In case you were wondering.....

.....probably not but going about making a journal the wrong way, well for me anyway, had a very interesting out come.

 This

 very blousy

journal which has nothing at all to do with Venice .

It never fails to fascinate me as to how the journal takes over and becomes what it wants to be,

Yesterday was a good day.  We went to a workshop at the Cockpit Arts studios in Deptford.  The subject was paper marbling and it was fun. Workshop was run by Lucy of Marmor Paperie  We started with just one colour and then went on to try several techniques and the day ended too soon. 

The first laughter of the day came when we looked at the aprons we had been given, summed us up perfectly, my meticulous friend and me.

Everything we needed was provided.

These are our first efforts.  There were six of us and, as you can see,  all had very different effects. 

These are our later efforts hanging out to dry.

Lucy was a good teacher and thanks also go to her friend who hung the papers so that we could get on with the exciting stuff.
 Hoping we will get the chance for another session sometime now we have the manner of it.

The long hot spell had finally broken and today we have rain.  It was funny to hear one of the children playing outside shouting, in great excitement, "It's raining".  Hope we don't now have too much to ruin everyone's holidays.

Jessie Chorley Workshop......

another great day at Sew Not Strawberry Jam we arrived to find the workroom had been adorned with bunting by Jessie and she was already sitting stitching as she greeted everyone.

So much to look at,  Jessie is a very generous tutor both in materials and ideas.  The theme of the day was to make a journal, we glued and stitched, talked and laughed and feasted on the delicious lunch, biscuits and cake provided by Sam of SNSJ, another generous lady.

 These were some of the "toys" we had to play with, I lusted over the rubber stamps of pages from an old French children's book whcih Jessie had found.  These are our books, mine is the one on the right.

Today was another of the un-seasonally warm days so we made the most of it, just in case this is summer. I sat and stitched in an effort to try and remember some of the things Jessie showed us.

(I think my scanner need cleaning)

We decided the magic words of the day were "and then", a little different from "what if" but just as exciting.A thing of wonder that all my favourite tutors teach hand sewing with vintage fabrics and yet they all have such individual character. I am looking forward to the book Jessie is bringing out in August and hope to re-visit her shop in the Columbia Road .

I could go to SNSJ without taking a few photographs of the Shepherd's Hut  (before the sun came out)

the Studio

and the geese.

Off to see A Little Chaos tomorrow, trying to pack things in as DH is due to have a rather nasty operation in a couple of weeks.

Bad start.....

but a great ending to last week.  It started with a cold sore which turned into a full blown streaming cold.... yuk.
Fortunately I recovered in time to be able to take a trip to Sew Not Strawberry Jam for a workshop with Viv of Hen's Teeth.  Now you will have gathered by now that SNSJ is one of my most favourite places. 
Who wouldn't want to work in that glorious workroom, with geese patrolling outside in  the beautiful Kent countryside outside, a range throwing out warmth to match the welcome from Sam and, of course,  the most delicious cakes .Add to this a tutor as friendly and generous as Viv and you have the makings of a really good day. There were moans and groans when it was time to pack up.
 This is what I made

The cat was a gift from Viv to do whatever we wished.  I painted mine and added a stitch outline.  I was, as ever to see how different everyone reacted to the same brief. 

For once I decided to make sure I finished my needle case., this is what serves at the moment.

I know, I know.........but it works.
Here is my lovely squishy new one

Inside I have placed the little date reminder which Viv gave us to embellish any way we wanted as a reminder of the day..

Now, I am looking forward to the Jessie Chorley workshop in a couple of weeks time. 

The town I live in is not known for it's beauty but I had realised just how much is right on the doorstep.  While waiting for my car to have it's MOT I wandered round the local fishing lakes.  Quite beautiful on that morning.

How on earth......

......did I ever find the time to go to work?  This month has flown by with visits to The Knit and Stitch, a visit from my sister-in-law, a couple of theatre trips and yesterday a work shop with Cas Holmes at the lovely Sew Not Strawberry Jam. Not to mention my own knitting and stitching while feeding my two addictions American Football and Strictly Come Dancing.

For the first time ever I didn't take my camera to Ally Pally but if I had I would have taken photographs of the work of the wonderfully imaginative work of   Ann Small. and the delightful whimsy of Catherine von Isenburg

While my SIL was visiting we took a trip to Scotney Castle which hadn't quite donned all it's autumn glory but still looked beautiful.

 The theatre trips were to see two local amateur societies excellent productions of "Half a Sixpence" and "Hairspray". 
Yesterday was a real treat, a workshop with Cas Holmes. The lovely Sam welcomed us with coffee and I could see her wonderful ginger lemon cake so I was happy. Sew Not Strawberry Jam is becoming one of my favourite places, I just wish it was a little nearer..  I love the workroom

 

As does Sam's cat.

 Out side there are geese and hens and sheep and a lovely little garden, Didn't have time to take many photographs as the workshop was full on, took this through the window,

The first thing we had to do was go outside and draw, scary, I do not do drawing from real.  First surprise of the day, I managed something that looked like something. This is it after adding another element of the lesson and a serendipity meeting with my wet work on the way home.

We went on the compile the pages of a book based on our original drawing.  Because of the time constraint of the day I will have to finish my book here at home but I really enjoyed the day and found some of the techniques and ideas exciting. This was part of my work in progress.

Cas brought some of her own beautiful books,

You can see more of her work here

I'll get round to talking about the knitting and stitching later in the week (I hope).

A most enjoyable day........

that was Saturday when we went on the long awaited workshop with Mandy Pattullo.. Their was a warm welcome from Sam  and her magical studio at SewNotStrawberryJam made us Ooh and Aah with envy. Their are some really good photos of the studio, before we all arrived, on Mandy's blog here. See what I mean? This was the huge central table piled high with goodness.

Mandy had supplied everything we needed and shared her supplies and  techniques in generous measure. Just waiting for us to dive in.

 She had templates to use and had also said we could bring a picture. Now I may have mentioned I like owls so here is my work from the day, not finished yet .

He sits on a piece of vintage quilt which Mandy provided.  She showed me the difference between putting on eyes which you thought were OK(orange) and searching and searching for just the right shade.  It was all a lot more difficult than it looks but so enjoyable.

We were lucky with the weather and we sat outside for lunch

 beyond the geese stands the Shepherd Hut.

It made me think of your shed  Sharon . A magical space. The day ended far to quickly and what I haven't mentioned yet is the best ginger cake I have ever tasted.

 I am begging for the recipe.

Mandy is promising to be back next year, so book me in. You can find other courses at SewNotStrawberryJam here

Great day.

Happy New Year

This was taken from the television. The end of the wonderful year for London and hopefully the start of a good one for all of us.
Last night I went to see "Merrily We Roll Along" at the Menier, a Christmas treat. I was a little disappointed in some aspects,  I have magical memories of a production long ago but loved listening to some of my favourite Sondheim melodies.
I arrived in London with time to spare so I took a little walk , I usually only see London at night as I leave on the train so this was a treat. Some place you might recognise.

An unusual view of Southwark Cathedral, the bells were ringing which made it even more special.

Christmas decorations still around

(The lights were not blue by the way). Even HMS Belfast looked festive.  How do you decorate a battleship?

I don't do Resolutions... no will power but I have signed up to Nathalie Kalbach's  Creative Jump Start, so we will see how long the will lasts.

What a day this has been............................

a day with Purple Missus.  Early this morning I had a look at Lynda's blog and voted on the quilts she had there, a few hours later I was touching the real things. Magic.
If you follow Lynda's blog you can imagine what a wonderful day we have had.  We have played with scrim, Lutradur, pelmet vilene, Xpandaprint, gesso, paint, heat guns, soldering irons, machine stitching and good old fashioned hand stitiching. There was not one piece of work which was like another, each piece was an example of its makers creativity.
 This is a piece I did with Lutradur, Xpandaprint, ink and salt and a little touch of paint

and this was the piece of kitchen roll I had underneath it.

Same paint, same salt, different fabric.

I meant to re-do this but became so busy I forgot.  Lynda in full flow.

and these were some of the beautiful example she brought with her.

Can't wait for tomorrow when I can continue the story when I do the next stages on my own "vessel". If you ever have the chance to do a workshop with her, grab it she will get your creative juices. 

 Wait for a twenty minutes for a bus and then two come along at once!

I have been stagnating for ages.  Two days ago I was  lucky enough to secure a place on the  course with Jude of Spirit Cloth, I am so excited and, now today,  something at the other end of the textile spectrum a workshop which has awakened all my love of texture and rust and mixed media. 

What a great couple of  days these  have been..............