Spent this evening .....

....experimenting with a few sketches and different colourways using photoshop.  Too tired to tinker with textiles and trying to take my mind off tomorrow's trip to the dentist which I am not looking forward to!

nb although these are my own sketches they are drawn from images found on flickr/blogger and are not my own invention!

An unexpected afternoon off work......

.........and time to play with sketches in photoshop! 

just having fun!

Over a month....

...since Ally Pally and then we did it all again at Harrogate....

I was overwhelmed by the response from all visitors that came over and said hello and would like to thank everyone for all their very kind comments.  It was very rewarding to receive such a response, and has been more than a little difficult to come down to earth since. 

But I have been working on my "visual studies" with a recent trip to London where I happened upon the newly opened Anthropologie store......an absolute visual feast.  I took more than a few photos ....

...the whole store was beautifully styled  ....and yes that is a wall of real plants!

Liberty's window displays were good too.....

and covent garden early in the morning is just fab....

Well.......

.....we made it!
All the way to London and back, and, had a wonderful time. My very supportive husband was with me all the way as we lugged the work down on the train, tube, bus and by foot to Ally Pally and set it all up in my designated space. We then spent a fantastic 4 days of the exhibition meeting the public and other exhibitors and both thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. The show was buzzing all 4 days.....so many people and a lot of them called by my space to say hello and make some lovely comments. It was great to meet so many textile enthusiasts particularly the students who were very keen and interested.....so many enquiring minds!

Thank you to everyone who called on by. I'm saving a lot of my photos of the event until after the Harrogate exhibition but here's one of the "before" state of my exhibition space.....

and one of my "London" shots to give you a flavour of the experience.
Oh and thankyou Mr. Xstitch for the mention on your blog.......very much appreciated!

The last week......

....has been non-stop round of drawing, knitting, sewing, taking images, ordering postcards, business cards, booking hotels and train tickets and thinking about the million and one things I will need to do to try and be at least a little bit prepared for setting up my exhibition area for the Ally Pally Knit and Stitch event which starts next Thurs. I'm beginning to think that maybe my bargain rail ticket was not such a good idea after all when I've worked out exactly what I need to take with me next week.

So as a little bit of light relief this morning I took a stroll around my somewhat neglected garden. The remaining flowers are fading fast and everything has a crisp autumny feel to it but there is still beauty to behold.

....and best news of all...... the starlings are back. Normally they would have stripped our Rowan tree bare by this time of the year and the berries have begun to rot waiting for them. But this morning they arrived. I wonder how many days it will take them to munch through the lot!

Taking a brief break.....

....from relentless sewing to mourn the loss of my digital camera which appears to have given up the ghost at a very inconvenient moment! So here are some images i made earlier as all true Blue Peter fanatics would say!

....first year degree work

a very old pastel drawing.....

and just for fun sewing....

back to the sewing machine!

The sun shone.....

....yes, even in mid-September!

...and the crowds came (sometimes there was nowhere to stand to keep out of the way of visitors viewing the art!)

....and a wonderful time was had be all at the final weekend of the Saltaire Arts Festival Open Houses Arts Trail.

.....and I even sold a few pieces.

Thank you to everyone who called by! ....and thank you to Paula and Nick for generously allowing their house to be an art gallery for the duration!

Its started.....

.....the open house artstrail at the Saltaire Arts Festival opened for the first full day yesterday, and is on for the rest of this weekend and all of next weekend. Its a grand day out for all the family so if you are in the West Yorkshire area...call on by and say hello.

Check out our house blog and the festival website for more information! The pictures are of our open house - 6 harold place.

Busy day.....

....working from home at the day job

... and busy week completing the work for the Saltaire Open Houses whilst continuing to work on the panels for the Knit and Stitch show which is now only 4 weeks away.......and yes I am begining to panic now. I know I like last minute pressure....indeed need it to make me work BUT this time the pressure is in the red, highly dangerous, about to blow zone! ...and to make matters worse its a beautiful day and all I want to do is go outside and enjoy it.

The picture is of the second entry I did to catch up for the moly exchange 25..... but my fellow Australian molyers have not heard of Captain Scarlet. Must be a British thing? Is he known in the States?? It's not actually a good likeness so you may not recognise him anyway.

Even on a hectic chilly September day.....

.....there are still little "treasures" to find in the garden.

Just a quickie......

....to show you images of the two molys I completed this week as part of the international moly sketchbook exchange. We are moly x25 and these two books will soon be winging their way to Australia. This has been a fun project to be involved with and across all the artists' books circling the world (I think there are now over 70!) has produced some amazing work.......check out the flickr site!

why not have a go yourself?

Just another......

.........quick August post to say that I was absolutely thrilled and delighted to be awarded the selectors prize for innovation at the opening of Yorkshire and Lancashire Textiles Open exhibition at the Platform Gallery Clitheroe, this week. It is a wonderful exhibition with a lot of very interesting textile work in a lovely Gallery. I would highly recommend a visit to anyone in the area.

A short last minute August posting.....

....otherwise I would not have posted for 2 whole months!!

Now I knew that when I went back to full time work things would prove difficult ....but 2 WHOLE MONTHS, that's not good, not good at all. There has been lots happening and more to happen still but for now I must mention the Saltaire Arts Trail. Once again my work will be on show at 6 Harold Place together with that of all our 6HP artiststs - prints, photographs, paintings, wire sculpture, ceramics, felt and much more.

This flyer gives you a little taster..... hope to see you there!

Aaargh!........now June has nearly disappeared somewhere....

....what is happening???
Well what has been happening is the day job has taken over and my creative life is slowly being squeezed into fewer and fewer available hours. Now the day job is great, and I am acutally enjoying it more than ever but..........
......if only there were 48 hours every day I'd be a happy person!

On a more positive note Harrison Lord Gallery have indicated they would like some more of my work towards the end of the year, so I'm working on that.

I finished my commission which was warmly received - thank you Sian for your patience with that!

The Biscuit Factory in Newcastle put on a fabulous open evening on the 12th. Well worth the trip up. There were hundreds of people there, sparkling wine and lots of interest in my work. I was absolutely thrilled to be part of it all and so overawed I forgot to take any photos!

I've received another invitation from a local Embroiderers Guild branch to give a talk at one of their meetings next year and I'm now trying to find time to work on my new project for Knit and Stitch in October and acutely aware of how time for that is fast running out which is a bit scarey.

The moly exchange is now nearing its final round and I still have one or two more books to work in . I've really enjoyed being part of it and hope my fellow molyers haven't been too frustrated with my inattention to deadlines! It's been great fun!

Our (6 Harold Place) application for the Saltaire Artstrail has been accepted. That is in September and so I am working on that.

I have applied for the Yorkshire and Lancashire Open at the Platform Gallery in Clitheroe........so fingers crossed on that one and I've nearly completed my application for the Mall Galleries in London for January.

Unfortunately I didn't get into the Holmfirth Artweek this year but am looking forward to visiting it as it was great fun last year......I would highly recommend it to anyone in the area and its all in aid of MacMillan Cancer charity.

........and finally I am still working on card designs and taking loads of photos whenever I can and as a post isn't a post without a photo here is a small sample of both....

Where did May disappear to???

.........even June is begining to fly by. I've had no time to post about a weekend spent with the Reveal group and Hilary Bower.

No time to tell you I've just delivered a bunch of work to the Biscuit Factory in Newcastle ready for their Summer Exhibition. The opening is 12th June 6pm to 9 pm for anyone in the area. I'm hoping to make it and think that Paula Dunn from the 6 Harold Place will be there too with her fantastic work.

No time to tell you that I've been researching a new body of work for the Knit and Stitch shows in October/November.

No time to tackle all the gardening/household jobs that are rapidly piling up waiting to be done.

.....and only a little bit of stolen time to enjoy all this wonderful sunshine we have had lately.

I much prefer taking photos in the garden than tackling all those jobs!!!

....oh, and I did manage to find some time to try my hand out at jewellery making......what do you think???

One moly down.....

.....and one yet to complete. This is my entry in Melissa's book as part of the moly exchange no. 25

......and the last time I shall see this book which will shortly be on its way back to Melissa.

A Grand .....

day out........

oh! I do like to be beside the seaside.....

It's up.....

....on the Twisted Thread site....the blurb for my exhibition at the Knit and Stitch Shows....and I have to admit to being a little bit chuffed to see my name included in the features list. What an honour!

Ranunculas.....

everywhere.......

Just couldn't decide which image to post!!