A Valentine's Day Treat.

I have seen the Website and heard about this craft shop and so added it to my blog but I had never seen it in reality. So when Steve said where do you want to go for a Valentines treat I though it would be nice to find Lyrebird.
It is a little gem of a shop tucked away deep in the Cornish coutryside in the village of Constantine.I hope they approve of the buckets of flowers I have added!!

Inside we found Nichola Butland working away surrounded by Cornish crafted buttons, ribbons and lace. She was very welcoming and and happy for me to take photos.The aim of Lyrebird is to be an outlet for local crafts people and if you check their site you will see that there are many strings to their lyre!

These unique necklaces are all handmade in Cornwall,very tempting!

I bought a patchwork kit put together locally by The Other Thing and Lyrebird.The message on the recycled packaging says "Good things come to those who make" and I think this a wise saying. My husband's Grandma who was a wonderful woman told me that if ever she felt despondent or fearful the best thing was to "Do something with your hands" She made many crochet quilts and was an expert knitter.

Patchwork kits ready for you to make a cushion and felt kits for do it yourself decorations.

I love the Russian dolls and the Raku buttons .

Here we have just the thing for the eco witch about town, no petrol and easy to park!

These charming buttons are locally made and are so tempting that I bought some!

Lovely broaches made with beads and buttons ,so individual and eye catching.

How about this for a Valentine's night outfit ?

There are also  bags and hats.

Gloves and scarves all hand knitted.

I bought a lovely flower broach in pale lilac , it would look good on a coat or jumper .

These are nice smaller felt flowers.

Some examples of the individually designed jewelery.

I hope you enjoyed the visit to Lyrebird, we certainly did and it is good to know that most of the materials used are recycled which fits in with my view that "a thing of beauty is a joy forever" a quote from John Keats.
Another hero, William Morris would also approve of the aims of this  captivating shop.
You can feel the happiness and fun of being creative in the shop. It is also lovely to see Nichola at work at her big wooden table and to get a warm welcome from her. She even told us of a good place to get a cup of tea in the village! If you want to find out more and view the Etsy shop the link is on my blog.

Time for tea!

Love Libraries!

Councils in England are being told to save money because the banking crisis and the world recession have caused a large deficit.The present government is attacking our public services in a calcualted ideological manner to move as much as possible into the private sector. I am apposed to this and as a public service worker all my life I resent the way Cameron ,Clegg and the boys are trying to trash us!Many councillors think that libraries are an easy target for cuts because they have no idea of the cohesive effect they have in local society.
They house other agencies in some areas, for example Citizens Advice , Links To Learning and services to the housebound .Can a bookshop visit you and bring large print and audio books free?
  I have worked in the Public Library Service all my working life except for a brief spell in a bookshop where I learned that profit was the main requirement.The library on the other hand was for enjoyment ,inspiration and education for all not just those who can pay. I have no problem with bookshops making money ,great and I love using them but the library is so much more. It is a meeting place and a hub!

Here we have the poetry group I started at my Library,a monthly meeting of poets and poetry lovers!

A craft day with children where they created with different media and Mums joined in!

Members of a reading group.

The help desk.

Reading the papers.

Something to grab you.

I urge everyone to get out and save your local library,once it is gone it will not be reinstated ! Libraries are the universities of every man ,woman and child.They are magic for kids and essential for all of us.  Sorry to be a bit soap boxy about this but I really believe that our puplic libraries which do books and so much more are a treasure we cannot afford to loose !

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