Bùth Lisa: Tiger Textiles

If you ever take a drive through Ness, you will always notice our blue skies. Like in the photo here, they are always perfectly cloudless and blue.

Not.

But you may notice this cute little shop in the village of Habost.

Bùth Lisa is now a studio and shop for two local artists.

Here is Tiger Textile's side of the shop,

and here you can see Alison working in her 'corner'.

She has so many beautiful and unique items. Don't you love these cushions?

Original Harris Tweed, with some lyrics from a Gaelic song embroidered on it. 

And did you notice the picture on the bottom-left of the photo?

Here's a close-up

Pencil on tea-stained wood.

Alison took this from an old photo, and I simply love it.

"Muinntir Thàboist as a' mhòine".

Habost folk in the peats.

Her grandfather is in this picture. That makes it extra special for her.

She has a number of pencil drawings on wood which have been taken from old photos.

This one here reminded me so much of my own Grampa. Although he didn't have a pipe, the rest of this bodach in the picture could just be him: the cap, the pullover, and the speal. Yes, this evokes great memories.

Tiger Textiles: the name comes from her family 'nickname'. Her great-grandfather was nicknamed Tiger, her grandfather was Alastair an Tiger, who is in the pencil drawing we saw earlier. 

Here's a photo of her grandfather, pinned to Alison's noticeboard. 

It's good to remember.

The photo in the far left corner of the noticeboard opens up a whole other story.

This wee shop in which Alison now works was originally opened by the lady in this photo. She was a Canadian called Lisa, who married a man from Ness and came to live in this village. She began importing Canadian candy and selling it here in this shop. Her son grew the business, and especially developed a butcher's business, which was handed down to his son and which is still with us in Cross Stores.

This building lay empty for decades, and it's so lovely that Alison, whose family are still neighbours of the original shop owners, is now using it in this way. You can read about Alison here.

Here's Lisa, in the shop as it was.

I would recommend, if you're driving by, call in and see Tiger Textile's lovely display of goods. There are greeting cards, wedding stationary and brooches as well as the cushions, and pictures you see on the wall. Many of her paintings and drawings are commissions, but she is building up more and more of a stock of ready-to-purchase goods. 

I'll leave you with more photos of some of the goods she has available.

Soooo pretty