winter light festival this weekend

i hope to see you there ...

perth christmas craft market next saturday * cancelled *

*** sorry to say that today's market has been cancelled due to the high winds ***


hope to see you there ...

~~~ saturday 26th november, 9am to 5pm ~~~
perth christmas craft market
king edward street and st john's place, perth
more info: perth markets
this is an outdoor market, so make sure you wrap up warm (i certainly will!), a great opportunity to browse a wonderful range of talented makers.

winter light festival at comrie croft

well i have to say that i am really excited to be taking part in this wonderful festival. the workshops sound fab - i can't wait to see the lanterns that visitors will be making, and the junk drum and samba workshop sounds intriguing. then, to round it all off, an evening of quirky folk music!

i really hope you'll be in the area and can pop in, i'll have a stall full of fatcat felt loveliness in the festive market so it would be great to see you there.

the festival is being hosted by remake scotland and comrie croft in aid of CHAS and action on depression. there will be a festive market, music and craft workshops, a lantern and drum procession, folk music …

workshops are just £5 each and you can book by calling comrie croft on 01764 670140. plus, if you would like to help out on the day or give a hand with the lantern making, please contact fiona gilbert on 0750 557 6361 or fiona.remake@gmail.com.

international day of felt gallery now online!

so, there has been a distinct lack of photos on my little blog recently and to try to redress this - here's the link to the international day of felt gallery ... lots of lovely photos of blue, red and purple feltyness!

congrats to everyone who has their work featured, such an amazing range of work from talented feltmakers.

felt united 2011

a busy ol' week ...

now i'm starting to realise why the year seems to be passing so quickly! we're always so busy :) not that i'm complaining though!

so far this week we've ...

... launched a book we published ourselves at the international festival at resonate arts house, we also got prints made from the book to display on the walls of the gallery - it was a great night, thanks, as always, to angela's passion and determination. more details to follow, we're trying to figure out the best way to make it available for purchase online.

... spent a day outdoors in a 'secret' location choosing a spot for an installation that i'm working on just now - it'll be part of an amazing festival next year (how excited - and terrified - am i?).

... had an evening of stargazing at our friend's house - they live in the middle of the countryside so it was really dark and the moon was so bright!

... built our first wall(!) at m's new studio - and i'm pleased to report that it's still standing :)

... got ready for a lovely weekend away, i'm taking part in a mixed media and texture workshop with fellow feltmaker angela barrow. plus, as an added bonus, m actually has a weekend off so we're turning it into a long weekend away to explore a new area.

and now i'm getting some bits and bobs finished for my next stall in perth on the 26th november.

plus i worked three days at my day job and started planning the gifts i want to make for christmas ... didn't really leave much time for housework!

well, i hope you're all having a wonderful weekend wherever you are :)

thanks ...

... to everyone who came along yesterday.

it was lovely to see some familiar faces and great to meet lots of new folk too.

dawn did such a fabulous job organising this event, it was so well advertised in the run up to the day and we had a steady stream of visitors all day long, plus it was a treat to be indoors on such a chilly, frosty day!

next event is the perth christmas craft fair on saturday 26th november - more details to follow soon.

in the meantime, if there is anything you saw on my stall yesterday that you would like to purchase, please feel free to get in touch (i'm hoping to get my online shop up and running this week but sometimes there just aren't enough hours in the day).

the handmade show in perth this sunday

just a wee reminder that the handmade show is being held in perth concert hall this sunday.

it would be lovely to see you there, and you never know, you might just find those perfect christmas gifts (all under one roof!).

~~~ sunday 6th november, 11am to 5pm ~~~
handmade show
perth concert hall, mill street, perth, ph1 5hz
more info: handmade show
have a wee look at the gallery - so many talented makers with lots of tempting goodies.

tactile 2011

thought i would share this fab catalogue from the recent exhibition i was in. this is the first time some of my work has been exhibited and i'm still finding it really rather exciting! plus, a lovely lady who had visited the exhibition has asked to move the whole thing through to edinburgh for a month! i'll share more details once i have them.

in the meantime, i hope you enjoy browsing ...

Open publication - Free publishing - More artists

and just in case that's not working for you, you can find the catalogue online here: tactile 2011

lovely berries

blackcurrants
in between the rain showers this year, it was just about sunny enough for our berries to ripen!

i just love these, such rich colours and ripe enough to burst, just amazing.

red and blackcurrants
as well as enjoying copious amounts fresh with a little ice cream, and leaving some on the bush for the birds to enjoy, we decided to turn our hand to jam making with a little vodka experimentation thrown in for good measure!

despite the fact that we don't really drink these days, i'm sure a little warming drop or two of this will be welcome on a winter's eve.

strawberry vodka

blackcurrant vodka
our strawberries are wee, wild ones and have such an intense flavour, the seeds are so tiny and soft that we didn't need to filter them out.

strawberry jam
i was hoping to have some jam to enjoy now and some to give away, with a couple of jars left over to bring some summer colour and flavour to those long winter evenings, but the currant jam is just so deliciously tempting that we have almost finished it now.

currant jam

as much as i enjoy picking and eating fruit and veg fresh from the garden there is something about preserving it for the months to come, quite a comforting way to spend a rainy, summer evening really.

a few events for fatcat felt

i will be exhibiting at the following fairs in the next couple of months:

~~~ sunday 6th november, 11am to 5pm ~~~
handmade show
perth concert hall, mill street, perth, ph1 5hz
more info: handmade show
have a wee look at the gallery - so many talented makers here with lots of tempting goodies.

~~~ saturday 26th november, 9am to 5pm ~~~
perth christmas craft market
king edward street and st john's place, perth
more info: perth markets
this is an outdoor market, so make sure you wrap up warm (i certainly will!), a great opportunity to browse a wonderful range of makers.

~~~ saturday 3rd and sunday 4th december, time tbc ~~~
comrie croft winter light festival
comrie croft, braincroft, crieff, perthshire, ph7 4jz
more info: comrie croft events
a beautiful setting with lots of interesting things planned for this weekend, more details to follow.

if you're in the area, please pop by, it would be lovely to see you there.

international day of felt 2011

this year's colour scheme was red, blue and purple. and here's my offering ...

it didn't quite turn out as it looked in my imagination but it was the first time i had tried making a pod shape so i'm not too discouraged. just makes me want to try again!

if you'd like to take part next year, you can find more info., here felt united

i'll let you know when the gallery is published, i'm really looking forward to seeing all this year's entries.

sniffle ...

i have a cold :(

and i have so much i want to do, but i have no energy, i ache from head to toe and i feel a little sorry for myself to be honest!

m has banned me from doing 'anything', he thinks i've been overdoing it recently (which i probably have, but when you're having fun, it doesn't feel like working and then sleep just gets in the way!).

i'm so out of the way of sitting doing nothing, that we've reached a compromise - at least i can catch up on my blog reading and posting!

so, i feel like i'm slowly coming out of hibernation (wrong time of year, i know!) and finding the time to get back online. i can't wait to start catching up with everyone and reading about what you've all been up to over the summer.

in the meantime, i just wanted to share this ...


my very first piece in an exhibition!!!

we managed to make the opening night by delaying our trip to london and it was just amazing :)

if you're in the area, i would definitely recommend a visit - imagine an exhibition where you're actually encourage to touch the pieces, heavenly!

apologies for the previous rather self-indulgent, whiney post!

'normal' service will be resumed shortly :)

scunnert

is a very descriptive scottish word used to describe a general feeling of boredom and fed-up-ness, when you really just can't be bothered ...

lately, there's never enough hours in the day, it doesn't seem to matter how early i get up, how late i get to bed and how hard i work, i never get to the bottom of that to-do list ... there's the stuff i need to do that never gets finished and then the stuff i want to do that's there's never enough time for.

i know that i have much to be thankful for and i really shouldn't moan but i'm feeling a little scunnert right now.

just back but about to go away again!

well ... this past weekend was just amazing! wonderful company, great food, fantastic horst couture garments, such creative feltmaking ... i feel like i have just had the most amazing dream!!!

so, i'm just back but my feet still haven't yet touched the ground - i promise to blog and share pics really soon, and also catch up with you all too, but i was straight back to work and then i'm away again this weekend. then on hols for a week ... and i wonder where the time goes?!

look forward to catching up with you all soon and in the meantime, happy mid 'summer'!

wordless wednesday: välkommen till stockholm

i've been away again, for a lovely family holiday this time :)

i'm just back.

got lots to catch up on.

not much time for sitting at a computer.

promise to catch up with you all soon but in the meantime, thanks for your lovely comments.

lewis loom centre and hebridean woolshed

one of the reaons i was really looking forward to being back on lewis was being able to visit the lewis loom centre again!



this unassuming entrance leads to an absolutely amazing shop/museum, run by the very friendly and knowledgeable ronnie.

as well as selling harris tweed garments, and beautiful bags and cushions, there's also so much information about the history of harris tweed, with the most amazing sample books throughout the decades. the colours and patterns from the 20's and 30's are astounding!

but, my favourite part of the shop is the 'scraps' table. as you can see from the pics below, i blew my budget on lovely pieces of tweed that will soon be making their way into new felt pieces.








the two pics above might appear to be quite plain compared to the usual patterns and colours but the reason i really loved these pieces is that, if you look closer, so many other colours are revealed ...



i also made a quick stop at the hebridean woolshed, if you're on south uist you really can't drive past! i wasn't on the island long enough to take part in one of denise's spinning workshops, so i bought the next best thing to teach myself to spin ...
... i had visions of relaxing evenings round the campfire, spinning away ... but it wasn't to be.

i can't get it to work!

the instructions are really clear, i have watched videos online ... i know that, in theory, it's a simple process ... but i can't do it!!! think i'll need to get someone to show me because i am determined to learn :)

wordless wednesday: välkommen till stockholm