Little Woolies & workshops

Two Oxfordshire workshops this month, the first at a new venue in Bampton, Folly Fabrics - a vibrant, cleanly laid out shop in the heart of Bampton - which Downton Abbey fans may know is where many of the Downton village scenes are shot. (And yes, they were filming for a new show when I was there, but I was working!)

Folly Fabrics are my third supplies and kits stockists and it was lovely to walk in and see everything displayed beautifully alongside my book.

Sharon had made specially themed cakes and biscuits with pink bunnies adorning them. There is always cake at Folly Fabrics and Sharon is a fabulous baker. Too adorable to eat? They were scoffed, anyway!

 Everyone seemed to have a good time.

The next day I was back in my old stamping ground at Fibreworks Oxford, with a smaller class - only three, but it was nice and cosy. Birds were made.

And here's a few things I managed to make inbetween everything. The cat is sold, the fox was a gift, but I still have a couple of the little stump hares in my Etsy shop.

My next workshops are in July - at Chipping Norton Fibreworks on Friday the 18th making Candy Buns and back to Oxford Fibreworks on Saturday the 19th July, making this wee house on a hill, which can double up as a sweet pin cushion. Both shops are also stockists of my kits.

I'm always on the look out for nice shops to stock my wools and kits, so if you know of any, please let me - or them - know. I aim for nothing less than world wide domination.

Candy Buns and giveaway results

Back at the Fibreworks Oxford, trying my Candy Buns pattern on a group of never-before needle felters.

I was really pleased when a few people asked if it was ok to tweak the design - going off piste is great!

They were a great group, so much so that they were my first workshop to finish early.

And now my kits (also available in my Etsy shop)  are on sale there, along with my packaged needles. So if you're in Oxford, hop like a Candy Bun over to the Cowley Road if you want one and say hello to lovely Tasha and Lotty. 

Five days is a long time to be away from home. Someone was glad to see me.

 

 And now the bit you're probably been waiting for if you entered the giveaway. Using a random number generator thingy, the winners are - 

Louise Peers

Dara Carey

Leonor

I will do your best to contact you directly, but if I haven't, please email me via my blog profile.

Thank you so very much to everyone who took time to comment and those who bought the book anyway. It briefly went to number two in the Amazon.com craft list. Sales are good, but your kindness is wonderful. 

Needle felt workshops

It's going to be another busy year with workshops - the first one of 2014 commences with one of my favourites, at Cinderhill Farm in the beautiful Forest of Dean on Saturday March the 8th. We will be making moon gazing hares.  Last time there was morning coffee and homemade baked stuff, a hot lunch with the farm's own free range pork and the speciality of the farm, Deb's high tea. Which last year looked like this...

It's an all day class, with all materials, use of tools and all food included in the price of £60 per person. Vegetarian/allergy  options can be provided.  This year the farm shop, the Pie House, is open, with local  produce. the farm pies and gift wares on sale. There are only eight places available and we are half booked now, so if you want to secure a place, please contact Debs directly via the farm contact form.

Then there are several four hour workshops at Chipping Norton Fibreworks and Oxford Fibreworks throughout the months, making a variety of things depending on the time of year. Candy Buns are the spring design.

And a new venue for me, the Buckinghamshire Summer School, where I will be teaching larger classes for two days. August the  7th is beginners and August the 8th is intermediate, with a discount for anyone booking both classes.

On the 7th the design is little chickens and on the 8th you can make a slinky fox. All materials and use of tools included.

Later in the year, I'm thrilled to be making a repeat visit to the glorious 'Hope and Elvis' studios, in Nottinghamshire, making the perennial favourites, Acorns and Toadstools', in October. Last year's two days were fantastic experiences for me and we had lovely feedback. The studios are situated in the stunning Welbeck Estate (think Downton Abbey, but more so). Apart  from the workshops, there are simply gorgeous shops, a gallery and I can personally vouch for the food at the Limehouse Cafe.

These are the confirmed workshops, but there are more in the pipeline. All details of these can be found on my workshops page, where you can visit the various websites and contact the organisers to book directly. Hope to see some of you there, it's always great to meet up with blog readers face to face.

That's been a rather busy November - four workshops, two patterns and lots of work related stuff in-between. Back to dear Oxford again, where I attended a concert at the beautiful Victorian church of St John the Evangelist on the Iffley Road. I once had a student bedsit up there, when I was a hungry art student.  Odd to go back again, but the concert was very enjoyable, performed by the talented and energetic members of the Magdalen College School orchestras.

The church was packed with proud parents snapping away, so I wasn't able to get many photos myself, but I did love the painted ceiling.

 

The next day there was another workshop at the lovely Fibreworks Oxford.

So pleased that someone returned for more and brought some 'homework' she had done since the last session.

 It was a Christmas theme and everyone made trees.

Well, nearly everyone - there was a robin, a Christmas cottage and a sweet toadstool house as well.

My final workshop of the year was my first Shropshire one. Held in such a nice venue, at Rustic and White in Wyle Cop, filled with vintage treasures and with parts of the shop dating back to Tudor times.

Pleasantly surprised to find that we'd filled all twelve spots and were actually oversubscribed. 

This was an all day session and also Christmas themed. There were one or two people there who read this blog, so if they are reading this, it was great to meet you. 

As well as bringing two suitcases of wools, as usual I did my best to supply as many beads, findings and decorative bits as possible, which does result in a  bit of a crafty mess at the end of the day!

 

After several hours of industry, fuelled by hot drinks and cake, there was a simply gorgeous batch of trees. I started everyone off with the same measurement guidelines, showed them the basic method and let them loose. Despite starting with more or less the same amount of wool, a wide variety of trees appeared, each bearing the maker's personality.

 

So that's it for the year and I am already booked to do more next year. I'll be posting some dates soon.

Fibreworks Oxford - workshop

My first workshop this month was held at the lovely new Fibreworks Oxford yarn shop on Cowley Road, Oxford, an old stamping ground of mine. Inside, it is simply gorgeous, elegantly stuffed with lovely wools, kits, books and sundry sundries.

Here's the manager, Natasha, knitting away during a brief lull - it's a busy little shop and people are coming and going all the time. It was great to see all kinds of everyone browsing and shopping - young people, older people, men, students, families - not the traditional notion of a wool shop's clientèle.

I was a bit late arriving, but after a while everyone was working away, with coffee and biscuits of course.

A good time was had by all, from the kind feedback and I was so pleased with what everyone made - most of my pupils had never tried needle felting before.

 One acorn necklace, worn with justifiable pride!

  

The Fibreworks is also the first supplier of my new venture, supplying spiral felting needles. I've recently discovered these and like them so much I am now selling them myself. But if you aren't in the Oxford area, you can buy them directly from my Etsy shop. Have to admit, I did enjoy designing the packaging.