Decorations and Dog Coats

Ten days ago at the weekend I was working from home - part of our new regime to avoid seriously hefty electricity bills at the studio.  It is strange how things come in clusters.  I have not been asked to make a dog coat for a long time, but on Saturday I had 5 to make!  They all featured embroidery in some form or another, so that had all been done at the studio on Friday and I was simply putting them together at home.
One of the coats was for a company called Highland Dog.  They have recently had a new logo designed and wanted the logo embroidered onto a dog coat so it could feature in photographs on their website.  I think it looks pretty good!  The coat is made with Harris Tweed and lined with Dress Stewart cotton tartan.

Another two coats were being made for them as well, but for one of their customers, and as I understand they are to be a Chirstmas present, I don't want to give the game away by posting the photographs here.
Next up was one for one of our own customers. She had come to our studio with her mother a couple of months ago when her mother was discussing having Mary make her an outfit in some silk tartan and had spotted our little model dog coat.  A few weeks ago she was back to choose tweed and place an order.  This coat features Celtic knotwork embroidery around highly reflective silvered fabric - ideal for walking the dog on these dark nights.  It is lined with polar fleece - so really cosy.  I got the coat finished on the Saturday afternoon and when I called her to say it was ready, she came round to collect it.  Bobby came with her and was delighted with his new outfit though at first he was a bit reluctant to smile for the camera!

The final dog coat remains a secret for the next few days as it is featuring in a fashion show that my daughter is organising - 2nd November at Bogbain, just on the southern edge of Inverness.
All our dog coats are made to measure so if you are interested, contact us through our website.

Once the dog coats were finished, I had a complete change of direction and spent the rest of the weekend making Christmas decorations.  There has been demand all year for both our Shetland Angels and our Celtic and Tartan Hearts, but we always need more in the run-up to Christmas.  This weekend just past we had a stall at a craft fair in Strathpeffer.  I arrived with an almost full basket of angels, but by the end of the first day it was obvious there were not going to be enough to see out the weekend.  So Saturday evening was spent making more and they continued to fly out of the basket all day on the Sunday.

Our next craft fair is at Eden Court in Inverness - 15th to 17th November - so we will be making more in time for that.  But if you don't live anywhere nearby, just go to our website.  These delicate little decorations are so light that they can easily fly anywhere in the world.

I left Mary to do the packing up at the fair and headed across to Ullapool to catch the ferry to Lewis.  I spent a few hours weaving and am looking forward to finishing off this particular length so I can take it to Carloway Mill to be washed and stamped with the world famous Harris Tweed Orb certification mark.

When I went to start writing this post I had a quick look at the blog statistics - data that tells you how many people have visited the site and where they come from.  I was pleased to see that it has just topped 10,000 page views!  But spread the word, share it with your friends, and do come back and visit regularly.  I also welcome comments if anyone feels so inclined.