Friday night and I'm loving...

the cold weather, strangely, with air like a cool refreshing drink, real weather for October, no longer the warm Indian summer...the garden and hedgerows turning slowly to brown and bare, stripping everything for the winter's rest...

that being snug indoors is so welcome...after a blustery walk in the wind which clears your foggyness and gets the blood singing

that my studio is tranquil again after sharing for C-art with my oh so welcome friends and visitors, but now it's all mine to arrange how I wish, finding all my treasures after they were hidden away...and clearing out the bits and bobs I don't need or love any more ...so much easier when they're all neat in a box than spread out around all my tables...

that I had a workshop yesterday with 2 lovely ladies, helping 
them to be inspired and tap into their creativity, to get confident with free machining and playing with fabrics...and didn't they do well? 2 beautiful landscapes slowly emerged...

(please note usually an embroidery foot is used for free machining, but as neither had one they carefully stitched without a foot at all, obviously you must keep your fingers out of the way! also this doesn't go well with thicker fabrics, so they then used normal stitching witha foot on)

 

and it was a beautfully sunny day too with wonderful views over the fields and hills outside and inside a lovely view of art in the making!

 

first choose your fabrics, cut and lay out, pin then stitch...

hills and fields awaiting definition and detail...wait and see!

I do love a creative mess...fabrics, threads, books, samples, ideas, scraps...getting out the boxes of fabrics instantly brings life to the studio...making it a working space once more...

 

after a day's hard work here are Jennie and Sue's beautiful textile landscapes...  sorry don't think my photo gets the lovely dark blue shades of the velvet here so well, must be the moonlight!

hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Emmaxx

Friday night and it's hot hot hot!!

after a day which was ridculously, gloriously, madly hot, the scent of warm greenery and grass and flowers...roses, honeysuckle, mock orange...drifts in through the open window as dusk gathers and I sit to try and write a little post to say hello world... 

my beautiful white roses have flowered beautifully despite, or perhaps because of, the incredible heat...everytime I go past I bury my nose in their soft petals and breathe in summer...I make sure I stop to smell the roses!

it has been a busy week with all sorts going on, daughter mine and husband of patience hanging on in there for the end of term...an unexpected trip for me to the dentist(a 4 hour round trip...yes I know it's barmy but he's a brilliant dentist and usually I stay over with my Dad)

my zumba class today full of amazing dancing women, all body rolling and samba-ing despite the heat

and lots of making as I prepare for ArtFest in Kendal next weekend....if you take a look here and scroll down the page you'll see some of the talented contemporary art and craft exhibitors. It is sooo close now I can almost touch it, the most exiting thing I have done this year...sharing a stall with my friend and fellow textile artist Sarah. We have worked closely together, encouraging each other and planning endlessly...we have both come a  long way...

and I have to say, being my own boss when the weather is this good has many advantages...eg a leisurely lunch outside...a siesta...and working into the cooler evening to make up for when it was just too hot to think earlier in the day...

and now it's getting late..I've just been outside for one last stroll...the big round shiney moon is out and it is cooling down..tempting me to just stay out all night...

but I must away to bed and sleep...night night! xx