Wee Cat and Wemyss Cat

It's pretty late and I was just thinking about shutting down for the night when I heard the cat flap rattle. Just our cat ( Wee Cat is his name) coming in from the nightshift, I thought. But no, he is curled up asleep on the settee. So who or what is trying to get through the cat flap?!! We don't have any other cats on the farm and we almost never have visitors, four legged ones I mean, so I went to the door with some trepidation. Nothing there - spooky! I posted this picture way back when I started this blog, but I thought it would stand a another showing. Our Wee Cat - so named because we used to have another one who was much bigger - posing with a "friend". This was not set up, by the way. I looked up one day and he was just as you see him, giving me enough time to grab the camera. The "friend" is a beautiful specimen of a Wemyss cat which is made at a pottery near here from a traditional design. He was a special birthday present from Bob a year or two ago.

That's the Easter weekend over and it's back to work tomorrow.

Not quite Easter colours, but aren't these gerberas stunning! They are part of a beautiful flower arrangement which was delivered on Thursday - an Easter present from my Mum. She likes to send flowers at Easter because they're less fattening than chocolate, and our local florist always does an amazing job.
So, thanks Mum, and Happy Easter to you all. Hope your weather is as good as ours - wherever you are!

Happy Chocolate, Daffodils and Bunnies

None of the above apply to Easter at the Embroidery Workshop - well the daffodils maybe. So far, no chocolate to be seen in the shape of eggs, bunnies or anything else. No kids left at home, you see.
Ah well, it would have been bad for the waistline anyway.
I treated myself to a lovely pottery jug in colours to match my kitchen, when I was down at the Farm Shop yesterday morning so that's my Easter present.
Not a lot of work done today, on account of a flying visit from daughter. Except it wasn't a flying visit - she usually flies, but this weekend she drove for six hours to get here for one day!
She's back home again now safe and sound, and it was lovely to see her, albeit for such a short visit.
We had a nostalgic trip to our old Art College yesterday. Bob and I had been there in the early '70's, and our daughter studied there too, many years later, doing the same textiles course as me, and even with some of the same tutors. So we had a walk round, and were surprised to see nothing had really changed, apart from us of course!

Two Walks, Three Cards

Two walks today since the sun was shining - first one along the beach in the morning to buy the paper and visit Mum, and another after lunch, up past the farm and down through Letham Glen. Sundays are sort of days off as the Workshop is closed to the public, but more often than not we have work to complete for dispatch next day, and today was no exception. There was a batch of cards to make up to finish off a few shop orders (that was tonight's homework), and a "special" to do for a 40th birthday. I managed to squeeze in a couple of ideas for new cards too. I think there might be something worth developing in these as an addition to the large cards. There's no message on them as yet, but I would imagine they would be suitable for birthdays. They are actually old ideas re-worked.

This one below is the 40th birthday order.

And to end the day we picked the first batch of rhubarb from the garden this year and made a pud tonight - we don't usually have one - but good old rhubarb sponge...lovely.

Fusing Fabric Fun

Well, as promised in my last post, I did have an afternoon practically to myself and did spend a few hours doing some exploring with some new textile techniques, in this case, Fusing Fabric with a soldering iron. This was only a year overdue, as I had treated myself to an interesting book by Margaret_Beal a while ago and had even invested in the soldering iron she recommended, but ran out of time. Today, I made a start in a tentative way. Nothing planned, or finished, just some experiments and samples for my sketch book. This is the amazing soldering iron which can be used like a pen and which fuses layers of fabric together with heat, and will even burn patterns into the fabric like stitch lines.

And this is my once tidy desk with everything pulled out to make my tiny samples. ( I have managed to tidy it up though which is a first. I think I'm finally growing up!)

Apologies for the poor photo, but it was a dull and rainy afternoon and the light was bad. This was the culmination of the afternoon's work - not anything to be proud of or even worth showing here - but it's here just to prove that I had been working. The interesting thing is that all the fabrics are fused together, not stitched, glued or bonded and the technique is open to experiment. There is a long long way to go yet, but there are some seeds of ideas beginning to grow.

Finally, page one of my sketch book which records some experiments I played around with, working on different backgrounds.

Anyway, I'm indebted to Margaret Beal for her inspiring book, and I will spend more time getting to grips with the technique and making it work for me.

Just don't expect anything soon!

Rose and Cream

Just been working on a batch of our latest colour collection of Patchwork cards - Rose and Cream. We're combining some of the softest pinks and faded rose patterns with ivory and cream mixes. As usual no two are the same - some are decorated with hand painted hearts, others with leaves and buds. This particular batch is destined for Drymen near Stirling, and will soon be displayed on the shelves of Drymen Village Shop.
The next two orders to be completed are, by coincidence, both for shops on the beautiful Isle of Arran, one of my favourite places. It's very tempting to deliver them in person, but sadly time won't allow.
By the way, the roseandcream patchwork cards are now for sale on the website at £2.00 each, or six for £10.00. Click the link to find them.
And the weekend is ahead - nothing particular planned, we'll be open as usual on Saturday, but if you pop in you might find me taking some time out from card making to get back to my roots - proper embroidery and fabric "stuff". I'll be happy to show you what I'm doing.
I've been meaning to do that for ages now, but there hasn't been the opportunity. So, I'm going to grab what time I can tomorrow. Hopefully!