Mess!

I am writing this post for myself, I am not including photographs because quite frankly I am embarrassed ;-)

I cannot see the floor or table in my studio. There are piles of fibre everywhere, templates everywhere, I have lost 4 cups and a notebook.

I have been working like mad, in a space that is getting smaller and smaller, fibre is crawling up all around me - soon I will be in a fibre cave.

I think I need to tidy up

...and then start again....

Wedding: Merino and Silk Shawls

I am home, tired but very very happy.
A few weeks ago I was asked to make some wraps for a wedding in the beautiful Blue Mountains in Australia. I have spent the last couple of days with friends and working on the scarves.
I have really enjoyed playing with colours to get the right mix. Photo's have been going back and forth across the ether so Lisa (the bride) could be involved in the making and decisions.

I started with merino and silk

We added colour and lots of it.

We have the fibres ready to go.

Felting planned over the next couple of days...What an exciting moment, I am really looking forward to seeing these finished and being worn by my lovely bride and her bridesmaids.

Now...got to go and make them.

Gift for Local School

Recently I was asked to make a hat for a school. They wanted to be able to use it to put names in of all the children who did well with their work or contributed in some way. The aim is to collect all the names and then randomly select at the end of term, the names that are selected will get a prize or recognition. I wanted to make something fun. I decided a sorting hat would be perfect.

School Sorting Hat

It's hard to see the colours, it's a royal blue and looks much lighter because of all the sparkles, I think it must be all the magic ;-)

I hope they like it!

Just had to share this...

We came back from a trip to the beautiful Welsh valleys where our children ran free and we all had a fantastic time...to find 14 dead wasps in the bathroom and a nest on the outside wall.

Dibber (husband) decided that he was going to get rid of it by spraying it. In order to do this he would have have on the appropriate clothing. This is what he came up with...

I can't stop laughing!

Fibre-East 2011

We arrived on mass, daughter, mum, mum-in-law, aunt-in-law,sister-in-law, partner of sister-in-law, daughter, friend of aunt-in-law...you get the picture.

 

This was the first wool festival we have had in this part of the country and we were very excited. We came from far...my family travelled from Bristol/ Nottingham/ Letchworth...and some were nearer - Bedford.

Three of us (Em, Claire and me) got there early because we had signed on for a fibre workshop. We wanted to play with batts, luckily we were able to spend the morning with Jill Shepherd - Master of Colour and Batts.

Jill - Talking us through Hand Carders and Blending.

 

 

 She showed us how to make these blended rolls...great for spinners (Claire was excited about these - she spins!) (I'm going to learn...at some point).

Spinning Magic

Next came THE CARDING MACHINE- YEAH!!!! I have wanted to get up close with one of these for some time. I knew I wanted to buy one, but not having used one this was the ideal opportunity to get some hands on experience to make sure it did what I needed it to do.

I never really thought there would be any technique, just feed in the fibre and turn the handle....how wrong was I? Jill carefully (and lovingly...here is a woman who enjoys her fibre) explained about the different types of carders and introduced us to this one made by Paul Brittain of  http://www.classiccarder.co.uk. 
Worked beautifully and at least 3 people from the group bought one from him at the show. I think there was pleasure and panic by the time he left...he has a very long order book and he makes everything himself - he is going to be busy for some time.

 Gill made the workshop great fun. She gave us great themes to help us with our colours. This example was called 'Jealous Mistress'

Nice and calm with little flashes of red.

Emily's Rainy English Garden

Midnight in the Garden by Sarah...who went straight out and got a carder!

Claire modelling 'Traffic Jam on Motorway' - Or how to look like garden gnome?!?! Lol.


 Was great fun, we were all really happy to have spent time with Jill...and then we went on to buy all manner of things. We returned home happy, but a little bit poorer. -Perfect!

A Little Bit of Fun!

I was asked to make a cupcake for a competition - I decided to make one out of felt.

My first little bit of needle felting....a cupcake with strawberry on top.

This was the second attempt, much happier with this one.

This was the first attempt....which wasn't so good. I found the proportions all wrong, the base of the 'sponge' looked more like a muffin and it all looked a bit like a wobbly tower.

This is the tea cosy I made to keeep it company. I've given this to a friend who loves tea. I have one at home and it keeps the tea hot for over 2 hours...nice but a bit stewed!

Tea and cake...lovely!

Claudy Jongstra

While I was studying my City and Guilds, we had to select artists and look at their work.
Claudy was one of my choices, I remember looking at her work and being blown away!
I hope you enjoy this.

I want a wall like this in my stairway! But then I think I would sit there stroking it  - all day...