Miscellany

We've been back ten days and slipped all too quickly into the familiar territory of lists and tasks and places to be and things to do. So here, as much for me as for you, are some snaps. 

The stylishly painted cruise ship we motored past on the 'river' bit of the a canal cruise

Embroidered felt hats in the window of a fascinating shop in Prinsengracht. Perhaps as well it was closed at the time.

Flamingoes at the Artis Zoo, visible from the road. From the canal on the other side of the zoo you can see giraffes and zebra as you glide along...

Fantastic felt walls in de Oranjerie at the Botanical Gardens. It doubles up as the cafe so was our first port of call when the heavens opened one day. The chocolate mousse cake was almost as impressive as the flowery felty walls (scoffed before the camera came out the bag).

 

Since we've been back Tart HQ has been well used. I've been stitching and packaging up new goodies, and worrying over the size of the fibre order I need to place very soon. 

On Friday Linda, Janet, Ali and I spent a fine day selling our wares to the textile/creative types who visited us in Jedburgh. In between visitors we mulled over names for our new Artists Book Group and planned our foray to the Glasgow International Artists Book Fair next Sunday. Excitement is high! 

It's early days but do put a date in your diary for 19th October when we will be launching our first handmade books, selling supplies and promoting related workshops.

Sooner than that, though, I am running two different workshops. Fancy a day's play?

Saturday 9th June at Paxton House - (contact Paxton House here)

STITCH UP A STORM
Taking inspiration from the Paxton estate and costume exhibition, try out some simple handstitching techniques and easy embroidery to personalise your own clothes and home decor, or to stitch up a unique softie to take home.

Saturday 30th June at The Forman Hall, Roberton - (e-mail borthwickwaterartsproject@yahoo.com)

PAPER EXTRAVAGANZA
Explore the use and re-use of all sorts of paper. Themed decorations, gift boxes and envelopes and other packaging, notebooks and albums using simple binding techniques.

And finally, do you know anyone in search of a floor loom? A generous lady in the Borders is parting with hers free to a good home so if you fancy a Douglas Andrew loom let me know and I'll pass on her e-mail address.

The Wanderer Retuns

Well admittedly it wasn't a long absence but it was a busy one. Amsterdam was excellent fun though my legs are inches shorter from all the walking we did. We managed some culture, lots of window shopping and gawping at the street theatre (cyclists, scooters, trams, tourists, the occasional juggler, the inevitable exhibitionist in a Spiderman costume...) We're already scheming how soon we can get back for more Dam-time as there's still so much to see and do there.

I didn't take nearly enough photographs but I couldn't resist snapping this - it's a mobile of tiny toy yachts hanging from the light in the shop of the newly renovated Het Scheepvartmusuem. 

The museum itself we found really confusing though the replica of the Dutch East India Company trader 'Amsterdam', the cafe and the shop were all winners!

We managed not one but two canal cruises - the one by night with accompanying wine and cheese was particularly fine.

 I'll spare you every last detail of the trip this time because I need to remind you all to come along to Ali's on Friday for a textile extravaganza. See you there, I hope!

Jumping the Gun

I was going to hang the flags out to launch Tart HQ's April opening but there's a bit too much in the way yet. For a start there have been further earth-moving developments (steady, we're talking diggers and gravel here). 

Then there's the tractor mower which is parked up right in front of HQ's windows, not to mention the fact that I haven't quite found a home for all the stuff that I have returned to the caravan from its winter quarters in the house. 

another of Steve Kenward's images

And of course the sun shone all week so I had to grab the opportunity and paint several miles of fence palings, two sheds and a hen house. 

So no more excuses?

Hmmm, well actually we have some good friends arriving on Saturday and they are going to house/dog/hen-sit while we run away to Amsterdam. 

Major excitement! We've never been, we're going by ferry and staying right bang in the middle of the city. All those galleries, museums, markets, canals, coffees, pancakes and so on right on the doorstep. Picture two country bumpkins wandering round with eyes like saucers!

Culture

Last weekend Hugh and I were down near Stafford. 

He went to a 4x4 show and admired winches and roll cages and tyres and the like.

I went to Shugborough Estate and admired gardens, bothies, rag rugs, three different old kitchens, a mill, a brewery, an old quilt, hens and ducks, Lord Lichfield's portrait photography and his private rooms in the mansion house (and I ran out of time to see LOTS of other things on the estate). There are costumed 'servants' working in the farm and house and they chat with you in character. I learned about the butler and the cook disappearing after meals for a snifter of port in her rooms, amongst other gossip.. The brewer advised me that the 'eight pints per person' daily allowance of beer for all servants wasn't quite as generous as it sounded as the hops had already been used once by the time their rather weaker drink was brewed. It was still nourishing and better than the water which was undrinkable...

 part of a tailors' shop display

 the gardeners' bothies were tiny and dark

 settle by the farmhouse range

 quilt on a servant's bed

 kitchen and servants' quarters (!)

Framed

I'm a member of the Heritage Crafts Association which supports and promotes heritage crafts as a fundamental part of our living heritage. Late last year photographer Steve Kenward got in touch and a couple of weeks ago he spent the morning here taking some lovely images of my hand spinning. 

 He's working on an exhibition entitled Made not Manufactured and has been travelling around the country meeting artisans practising traditional crafts and photographing them at work (27 of them so far). 

Hopefully one day there will be a book of his images and he's currently building a website for them as well as searching for a venue for an exhibition

A Little Colour

Spring has not quite sprung yet. Lots of hopeful signs, of course, with bulbs pushing up and buds swelling, bright days and a little warmth...followed by great big hailstones and freezing winds. So let's have a little injection of colour to brighten up the day...

 project-sized button bags

 handmade packets to save treasured garden seeds

handspun yarns drying by the stove

and early warning of a great exhibition next month 

which will include some of Hugh's work

Marching On

Wow, time flies when your life's a mess!

Lots had happened since I last posted, some of it good and some bad, and most of it probably pretty mundane so I'll spare you the yawning...

But I've been to the first Woolfish Wool Festival of the year at Coldstream, where I caught up with fellow stall-holders handweaver Janis, felting Laura, and the talented Natural Born Dyers (I may have succumbed to some lovely soft dyed fibre there...) as well as good friends who came along to enjoy the textile treats (and the impressive catering - thanks Trudi and Louise!)

 And I'm happy to say that on the Tart's stall Stitchers' Mixtures jars were a success, buttons were bought, scrumptious bags of carded merino were squeezed, thread snips snapped up and my new smarter display of 'notions' made me feel happy!

This euphoria resulted in further investment in buttons and bits and rather side-tracked me away from collage creation (again). My good intentions for the winter months are looking a little feeble now and there's a great new toy tool I bought in November that I have not even put to the test yet. Just bewitched by buttons and the joy of packaging goodies up into little bundles - probably incurable.

But, a new audience awaits!  Ali has organised another great day at Boundary Bank, Jedburgh and kindly invited Janet, Linda and me to join her. We'll have wonderful stocks and supplies to inspire you, at very gentle prices. Come along and enjoy a relaxed rummage through papers, fabrics, fibres and felts!

 

Crisp Clean Day

Today's Sunday walk with the dogs didn't go quite as smoothly as planned (Midge + deer = instant deafness, much excited yelping and a disappearance for five minutes 'chase' in the trees. It's okay, she'll never outpace them).

She got lots of exercise. 

Meanwhile Ash partook of a little light strolling, punctuated by innumerable stop'n'sniff interludes.

After such exertion there was only one place to be.

Showing off...

... my finished jacket. 

 

After my concerns that I had not made it big enough, I've been persuaded that it's rather more flattering than the one-size-fits-all version that I would have succumbed to by habit! Still, if I make another version (and I am tempted) I'll make it a little bigger and longer. I like the combination of New Lanark wool/silk aran weight with my handspun and I think a coat-of-many-handspun-stripes would please me.

And now, on this mild February morning, I'm off to the village hall to put the fire on and enjoy the company of fellow stitchers at the first Woolgathering of the year. Simple pleasures.

Snow?

Saturday afternoon and so far only a smattering of snow. Fingers crossed it stays that way as I am more than happy for this 'winter lite' that we are experiencing.

Did manage a reminder of severe weather conditions this week, though, when we checked out the small exhibition about Scott's expedition to the South Pole at the National Library of Scotland. Diary extracts, letters, books, postcards and maps give a very real reminder of the endeavour they undertook. 

As a bonus for me, there was also an exhibition of the entries in the annual bookbinding competition held by the National Library which attracts lots of submissions from across Europe and beyond.

Our little Edinburgh trip also took in the recently refurbished National Museum of Scotland in Chambers Street. Gone are the tanks swimming with fish that my little brother and I use to love when we were kids, and there's now lots and lots of empty space in the great hall. But the totem pole I also remember well has been repositioned in the Living Lands gallery where I took these two speedy pics with my phone. 

The baskets are made by the Dene People of Western SubArctic America out of birch bark. The lower pic is a close-up of bottom section of a man's robe woven from elm tree bark by the Ainu in Hokkaido in the late 19th C. 

Obviously we didn't go all the way to Edinburgh and not eat anything. We drove straight up to Marchmont and a had a delicious light lunch at Toast, before walking across the Meadows to the exhibitions. It would have been nice to linger longer and explore but I am quietly planning to get back up before long and go round the museum and some galleries at leisure.

Obsessed? Moi?

Well don't you think they are irresistable? Lovely deep dyed mother of pearl buttons ready to brighten up the dullest winter day. They are resting on part of the jacket I am knitting in New Lanark wool/silk and handspun. I only have half a sleeve to go so the end is in sight now. 

  

Newsletter No 4 is out and you can download a copy from my Tart's Art site. If you'd like to receive it straight to your e-mailbox in future, just fire off a message to me and I'll add you to the small but select mailing list.

 

Back to technicolour

Today was going to be a sewing machine day  - there are any number of jobs to be done, some creative and some decidedly not. But the possibility of working in a warm kitchen was more appealing so it is a drum carder day instead. The acquisition of a beautifully made Classic Carder has not revolutionised(!) my life but I have scarcely made a rolag with hand carders since I got it. It's just fun.

Today I am carding wool and alpaca and linen and more into 50gm bags of lovely colour blends for fibre lovers of all denominations to enjoy. I'll have them at the Woolfestival on 25th February in Coldstream so do come along and squish a bag or two and make noises about them, won't you?

Yesteryear..

 ...when life was more 'black and white'. 

Here's a contrast to today's mindblowing multi-coloured onslaught on the senses. 

Back to a time when Needlework Illustrated carried these delightful advertisements (1947 to be exact)

To travel hopefully...

I have designated 2012 my year of exploration. 

 

Small scale stuff by many people's standards, I know, but I'm hazily planning a few escapades around the country and across the North Sea this coming year.  

Not in this lovely mobile artwork, sadly. I admired it on Wednesday when we had a wee day oot (in stormy wind and rain) to Glasgow where Hugh enjoyed the rockers' dream exhibition at the Kelvingrove and we checked out the Riverside, the fancy new home of the Transport Museum

And I want to explore new ideas in my artwork too - the list of 'must try this' items on my list is impressive.

As I consider what to do first, I've started work on a version of this jacket. I've spun up four yarns which I am combining with a wool/silk mix aran weight from New Lanark. Stripes? Me? How did you guess?

As 2011 fades away, I want to say thanks for reading this far, for the comments both on and off the blog, and for visiting Woolgatherings or HQ or The Tart at fairs this year. May we all have a peaceful, safe and fulfilling year ahead. 

X L