2023 Wall Calendar and Gift Ideas

My 2023 Wall Calendar is available here.

It features a different image for each month with a whole calendar page to write on.

 

Calendar £12.95

Some other new makes include these blue felt Keepsake Boxes.

Blue Felt and Velvet Keepsake Box £59.95.

The lids for these boxes are made with a variety of wool and silk fibres, wet felted to create lots of lovely rich colour and texture. 

Keepsake Box £39.955

Other Keepsake Boxes featuring my Cottage and Sheep designs are also available. See the Keepsake Boxes section of my Etsy shop here 

Keepsake Boxes £59.95

Small Keepsake Box £36.95

I have also been busy making these Harris Tweed Notebooks and Passport Covers. 

The A5 size Notebook Covers are £36.95 and the A6 Passport Covers are £22.95. Both come with a plain paper page notebook included.

New Brooches include these cute little Tartan Thistle Birds and this luscious Felt Ivy Leaf. Both £16

See all Brooches here .

And as always, I have a variety of needle felted Sheep Brooches and Earrings available.

Sheep Brooches £24.95

See my Etsy shop also for other gift ideas including tins, lens cloths, mouse mats, bookmarks, cushions and prints. If there's anything you would like but don't see in stock, feel free to email me and ask about it.

aileenclarkecrafts@yahoo.com

Staying at Home, Crochet, Crafting and Shed Life.

Hello from north Fife!

This blog post should have been all about our upcoming Open Studios event but of course with everything being cancelled due to Covid-19, our annual event cannot go ahead. Trivial of course in the greater scheme of things. These are strange days and despite being someone who works from home, it has taken time to settle into a new home life routine. I have a 14 year old daughter and my husband at home so it's not the same work/life routine at all. Who could settle into a normal routine anyway! We're all just doing our best and it's appreciating the little things that will get us through. 

One of the first things we did as a family was tidy out and patch up our old shed and reclaim it as space to sit out and relax in. We know are very lucky to have a garden and outdoor space at this time and we are making best use of it.

I gave this shed it's first make over back in 2011. There is a blog post about it on here but it had become a dumping ground again and had started to leak. We thought it might be beyond repair but with lock down coming upon us we realised we wouldn't be able to afford a new one and couldn't go anywhere to buy supplies to fix this one so we re-purposed an old shelf unit for wood and used perspex from an old picture frame to replace some broken glass and we have our little shed back!

It's a great space to relax in as it's often too windy to sit outside here but this gives the feeling of being outside and is a nice change of scene.

It's great fun in the evening with the heater on and all the fairy lights twinkling.

The pattern for the crochet shawl I'm wearing above is Tasty Tamarind by Mijo Crochet made with a Blackberry Mint Chip Scheepjes Whirl.

I love the colours of this whirl and although the pattern is meant for Scheepjes Whirligig yarn, I found it easy enough to make with a 4 ply whirl. 

My next crochet project is to make another one of these wraps and write the pattern down as I go. I made this earlier this year and made it up as I went along. The yarn is by Monsoon Calamity. It's 4 ply stranded cotton and comes in the most amazing colours!

Crochet Gradient Yarn Wrap 

Designed by Me in Nova Cotton Yarn by Monsoon Calamity.

The next one I am making is in Fairy Lake also by Monsoon Clamaity

Another non crafty make was this fruit loaf and lentil soup! The soup was one of my best ever. The loaf is lovely but I can't make it often as it's just fattening. A tasty treat every now and then though.

The best thing about living where we do is having lots of places to go for a walk.

These are our nearest neighbours.

We have woods within walking distance of the house.

And endless fields to look out across.

There's a lot to be said for appreciating what is on your own doorstep. ♥ 

As I mentioned at the start of this post, our annual Open Studios event was due to happen at the start of May. I hadn't really started making in earnest for it before it became obvious that it wouldn't go ahead but I did make this batch of bookmarks in preparation. They are now listed on Etsy.

Bookmarks £12.95

I also have a few of these covered notebooks made. The picture on the front is an original felt piece sewn onto purple tweed. The cover is designed to be removable so the notebook can be replaced when full or swapped out for an address book or diary. 

Covered Notebook £34.95

Mellon Udrigle Cottage and Byre

 £145

I had also started a series of long pictures in readiness for Open Studios. I've sold two already but this is my favourite one and it's still available. 

 I'm also keeping my little stock of Sheep Brooches and jewellery pieces topped up. 

Sheep Brooch £22.50

Sheep Pendant £24.50

So that's just a wee round up of life in lock down here at Aileen Clarke Crafts. I am still able to post parcels. I do all my post online and walk to the nearest post box. Anything too large to go in the post box gets collected by a friend who passes the house every day. I leave a bag on the door and the parcels get dropped at the post office which she goes into every couple of days anyway. Pictures get sent by courier. 

If you would like something sent directly to the recipient with a message from you, that is a service I can offer at this time.

Fun Felt Making Workshops

SATURDAY 22ND FEBRUARY AT 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM

FUN FELT MAKING WORKSHOP WITH AILEEN CLARKE CRAFTS

This one day workshop is a fun opportunity to try out some basic felt making techniques. It is suitable for beginners, or for those with some experience who wish to refresh or enhance their skills.

Morning

In this session you will make a wet felted flower brooch using merino and silk fibres. Learn how to form and layer three-dimensional flower shapes and how to make a felt ball for the centre.

Afternoon

The afternoon will be spent exploring dry needle felting techniques. You will learn how to apply your own design to a background. Either bring your own idea or use one ready prepared. We will work into these designs using fibres, hand stitching and beads.

Cost £50 which includes all materials, tea and coffee.

To book, please click on this Eventbrite Link

If you would prefer a half day workshop, I will be running the flower brooch workshop twice on March 14th.

SATURDAY 14TH MARCH AT 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM

FELT FLOWER BROOCH WORKSHOP WITH AILEEN CLARKE CRAFTS 

 MORNING

There are two chances to undertake this exciting three-hour workshop, led by feltmaker Aileen Clarke. This is a morning session, from 10 till 1. In this workshop you will make a wet felted flower brooch using merino and silk fibres. This includes learning how to form and layer three-dimensional flower shapes and how to make a felt ball for the centre.  You will go away with a finished piece ready to be sewn together when dry and full written instructions so you can carry on developing your skills at home.

£25 per workshop includes all materials, tea and coffee

To book, click on this Eventbrite link.

AFTERNOON

Same as above but from from 2 till 5. 

£25 per workshop includes all materials, tea and coffee

To book, click on this Eventbrite link.

Fun Felt Making Workshop with Aileen Clarke Crafts

Join Me for a Fun Felt Making Workshop 

on

Saturday 14th September 10 – 3pm

at

Off the Rails Arthouse, Ladybank, Fife, KY15 7JT

Morning

In this workshop we will make a wet felted flower brooch using merino and silk fibres. Learn how to form and layer three-dimensional flower shapes and how to make a felt ball for the centre. 

Afternoon

The afternoon will be spent exploring dry needle felting techniques. You will learn how to apply your own design to a background. Either bring your own idea or use one ready prepared. We will work into these designs using fibres, hand stitching and beads. 

£50 includes all materials, tea and coffee. 

Click here to book 

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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