Art in the Garden exhibition 15th - 31st Oct

I finally have my AIG pieces of work finished and framed up this morning, ready to deliver to the gallery tomorrow. I'm trying to keep costs down with my submissions and have stuck to my maximum printer output size of A4 and framed the prints myself.


I am attaching the poster with details of the exhibition if anyone is interested.

Japanese paper beads

A while ago I found some lovely patterned origami paper at Hobbycraft. I didn't particularly get it for making origami models as its pretty versatile for using in lots of other crafts. Anyway I've had a quick go at making paper beads with it. I've started with simple lozenge shapes and have given them a coat of varnish so they are almost ready for stringing up into either a necklace or bracelet.

John Lennon on Google

Have you seen Google today? It's a special John Lennon graphic to celebrate what would've been his 70th birthday tomorrow.
So much has been written about him since his death that there is little I can add other than to say the world is a sadder place without the legend that was John Lennon.

Dalby Forest - N. Yorks

I had the pleasure of escaping my desk for a few hours yesterday afternoon to visit Dalby Forest. It was such a lovely sunny afternoon after all the dreary weather we've had recently.  I hadn't been since the new visitor centre had been built, it was quite an impressive building with a great view from the Tree Tops cafe.


I have to say the refreshments I had were not brilliant. The least offensive sounding coffee on the list was an americano so I went for that but it was nothing short of an over-boiled and watered down nescafe type offering so most of it got left. My cookie wasn't great either, it was apple & cinnamon and it had that sort of sweet but sharp, processed taste which didn't sit well together so I left half of that too. It's always a shame with these sorts of places, they are in such picturesque settings but I often find the eateries let them down which is a pity. They have a captive audience and yet the food is pretty ordinary and not the sort of groovy, organic, wholefoody stuff which I'd expect.
Still, view was nice from the cafe.

Fabric & Pencils in Cumbria

Have just been cataloguing my latest fabric purchases in Cumbria. There's a great shop in Keswick called Textures and I got the top shot of fabric from there. They now have a website since my last visit which is


www.textures-keswick.co.uk



I also visited Orton Grange farm shop which has a quilting place, Quiltessentials, also very nice fabric but not as cheap as my favourite shop in Scarborough.


Then there are pictures of a couple of pieces I got at a charity shop in Carlisle for just 50p.


My real bargain on this trip was when visiting another one of my favourite places in Keswick, The Pencil Museum. I stocked up on a few more Inktense pencils and I noticed a beautiful wooden pencil box which seemed very cheap. It was the only one of its kind and looked like it should've been about £20 but had the price £9 on it. Odd I thought, as a tiny box less than half its size was priced at £9. I thought I'd take it to the counter and if it rings through at more I'm not having it. Joy of joys it rang through at the £9 price but the lady on the till let slip it had the wrong price on but I could have it anyway. It was one of those lucky right time, right place situations so I was very grateful. I have enjoyed sorting my pencil stash into it, didn't think I'd fill it but I have.

Talkin Tarn - Cumbria

Escaped to Cumbria for a few days last week and it was rather wet, bit like last time I went. One of the days was lovely and it was quite spring-like pottering around Windermere and Keswick. I have visited some fabric shops and got some nice things so will display those later.


The particularly wet day was the day I went to Talkin Tarn, hadn't heard of it before but a friend recommended it and as it was near to Carlisle where I was staying it was worth a look. Got togged up in waterproof jacket but unfortunately didn't have waterproof trousers with me on this occasion so half way round the tarn when the heavens opened more and there was nowhere to shelter, I got pretty soaked to the skin. By the time I reached the little bird hide the rain had slowed up a bit but it was so wet I didn't even fancy the tea room as I'd be sat in a pool of water.
On a less wet day I could see the tarn would be a beautiful place.

New design for Spoonflower

I've been doing a new design for a Spoonflower contest which will run later this week. The subject matter was Gourds.

I have photographed an acorn squash before it ends up in a soup or stew and then worked with it in photoshop to give some colour and texture to the main image.

Recycled gift tags

I've been recycling to make some more things for the christmas craft fair. This time I've been making parcel gift tags and I have made them from small scraps of fabric stuck onto card, old maps, wallpaper scraps, newsprint with rubber stamping, magazines & brochures.
I am going to bag them up into packs of about 20.

Skye Batiks new website - my design is on

Skye Batiks have launched a new website where you can buy lots of their groovy clothes and gifts online.
I was surprised and pleased to find the flowery poppy design I did them featuring in the skirts section of the site.


Here is the link to the poppy skirts but the rest of the site is well worth a look for those seeking something a bit out of the ordinary.
They have tonnes more clothes than they can feature on the website and they are happy to email photos if you can't find what you want on the site.

http://www.skyebatiks.com/ViewCategory.aspx?ID=60

Sandsend - near Whitby

Yesterday I visited a lovely little place just about 4 miles north of Whitby called Sandsend. Hadn't been before but it was a lovely bright and blustery day and the ideal place for a walk along the seafront.


The thing I liked about the place, no horrible amusements or rowdiness, it is very unspoilt with about 3 cafes and a village store. There is also the Turnstone Gallery which has a good selection of affordable art in the form of paintings, ceramics and some wrought iron work. I also found a shop in an old saw mill called Wild Hart and I knew the name as they have a place in York on Stonegate, lots of nice arty crafty gifts but a bit pricey.


Had a coffee at the Wits End Cafe which looked slightly better than the 2 seafront cafes I saw which would probably serve you a Nescafe for a coffee, however even though I had a reasonable espresso the place was very pricey. My single espresso was £1.95 were normally you'd pay in the region £1.55 - £1.70 and a double espresso was listed as £3.50 which is outrageous as I've never come across a double for more than £2. Scones were just over £2 and toasted teacakes £2.50 and I never have to pay over £2 for either of those in the cafes I visit in York, Scarborough or Brid.


Still, it was a very pleasant place to visit, lots of walking on the beach, you can go up on the cliffs on part of the Cleveland Way and I didn't find any but I believe it is good for finding fossils.


Finished off the day back down the coast, called into Burniston where the lady has the bakehouse in her shed. Was surprised to see a for sale board, she's planning on moving somewhere bigger to set up maybe a cafe or B&B. Got some lovely bread and muffins. Then went to Scarborough for a coffee at Roasters and bought a couple of bags of new El Salvador single estate beans.


The photos are all Sandsend, the bottom picture is the view looking back to Whitby with Whitby Abbey on top of the cliff in the distance.