my creative space . . . . the back of it!

Being a little coy about 'my creative space' today - I'm only showing the reverse side of what I'm working on ;-)  It's going really well so far, it's a large piece - and I'm  cracking on with it!  Suffice to say that it's made  entirely from  Harris Tweed and toy stuffing and is the result of some frantic doodling I did last night when I came home from the office.  I'm having fun with this one - back to designing 'softies'/soft sculpture, whatever you like to call it :)  There are a  few 'doodles' on the go! . . . 

I love this tweed, it's a beautiful  combination of colours, and I was being a bit brave/stupid, to use it today  as I wasn't sure how things would go - as it is, they seem to have gone OK :)  

Today in the post I got . . . .

NORO!!!!! I love this yarn - I've been working so  hard on my 'tweedie' business the last couple of weeks I thought I needed a little treat :)  So I bought a couple of balls of it - it's not cheap, but it IS gorgeous!  It's all part of the grieving process from losing the Noro beanies I made last Christmas - I think this will help me feel better ;-)

More creative yarns here :)

Alison  x

Mondrian inspired?

I'm a bit of a modern art fan, when I get round to thinking about something other than Harris Tweed :)  

My Other Half brought these remnant/reject glass tiles home from work the other day - sometimes he brings  all sorts of useless junk home and I have to tell him nicely to take it back . . . but these I liked, and instantly thought, hmmmm, Mondrian . . . 

What would you do with them?  Mondrian-inspired wall art (I was thinking of glueing them to some cork tiles maybe), create a new disco-inspired floor installation, ah la, 'Saturday Night Fever'??? - I did love that movie, hehe! :)

What would you do with them???

See ya tomorrow :)
Alison x

Playing Dolls

I've been in dolly-making mode this week - it's fun to be back with the toy-stuffing again!  I really enjoyed making the first of these which I gave you a little sneaky peek of, last week.  When I made one though, I decided I wanted to make a little set of 3 of them for putting on my website . . .

They sort of evolved as I went along, although I had an idea of how I wanted them to look . . .

. . . a  little bit of vintage lace here, an  appliqued  flower there . . . they were a lot of fun to make :)   Each one has been finished off with hand-embroidered  features, and I added a little Scottish kitsch with the tartan ribbon (OK, actually that's the only ribbon I had to hand, but I DO love to mix patterns, colours, etc in a 'mixty-moxty' kind of way, hehe!).  They're now in my shop here :)

Better not hang around too long today, my poor laptop is beginning to creak and groan under the strain of my daily blogging, or more like from the amount of photos I've been uploading during Blogtoberfest - time to do a little computer housework I think!!

Bye for now

Alison x

Experimental knitting and a delivery

I've admired these beautiful mittens in the Craft Activism book ever since I got it.  It's only since I started the 'knitting in the round' thing recently that I even vaguely considered embarking on something like this.  I was really fascinated by the idea of doing colour stranded knitting (or fairisle?? - I've no idea  of the correct terminology) and was intrigued by the colour block patterns accompanying the mitten knitting instructions. 

Yesterday, I decided to do just a little swatch as an experiment - I don't have the right size needles, so I'm  not quite ready to go with this project!  I really enjoyed trying it out though, went wonky on the second repeat of the pattern and managed to transpose the colours, haha!  Lots of technical issues, which I'd been made aware of through watching some Youtube videos, but really interesting to do and was fascinated to see how it all worked. 

This knitting will probably be undone or just kept aside as a swatch sample - I'll definitely try some more though - I just LOVE these lovely colourful mittens on the front of the book - ME wants some!

Must dash now - I have to deliver my youngest's Bass Guitar to the school, as it's too heavy for him to carry - it's pretty heavy for me too!  I will cut a comical figure, walking out the road carrying this . . . 

He invested in a second-hand bass guitar with some of his birthday money recently - it's lovely to see him take up an instrument - I hope he will carry on, and maybe join  his big brother in some jamming sessions, which would be nice to see :D

Happy Monday!

Alison x

P.S.  I enjoyed my Sunday 'off' (Hebridean rules, hehe!) - back to blogging daily this week for Blogoberfest!

Autumnal . . .

For once, I remembered  to put my camera in my handbag yesterday, as I have a beautiful walk to the office which I thought I could document.  I love this time of year - season of mists, and mellow fruitfulness . . . and all that.  I'm very lucky to work in such a beautiful location . . . 

The trees haven't quite yet started to turn the beautiful autumnal colours, but when they do it looks quite stunning, and is quite a contrast to the rural landscape where I live.

I'm not sure whether I'll post tomorrow or not, being Sunday, I might consider taking the day off from Blogtoberfest and follow the traditional day of rest here in the Outer Hebrides.  Well, everything else closes here on Sunday, so perhaps I should close too, hehe :)  

I think I'm beginning to make up my own rules for Blogoberfest - well maybe just 'bending' them a little LOL - see you 'sometime' very 'soonish'!

Alison xx

W.I.P. and Day 5 (Blogtoberfest)

Today I'm showing a work in progress, from er . . . . the Summer holidays - approx. August - how time flies from one school term to the next, ooops!

I started this bag while on holiday, and even although it's progressed since I took the photos . . . it's still in a state of unfinished bliss!!  I was having a bit of a laugh decorating it with some crochet flowers I'd been making - when is less more, or is it the other way around, or when is more, more?????  I saw  the idea in a sewing book and realised it was just an oversized zipper pouch with handles attached - I had to have a go . . . 

. . . such a simple idea, I used some of my Japanese cotton fabrics to line it - attaching the handles was easy.  So why haven't I finished it?  I have absolutely no idea!!!!  Perhaps Blogtoberfest is reminding me to do some stuff I'd forgotten about.  Do you have long lost W.I.P.s?  

One at a time please, form an orderly queue to make your W.I.P. confessions here, ladies - thankyou :D

Alison xxx

my creative space . . . just a little peek

Just a 'quickie' post today - I'm a woman on a mission, and that mission is to fill my shop with 'tweedie' goodness during the month of October - Blogtoberfest and Stocktoberfest are running in tandem, hehe :D

Here's a little sneaky peak of what I was up to this week in my new creative space - having easy access to my sewing machine is definitely affecting my 'crafty' activity . . . 

I'm now off to take some pics of  some 'tweedie' products to put on my website - I'm not telling you where I've hidden my stash of new camera batteries - you might tell my boys, who might borrow them for their Games Controllers and then I'd be back to Square One - so, I'll keep schtum in the meantime and get on with my subterfuge 'tweedie' activities :) :)  Sssssshhhhh - top secret!

Alison xx

P.S.  Seemingly it's National Poetry day today, so . . . . . here's my ode to My Creative Space!

Each Thursday, we all love to join with My Creative Space,

for crafty-folk around the globe, it's a truly wondrous place :)

From knitting to macrame, and crochet to origami, 

. . . just grab your chair and fill a cuppa,

to see what these lovely crafty-folk are uppta!!

Oh dear! I hope I haven't put you off your crafting today ladies LOL.

'See' you tomorrow - Day 5 of Blogtoberfest - Oh My :) :)
Alison x