North London Adventures

2 Mile Walk

A lovely evening walk through picturesque Islington residential streets towards Kings Cross. My friend Charlotte and I ate at a small social enterprise cafe called New Roots Cafe at 344 Caledonian Road which serves vegan and vegetarian food. It is ran by volunteers and all profits support the charity Highway House and the women’s shelter in Islington.

Here are some photos of the lovely architecture we enjoyed along the route.

Wool BnB

Last week was National Wool Week and I found out about the Campaign for Wool after some internet surfing. It turns out that a townhouse in Islington has been completely refurbished with wool products in every room. Decorated by interior stylist Karina Garrick with a vast number of artists, designers and British Wool Makers products ranging from carpets, mattresses, bedding, artwork and clothing.

The Wool BnB was open to the public this weekend and my friend Alex and I visited on Saturday morning. We almost had the place to ourselves but as we were nearing the end of our stay it was beginning to get a little busier.

I will leave you with a range of photographs I took of the many beautiful, fun and humorous woollen items made by weaving, knitting, felting or tufting.

Hand knitted throws on bed by Melanie Porter

Full English Breakfast knitted wool installation by Jessica Dance

Full English Breakfast knitted wool installation by Jessica Dance

Full English Breakfast knitted wool installation by Jessica Dance

Merino wool wall art by Jacqueline Fink

Felted plant pot holders by Aveva Designs

Alex catching up on the latest in wool news!

It was a really fun and inspirational event. The colourful interiors certainly brightened up a dull and dreary October morning.

Christmas bunting at Sew Over It

In November I booked a 'festive bunting' workshop for myself and my friend Natalie at the new Sew Over It store in Islington. Natalie is learning how to sew and I thought it would be a fun way to catch up over a bit of craft.
The shop frontage of the Sew Over it store is a beautiful shade of lilac and inside it has the familiar pink highlights like the Clapham store. Lisa was running the session which started at 6pm with tea and cake (Nat and I were a bit late so missed that bit) then onto a quick demonstration by Lisa about how to construct the bunting.
After a speedy two hours I managed to come up with this! To be honest the selection of fabric that Lisa had prepared did not conjure up my idea of festive bunting - the fabrics were a range of polka dot cottons in lilac, pink, blue and black. I chose the blue polka dot and then bought half a metre of red polka dot and the darker coloured tarten you can see in the photo. I found a lighter red tarten in the scrap box that we had permission to raid.
It was only after Nat send me the photo of me looking dead proud of my bunting that I realised that the colour combinations of my sweater and trousers match perfectly!! How twee.