it's Friday night and i'm loving....

that although it's ages since I did a Friday night loving post...it's a great way to remember that there's so much I have to love and to be grateful for in my life...

that it's been a strange week as a dear aunt, my Mum's sister, died last week and we all met for her funeral on Monday...this involved a trip to my brother's near Penrith and he drove us over to the north east..to Whitley Bay and to a coast full of memory...then to Morpeth for a lovely service ...and a lunch with all her friends and relatives...a room full of love! It was so funny being with all my cousins again...and realising how time has past since we last all met..and how grown up all their children are...some old enough to have their own. Suddenly, obviously... we are not the 'young ones' any more!

that my aunt was a delight to know...she was such a creative person always baking and making...her full to the brim sewing room and delicious smells from her Aga were testimony...and she always gave us interesting and useful presents(!)...and was a demon at quizes and games...she was always up for some fun... 

that I have so many happy childhood memories...of big family parties, of fun and games...of those family members 'gone before' but still loved and a part of us all...and now we are all scattered around the globe...but still the thread which joins us is strong and to be treasured

that my brother and I shared some precious time as we drove and found a new and better relationship and understanding

that I had a big loving family with my parents,sister and 2 brothers,  many cousins and aunts and uncles...and now my own precious family...and many dear friends...so many people to love and be loved by and with whom to share this life and journey...

that although this isn't my usual kind of post...I hope you will  understand that sometimes a blog offers the opportunity for a deeper kind of communication and sharing...as we all share the same things in life really, just at different levels and in different circumstances

that this post is for my Aunty June and my Mum Aileen...with love and thanks for your inspiration and showing me a way to be creative and to love baking and cooking and making and sewing... and the importance of family...

love

such a small word for such a big thing!

girlie getaway...

it may seem that I haven't been at home much of late ...with journeys here and shopping trips there but believe me I have and the tottering piles have been getting on top of me despite my best efforts... so the bliss of driving away with a packed bag...and boarding a train to York...was wonderful! Even better was that I was meeting up with my dearest school friends (sadly one down as Liz couldn't make it) but Jan, Chris Julia and moi gathered in a nice clean quiet Band B for some R and R and putting the world to rights and catching up on our lives. Hard to believe it is almost a year since we last met...and this time it's "Four of Our Housewives Are Missing!"

I love train travel...it's so simple to get on a train and sit and read and look out of the window with no responsibility other than to get on and get off...perhaps I could start a therapy called "train relaxation" and arrange the tickets for people to do just this and then come home again, you don't even need to stay away a night!

I love the quirky stations with their legacy of the amazing Victorian engineering now overlaid with all mod cons and electronics and wifi...and I love the smooth new trains and all the people I can watch as I travel...

I was in the purple zone at Penrith...not sure if that's just my state of mind...

the B and B was quiet and clean and restful...no 'stuff'... and it was easy to walk into the centre of York...I love the mix of ancient wonky walls and modern commerce..so many lovely independent shops and inspiring galleries...and of course Tea Establishments...

 

 

 

 

 

 

the beautiful and truly awe inspiring York Minster...

parts of the Minster are being repaired and it's amazing to see the simple blocks of stone being turned into intricate carvings...

 

just loved this sign..wonder who lives there?

and when you get to this point it's time to head back for a cuppa tea and a lie down before you head out for lovely evening meal...no cooking, no washing up and no 'what's for tea'...just sheer enjoyment and lots of fun as we celebrate friendship and simple joyfulness!

hope you had a great weekend too...back to making soon!xx

it's a funny thing...

this link between what I see and what I feel and how that directs what I want to make and what kind of fabrics I will use or what kind of textile work will result...as this month of September slips slowly into autumn and I want to spend more time indoors in the evenings...happy to stop work and head back to the house for a cosy night in...warm in the kitchen with smells of cooking and daughter mine doing homework at the big kitchen table and husband of patience making custard... yes its custard time again folks! 

We slip easily from one way of doing to another...habits we have made over the years...memories of autumns gone with chutneys,jams and fruit crumbles made...hedgerows laden with fruit to pick...brambling in sunshine with my grandmother...and colour colour colour...the strange mix of fruitfulness and abundance and crumbling decay...before the sombre stark winter greys and browns emerge once more...

so making with tweed and wool once more fits the season

...and since my new friend Sharon the photographer came round to photograph my work and her creativity started me off on playing even more with my camera...not really what I was supposed to be doing...but it's such fun playing...and who knows where it will take me?

and so to this month's autumnal and inspiring Mollie Makes...couldn't resist a little addition...yes those are real leaves...

lovely crocheted leaves and cosy blanket...

and a tantalising taste of Jane Brocket's new book The Gentle Art of Stitching...mm I have a birthday coming up soon...may have to drop a hint to husband of patience...

and as always a delightful free gift..so useful...a tiny pair of snippy scissors...thanks MM!!

here's to a great weekend to all my readers...see you on Sunday at the lovely vintage and craft fair Vintage on The Bay at Arnside if you're there...xx

I do soo love running workshops...

a chance to meet other textile enthusiasts and to enjoy time together sharing my knowledge and seeing how they take the techniques and make them their own... they learn and I learn too...and we have a fun day in the studio playing with stitch and fabric and embroidery and buttons... and did I mention the momemade cake?? thanks to my recent group of lovely ladies here stitching away...

 

so here without more ado...a quick trumpet for this term's workshops..autumn is upon us and cosy times indoors beckon... what better time to get making?

By the way...I am thinking of adding in a hatmaking workshop as I had a request at Woolfest but not sure how popular it would be ..if you fancy one let me know! I do like the idea of it...but if it included machine embroidery it would have to be a two day-er...

more workshop details here...

by the way bit apologies for the random posting of late...C-art Open Studios was such a huge success with over 170 people finding their way to our studio...and we even had a preview party and an artist's party ...but it is very tiring and now the house is a complete tip and the studio needs sorting and I've a craft fair next week...and to top it off we are currently having a new septic tank fitted (living in the country sn't all flowers and romance!) so outside down there is like WW1 trenches at the moment and there's a digger parked outside the studio and a lorry outside the house! 

  mm mud mud mud!

Is that enough excuses?? (not that I would change a thing as I'm loving this artist life!)

no, seriously I have missed my regular blogging so I will be back properly as soon as I've had a lie down...here's a little taste of autumn inspiration... I spotted this gorgeous book in Mollie Makes and well...now it's in my studio inspiring me...

it's wee Friday today as they say in Scotland...so have an inspiring  weekend and see you soon xx

summer sweetness...and some making...

a rose is just summer for me..rain or no...that beautiful sweet haunting deliciousness as you inhale the perfume...

and honeysuckle twining high in the trees but still filling the air with its scent

just put your nose into the deliciously pretty Philadelphus or mock orange...mmmm...just wish this was a scented post so you could have the full effect...and the combination of fresh creamy white, soft pink and primrosey yellow is perfection...



daughter mine collected 25 heads of elderflowers to make some delightful elderflower cordial last week...which captures this particular scent of summer beautifully

not all the flowers in our garden are scented..some earn their keep with their beauty alone...I love clematis and have several...they are so obliging and fit in almost anywhere...

and as for geraniums...we counted them one year...all the different types and shades...all their different names...many forgotten now and just loved for their colours and ability to fill the beds with blowsy summeryness (and not be eaten by our slugs and snails...)

and how quickly things change in the garden...I love to follow the flowers throught their different stages...each with its own beauty...

and I delight in the detail of each one...isn't it amazing how how the raindrops balance on the stamens of this amazingly coloured potentilla...

and in the studio daughter mine has been cutting fabrics and planning and making and stitching and ...with no rules or much in the way of a pattern has produced a wonderful dress...it is joyful to watch her at work!

she is an inspiration to me in how she just has the idea, organises herself and whatever she needs, sets to and makes...mind you she isn't thinking about the teetering pile...hoovering and what's for tea...tho' she does often have a pile of schoolwork to get through...

instant patchwork...just cut the squares sew in strips and then stitch the strips together...allow them to gather as they will...

no worries about how to put a zip in...ha ha!! easy peasy...just cut it out of something else with the fabric around and stitch in place ta da! genius! and doesn't it look fab?

she even lined the top...and the underskirt was made from an old lacy underskirt attached to more fabric to make it the right size...

and the top was made from some of my Granny's fabric stash...a pretty broderie anglais in blue...creativity continues in how the sleeves were sewn on...finished off with perfect blue buttons and there you have it!

I am amazed and proud...and think how my Mum and Granny would like to see!