Curtains!

I don’t very often get the chance to see my finished commissions ’in action’, so I jumped at the chance to see my 100 metres of woollen fabric as curtains in The Corn Barn. I’m so pleased with the result, they look great and really suit the space. What do you think?

New Year, New Term

The new year sees a new term of Weaving at Coldharbour Mill and I’ve never seen the workshop so tidy! Thank you all who put time in last week assembling looms, moving looms and tidying the yarn store. The last weeks before Christmas saw a flurry of cutting off of warps. Here are just a few:

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Currently all three weaving classes are full, which is wonderful and I’m looking forward to seeing what the spring term brings.

Made by Hand

Made by Hand at Tredegar House was a lovely way to start the Christmas Season. It was my first show out of the West Country, so I was working hard to get my name known. (If you’ve not signed up to receive my e-newsletter yet – http://eepurl.com/hl16M)

I fell in love with this image on my way to the exhibitor lounge. A wood panelled corridor with paper chains and a photo of two country gents, whips in hand – my  theme of ‘faded elegance’ is still a strong influence on my work.

 

And this was my entrance to the show. Weighed down with boxes and frames, we walked through the stables to see these gates – a very impressive start!

There was a lovely warm, friendly atmosphere to the show and so many beautiful things to look at and covet. One to remember for next year I think.

 

 

A sneak peek

Hot off the loom, this is the latest scarf collection. Both warp and weft have been hand dyed with the exception of the fine worsted stripes. As you’ll see some are in a waffle weave structure and some are in twill. Once again I have used the 2/7.5 exmoor/bluefaced leicester yarn spun for me by Fibre Harvest, which took the dye well and promises to wash to a very soft yarn indeed. Now to mending, fringing, washing and I’m all ready for Made by Hand at Tredegar House!

In the Company of Weavers Autumn exhibition

I write this as the exhibition is drawing to a close, but once again the weavers have excelled themselves. The exhibition showed what a diverse bunch they are from sturdy, colourful floor rugs to delicate, precisely structured table linen. I’m one proud tutor at the moment!

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Glorious Sheds

 

pedal powered door opening!

inside the gallery

Stick Shed and Westward Ho (containing just a hoe)

two shawls inspired by galvanised iron

This weekend is the last weekend of Somerset Arts Week, so is the last chance to see the Blackdown Hills Artists and Makers (Bhaam) exhibit work on the theme of Sheds. I always find exhibiting with this group exciting, there is always something new to see or a new way of looking at things. And this show is no exception there are about 18 different artists and makers exhibiting work, including potters, painters, installation artists and dancers. Surely something for everyone? I am showing two new shawls inspired by galvanised iron – one new and one rusty. There is a moss coloured one on the loom at the moment to be shown over Christmas.

 

 

 

 

 

A very full and exciting summer

I don’t feel as though I’ve stopped this summer!

It started with The Contemporary Craft Fair at the beginning of June. I won the Selvedge prize for best textiles! (My work will be featured in a future issue!)I’m still giddy about it really and all together it was a brilliant show. The weather wasn’t fantastic, but the people were. It’s such a friendly show and I always end up having lovely chats with interesting people. I even indulged in a beautiful pair of hand turned wooden salt and pepper mills by Louise Hibbert.

me receiving an award from Clare Bungay from Selvedge and Sarah James from The Contemporary Craft Fair / Madebyhandonline.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Summer term of Weaving workshops ended well with a number of people finishing projects they had worked long and hard on. This rug has been in production for about a year and the cutting off ceremony was wonderful:

Floor rug woven in block weave

I also ran two workshops over the summer. The first on the doubleweave technique and the second workshop covered the first steps in setting up a loom and weaving. The weaving on the left below is a sampler in doubleweave and the picture on the right is someone’s first ever piece of weaving. Both are fantastic and a mark of an enormous amount of learning in a short amount of time. I thoroughly enjoyed teaching these workshops and hope to repeat them next year.

Doubleweave on left, twill on right

 In fact you can read about the adventures in learning to weave from Sara’s Texture Crafts who blogged about each day. I was happy to meet up with Sarah at Fibrefest as she sells really gorgeous yarn and fibres!

Also this summer I had a showcase at the Devon Guild of Craftsmen in Bovey Tracey which highlighted my recent obsession with woven lace. For the first time I exhibited my wedding dress and the samples I wove while trying to decide what yarns and which structure to use. It was also an opportunity to put all my lace scarves, shawls and throws in one room and use the structure as the focus.

wool and mohair wedding dress

 And my next show will be part of Somerset Arts Weeks in Hemyock with Bhaam!