autumn and it's time for tweed....

  

...although the weather is of course now going to be hot and sunny in typical contrary and wonderful fashion... and as it is supposed to reach 22 today I am back in summer clothes.... just because I can! Every time I go out of the house I am bathed in blissful warm air and sunshine....a memory to treasure in the long winter months to come... 

dare I mention the word C-Art...ooh I think I may just get away with it. What a joyful success! Ian and Steph and myself have been Open Studioing for 2 weekends with one still to go and it's been fantastic - lots of lovely people have visited and loved our work and talked and shared what they do and we've had a poet and a Benedictine nun and a musician and an actor and all sorts of folk, and a lady who just came and sat and drank a cuppa tea and watched us working in a very peaceful way...and although it's been exhausting we've just had a wonderful time and have hatched all sorts of plans for running workshops and sharing what we do and helping others to get in touch with their own creativity...ooh and did I say I was interviewed on Radio Cumbria and had a bit of a public moment on a local News website...sorry just have to make something of my starring moment!!

...have managed a little making too... in between the tea and chat and I'm loving the feel of more earthy fabrics and colours, fitting in with nature all around slowly moving towards autumn sleep...conkers and berries, the glorious browns and reds of leaves, the trees becoming more refined and skeletal in form...

we have new hens too, a trio of big and beautiful Welsummers from a local rare breeds auction so daughter is soo happy and they look utterly at home in the orchard...just got to introduce the 'old' girls to the new, probably this weekend...

and husband is relaxing into a new way of working...4 days instead of 5 means Friday is a 'working by choice' day and then a whole weekend for what he wants to do...already his shoulders and stress levels are lower after just 2 weeks (money isn't everything) ...and he's signed up for a willow weaving workshop with the wonderful Phil so he can understand working willow better when he makes hurdles for us to use like the lovely circular one in the picture here...

loving the vibrant red of this tartan bag - and you should see the lining...

 

...and a final pink glorious showing from the asters in the garden, they have been waiting patiently for their moment of stardom...

it's been a party....

from start to finish and it ain't over yet! A weekend of C-Art visitors to a certain open studio down in the garden and lots of creating and sharing has been going on  ....we, the "artistes" have soo enjoyed just being together and making, each in a totally different medium but in ways familiar to us all...lots of faffing about and then a miraculous splurge of creativity producing lovely things...and delight of delights people have visited and watched and talked and shared our making and bought lots of things which is so wonderful because when you make things that's all you want is someone else to like what you have made...even better if they want to buy them...and some have returned to do a workshop to make a beautiful  book or funky corsage or some wonderful prints - so success all round as we all explore our creativity in a communal way which has been utterly joyful....even down to breadmaking and soup sharing in the kitchen!

can't wait for Friday and my fellow artists will be back to share the space again....and we hope for more intrepid visitors...I'm off now to prepare for corsage making this afternoon - a chance to come and have fun with fabric and beads and yarn and stitching...imagination is the only limitation (As Einstein said Imagination is more important than Knowledge!)...off to bake a cake 'cos we'll probably need some!

(PS sorry about the pinkness - I am almost into autumn shades but just had to share these cute doggie brooches with you!)

time for wool and warmth,

knitted, felted, stitched, soft and comforting...now autumn is here with cooler days, delicious colours and smells of damp leaves, brown shades and seedpods...but still some pink too...

and time for C-art Open Studio artists to open their homes and private making spaces and to share their creating...

sorry, got to go now and label, price, arrange...and finish making just a few more lovely things...oh, and find the bottle opener for a leetle preview party....hic!

Friday night and I'm loving....

a warm and almost sunny September day with all the flowers in the garden still trying their best....

the gentle feeling of sliding away from summer and drifting into autumn....

a week of exitement as I started my new job and I'm feeling great...to 'work' in a lovely gallery surrounded by gorgeous designer art and craft with a fab exhibition of beautiful film costumes...how lucky is that!

husband home for the afternoon as part of his new downshift...putting on skirting boards to make the studio entrance look even nicer....

playing about outside with some fun photos shots with an Open Studio event feel....

 

our chickens who roam freely everywhere...love them around the garden,  adding movement and colour and a sense of earthiness...

 

my gorgeous blue chair which looks even better outside...

with Basil the cat who just takes every opportunity for comfort....

and of course not forgetting in one week's time....the Grand Opening of the big C-Art Cumbrian Open Studio Event, with 100 Artists and Craftpeople, inspiring Makers from every part of Cumbria....can't wait to welcome lovely visitors to my studio... sharing with the talented Ian and Stephanie!

it's Friday night and I'm loving...open studio exitement!

and yes the logo really is very yellow! quite the yellowist thing around...but hopefully really eye-catchingly yellow when viewed through the window of a speeding car or seen in a lovely local shopfront...

and yes, gosh, it really is happening...a huge Open Studio Event with 100 artists from all over Cumbria...opening their workshops and homes so people can visit and see artists and craftspeople at work....and I am trying to do 8 things at once and get my studio looking fab...thanks to husband it is!...moving my stuff back in....ok not quite all or there won't be room for my fellow artistes Ian and Stephanie who are coming to share the space...and doing business cards and leaflets and blogs and facebooky things...kind of as I am just learning FB and haven't a clue what I'm doing but daughter thinks it's hugely funny that I am on facebook and she isn't!...oh and making delicious art and craft textile loveliness with which to entice the wonderful visitors who come our studio and see our beautiful work...and did I mention that the house is now strangely empty and we can move around without risk to life and limb from teetering piles...and I start my new gallery job next week ...and so a long lie down may be due in November when it's all over ...wish me luck!