A pom pom carpet!

All of this from one plug plant... ok it does have the best spot in the garden, sheltered from too much rain and super sunny when the sun shines... but it's done really well. It's like a carpet of pom poms!

Sara x
http://www.sarastexturecrafts.com/

Beans are reflowering!

... maybe we're in for a second batch!

Sara x
http://www.sarastexturecrafts.com/

Merry go Around: So what is my next chapter?

This month we are writing about what our next chapter is...

I had to take a moment to think about this, it's been a constantly changing year so to define my next chapter isn't quiet as easy as I thought it might be at first. I have long term plans and a short term list of things to get started on and finish, so defining exactly how my next steps should fall may be as yet a constantly changing landscape in front of me.

I'd love to get back to teaching workshops and am looking for venues as we speak, along with further shows to retail at. I'm in the midst of creating my new eshop on the main website and am hoping to launch that soon. I'm also looking in to new ranges of stock to hopefully expand with current trends in the market... so I have quite a lot of new things on the short term horizon. Personally, well I'm learning to spin at the moment. I don't know whether I will ever sell my spun yarns, but that's could be an option... for the moment I'll settle at learning just for me and to better understand the product when I start to sell wheels soon.

Long term... well D and I are looking at moving to a small holding ideally, somewhere where I can use any out buildings as workshop space... but I'm not sure how long that will take, the market isn't really that great, especially if you need to borrow to achieve your dream. I also would love to complete my City and Guilds in Feltmaking... there are 3 levels, but depending on skills required I could start further up the ladder. Now if I can fit a family in there somewhere (if I'm blessed), then that would be wonderful too... after all D and I have been together for 14 years now, so we'd better commit to something (we've been engaged for 13 1/2 years you see!)

So you see there are lots of ideas and plans going on in my little head... but each of those things could change how the future works out. So while I'll keep working through my ideas and implementing which of those are viable, I'll keep the next chapter unwritten for the moment... you never know what's around the corner and I think I like it that way!

Sara x
http://www.sarastexturecrafts.com/

-----------------
This post was part of a blog Merry go Around, where I have got together with some friends to talk about a similar subject on the same day... a nice way to meet people!

Jenny at Jenny Karlsson design http://designjennykarlsson.blogspot.com/
Wendren at Wren http://thewrendesign.com/
Sara at Sara's Texture Crafts http://sarastexturecrafts.blogspot.com/
Charlotte at Fancy Picnic http://fancypicnic.blogspot.com/
Lily at Lily Pang Art http://lilypangart.blogspot.com/
Marianna at Florcita http://florcitasart.blogspot.com/
Agathe at Le Bar du Vent http://lebarduvent.blogspot.com/
Fabienne at Easterya http://easterya.blogspot.com/
Ruth at Birdland Creations http://insidetheartisan.blogspot.com/

So how's the spinning going Sara?

Not too badly, truth be told... it sure is a learning curve though! So much more technical than feltmaking, well as technical as you want it to be really and you know me sometimes I get caught up in the technical and I loose my original creativity... so D's been told to pinch me if I start talking to much 'techy' stuff at him and forget to enjoy the colour... needless to say he's fine with that arrangement! My only problem is time, at the moment I'm averaging just a couple of hours a week... so progress isn't fast!

I did get myself a couple of new spinning books, the one I'm talking about today is;


Spin Control by Amy King, published by Interweave.

I have found this book really great for giving me a push in the right direction as a beginner, before I launch myself into the stuff I really want to make... yarn with beads, fabric and paper.

Do you remember my niddy noddying? Well this was my next step... setting my yarn.


I followed Amy's quick and easy steps to set three yarns I had spun. The green and pink which was on my drop spindle, a Brick Red, Blood Orange and Mustard (colours from my Merino range) and finally my first ply, again from Blood Orange and Mustard... both spun on my first wheel, an Ashford's 'Joy'.


I washed, and rinsed...

And hung them out to dry...

I've also been keeping strands left over in a little note pad, so I can keep up with how I'm progressing...

I'll show you how I got on soon...

Sara x
http://www.sarastexturecrafts.com/

Diary of an Art Piece: International Day of Felt

A while ago now one of the members of Working with Felt mentioned that maybe we should come together and work on a felt project for the International day of Felt (3rd October 2009). So we put it out there on the forum and a few of us got together and agreed to submit some work. I think since then the local IFA (International Feltmaker's Association) group and a few other designers have also agreed to join the town exhibition.

Angela Barrow, who mentioned the idea has since been working away at turning our little idea into a fully fledged felt trail around Ilkley, here in the UK. We will be showing work in various shops and galleries around the town... a vision of red, orange and yellow (felt day colours)! Thank you so much Angela!

Well here's my piece... Guadalupe Heart.

I would have liked to have submitted more, but time just wasn't with me on that one... I'll settle instead on making something for me to wear around town, here in Devon.

Sara x
http://www.sarastexturecrafts.com/

Guess what came past my front door yesterday...

Lot's of men in tiny shorts... the Tour of Britain, a cycling race! It certainly cheered me up!

Forgive the vids, they were on my mobile... can't quite work out how to rotate the screen, so you will have to crane your neck, sorry!

Sara x
http://www.sarastexturecrafts.com/

The Fruit's a Rippening!

The mighty 8ft plant bears giant fruit! Can't wait for them to rippen enough to eat like an apple!!

Beautiful colours while they change from green to red.

Sara x
http://www.sarastexturecrafts.com/

Now taking Credit Cards on eBay

I now accept Credit Cards: Mastercard, Maestro, Visa, Visa Electron and Solo in store at http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Saras-Texture-Crafts

Remember I ship worldwide and you can save money on P&P when you buy 2 or more items. For my latest Shop Policy, Ordering and Shipping Details please follow this link... View Seller's Terms & Conditions

Sara x
http://www.sarastexturecrafts.com/

Customer pictures: Fabric Fancies... Fabulous cakes!

pastel felt cakes
Originally uploaded by Fabric Fancies

I met a new customer just by chance really... Nicola from http://nicolaluke.etsy.com bought some Cotton washable fabric sheets from me... you know the ones I supply on eBay for making your own labels, cards and fabric art... the ones you can pass through your home printer (http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Saras-Texture-Crafts).

So we got chatting and Nicola showed me her shop... I thought wow, I'm going to have to show my blog readers this! So here you are...

Nicola is from London and makes the most wonderful felt cakes, great for Birthdays, Special Occasions and 'just because I love you' days!

You can also find Nicola on her flickr page at http://www.flickr.com/photos/fabricfancies/

Rock Garden - Woolfest/Fibrefest 2009.

Rock Garden - Woolfest/Fibrefest 2009.
Originally uploaded by Sara's Texture Crafts

For those of you who came across my stalls this year at Woolfest and Fibrefest, you will have seen me working away on my little needle felted rock garden. So this picture is just for you... see I managed to finish it after all!

This is made with Merino, Shetland and Suffolk wools and the petals are made with my needle felting moulds... the rest is freestyle.

Sara x

Customer Photos: SlackStitches!

You know me, I always love a customer photo... and today is no different. This wonderful doll is hand made by the very talented Margaret over at http://slackstitches.com/

Read more about her at http://slackstitches.com/?p=18

Isn't she wonderful?! Well if you'd like to make her or one of Margaret's other creations yours, please email margaret@slackstitches.com

If you are looking for the wool used for the doll's hair, please contact me at http://www.sarastexturecrafts.com/ and I can let you know what I have and where to find it.

Sara x
http://www.sarastexturecrafts.com/

Carded Batts!

Carded Batt
Originally uploaded by Sara's Texture Crafts

My wonderful Ashford Drum Carder is my favourite toy right now... this was my first Batt, a 2 colour haze of Merino. This given me lots of ideas for my new Batt range in the shops.

To start with they are soley on eBay and Etsy, but the full range will soon be on my own eshop at www.SarasTextureCrafts.com as soon as I get it all finished!

I'm also going to start supplying the carding machines and accessories too!

Sx
www.SarasTextureCrafts.com

Pot plants

Pot plants
Originally uploaded by Sara's Texture Crafts

These have been needle felted using the felt flower moulds that I sell (www.SarastextureCrafts.com, check out my eBay shop) with a combination of Merino and Shetland. They look lovely in my bedroom... and no need to water!

Making these led me onto a bigger piece that I will blog about soon.

Happy Monday!
Sx
http://www.SarasTextureCrafts.com

A Veil of Cobweb.

A Veil of Cobweb.
Originally uploaded by Sara's Texture Crafts

I was all mad with myself the other day... thinking that I hadn't made anything over the Summer, but I was mistaken... I have tried a few new things. I found them whilst going through my work box yesterday.

This is a detail shot of a test piece I made using a hand carded, mixed fibre batt. I specifically choose this batt for it's fine blend of Mohair, which you can just make out mixed in with the Blue Merino surface. This gives wonderful hand feel to the surface and helps the layers to felt differently giving me this beautiful effect.

I'm not sure yet how it will work on a bigger scale, but do have a wrap or wall hanging in mind... well at least on my list of things to try out!

Sara x
www.SarasTextureCrafts.com

How did Fibrefest go?

If I'm honest, it went in a whirl of frenzied needlefelting and chatting... so much chatting in fact that I lost my voice the next morning!


This is me... oh and a customer on the left (sorry excuse my old man, he's taking the picture of me... the one I wanted to take before we opened for the day, but couldn't find the camera!) D did take a couple of pictures, but this was the one that made the cut... not that I'm too keen on it... I look tired, awkward and a bit larger than I thought I looked... don't you just hate those photos!!

Refocus Sara... how was Fibrefest? Ah, right... Fibrefest was amazing! I loved it, stalls and stalls of my kind of crafting and set in the grounds of a wonderful wool mill. It was only just down the road from me really so I could hardly say no when they asked if I'd like to show there... and I'm glad I did. I met so many inspirational people... they came to the stall eager to chat felting or spinning, which was wonderful for me... I'm obsessed with the day job, so chatting about it is fine with me!

I had my picture taken by a few magazines and the local paper... I don't know whether they used them or not... I'm not sure my stall was total eye candy, but it would be amazing advertising if they did... so fingers crossed!

I had a lot more requests for workshops too, something I've been getting a lot of lately... so now I'm back to work properly I'm seeing if I can follow this up. It might be a new string to the bow, I've done a few classes before, but as a guest tutor at national craft events on a day long schedule... not just me on my own, but maybe that's not as scary as I think. I already have some class ideas... so I just need to work on some sums and the venues. More news I hope will follow soon.

I think D and I were much more comfortable in our selling technique this time too, after Woolfest we sat down and thought about what this stall should look like. Sometimes it's nice to have someone to bounce ideas off of... someone who doesn't work in the same field can often throw up interesting views on presentation. I did make a lot of changes to the stall's presentation. For Woolfest the stall was minimal, I sold out of boxes... here I sold off of tables and hung up some of the skeins... I think this gave more focus and a clear idea of what I was selling.

The weather held off too, although it had rained before we set up so some stall holders had to be moved around to make sure no stock came to harm... but all in all I think I got lucky with our spot, only a minimal bit of condensation spotted our tables before we started each day.

I hope that they change their mind and make this show every year, instead of every other year!
I'm off to work on my new eshop for the next few weeks now, so I'm sorry if I'm a bit quiet!

See you soon, Sara x
http://www.sarastexturecrafts.com/