A visit to the shedio

When my husband, Geoff, asked for a picture by his favourite artist for his joint birthday/Christmas present last year, you'd have been forgiven for thinking I might've baulked at this, believing I'd have to sell an organ to purchase an old master!  However, his favourite artist is someone we've been friends with for over 20 years - talented Borders based maker, Lesley Johnson. 

To facilitate Geoff's picture choice, Lesley invited us to visit her "shedio", a tiny creative space at the bottom of her garden in Peebles.  With a husband and two teenage sons mad-keen on mountain biking, Lesley doesn't even get the whole shed to play in as two thirds of the space is storage for bikes and outdoor gear!

But Lesley packs a lot of kit into her shed/studio aka "the shedio".  When she's not teaching chemistry, she produces artworks using various mediums and tools, favouring texture gel and copper ink applied using implements as diverse as a pastry brush and old credit cards!

The sewing machine allows Lesley to embellish her textile pictures which are made by wet felting colourful merino wools.  She also uses her hand produced fabrics to make tea and cafetiere cosies.

Transferring her designs to fabric enables Lesley to create beautiful lampshades for these bottle lamps.

Lesley's inspired by light, colour and texture, local hills and countryside in the Borders and by Scotland's stunning coastline.

Botanical images often feature in Lesley's artwork with seed heads being a favourite subject.

Her delightful family home is like a mini art gallery so we were able to appreciate her own pictures which adorn the walls prior to Geoff choosing something for himself.

In the end, he didn't choose just one picture, but two of Lesley's originals made their way home with us to Aberdeenshire.

This is entitled  "Treelines" and is created using acrylics and pastels.  We were agreed we really wanted it to hang where we'd see it all the time so it's in our bedroom opposite the bed.

"Blooming Heather" is a smaller work in acrylic and ink on paper - it's hanging in the hall.  Here they are in situ.

Thanks, Lesley, for such a wonderful and inspiring visit to your shedio - we are enjoying our new artworks every day!

You can contact the artist yourself by following this link to her Facebook page.

Aberdeen Yarnfest Part One - Anticipation

So I decided to make a bag.  Out of these leftovers.  All treasured bits from previous projects hand dyed by my friend, Helen, of Ripples Crafts.

When I learned that Aberdeen was to host its first yarn festival, and that Helen would be attending as a vendor with her wonderful wares, I offered to help her at her stand.

She said yes.  I'd need a bag and what could be more appropriate than a bag made from my precious Ripples Crafts stash.  So, with only a vague plan in mind, and less than a fortnight to go, I started crocheting wee squares.  I already had some bright pink lining fabric to match the main colour.

I'm not the only one to keep all my precious Ripples Crafts leftovers.  My yarn enthusiast friend, Ethmay, is a champion sock knitter and kindly lent me her spare yarn dyed by Helen to add to my colourful collection.

The squares each got a pink edging...

... then I joined them all together.

During a car journey to visit friends and back again, when I wasn't driving(!), I crocheted a plain rectangle to be the back of the bag.  I was going to need every scrap of Helen's wonderfully named pink 'A Cerise Which Demands Attention' so a pussy hat I'd made some time ago which was too big was unravelled for the greater good.

Pinning out the fabric whilst damp helped iron out the rumples.

I crocheted a long strip to add width and attached it along three sides.

The sewing machine and I are not best friends -  however I managed to make a cotton lining with my vibrant pink fabric and insert a zip.  Please don't look too closely.  I then hand-sewed the lining into the bag.

All that was left was to crochet a strap and attach it.  Not cutting it fine but I was sewing in the handle whilst having coffee with Mum the day before the festival and just hours before Helen was due to arrive!

So I filled my bag with festival essentials and pinned on my favourite badges.  My 'Adventures in Yarn' notebook is made by Popcorn and Crocodiles and my wool girl brooch is made by Gabrielle Reith.

I wore my bag all day and it worked really well, even if the strap got a little longer as the day went on!

Were you at Aberdeen Yarn Fest?  Did you visit the Ripples Crafts stand and see me and my colourful bag?  I'll be writing more about the great event the yarn fest turned out to be in my next post.