Lucinda Wilby

Wow did I have fun at Wonderwools Wales. My sis-n-law went with me and we both really enjoyed the day. I bought lots of fun stuff, including these wonderful paintings done by Lucinda Wilby. I'm going to hang them in my craft room...whenever I get it redone.....hmm......well...I might have to hang them somewhere else to begin with! They are so cute though! She makes all different sizes. These are 6x6, I think. I will probably have to keep tabs on her and buy one of the bigger ones to go with these. She had four of the pictures hung on a board and it looked so cool!



I also finally got myself an inkle loom, made or Welsh wood of course. I bought a banner that I'll have to take a picture of when the light is better outside (it is raining at the moment). It is a "Hen party". I love chickens that aren't too country and this one is great.

Added later: talked to Lucinda so I got her blog. She is talking now about getting on Etsy hopefully....so if you like her stuff and would like to have one too....contact her and encourage her to do so!!!!

I'm having a bit of a crisis in craftiness. I feel a fraud sometimes, mainly because I have so many ideas...but not the time or skill to pull them off. I need to get to know people we wouldn't mind working with me on projects. So far this Wed off business has meant me sleeping all day....which is what I need....but I'm not getting the house caught up or the crafting done. I don't know if I've mentioned it here, but I have depression and it has taken a lot out of me. I've been trying to live with it for a few years now. It is slowly getting better, but I can get so frustrated with how slow. I want to create, play with my cats, have fun with my husband.....but instead I sleep and work. Ok, done blabbing....I have a wet cat walking on the desk in front of me and I'm taking that as a sign I should go play...since I can no longer see the screen!!!

Brighton Show

She will probably kill me for this....but I had to show the work of this lovely lady I met on Saturday at the Craft show in Brighton. Sue Allan, who works under the name Sew Sister, is so enthusiastic and full of love for the work she is doing. She really helped me get some ideas going in my head of things I want to do. Her dolls are beautiful and if you have had a look at the Textile Directory, you will see they have her dolls everywhere! It is wonderful! Here is a sample of what she does. Unfortunately, you don't get a good view of the texture of these pieces. They are so wonderfully tactile and she was nice enough to let us know her secrets....this is the kind of stuff I love to do myself. Take fabric and then embellish it until it becomes something else almost.

I couldn't resist of course....I mean how beautiful is she! Her name is Tansy, she names them all and they definitely have great personality. Here she is with her friends....
And her she is proudly at home with me....she looks happy doesn't she......

Sue brought to my attention the Needlepunch felt that I actually own some of....typical of me really. This is what she uses to get the texture on her work. I don't know why I didn't think of using this to make rugs. We need some rugs in the house and I've been trying to think of ways I can A) recycle and B) make my own. I think I'm going to make one for the stairs by felting the needlepunch in the washing machine. Then cutting to fit, putting some of the fabric I have for woven rugs underneath for stability, and embellishing with felt flowers...or I think dots. HMMM.....watch this space........

Shows! Shows! Shows!

I've been able to go to several shows lately. This last one was the best. I decided this year to go to both the Knitting and Stitching show at the NEC in Birmingham and Alexandra Palace in London. So last weekend I went with a group of gals from Shropshire and visited the NEC. It was a small show, but packed with good stuff. There weren't many people, no elbowing people like at the Alexandra Palace. I got to see some great stuff from up north, Yorkshire in particular that I would have missed and a great couple of girls in the graduate show that weren't going to make the trip to London.

First off I have to exclaim over the graduates. They were wonderful. One of the best was a girl who makes these lovely items for children (or just young at heart like me.) Rebecca Shreeve prints her own fabric and hand stuffs and sews her little critters. I have to say that her blankets are just what I would want if I had a little one....shoot I'm tempted to buy me one! I did buy a little mole that she was finishing up in front of me. How cool is that!!!!

There were three exhibits there that were just too stunning for words. Most of them I had seen in Selvedge magazine. Tilleke Schwarz was the first person I saw. Her work is wonderful. She makes embroideries that reflect things she hears and sees during a period of time. They are very much like graffiti, which is very cool. She signed a book for me and I'm looking forward to sitting down and reading about her inspirations.

The next people I know where in Selvedge. Their work is so inspiring. They are Primmy and Jessie Chorley and their exhibit was called "Like Mother Like Daughter" and it is so true. Looking at their work, it is difficult to tell who might have done which piece. I bought a broach that Jessie had made and I plan on buying one of her journals when I see them again at the next show. Their work was so vivid and sweet, but not so sweet that it wasn't grown up. Check out Jessie's website and see what you think. I'm trying to get a book that was written about her mother at the moment. We shall see if it comes in.

The last person I want to talk about in this post is someone else I've been longing to see her work in person. She is Julie Arkall. She doesn't have a website, but you can see some of her work here. (You can also see Primmy's work there.) The works were stunning and I've got plans on a book of hers, because she ran out of them, and something from her small collection that she sells.

I'm not sure if I'll bother buying any supplies at the next show. The exhibits are so great.

I'll try to get sometime to take pics of some of the stuff I bought. There are a few more people I would like to talk about. Sorry no pictures...but I wanted to get this posted!

Brighton Knit In

A few of us from my Knitting group got together and took the train to Brighton to attend the Knit In. They had a few interesting things to knit...ie the cupcake I made in the picture to the left.











And the flower I also made....














A student was putting together a blanket that is to represent the bacteria in her house. She allowed us to be part of the project, so we had a length of yarn and free form crocheted. In the middle you can see my contribution.










Here are a couple of the girls I could fit into the picture. At one time there were 8 children each knitting on one of the tentacles. It was such a great idea! Everyone could choose their own colors and pattern that they wanted to do.

Good fun had by all!

Note: you can find the websites for the different events at Knit In

Wonderwool Wales

At the moment I don't have any pictures from the trip. My hubby has the camera with him and he won't be back to this evening. True fully, I didn't take that many pictures.

We did camp, even though it rained all afternoon. We didn't put up the tent until the evening, which seemed to be a good thing. We had a good time, though we had to call it early day on Sunday.

What I will talk now is the workshops we did. They were just want I wanted, something to inspire me. The first was about using natural materials such as basket material for knitting. Ruth Lee that I bought. It is really experimental and showed us some swatches that she had knit from daylillys that she had dried and then soaked in water. it was amazing. She gave us all a chance to knit with very think reed. It was very easy really. Could make some nice art. She also had written a book about scarves and boas really interesting. Not the usual scarves patterns which is good. We also went to a workshop with Di Gilpin. She is another experimental knitter that was so inspirational. She showed us slides of some of her travels that inspire her knits. She doesn't start with a pattern, just an idea and the yarn. She then tries to duplicate the textures, colors and structure of what has inspired her. She then writes up the patterns. Below is one of her books . She has us try it ourselves, my piece is a bit of an embarrassment because I was tired and couldn't get my fingers to do with what my mind was telling it. But what was so good was how freeing it was, and how it made me think about embellishing knits. I might even take a pattern that I'm working on and add texture etc just for the fun of it.

I bought lots of equipment that I will take a picture of when I can.

This blogging is so strange for me at the moment. I have lots to post about, but never seem to get the time to do it. I also am having trouble keeping everything organized. I have to redo my bookcase by my chair in the living room and my craft room again.....sigh...I seem to be organizing more then I get to spend time actually crafting....sigh.....oh well!