Cotswold workshop

This is my lastest  workshop, held at the Winds of Change Gallery in Winchcombe. The challenge was to make a sheep from British wool - as it was part of the wool festival celebrating our native sheep. I brought in a selection of dyed Blue-Faced Leicester and natural Welsh tops, and a lot of Cotswold Lion fleece. Far more than we needed in the end.

 I'd already made my own sheep from this, with much mild cursing as it is really too long and rough to make a satisfactory model. Some brave people used it, but the Blue Faced Leicester was by far the favourite, being softer and more manageable.

As well as a picnic lunch, there were scones, cream and jam halfway through the afternoon; note the plaster and first aid kit, for the unfortunates who stabbed themselves. It was all good fun though, and I think every one had a nice time.

My lovely workshop ladies, including a beaming Jane, the gallery owner and lovely Lady Ashcombe, of nearby Sudeley Castle, stood nearest to the door, who was kind enough to give up some of her time to judge the sheep contest. 

Yet again I felt so proud to see the variety and accomplishment of people who'd done little or no needle felting before this day. But, there was only one prize for one winner. I was having nothing to do with it, I hate picking winners! Or rather, I hate that there are losers, especially when everyone tried so hard.

 

 There was however, one obvious winner and Lady Ashcombe picked exactly the one that I would have. The prize was a family ticket for Adam Henson's Cotswold Farm Park, only a few miles away - a very generous donation from the farm, and one which deserves a little reward.

So I'm sending him the model for the workshop, now called 'Adam's Sheep' - after his slot on the BBC Countryfile programme, called 'Adam's Farm'. Adam rears many rare native breeds himself, including the 'Cotswold Lion', which my sheep is loosely based on and who's wool I used. 

After many dreadful weeks of not-knowing about things, we've finally had news that we can get going. So we are. I may not be around much as I have an awful lots of things to pack. We move at the end of the month - and we don't even know precisely where yet!

Wool in Winchcombe

Here is lovely Katie Morgan -  painter of gypsy wagons and fairground rides, restorer of antique clock faces and so many more things -  with her knitted hanging basket, which has been hanging joyously from the Winds of Change Gallery throughout the Winchcombe Wool Festival.

Everything in the gallery was wool oriented, one way or another, including painting and prints of British sheep by artist Alexandra Churchill - this one in the window is the local 'Cotswold Lion'. (And there's one of my books nearby).

The gallery was swarming with people all day - many local and all interesting. So interesting that I forgot to demonstrate and did a fair amount of chatting. This sheep hand puppet came visiting, if I remember rightly, he is a Sunday school prop and is still used now. His 'helping hand' is the wonderful artist  Belinda Durrant.

We exchanged cards - this is one of her exquisite artworks, 'Left Foot Trap' the shoe upper is a paper cut with the mouse drawn. And the trap inside - for feet or mice? Her work is breathtakingly delicate  with a delicious biting twist on the relationship between women and fashion. 

Another local artist I briefly met was Julie de Gruchy East - she was exhibiting wonderful textile portraits of Winchcombe butchers, 'drawn' on an old sewing machine onto vintage Witney blankets, a fine old Cotswold company still in business today. They are *only* thread, but blimey, they are masterful portraits. If I had the money to invest, I'd be commissioning her right now, while she's still affordable, because I  have a hunch she's going far with these. More photos of her work and the actual butchers can be found here on her blog.

Here's Jane, the gallery owner learning to finger knit, and more of Julie's work  (the cushions are hers too).

Katie's knitted daisy chain which later mysteriously appeared draped in Winchcombe in a 'yarn storming' event - as reported on her blog here. 

 Katie is one of the most interesting people I know; always working on something unusual,  recently making a reproduction of Katherine Parr's velvet toilet, for nearby Sudeley Castle. Katherine Parr being the surviving wife of Henry the Eighth and this being her Quincentenary (That's 500 years). Belinda Durrant has recently made some tiny, heart breaking baby garments, also on display at Sudely, for the little orphaned daughter (Lady Mary Seymour) of Katherine, who died in mysterious circumstances just before her second birthday. Belinda's response to this sad story of a royal child who seemed unloved by anyone, was to create a trio of clothes, but with her own particular angle. 'Where is Mary' can be seen and read about on this blog here, with Belinda's own words about why she felt so moved to make  them.

Cushions, ceramics, upholstery and artworks, all celebrating the stuff that the Cotswolds were built on.

My own little people don't strictly qualify, being made of Australian merino, but here they are anyway.

 

One of my doglet's dwarved by ceramics and giant felt shoes. I'm back at the gallery this Friday for a workshop. There's an outside view of the day at the gallery and the festival over on the Texture Knit blog (including rare footage of me working).

It's been a crammed month with various things going on 'behind the scenes'- this is when we hope to really get on track with our plans to move, job transfers and expanding my little business. It's all a bit nail biting.  I wish things were settled, I really do.

Needle felting news

Introducing three circus friends, wee darlings sitting four inches tall. Custard the Clown. (*SOLD*).

Dear little Santa, my Christmas dog - *SOLD* to my amazing furniture painting friend.

Crystal - now *SOLD* (Thank you!)

I was going to be absolutely silent about my two week 'disappearance', but as I was devouring the new and oh-so-beautiful 'Mollie Makes', my heart skipped a beat. Look - under the 'make it' section - click for a larger look. Ooh! That's me, that is, listed in the next issue with my first ever 'making' article. Golly. (That's not me pictured looking slim and glam on the bed though, sadly).

Finally but not least, for anyone living in the Cotswolds/Cheltenham area, I am making two appearances at the Winchcombe Wool Festival. Like most of the Cotswolds, the town was 'built on wool', the earliest record of this being from 796, yes, 796, before the Norman Conquest of 1066) and my friend Katie B Morgan has written the most interesting article about the town and the festival, which, if you love history, heritage, the Cotswolds and craft, is a must-read.

Rams in the Cotswold Hills, resting after a busy season

I'll be demonstrating needle felting at the Winds of Change gallery from 11am till 4.30, on April 14th and later in the month holding a 'Make a Sheep' workshop, on April 27th from 11am till 4.30. Spaces are limited to just seven, and I think one is gone already. We'll be making a needle felted sheep with British wool and there will be a prize for the best sheep, of a family ticket to Adam Henson's Cotswold Farm Park (of Countryfile fame), which is just up the road from Winchcombe. Price for the workshop includes materials and lunch. And my undivided attention, of course. Contact Jane at the Gallery for prices and availability.

Click on poster for more detailed image

Talking of winds of change, it looks as we are finally moving to pastures new - in fact, a whole new county. For the first time in many years, I am not planting spring seeds.

Three for tea

Last week, two lovely visitors, Jane and Katie, popped over the county border from Winchcombe for tea, cake and chat. Partly business, mostly pleasure, it was my first time of actually meeting Katie Morgan, apart from chatting on Twitter and reading her blog. (Whoever said that the internet is killing social life? I have no time for such ill conceived nonsense). Katie is as fascinating as her blog suggests, I could have spent all day listening to her. She had brought along a beautifully restored antique clock dial - restored by herself, as that is what she does, alongside many other things. At the moment she is restoring a 1938 fairground Waltzer (a phenomenal job) - Katie's website is crammed with the gorgeous work she has done and is now working on. Well worth looking at if you are interested in painted Romany wagons, fairground and narrowboat art.

Copious tea and very chocolatey chocolate cake (not made by me) kept us going for several hours as we discussed the Winchcombe Wool Festival which Jane - of the Winds of Change Gallery - is heroically organising. It will be held in April and last for three weeks, celebrating the long history of this historic wool town and the modern legacy of British wool. I will be doing a needle felt workshop towards the end, (date and price to be confirmed). So if you are in the Cheltenham area, watch this space; it will be limited to about six places. I'll be announcing the final arrangements here and on my Facebook page.

As it's been a while since I bought my two Matt Grimmitt mugs which are in the top picture, I treated myself to one of his lovely slipware bowls. It's a pourer, so is perfect for beating eggs. Matt often has work for sale on a certain well known auction site, and the best way to find out when he is selling is to follow his Facebook page here.

I like to think that perhaps, 150 years ago, similar country pottery was once used in this little cottage.

A Cotswold Gallery

We have acquired the winter use of a vehicle and it has transformed our lives; the aim is that Andy won't risk life and limb on the motorbike when it is icy and snowy, on his long commute to work. But it also means that we can get out a little more in the bad weather, when it's just too darned cold and wet to go on the bike. Previously I have rarely ventured out much at this time of year, rural public transport being too costly and there are limits to how far I can get on my bicycle.

I've never lived with a car of any kind before, apart from a few years with my foster parents. However my cantankerous foster father made a particular point of not giving me lifts anywhere, even on dark evenings, which can be hazardous for a teenage girl. It didn't kill me, but it made me even more aware, if I needed it, of how little he cared for me. So this is an unimaginable luxury and I am enjoying every single minute of it, while it's here. I can actually sit back in the warm and look at our gorgeous Cotswolds, in their winter splendour, in comfort, while sucking a sherbert lemon. Which you can't do on the back of a bike.

We were headed over to Winchcombe, as I wanted to visit a couple of Twitter-friends. We arrived just as a rainbow was disappearing into this historic town, which nestles snugly in the landscape, surrounded by wooded hills and on the doorstep of the stately Sudeley Castle.

Firstly I visited Bob and Carol at Sprogs, which is the best toy shop in the Cotswolds. No tatty plastic to be found here, just well chosen, beautiful toys and gifts for every age. I stayed chatting for them for ages (poor Andy!) and managed to do a little business there as well, so a return trip in January is arranged. My next visit was to see Jane and her newly re-furbished Winds of Change Gallery, who is featured in the current BBC Homes and Antiques magazine. I've met Jane before, last summer, but haven't seen the gallery since the change over.

It is gorgeous. Jane has exquisite taste and has created a stylish, clean but comfortable setting for the lovely arts and crafts collection, much of it local.

Although it is a modest size, there is a feeling of lightness and space.

This wonderful rocking horse (with a real horsehair mane) was painted by local folk artist Katie B. Morgan and carved by her father. Katie is a traditional fairground and gypsy wagon painter, amongst other things and her website is well worth a look if you love this kind of work, as is her interesting blog.

Andy was very taken with this hand crafted ladder back chair -

And I am saving my pennies for a Woolsoft 100% British wool cushion - maybe for our next house, if we ever get there.

Jane provided coffee with mince pies and we stayed for some time, discussing this and that, making a date for another meeting soon, when I hope to meet Katie B. Morgan too. Jane welcomes browsers and visitors, so if you are local to the Cheltenham area or nearby, (or even just passing through) do stop and say hello. Winchcombe is a vibrant town, with two great butchers and a nice variety of shops and pubs, with some stunning local walks and the famous Belas Knap Long Barrow just up the road.

The short afternoon was darkening and we began our journey home, back through the quaint High Street of Winchcombe town.

Catching the last fragment of winter sunshine which brings out the soft richness of the neutrals in the landscape and bare trees.

Later in the week I also made time to cut a new block of my 'Little Hare' design. as the old one was a bit battered. I seem to have re-learned my rusty printing skills, as to my amazement, I printed off 30 or so near perfect prints first time round and knowing how popular the first one was, I've put some of them *here* in my Etsy shop again, at the same 'under a fiver' price.