Woolly Thoughts

Creativity presently extends to moving furniture round and winding myself up to make some curtains, though there have been forays into jelly making with this year's feeble apple crop, and seeing how much brandy one mixing bowl of mincemeat can absorb...

The spinning wheel was dusted off for the Crafternoon Tea and is back in easy reach - so why have I not sat down at it since? I think I need to schedule in a whole day of 'making things'. With that in mind, I am pleased to say there is another Woolgathering on the way - I reckon 28th October is near enough the actual date to give it a Halloween theme, and Anne has suggested we bring UFOs along. Of course that presents another dilemma - do I take the unfinished kantha work, the unfinished baby sock or the wheel with the beautiful dyed tops I bought at Woolfest?

The invitations have gone out to all previous participants but if you want to know more and would like to come along just shout - I can guarantee that the only level of skill to be publicly judged at such an event is your capacity for coffee and cake.

Woolly Wallpaper and more

Isn't this a delicious image? You need to check out the lovely work of Mrs Hello Yarn. She even offers this and other yarn shots for you to use as wallpaper - check out the skulls! And her Blog is full of great knits and useful information too. Oh, and while I am at it - do you know about Marilyn at the Toy Workshop? Another great site, with delightful free downloads, wonderful for kids of all ages....
My life is destructive rather than creative again at the moment - barrowfuls of prunings in the garden, stripping glue off a laminate floor, pulling off wallpaper, so I may just shout about others' blogs for a while. Have had a plea from 'tricia at Teddies for Tragedies, though - 500 teddies are going off to Roumania but they don't have anywhere near enough bags for them - have a look at the site if you can and stitch a few simple bags.

Jute, Jam and Journeying

Been off in the glorious Perthshire countryside for a week with Hugh. We stayed in the little village of Kirkmichael which allowed us to explore in lots of different directions. Most days we clocked up a good few miles walking, split into two or maybe three outings. The village is situated on The Cateran Trail - a 64 mile circular walking route 'in the footsteps of the marauding clans and cattle thieves of the Highlands' and all the footpath signs have dinky little red hearts on them - not quite the image you associate with marauding cattle thieves but easy to spot!

On Wednesday we drove to Dundee where we played tourist. Dundee is of course known for jute, jam and jounalism. Jam because the countryside surrounding Dundee is gently sloping quality growing ground for soft fruit. There are acres of poly tunnels and fleece-protected strawberries and raspberries everywhere you look. Journalism - Dundee is home to D C Thomson, publishers since 1905, with over 200 million newspapers and magazines each year. Jute is your lesson for today.

First we explored Her Majesty's Frigate Unicorn, built in the Royal Naval Dockyard at Chatham in 1824. Although she did not put to sea in wartime, she was in constant service in the Royal Navy till 1968. It was fascinating exploring below deck, and deeper and deeper below water level to where a poor ship's carpenter would have had to run round a tiny gantry over the open hold, plugging holes in the hull whenever cannonballs found their target. And what about the fact that traditionally the deck where the officers had their qaurters was painted red so that the blood did not show up so much as the wounded were laid out?

Then we visited Verdant Works .

Verdant Works was built in 1833 for a merchant and flax spinner. By 1864 it had 70 power looms and 500 people were employed there. In 1991 the Dundee Heritage Trust purchased the derelict site and set about restoring the jute mill as a working museum. Jute is obtained from two varieties of plant native to Bangladesh (Bengal as was). In 1820 the first twenty bales of jute were unloaded at Dundee docks. The city was already an important weaving and whaling centre. So the local workforce could weave and they had access to whale oil which was needed to soften the raw jute fibre and make it workable. The enterprising merchant community was quick to see the possibilities. During the 19th and early 20th centuries jute was indispensable - its uses included sacking, ropes, boot linings, aprons, carpets, tents, roofing felts, sand bags, sailcloth, scrims, tapestries, horse covers, cattle bedding, electric cables and even parachutes. It was cheap, durable and very versatile. Between 1841 and 1901 the population of the city tripled. By then 50,000 people were employed in the mills and Dundee was the jute capital of the world. Most of the workers were women and children (cheaper to employ), working conditions were appalling and accidents common. The workers lived in overcrowded squalor and the mill owners got richer and richer (sound familiar?) However, the Jute Barons did spend some of their riches on parks and libraries, swimming pools and theatres and dance halls, so that the workers' brief leisure time was varied and enjoyable.

The death knell of the industry was the growing competition from India itself. The Indian jute industry was established by Dundee's own engineers and mill managers who were lured out by higher wages and a better standard of living. Dundee held its own through two world wars but the advent of polypropylene finally killed off the Scottish jute business.

OK, history lesson over (cribbed from the guide book, I admit). Hugh and I paid our money and took the tour - first into the accounts department and the manager's office, then a little history section and straight into see the process for ourselves. Batching and softening, carding, drawing, roving, spinning, spool winding, beaming, weaving and finishing. Wonderful words, I love 'em, they remind me of my time at textile college (any fellow students reading this, do not snort with derision, it's unbecoming...) We had a real live guide all to ourselves who explained the process and ran each of the machines in turn, and gave me wee samples to take away and cherish. The final pics here show two from a series of lovely little models illustrating the uses of jute.

Fancy that!

I've been having fun, and blunting sewing machine needles, making these new cards which are heading for the shop. They are paper based with ribbons and silks and yarns and a few glitzy bits and are suitable for all sorts of people and occasions, in my humble opinion!

New kids on the block

Some of these new faces have arrived in the shop - Floyd and Maximilian and Horace. The next step is to introduce some new items in the stationery department but first I have to continue with re-decorating and more scheming and planning on the house front.

While clearing out the endless stuff of generations of family I came across a book I made for a major wedding anniversary for my parents - I've scanned a couple of the pages for you to see my designs. Must try the plum butter this year.

After the Show was over...

The entire hall committee collapsed in an exhausted heap!

The local show nearly didn't happen at all - Foot and Mouth saw to that - but the trusty few worked long and hard to make it a good day, albeit on a reduced scale. There were scarcely any raindrops, youngsters were seen to have a good time, there were no serious tears, much cake was consumed (and even more tea), books and bric a brac were snapped up, home grown produce and baked goods were purchased, the bran tub proved a hit with the tiddly children, the correct weight of the fruitcake was guessed (4lb 1oz) and the doll's name was guessed too (Hannah) though not by any of the pink-clad young girls and others who laboured hard over their choices and opted for names like Milly or Molly or Polly or Lolly. My cheese scones won a first prize (am I proud? - you bet!) and Hugh won us a great big box of fruit in the raffle. And we had the ice cream van lady there again - summer summed up!

Yarn Ahoy!

At last the Tart's Shop has a yarnstore - check it out and see what you think. My most recent creations are these scrumptious sock yarns which are all natural dyed and you'll find some of them in the shop. I have shut the door to Granny's Attic for the moment while I play with yarn making. I'm scheduling in some more spinning in September when we will be in a cottage in Perthshire for a week. I said I would take my wheel so Hugh is threatening to take his guitar.....
Another treat arrived through the mail for me - handmade teabags from the herbs in Tara's own garden - how posh is that?! Together with a delicious bag of lemon geranium scented sugar which I am going to convert into shortbread very soon. Wonderful treats all the way from the US of A - thank you TLC!

Hidden Treasures!

Blimey, a fortnight since my last post. Some of it spent with Hugh's lovely aunt - we had a ball, went to the seaside and had chips, went round Floors Castle and tested the tearoom, went out for dinner one night (notice a theme here?) and walked and drove through the glorious Borders countryside. Since then, more sorting of stuff, working in the garden and making another rag doll because, yes folks, it's local show time again very soon!

The old photographs have been dragged down from the attic next door for good. The one above shows how we spent our summers when I was a child, fishing for lobsters off Ardnamurchan Point. Here's a family friend, me, little brother and Dad with an impressive haul - the latter three all in sweaters knit by Mum, of course!
And this must be The Lost Children - Big brother and me at seven and two years old in Granny's garden- well, that's what it said on the back of the photograph but I can't say I remember looking that clean and tidy.

Today a delicious parcel arrived from a Secret Fairy, aka Kajsa, full of fancy teas strung up like bunting, embroidered cloths with ladybirds and bees, handcoloured cards and envelopes, lavender, cedar chips and a wonderful ball of coloured wool tops all ready for spinning. A real treat - and Ash thought so too, as you can see...

Confidence Boost Day!

Today is a good day.

One : We collected Hugh's aunt from the station last night and plan lots of touristy things every day of her stay - we started off by having lunch at the great little Turkish cafe in Hawick (yes, really!) and showing off our exhibition where Peggy decided she needed to buy one of Hugh's paintings.

Two: Cue trumpets - The Border Tart makes it into print in BBC Homes & Antiques this month.

Three: The Craftsman has been re-launched as Craft & Design Magazine, issued bi-monthly and I was interviewed for a forthcoming issue today by the lovely Hazel Reid who is an embroiderer and journalist and hen keeper!

Natural Dyeing

At last, a wee report on the joys of natural dyeing the easy way!

A small but dedicated band of coffee drinkers/cake testers met to explore the dyes sold by Alison at Pure Tinctoria.

I had followed her suggestions and pre-mordanted all our yarns with alum. We then dyed five different 'straight' shades before modifying them with various substances - like water with rusty iron in it, water with copper piping in it and citric acid.

Although some of the pure shades had seemed a bit over- bright (could have been my measuring of dye powder...) the modifiers soon softened them down and we ended up with some lovely colours. Everyone went home with twenty different shades to make a shade card and enough of a couple of their chosen shades to knit a small project with.

Meanwhile tomorrow we are off to Woolfest - I missed last year's and am really looking forward to a textile extravaganza - who cares if it is STILL raining...

Sad Stuff

As Ash has reported on her blog, no posts for a while till we are sorted out again.

xx L

Dyeing Day

I have been busily preparing for a natural dyeing workshop I am holding on Sunday. We will use five different dyes from Pure Tinctoria and then modify some of the dyed wool yarns to produce related shades. If all goes to plan we'll each have a record sheet with twenty different shades on it, and know how we got them! Each participant will also choose a hank of dyed yarn to take home that is big enough to make something with. We are mainly using Blue Faced Leicester yarn but there will be a few others in there for comparison too. Hopefully, then, I can show off after next Sunday and post the samples here.

So far I have printed out the record sheets (and managed to list a dye we are not even going to use) and to mordant all the yarns with alum (including one batch which I stupidly threw some old yellow wool into - the yellow ran all through the virginal white which rendered it useless for producing accurate samples from). I eventually got it all done and dried on the washing line...then counted it out only to find I was one set of yarns short for what we need. Bad Day at Black Rock.

Meanwhile I have been working on exhibition stuff. The image is one of a series of ten linked small canvases of leaf shapes combining acrylics with stitchery on silk.

Just for fun

As a change from running stitch on the kantha work I got my felt out for a play. These new wee flower badges are going on the Border Tart in the next few days. Each flower has a butterfly or a rabbit or even a hen and chicks in the middle. Badge fastenings on the backs.

As it is a rainy day here so no garden work, I have been dyeing some cottons ready for more kantha work (definitely hooked now). Also decided to add prints of Hugh's work to the Tart's Titchy Etsy shop so that needs attention too now. Probably need a lie down to think about all this.....

All creative types - please check out Urban Cowboy which Arty Farty has just posted about

Just a bit of nonsense

You know how it is, you look at someone's blog and they have downloaded one of these blogthings and you try it and then another one and before you know it, you are falling off your seat with laughter at the description of yourself that appears before you.... so go on, who should paint you?

***Who Should Paint You: Gustav Klimt***
Sensual and gorgeous, you would inspire an enchanting portrait..With just enough classic appeal to be hung in any museum!

What Artist Should Paint Your Portrait?http://www.blogthings.com/whatartistshouldpaintyourportraitquiz/

Stitchery

When the self doubt about my acrylics and mixed media creations gets out of hand, I have been retreating to an armchair with my stitchery. The pics here are of cotton fabric dyed and then stencilled with a lemon juice and flour paste which bleaches the colour from it. There are a couple of layers of muslin behind the cotton so that when I do the kantha work - basically masses and masses of parallel(ish) running stitch - the fabric pulls into ripples.

Ultimately I will embroider the shapes too, and maybe add mirrors, but it is very pleasing in its simple form here. The stencil shapes are ones that the embroidery tutor had made up based on stylised tree of life and elephant shapes seen in Indian textiles. Once I have finished these samples I have lots of ideas of my own to try out.

Next on the agenda, though, is to organise a small dyeing workshop using natural dyes from Pure Tinctoria. The colours are deliciously soft and they should result in some lovely yarns for us all to experiment with.

Too much stuff...

Too much stuff to do - need to paint, need to sew, need to market self better, need to keep on top of the garden, need to find space to store work, need to stop gathering 'junk' of one sort or another to restore/remake/renovate/re-invent, need to stop baking as a way of avoiding addressing any or all of the above....

Uncovered photograph albums in the attic last week - could not resist this lovely pic of my Dad and my big brother taken nearly half a century ago - how handsome my pa looked! (and how mortified my brother will be when I run this off for a card for his forthcoming major birthday...)

Spent two days on a great course at the end of April, learning Indian embroidery techniques. Theoretically I now know how to sew on shisha mirrors and I have definitely mastered my version of kantha work - I'll photograph the WIP to post here soon.

Teddies for Tragedies

There's a link on The Border Tart to a very simple and sensible comfort source called Teddies for Tragedies. I've just had an e-mail from Tricia there - there's been a huge demand for these simple knitted or crocheted teddies from several different charities including Cambodia's Dump Children and Mercy Ships.

She is going to need 700 teddies by the end of June. Can you help? Do you know anyone who would make some simple teddies as described on the TfT site? Or even make bags for the Teddies?

Please spread the word.

Eternal Sunshine ...

Boosted by the weather, I have been busy in the garden, planting veg plants and tidying up the latest shed acquisition. And I have been here and there in the Borders and beyond. Helped Hugh setting up pictures at a new local gallery which is opening on Friday, checked out a charity shop and acquired some linen trousers for the summer - they need a bit of adjustment but they are in my favourite RED and could not be passed by!

Met up with a watercolourist friend south of the Border and had a good joint whinge about why we choose to make our livings in creative endeavours instead of toeing the company line for a steady wage.

Met Cairi this morning to discuss the next Woolgathering and to plan a separate small workshop using delicious natural dyes from here. Since then I have been planting carrots, washing hand spun yarn and updating the shop. New stuff includes this lovely cuddly Robin and some felted pinballs! Now I am off to make nests for bluebirds - they should be in the shop by the weekend!

Sunshine

Hello - Just a quick post as the garden beckons and Ash has been hogging the computer again! Thank you for your support and kind words about the webshop. I need to promote it as widely as I can so every little helps. I have also started painting at last for the exhibition I have with Hugh in June - I am creating a series of patchworks in acrylics and fabrics and I'll post some work up here when there's something worth showing. Ash has stolen all my news anyway so I'll leave you to enjoy the glorious bonus of a sunny Easter.

We have lift off!

The Border Tart launches into orbit today!

Please join the all day teaparty to celebrate with me that the website works and that some lovely people have already bought stuff!

Thank you to the kind folks who have given me feedback and welcome to everyone new too!

We're having little cucumber sandwiches (no crusts), smoked salmon and cream cheese on mini bagels, Earl Grey tea in the finest porcelain cups, lashings of ginger beer, treacle scones, fruit cake, profiteroles with coffee icing, a great big carrot cake and the essential Border Tart

Happy Days

Spring is in the air at last - the daffodils are emerging, the birds are twittering and Sunday morning will be lovely and bright once we move the clocks on. The calm before the storm maybe, but I am feeling fairly positive about The Border Tart and hoping for a favourable reaction from the discerning public.... I am hoping that my kind website testers will point out any faults so I can put them right before April 1st.

I have spent the last few evenings writing addresses on my launch postcards ready to post next week. Talking of postcards, I could not resist this one at the RAF Museum last week....it's another one from here.

Sidetracked

Hmmm, the days are rushing past and I am not achieving enough. At the moment while I am still in paid employment during the day, if I am out maybe one or two nights in the week I seem to lose far more than just those hours. I look round and the calendar has bounded on without me. And I am not managing to keep up with your blogs either. I have caught up with Suzi K whizzing about in her 'disreputable dressing gown' and Tara's much envied future escape but there's lots more out there that I NEED to stick my nose into!

Still, the website is pretty much ready to go although I have entered an area of inadequate knowledge (to quote a wonderful uncle of mine - it was particularly wonderful because he was poking fun at my father when he accused him of that many years ago) Once I acquire some help for this particular hiccup I think it should be OK.

The Woolgathering was a bit different this time round as Anne showed us how to make fabric bowls and had made up wee kits for us - lovely Japanese patterned cottons for the outsides and various prints for the insides. Once we had all revisited the gentle art of hand sewing - twelve darts and then the circumference in neat running stitch - it was quite a relief to get out with the scissors and hack up the lfet over old clothes. (The jumble sale raised nearly £400 which is amazing for such a titchy wee village)

Got the Blues!

Why are accountants so logical and sensible and real? A visit to see ours this morning has put me in a blue mood. When it boils down to it our finances do look a little precarious and future income negligible but I really didn't want the reality check that I got. I've been up in my garret tidying heaps of fabric and papers this evening and it has cheered me a bit to be surrounded by colours and textures but simultaneously eating chocolate probably wasn't the best move.

This weekend was mostly devoted to the Village Hall as a few of us cleaned out the junk from one room and tackled the gloomy dirty kitchen with brushes and rollers and paint. It now looks more hygienic and much much brighter. Lemon yellow is not a colour I would allow in my house but for a light-starved community space it is OK!

Next Saturday is jumble sale day and already the 'stuff' is arriving. I'll be through the clothing with a fine tooth comb looking for sweaters to felt and interesting fabrics. As well as the usual tables of clothes/toys/books there will be a home produce table too, just because no village event would be complete without one. So I'll be making lemon curd and biscuits and maybe a cake or muffins one (or two) evenings this week. Then Sunday is the Wool Gathering. Only a small group of us this time but I think it will be fun.

Border Tart site nearing completion and now, of course, I'm not happy with it.... But I have ordered some postcards to mail out to everyone I can think of and am still aiming for April 1st to go live - maybe with more of a whimper than a bang!

Rags to Riches

I WILL be creating with those lovely papers from Whimsy but for now they are being hoarded with my other treasures while I felt and stitch and build shop pages. I've been busy and really feel like I am making progress at last.

Meanwhile I met Cairi to discuss the next Wool Gathering which has a recycling theme and I just happen to have scheduled it for the day after the annual jumble sale in the village hall! I'm hoping that the leftover clothing and any other textiles we find will inspire us to create new and stunning works of wearable or usable art...or at the very least that we have fun with scissors.

Hugh was away from early this morning so Ash and I enjoyed a wonderfully peaceful walk in the frosty fields not far from home. Did I take the camera... of course not. Mind you by the time I had gloves and drawing pins (thumb tacks, folks) and a rolled poster in my pockets there wasn't much room left. Well, said jumble sale needs to be advertised (you know, so we get lots of quality clothes and bric-a-brac to sell back to each other) and I knew I would be passing the church noticeboard on the way. Ash was not amused at the delay as I fumbled about removing out-of-date notices - Christmas Service anyone? - in order to fit mine in.

I'm fitting this post in round baking flapjacks and drinking a cup of tea, or in my case, spilling a cup of tea on the keyboard. Bad move. Just removed them from the oven and they smell delicious. I added chopped up brazil nuts and dates and some linseeds so now they are an entirely justifiable snack food crammed full of cholestorol reducing, magnesium boosting, gut strengthening healthiness. Yeah, right.

The pic is of a big jacket I knitted for myself at Christmas. I bought yarn, I didn't spin it. What a treat! Forgot buttonholes so I fashioned a toggle idea out of coconut buttons either side with a plaited yarn loopy thingy. Well, I'm probably not going to fasten it anyway...

And this is The Border Tart! Drawn for me by the talented Maureen but I coloured her in all by myself. She'll be minding the shop for me.

Art and Soulful Secret Fairy

Oh the delight in arriving home to find a parcel full of goodies! My not-so-secret fairy is Whimsy

and she sure did her homework! Lots of lovely papers for my collages, and beads, and tiny mirrors and refreshments for Ash and us! Her ladyship sussed immediately that there was something in the package for her and we got no peace till she sampled a chew. Yip, we all think SOSF parcels are a GOOD thing!

I've been making new contacts in blogland and adding links. Have also acquired myself some delicious sock yarn and plan to speak verrrrry nicely to ace knitter Cairi who could have them knitted years before I ever could.

All Gathered In

February already - scary, really. On Sunday we had Wool Gathering No 2 - nearly twenty of us gathered in the hall, looking quite industrious and laughing lots too. The crochet lessons were a challenge for some but others were already a whizz and producing amazing things. Alison, who makes very fancy drapes for mansion houses amongst other things, was creating crochet LACE with a tiny hook that would not have looked out of place in a dental surgery. There was fancy sock knitting going on, sales and swaps of yarns and patterns, munching of Lorraine's delicious traybakes, felt ball making, tassels and wrapping and fringes and, well, just STUFF going on.

(Just discovered that Cairi took pics and posted them here on her blog - good girl! - and look how industrious everyone is!)

In March the No 3 day will have a recycling theme - rag rugs, crocheted plastic bags, uses for felted sweaters, making fabric bowls and more besides.

As for The Border Tart webshop - it chugs along, developing gradually. I have a few more mountains to climb but progress is steady and I'll have another photo session at the weekend of all the things I forgot to do the first time.

I'll leave you with this delicious snap of Hugh's late father Stan on a day at the beach in the early 1930s

Progress Report

Yup, I'm started on my mammoth task. The layout and some of the non-shop pages are taking shape, and I have been photographing 'stuff' for when I get the shop bit built.

I have already had to curb my ideas and be a little more realistic with some things. It ain't rocket science, I know, and I also worry that folks are going to think I have made a lot of fuss about nothing. BUT it takes ages to insert a million hyperlinks and alt tags and all this other (to me) highly techie paraphernalia, so I will at least impress one person (my even less techie husband)!

Never mind, I decided to join in the SOSF this time round to cheer myeslf up - I just hope Tara has been getting the e-mails I have been inundating her with. Ah well, I'll learn tomorrow, I reckon...

Chocolate Overkill

Trying to be good. Cupboards still full of chocolate in various forms. Difficult for the willpowerless...It is out of sight but I know it is there.

I had hoped to be off to a racing start with the website design but fates have decreed otherwise and I am miserably coughing and spluttering and presently have the attention span of a hen. I have enjoyed reading others' blogs of Christmas exploits and am truly grateful to the generous blogfriends out there who have sent wishes and treats. Itching to join the Society of Secret Fairies to participate in the latest swap but must restrain myself for a little longer and focus on work in hand.

I bought myself a book of copyright free vintage labels before Christmas which will keep me amused for ages - like the delicious elephant above.

Gathering names for the next Wool Gathering at the end of the month - this time there are crochet lessons and an afternoon spent making embellishments of all kinds - tassels, felt balls, swiss darning (I think that's what it is called), embroidery, fringes, and anything else that we fancy.