All The Fun of The Fair

Our gazeebo being held down at each corner by Kirtsy and Fynn and along the back by my son at last week's Fair in Falkland.

Rain is the usual enemy of any event held outdoors in this country, especially during the summer months but on Saturday we were battling against the wind!

It was crazy! We had the gazeebo tied to the railings behind us and bricks at each corner but it still blew around and had to be held onto every five minutes.

The fair was still good fun to do though and was quite busy for the most part.

We were pitched right opposite the lovely gift shop Fayre Earth just opposite the fountain in Falkland. Not only does Elizabeth offer a lovely range of Fairtrade Gifts and Homeware, she does a roaring trade in delicious coffee and has pretty benches outside the shop for customers to relax on.

Fayre Earth Gift Shop

As well as having good fun on the day I also met the organisers of The Big Tent Festival and have been invited to have a stall at the festival!

I'll be in the Craft Unplugged tent from 10.30 am - 6pm on July 21st and 22nd 2012.

You can read all about The Big Tent here.

Tickets are still available.

Falkland Street Fair 2012

You can find me and my work at Falkland Festival Street Fair tomorrow,

Saturday 23rd June, 11-3pm.

We had a great time last year and hope to have an even better time this year!

I will be sharing a stand with Kirsty again who will be doing on the spot Soap Rock Workshops.

Some new makes from me include this felt Box and Notebook.

 The felt was a bit of an experiment. I tried Nuno felting onto some polyester chiffon.

I had bought the chiffon for a different project but it turned out to be the wrong kind for what I wanted it for. No matter how much I tried hand felting it, the fibres just didn't want to cling to the chiffon. Turns out it's the wrong kind of chiffon for Nuno felting as well! So I threw the whole thing in the washing machine and this was how it came out. A happy accident indeed : )

In order to retain the lovely double sided nature of the nuno felt

I decided to make a wee box with matching notebook but didn't line either so that the loopy texture of the chiffon side can still be seen. Quite a soft and squishy box but the notebook fits snug inside helping it keep it's shape.

 I will also have a few Sheep In Boxes with me.

 Knitted felted sheep by Lynne Seaton at My Baboo

Along with some new Sheep pendants.



And one or two new felt pictures.



 Lupins by The Stream

£45

Wee Hoose In The Heather

£30

Cosy Cottage Among The Heather

£35

I've also been a bit distracted this week watching these Woodpeckers in the Rown Tree just outside the window.

The baby one wasn't managing to cling to the feeder so the adult male was feeding it on the branch.

The photo is slightly out of focus but it's so hard to get a decent photo of them as they fly away at the slightest movement.

I had to perform stealth moves up to the window to get this one plus it was windy outside and everything was moving about.

 

Turns out there is a third bird aswell. A slightly older juvenile. It's a bit of a bully though and tends to chase the smaller birds away from the tree.

In the few days that I've been watching, this young one has learned to feed itself though and now clings happily to the feeder.

 

 

 

 

Harris Tweedy Creations!

Lots of Tweedy goings on here this week!

You may remember the originals of these that I made back in April. Well they all went off to the gift shop Room 15 at 15 Stafford Street in Oban last weekend but I have had some printed into cards!

Washing Day

£2.50

Harbour Houses and Boat

£2.50

Set Sail For Sunset

£2.50

Home For Supper

£2.50

Harbour Houses, Boat and Fish

£2.50

Set of Four

£8

Island and Gulls

£2.50

These 12x12cm cards look great framed. This Island and Gulls design is really making me want to go back the Hebrides, especially when the sun is out here and I start day dreaming about all the amazing colours of tweed I could get my hands on!

The cards are all now available in my Etsy shop here

I'm hoping to get time to work on some more originals and make them available online too.

I can also make to order.

And here is something new and exciting and just a little bit cute.....

What's in the box? What's in the box?

A super cute hand knitted sheep!

This is a 'Baby Baa', hand knitted here in Scotland by Lynne Seaton of My Baboo.

I've been a big fan of Lynne's work for a long time and when I was toying with the idea of felting little sheep to go inside my boxes, I remembered a photo I'd seen on Facebook of some of Lynne's Baby Baa's that were off to be sold through a shop in Edinburgh.

Since my attempts at felting sheep were a bit disasterous (they just looked like big eyeballs!), I contacted Lynne and we agreed on a little collaboration.

So this is the first of my boxes available with it's resident Baby Baa.

£35

Lynne uses beautiful Scottish wool for her knits which go so well with the tweed used in the construction of the boxes.

Just click the photo if you would like to go to the listing.

More coming soon.

I also have these other boxes available in my Etsy shop as well.

£30

£25

And of course the cow's wanted in on the action.

This one has sold but there may be more soon.

No wee coo's hiding in here but a great place to stash your Highland Toffees!

Kerrera

I promised to share some photos from our trip to the west coast last weekend so here is the first installment.

We camped near Oban at Gallanach which is just a hop and a skip across the sound from the small island of Kerrera. Since the weather was lovely and the ferry across to to the island was just a short walk from the campsite, we set off for a day out adventuring round this very green looking island.

Kerrera Ferry

We took the red route around the island and went clockwise giving us beautiful views back across the sound to the mainland.

Horseshoe Bay

We met sheep everywhere!

This wee family were sheltering in the hollow as we came around a corner. I don't think they were very comfortable with us being in such close proximity but they weren't for giving up their shady spot either so they put up with being photographed.

At the southern tip of the island there is this lovely bay looking south to the Isle of Seil and beyond to Scarba, Luing and Jura. Gylen castle dominates the view.

The castle was built in 1582 by the Clan MacDougall. It was only occupied for a relatively short period of time as it was besieged then burned by the Covenanters in 1647 during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.

In May 2006 a restoration of the castle was completed with grants from Historic Scotland and money raised by worldwide members of Clan MacDougall.

We enjoyed spending a bit of time here, eating our picnic, climbing up and down the hillocks and peering into rock pools. Should have got some good rock pool photos but I was too engrossed in the views.

The lambs definitely seemed more chilled out the further round the island we trecked.

Here is a classic Hebridean scene with the sheep on high ground and the Cal Mac ferry in the distance.

As we climbed higher from the west side of the island, up over the middle, I noticed a lot of sheep fibres stuck on the dry stone walls. Reminded me very much of the woolly walls in my felt pictures!

Sold but more coming soon.

Loved this house at Barr nam Boc Bay.

And this one at the sheep farm heading back down to the jetty.

Looks really peaceful doesn't it? But the noise from bleating sheep here was deafening! Amazing how each bleat and baaa sounds different though.

Came across a few oddities on our walk as well.

I liked the squares within squares here and the textures in the peeling paint.

And a nice bright blue with a touch of rust is always a pleasing combination!



This old horsebox seems to have been a souvenir shop at one time.

All in all we enjoyed our visit. New inspiration has been gathered and happy family memries made.

When I saw this sunset I'll admit that I felt rather hemmed in and would have loved to have been out on Iona or on the south west tip of Mull. I do love looking out to the open sea, with waves crashing in and that feeling of being on the edge of the world.

The main reason for going to Oban though was so I could drop new stock off at the gift shop Room 15. I'll share some photos from there in the next post.

The Makers Market on Saturday was great. I met a few fellow Open Studio artists which was nice and a busy day was had.

Next event is Falkland Street Fair on Saturday 23rd June so if you are local be sure and put that in your diary.