2019 Calendars - Last Few Remaining!

With 2019 nearly upon us, now is the time to snap up one of my last remaining calendars for next year!

12 of my felt art pictures in print with a whole calendar page to write on. Makes a great postable gift as well. 

2019 Wall Calendar £12 inc UK p+p

I've had such a busy time since the Handmade Show at Perth in November (which was wonderful as usual!)

Not much time for making pictures but I have made this pussy cat sitting on a wall.

'Cat on The Wall' £98 Framed

I have had him printed onto cushions and canvases as well and as a cotton bag.

Cushions £40          Canvas Print £20

Cotton Bags £14.95

The bags are great, heavier duty than your average cotton tote with a different image on each side. They wash well and iron flat and have good, sturdy long handles too.

Other designs include these two below.

I mentioned my new tins in my last blog post but since then I have added another design in the square shape and two small round ones as well. 

The little round tins are great for pins, stitch markers, buttons, beads or sweeties.

I have also made some up as gift sets with other items all of which you can see here .

Also flying out the door this month are these Harris Tweed bird brooches.

Brooches £14

And my wee sheepies are continuing to be popular and have now gone off in flock formation to some new stockists!

You can find a small selection at 

The Woolly Brew in Pittenweem, 

Sealy MacWheely in Kirkintilloch. 

The Yarn Cake in Glasgow and 

The Dancing Light Gallery near West Linton.

I have tried to make lots of my shiny textile jewellery available online as well but it is soooo difficult to photograph and the light is terrible at this time of year.

You can see what's in stock by following these links.

Earrings £18.50

Pendants £26

I am very much looking forward to the next few weeks as I have a rather exciting new toy arriving which will help me with my felt making and hopefully help me to create more pictures! I'll keep you up to date with what's new and I hope everyone has a lovely time as we go through the darkest part of the year. I like to fill this time with cosy fires, candle light, family, friends, music and nice walks on crisp and frosty days!

♥

Upcoming Event - The Handmade Show! Sunday November 18th 2019

The Handmade Show is on at Perth Concert Hall, Sunday 18th November, 10.30 - 4.30pm!

I will be there as usual with all my new makes and regular favourites.

New since my last blog post are these cotton canvas tote bags.

Each bag is double sided with a different image on each side. Heavier duty than your average canvas bag with nice long handles too.

Bags £14.95

I also have new tins available with my artwork on them.

Great for use as a sewing tin, button, biscuit or cake tin. Crochet hooks, knitting notions, bits and bobs, the list is endless!

Tins £9.95

I should have another design in time for The Handmade Show as well. 

My needle felted brooches have been very popular this year and I will have a good selection of them with me on the 18th. I also have some in my Etsy shop in the 5 cm round size above and the oval shape below.

Brooches £18.50

The treble clef brooches are also new. They are made with my own handmade and embroidered felt. Each one is different and beautifully textured.

I have new earrings in stock featuring beautiful handmade ear wires by Newburgh based jeweller Anne Miller. Pendants to match also available.

My felt Ivy Leaf Brooches and Harris Tweed Bird Brooches are great at this time of year for brightening up a coat or cardigan, also useful for keeping cardigans closed at the front or for use as a shawl pin.

Brooches £14

These birdies above feature a cute little thistle on their wings to compliment the Harris Tweed.

Back in May I received a  beautiful selection of hand turned wooden trinket boxes by local wood turner Mike Kelly, inlaid with my felt artwork. They sold like hot cakes and I am delighted to say that a new batch arrived last week!

Turned Wooden Boxes £65

They are so beautiful to touch and hold as they are lovely and smooth and polished to a beautiful sheen. Each one is different and made from either beech, ash or cherry wood. They are all in my Etsy shop at the moment and will be coming with me to The Handmade Show.

Another new addition to my range of 'useful items printed with my artwork' are these pocket notebooks. A6 size with the pages alternating between plain and ruled, they make great little project bag books, sketch books, hand bag notebooks etc.

Don't forget that my 2019 Wall Calendar is available now!

Calendar £12 Free UK p+p

The Handmade Show is my last event this year but of you can't make it along, my Etsy shop is the best place to find everything that is available right now. I'm working hard to keep it up to date every day but as always, feel free to contact me with any enquiries.

I also have a selection on my work available on 

Handmade @ Amazon. If you prefer to shop on Amazon, I am happy to list items on there for you if they are not there already. Just email me at aileenclarkecrafts@yahoo.com

♥

Scottish Gifts, Felt Art Pictures, Shawl Pins and Crochet.

What a fantastic summer is has been since my last blog update and here we are in September already!

I thoroughly enjoyed all the great weather we had during June and July and managed to spend four weeks at the beach! Two weeks on a family holiday in Cornwall and two with my daughter visiting my son in the west of Ireland. The break did me the world of good and I have settled back into work with renewed zeal.

Sand Art at Perrnaporth

I had a stand at Perth Festival of Yarn earlier this month and took the opportunity to stock up on amazing hand dyed fibres from various other vendors. I have been experimenting with my purchases this week and I'm so excited with the results.
These two framed pictures are hot off the work table this week and now available on Etsy. Click the images for full details.

Rainbow Over the Glen 

£145

Wild Atlantic Horizon

£225

I have been making lots of things in little batches since May and did a massive shop update last week. Textile Trinket Boxes, Sheep Brooches, Shawl Pins and Sheep Earrings are among just some of the 200 items I have available right now.

Trinket Boxes range from £36 to £48.50

Sheep Jewellery from £18

Ivy Leaf Brooches £14 

My Ivy Leaf Brooches have been very popular and I have a few still available. 

I also have new coaster designs in.

This set below feature my new stag picture as well as the seascape and sunset I made back in May. I like the highland lochs and glens feel to them.

I revamped my original set of four with the addition of 'Little Lamb' which I think goes quite well with the cottages and coo.

Set of Four Luxury Coasters £14.95

They also go well with my Tea Towel

Tea Towel £9.95

My 2019 Calendar is also here!

I have gone for the square format again with a different image for each month and a whole calendar page to write on.

Calendar £12 inc UK p+p

As well as working on my felt art I have been working on some crochet for myself. I like The Crochet Project patterns as they are easy to follow and the finished pieces look like they were quite complicated but were actually really simple to make.

This is 'Parallel Lines' from The Shawl Project, Book 4 

I used a Scheepjes Whirl in Blackberry Mint Chip and it was enjoyable to crochet with. The colour changes kept my interest going as 1000 m of yarn and a repeat pattern can become a bit boring after a while!

My next crochet make involves this beautiful gradient yarn in blues from WooSheeps and the purples and pinks from Quirky Paintbrush. I think it's true to say that since taking up crochet I have developed yarn addiction on top of fibre addiction!

My next event will be at Pitcairngreen Village Hall on Saturday 27th October. This is a great little fair that I have been doing for about 15 years! There is a small entrance fee that includes tea, coffee , sandwiches and home baked cakes.

After that I will be at The Handmade Show on Sunday 18th November. This is an excellent event held in Perth Concert Hall. Free entry.

May Update 2018

Both of my big events for May have been and gone and what an incredibly busy time it has been! There were only six weeks between Edinburgh Yarn Festival and Open Studios and two of those weeks were the school holidays so that didn't leave much making time but I managed it somehow and Open Studios North Fife 2018 was a huge success and one of my busiest ever!

I moved into my usual venue in Ladybank which is kindly lent to me by Gillian McIntosh of Kingdom Osteopaths. This little place was going to be my permanent studio a few years ago but I found it more time effective to work from home so the building was sold to Gillian who now runs a successful practice offering a variety of treatments including osteopathy.

I get to move in for four days in which I recreate my studio and transform the three rooms ready to welcome visitors over the Open Studios weekend.

I was completely overwhelmed by the response to my work this year and received 434 visitors over the three days!

My new artwork for 2018 was inspired by a quick trip to Dingle on the west coast of Ireland that we managed to squeeze into the school holidays in April. 

We usually go in July or August and I completely switch off for the two weeks we are there, this time however I was very inspired by the April light which was moody and changeable and I worked some felt seascapes from these photos I took around the Dingle peninsula.

Wine Strand at Ballinrannig

Wild Atlantic Bay £195

SOLD

Canvas Print £45 Available

Coumeenole, Slea Head

The Wild Atlantic £195

SOLD

Canvas Print £45 Available

I also got chatting to local photographer Dave Lee over a pint in Foxy John's and he very kindly sent me some photos taken from his hill farm.

I used them as a basis for this piece below.

West Kerry Sunset £195

SOLD

I also made this felt piece inspired by the wild montbretia we see every summer in this area of West Kerry.

West Coast Montbretia £145 Available

And this little sunset piece also features the montbretia.

Montbretia Sunset £95 Available

All these new works will be in my 2019 Calendar which will be available in August.

Other work on display during Open Studios included the original felt art for my tea towel.

This is the largest detailed piece I have made to date and I was delighted to see it framed at last.

Cottage, Cove and Coo £385

SOLD

Tea Towel £9.95 Available

Also available as cards and notebooks.

Delphinium Cottage £145 Available

First Lambs £245 Available

Open Studios is always a great opportunity to display finished work but it is also about sharing information about the processes and materials used so I get my friend Kirsty from Falkland Felts to help me explain the felt making process to visitors and offer some short demonstrations. We had great fun this year and we also put some kits together so people could have a go at needle felting at home.

I have some fibre packs still available in my Etsy shop. These are little 'bits bags' made up with a variety of fibres from my own stash, suitable for small wet felting and needle felting projects. 

Fibre Packs £6

It's always exciting to have something new to show people at events and I was over the moon to reveal this new collaboration with local wood turner Mike Kelly.

These beautifully turned boxes are inlaid with my artwork making them truly unique and an unusual gift.

The wood is polished to a lovely sheen and they feel soooo smooooth!

You can read full details about each box in my Etsy shop here

Turned Wood Boxes £65

Just a few days after Open Studios it was off to Aberdeen for the first ever Aberdeen Yarnfest! Amazingly I still had stock left as I had worked incredibly hard to make enough and topped up my range of shawl pins etc in the couple of days in between.

My husband and daughter came too and we made a weekend of it as the Double Tree Hilton Hotel where we stayed and where the yarn fest was held, has a swimming pool etc so they enjoyed that while I got busy with the event.

You never know what to expect with a new event but we were all rushed off our feet from the minute the doors opened in the morning right up to the last hour. Everyone from the organisers and stall holders to the visitors could not have been nicer and a great day was had by all!

I have serious yarn addiction now after vending at all the yarn festivals and have a fair few shawls/scarves crocheted with my purchases. 

Acer Shawl in Sock Yarn from The Border Tart/Blue Moon Indigo at EYF 2018

Above is the Acer Shawl I started just after EYF using a pattern from The Crochet Project and hand dyed yarn from Blue Moon Indigo. I really love wearing it so I made another in a gradient yarn I bought on Etsy from Bilum in Hungary. I had seen their beautiful yarns at EYF 2017 and just couldn't find anything else as nice so I treated myself and the results were worth it.

Both of these shawls used 1 x 100g/400m skeins.

Acer Shawl in Slika Yarn from Bilum on Etsy

I also bought a random skein of purple yarn at EYF 2018 from Fig Tree Yarns but is was only 284m so I went on Ravelry and looked for a suitable pattern and found the Boomerang Scarf for Crochet. This is a great little pattern as you can use any yarn, any hook and any stitch as long as you keep the increase and decrease the same on each row and it only takes 4 hours start to finish for a 284m skein!

Boomerang Scarf in Cricket Yarn by Anzula Luxury Fibres from Fig Tree Yarns at EYF 2018

This is a really wearable scarf and I have teamed it up here with one of my own felt flower shawl pins. 

This is the shape of the boomerang scarf hence it's name.

I made it again in this Mochi Plus yarn that I got from my neighbours, Albayarn, at Aberdeen Yarnfest. It came out a lot longer and skinnier than the purple one and I'm not sure why but it's still wearable and goes with my Autumn/Spring coat. Again I have teamed it up with one of my own shawl pins, a range of which I plan to have available in time for Perth Festival of Yarn in September.

Boomerang Scarf in Mochi Plus by Crystal Palace Yarns from Albayarn at Aberdeen Yarnfest 2018

I have added lots of things to my Etsy shop over the last week including these new rings and pendants.

Adjustable Rings £18

The rings are adjustable and are very comfortable to wear. they adjust from the side so that they don't pinch underneath. 

The pendants are very elegant and great for wearing with summer necklines.

Pendants £26

I have also topped up my usual range of felted Sheep Jewellery, Keepsake Boxes and Brooches.

Sheep Earrings £18

Sheep Brooch

£18

Sheepy Shawl Pins £18

Sheep and Cottage Brooch £22

5 x 5 x 5 cm Keepsake Box £30

7 x 7 x 7 cm Keepsake Box £35

10 x 10 x 6 cm Keepsake Box £45

Harris Tweed Bird Brooches £14

Harris Tweed Leaf Brooches £14

Find all these and more in

My Online Shop

Little Lamb Lens Cloth £4.50

My next event will be at Aberfeldy Highland Games on Saturday 11th August held at Wade's Park across the bridge from Aberfeldy. 

Then I will be at Perth Festival of Yarn on 8th and 9th September. It is advisable to buy tickets in advance for this. See the website here for details.

My 

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