MADELEINE'S HEP HERD

Constructivist Scarves Originally uploaded by MadeleineS . Recent political shenannigans have been stimulating my socialist roots. I didn't even realise it properly until last weekend in the studio. I mean, what's one of Thatcher's 3 million to do when it seems like no one's learned anything from recent history? Join in? Back in the 1980s I tried to be a self employed knitter and jewellery maker. Among other things I was part of a loose collective of designer-makers in Edinburgh at the time. I made less than I'd have received in benefits over the same two and a half years even though I worked every hour I could and loved what I was doing. Don't be fooled by the folk who tell you the key to a successful business is hard work and passion - you need to be lucky and your "face needs to fit" and you need bucketloads of cash to ride out the bad times. I had none of these so the business wound up in 1986. The urge to make things and the urge to work o

Greyfriars Bobby celebrates the International Day of Felt Originally uploaded by MadeleineS . Well yesterday was the International Day of Felt and I've been up to all sorts of stuff to join in and spread the beauty of felt. This year's theme is "Fire!" so I lent Greyfriars Bobby my scarf for the photo. Apparently he prefers tartan jackets though. Most of what I was doing was with Craft Reactor - visit their site at www.craftreactor.com to see what we've been up to. Other than that I made some beads and a couple of scarves along the theme yesterday. Now they're dry I'm off to photograph them in public today.

pot and dish Originally uploaded by MadeleineS . Last week at the day job was a bit of a rollercoaster - an open day on the Saturday (22 sept) and an awards dinner on the Thursday (we won a team award for our public maths events :-) ). So it was a relief to get back to the studio and make these restful vessels. I really like the solidity of the grey Gotland fleece and it combines so well with red. I feel a collection of these coming along - possibly for the gallery show at the December Open Studios event at Coburg House. Put the first weekend in December in your diary as crafty weekend. There's going to be loads happening in Edinburgh! tomorrow I have an extra day to do things for Craft Reactor and the International Day of Felt this weekend so expect another post soon.

Free from the Facebook demon - I just deleted my account and am stepping away from the nonsense at last. Frankly it was becoming a burden and a drain on my creative time.  I tried not using my account so much but every time I went back I got sucked in a bit more than I wanted too. It may not have shown in my posting because I was just being dragged into more and more reading distracting novelties. I run the Facebook presence for the day job too and my work was overlapping - posting things with the wrong account could be a danger. Giving up Facebook should release enough time to update my proper website and write more considered posts for this blog. If you "liked" the Plum and Pepper page on Facebook I'm afraid it's gone now but there should be better quality activity here to compensate.  Tweeting is fun and easier on the move - please follow @plumandpepper on Twitter if you want that kind of input. And now a few links that cover the wider issues around Faceboo