Woolfest

I have a lot of catching up to do again as most of my time has been taken up with working on my quilt for Festival of Quilts.  More of that in a future post.  What I havn't had time to talk about is our trip to Cumbria at the end of June to go to Woolfest.  I've seen adverts for Woolfest for several years but never managed to go so this year we decided to make the effort.

Woolfest is held annually in Cockermouth cattle market and the stalls are all set out in the pens.  The setting is eccentric and as well as showcasing all things woollen and fibre-y it showcases many rare breeds of the wonderful providers of said fibres, sheep.

The exhibition fills two halls and it was lovely browsing up and down the aisles seeing all the amazing things people make with wool and fibres.  

If you click on the photo above you can see the name of these very cuddly sheep.

Sedbergh, Farfield Mill and Pagoda Arts of Liverpool were advertising an upcoming Sheepfest at Sedbergh in September with a variety of manmade sheep in amusing poses and a coat of many colours woven by 650 children, each square hiding its secret dream in its lining.
 

If you get a taste for a fibre festival from this post you can catch Sheepfest here.  

This weaving above is Saori weaving which is a very free way of weaving.  I would love to be able to do something like this.

These coats above, left to right,  are made by Linda Chapman (Cobble Coat) and Ruth Strong (Flora of the Fells) (I didn't get the name of the third coat, sorry).

I was tempted to do a little shopping with the Woolly Pedlar.

You'll have to wait and see exactly what my dear DH bought me from this stall.  It's far too warm to model it at the moment ;-)

The best part of going to exhibitions is the people you meet up with.  This time was no exception and I met up with the very lovely Jackie Cardy who had a stall selling her beautiful brooches and pictures.

I sneaked up on Jackie and took a photo of her while she was deep in conversation.
 

Her stall was kept very busy all day.  Sadly I didn't think to get a photograph of the two of us together.  Doh!

Before I finish I would like to refer you to the work of Iona Mackenzie Laycock.  I had a lovely chat with her about her stunning work but again didn't get a photograph.  Iona's work incorporates fibre and paint and she has spent a long time perfecting her technique.  If you get the chance to see her work it is well worth seeing.  It is so vibrant!

Cockermouth

On the Friday morning of our sojourn in Cumbria we had a couple of hours to kill so we went along to Cockermouth as I had heard a lot about it from a friend who used to live there.  Several years ago in 2009 Cockermouth suffered badly at the hands of flooding but today the town has been beautifully restored and is a very interesting place to spend time.

In my ignorance I hadn't realised that Wordsworth, that great Lake poet, was born in Cockermouth.  Sadly we had arrived on the one day of the week when his home was closed.  Wordsworth apparently left this home at the age of 8 after his mother died and then lived with relatives in Penrith.

Also located in Cockermouth is Jennings Brewery, originally a family concern established in 1828.

The brewery still uses water from its own well and brews its beer from English pale ale malt, Golding hops from Kent and Fuggles hops from Herefordshire.  I was taken completely unawares by the smell of the malt which suddenly hit us as we were browsing the main street and I was instantly transported back more than 17 years to the days when my late husband used to brew his own beer and boil the malt in our kitchen.  This process is known as mashing and the smell is rich and sweet.  Other processes follow including sparging and adding the yeast and the beer is then left to brew.  My late husband was an expert in brewing beautifully tasty real ales and he took a great pride in his recipe.  I have always been sensitive to music evoking emotion but never before has a smell provoked such a strong reaction in me.

The beautiful Georgian Market Place of Cockermouth has been remodelled and presents a very elegant face to the world.  

It was a little quiet at the time of our visit but was going to be much busier on Jubilee weekend with a street party planned.

Bitter Beck Pottery (named after the nearby river beck) is home to Joan Hardie who makes the most beautiful pottery inspired by the natural world.  We had a very nice chat with Joan who prefers to work in situ in her shop rather than have a studio elsewhere and I couldn't resist treating myself to two of her lovely windchimes.

This lovely windchime now gracing my lilac tree is based on acorn cups and I'm hoping a little rain may collect in the cups for the birds.

The second windchime is based on fungi and the beautiful marks come from combining different types of clay.  I love the beautiful textural marks Joan has achieved.  Joan has produced the most beautiful book in collaboration with her husband and I was very tempted but for the moment have resisted.  

While we're talking of creativity I have been making headway on reorganising my sewing room and spent some time sorting out my scraps.  I have to confess that I have kept some very small pieces and have been a little bit ruthless with the less inspiring ones.  With the remainder I thought I would have a go at making a piece of 'ortcloth' in the style of Nellie Durand. 

So far I've arranged snippets of all manner of fabrics and fibres on a wadding base and backed it with cotton.  I've layered tulle over the top and (not in the photo) have started to machine wavy lines across the 'sky' area.  I'm planning to use Free Machining over the brighter area and then stitch and applique some kind of flowery/gardeny design.  Watch this space!

Yorkshire etc continued

My last post left you in the village of Ireby awaiting the folk festival.  DH and I had never been to a festival of any kind before so we didn't know what to expect and had visions of Glastonbury and mud up to our armpits!  Happily the reality was very different and wellies were not needed.

Some  people chose to camp and they couldn't have had a more picturesque campsite with a view of Skiddaw to wake up to.  The main performance marquee was also in this field.

Michelle Goulder was the resident artist for the festival and  had made 3D works from zips and plastic washing line.  I liked the installation above, especially the little views you caught sight of as it blew in the brisk breeze.  At various times over the weekend more and less zips had been opened and shut.  As I hate stitching zips I thought this was a good use for zips.

This piece of work was made of washing line,

as was this lovely twirly mobile.  I love the shadow it threw on the tree.

Our interest in attending the folk festival was my DH's son who plays base guitar for an Indie rock group Red Shoe Diaries who I think I have mentioned here before.  They were the second group to perform  and went down a storm.

Rob is in the middle.



Other acts that we enjoyed were a duo called Mochara

I can't embed their video but you can catch it on Youtube here.

In complete contrast to this beautiful Irish inspired music was Rob Heron and the Tea Pad Orchestra!



Most if not all of their music is self-penned and they were great fun.

Friday evening came to a foot stomping, clapping, whistling end (all too soon) with the amazing talents of 'Time Gentlemen Please and the Demon Barber Roadshow'.  You really have to watch the video, their skill is admirable,



We had to stand all the way through to be able to see what was happening but you couldn't possibly sit still through this performance!  I would certainly go and see them again just to see the same routine as we missed parts of it and there was so much going on you couldn't take all of it in.  Their blurb says 'Think Riverdance with a false moustache and Stomp with bells on!'

Saturday started at a slower pace musically with performances by 'Tinderbox' comprising Dublin born Monique Houraghan and Dan Tucker



Just as good were Katriona Gilmore and Jamie Roberts whose 'Fleetwood Fair' was very haunting,



Jamie Roberts has a great guitar style with his use of percussion effects.

The local singers from the village, including the Mum of the lead singer of Red Shoe Diaries, made an appearance at the village church and kept us entertained.  I was totally fascinated too by the beautiful stone wall at the back of the church.

Sadly they have not been captured for posterity on Youtube.

Tom's mum made us very welcome when we got to Ireby in her lovely garden with its beautiful views of the fellside.

Oops! I don't have a pic of the views but you may be able to get a glimpse in the background.

There were many other acts that we just didn't get to see and we missed all the Saturday evening as we were exhausted (wimps!) after a very cold and windy day so we adjourned to the hotel (wimps again vbg) to a double brandy and telly.  The whole festival was fabulously well organised and the atmosphere was relaxed and friendly.  I would love to go again next year.