Blueberry Shed holiday cottage is open and new creations

I don't think I've particularly shown our holiday cottage on the blog, probably because it has taken so long to get going but we are open and taking bookings for 2017. It's a bit slow at present but I'm sure things will pick up and we are trying to get WiFi into the cottage this year, that has been an ongoing struggle from the start.

http://blueberryshed.co.uk/

Here are some externals of the Blueberry Shed. A single storey, modern contemporary larch clad building located very near to Portree the capital of the Isle of Skye, with views out to sea and across to the island of Raasay.

Some interior shots of the kitchen area. I went for a German kitchen with mix and match bright coloured cabinets. We pretty much have the same in our kitchen.

The living and dining area, I've made quite a few cushions and other bits n bobs to go in the cottage and give it a unique yet cosy feel.

The bedroom featuring some of my art and craft work to buy

Shower room

I have taken advantage of a bit of quiet time in there myself for crocheting when no guests are in, it's nice to get away from all my stuff and clutter in my own house!

It's really rather a nice place to come on holiday, lots of galleries and arty crafty things as well as the obvious outdoor spectacles Skye is famous for. It's that time of year when spring is about to spring into action and things start opening up again here so hopefully a good year ahead.

 On the subject of making things, I have a few new creations to share which I know some of you have seen on my Instagram page, Twitter etc. I'm hoping to approach a gallery on Skye and see if I can get them in their shop this season, wish me luck.

Above was a needle case which I made my sister for Christmas, family photos of us are in it.

Some of my things are now available in my Etsy and Folksy shops.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/fabricmountainuk?ref=hdr_shop_menu

https://folksy.com/shops/FabricMountain

Thank you for dropping by :)

My new collection Art on a Scarf nearly ready to roll

Over the last couple of months I've had more of my scarf designs back from the printers and whenever I've had a spare moment and the the light has been good I've been trying to finish them off.

The crepe de chine they are printed on presented me with the problem do I simply roll the edges of the scarves or do I line them. Rolling the edge was one issue, I tried one by hand and it took ages so I began researching a rolled hem presser foot for my sewing machine which was a whole other issue. 

I decided to line them because crepe de chine isn't quite as nice as silk would have been if left unlined, because the crepe was a vivid colour on one side and pale on the other it made them look unfinished.
Because of my vivid colours I wanted equally interesting colours for the backs so every time I was near a fabric shop I was on the look out for contrasting or similar colours and began collecting 'linings'.

 I think I became overwhelmed with all the colours and patterns so it's taken me ages and the last few weekends to sit down and choose colours and stitch them up. I can happily say they are almost done and will be ready for me to put in my shop soon, as Art on A Scarf.

Be warned, I've attached lots of pictures to this one!

First up, vintage caravans

Flower Girls

Vintage memories

My Woolworths artwork

Various assorted

Meeting a fabric designer at work

I was delighted to find out the other day that a fabric designer whose floral work I admire was doing an artist in residency just up the road from me.

Once again the destination was Burton Agnes Hall to seek out Nel Whatmore.

Nel is in the middle of a fortnight stint and I think she is there until the end of Sept. The weather has been mostly grey and misty the past week so waiting for a lovely sunny day to visit Nel was not going to happen so I just went for it last Sunday.

I found Nel in the little artists conservatory working on a fabulously colourful picture.

Ok the top picture is one of those 'auto awesomed' things but I thought it looked like a painting in it's own right.

Nel works mainly in pastel, it has real depth the way she builds it up, and you can see her tray of pastels below.

It was great having the chance to talk to a 'proper' artist / fabric designer and pick her brains about pattern repeats, creating collections etc, she was absolutely lovely and I can't wait to see what fabric designs emerge from her latest artwork.

Nel creates fabric for Westminster fabrics and here are some of her other pictures on display. You can find her on Facebook and follow a diary of what she is doing whilst at Burton Agnes.

http://www.nelwhatmore.com/
http://www.nelpatterns.com/

Some more bicycle art

Bicycles have been a bit of a theme recently and I am still working on a new bicycle fabric which needs finishing but annoyingly it won't be ready for the Tour de France, if only I'd thought about this earlier as it starts in Yorkshire.

Anyway I produced a few Le Tour brooches as seen on a previous post and I also did a couple of pictures for the current exhibition running at Gallery 49, Art & The Bicycle.

These were my offerings, I shall start with the simple, graphic piece. This is free cut paper which has been machine stitched.

Like with most pieces of work, I usually finish and then think it looks too plain and I start to tinker about or add more. I'm not sure I improved it by adding flowers and text but that's how it went to the gallery.

I'm thinking with hindsight I prefer the pre flower version! Proving that theory I usually try to work to, "less is more". 

The other piece of work I did was slightly more labour intensive and involved some screen printing for the background, a bit of distressed rubber stamping and some embellishing with fabric and threads.

Not surprisingly it's called Bike Ride With Butterflies.