Today is orange...

...and 'soft pear green', well that's what it says on the tin. And if you want to know which room in the house is getting this fruity makeover, you'll have to visit.

Not content with orange and green, I bring you grey - our Scots Grey mini-flock is up for sale. Steve, Son of Eric, and his four girls need a new and loving home where egg production is secondary to good looks.


And red in the form of a shoal of red herrings

Today's List

Good things

• My wee chair for the Textile Towerhouse Chair Challenge was finished off.
• The final painted Tart HQ sign was given two coats of varnish.
• The latest buttons were admired (by me) and made ready for sale.
• My little sewing kits were labelled up.
• A textile-y meeting was attended on behalf of Crossing Borders.

Bad things

• An expensive problem with the chimney came to light (smoke sneaking into the cottage bedroom from our kitchen stove).

All things bright and beautiful...

...but no creatures great or small, apart from the appearance of big fat queen wasps already, looking for safe sites to take up residence.
NOT in Tart HQ, if you don't mind.


Organise your storage with style and panache! Try my new tags on recycled card (there are numbers 1-6 as sets as well).

I've used the button image below in my first newsletter. You can download it from Tart's Art website and have a browse through the site while you're about it. Feel free to spread the word, won't you!

I'm aiming to find new and interesting places to list my website and Tart HQ so if anything occurs to you I'd be delighted to hear from you. I am working on some new stock to go into the Peter Potter Gallery in Haddington and there's an opportunity through Crossing Borders to have work on show with fellow artists at Bowhill later in the year.

My fellow Crossing Borderer Ian Oliver is opening his new photographic gallery at Easter in Newtown St Boswells, and he's kindly invited some Crossing Borders artists to display their 3D work there too. Should be an excellent new venue.

I'll leave you with an image of some more lustre yarns which I have succumbed to - this image does not do the shades justice; you'll just have to come and see for yourselves...

Seaspray and scraps

We ran away to the seaside yesterday. It was a belated celebration of my birthday and had all the elements of a memorable day. Very blustery at the beach but that meant it was only us out there - the dogs had a fantastic morning.
I acquired new walking boots (not before time - my existing pair have been used a lot since their purchase in April 2002).
We had lunchtime chips on the sea-front at Eyemouth, and coffee with a friend en route home.I spent some of the weekend slicing up fabric and sewing this small quilt. It's multicultural - African indigo dyed fabrics interspersed with my pal's old summer batik trousers (thanks, A!) and with a surround of more recycled batik fabric. On the back is a piece of old blue duvet cover and the wadding is ancient English wool blanket. And here's a progress report on the wee school chair makeover. These are the front and back of the slipccover for the chairback.

April Showers!

Ha, bit more than delicate little showers happening round here the last few days. Still, it's afternoon now and the sun is high in the Spring sky, my wee red tulips are blooming and all is right with the world for a while.

I've been busy in HQ, revamping the old school chair I acquired from the Textile Towerhouse, making stylish tags and packaging up some Indian glass beads for sale. Lots more happening in my head so I need to get some notes down and keep on making.

Tuesday would have been my folks' fifty-fifth wedding anniversary...