''This week I have mostly been making.......

....gold and red.''

These are by far the most sumptuous versions of my cuffs and brooches but the pictures are so disappointing.
The red is deep, deep, shimmery, subtle so I have chosen the pictures on the basis of colour not sharpness.


I just wanted to ask you dear reader, to ask all your blog friends,

to leave me your wrist size and preferred width of cuff

on my survey post which you can click here to visit.

I think to be a valuable survey it has to have about 100 participants.

If you have already done it, thank you, and please leave a comment here instead.

I love to hear from you.

I am doing a craft fair on Sunday if anyone lives nearby pop along to The Old School, Ulnes Walton near Leyland.

Porky and Blodwen will be there.

A Parcel From the Outer Hebrides

Its here!
My new consignment of Tweed from Catherine Campbell on the Isle of Harris.
Pure wool handwoven in the most beautiful patterns.


It has a subtle soft colour that is hard to photograph.


The daylight hardens the colours a bit.
And using flash makes it look too vivid.

So use your imagination and add a modicum of fuzziness and warmth to my poor efforts to convey the loveliness!

Now its just up to me to add my bits

and construct brooches, bags, cuffs,

and perhaps scarves.

I think I have enough Harris Tweed now to last me for the rest of my life.

And I am expecting another box today!

In the sewing room its been pink lately.

More hearts and flowers!

Don't forget to leave me your wrist size and preferred cuff width for a chance to win a prize in the draw on this post.(Click the purple words to take you there)

Even if you wouldn't wear a cuff, we can negotiate a suitable prize.

You must leave your wrist measurements to be entered for the draw....its a survey with a carrot.

But please don't be shy to leave a comment here too.

PS. I was just thinking.....for it to be a meaningful survey I need about 100 results so please spread the word and get all your friends to comment.

I was given the 'Kreative Blogger' award by Jennyflower a short time ago, but as I had already had it I have decided to have a bit of a rest from tags, memes (Whatever they are) and awards. Jenny is a sweetie and you could still visit her lovely sewing and family blog.

She does a mean gweeeen buttercweem!

Words and Pictures

Keeping my own counsel has never been my strong point.
I talk too much.
I often speak before I think.
A bad idea.
And when my first son was born 26 years ago, I talked to him...a lot.
The result was that he had an amazing vocabulary from the age of two and when the health visitor came to ascertain that he knew red, blue and green, he added 'and this is pale pink and thats a sort of greyish beige....'

My younger son born two years later had an equally good grasp of colour.
But he knew what he liked.


Consistently throughout his early childhood when asked his favourite colour the answer was emphatically 'Gweeeen'.


So here's some gweeeen for you.

I must point out that my wonderful place for taking pictures was the kitchen table.
Being a Victorian house the kitchen is at the darker cooler end, and now its November the sun doesn't get round there.

Its extrememly difficult to get good pictures of velvet and silk together, but I think you can see the sheen of the silk in these.

Since I posted the silver pictures I have had some lovely comments, thank you, and sold quite a few cuffs and brooches to lovely ladies, to whom I am very grateful.
And I am tantalisingly close to two new batches of Harris tweed, winging their way from the Hebrides at this moment.

MARKET RESEARCH SURVEY
Now I would like to ask you a question..well two actually, about the cuffs.
I need an average of wrist sizes.
I have made long ones and people have asked for shorter and vice versa.
I have made narrow ones and people have asked for wide and vice versa (again)
If you could leave me a comment including your wrist measurement and a preference for width of cuff I will put your names in a hat (well you know what I mean) and there will be a prize.
A cuff in your choice of available colour, width and length. Or something else if you don't wear cuffs.
So please include in your comment width preference and wrist measurement, according to how tightly or loosely you would like to wear one. I'll leave this open for two weeks. I'll do the draw on 21st November.

A THANK YOU
I just want to add a little thank you here to all the people who have left comments and ratings on the 'Top blogs by Crafters'. There's no way to find out who you are from the comment itself so I am thanking you here.

Silver Service

Mass production is not my strong point.

I like to surprise myself with each little unique creation, taking as much time as it takes to work the patterns and designs till I feel satisfied.

This is as near as it gets bulk sewing, and I can tell you I used the utmost restraint to stick to one colour for a whole stint.


I only managed it because the silver silk is so beautiful.

I did change the velvet from a lilac bias to a silvery blue on the one below.

I don't know whether to put them on Folksy or Etsy at the moment but I had two or three enquiries about them when I posted the last pictures so if you are interested they are available directly from me at ten pounds for the brooches and fifteen for the cuffs. including P&P to UK.

This last one is constructed in sections so has a square sided look.

Now for the Science:

The square one measures nine inches overall , two inches of it is the velcro tab.

The circle one is nine and a half overall, two inch velcro tab.

The flower one is quite small, eight and a half inches overall including two inch tab.

The velcro makes them slightly adjustable.

They can be worn loose or tight.

They can be extended slightly but a bit of velcro will show underneath your wrist.

They can be made smaller by tucking more velcro under.

Coming soon: A Green Day.

(PS: Have the word verifications got easier? They seem to have stuck more vowels in to make nonesense words and I haven't failed as many this week)

I Heart Harris Tweed

I really do.