New work at Morven Gallery

I have just returned from a fleeting visit to the Isle of Lewis. As usual, it was a multi-purpose visit. The main reason for going was to attend a seminar on colour and fashion trends with an emphasis on Harris Tweed. It was an informative morning and good to meet up with other people working with Harris Tweed.

The weather there was lovely. Not hot by mainland standards, but in fact we seemed to have the best weather in the UK for that couple of days. It was wall to wall sunshine and despite a cool breeze, it was T-shirt weather.

On Monday I visited Harris Tweed Hebrides mill at Shawbost in the morning and purchased a few more lengths of tweed. These will soon be made up into bags or hats. I will add them to the swatches page on our website as soon as I get a chance.

After that my mother and I went to Morven Gallery for our lunch and to deliver another order. This lovely gallery is only open for the summer months, but during that time they have all sorts of lovely art and craft for sale. Here you will find some of my large one-off embroidered wallhangings along with our Celtic Thistle cushions and velcro purses. If you are visiting the island, this is a must - and the cakes are wonderful! The pictures here show some of my work on display in the gallery.

Later on that day I headed up to the Butt of Lewis to visit Callum Maclean, a very experienced weaver of Harris Tweed, and discussed some new tweeds that I want him to weave for me. It will be a month or two at least before I have these available, but when they are ready they too will be added to the swatches page.

The seminar was on Tuesday morning and then it was a quick lunch at Woodlands before catching the ferry back to the mainland.

The next task it to sort out my felt-making studio (a grand title for what is really a garden shed!) because from 12th to 20th June I will be participating in Highlands Open Studios and have my studio open to the public. I will be joined by jeweller Val Ford and we hope to welcome lots of people into the garden to watch us at work and perhaps participate in some mini workshops. We just have to hope that the temperature picks up and we don't freeze to death in the garden.