Monthly Archives: June 2015

Woolfest 2015!

I’m so excited I’m worse than a child on Christmas eve…. It’s woolfest weekend!!

After a long drive (6 hours) yesterday I was relieved to find my room at the Old Ginn House is very comfortable (though I still haven’t located the gin!). Brekky this morning was outstanding, fresh coffee and eggs benedict:
Woolfest was heaving as it always is and I don’t think all the animals were enjoying having so many adoring fans, some of the sheep looked a bit stressed by all the attention, only the black nosed valais sheep looked chilled
These guys are so cute it was all I could do to stop myself taking one home, it wouldn’t mind spending 6 hours in my hatchback would it?
The Herdwicks had a lovely red tinge to their fleeces, aren’t his horns beautiful?
There were alpacas and angora bunnies too
There were some lovely felted exhibits, this “cobble coat” was made by Linda Chapman
The ram’s head is called Harold and he was made by Debbie Lucas
And for the stitchers out there, this wrap, entitled Flora of the Fells, was made by Ruth Strong and was inspired by plants native to the Lake District.
Of course you can’t go to woolfest and not supplement your stash, there are just so many beautiful products to choose from.
I seem to have been on a silk crusade today, when I unpacked my bag I discovered silk tops, hankies, thread and saris…
The 4 packs of sari silk came from Carol of Foxglove felts, we’ve never met so I am still stunned that she recognised me. I’m pleased to say her stand was one of the busiest that I visited, it looked like she was having a well-deserved successful show.
Woolfest also sell raw fleeces so I took the opportunity to buy some locks, these beauties are Gotland and Blue Faced Leicester

Snowy night (in June?!)

This feels very strange. Posting a hanging of icicles and snow in the middle of June, but like so much I have done this year it has taken me 6 months to see it through to completion. This piece was “conceived” when I noticed some icicles hanging from a roof last November and was “born” in January when I started work on it. Every so often I would bring it out of the UFO box, decide it needed something else but unsure what, put it back into the box.

Here it is before de-tangling all the icicles…

Last week I added a couple of windows, I think the yellow and the orange in them helps to balance out all the blue.

I also added a star using some silvery thread to the top right but can’t decide if I should add a few more (smaller ones) to “lead the eye” around the hanging, what do you think? Maybe some machine quilting on the sky? What would you do?

The fishy hanging is now dry too, I added some machine embroidery and silver Markal paint to the lower half but I still fee the reef needs a bit more definition, perhaps some splashes of red and orange?

And finally, a little teaser of some chiffon scarves I have been working on: