IT’’S all hands on deck in the Edwards’ household this weekend as the furniture is shipped out - and artwork brought in.

Kendal tapestry weaver Jilly is taking a leaf out of the book of artists Meira and Eric Stockl, who for many years held an open house at their home-cum-studio at Addingham, near Skipton.

She says the tapestry weaver and her potter husband Eric left a vacuum for artists and buyers when they upped sticks and moved to the north west of Scotland.

So, from tomorrow (Saturday) and Sunday and the following weekend (December 6/7) Jilly and hubbie Robert are turning 29, Kendal Green the family home, into an arthouse.

Jilly informs me that she’s in touch with most of the professional tapestry weavers in the UK, who encouraged her to stage the open house because these days they rarely get together: “I madly agreed to take on the event and have invited 22 tapestry weavers to submit up to four miniature pieces each and also invited two international wood sculptors from Gloucestershire”.

As a contrast one of the region’s finest sculptors, Danny Clahane, is also showing his work, alongside an international embroiderer from Hampshire, feltmaker Liz Rice from Sedbergh and a cloth weaver from Edinburgh, who all sell work on the global stage.

The tapestry weavers are from the far-flung regions of Scotland, down through Edinburgh to Newcastle, to Yorkshire, Cumbria, Oxfordshire, London and into west Sussex and Devon. Not forgetting a couple of Australian and Japanese artists.

“The tapestry world is small so we all know each other, but don’t often get the chance to exhibit together so the response has been wonderful and will be exciting for the buying public too”.

All the work is for sale and all miniature - with no massive installations: “We are stripping our three downstairs rooms and installing eight double display boards with spotlights to display the work. In addition there are plinths for the sculptures and textiles”.

Not content to take life easy, Jilly is also whizzing backwards and forwards to the Surrey Institute of Art and Design doing a practice-based PhD. Life’s just a rich tapestry!

Open house is between 11am-6pm each weekend.

For further details contact 01539-730673.