A Hint of Autumn in the Air

Living in rural north Fife, surrounded by barley, wheat and oat fields, it is impossible not to notice the transition from summer to autumn as the fields turn gold, the harvest is cut and bales start to dot the landscape.

Our roadsides and hedgerows are abundant with rosebay willow herb and every year the contrast of cerise pink against the colour of the ripened crops captures my imagination. 

This year I just had to have a go at including some hay bales in one of my needle felted pictures.

This is loosely based on a scene I see every day on my walk around our area. There is a riot of willowheb and grasses growing up around a dry stone wall with a wee cottage away in the distance. 

After needle felting the hay bales, I built up the flowers and grasses using machine stitch and embroidery.

The finished piece. 

Barley Field Cottage 22 x 22 cm in a 39 x 39 cm frame 

£155

Some autumnal colours made their way into some of my felt sheep jewellery this month as well. 

Sheep Pendants £24

Brooches £18

New to the Aileen Clarke Crafts range of gift items are these high gloss, super cute Fridge Magnets. 

They measure 5 x 5 cm and make a great little gift or treat for yourself.

I also had these Lens/Screen Cloths produced using my designs and they are just the best thing for cleaning your phone or tablet screen as well as making your glasses sparkle!

Lens / Screen Cloths £2.95

They come packaged on card in cellophane making them a perfect little present and light weight to post.

Also new this month are these fabulous bags! They measure 40 x 50 cm and fold away easily into a hand bag. They are really strong and washable. These are not in my Etsy shop yet but will be coming with me to Perth Festival of Yarn on Sunday 10th September.

It is advisable to buy tickets online for the festival as only a limited number will be available at the door and it's first come, first served. 

https://perthfestivalofyarn.uk/

I'm really looking forward to the day, not only selling my wares but meeting up with friends only and new and seeing what all the other vendors have to offer.

I have been playing around with a bit of crochet over the summer. I'm just making it up as I go along and it's just for fun, not for selling.

Not sure if this idea is really working or not. I taught myself how to make the crochet flowers and thought I'd add them as a row onto this shawl. They are only tied on at the moment but I'd like to figure out how to make them more secure and carry on crocheting, making them a part of the shawl or maybe I should leave them as a trim. Or maybe I should have made them less three dimensional. 

It's fun to experiment and learn as I go.

♥

Autumn Fairs in Fife and Perthshire

I had a brilliant start to my Autumn events season on the first weekend in October. It was lovely to be back in Falkland on the Saturday and Perth Festival of Yarn on the Sunday was a great success! It was heartening to know that many visitors came because they had seen the events advertised online so here is an update about more to come.

I will be at the Pitcairngreen Green Village Hall Annual Fair on Saturday 22nd October, 10 - 3.30pm.

 This is a lovely event with tea, coffee and home baking as well as a good variety of stalls. I have been exhibiting at this fair for over 10 years and it's always nice to go back and see familiar faces.

I've been busy restocking my Etsy shop as well with new makes.

Brooches £12

Next up after Pitcairngreen is Falkland Craft Market again on Saturday 5th November.

I will have my full range of items with me and hopefully some new framed pictures as well.

Sheep Earrings £18

Sheep Brooches £18

Sheep Pendants £24

My 7 x 7 x 7 cm Boxes are very popular so I have been making more of them. Made with my own felt and lovely Harris Tweed, this size is £35.

Later in November on Sunday 20th, I will be at The Handmade Show in Perth Concert Hall.

This year's show is shaping up to be excellent with new makers exhibiting along side some firm favourites.

My new coasters have been a big hit both online and offline. I got little boxes for them making them an ideal gift, especially easy to post!

Coasters £14.95

Later in November I'll be In The Loft at Ardross Farm Shop near Elie on Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th 9 - 5 each day. This is a lovely two day event, up above the farm shop and well worth a visit if you are in the East Neuk that weekend.

So it's a busy time keeping up with everything. 

Please feel free to get in touch with any questions you may have about my work or any of the upcoming events.

aileenclarkecrafts@yahoo.com

The Handmade Show, The Makers Market and The Loft

With three more events to attend this month, I have been crazy busy keeping up with my making as well as online orders.

I really enjoyed myself at Aberfeldy and I'm very much looking forward to these three events over the next three weekends.

The Handmade Show is this Sunday, the 15th November at Perth Concert Hall.

This is a free event and a chance to meet artists and makers from all over the country.

10.30 - 4.30 pm

I will then be at The Makers Market at St Andrews Town Hall on Saturday 21st November.

The Town Hall is in the centre of St Andrews on Queen's Gardens. It's a beautiful venue in a beautiful town. Well worth the visit.

11 - 4 pm. Also free entry.

and at the end of the month on Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th November, I will be at 

The Loft at Ardross farm Shop

Elie, KY9 1EU

Saturday 9 - 5 pm, Sunday 9 - 4 pm

I have a few new makes for these events as well as a good supply of my usual work.

New this week are these Felt Boxes with Wooden Butterfly Button lids.

£28

I made a couple of Seascape Boxes as well.

This is my favourite with real shells decorating the lid.

£45

I really enjoyed making the felt for these boxes. Rich in silk fibres in deep sea greens and blues with streaks of purple. The designs are hand stamped onto the lids.

I'll have lots of my textile and resin jewellery with me at the above events. There is a competition run by 'Small City Big Personality' to win this set along with two other gifts from other makers attending The Handmade Show in Perth. Click here to enter.

I'll have lots of new cushions with me including this Dragonfly design below.

I'll be adding lots more to my Etsy shop in Monday 16th November. If you are too far away to attend any of the events but are interested in my work, please feel free to contact me at aileenclarkecrafts@yahoo.com

I also have a range of framed felt art and jewellery as The Atholl Gallery in Dunkeld.

Some of my framed work is also available at the West Street Arts Centre in Penicuik until December 4th.

The best way to keep up with what's new from me is on my Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog 

❤

A Peek Into Venue 28 during Open Studios North Fife

I can hardly believe that Open Studios North Fife is over for another year. 

If you missed it or were too far away to visit, here are some photos of my venue.

The place I have been using in Ladybank was taken over and renovated by Gillian MacIntosh of Kingdom Osteopaths last year. Gillian has made a fabulous job of redesigning the space and very generously took some days off and left me three empty rooms to exhibit in.

I transformed the main room into a display area with sales desk where visitors could browse my whole range of items and purchase if they wanted to.

The newly painted walls in a pale sage were a perfect backdrop and complimented the colours I use in my work perfectly.

An inner wall and door have been removed letting so much more light into the room.

Having such a wide range of printed goods really adds colour to the display.

My sets of four coasters were a big hit with visitors this year.

Both my big felted pictures on the wall above are away to happy new homes.

We always try to give people a nice place to sit and have a cup of tea if they have been to lots of studios and are feeling a bit tired.

Gillian's waiting room was easy to make cosy with some artwork and flowers and the shelves filled with lots of colourful items.

My new cushions nearly sold out!

Of course Open Studios is not all about selling. It's about letting people see into our creative spaces and explain a little about the processes that go into what we produce.

I always try to recreate my work space by bringing as much as I can down to the venue for the weekend.

 This year I did a bit of demonstrating with the embellisher machine and was able to show how wet felt is made as well.

Some of the materials I use in my work.

Fibres laid out ready to be wet felted.

A little shelving area with some bits and bobs and gifts from other makers. 

I find glass jars so useful for keeping oddments of wool in. You can find the scraps easily plus they add a splash of colour.

It has been a big job taking everything back home again and setting up my work space ready to start again. It's all looking spick and span though and I am raring to go!

Today had to be spent restocking my online shop. Lots of new things have been added.

You can browse my shop here

If you are new to shopping with me and have any problems, please feel free to get in touch at aileenclarkecrafts@yahoo.com

I'm looking forward to May and June being slightly less busy than March and April. It was a bit of a marathon jumping from one event to the next and having to make so much stock in between. I have plenty to be getting on with though and will keep you up to date with what's new on here, on Facebook and on Instagram.

Thank you very much to all of you who came along at the weekend. Your support for the event is much appreciated ❤

The Handmade Show, Sunday 16th November 2014

My Craft Fair season continues with The Handmade Show on Sunday 16th November. This will be the fourth Handmade Show and I am very much looking forward to it. It is held in the foyer of Perth Concert Hall and hosts a fantastic variety of makers from all over Scotland.

You can find the full list of exhibitors here. It is worth noting that there are two events this year, one in Perth and one in Glasgow and not all of the exhibitors are attending both events. I will only be at the Perth one.

I'm working flat out to make as many new things to bring along as possible so I don't have many new photos to share. You can scroll down through previous posts to get an idea of what I will have with me.

I do have this new Textile Trinket Box though.

This one measures 10 x 6 cm and is £40

Hoping to have more similar finished in time.

I have lots of Textile and Glass Jewellery made including Pendants, Earrings, Bracelets and Rings.

New to my Printed range are these A5 Artists Sketch Pads.

£3.95

And two firm favourites are back in stock

Vibrant Hills and Harvey Notebooks £5.95

Harvey is also available as a loose Print.

Prints measure 19 x 21 cm

£6

Lupins and Sheep £6

Vibrant Hills and Distant Glens also £6

As the nights draw in it is very easy to get cosy in front of the fire instead of bashing on with work but with The Handmade Show on the 16th and The Makers Market at The Steeple in Newburgh on Saturday the 22nd November, I really must resist the urge to start hibernating. These two events will be the last for me this year. 

Remember you can also buy online here

If you have any enquiries about my work, please feel free to contact me at aileenclarkecrafts@yahoo.com