'Little' things please.

I am delighted to have been invited to take part in a pre Christmas small items and gift ideas event at one of my favourite space the Kooroon Gallery. Taking place on Saturday 4th November from 10am till 4pm there will be a variety of work including paintings and cards as well as other textile peices by a number of artists. It will be such a lovely event I wish I could be there as well. But as I will be at Handmade with Love Fair in Southwell (details here) I will have to send some of my little people to represent me instead!

Do go along if you can and grab a fabulous, indvidual gift for a love one (or yourself!)

Kooroon Gallery is in Bottesford in the Vale of Belvoir, Leicestershire. Details here.

The countdown has begun

It's hectic in my little workshop with Angels everywhere waiting for wings, for faces or just those lovely individual details. I must confess they are one of my very favourite things to make. I will be listing some for sale in my etsy shop along with new brooches and bookmarks, this weekend ready for Sunday evening shopping (6pm gmt).

The rest will come with me to various Christmas Fairs and events more details of which you can find here.

Work in progress

I started work a few months back on some new toy ideas. Something simpler (or so I hoped) to make than my usual animals and ones that could translate well into linen and cotton print fabrics as well as the 100% wool felt I love so much.

I wanted to be able to try them out in bright colours as well as the more natural shades and have a good all round play. So I started with some basic sketches on paper and then in calico which I felt went ok. I progressed a reasonably easy one, the mouse into colour and felt pleased that one a few adjustments would be needed for a final prototype.

Then I made the (quite mad) decision to try out one of the more complicated ones. But poor old Mr Lion is not playing ball and has still not worked to my satisfaction - not on the first, second or even third prototype. I can see progress and hope that I am nearly there so I can play around with the other 5 or 6 designs I have started and in the other materials too.











Yet with the Christmas period just around the corner and several craft fairs to prepare for I may have to put them all back in the box until the new year. I already have orders for Angels and Art Dolls to work on and a new textile collage commission to complete too. It's a lovely dilemma what to work on first when everything is a joy to make.  

This week I will be mostly....

Making new ones of these!

A box full of strange little Angel people. #newwork #wip #angel #angels #artdolls #artdoll #folkart

A post shared by Jane (@pollywhistle) on Nov 22, 2016 at 3:22pm PST

PollyWhistle Vintage

It's only just starting to become Autumnal and my head is full of Christmas (it's ok to the use the word Christmas in August when you are a maker - honestly). I'm already utterly obsessed with how I am going to display my Angels and patchwork trees, brooches and cards etc at Christmas Fairs, testing out frames and boards and an antique hatstand. In fact so obsessed my dad asked me if I had a problem I wasn't telling him about because I seemed so distracted and ditsy of late!




I'm also working on a whole new range of bags, purses, bunting and other textile treats using the vintage fabrics, lace and table linens I have been collecting over the last year. It's all so exciting that I'm having to work twice as hard as usual not to let it become utter chaos!

And here is one example of how. My brand new, old glass china cabinet. £10 plus a little for the new wallpaper and beeswax polish. A little bit battered and a little bit patched. In other words perfect for me and my vintage fabric stash.

Quick Pics from the Exhibition

It was such a lovely weekend and I am still riding high on the postive feeback and support I received so with much further waffle here are some pictures:

I'm an exhibitionist!

And now that I have your attention, strictly speaking that's not quite accurate but I am showing my work in my first ever solo exhibition. Taking place at a real gem of a space called the Kooroon Gallery in my local area from 10am to 4pm Friday 4th and Saturday 5th August.

It features lots of new work too so I am super excited!

More Pheasants!

So my pheasants proved so popular the mother of the bride ordered a Brace (Mr and Mrs) for home as a momento of the wedding. How lovely.

Hurray Hurray, It's Pheasant Day

Well strictly speaking it's actually the wedding day of a client of mine who ordered a whole range of bespoke items, including 5 life size pheasants based upon the beautiful invite design created by her illustrator cousin.

What a wonderful thing to work on. Ok at 3am, with bleeding fingers and still another 100 napkin rings to sew together, my joy was a little lower on the scale, but I have to say that as with so many celebratory events I am privileged enough to make things for, this was a real delight.

I think that as the wedding is taking place today and everyone should be enjoying a gorgeous reception very soon, it is now safe to share of pictures and head to the pub. I hope you enjoy your Saturday too.

Frantic Stitching for the Art Trail

I'm very excited to be taking part in the first Bottesford Art Trail which opens this Friday, 26^th May and runs across three venues in this wonderful Leicestershire village, right at the heart of the Vale of Belvoir. 

Since I moved here 18months ago I have been so fortunate to meet other creative practitioners with a passion for sharing their work and their skills. I am now a proud member of the Bottesford and Vale Creatives group which runs free monthly workshops in the amazing St Marys Church. 

Not only does the church have nesting peregrines with a dedicated camera, one of the tallest spires of a village church anywhere and reference to witches who were said to have taken the lives of a previous Dukes sons, it is also a lively, beautiful space much love and oft used by the local community.   

It is perhaps the diversity of the creative practice that is most exciting to me and a taster of this will be on show as part of the art trail.  Featuring Steampunk leather wearables, textile illustrations and British folk art, this small but perfectly form trail also present contemporary drawing, print and painting and has been organised to show how broad the range of artists living and working in the area is.

As well as the variety of art work to view, the event provides an ideal chance to meet and discuss opportunities for further activities, group shows and a larger Art Trail in the future. 

It’s all free and teas and coffees will be available (for a small donation to chosen charities). There may even be some biscuits! So if you find yourself in the area this weekend do come along and meet some lovely people.

Dates and opening times vary. On street parking is available around the Village. For full details visit: https://www.facebook.com/BottesfordArtTrail/