Midsummer Moments

After the panels for exhibitions..its brooches!

I had quite a thrash recently as you can see.

One or two were pale and pretty but this picture doesn't really show it.

 I put daisies in the centre.

 Some WERE daisies of a kind. I haven't made flowers for a while.

 Of course there were some hearts.

 This is a shape I've used many times in the past and now I've been to Venice I think I might have been influenced by pictures in the past . I think it looks quite Venetian. Think the prow of a gondola..maybe?

I recently went clothes shopping and came a cross a lot of patterned dresses in a colour scheme similar to this. 

I thought I'd give it a go. Peach grey and turquoise.

So after all that work and a lot of gardening, I had no qualms when my neighbours invited me to go on  a walk with them.

They are due to lead a ramble in the Pateley Bridge area soon so were just trying it out .

We drove to Pateley bridge,

 about 50 miles, and then set off with two dogs and a picnic.

We saw some lovely sights. This was the view from the garden of a gorgeous quite isolated farmhouse, where the owner ushered us in to take a picture.

 Here's the farmhouse.

 Another pair of cottages one of which (we were told) is available to stay in for holidays, but try as I might I can't find out anything about it.

 I thought this was what it was called,

 but thats the name of the little hamlet its in. So if you live near Low Hole Bottom and know the cottage, please share!

This is where we had lunch. Thats the neighbours dog playing in the water.

Isn't it pretty? 

Other 'pretty' things appeared on the way.. a beautiful birds wing, sad for the bird though.

 We crossed a difficult surface through what seems to have been a gravel quarry..a bit like the surface of the moon,

 but even there were pretty wild flowers peeping out.

 There were so many varieties of wild flowers everywhere, tiny jewels in every colour..and some enormous ones..foxgloves make me smile.

 All along the way were yellow bikes. 

At the beginning of July The Tour de France is going though Yorkshire and there was much bunting, ribbons, 'pop-up' camp sites, and the yellow bicycles. 

One, in the Agricultural Showground was festooned with wool and I forgot to take a picture. I mean wool as in fleece.

 Even the hanging baskets and gardens were full of yellow flowers to match.

Its very hilly there and I know how I felt walking up the hills. I don't like it. 

The walk was just over 7 miles and I haven't walked a distance like that in recent years so it was quite an achievement.

Regular readers will know just how rubbish I am at gardening, but its really a matter of getting some hard work in, but here's my finest achievement of the Summer so far.

The success lies in keeping the slugs at bay thats all I have to do!

I've taken the garden in hand and there will be more achievements soon.

Watch this space.

A happy Midsummer to all of you.

More power to the flower

Before I start rambling I have remembered to say a big thank you to everyone who leaves a comment on here. I can't reply to a lot of them that come to me via my 'social' inbox, I don't know why I can't reply, but please be assured that each one means a lot to me and I am really grateful to know that people actually read this blog!

So this has been on here numerous times....

 as has this.

 and this in the last post.

 But I just wanted to show the collection of 6 pieces I sent to The Gallery at the Wharf in Burscough on Sunday.

The one below is inspired by a photo of a pulsatilla I saw on Facebook . Its the most figurative thing I've done but I got the number of petals wrong so its not true to life!

This one I've called 'Clematis' as thats the nearest thing I can think of. It just came out of my head ..(and there's enough wool in there to make another as my dad used to say in relation to wood)

 I like the rich blue backgtound on this and who says 'blue and green should never be seen'?)

 And finally a more typical piece which I've named after the Blue Poppy in the last post. 

 You learn something with every piece you do and I found I love the teal thread on the limey lemon in the picture below.

So there we are. Flower Power on now until the end of August at The Gallery at the Wharf Burscough.

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.

Final Venice post.

Around every corner, from the narrowest  alley to the largest square we found little bits of beauty carved in stone.

Over doors, on ledges, and above eye level, there is such a lot to see in Venice.

We had a map....my personal tour guide studied it, as well as his book,

 the map was very small and well written on..but he found all the things we wanted to see. 

I have absolutely no sense of direction whatsoever even to the extent that I get lost in a hotel let alone outside so its just as well that he is very good at it. 

I followed his heels like a duckling after its mother.

 But of course you have to get lost in Venice don't you?

We did a bit. 

We started out always near the Rialto Market. 

It was very difficult not to buy everything, but shrimps don't travel well in suitcases do they? A very lovely lady we chatted with at the airport when asked by me if she cooked in her holiday apartment, replied disdainfully 'No I do not. I don't come on holiday to cook'.  

 That made me feel better, but how lovely cooking would have been with all this amazing fresh produce on offer.

I didn't buy a mask either. I was very restrained. As we arrived on dry land the first day we were instantly in the presence of masks! All along the little streets and alleys were shops selling decorated masks and blank masks . I almost succumbed but managed not to.

Here is one of the less touristy carnivale shops.

And here on another day and outside another shop , is a happy customer who was eager to pose with his purchase for a photograph incognito.

In out of the way places we found such things as a furniture restorer,

 a boatbuilder?  No, a gondola builder,

and a beautiful sound.

But we always knew we had to find the Rialto Bridge to get 'home'.

'Home for the few days was this very modern apartment which had everything you needed except a place to relax!

Lovely comfortable bed, air conditioning, a safe, and more wardrobe space than you could shake an easyjet baggage allowance at.

 Perfect for our short exploring holiday, but no balcony or outside space, so if you wanted to just 'be' in Venice for a little longer its perhaps not the best choice.

This was the very Venetian view from our 4th floor windows, lots of them, and if we hung out sideways we could see up the steps of the Rialto bridge! 

 We had some lovely food at such places as Do Spade, lively and friendly and very tasty,

Lovely panna cotta..mmmm.

And this place, at which we were very fortunate to get a seat without reservation, seated beside a Danish couple within shouting distance of  our age, from whom 'mmmmm' sounds were heard throughout each course. I joined in the mmm chorus when our food came. 

It was delicious and even worth the cover charge, which is always added in Venice. 

   

And of course, one night we had pizza. 

 What could be nicer after fabulous meal than a walk home through these lamplit streets?

Good night Venice.