If You Go Down to the Woods Today!

Now we didn't find a teddy bear's picnic but we did find a carpet of bluebells!

It was the first time we've walked in Bishop's Wood near Cawood and I'm sure we'll be going back regularly. It was very quiet and peacefull with lots of paths to explore.

The weather continues to be exceptional here and the sun has brought out lots of spring flowers including my favourite: primroses

I love the creamy yellow petals with the darker lemon centres. There were lots of others too e.g. white anemones, purple violets and this one (I don't know it's name)

Of course dandelions are everywhere at the moment and the fluffly dandelion clocks are so beautiful up close:

Even the fields are brightly coloured:

All along the edges of the paths new shoots and leaves were emerging such as these bright green oak leaves:

Isn't nature wonderful? So much inspiration.

Happy Easter Everyone!

A Birthday Treat: Sun. Sea and Sand

Today is my daughter's 27th Birthday and we had a lovely day out to celebrate. Yesterday I made this slipcase for her laptop as part of her birthday present. I just love this Michael Miller retro flowers fabric. Here's a close up to show my free motion quilting around the flowers:

Our trip was to the seaside. We are lucky to live about an hour and half away from the East Yorkshire coast with lovely beaches and seaside towns. Today we went to Bridlington - a childhood favourite of mine.

Here's the view which greeted us on our arrival. Look at that blue sky! Luckily for us dogs are allowed on the beach between October and April so off we went for a stroll and a paddle in the warm sunshine.

Meg couldn't wait to get onto the beach!

 The Birthday Girl!

The tide was out so we there was a huge stretch of sand to enjoy.  The 4 dogs all had a paddle and romped around and chased each other while we had a relaxing walk:

 Then we realised we'd forgotten to have lunch! We had to walk along to the harbour to buy some fish and chips to share. The tide had come in so the fishing boats were returning:

There was just time for another quick walk on the sand before we set off home. I think I'll sleep well tonight!

My Busy Weekend

 Fumiko Ohkawa: Log Cabin / Kaleidoscope II

Festival of Quilts Winner - Traditional Quilts

Phew, what a busy few days!
Friday:  Knitting and Stitching Show in Harrogate
Saturday: stripping wallpaper at my son's newly purchased house
Sunday: at college
Monday: back to work

The Knitting and Stitching Show covers a wide range of crafts which includes some quilts. They did have on display some winners from the Festival of Quilts and the nice thing was you could get a closer view than in the original show and I managed to get better photos of a couple of my favourites. The one above was the best in show and the workmanship was amazing - so many tiny pieces!

Here's another I admired for the machine quilting:

Sheena Norquay: Pearls are not Always White

Festival of Quilts Winner - Contemporary Quilts

These close-ups show the lovely circle patterns - I like circles!

Next I visited a lovely display of quilts by  Janice Gunner who specialises in quilts using fabrics dyed with indigo:

These were beautifully quilted to emphasise the patterns created by the dyeing. I treated myself to her book 'Shibori for Textile Artists' and chatted with her about the workshops she teaches - they are now on my list for future reference. We are doing indigo dyeing at college next month so the book was an essential purchase!

There weren't may other quilts on display apart from this one made from cans from a famous Irish brewer- very clever but not a cuddly quilt:

Drunkards Path by Beck Knight

There was plenty of lovely embroidery on display too. One stand featuring the work of the East Anglian Stitched Textiles group - EAST. I spent a lot of time looking at their sketchbooks and completed work as it was just the sort of design work I'm doing on my college course. They very generously allowed visitors to photograph their sketchbooks and finished pieces which were gorgeous. Here are some photos of their work:

You can learn more about the group on their blog and also see more photos of their exhibits here.

So there were some very clever and talented people showing their work - well done to them. There were also, of course, hundreds of stalls selling fabric, threads, beads, supplies etc plus other incongruous items like floor sweepers and manicures! I was pretty restrained and didn't spend much - well the entry cost and parking charges were enough! I may be turning into a grumpy old woman but I do resent having to pay so much for entry to events which give far more space to a large shopping mall than exhibits. I have to admit that despite that they are extremely popular - someone must be getting very rich from them but no the stitchers!

Creativity in the Dales

I've had a wonderful day with friends up in the Yorkshire Dales. We met up at Charmian's beautiful cottage tucked away in the dales. She is very fortunate to have a studio (pictured above) in the converted barn and invited us for the day. We have formed a new textile group to carry on the creative work we did at college last year and now intend to meet regularly. Here's the inside of the studio which is amazing.

 The studio is a treasure trove of fabrics, fibres, beads, paints etc and has plenty of space for us to work together. It was great to meet up again and chat and share our projects. The work on the walls is mostly created by Charmian's very talented daughter Kirsty. Charmian gave us the very exciting news that Kirsty has been successful in applying for a place in a studio in Pately Bridge where she can exhibit and sell her lovely felt and mixed media pieces - well done Kirsty! We can't wait to go along to the grand opening,




Mr Photographer drove me to Charmian's today then went off to take photos of the local landscape. He enjoyed himself too.

Here's a slideshow of some photos I took around the cottage and at a reservoir Mr Photographer and I visited on the way home - what a wonderful source of inspiration!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Blackberries

Yesterday Mr Photographer came home from his afternoon walk with the dogs clutching a plastic bag. 'Open it' he said. Well these particular bags don't usually contain anything pleasant if you get my drift! Anyway, open it I did and there were some lovely shiny blackberries. Today he came back to tell me he had found a hedge laden with fruit so I dropped him off as I drove to the shop then came back to help with the picking. We came home with 2 1/2 pounds of juicy berries for half an hour's work. Not bad going. Tomorrow we will be making jam!

I did sew today but just need a little more time to finish my friendship swap bag so tomorrow I should have a photo  of the finished item. Drop by again soon!

Skipton and the Dales

On Fridays my other half 'Mr Photographer' doesn't go to work so today we took advantage of the good weather and headed off early for Skipton in the Yorkshire Dales. There's a market in Skipton 4 days a week, including Friday, so it's a popular place but we went down to the canal and found it quiet and peaceful in the sunshine. We had a lovely walk stopping to take lots of pictures of the castle and the canal barges.

Then we had to go for Mr Photographer's treat - breakfast at The Devonshire pub (Wetherspoons!) - delicious! After that a bit of retail therapy was needed in the market and the Fent Shop. Mr Photographer positively encouraged me to buy fabric! The Fent Shop sells remnants of beautiful furnishing fabrics for £5 per metre, dress fabrics, a small selection of quilting cottons and knitting wool. Today I bought some 'John Lewis' fabric in a lovely turquoise to make a footstool and a cushion to sit on top of a storage box in our living room. Uh oh! My to do list has grown again!

Next we drove on to Embsay to visit Embsay Crafts and a enjoyed a coffee break before taking the scenic route to Bolton Abbey over the hills. Driving along we spotted a Red Kite circling on the thermals and stopped to watch. Red Kites are becoming a pretty common sight now around here since they were re-introduced at Harewood several years ago. The are beautiful and very big close up. Today this one was just too far away to photograph.

Altogether a lovely day out. Here are a few photos :

Make a Smilebox slideshow