Never At A Loose End

Monday 21 October 2024

A Blush of Robins

There's several collective nouns for a group of the nation's favourite red breasted bird but a 'blush' of robins is definitely my favourite.

This particular blush was created last weekend at a needle felting class I taught to ladies of Aberdeenshire Federation of the SWI (Scottish Women's Institute) as part of their Autumn Academy craft programme. I always love that everyone starts out with the same materials and receives the same tuition yet each lady has created a robin individual to her.

Prior to teaching, I always like to remind myself what I'm doing which has resulted in me having a blush of my own!

Seeing the birdies grouped together made me think back to last summer when I created another blush of robins, but this time in mosaic.

A while back, my Mum's beloved glass ornament broke.

It got inadvertently swiped off the window ledge whilst the curtains were being opened. There was no way of successfully fixing it so the following Christmas I bought Mum a Royal Crown Derby replacement robin. However, I kept the broken bird as I'd always liked the simple fused glass shapes and had often contemplated translating them into mosaic.

After making a rough sketch (so rough it's on a shopping list!) I transferred the image onto tracing paper. This let me draw the shapes I required onto glass which I cut with hand tools then smoothed with the grinder.

The transparent pieces needed to be backed with foil before being stuck onto the slate substrate. This served two purposes - the cement didn't show through and the glass colours became more intense.

Once the cement was fully dried, the messy process of grouting could begin. I keep special gloves for just that purpose! Both the cement and the grout used mean this can go outside.

Once the robin was polished up I opted to glue on his millefiori bead eye and really bring him to life. I gave this robin to my sister-in-law, Carol, as a gift last Christmas.

Then I made another which I gave to my friend, Susan, to raffle as a fundraiser for the good causes she supports.

And I made another, also gifted, which hangs in my friend Brenda's garden.

I must've been in a hurry as I only have a picture of this one prior to grouting.

It appears I'm not done yet, as this work in progress shows. Maybe I'll manage to make one for my own garden before too long.

It's lovely to know that my blush of mosaic robins has flown far and wide - but this one is coming home to roost!

A Creative Craft Swap

Lesley and I have been friends for a long time.

She's featured on my blog before, talented artist that she is, when we visited her Peebles studio and when we made felt together at my house.

We love Lesley's art and own several of her paintings.

When we gave our lounge a refresh recently, there was space in the alcove for some new art - and we knew exactly who to contact. It was Lesley who suggested a craft swap - she'd paint me a picture and I'd knit her a jumper. Deal!

Lesley took her inspiration from our 2021 holiday to Davaar Island on the Mull of Kintyre peninsula.

Not long after our decision to craft swap, Lesley presented us with this beautiful painting of the lighthouse on Davaar.

Here it is in situ in our newly painted lounge. I love how she's picked out our zingy yellow.

Now it was time to keep my side of the bargain.

Lesley chose this lovely pattern for an Icelandic style sweater with a colour work yoke. It's the Fern and Feather Sweater by Jennifer Steingass.

We looked through my yarn stash and Lesley chose some colours but they just didn't really work well together as you can see in my test swatch.

So I had a look at Ravelry, the comprehensive online resource available to knitters and crocheters where I could see how others had knitted their beautiful colour work sweaters.

I was very smitten with these greeny-blue yokes.

Lesley loved these colours as much as I do so I bought a ball of this gorgeous Schoppel Gradient yarn which makes the colour changes for you. There's a tongue-in-cheek warning on the label that knitting can be addictive. I already know this!

Knitting the yoke was really fun, especially watching the colours change.

The body and sleeves, made in 100% wool Drops Alaska, flew off my needles in just a few weeks as the gently repetitive stocking stitch made great TV knitting.

The jumper was finished in time for Lesley's next visit to the North East and taking careful measurements prior to knitting ensured a good fit.

Cheers to the craft swap!

You can find more of Lesley's lovely art here : www.lesleyjohnsonart.com

I've Got It Pegged!

Now in its 25th year, the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival recently hosted 700 events over 6 days. Central to the festival is the burgh of Dufftown, the malt whisky capital of the world!

Dufftown is also home to local yarn store, 3 Bags Wool, the venue for craft events in the festival programme. As Dufftown is only a 45 minute drive away (and a very scenic drive at that) I signed up for one of the craft workshops last Saturday afternoon.

3 Bags Wool is a very well stocked yarn emporium with balls of wool for every pocket lining the walls from floor to ceiling.

Shop owner and textile artist, Sarah Fraser, has taken full advantage of the shop's quirky layout to display her beautiful needle felted landscapes. Kits are available so you can make your own and Sarah runs a wide range of craft workshops throughout the year at her in-store 'Wool Skool'.

Amongst all the wool, I also spotted this super-cute needle felted mouse nestled on a hand-kit sample sweater, a gorgeous floral handbag and a completely bonkers sheep!

As well as housing a fantastic range of supplies for knitters, crocheters and felters, 3 Bags Wool sells a less well known product for textile crafts called thrums. Thrums are the narrow selvedges from woven fabrics and are usually discarded by the nearby Scottish mills but Sarah has turned their use into an art form. You can't beat a bit of beautiful upcycling!

She showed us a range of rugs she'd woven from thrums to get an idea of what we were about to make.

The workshop I'd joined was peg loom weaving with thrums to make a sitting mat, basically a mini rug which could be completed in the two hour session!

After choosing some colours we set about warping up our peg looms. I was using a chunky blue wool which was wound around the pegs 36 times then cut into 18 lengths.

The pegs were threaded with the lengths of wool before being reinserted into the loom.

Then the weaving could begin. I'd chosen a jolly blue and yellow thrum which reminded us all of Doddie Weir's tartan. The weaving itself was very therapeutic.

When the woven fabric reached the top of the pegs, they could be removed from the loom and the wool length pulled through. A big knot was tied in the wool at the opposite end so I didn't pull it all the way out. That would have been a total disaster! Sarah was on hand throughout, guiding us gently through the weaving process, and encouraging us even when we thought we'd gone wrong.

Freshly brewed coffee and frangipane cake provided a welcome break mid session.

Once the weaving was finished, the woolly lengths were knotted to their neighbour at each end of the mat and neatly trimmed to finish them off. I teased out the woolly lengths of mine to make a fringe.

With our mats complete, we were able to admire each other's work.

From L to R Laura and her Mum, Irene, Me, Rose and Jesse, a lovely couple from The Netherlands

My sitting mat will be perfect for my favourite outdoor knitting spot - just need some sun!

You can contact Sarah Fraser of 3 Bags Wool here

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/3bagswool

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/3bagswool/

Thanks to Sarah for a lovely day.

A New Angle on Stained Glass

I was thrilled to receive a gift voucher for a stained glass session with Claire Gaunt Art at Christmas.

Not least because I'd dropped heavy hints to my husband, and left Claire's business card casually lying around. I'd met Claire at a Christmas Fair at Haddo House last November and loved the pieces she had on display. Her garden studio in Aberdeen was adorned with many of the gorgeous stained glass items she sells.

I loved the coloured light filtering through these geometric hangings at each window in Claire's workspace.

Just the inspiration I needed - but was it too ambitious for a beginner's workshop?

I needn't have worried as Claire encouraged me to go for it!

First up I chose some coloured glass. Here's a wee selection of the array of options.

I settled for a palette inspired by my recent lounge makeover featuring a newly painted yellow green accent wall and reupholstered turquoise chair. Isn't the blue rippled glass gorgeous?

Claire drew a template for me to follow and I traced the shapes and cut the glass, numbering the pieces as I went.

The circle was most challenging. Thankfully the grinder helped smooth off those rough edges.

I'd never used these finger guards, or cots, before. They provide protection whilst grinding glass without diminishing dexterity, helping me keep my pre-holiday sparkly manicure intact!

Next it was time for some foiling. I found it very satisfying to apply the adhesive foil strip to each edge and see my artwork start to come together.

In readiness for soldering, Claire used horse-shoe nails to anchor the foiled glass pieces and keep them in place.

She then applied Flux followed by dabs of solder onto the back to stabilise the window hanging finally creating one piece.

After demonstrating how to solder in a straight line, Claire told me it was my turn! I was quite nervous but Claire made me feel completely at ease and I was soon soldering away to my heart's content. I can definitely tell which bits I did but I was pretty pleased with my results overall.

Claire then helped to solder all the way round the edges, as that required more precision than I currently possess, and the finishing touch was to attach a hanging ring and chain.

Here's our tah-dah moment together!