Christmas Markets

Now that the exhibition is up and running, my thoughts can turn to ... Christmas! 

Yes, I know, it's only October but so that you can plan your Christmas shopping in plenty of time, here's a note of the events where fatcat felt will make its last appearances (more on that to follow ...).

The Handmade Show

4th November 2012

10.30am to 4.30pm

Perth Concert Hall, Mill Street, Perth

 

Perth Christmas Market

24th November 2012

10am to 6pm

King Edward Street, Perth

 

Perth Christmas Market

8th December 2012

9am to 5pm

King Edward Street, Perth

 

If you're in the area, please pop by to say 'hi'.

merry christmas one and all

i wish you every happiness over the festive season and for the coming year. may it be peaceful, joyous, full of hope, health, happiness and love.

more deccies

i came across this project on a few different sites while browsing online recently (something i do when trying to avoid housework!) and thought i could use up some man-made 'wool' we had left over from an outdoor weaving project.

so, despite a slight balloon phobia, i gave it a go.

a few tips for you before starting:

= don't make the pva too watery and thin as it will quite literally go everywhere (unless that's just me being very messy?).

= place a LARGE towel underneath the bowl with the pva in it if you want to avoid having to peel dried splashes of pva off the living room floor.

= if you hang the wool-wrapped balloons up to dry, check your reflection in the mirror before leaving the house. again, this might just be me, but the pva had dripped all over my hair and i hadn't noticed before leaving the house - think of that moment in "there's something about mary" and you will just about get the picture!

just in case you haven't already seen this a thousand times before, here's a quick tutorial:

1. mix a little water with some pva in a bowl.

2. partly blow up as many balloons as you would like to use.

3. loosely wrap the dry wool around the balloon to try and gauge how much you will need. add a few centimetres (or inches) extra and cut a length of wool for each balloon.

4. keeping hold of one end (this is quite important if you don't want to be digging around in cold, slimy pva for the missing end) carefully place the wool in the bowl of pva and water.

5. hold the balloon in one hand and start wrapping the wool around the balloon with the other. realise at this stage that any attempt to create an intricate pattern is harder than you realised and fall-back on the favoured "it's organic and the design just evolved" approach.

6. try to cover the balloon as evenly as possible without crossing over the same point too many times as the wool may just gather in a thick bunch.

7. hang the balloon up to dry and move on to the next balloon.

8. absent-mindedly wonder what that tapping noise is while you are repeating steps 1 to 6 but become so absorbed in wrapping slimy wool around a slippery balloon that you really don't give it too much consideration.

9. stand up to hang the second wool-wrapped balloon up to dry and discover that 'tapping' noise was actually the first balloon dripping watery pva all over the living room rug.

10. thank your lucky stars that you have a partner who works night shift, giving you ample time to clear up and try to dry out the rug!

(feel free to miss out steps 8 to 10).

11. once you have covered all of your balloons, give each one a final roll in a thin layer of pva and water just to make sure that every piece of wool is covered.

12. leave to dry.

13. once the wool is dry and you are happy it has stuck to itself, pop the balloon! if a few strands appear loose, just paint on some more pva and leave to dry again.

14. you are now left with a delicate wool lattice.

15. display in a bowl, attach to fairy lights, or add some ribbon and hang from the tree to bemuse the postie like i have done.

if you do make some, please share the piccies J

deck the halls with ...

... dried oranges!

well, it's third time lucky for me with these decorations. you wouldn't think that drying oranges would be that difficult would you?

last year i decided i would dry some orange slices to hang prettily on the tree and around the house. i don't quite know what went wrong but they ended up all brown and squidgy! then i ran out of time and inspiration so just left it as a failed experiment.

this year, a little more browsing on the internet seems to have done the trick and it worked!

well, it worked on the third attempt - here's a wee hint for you ... when you're waiting for the oranges to finish drying, don't think "oh, i'll just wrap myself up in this snuggly blanket and watch a little tv for the last hour they're drying" because, if you're anything like me, you'll wake up six hours later and just manage to stop the little blackened orange slices from setting your oven on fire!

so, i think the trick was slicing the oranges and placing between two tea towels for a day to remove a lot of the surface moisture.

then i popped them in the oven (on a rack, to allow the air to circulate) at 135C/275F/Gas Mark 1 for the first hour, and turned the oven down to 110C/225F/Gas Mark 1/4 for the next two to three hours.

i did keep an eye on them this time and turned them every hour. i think they took a little longer than three hours but perhaps i had sliced them a little thickly. what you're looking for is the flesh of the orange to be dried out without starting to brown.

and here are the finished deccies ...

 

i always feed a little sad when the decorations come down.

i had a very different from usual christmas and new year but it was lovely. i love the christmas tree lights shining in the dark mornings and evenings. and while i'm looking forward to all that this year will bring, i can't wait for the excitement of next christmas ...

merry christmas

i wish you the christmas you hope for :)

how to wrap a cat for christmas ...

slightly concerned this cat may have been sedated! either that or it's a very rare personality type, how on earth this person manages to wrap this cat, who seems quite unperturbed by the whole thing?!

christmas ... ?

it hasn't really felt much like christmas for me so far, probably because i've been too busy!

so, to get myself in the christmas mood, tonight i shall eat satsumas and watch these two films ...

funny the things that become traditions isn't it?

since i can remember, satsumas have been part of the christmas tradition for our family and even though a lot has changed for our family recently, i only need to peel a satsuma and the fragrance takes me right back to those wonderful times.

and the choice of films ... i am actually quite a discerning film watcher (love b&w movies, choosing different genres for different moods, prefer european and in original language movies, have a soft spot for korean movie making) but again, it comes down to tradition for me.

i adored the muppets when i was wee and never really lost that as i grew up! i love the variety of shapes/sizes/colours/personalities of the muppets and also their lovely muppetty-ethos. apart from dirty, rotten scoundrels (whisper: and batman) this is about the only movie i can watch michael caine in.

and elf ... i used to watch this with my nan every year, and every time we watched it, it felt like christmas, and each time we saw it we laughed more and more, sometimes we would end up laughing at ourselves laughing so hard we were crying. lovely, happy times.

christmas is coming

and the elves need some name badges.

i met the wonderfully energetic and inspiring tricia fox of volpa at the recent wild gathering launch event.

anyways, we got talking, as you do, and tricia asked if i would be interested in creating name badges for the elves in santa's grotto at the st john's shopping centre in perth. as you can imagine, i jumped at the chance! and now the elves are busily working away in santa's grotto happy with their new badges.

thank goodness

for a wood burning stove!

just the thing to dry off those last minute tree decorations so that i can bead them in time for my last stall this year.

as part of the perth 800 celebrations, there will be an andermass / christmas market in king edward street, this saturday and sunday from 9am to 5pm.

it's a medieval themed market so as well as the usual great mix of handmade art and crafts, there will be lots of medieval-type activities. including the stall holders dressed in medieval costumes - come along to see me as maid marion, a once in a lifetime opportunity!

perth andermass fair

a return

well, it has been a little slow for life to return to 'normal' around here! we have managed to extend the festivities right up until last weekend.

m had a couple of rare weekends off so we used the chance to visit friends we hadn't caught up with over christmas and new year, to spend some time just vegging out together and pottering around in each other's company and it has been wonderful. i hope everyone had a lovely festive period and weren't too affected by the weather. mum came to us for christmas this year and then we all went to mum's for new year, including my brother and his partner who came over from sweden with the fantastic news that they're going to be parents this year!

we also tried a spot of bird watching recently but the water at the reserve was still frozen, however we did manage to see: heron; gulls; canada goose; lapwing; pair of swans; bullfinch; crow; bedraggled looking buzzard and some freezing looking pochard, teal and wigeon. but not the elusive sea eagles we were hoping for.

i have also managed to tidy up my workroom after buying loads of storage boxes while they were on sale, i can finally see the floor and close the cupboard door! not too sure how long that'll last once i get back to working again though.

i always get a little wistful when the decorations have to be put away for another year, planning our year ahead helped to cheer me up though. it looks like it's going to be a busy one but we're so excited because we have so many new things to be working on. m has his first book coming out soon and we've already proofed the first draft and got it back to the publisher, we're starting up a publishing company (which will publish other poets), i've got a few markets booked already, loads of new designs to be working on, i'll be starting city and guilds next month, and we've got plans for a couple of exhibitions too, so watch this space!

what are your plans for this year? how about new year's resolutions ... do you make them? what are yours for this year?

this week ...

well a couple of nights out and some christmas preparations have kept me busy this week.

wednesday saw us at the national library's poetry pamphlet fair which was a lovely evening of browsing, catching up with friends, listening to music and hearing poets perform pieces from their pamphlets. if you're interested in poetry pamphlets, here's a link you might like the scottish pamphlet poetry website

friday saw us back in edinburgh for a lovely evening at the scottsh arts club, to celebrate the launch of the national galleries "inspired? get writing!" book. everyone we met was very welcoming and we had a really enjoyable evening.

and then on to christmas preparations, i'm having a totally home-made christmas and am having a great time making lots of lovely gifts, i just hope the recipients enjoy the gifts as much as i've enjoyed making them!

and then today, m at work, a chance to monopolise the laptop and get some more updates made to my folksy shop, here's a few pics of my latest updates, would love to know what you think.

necklaces



bracelets






pencil case


keyrings

christmas stock now in my folksy shop

well, better late than never!

in a shameless attempt at self-promotion: check out my christmas stock - it's fantastc (even if i do say so myself!). christmas deccies have been listed in my shop now, with 2010 diaries going up tomorrow.

fatcat felt's folksy shop - tell your friends :)

three weeks of bleurgh :(

well, the past three weeks have passed me by!

flu and a chest infection kept me in bed for a week and then stuck in the house for another two. so, now i'm slightly behind, it was quite bemusing to go out again and see that folk were starting to put up christmas trees and lights, i thought everyone was early this year, until m reminded me that we're nearly into the second week of december.

eeeek, mild panic, i'm slightly behind schedule but so very glad to be back on my feet again!

belated greetings to one and all

happy winter solstice - the turning point of the year for myself and m. from here on the days get longer and lighter as we move towards spring and lots more adventures! the latest 'gardeners world' magazine has arrived (thanks to mum for my gift subscription) and we're busily making plans for our flowers, fruit and veg for 2009, we may even attempt to make our own wormery! our spring bulbs have already started to make an appearance above the ground :)

merry christmas and a happy, healthy and peaceful new year - the festive period is, for us, a time for friends and family and reflecting on how fortunate we are. as opposed to the greedy commercialism which rears it's ugly head at this time of year. it's also two weeks off work for me! lots of time with m, catching up with friends, more home baking than we could healthily eat, and a trip to london to spend time with mum and catch up with my family.

christmas

here's some little deccies i made last christmas, not great pics – still need to develop that skill! (oh, ha, unintentional pun).

red painted wooden hearts, with silver or gold glitter finish, threaded with metallic embroidery thread - photo lets them down, i loved these and they really sparkled in the fairy lights on the tree.

red painted wooden hearts with ribbons.

green painted wooden trees with little sparkles (can't quite remember what they're actually called!) attached, threaded with metallic embroidery thread, again not a great pic, these looked much better for real.

these were going to be tree decorations but i didn't get as far as stringing them, quite like the colours and shape though, so will probably use them for something else soon.