question is a brand-new digital publication by Kate Davies, whose blog I’ve been following and whose knitting patterns I’ve been queueing for some time. So you can imagine how excited I was when she asked me whether I’d be willing to talk about smocking, and [...]
Posted in FAQ, inspiration, writing on Jun 26th, 2009
I started working for myself for two reasons. I went to an event with a lot of independent traders, and came home thinking “I could do better than that”. And I did. For a while. I became frustratingly and unpredictably ill. Working for myself gave me the flexibility I needed to work as much as [...]
Posted in culture, inspiration, writing on May 31st, 2009
Image © Tom Hunter I was reading the Big Issue yesterday, and suddenly did a double-take when I saw this picture. It’s from the “Travellers” series by Tom Hunter, who has several current exhibitions in London and around Europe. When I was at University I harboured a sort of a romantic notion that I would somehow land [...]
So, we’re in a global recession. A couple of months ago I had a surprising number of orders cancelled, all at once. Most of them were for party dresses that people simply couldn’t afford to pay for any more. Never mind that the dresses were going to be hand made from beautiful fabrics, one of [...]
This week I got myself into a terrible state trying to write up my CV for the Museum of English Rural Life. One of the difficulties with being self-employed is that it’s often necessary to take part time or seasonal work, to make sure you have some form of income during those quiet patches. Unfortunately, [...]