A Moment....

.......of tranquility

Not the Harris Tweet I promised a month ago.
(Creativity eludes me for the moment, chased away by the black dog )

But a heron caught motionless on a therapeutic walk.

Pumped....?

Special requests are always fun to do, if a little daunting. I was asked to make a pumpkin , by a lovely lady who has previously bought pieces of my work. So we put our heads together, she showed me some pictures and here it is. A brooch about 3 inches high and 4 inches wide.

Thank you as always for lovely comments. I am sorry I am a bit behind with replies and blog reading.(And cleaning the house but you don't need to know that)

Thank you to all who came to my personal 'Craft Fair.'

I sold quite a lot of pieces but then I got tired of the tedium of listing.

I am now working on two big orders for shops.

 I started with a piece of purply pink felt and used it all up.

The colours are far more vibrant than they appear here.

These are all spoken for.

And.........

Yes, the Harris Tweets will be making their annual appearance. 

Very soon.

There are 6 on order.

Another possible horror story...we are soon to receive a lesson on TV in Machine Embroidery from 

an estate agent.

I can't wait.

Roll up roll up...

 Come to my craft fair.

(UPDATE: there would have been a lot more in my etsy shop but my VIRGIN MEDIA BROADBAND is behaving appallingly and I keep losing  things halfway through listing. Meanwhile there are one or two new things and some I listed have sold)

Its reassuringly expensive.
Or is it? I saw a truly horrible and badly made felt brooch in a shop last year for £25.
Mine are nowhere near as expensive as that and are made very carefully indeed.

My tree hasn't been painted but I thought, in view of my second 'we regret you have not been chosen' in two weeks I have decided to have my own Craft fair right here on my blog. (Well I was rather snotty when I outlined my proposals for presenting my work so I suppose I deserve it)
I am not one for hanging around where I'm not wanted so I'm sticking to where I seem to be appreciated (Thanks) .

 I am now in possession of some lovely things I discovered only recently, called 'pad bails.' I ordered some which were very cheap from a seller in China. I think they put them in a bottle and dropped them in the sea because it was 19th October when I clicked 'buy now' and they still haven't arrived.
However I got some in three days from a UK business.
They enable the making of pendants very simply so I've made  pendants from some of my felt shapes.  The necklace part is composed of 4 cords and an organza ribbon and as far as I can, I have matched the colours.

(The three on the right are now SOLD. I haven't put the other one in my esty shop yet )

 These leaf shapes below are awaiting transformation into brooches or pendants..oh sorry, the middle one on the top row is already a pendant on a purply necklace. You can see it on the tree in the second picture.

 I like this one below, it reminds of a little fat bird. (Oooh little fat bird...rings a bell)

SOLD

 So here is a lovely pale duck egg flower on matching cord, and there's even a matching purse.

These will be appearing in my etsy shop soon.

But it takes time..listing.

All the stock I have on one side for Craft fairs is going into my shop.

I feel strangely liberated , not having to produce vast amounts speculatively, and am looking forward to making some more things which have been requested by two Galleries.

Its a funny old world.

One mans meat etc.

I went a bit mad when I made the Harris Tweed order and produced a lot of extra square brooches.

These will be in my etsy shop too. But because listing takes so long, there will be a few at a time. You could always check out the price and then contact me directly.

I have had a bit of a boost lately from Quilting Arts Magazine, who are putting my article with these brooches in, into a free e book available here.

SOLD

 I just have a couple of that type from the article which I couldn't bear to part with available now.

You know where

Recording Events(Sorry for all the brackets) :)))

Some random bits of life since the last post which was too long ago.
First a bit of death, sorry.
You must remember from a few posts ago and from here and there in the blog, little Blodwen.

Well sadly she is no longer with us. She had a good 'innings' as they say and we were very lucky to have had a bit of her company in the past. She was a sweetie. I am imagining  her gambolling over the Elysian fields reunited with her little Dachshund 'sister', Porky, their ears a-flap in the breeze, perhaps being followed along by our dearly loved and missed Willow, who found the two of them quite a puzzle when they stayed with us a few years ago.

How things change.

Last week I spent two full days which nearly finished me off, teaching in a FE college nearby. 

Starting out at 8.15 and not getting home until 5pm is a struggle when you usually have, shall we say,  an unstructured day, and I have immense respect and admiration for those who do it daily. 

I don't do it very often and when I get there I am looked after and made to feel very valuable, but still , just before it comes round, I wonder why I do it.

Well, I had two lovely days. 4 different groups of 16-18 year olds who made felt, and smiled and worked hard despite the awful colours they had to work with.  Mostly red, that horrible green that always gets left, and some awful yellows. They still managed to come up with some variety, and all but one (yes there's always one) were a delight.

I also met an artist who makes the most amazing lino prints that made me want to give up pretending to be creative. Look at her work here. I saw the first three of these prints in the flesh, a metre square and breathtaking.

A by-product of my 2 days in college was a solution to a problem that has been keeping me awake.

I've applied for another demoralising rejection craft event and wanted to make a tree to display my wares upon. (oops sentence ended with a preposition. Sorry) I happened to mention it to the Mr Fix It of the college who said I should draw it out and take it in the next day and voila!

OK. Its an awful picture and the tree isn't painted or anything but I'm thrilled to bits. Its free standing and the perfect height for on a table. 

 (Its no good someone as short as me hanging stuff above head height now is it?)

Even if I don't get in to the event, I'll have it for other events. 

It needs a nice coat of 'String' or even 'Cord', 'Clunch' or possibly 'Matchstick' and a few little knobs on (I'm working on that) and I can hang my brooches on it. 

That's if I have any brooches left.

Since I showed my last ones I have been lucky enough to have been asked by the delightful Rachel of Lazyhill Gallery in Dorset to send her some..so I have. If you live near Abbotsbury, pop along there and see them in the flesh! It looks beautiful and I wish I could visit. I also have work in The Platform Gallery, Clitheroe,  The Chapel Gallery Ormskirk,  and Fibre+Clay, Knutsford.

I have been contacted by whole host of other people for bits and pieces too, so in some ways I can do without having to hang on to things for a possible craft fair. (Thats just to pre-empt rejection and make me feel better)

Now here's some actual Textile content of sorts.

If you were reading in the summer you may have seen a family of blue tits emerge from the nest box. 

I've just emptied it to clean it out and hang it back up for next year and look!

One little leftover egg. And beautifully woven in around the edge of the nest some fragments of pink wool! Do you think the could have picked them from some of my felt hanging up to dry?

I'd love to think so.

How clever birds are.

I do hope they come back next year. They were such fun to watch.

I am going to the Knitting and Stitching show in Harrogate a week on Thursday.

Will anyone reading this be there? It would be great to meet a few bloggers. 

Let me know.

Love Blogging

Moving swiftly on.

New hearts

Thank you all for the lovely supportive comments on my last post.  It was so good to hear from people who don't normally comment offering their experiences and generally making me feel very good about my work.
Thats what blogging's for isn't it? Critics say its for those who need their ego massaging...well...thats me..I admit it.
The response I've had from bloggers have given me the confidence to do things I may not have in the past.

I didn't mean to spark a general criticism of the organisers of 'the event', or the other sellers. 

Some of my lovely blogging friends are taking part. People whose work I admire tremendously.

Really, I have so much to do there is hardly time for a Craft Market.

I am having my own little personal craft market here. 

These new leaves and hearts are part of it.

A veritable queue of people asking if they can buy my wares.

If I knew how..I would get an 'add to cart' button!

But in the meantime I have just added a few wobbly biscuits to my etsy shop.

I have a pile of potential brooches that didn't quite make it to pindom.

Like the bags of mis-shaped chocolates you can buy a bit cheaper in Thorntons.

8 Felt shapes pictured here.

The lot for £11 or as we say on etsy ....$18

I wonder if anyone will want them?
WOW! THAT WAS QUICK!
Sold.

Seconds

 Before this post is read I have to reveal..there has been wine.
Yes I know....its a mistake to blog while under the very slight influence of two glasses of Banrock but hey..its about time.

(UPDATE: now, this morning,  the wine has worn off I feel a little ashamed of shamelessly inviting sympathy..but thank you all for your lovely ego massaging comments!  I know some of the other people who are going to be exhibiting at the fair and I love their work and would be delighted to be a part of it.)

The truth is..I am a reject.
I flippantly mentioned in my last post that I had the possibility of three Christmas markets..and then I decided against one of them because it was outside.
Well I heard from one of them...........................

...................I've been rejected.

Or should I say 'not selected'? That sounds a little better.

I really need to grow up but I am dreadfully hurt by this.

I know. Rejection is all part and parcel of being an 'Artist'..but perhaps I'm not? 

Perhaps I'm the embroidery equivalent of the crochet poodle toilet roll cover maker?

(I DO apologise if you are the crochet poodle toilet roll cover maker..I'm told they are ironic now and therefore 'cool')

However, I'm feeling very positive about my latest efforts. I photographed them on my homemade tree because I am applying for yet another rejection craft event.

Get out the tissues....

I don't care...I make what I like. And it seems...some others like it too. Thank you for all your lovely lovely  comments. Re the 21st and 22nd items in my profile: I get it all from the great comments here.
(We'll ignore the eleventy bazillion anonymouses which really boost the comment count. I always delete them)

I am thinking of keeping these greens for a textile hanging project. Sad to say I am hugging myself about these.

On Sunday we sat about wondering where we should go for a walk, and whether we should go for a walk..it was soooooo dull outside. Eventually we bestirred ourselves..I'll admit it was nearly three thirty and the clocks had gone back so not long till dark.....and set off in the car to the end of the walk we normally do, a teeny hamlet called White Coppice, (If anyone saw the childrens' tv series a few years ago called 'Sloggers' about a cricket team, it was filmed there) and walked the bit we are always too tired to do when we get to White Coppice on foot.

We are so fortunate to live in such a lovely area. Its Lancashire but not the Coronation Street bit.

The colours of the leaves are spectacular this year. When I took this, I was thinking of Emma's 'Splash of Colour' theme over on Siverpebble...a lovely blog with beautiful silver jewellery. Pop over and say hello.

I wish I could have focussed the berries but it was going dark.  I  photographed this tiny frond with the fantastic forest colours across the water. Just look at the spores on the back of the leaves. They were about pinhead size.
We stood there for  quite a while taking in the misty evening and the distant noises of a family with  children throwing stones into the water on the other side.

Ahhh...bliss.

The Best fun you can have on the kitchen table.

Sorry to disappoint after that title. I thought I'd get a few extra readers by being a bit suggestive.
My ideas of fun may not be the same as others.

More felt was needed to make more brooches. I'd come to the part of one multicoloured piece where every bit had badly clashing colours and I wanted something different.
I set about it with lots of colours which didn't look promising  until I wet and rolled and rubbed away, and there we go again..little areas that just make me wonder  how felt works its fuzzy magic.

Such fun. But I avoided  pinks and now I need some. Those encroaching leaves tell me I should have added more lilac.

I'll save that for next time.
I'd be doing it right now but I left all my wool in the car boot yesterday and I am just too lazy to go and get them, and its too cold outside. Instead, I'll sew more leaves.

I love doing them and now I have another order, from Dorset this time. (Thanks R) Isn't it exciting?
I haven't heard if I am doing the craft fairs I mentioned yet. I've decided not to do the outside one.
 It was the table size that clinched it...I have a 6 foot table and they wanted 5'2". It was the last straw.
I can imagine unloading all my stuff outside at night in December, but not the table as well.

Last Sunday we went for cake in Haworth. Thats the Brontes' Haworth, in case you didn't know. I don't expect Charlotte, Emily and Branwell went to the bottom of the hill for cake, but if 'The Coffee House ' had been there, I'm sure they would have.
It was sunny and the Coffee house was full. We had a bit of time to kill so we browsed the secondhand bookshops and I came across this.

A  super book from 1960.The kind of book I used to borrow from the library in my young days. I 'd spend hours making things like these,

or these

from a book like this.

Don't you think the pictures in the book look like the work I make now?
Mid century was a cool time to grow up.
Or seems to be when people who didn't, actually look back at it.

As for me, I have happy memories of childhood but when I think of lying in a very cold bedroom, with ice on the insides of the windows, and my luxurious over-the-bed brown bakelite light switch, hanging from twisted fabric-covered brown flex,and the air too cold to reach up and pull it,  reality strikes and I realise how lucky we are now.
However with projects like these to keep used amused

                     we could tell the younger generation a thing or two about having a good time.