A winter spent in creative reverie

Here at the b&b the wee ( very wee…! ) shop has some new additions for this season. It’s been a productive winter time filled with felting, knitting, sewing stitching and sketching, with the wonderful landscape surrounding us there is inspiration everywhere.

Our felted Herdwicks with their knitted jackets are super cosy and cute, there are Herdwicks on a croft nearby and they are the most characterful sheep, I can’t help but wave to them when passing and watch their lovely expressions.

We have some hand illustrated note cards using watercolour & ink, inspired by our local woodland and wild flowers

Along the shore at Laide beach there are always Curlews, Plovers and Oystercatchers snuffling around in the seaweed or in the nooks and crannies of rock pools, often they’re arguing amongst themselves over which patch of rock is who’s or just simply standing on one leg whilst fast asleep.

Our mini textile wall hangings inspired by the waders on Laide beach are a combination of wool, hand embroidery, cotton and machine stitching, each hung with driftwood found on the local beaches.

Inspired by the ever changing colours of the sea and sky around us, I was eager to make these brooches (or equally lovely fastened to a favourite handbag). The base of the brooch has firstly been hand knitted then I have shrunk and felted them, next they have been embellished with vintage buttons, hand embroidery and needle felted accents.

For book lovers I created these sweet book mark / page holders. They have an elasticated band which wraps around the front of the book and holds the pages in place so those occasions when your bookmark slips out of your book and your place has been lost are now a thing of the past.

They are made using felted knitting with a needle felted decoration and hand embroidery.

Alongside making gifts and mementos for our wee shop I have been busy making several large scale textile wall hangings which are now proudly hung and on display.

The ‘Gannets over stormy waters’ wall hanging in the breakfast room is inspired by the elegant aerial displays of the superb seabird. Their visits to Gruinard Bay are generally during stormy weather when the wind is fierce and there are white caps on the waves, we watch these seabirds circling and diving into the wild water. In Old English the word Gannet means ‘strong’ and ‘masculine’.

In our Plover bedroom are two wall hangings with a…. you guessed it, Plover theme. These little waders are often on the shoreline of Laide beach running back and forth escaping the incoming waves or perched on a rock ready to flee from passersby.

And finally a woodland needle felted and embroidered hoop. I am tempted to create miniature versions of these to sell, maybe next winters project.

We hope you like our new additions.