Refugee Week Scotland 2013

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The rehearsals are over, the artwork hung and the tickets on sale. Yup Refugee Week Scotland is here. I’ll mainly be at the festival lounge in the Vic Bar, Tron Theatre between 12.30 & 2.30. There are different events on … Continue reading →

Refugee Week Scotland: Festival Lounge

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This year I’m looking forward to Refugee Week Scotland (RWS13) in both excitement and trepidation as I’m taking part in not one but two elements of it. I’ve already mentioned the Stitching Continents exhibition so today I’d like to give … Continue reading →

See Us: Blipfoto exhibition

Some of you may know that I challenge myself to a daily diary which takes the form of one photo a day with/out words depending on how I feel. This has led to me being in a book which you can pick up at an exhibition in Glasgow – get me!

I do this through a site called Blipfoto which is based in Edinburgh but participants are from all over the world and the subjects people photograph are as diverse as the blippers.

Last year the Blipfoto team set us a challenge to either take a photo of something creative they did or saw. Over 4,000 photos and stories were shared, some of which have been used to create an exhibition and book.

After a stint in Edinburgh the exhibition has now moved to Streetlevel in Glasgow and I went to the launch today. Love the diversity of the photos and I think my favourite is some barrels of whisky…or maybe the puppet show…or… Well I’m just glad I didn’t have to select which ones came to the exhibition or made it into the book. Here’s a link to my entry —> http://craftyfrayededges.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/picture-perfect/.

It’s on until 23rd June so if you’re in town please pop along and have a look. You never know, you might find yourself blipping, you’ll certainly leave with a smile on your face.

Oh and if you’re cheeky like me ask if you can see Alan Campbell’s exhibition which is still hanging in a closed part of the building.

Stitching Continents: call for submissions

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After years of thinking about creating an event for Scottish Refugee Week I’ve finally taken the plunge. I worked with refugees for 10 years and talked about embroidery with them. I was intrigued by the similarities and differences in this textile work … Continue reading →

Come and help with the #craftbomb preparations

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Ooh it’s all getting very exciting. We’re only a month away for the full Craftbomb  at the Botanic Gardens, Glasgow and everyone is a stitching frenzy. This Sunday – yes TOMORROW – is your chance to come and help us … Continue reading →

Operation #Craftbomb Glasgow

Plans for the Craftbomb Glasgow at the Botanic Gardens are coming along very nicely.

I’ll give you a list of the crafty sessions we’re running on the 14th April and 11th May soon – I know I’m being a tease. However, if you fancy getting crafty I know Iona is running two crafty workshops as part of Say It Ain’t Sew! @ Hillhead Bookclub on the 2nd and 9th April starting at 6.30pm. All materials will be given.

If you want to involve your children why not pop over to West Kilbride on 10th April and get involved with Rebecca’s workshop. Lots of messy fun to help create for the final craftbomb.

I’m busy creating a flock of birds & planning some fun pieces. As for the rest of the gang…well you’ll just have to come along to find out.

Book Review: Material World by Perri Lewis

Whether you dip in and out of my blog or are an avid reader you’ll know that I like to try different crafts. So when the opportunity to get my stitchy fingers on Material World: The Modern Craft Bible by Perri Lewis came along I couldn’t resist.

If you don’t know Perri she’s a journalist, editor and champion of all that’s good in the craft world. With her relaxed style of writing along with her enthusiasm for craft (not to mention ability to engage the right people) I was interested to see if her first book would live up to its full title.

I think it needs to be said that this is not a “how to…” guide for all the disciplines but rather a taster. If there is a maker in your life who likes to dabble in various crafts or has itchy fingers this book is perfect to give them for wee projects to try out. Then, if they enjoy one of the projects and wish to investigate further there will be other books, by other authors that will satisfy the need for further instruction.

Anyway, back to Material World. What Perri has managed to do is marry instruction with ideas. This allows the reader to sample each craft and then use their own imagination to carry on. Her chatty introduction includes the basic tools, being green and some good techniques to get you started.

From there each chapter looks at a specific craft and offers the reader a project to try with clear instructions, diagrams and photos of the finished item. I especially like the tips from the experts (we’re talking Philip Treacy, Elle & Mr X Stitch to name but a few) some of which are transferable to the other disciplines and they help embellish the idea given for each craft.

I think my favourite chapter is the one called Tailoring as it allows you to use some of the techniques you might have tried from other chapters, gives some more simple but effective ideas and lets you make something unique.

Now, don’t just take my word for it, get to your local bookshop and have a look. It’s published by Virgin Books and retails between £12-19.

Thanks again to Perri Lewis and Hannah Robinson of Ebury Publishing for giving me a copy.

Voluntary Arts Week 2013

Oh dear! My post a week seems to have faltered yet again I’ve been working hard (honest) and just never seem to have enough time in the day for everything but here comes a fun post.

Frayedattheedges has been secret and not so secret meetings about events happening later this spring that you can get involved with. I hope you’ve got your diary ready as I think you’ll like this one. Remember the Olympic Yarnbombing last year? Or the Great Tapestry of Scotland that is being stitched by hundreds of volunteers? Well Ashley from Make It Glasgow and I have met with Cass from Voluntary Arts Scotland to organise some crafty events for Voluntary Arts Week (11-19 May 2013).

We have kindly been given use of the Kibble Palace in the Botanic Gardens, Glasgow for some stitchy fun and hope you’ll be free to join in too. The first date for your diary is Sunday 14th April 2013 (TBC) when we will hold some knitting and stitching workshops to whet your appetite and get you thinking about the main family friendly event which will be on Saturday 11th May 2013.

With the wonderful plants and statutes within the Kibble Palace as a backdrop and inspiration we will make flowers, birds and maybe even some creepy crawlies to brighten up the place even more. Who knows if we get some good weather we might even spread outside to the picnic benches. Keep an eye on my blog and Voluntary Arts Scotland’s Facebook page for more details of what we hope you’ll join us for these free events.

If you are a yarnbomber you can contact the team using our email craftbombglasgow@gmail.com to bag a statue, tree or park bench.

Don’t be too upset if you don’t live in Glasgow as you can always download the Craftbomb pack and have fun in your town.

Picture Perfect

Remember back in September I was lucky enough to be one of a handful of bloggers invited to see Scottish Ballet rehearse for their autumn season? (Here’s a link to the blog post to refresh your memory –
http://craftyfrayededges.wordpress.com/2012/09/21/scottish-ballet-autumn-season-2012/
.) Well one of the photos I took that day is going to be included in a book and exhibition.

I’ll say no more other than I’m SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO chuffed. Here’s the photo.

With the sneaky peek at the Scottish Tapestry in my last post and now this don’t say I’m not good to you, heehee. Promise to tell you more when I’m allowed to.

Great Tapestry of Scotland (sneaky peek)

I thought you might like a sneaky look at some of the panels which are being stitched for the Great Tapestry of Scotland.

Some of the stitchers working in and around Glasgow met up with the organisers and artist Andrew Crummy at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. This was to check our progress and order more threads. It also gave me the perfect opportunity to take some sneaky pictures for you.

As you know I’m not the world’s best photographer. Combine this with the low light of a Scottish winter and my photos have not turned out brilliantly however I’m sure you’ll be able to see enough to recognise the amount of time and effort which each stitcher has put into their piece.

If you’d like to see more photos I’ll keep the Flickr group updated and the GTS team are updating their Facebook page all the time. Until then I’ll leave you with a bit more of Dumbarton Rock and our lovely Artgal.