Skye in my Heart (and pocket)

If you have followed my blog for a while you will be aware that I have a deep love for the Isle of Skye. I have written about it before and some of my art is inspired by the cottages and open spaces.

We spent the first week of the Easter holidays there in a lovely cottage at Kyle Akin. Nearby Castle Moil provided lots of photo opportunities!

We visited favourite places

                                       Faerie Glen

and a few new ones.

                                       Old Man of Storr

It was lovely to spend some slow, uncluttered time as a family.

There is something about Skye that stays with me long after we leave. It is like a safe haven in a busy life and when things get tough my thoughts often slip back there.

 Shortly after we get there I can feel my soul quieten and settle....I feel that I can breathe again.

                                                 Ord

                                                   

 I know that holiday destinations often bring more peace and relaxation than everyday life, but we have visited beautiful places that I have admired, explored, really enjoyed spending time in and left without regret. 

Whenever I leave Skye a little piece of my heart stays behind in the lochs, the mountains, the trees, the wildness and the stillness.

On Tuesday life returns to normal- work, school and the build up towards exam time. I will slip back into my role supporting, shopping, cleaning, but I may just pop a Skye pebble (or beach-combed pottery)into my pocket to remind me to take each moment as it comes and daydream of big skies and driving back across that bridge!

Have a good week.x

Easter Craft Fair

I am very pleased to be taking part in this....

I have very busy hands at the moment- I can promise you there will be lots of colour!!

Welly Hats

As you probably know, wellies feature quite significantly in my daily attire. I bought my current pair several years ago. They were a bargain, though still quite a lot more expensive than a bog-standard pair as I wanted support and comfort for walking longer distances with the dog. These are the sort of wellies worn by country folk when out hunting (though they don't go by that particular brand name!)

Coming in from muddy walks leaves me with a dilemma- I don't want dirty wellies in my hall dropping clumps of mud, but keeping them dry in the porch has been challenging this winter. I was really delighted to find these...

                                       WELLY HATS

We spoke to a lovely lady who was selling these at Castlefield Market in Manchester one Sunday. She got the idea from a shower cap. These are brilliant. They have a stiff band that fits into the top of the welly to give it rigidity. They keep out rain, spiders and slugs. And they are cute.

Just the job! Now all I have to worry about is my wellies blowing away in strong winds....

Grandma's Garden

Remember this? My Nan's letter has inspired me in many ways and has crept into my recent work.

I had a thermofax screen made from a page of it in two different sizes and used it to print onto some fabric, which I have been using to make hexagons.

It's very difficult to see in the photograph, but the thermofax process uses a photocopy of an image to burn away the screen material wherever there is a dark area and can be used to make screens to print very fine marks.

I showed you some of my hexies a little while back, so here is what I did with them:

 Work in progress. You can just make out my Nan's writing  printed on the lower shapes. The hexagons are about an inch across- more and more I am needing to use my glasses to sew. Anyone else find that?

                                     The finished wallhanging.

I enlarged a photo of a section of the letter so I could stitch Nan's handwriting onto the quilt.

If you want a close look the quilt is on display at Altrincham Forward as part of the Ten Plus Textiles exhibition until 29th April.

Now And Then

Today we are collecting in all of our work ready to set up our exhibition at Altrincham Forward next week. We will be stewarding the exhibition ourselves, so if you are nearby pop in and say "Hello"

Early Blooms

When in doubt, do what you love....

Handmade Books

May I belatedly wish you all a very Happy and Creative 2014! How is it going so far? I hope the weather is being kind where you are.

One of my special Christmas presents was a 2 day workshop at Hot Bed Press in Salford with the beautiful Elizabeth Willow, a Liverpool based artist. The workshop was called "The Folded Book" and Elizabeth took us through lots of methods of folding books, stitching and making covers. I had a wonderful, intense and inspiring weekend and came home full of ideas.

This morning I sprang into action to create this little story....

...a true event which came about because my youngest son likes to look with his fingers....

The book is folded into concertina folds and backed with card, then secured with a belly band- all techniques learnt from Elizabeth. I made a few mistake during the process, but I learnt quite a lot. For example, when you are  stitching round letters into paper the resulting perforations cause the centre of the letter to fall out! I am very grateful for Elizabeth's careful instructions on how to avoid getting really gluey!

I'm sure that books will become a part of my art in the future. I am hoping to try out something in fabric as part of my Ten Plus Textiles work. (Check out our new website btw!)

Hope you have a good week and remember to look after those fingers!