Felt, Museum, and Garden.

Here's a bit of felt at last.  

 I've been invited to exhibit at The Gallery at the Wharf in Burscough for their exhibition 'Flower Power' during the summer.

 So I had to be a bit floral. I don't know if this counts as Floral but I think it does.

 I really like the colour combination here.

Talking of colour combinations.. look at this!

 It was growing in a beautiful garden I visited for 'Art in the Garden' a new venue and new hosts for the event which I've blogged about before. I had been invited to apply but when 'Art and Garden'  came to an end last year I had it in my head that I wouldn't be doing anything in Spring 2014 so gave it a miss. 

I visited though and i shall definitely be applying next year!  It was wonderful

Here's another gorgeous bloom from teh amazing garden.

Last Friday evening we were invited to the opening of the newly refurbished Keswick Museum and Art Gallery. 

Here it is with the new entrance,

 Who would want to look at the exhibits with a view through the entrance to this.

 But here is the reason for our involvement..'The Flintoft Map'. Its there on the wall..huge and heavy and cleaner, a contour map of the lakeland Fells made in around 1860. It was 'approved' at the time by no less than William Wordsworth and John Dalton.

My husband restored it. That sounds easy but it necessitated his organising a wall out, a crane and 6 months in a marine engineering workshop while he worked on it. It was originally displayed flat on the floor which was great for people to see the fells and farms and rivers of Lakeland but now its on the wall and a little difficult to see.

The Museum is delightful with lots of quirky exhibits including a stone xylophone.

This is the view from the front.

We drove up there knowing there would be light refreshments so we booked a meal at a restaurant in Grasmere for later. The Jumble Room.

But HOW SAD!!! The 'refreshments' were FAB_U_LOUS. 

It was very hard not to eat my fill. Tiny circles of quiche with onion relish; teeny savoury scones with cream cheese; cucumber with prawns in lovely dressing;  mini blinis with smoked salmon and an array of little sandwiches.

Followed by ..yes... followed by.. chocolate covered strawberries, mini pavlovas, some little square nutty pistachio-ed gorgeousness.

It was so difficult to resist and I didn't do very well. 

And then we had the meal in Grasmere.

Its official. 

I'm a glutton.

Little pieces

Felt.

I made this large piece two years ago.  

 It had lovely areas of overlapping colours and I knew I wanted to stitch it. 

But its too large a piece with too many similar sized areas for an overall design.

I've been looking at it for ages wondering what to do with it. So I cut a little square off it and set to work.

Perhaps theres a bit too much stitching..but still...its only a start.

 I like the details.

The colours speak to me of my childhood home. 1950s colours.

So after the first one I tried another.

Just four inches square.

I like this better.

I left more empty space where the 'joy' of the woolly combinations  is visible.

I have a lot more squares cut ready to sew. A close up shows why I love felt.

Here are two I did a couple of weeks ago,

Sorry the details are the wrong way up.

Each of these pieces is about 4 inches square. 

My mood is much better this week. Thank you for all your comments. It wasn't the hot weather making me low, I love it these days, (but not too hot)  Its just because my husband is working away a lot for all the summer so we can't go and paddle in the sea. When the weather is lovely it just underlines it.

My finger is still sore..arthritis. Old age.

Anyway ....this coming weekend , for the very last time ....

ART AND GARDEN.

Millbarn, Goosefoot Close, Samlesbury Bottoms, Saturday and Sunday. 

Its a super garden with artists and crafts people, refreshments, the river, and I've been having a stand there almost from the start about 10 years ago. It will be sad not to go again. Its been fantastic. Lets hope for good weather .

Its your LAST CHANCE to attend!

So I've been quite busy getting ready for that, but not as busy as I should have been. 

Our embroidery group who meet in the studio at Millbarn, are having an exhibition in four and a half weeks and my pieces are not yet made. I have one or two things available but in the absence of a theme I can't really decide what to exhibit. I certainly have to make at least two more. I should be in  a panic but I'm not. 

I will be in two weeks when nothing has changed....

Every picture tells a story.

The brooches standing up on their pins have given me an idea. I might make a 'Theatre' someday with felt figures. Watch this space!

Here are 'Ma boys' sitting by the river at Art and Garden.

 Sunday when this was taken was a nice sunny day but Saturday...well.....shall we draw a veil over Saturday? Late friday night it was cancelled due to waterlogged car parking field. Early saturday morning a phone call.."Jackie, Its on again..get out of bed!" I was pleased it was on but sitting all day in a marquee in the rain was a bit reminiscent of childhood caravan holidays in Abergele.

Anyway Sunday was nice and I took courage and did something I have been meaning to do for all the years I've been there. I walked over the bridge.

 And I walked back again. My knees were like jelly when I got back on dry land but I did it.

                                          On the way I caught sight of the minutest bit of garden.

Here's the Summer house with lovely paintings.

Overall it wasn't a bad weekend, its alway enjoyable socially but financially it was very poor.

It was a great joy to meet one of my favourite blog readers 'JP" who came with the other 'JP" her husband.   I also met Sarah and her daughter from 'The Art of Moodling' whose sunny smile exactly matched her blog profile pic!

It was a delight to meet them all and makes it all worthwhile.

Oh AND I WAS on the radio and it wasn't bad at all. I didn't tell anyone because it would have made me nervous if I imagined my Mum and my friends listening. I told my husband not to listen and I didn't mean it but he's very good and he didn't! 

I made him listen on iplayer and he said it was good. So then I listened and do you know what? It was quite alright. I sounded a bit fat though!

I hadn't realised it would be live. They just sat us down, Chris who owns the garden and me, and started talking to us. When the music was playing the presenter discussed the next question. 

So..as well as the crossing the bridge, I've been on the radio.  Bucket list?

Now, this is the inspiration for the title of this post.

Can you tell what the story is?

The bird box covered with much gaffer tape because a few weeks ago the bottom dropped off. The nest, full of baby blue tits,was dangling on a twig below, the cat was licking his lips, the dog was chasing something around the garden, and the parents were having hysterics on the washing line.

 

 We fixed it all back together and the parents came back and raised the babies. The I found one on the path. I think it had tried to fledge and not made it so I stuck it back in the nest and when we opened the box the other day I'm afraid it was dead. It had a kitchen roll shroud and  cremation in the wood burner.

Anyway look whats in the nest.

A little bit of lime green merino wool which Hetty had been playing with outside.

Now here's another glimpse of our garden. 

 The bit I ignore has blossomed. We have a fine show of what some might call weeds but I love them.

 Such a fantastic pink.

 They are taller than I am when I stand on the path.

 Hetty demonstrates.

 Hetty has had a trip out to meet Donald, The Nova Scotia Duck-tolling retriever. I hadn't heard of them either!

 He's just a baby.

 The meeting went well.

 As usual..there are brooches! 

 Brooches for Woolfest and brooches for an order.

 I love the background colour of this felt. I used a horrible orange lumpy felt to start this off and it gave a lovely glow.

I'll be at Woolfest on Friday and on the IFA stand from 1-3 pm.

And finally......

Same but different II

For the last three years at this time we have been on Greek Islands stifling in heat, cooling off in warm blue waters, eating our fill of feta, relishing retsina and overdoing the ouzo.

For the last three years those precious weeks have been my summer.

Because the truth is, its been three years since we in the North West had any kind of summer and I think this has been the worst of all.
It may be due to the lack of a dog, but I feel as if I have missed out on the sight of flowers growing whether in my garden or wild.
I took this picture last summer, on one of the better days walking with Willow.



A combination of shade, wind cold and wet have done for what is , at the best of times, a difficult garden. Even the nasturtiums have refused.
Its a source of great sadness to me that I can't have rows of delphiniums , a fence of sweet peas or even a lupin.
The odd rose has struggled up but they too have become leggy and spindly.
The height of the house prevents the sun reaching the narrow garden until about 11am, and the row of 60s houses behind the too-high hedge suck it down before 6pm.
This height and narrowness creates a tunnel for the wind that blows off the ridge over the road right through my garden.
If I didn't love my house so much I'd move to one with a better growing space.
All this is bearable in a good summer.
In a good summer I relish the coolness of the old North facing kitchen. The wind is a welcome cooling breeze and to be able to sit in the shade is a bonus.
But it hasn't been a good summer.
Even the slugs have kept a low profile this year.
Remember this?
Its hard to believe its over for another year.
But I don't mind the Winter, especially if its going to be like last winter.

The same wildflowers on New Years Day this year.
So different.

And this one, which I recommend you click on, is for Emma because I love this.

Blast from the Past I

I had quite a few inquiries about my blank sketch books.
I have one or two left and have just listed this one on etsy. I am only listing them one at a time as I have another craft fair imminent and don't want to have them sitting there doing nothing.
(SOLD, new one listed now;


OOOPS! SOLD NEW ONE ..will list a third now.
Only three left after this.!)



The weekend at Art and garden was, as ever, delightful.



My stall was a bit different to last years. Maybe I didn't have quite as much stuff but I still did quite well. I have one or two little sketch books left and might list them one at a time on etsy. an you see the taller red one peeping out on the bottom row? That will be first.
Even if I didn't sell anything I would probably still go, just to be able to sit in such a gorgeous place, chatting to such wonderful people, catching up with old friends and meeting new.
If you live near and didn't come then shame on you!
You missed a lovely time and place.


The weather was absolutely perfect.
I did meet a fellow blogger but I am reluctant to link to her because she has a picture of me on her blog.
Go on then its only fair. Its Lyn at Everyday Life.
She is a friend of Shan who is very beautiful but refused to be photographed! Come on Shan, click that blogger button!
I am wearing a voluminous cotton shirt and wish I had patted it flat before the picture.
But lets face it, it wouldn't have made that much difference.
Some, but not a lot.

I thought I would show a some of my past triumphs in the next few posts.
I am a great fan of hand stitch and used it for my very first City and Guilds piece in 1993.
You can click the pictures for details.

This piece is my interpretation of a little hollow in a rock wall on st Martins Isles of Scilly.

We went in June the first time and the walls were covered with Hottentot figs and Rock Pennywort.

I was cleaning today in preparation for our visitors in two weeks and I took this off the wall to dust it and was quite delighted with it.
I hadn't really looked at it for years.

I used Picasa to blog these pictures on advice from Julie and because I'm panicking about my 'using 34%' of my space. I don't think I did it right because I still notched up another few MBs.
I usually go to the blogger compose box, upload pictures in 5s(and thats when the numbers appear at the bottom) and then do the writing.
How do you blog?


Update: Gretel from The middle of Nowhere has explained all to me. My pictures are too big so for a try out I have added a new one that has been re sized. Its the top one.
Thank you! thank you! thank you!
xxxxxxx