A Day of Rainbows, Some New Makes and New Arrivals.

Saturday was indeed a day of rainbows in more ways than one!

I decided to take a run over to Strathearn Fleece and Fibre near Muthill in Perthshire to stock up on some lovely hand dyed fibre.

Linda rears blue faced Leicester and texel sheep on her farm and the fibre she has available as rovings and as spun yarn is just a treat for any fibre lover.

I got well stocked up with all my favourite colours and can't wait to get started with it this week.

I also popped in to see Tracy at Lagom Felt Studio in Crieff as she has very kindly asked me to be her featured artist later this year.

Tracy offers a wide range of felting fibres and materials as well as some spun yarns, drum carded batts, feting kits and various notions. She also offers tuition. You can check out her website here for more info.

I'm looking forward to exhibiting here late May and throughout June.

Last week I enjoyed working with my stash of hand dyed North Ronaldsay fibres from Orkney. These fibres give a lovely rustic look to landscape pieces and are very enjoyable to work with.

 

Having needle felted my first collie dog back in January, I had another go and set this one to guarding a little flock of sheep on the hill.

'Gaurding the Flock' 

£95

This matching piece I have just called 'Three Sheep' and priced it slightly lower at £75 as there was less work involved.

It has been a busy time preparing for Edinburgh Yarn Festival 2017 which is less than three weeks away on March 10th and 11th.

I have been hoarding my makes and not putting them on Etsy as I am running out of time to make things.

Here are some finished trinket boxes that will be coming with me to the event.

I have also had a delivery of new printed products including mugs, mouse mats, zipped pouches, notebooks and cards. These are all available on Etsy here

Some new Sheep Brooches and Pendants have also made their way onto Etsy. I probably won't be adding any more until mid March.

If you are planning on coming to Edinburgh Yarn Festival, you can see the venue layout here

You can find me on stand J6.

Looking forward to seeing some of you there.

As usual, if you have any enquiries about my work, please feel free to email me aileenclarkecrafts@yahoo.com

❤ 

Upcoming Events in November

November is going to be a very busy month!

First of all, you are all invited to the preview of the Friends in November Exhibition this Sunday the 1st November from 2 - 5pm at Penicuik Arts Centre, 4 West Street, Penicuik, EH26 9DL.

Join us for wine and nibbles and a browse around an exciting exhibition featuring weaving, fibre art, stained glass, painting, papier mache and much more.

You can then find me on Saturday 7th November at The Locus Centre, Abefeldy as part of the Aberfeldy Music Festival. I will be there with all my wares from 10 - 4pm.

Then it's all aboard for The Handmade Show at Perth Concert Hall on Sunday 15th November. I LOVE The Handmade Show! I'm working really hard to bring you a full selection of my work including new cushions, pictures, boxes and jewellery.

And my last event for 2015 will be at The Loft, Ardross Farm Shop, Elie KY9 1EU

This is a two day event running over Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th November. 9 - 5  pm on Saturday and 9 - 4pm on Sunday.

I still have some 2016 Calendars available. 

£10 each in my Etsy shop here

My shop is well stocked and will open all the time except for the days I am at events.

Playing At Shops in a Shed

On Saturday I had the pleasure of attending at Open Day at Gillies and Mackay, makers of fine sheds and summer houses an Errol, near Perth.

The idea was to install various artists, crafters and beauticians in different sheds and summer houses to show how they could be used for more than just sitting in or for storing a few tools.

 



 

 

 

I really enjoyed playing at shops in this beautiful summer house.

There was plenty of room for a little work table as well and if I did have this one at home in the garden, there would be room for a comfy chair to relax in and plenty of shelving as well.

 

 

As you can see, it was a lovely day on Saturday. Really bright and frosty in the morning but warming as the sun came round and filled our sheds with lots of light.

This one was inhabited for the day by The Beauty Room, Errol.

 

 

This incredible structure below is a proper living space complete with wood burning stove! It would make a wonderful home office, studio, guest accomodation or therapy room. It was being used for the day by a lady offering massage, manicures and Partylite Candles.

 

 

Another of the summer houses was occupied by Sutherland based artist Catherine Mackay. Catherine also makes beautiful enamel jewellery. Her butterfly pendants are absolutely stunning!

 

 

 

 

Even the smaller of the summer houses would make a great garden studio. In fact, I rather fancied the potting shed as it had a big window, lovely long work bench and plenty of shelving.

I will carry on day dreaming though and continue to work from my little space in our cottage. It's handy as we have a wood burning stove that keeps everything toasty through the winter and I can still look out onto the garden.

 

 

Two artists I met during my visit to Perthshire Open Studios earlier in the month do work from garden studios.

 

 

Ceri White Ceramics, Dunning

and Lorna Radbourne, Catriona Glass, also at Dunning.

 

 

 

 

 

If you fancy a visit to Gillies and Mackay, they are right next to the Cairn o' Mohr winery which has a lovely cafe, wine shop and tasting room.

 

 

 

 

Don't all these bottles look lovely with the sun shining through them!

My favourites are Spring Oak leaf and Elderberry.

 

 

 

View across The Carse of Gowrie, Perthshire

 

 

I spent some time this week listing new things in my Etsy shop and spent all day yesterday making felt so look out for lots of new pictures, boxes and jewellery coming soon!