apres Woolfest...

so Woolfest is over for another year...and thanks to everyone who made it such a fab event...again! I had so many wonderful people visit my stall, friends and strangers, lovely feedback, lots of chat and made some good sales too...

 

so did you miss me?? I am sorry not to have been here for a while...somehow I just needed a breather as I put such a lot of energy into my stall ...but I was very pleased with how it looked ...a BIG thank you goes to husband of patience who painted everything white (and himself!) and to him and daughter mine for being the tech team setting up the stall...and she and I did the arty arranging, she always has such good ideas...

and I did get time out to look around too, daughter mine and I enjoy going round and shopping together...

here's a few of  my favourite stalls this year...I would so like to make a basket like this one...made by High Fibre...check out their website here

 

 

and every year I buy some lovely felt items from Jenny Pepper...they're irresistible! see more here
 

Lindsey Tyson is another feltmaker, with such beautiful felt creations... see her website here
 

and still more lovely things I spotted...beautiful knits by Jennie Atkinson...see more of her gorgeous patterns here

stunning hats and scarves made by Felt by Bridget...and still more here 
 

and of course some beautiful animals in amongst all the stalls...

and loads and loads of people, and such a bustling happy atmosphere...

and to sum it all up...




my next challenge is ArtFest North in Kendal 27th and 28th July... put it in your diary if you're nearby

have a great week...summer is here so it's icecreams all round and sitting in the garden...haha I'm off to work!

Emmax

Etsy and beyond...

well my feet have been floating about 6" (metric...mm about 15cm!) off the ground this week...just blown away by the lovely responses here and on Facebook to my Giveaway...so thanks to everyone who took part...sorry you couldn't all be winners, thanks for all the lovely comments and compliments xx

...and I'm celebrating my first sale on Etsy!! 

...and at Tullie House Gallery and Museum in Carlisle,  a certain C-art Pop up shop has been selling work for me and want me now to sell my goodies there more permanently!!

...and the email came saying I have been allocated a stall at Woolfest in June...book it in your diary now 28th and 29th June...it's a fab event!

sigh!

it's all so wonderful! Thank you Universe! Big hug xx

so to get my feet back on the ground...I've ordered 1000 brooch pins...how many?!!

...and been a making a pretty bag...which is of course the best bit, sitting in my lovely warm studio, sewing and getting creative again, with a stunning view of the fells, chickens scrattling about outside, husband of patience out planting willow in the field, daughter mine zooming something amazing on her sewing machine...half term happiness!

I seem to have been asleep for the last couple of months but now like out in the garden I'm waking up...and just loving that all I need to do is get some fabric and thread and start to play...and this is what may happen....colours just come together and then a brooch appears...and...

mind you there is a certain lack of house loving been going on...so I think maybe that's the next assignment...but there is just a half finished bag may need my attention...what do you think??

hope you've had half as good a week as I have, and have a lovely weekend... Emmax

Friday night and I'm loving...

that Woolfest 2013 is only 359 days away...

so in the meantime here's a taste of what you might have seen this year... despite the most rainiest weather with welly boots and rainhats (and that's just on the sheep!)...people came out of the wet and into colour and texture and all manner of wonderful woollyness...and buying and selling and sharing and talking and laughing and touching and loving all the amazing yarns and fleeces and all manner of textile art and craft...contemporary and tradition meeting and mingling...makers and producers and farmers and animals...celebrating  their love for wool...

there is SO VERY MUCH TO SEE ...and the people came and came...from near and far... from around the world...in buses and charabancs with friends or family or alone... mainly it's a Womanfest...the occasional man wandering bemusedly (or stallholding for a wife)...

thanks to my fantastic husband of very great patience and talented arranger of handbags daughter...we set it all up together on a wet chilly Thursday evening...and I felt like the newest girl at Big School...but I soon settled in when I met old friends and made new ones amongst the other stall holders...everyone is just so friendly and I swear all the customers are on something cos they are all sooo happy...

thanks too to all my friends who came to say hello...and to everyone who gave me such lovely feedback and comments...and bought my bags and hats and brooches ...

my best Emmie and Emma sign made by daughter mine...

and did you know that alpacas hum??

and sheep come in all shapes and colours...

and that there are some very talented people out there...

beautiful necklace and wrap by Marion Rae

fabulous nuno felted scarves and printed pebbles by Lyndsey Tyson

exquisite crochet in linen and wool by namolio

yummy cupcakes and pretty roses by Linda Chapman at Moor End Felts

crummy yarn and buttons from Tinker Tailors

delicious delicate knits from Rebecca Selfridge

and don't you love the colour and texture of these bags and yarns from knitting4fun  

and the rare sighting of a Phil Bradley, basket maker...with some of his beautifully crafted willow work just to prove that THERE ARE MEN AT WOOLFEST!!

and this is just a wee bitof what's there...there is just so much more to see and experience...this can only give you a small visual show...you need to hear and see and smell and touch...better make sure you go next year! see you there...

It's Woolfest...this week!

and so there may or may not be a blog this week...please don't panic... the world hasn't ended... I just need to focus... so I will be ready before midnight on Thursday... hope to see you here...or there very soon! have a lovely sunshiney week whereever you are! I'm off to the studio to get working and making with fabrics and threads and machine embroidery for those few last minute goodies I can rustle up...just love it! and some more labelling and pricing making lists and arranging and thinking about what will go where...

and

so I have breakfasted outside in the sun,...checked on the 3 duckling and Mummy hen, pottered in the garden taking photos of the flowers to share on my blog... put the washing in...been on facebook (business of course!)... spoken to my father on the phone...made a cup of tea...done a mini blog saying how I won't be blogging this week...so I guess now It is Time to Go and Get On!!

love to you all on this sunny summery Monday morning (I've got my socks off again)...xx

 

It's Friday...it's summer..and I'm loving...

that I am now a freelance textile artist...as from 1st May I am self employed...so everything I do is towards my own 'Starship Enterprise'...I decided I don't like the word business...too much like 'men (or women) in suits...so husband of patience suggested the word 'enterprise' which I like very much as it's so broad in meaning and much more positive sounding... so here goes...

that it's Friday so down-shift husband is at home...actually he works to make sure he gets a weekend, and he has done the shopping since I broke my wrist (one of the many positive aspects of that my dears! must remember to tell him when it's better...)

that being self-employed may mean lots of work at strange hours and being responsible totally for my own income...but I can go and sit in the sun anyime I feel like it!!  and I can sit and work in the garden too if I hand sew...or plan...or read up on my next venture...

that breakfast was outside again in pjs' with NO fleece or hat or socks... such a pleasure as it is so warm, sunny and has that wonderful smell of summer...

that it was so lovely yesterday i just lay on the grass and shut my eyes and listened to the birds and felt the sun on my face...and the chickens pecking my feet...

that there's a lovely craft fair at Penrith this weekend as a treat...

Nostagia Meets Design at the Evergreen Rooms, Bluebell Lane Penrith...can't wait to go and see all the lovely makers including my favourite Priscilla Jones...

   

that we are going to have a lovely family weekend when daughter mine gets home from school...hope she's not too hot and tired...

and now I'd better 'step away from the computer' and go and get on with my enterprise...get down to the studio full of lovely fabrics and textiles and get on with my machine embroidery and making... Woolfest won't wait! I love what I do and do what I love...

hope you all have a wonderful sunny relaxed weekend too...