Flitting to t'other blog...

... but just for a month. Posts here will be sporadic but please do take a look at my India blog while I am away. I hope to be posting up lots of pics.

Just checked the forecast there for Sunday. 60% chance of thunder and 32 degrees. I will have melted into a puddle just stepping off the plane!

Northern travels

Back from a very fine week in Sutherland. Walked across heathery moors, down wooded hillsides and along (very) blustery beaches, ate rather too well, caught up with brother and his new dog, and with good friends too.

We visited Timespan in Helmsdale and were lucky to catch an exhibition of impressive, understated and very covetable slate sculpture by Mary Bourne.

Although sunny it was blooming chilly so we settled for a swift walk along to the quay and back again.

Dornoch beach was where I found these shells (I think they are tellins) So many colours, and just crying out to be 'kaleidoscoped' on the ipad!

On the last day we made it to Dunrobin Castle, and in between the showers it was quite magical, if a little surreal,to be looking at the immaculate garden modelled on Versailles.

We saw round probably twenty rooms and passages and nooks and crannies in this castle which is an amalgam of 14th Century 'keep' and several additions over the centuries (and now has 189 rooms...)

Time to hit the trail

Art Trail East kicks off tomorrow and there's lots to whet your appetite  - jewellery, glass, textiles, paintings, wood and more. Hugh and I are planning a wee sortie to see some Crossing Borders friends and enjoy the glorious landscape on the way.

We were delighted to see so many new faces as well as welcoming old friends last weekend. Tart HQ attracted a good few admirers so perhaps I could set up a sideline in revamped old caravans...

The Stitched Sheep was much worked upon by visitors and went from nude to decorated over the three days

 Here's the talented Katie from MAKE launching into bunting-mode on Day One

 By the end of Day Two sheepie's modelling a top hat and tail and has acquired a second ear

And by Sunday night she's looking pretty fine, the garden has blossomed and there's wildlife including a butterfly and a caterpillar, Oh and the ear has an earring. We are blessed with many creative types in this neck of the woods!

An art extravaganza...

 ....awaits you in just a few days' time! 

Crossing Borders members are throwing open their doors this weekend.

We're sweeping and vacuuming, dusting and polishing, frantically finishing off, hanging and arranging and generally putting on a show - so whenever you see a sheep sign, take a little time to look in and meet the artists in workshops and studios and village halls across the Borders and North Northumberland.

The naked sheep above is waiting for visitors to sew a few stitches, add a button or a patch or two in Tart HQ. I hope by the end of three days we'll have ourselves a collaborative cushion to mark the 2012 Art Trail!

 Parts of my beloved old caravan are looking very organised and shop-like. Other areas are a work-in-progress but I'm nearly sorted. I look forward to welcoming old faces and new to HQ this weekend.

Art Trail just around the corner...

Five days to go until we launch into the fifth annual Crossing Borders Art Trail. 

 Here at Chesters Hugh's been working in a bolder style than before - he's really enjoying this freer approach and the results are dramatic so there's lots of great new artwork on show.

 And as Hugh's work gets looser, mine gets more fiddly... 

I've been having fun with smaller framed collages.

Friday 31st - Saturday 1st - Sunday 2nd 

10 am till 5pm each day (later on Friday)

Lots more to see, including our quality 'garage sale', and fresh coffee and cake to wash it down with. Whatever the late summer chooses to throw at us all, you'll get a warm welcome in our cosy workspaces. And we're open late on Friday night till 8.00pm so grab a glass of something stronger and linger a while.

Wheelspin

Today I drove to Broughton in depressingly damp conditions, following yet another night of heavy rain. But the day improved hugely! Not only did the sun split the sky from lunchtime onwards, but I was surrounded by happy textilers from Edinburgh, Dumfries and Tweed branches of the Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers. 

Broughton Hall echoed to the sound of many varied spinning wheels, and quite a babble of excited textile talk. Fleeces, wheels, and essential supplies changed hands and were washed down with tea and fine Scottish home baking. Some lovely person had even made tablet, which gladdened the heart and widened the hips of this particular attendee...

My fellow stall-holders, Natalie of The Yarnyard and the girls from Colorimetry, and I ensured that the room was bursting with colour, and we all had a busy day.

And then, I got to drive home through my beloved Borderland, bathed in late afternoon sun. It was glorious. I sang along at the top of my abysmal voice to this, and smiled inanely at the rolling hills and sweeping valleys of my country!

Playing houses

Two warm sunny days in a row! That means outdoor duties so no advances in Tart HQ but lots of shed walls painted. At least outside will look tidy for the Art Trail...

A Woolgathering to look forward to on Sunday (12th) -  a great catch-up with textile friends and another excuse for me to talk about India

And next weekend (18th) I'm off to Broughton to meet up with lots of spinners, weavers and dyers and sell my fibre supplies and probably the odd button or two.

I have been working on these - do you like them? Little house collages, each with its own number, made from salvaged offcuts from a furniture-maker-with-attitude! They'll be in HQ for the Art Trail on August 31, and 1/2 September.

We're staying open late on Friday 31st so do come along and have a glass of something as you wander from Hugh's cabin to Tart HQ or linger over the 'garage sale' under cover in the woodshed. If we can't sell you some artwork, maybe you'll succumb to a bargain there!

Download a guide to all the open studios here

Mondays

are supposed to be our day off but it seldom works like that. This week, though, we combined some hill-checking with exploring. Hugh needed to see if he could find a safe way up a particular hillside  in the Ettrick Valley in a 4x4 (with the farmer's consent!) so we drove part of the way and walked the rest. 

   
Then we were free to head off past Megget and Talla reservoirs (vowing to come back and do some walking there) and almost to the junction with the A701. That's when we spotted the single track road to Fruid. A few miles later we had this place all to ourselves. I think it looks like the setting for a modern day John Buchan tale of derring do in the lowland hills.

Boys, Girls and the Border Union Show

First the boys...

We visited Anne's wee flock of Shetlands last night to admire the lambs and their newly shorn mums. Two of the wether lambs will be coming to live here in August, to enjoy a long and idle life eating grass and giving up a lovely fleece each year. Well, that's the plan... 

And the girls? Still able to pose for the camera while reclining after a good long walk with Hugh at the weekend.

And The Border Union Show...this Friday and Saturday at Kelso. Always a good agricultural day oot. 
And tucked into the Food Hall this year (dangerously close to lots of lovely delicacies) you'll find the Crossing Borders stand. Drop by, stay and chat to us and stroke my lovely skeins of handspun while you admire the work of other CB members. Now's the time to grab yourself a booklet about our forthcoming Art Trail...

Warped Up

My Edinburgh jaunt today had a few bonuses. Once I'd handed over my visa application to the powers-that-be (with new improved pictures of self), I did a little light mountaineering round the endless tram works in search of sensible footwear before meeting an old friend. 

We were ladies-who-lunched in a nice wee cafe gallery that neither of us tried before. Possibly ate a little more than was good for us (didn't want to pass up on beetroot and ginger cake...).  

Then I carefully headed to the wrong museum to see the Stitching Times exhibition. Set off again in the right direction but spotted the banners promoting Weaving the Century at the Dovecot Studios in Infirmary Street and dived in there instead. Glorious! Such a wonderful selection of work on display and very accessible. You can get up close and really study the gradations in colour and texture that these talented weavers incorporate in their work - sometimes renditions of existing paintings, sometimes work designed specifically to be woven. And then you can hang over the gallery and look down on the working studio. (Also, if like me you are old enough, you can reminisce about when you used to swim here when it was the Infirmary St baths)

On until the 7th October, free, and a wee cafe there to keep your strength up too.

Social Media

..isn't a pleasing expression but there's no getting round that it's here to stay. Blogging and Facebook I enjoy but I have not tiptoed into Twitter yet. (note the yet)

Yesterday I attended a fascinating afternoon at Tower Mill in Hawick, entitled 'How to Spread the Word'. Accomplished authors Sara Sheridan and Nicola Morgan spoke about marketing, social media and e-publishing for writers. From their considerable combined experience they were able to give us lots of advice and examples of what (and what not) to do, and how to create and manage a professional but approachable online presence to promote yourself. Lots of lessons there for all creative people. The afternoon was facilitated by the excellent CABN which provides support to the creative arts sector in the Scottish Borders.

Spinning in the Rain

 Incessant downpours do at least stop me from getting sidetracked too often and the hand spun stocks are building nicely. There have been more additions to the Sweet Trolley of fibre blends too - so there are now Key Lime Pie and Rhubarb Crumble, Black Forest Gateau and Tropical Fruitcake to choose from. Buy the fibre blend to spin or felt and get the recipe too!

 After watching Linda and Ali at our recent-ish book artists get-together, I have been experimenting with making 'paper cloth' using muslin, salvaged papers and PVA. Amongst other things I've made book covers for my all-important India Journals! 

Talking of which, if you check the pages tabs at the top of the blog you'll find one that takes you to my new home for all my Indian experiences. It's there you'll find more detail about the residency/exchange, who the other participants are and what we aim to get out of it all.

experiments in stitch and paper

Woolfest..

Shetlands

.... was a grand day out. Thanks to Ali who drove us across country, we arrived in between showers and were soon amongst the whole fleecy felty yarny bazaar that is Woolfest. Bigger again this year, with more stalls to pore over, it has a very happy atmosphere. Well, it's obvious really - offer a mass of textile-obsessed folk an opportunity to see and feel and buy everything they love and there are bound to be good vibes flying about!

Namolio

 I was pretty sensible; bought some fibre to spin (surprise) and some bamboo d p needles and a skein of hand dyed sock yarn. Caught up with several old faces in the crowd as well as Helen and Lizzi at Helen's gloriously rich and colourful Ripples stand. 

As ever there was more to see that I first thought, and I missed a few favourites while spotting new suppliers. 

Namolio is the trading name of the stand pictured above which I thought one of the most restrained and elegant on the day. As well as selling covetable linen yarns, the stall holder had beautifully made items from lavender bags to needle holders in her trademark grey linen with coloured crochet embellishment.

Inspired by India? Not deliberately, but I do really like this skein that I spun last week and is now washed and dried, weighed, measured, labelled and in the basket! It has friends, of course, as I've been spinning to the beat of falling June rain outside the caravan windows this week. 

It's fitting that the Tart should have an old-fashioned sweet trolley, I think, full of temptations. So here we have the first two in a new range of pure merino tops, blended to my specifications. For sale in 100gm balls of fibre for you to spin or felt with, and complete with recipes for the real thing!

Key Lime Pie

 Black Forest Gateau

And just to prove I finished them, the socks. Despite the red toe on one, they are the same size, honest!
Now I wouldn't say I am hooked yet, on the sock thing, but I will be searching out a ball or two of interesting sock yarn next Saturday at Woolfest, for my next ones.

And after all things woolly, a little reminder that there are still a couple of spaces left on my PAPER EXTRAVAGANZA on 30th June at Roberton. Do come along and join in the fun if you can.

 

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.

India Calling

As my nearest and dearest has already posted about this, maybe I'd better too! I have been besotted by the colours and patterns of India for ever and a day and hoped I'd find my way there eventually. Years pass, though, and dreams don't come true all that often.

And then...

An opportunity came up to apply for the most amazing residency/exchange. Two Scottish textile designer makers to travel to the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad in Gujarat, NW India, and two from Gujarat to Heriot-Watt University textile faculty in Galashiels.

I spent a very, very long time researching lots of fascinating stuff that's going on over there. I sought some expert help (thankfully) and submitted my application.

I was shortlisted (eek!)

I spent more hours fretting over my forthcoming meeting with the panel.

I turned up, nervously, and all my well-honed and pithy prose evaporated on the spot.
I waffled. I suspect my enthusiasm was fairly obvious, though, and enough of my thoughts and ideas must have made it to the surface, because I have made it. I'll be on my way to India in late September!

I'll be talking of nothing else now for the next year. You have been warned.......

Sunday Sunny Sunday

Been busy spinning and stitching in HQ this weekend, though it got a bit too hot in the afternoons, and eventually I just had to take to the shade with a book - sad, eh? 

New hand spun in the sun

I am re-reading The Lothian Run by Mollie Hunter, for age 10+. I loved the good Scots adventure story of Smugglers v Customs when I was a wean and it's still fine 40 years on. I picked up a copy at the wee Spring Fair at Southdean for 50p.

Sock Number One was duly finished. Sock Number Two has been started. I will probably feel the need to post another pic of the (hopefully) matching pair but then I promise  - no more for a while.

One large step for Tartkind

Thanks, Jakki, for getting me this far - without a wee push from you it would probably never have happened!

Woolgathering

   ...on a sunny Sunday - whatever next!

Enjoyed a fine wee gathering today - just seven of us, three knitting, three stitching and one felting, all sharing stories and ideas, as well as an exceptionally fine cake featuring apples and maple syrup (thanks Fiona!). 

 Yesterday I was given a lovely present which included pages salvaged from old Vogue pattern magazines of the 30s and 40s - masses of drawings of glamorous attenuated women in elegant costumes which the capable seamstress could whizz up on her machine in the blink of an eye. There are a good few adverts too, mostly in black and white but the one above is in glorious technicolour - J&P Coats Boilfast Threads

Sock construction continues at a steady pace - have since advanced to the heel flap. Wow...

Already it is time for arty types to commit to participating in this year's Crossing Borders Art Trail. I took a few pics of my 'stuff' for the image to be included in the trail booklet but this one didn't make the cut.