Saturday 11 June 2016

Festival and family

It's been another full on couple of weeks, but all great fun. The Exmouth Festival coincided with my family visiting so there's been plenty to do.
I was able to put some of my work on display at the Blackmore Theatre and it was good to get one or two items finished in order to do it!
Here's a picture I finally completed - it's called 'Heartfelt'. I'm rather pleased with it as I hand felted the background and topped it with a ceramic button I made a while ago. I know the photo is on a bit of an angle, but any other shot I tried to take reflected either the rest of the bedroom where it now hangs, or me taking the picture!

 

I also hung a couple of scarves I made a while ago from bamboo poles as wall hangings. These I spun  from sari silk. It always amazes me how a ball of random fluff can end up looking like this once it's been spun and knitted.


I had some of my hand spun, knitted and felted bags on display too.


As well as this bag made from some thicker sari silk.


Once that was all up and on show other than a spell of stewarding on the Monday I was able to spend time with my sister, mum, niece, her husband and my great nephew. Graeham and I had a full day's digging on the beach on the holiday Tuesday while Finn directed operations and gave out spades. He'll make a great foreman when he grows up. Then the action moved on to Crealy the next day with the weather still with us. Thursday saw mum, Judith and me eating ice cream on Budleigh beach and then on Friday we all met up for scones and tea before they had to get ready to head back to Surrey.

On Sunday it was back to the Festival withthere workshops at Seadog Gallery. I took the wheel along as well as a couple of drop spindles and some chopsticks (yes chopsticks) so that anyone who dropped in could try their hand at spinning some merino and silk (yes with chopsticks) to make simple bracelets. 
The sun shone, sandwiches and scones were plentiful and it was a lovely day in Anna's garden. I had time to watch Hayley teaching others how to craft mosaic panels and even got to try making a felt flower in Natasha's workshop.


So, from then on it's been back to the day job, with plenty of writing to get to grips with! 
Today we've been shopping for fabric. A bit of household sewing to do - I'll show you when it's finished....
Phew.... Time for tea I think - and an evening of football......

Saturday 28 May 2016

I'm Baaaaack!

It's been a while, but at last I'm back (or baa-ck) with the blog.

So much has happened that if I were to begin filling you in I'd be here till midnight - so I'll just carry on as if I've never been away and try harder to keep up to date. That includes rejoining Handmade Monday and enjoying all the other posts there each week....

I finally gave in to sense and said goodbye to my first wheel... 


I was sad to see it go, but there's not really room to keep everything and I use my travelling wheel more so it's gone off to be used by a really nice guy who farms alpacas.

I've finished one or two patchwork-y pieces.
The first was a recycling project... The front here is made up of old felted jumpers
While the back is old worn out t-shirts...

Finally here's the crocheted mini wall hanging that I started ages ago.
It's now got a starring role on display! It's Exmouth Festival this week, so I've put it in the exhibition at the Blackmore Theatre - part of the Exmouth Art Trail. I've also got some bags, a couple of sari silk wall hangings and a felted picture down there. I'm stewarding at the end of the weekend so I'll try and get some photos to add....

More news soon.... I promise it won't be such a long wait between blogs this time!
Enjoy the Bank Holiday weekend.....