MY INDIAN TREASURE

Good Morning to you,

Imagine a space, that is let us say, the size of a small English garage.... and inside, it is filled from floor to ceiling with ribbons, braids, sequins, beads and other embellishments.

The space is small, but everything is neatly stacked, one on top of the other, with every available space filled.

You glance left, you glance right,

you look straight ahead, and everywhere you look there are the most luscious colours. There is every shade of blue, red, purple, pink, green, yellow, and orange. The colours are a feast for the eyes.  If the colours are too  vibrant for your colour palette   then there are beautiful whites, creams and soft pastel colours to choose from.

You do not really know what to expect from the shop, but you are sensible. Before you arrive you have decided on the colours you want to buy. You are armed with your wish list for ribbons and beads, but once you enter the shop, and see the range which is available to you, it is like nothing else you have ever seen, your list goes out of the window. It is like the list never existed. Your jaw drops and your heart starts beating faster, you do not know which way to turn.

You have to calm yourself, you have to take a deep breath, and find a starting point.

I think you have guessed that I was describing how I felt when I entered this amazing haberdashery shop known as Parry's Corner. 

Before I go any further, I feel I need to tell you a little bit about where the shop is located.  I think the best way to describe the area where Parry's Corner is situated, is not to describe it in words, but to show you.  You know the saying "a picture is worth a thousand words". Well let me tell you in this case it is true....let me show you.

How could I describe this to you? It would take so many words, so no, I am not even going to try, but this is the road, we had to negotiate to reach Parry's Corner. At one point we had to move, very carefully, past a cow pulling a cart.....do you know it certainly added to the adventure.

There were so many alleyways like the one above, selling all things plastic, metal, stationery and so much more. Whatever you needed, you could find along one of these alleyways.

The front of Parry's Corner is narrow, it was only wide enough to hold a small serving counter. There was also room  for  only one person to enter at a time. It was really that narrow.  But from my standing point, while I was waiting to move from the front of the shop to the back, which was it's widest part, I could see all the treasure which lay inside, just waiting for me.

I felt like Jeremy from The Secret of Nimh. Jeremy was always on the hunt for sparkly bits, and pieces of string, to feather his nest. Yes, I was definitely like Jeremy, I wanted to feather my sewing nest with sparkly bits and pieces of string, well in my case ribbon..... I was in heaven!

There were fine ribbons which had sequins and beads attached,

There was thick braid, there was thinner braid, you could choose to have braid with woven elephants of assorted colours or you could choose a paisley design, with every colour you could possibly desire, and if that did not take your fancy, you could choose plain braids.

There were braids with mirrors. The mirrors were stitched with brightly coloured cottons or you could choose a plainer black and white version, there were so many different choices available, the choice was yours.

There were beautiful peacocks waiting in line to be appliqued on to a piece of material.

There were paisley shapes and daisy shapes, each with sequins and beads added... they were golden beauties.

Take a closer look and see how detailed the work is.....isn't it just gorgeous.

Each piece is exquisite and such a work of art, I am thrilled to have these pieces, to use in future beading projects.

I photographed this beautiful beaded and sequined  outfit to show you how beads and sequins and other embellishments are used on clothing.

Take a closer look, it is just so beautiful.

......and there ends my wonderful, exciting trip to Parry's Corner, the most amazing haberdashery shop I have ever seen. 

As I write this, I can feel the excitement returning. I am looking at the wonderful things I bought and I am still not sure what I will make with them.

.....but does that matter, when the inspiration comes, my beautiful "Shiny, Sparkly Indian pieces of Gorgeousness" will be ready and waiting.

This week I shall be joining, 

Kim at Savvy Southern Style

Claudia at Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Take care and I will see you later in the week.