Wednesday 28 September 2011

The Stuff of Life Festival, Marvellous Market and more!

The Stuff of Life Festival is almost upon us!

We have a fantastic day lined up, with some fabulous music from Dirty Buzzard, Malin-deb, Garrison, Marc Block and the Breezes, Steve Bliss Piano Fromage and Mad Dogs and English.


Theres also lots more to see and do, we've Marvellous Market stalls, Art projects, Children's entertainment, lots of scrummy food including the UnderGround Bakery, the SRRA Cafe and more! There's also the bread making competition, community art projects and the wonderful flour power living sculpture procession at the end of the day to celebrate our community in the only way we know how.... with Samba! dancing! And drums drums drums!

There's also a bit of history to our lovely community, and we're making it into a bit of an art project/flash mob style event on the day itself.
Sherwood rise was once home to 3 bakery/bread factories and used to have its very own 'Pikelet factory'. For those that dont know, Pikelets are crumpets. Or very like them. But better.

Anyway, due to the bread filled history of the Sherwood Rise area, we mark this fine occasion by wearing white and therefore likening ourselves to the very stuff of life, bread, flour, pikelets. If you feel like being part of our event, please just show up at 5pm in as much white as you can manage. 

The good news is that you can arrive early to enjoy the day, and then discard your coat in a flurry of superman style fantastic-ness to join the parade.

This is all happening on Saturday 1st of October (yes, this Saturday!) and all kicks off at 12 noon until 6pm. If anyone reading this belongs to our fine community, help on the day would be much appreciated. Setting up and breaking down are the hard parts, and we'll have volunteers there from 8am on the day! So any help will be much appreciated. If you are likely to be free to volunteer please email us ; themollyqueen@googlemail.com


Other than that, I guess its time to tell you about the marvellous market last sunday!

The Marvellous Market - September style

A marvellous day, had by all. Once again we made The Federation House Social Club our own by swarming in with 20 fabulous stall holders, community art projects and wonderful food. The UnderGround bakery had an amazing range of tasty delights that all went down very well; especially that fudge cake for after! 

The Picture line, apart from being completely soaked by the September rain, was covered in fantastic drawings from the wonderful kids (and a few grown-ups) the best will be chosen and there'll be a prize at next months market!





Also a BIG thanks to our two musicians, Louis Scott and Emily Rachel Martin for singing their pretty little hearts out for us. Louis and Emily both have big things ahead of them, Louis is a little lump of heart-melting talent with a soulful voice and wonderful song-writing skills. And Emily has several fabulous musical pursuits none of which detract from the fact that she's just amazing with a guitar and a beautiful song. Or a ukelele infact. See her as part of 'We are Avengers', Emily and the Martens and solo.

At the next market...Emily? Louis? Yeah? ;)



Thanks to everyone who was involved in the event, either as a stall holder or as an atendee. We had a great day and cant wait for the next! There'll be workshops to partake in and massage session available (book in advance) and the wonderful, poetical genius that is John Marriott performing for your ears, eyes and sense of humour.

More info to come soon! 

Dates for your Diary

Stuff of Life Festival - Saturday 1st October - 12 until 6pm

The Night Market - The Golden Fleece - Tuesday 18th October - 6 - 11pm

LadyFest - Various Venues on Mansfield Road - Saturday 19th Nov 11 - late.

Also, coming up - MollyQueen's Marvellous Christmas Market Date TBC
and more!

Dont forget to email me if you are interested in any events or wish to be a stallholder. If its the latter, please tell me a bit about yourself and send me a few images.

Peace and poetry

MollyQueen



 



Thursday 22 September 2011

Beyond Borders - Our marvellous sponsored charity

Beyond Borders

Every year, Beyond Borders makes the long trip to Haiti to stay and work with a school in a little village over the Christmas period. Maureen has been working with the same group of children for numerous years and has supplied them with essentials for living as well as helping to ensure the children are up to date with their education. A qualified nursery nurse in england, Maureen has an extensive knowledge of early years education and uses this knowledge to strengthen the lives of those in some of the poorest situations and does all of this by saving up throughout the year to fund her trip.

MollyQueen is sponsoring Beyond Borders this year and hoping to make this trip even more memorable. We are going to fill a suitcase with clothes, school materials, learning resources and lots more for the project, including some toys! We are raising money at our Marvellous market to pay for the baggage fee. We have a suitcase donation point at the market and Maureen will be there to show her photographs, talk about the children and tell us about the work she does.

Our total so far, which we raised at the last market, will only pay for a third of the suitcase to get there, which we dont think is enough. So we are asking you to give generously for this amazing cause. Pop along to the market and meet Maureen between 11.30 and 2.00pm on Sunday 25th September, and pop a few pennies in the suitcase. 

Scroll down for more info on the market itself.


Just to drive home the comparison between our children's lives and those of the children in Haiti, i've included these photographs of much loved and cherished toys.

How much do we take for granted without even realising it?



Monday 19 September 2011

Mostly Marvellous, a Little bit Nice and a whole lot of french paper.

Bonjour mon amis!


Less than a week to go before the Marvellous Market once again takes over the Federation Social Club on Claremont Road. We've 23 stall holders in total, ranging from henna tattoo artists (really beautiful and intricate designs) through to vintage bags and accessories, textiles, paintings and cards. 



Our Community Art projects are back, with Public Poetry, Public Photography, Free Art, The Thought Box and The Picture Line so there'll be plenty of stuff to do while you're waiting to have your tarot cards read in the 'cave' in the garden. 


We've also got a special guest attending, Maureen of 'Beyond Borders' is the lady responsible for the wonderful charity work in Haiti that we advertised last month. She'll be there to raise money for her amazing cause and tell you all about the fantastic work she does and the wonderful kids she helps.


The UnderGround Bakery will be there with her amazing array of cakes, savouries and scrummy recipes alongside the bar which will be serving teas and coffees amongst their usual range of bevvies.



We have live music from the fabulous Louis Scott, Emily Rachel Martin and Alexa Hawksworth from 1pm so theres no excuse not to hang around, be sociable, get creative and open those ears.



Here's that list of Stall Holders again:



The UnderGround Bakery
Knot Just Jigs
Jolie Maidment
Katie Stainer
Debi
Meggan's Vintage Bags
Cara Amira
Yarn Loft
Alison Hand
The Occasional Cupcake
Lindsay's Cards
Claudia Schaaf
Sneaky
Laura Stephenson
Tarot Readings
Sue Richards
Alison Knox
Amy Hoddinot
Mwanabibi Sikomo
Frances and Ruth
Mama's Cauldron
MollyQueen Decoupage
Bees Make Honey


Nice times

Halfway through a splendid holiday in Nice, a strange feeling erupted in my chest and mind, It took me a while to realise but once the shock had died down, I discovered that it was relaxation. Possibly the first time I've felt it since that little bumpy thing flopped out of my tummy about 4 years ago. That lasted about 3 hours and then I began to suffer another strange feeling, that I'm sure you're all aware of - craft withdrawal symptoms. Then it hit me, I should make Free Art french! So I did.

Using several pages from the psychologies magazine that I had demolished on the plane journey, about 30 cm of thread, a hair bobble, a ribbon of netting, some severe boredom and a bit of free time while the boy watched football, I created my first Free Art Flower. I'm a bit in love with it and I hope that whoever found it was too! Here's a not so good photo (my phone camera is rubbish) but hopefully the finder will post a nice photo of it when it has found its home.



If anyone has photo's of their Free Art contributions, please email them to themollyqueen@googlemail.com and I'll post them for all to see.

French Paper

I managed to read more during my week away then I have done in the whole year at home. This impressed me. I also managed to think less during the whole week then I have done in the space of one day back home. But somewhere in the middle a combination of the two struck a bond of mutual affection and planted an idea into my head.

Paper chains. 

Lots and lots of beautiful paper chains.

Watch this space...

And on that (rather bizarre) note, I shall leave you to ponder paper chains and to relax into the fun and comfortable idea of a wonderful arts and crafts market on sunday full of nice people, amazing art, creative genius,  marvellous music, scrummy food and most of all..... about 10 degrees less warmth than in Nice.

Isnt England just Marvellous?

xx MQ xx

Monday 5 September 2011

The Night Market Returns and a call for Stall Holders

MollyQueen will once again be taking over the Golden Fleece on Mansfield Road on Tuesday the 18th of October.

It will be an evening of live music, arts and crafts and a little spot of dancing. Have a look at our previous blog post to see how the last one went!

We are recruiting stallholders!

If you are interested in attending any of the following events as a stall holder please email themollyqueen@googlemail.com with the relevant event title in the subject.

The dates are as follows:

The Stuff of Life Fest Saturday 1st October 12 - 6pm - email 'Stuff'

The Night Market - Tuesday 18th October - email 'Night'

LadyFest - Saturday November 19th - Times TBC - email 'Lady'

Marvellous Market - Date TBC - Sunday in October - email 'Marvellous'

----------------

MollyQueen will be out of office for a week until the 16th of September, as we are now booked for the next marvellous market we will be processing all aplications for other events when we get back so please email as soon as possible to make sure you dont miss out on a space. If your query is urgent, or you need to cancel a stall please contact nottsunderground@hotmail.co.uk


until then, arivoi! (Thats French dontcha know?)

Friday 2 September 2011

An even more Marvellous Market? Yes please!

Hello MollyQueeners!

Yes, fabulous news, we're all booked up and VERY excited for an EVEN BIGGER more MARVELLOUS market on the 25th of September!

We'll once again be taking over the Federation Social Club on Claremont Road in Carrington between 11 and 4pm with our usual range of local crafters, makers, artists, foodies and MORE!

Expect more of the same but on a slightly larger scale, we'll have Community art projects, Activities to be involved with, lots of stallholders and yummy scrummy food from The UnderGround Bakery. The bar will also be open serving the usual range of brilliant beverages as well as teas and coffees.
(because lets face it.... it is September)

Here's a list of Stallholders:

I'll be back soon to write a blurb about what everyone does so do come back over the weekend.

The UnderGround Bakery
Knot Just Jigs
Jolie Maidment
Katie Stainer
Debi
Meggan's Vintage Bags
Cara Amira
Yarn Loft
Alison Hand
The Occasional Cupcake
Lindsay's Cards
Claudia Schaaf
Sneaky
Laura Stephenson
Tarot Readings
Sue Richards
Alison Knox
Amy Hoddinot
Mwanabibi Sikomo
Francesca and Ruth
Mama's Cauldron
MollyQueen Decoupage
Bees Make Honey

Can anyone tell that i am rushing? Well I am.....But i'll be back later to make up for it and fill in the gaps.... so there :)

If there are any stallholders worried because their names dont appear on the list please email me at themollyqueen@googlemail.com

Thursday 1 September 2011

The Night Before

The Beatles are a great source of inspiration for blog titles, arent they?

We've got a lot to tell you so use this opportunity to go and make a cup of tea, grab some biscuits and toddle along back to see what we've been up to AND what we've got coming up.

*sips tea*

Our first Night Market @ The Golden Fleece

We had a great time! Thankyou to all the stall holders, organisers and staff who helped to make it what it was. And of course a big thanks to all of you that attended! It wouldnt have been anything without your smiley, slightly rosey cheeks nodding along to the soulful tunes of Louis Scott, Alexa Hawksworth or Will Jeffery.


Bees make Honey Debra, not Wine.

The UnderGround Bakery having a cheeky nibble whilst Simon resents his photo being taken.


Corrina Rothwell and a big smile


Glamorous Glass and all her twinkly lights



A very beautiful and very happy shopper


Leanne Trappe's artistic photography showcase



MollyQueen and Love u more enjoying the music






MollyQueen Decoupage and Vintage bags and accessories


Watch this space for the next Night Market
We will most certainly be doing it again!

We're also very excited about the prospect of a Marvellous Market attending the Ladyfest this year! For those that dont know,
  • "Ladyfest is a community-based, not-for-profit global music and arts festival for female artists that features bands, musical groups, performance artists, authors, spoken word and visual artists, and workshops; it is organized by volunteers."
This year it will be taking place along mansfield road, with 4 of our favourite venues involved, with lots more to sign up hopefully! So far, The Golden Fleece, The Maze, Fade and The Poacher are on board. Yummy!

In other News

The Stuff of Life Festival

We are now OFFICIALLY recruiting stall holders for this fantastic festival taking place in Hedley Villa's Park in Sherwood Rise. The festival is organised by a local committee ' the Sherwood Rise Residents Association' and is all about 'the stuff of life'.

There'll be Live Music, Community Art projects, Activities, Arts and Crafts, Yummy Food, Children's Entertainment and lots more.

We are also hoping to be involved with creating a performance art space this year to include dance, poetry and contemporary/performance art.

If anyone would like more info please email us or visit

MollyQueen's Marvellous Market will be there with a wealth of local crafty talent.
Here are some pictures from last year!


The Stuff of Life Parade Band

A view of the park with bookmobiles in the tree

Crowds watch the music



MollyQueen in Beeston

Dont forget about our little road trip! We are off to sunny beeston on Saturday! Check out our last post for more info and directions.

Woooo!

As for anything else, we've a few more things in the pipeline but until we've confirmed dates and things, all i'll say is 'Word', 'Street' and 'goodbye'.

Oh and 'ROAAAARRRRRRR'


Coffee, Cupcakes and cuddles
MQ