Category: Uncategorized

A Making

21 January, 2014 / Katy / 0 Comments

I came across Hollie McNish when a friend posted a poem of hers on Facebook about breastfeeding

Since then, I’ve been keeping an eye out for her work and I’m hooked!

I have a slightly unresolved relationship with poetry, on the one hand it ticks all of the boxes under Things I Like About Language – precision, rhythm, mouthfeel and cadence. On the other hand, I sometimes find it’s too self-conscious and I don’t tend to search it out as reading material.

But now that I think about it, it may be like my mother’s infamous coriander/cilantro difficulty* and a change of intellectual bias is all it takes.

If you’re not a fan of receiving information by video, here is a chance to read one of Hollie’s poems yourself.

*She likes coriander but not cilantro.

Misericordia and Morningside Makers Markets

10 January, 2014 / Katy / 0 Comments

Right, Resolution #1 out of the way!

I’ve just booked myself in for five craft fairs at the lovely Morningside Makers Market at the Columcille Centre in Edinburgh!

(My ginger assistant will not be joining me, alas!)

The fairs are on:

1 March, 2014
3 May, 2014
6 September, 2014
1 November, 2014
15 November, 2014

I’ll have work for sale and will be taking commissions for custom pieces!

You can see my Misericordia appearances on a calendar here.

Resolved

31 December, 2013 / Katy / 1 Comment

I was going to write a post looking back on my New Year’s resolutions from last year, but apparently I didn’t make any.

I know people are a bit down on resolutions, but I kind of like them. It’s a bit like a list that has a 12 month deadline and as long as you aren’t too specific or over-enthusiastic then they can give your memory a wee jog as to where you were at the end of the previous year.

So, here are mine:

Make myself a regular feature at Edinburgh craft fairs. It’s rare that someone will buy something from me as an impulse purchase, so I need to be more visible so that I’m there when they’re ready to buy or commission something.
Contact more press outlets so I can get my work seen more widely. (This is terrifying…)
(Updated as of 24th December) Don’t delete my website at 10pm on Christmas Eve in an attempt to tidy up. (The Lovely Young Man lived up to his name and found it again..)

How about you? Do you make New Year’s resolutions (or delete things at inappropriate times)? If you’re feeling brave, you could even post your resolutions or deletions!

Hoopy Holidays

10 December, 2013 / Katy / 0 Comments

The last posting date for for Europe and the USA is Friday, 13th December!

Rather fortuitously, when I was unpacking moving boxes, I stumbled on a rather large cache of holiday-themed hoop embroideries that never made it out into the wide world last year. I made them for a Christmas craft fair, but was slightly overwhelmed with orders and never even got them photographed!

So voila!, here is round one of festive hoop-la, they’re all up for sale on my website and my re-opened Folksy shop.

Even if you don’t get anything from me, please go visit Folksy for the best in British craft, it’s a really lovely site!

Kissing Wookies

29 November, 2013 / Katy / 0 Comments

We had a very momentous milestone at Misericordia Mansions last weekend. I showed Dragon Star Wars IV for the first time. Lovely Young Man bought me a DVD of the originals (no digital nonsense) so I could be sure his mind wasn’t tainted by any foolishness. (For possibly the best parenting in the whole world, ever, go see this conversation that Shannon at Swingbug had with her wee boy. She may not know this, but I immediately saved a copy of that post when she wrote it and have read it repeatedly in preparation for my own difficult conversation with Dragon.)

I’m not sure our attempt was a resounding success. On the one hand he makes a fine light sabre noise, but on the other hand he said he wants to be ‘an armour’ (which means a Stormtrooper). I felt a little better when a friend of mine suggested that he could be Luke Skywalker in Stormtrooper gear (thereby gaining both armour and a lightsabre), since he is definitely a little short for a Stormtrooper.

I also get to premiere this piece on the blog. I made it last summer and took it to a craft fair where I had a great time spotting people as they got the quote (unsurprisingly there was a large teenage boy contingent).

I have all sorts of scenarios about the types of people who would buy this (maybe a cheeky marriage proposal) and where they would put it (by the fridge).

This one is going to be quite a wrench to part with, so I’m crossing my fingers that it goes to a loving home.

Click on the photos to visit my shop.

Sweet Tooth Season

8 November, 2013 / Katy / 0 Comments

I’ve run out of apples.

I’m remarkably uncreative when it comes to autumn fruit. I quite like pears and plums and all of the other things I should be eating, but I only seem to buy apples.

Bloody Ploughman Apple – image from Keepers Nursery

I’m very picky, I like them crunchy and sour. Nothing with the word Delicious in the title and the funnier the name the better. Incidentally, I once saw a quite fascinating programme about apples; among the things I learned is that apple pips are like people, every one is different. So all the Bramley apples you buy are grafted from a single Bramley tree in Nottinghamshire which was planted in 1809. The tree is still alive, which is quite neat…

However, in the absence of apples I tend to turn to something a bit sweeter. Something brown sugary, maybe a little maple-y, a little gooey?

Sugar Pie from Sweet Nothings by Misericordia 2013

Buy your calorie-free sugar fix, click the picture!

Mmm, yes a bit like that.

So while I try to resist the real thing, you can buy yourself (or your sweetheart) a 100% guilt-free sugar pie. Or if you’d like to see the dessert menu (or the sweet trolley, which I think should make a comeback)?

Sweets to the sweet – click buy them all!