have you seen...Hestascene??

what to do on a rainy day in Cumbria??...well lots of choice...stay at home and count the dust bunnies or perhaps clean the kitchen floor...mm or jump in the car and trundle to beautiful Caldbeck...for a little lunch with a dear friend and visit the lovely local shops including the wonderful Hestascene gallery...which just happens to stock my wares...where the talented Julie and Karen have a warm welcome for all visitors...and in case you're wondering 'hesta seen' means 'have you seen'...

I love the drive to this special place  as you leave the main road beahind and head for wilder freer places...the journey is part of the magic...

Caldbeck village is in the northern Cumbrian fells, remote and beautiful...a special place with delicious tearooms and little shops and the most wonderful views...you drive through the landscape with cows and sheep roaming free... saw a mummy cow feeding her calf just feet away from the car...

I persuaded Julie to have her picture tooken...so nice to see real people on blogs don't you think...Julie is a wonderful feltmaker with a very arty background and it's great that she and Karen have the vision and passion to run this inspiring gallery...so public and artists alike can enjoy the lovely work by Brisitch makers...and all artists need somewhere to show their wares...mm is that an emmieandemma teacosy in the background?? 

some of Julie's beautiful felted and stitched cushions and scarves...

 

I love these delightful handmade buttons by Amanda Mercer

a graduate of the University of Cumbria whose work epitomises the contemporary art and craft which Julie and Karen like to showcase

ceramics and textiles mix so well...I love ceramics with texture like a fabric...

irresistible(ok I bought one!)tiny porcelain pieces by Emma Louise Wilson

and is that some Charlotte Macey textiles I spy...I love her quirky stitched and printed designs

not only finished and polished pieces to buy but you can also see Julie's work in progress...



and downstairs is the place to be for craft workshops...inspiring creativity in all who come here...I have enjoyed 2 or 3 including nuno feltmaking with Julie and wire jewellery making with Jan Huntley Peace... here's one of her lovely neckpieces...

and then a choice to walk by road or river for a few minutes along to lunch at Priest's Mill...past the tranquil church where huntsman John Peel 'in his coat so grey' lies buried...

past beautiful old houses and pretty gardens...

 

 

past temptation at the plant lady's emporium...The Potting Shed...full of lovely things you didn't know you needed!

as I wander I remember bringing my young daughter and her friend here to swim and play at the end of term one summer...the Cald Beck river was calm and smooth then...this day so much rain has fallen so it is swollen and rushing in a very dramatic fashion...

and nearby is the restored water wheel which would once have powered the  cornmill, later a sawmill...

and down at the bottom lies another treasure...The Wool Clip...home of Woolfest...of which you have heard much hereabouts! but I will save that visit for another day...as lunch beckons...so inside the mill for a delicious lunch and catching up with my friend...

and then...who knows...home I guess across the wild fell road...nowhere better to live than Cumbria, especially on a rainy day when the clouds are low and the fells are moody...

see you again soon..hope you're enjoying a lovely August and making the most of summer whatever the weather...xx

celebrate...6000 page views!

wow, just a peek at my stats and I am soo happy that seems like a lot of page views...thanks to everyone who visits and like my blog...I love to sit here tapping away and planning lovely photos and things to share...it's a real creative boost! 

...and it just wouldn't be the same without my blogging friends out there who read and look and even leave comments and altogether give me a wonderful feeling of warmth and love and sharing! if I'd know you were coming I'd have baked all a cake...so here's a virtual one, handmade by my fair daughter with stars for all you stars out there!


 


I little thought when I first set out on my blogging adventure that I would be so happy 18 months later...to have changed careers...become a fulltime textile artist and maker...running workshops with real lovely people...sharing my love for machine embroidery and arts'n'crafts...and have a Facebook page to boot..me that's "Mrs I'm a Bit Scared of Facebook!"...so a HUGE pink thank you to my good friends Lynn (A Life Worth Living) who helped me start blogging and  Lyn (Boo Bears Cumbria) who booted me on to fb!! getting creative and sharing what I make and getting feedback is just...awesome!





...and BIG pink thanks to to my husband and daughter mine who wait patiently for their turn on the family computer as I upload yet more photos saying I'll only be a minute... ha!ha!...and for their support as I venture out into the virtual... and real...world as a new me!

 and the BIGGEST and pinkest of thanks to the Universe for all these fabulous gifts...xx

chicken love...

when we've been away it's so nice to come home...and be greeted by two cats most indignant that we've not been there to let them into the warm cosy kitchen for snoozing...and a bevy of running hens scooting up the path from the orchard (well a bit of field with some fruit trees in)...even the geese honk a noisy greeting..home to fresh air and green grass and hills ,...and getting greener by the minute as the opening hawthorn leaves green up the hedgerows...breathe it all in...then into the house for the unpacking ceremony...piles to add to the piles...

many thanks to kind friends and neighbours for the looking after of everything...and thanks to chickens for the lovely brown eggs...which daughter mine soon has whipped up into a fab cake to share with friends...

thought I'd just share with you the inside story...no, not our house but the henhouse ...tho' the hens often want to pop into the kitchen to see us...and Emilia especially is always keen to join me in the studio...here's an insight into the secret life of our chickens...Rosa sitting patiently...clever girl...when she got off there were 2 eggs...and next time I visit...3...it's magic...beautiful warm fresh eggs and all we give them is food and water ...and some love

Bluebell looking in on me looking out! I think she wants to know who's on housework duty this week cos the perches could use a cleaning...

any chance of a little tasty something from the feed bin?

and here's the cat who thinks he's a dog...sharing the chicken's run outside... warm and happy cat!

off to my studio today for some making...Woolfest is in June and now I can sew again there's a lot to do but it's all exiting and feels so right...I just love being in the studio surrounded by fabrics and threads, able to stitch and sew and get on with setting up my workshops - got a new machine embroidery workshop to plan too...still couple of places on corsage making on Thursday 19th...leave a comment if you're interested...

hope you're having a lovely weekend too and getting some sunshine xx

making....a difference

to two battery hens has been a joy...think they were one of our best Christmas presents ever...such asmall thing to do but such a big effect to them...here they are after we went to pick them up...sad and scrawny...

and now...feathered up...plump...fluffy bottoms...smart tails...happy pecking about just like the other girls...so friendly they love nothing better than pecking your feet and chatting to you...its amazing how they just know how to be proper hens! tho' friend Phil's girls had to be taught how to go up a ramp to bed!

...just little brown hens but they give us such pleasure...and delicious eggs...here's Isabella

 and Emilia..she's the chatty one

making a difference...doesn't the lovely weather do just that? sun still bright and sunny here...but colder...got my socks and woolly hat back on...the garden looking more green with each passing day...with flowers to delight and cheer...bit of a yellow theme...spring seems to be mainly yellow and blue to entice the insects I guess...I love bulbs...they're always a surprise because I forget what and where I've planted them!

  
making a difference...DON'T FORGET we can all make a difference to the earth by turning out our lights tonight at 8.30pm if you're in the UK...get the candles out and snuggle up on the sofa...support WWF's Earth Hour tonight...

and I'll be making a difference to my studio this weekend...workshops starting again verry soon so I need to get ORGANISED...hip hooray for making and creating and getting other people to get in touch with their creativity too! lots of lovely NEW workshops to tempt...come and get creative in a beautiful Cumbrian village! for more info go to Making at The Studio...and in the meantime have a wonderful weekend xx

 

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