A Relaxing Day

16th November 2014

I have had a lovely relaxing day, ironing (yes I enjoy ironing!), baked a Banana and Cranberry loaf with some over ripe bananas....

.....listened to an audio book while knitting.....

.....and went for a beach walk....

....Jack having a paddle....

...waves creeping in, a lovely sound as they break on the shore...

....so beautiful...

....4pm and now I can see a pink streaked sky!

I am now enjoying a glass of red while the roast is in the oven....

....life is good....

Yarn Bombing Project Update

15th November 2014

I have been quite busy since I came back from London, washing, ironing, food shopping etc.....

Today a group of us met in the Tesco community room to knit, crochet, stitch flowers on net and most importantly HAVE A LAUGH!!!!

Dream catchers....

......beautiful tree decorations knitted by Wilma.....

....Marie who has learnt to knit for this project....

.....food made by Sue....

...Karen busy decorating pine cones....

...Enid has taught herself to crochet....

...lovely colourful bunting made by Carmel....

.....knitted by Enid...

.....flowers stitched onto netting to decorate the bowling hut....

...sadly no children today as they were all involved in other activities but are busy making at home!

I am becoming a little nervous about the project but everyone else is really excited!!

:::::

This is the 'mouse' I bought from Kate Toms ( Angel Bill) at the Country Living Christmas Fair, he is sitting on a piece of driftwood keeping my needle felted robin company...

.....I decided to make a little book, 9 x 6 cms, using recycled envelopes and my decorated paper for the cover....

....this was made using Myfanwy Hart's method but I need to practise!!

Also stamped on my blue paper ready for Christmas cards...

....and decorated some cones for the Christmas tree in the park....

....I woke at 5am and got up at 6am, managed to finish my audio book while I was knitting and creating....

....so much to do and so little time!!!

Country Living Christmas Fair

12th November 2014

Today my sister and I went to Islington for a Christmas Fair and it was brilliant....

...rather wet but it didn't dampen our spirits...

....3 floors....

....this greeted us, all made from dried oranges, cloves cinnamon, wonderful smell!!

We started on the top floor and worked our way down....

I had to purchase a fairy for a special little girl....

....so delicate, all handmade, just couldn't resist!

www.fairiesofknapwellwood.com

The meeting point at the centre of the hall.

I loved these items, machine embroidered and beautifully made from...

hillyhubb.com

...bought a couple of items from here, just loved the designs....

www.juliadavey.com

.....had to by a Christmas present for myself!!!!

A mouse from... 

www.angelbill.co.uk

....some handmade stockings....

....a great day and wonderful to see so many handcrafted, original items!

:::::

I am just getting a little excited about Christmas!

::::::

I forgot to mention these beautiful hand dyed threads, a gift from Myfanwy Hart on Monday, I will really enjoy using them!

Work in progress, an aran cardigan using alpaca yarn, so lovely and soft to knit.

Home tomorrow, hope I can manage to pack all my purchases!

Fun with Myfanwy Hart!!

10th November 2014

Another great day meeting new people from my online creative group....

...left to right, Susan Shafir, me, Janine Pound and Myfanwy Hart....

...we were meeting at 11am in the lounge area BUT the whole place was buzzing with graduates in mortar boards and gowns!! Luckily I had Myfanwy's number and soon found the group.

We enjoyed coffee, chat and seeing some little books Myfanwy had made during her daily creative 

15 mins....

...especially loved this one, 9 small squares on each page from her own papers laid out Sudoku fashion, it folded up into a book...

.....lunch, smoked hummus, carrot and coriander on granary, mmmm, delicious!

Next came playtime...

....assorted painted papers were placed in the centre of the table and we were each given an index card...

....the instruction was choose a piece of paper and tear off a strip, then we had to pass it to the person on our left!

This was mine after all the area had been covered...

....then we each printed on each others card...

...unfortunately the photo didn't come out!!

We all signed the back of the cards as a memento of the day. 

It was so lovely to meet people from the group and I would love to do it again! 4 hours simply flew....

::::

I have also booked to go on a residential course with Anne Griffiths in Cornwall next March, so great to have something to look forward to.

::::

Took these as I was walking to the station this morning....

...such a beautiful blue sky....

A Visit to the Royal Academy of Arts

9th November 2014

Arrived in London Friday afternoon and went for my favourite walk....

...the large leaf in the centre was the size of a dinner plate...

.....at the top of the hill the Thames showing behind the tree...

....just starting to rain...

....a moody sky and fast flowing Thames.

:::

On Saturday I met Anne Griffiths for a coffee and catch-up at the RA and think I may be going to Cornwall for her residential course in March!!

Gates at the entrance to the RA..

I then went to see the Anselm Kiefer exhibition,  I have to admit I have never heard of him but I thought his work was amazing, so textured and HUGE!

I always have the audio guide which gives so much interesting information about the artist and paintings....

....this was the display in the courtyard...

...two large glass display cases containing his work using metal, canvas and writing....

...the 'sea bed' looked as though it was made using plaster pieces ...

....this was a very large structure at the entrance to the exhibition....

...wings are fashioned from lead and the base from a mixture of lead, canvases and papers.

Photographs were not allowed in the actual exhibition, so I bought some postcards...

....many of his paintings began as a photograph, this was acrylic, emulsion, oil, shellac and sediment of electrolysis on photograph mounted on canvas, 280 x 380cm....

.....acrylic, emulsion, oil, metal,fragments of paint, plaster, gold leaf and sediment of electrolysis on photograph mounted on canvas, 330 x560 x 45 cm...

....the canvases were huge and amazing, so textured using great amount of paint and other mediums.....

....emulsion,acrylic and shellac on canvas 356 x 463 cm

::::

Across the road from the RA was Fortnum and Mason looking very festive with beautiful window displays, popped in and it was heaving with customers buying all manner of food items and ordering the wonderful hampers!

Next spent an hour browsing the enormous Waterstones in Picadilly and took  pleasure in choosing some children's books for a gift.

Finally went to Ottopizza for a get together with the family! The pizza bases are made with cornmeal and had delicious toppings, so tasty!!

::::

A beautiful day today after torrential rain yesterday....

....think I may have to go for a walk along the river then must start knitting an aran cardigan!

Looking forward to meeting Myfanwy Hart at the Royal Festival Hall tomorrow....