Autumnal Easton

The sunshine this morning drew us out to a local garden for some autumn colour and lunch out.  Easton Walled Garden is just off the A1 about 8 miles south of Grantham and has been a work in progress  2001 and every visit brings something new.

Today the gardens were very quiet and the staff outnumbered the visitors which made it all the more pleasant to wander around with unhindered views.

 This lovely Virginia Creeper greeted us as we entered the gardens.

 I didn't know they flowered but I suppose logically they must!

We had lunch outside as it was quite warm and the light was catching trees in the distance.

 By the time we'd eaten the clouds had built up and veiled the sun.

 This border still looks very elegant as it slips delicately into Autumn.

 This espalier (pear?) had a magical quality to it.

 Looking back to where we had lunch.

 I'm sure the children will enjoy this display when the gardens open again on Sunday.  They'll also enjoy gathering lots of conkers in the carpark, they were falling everywhere.

 Not sure who this guy was, paparazzi no doubt 😜

 Beautiful mosses atop a low wall.

Just to taunt us the sun popped out again just as we made our way out.  Starting on 19th and running till the end of the month there's going to be a pumpkin rolling event to coincide with half-term.  I'm hoping we'll find time to pop out there again as it's bound to be a good photo opportunity.  I think they have 200 pumpkins for the children to roll.

Mousehole Continued and Other Stuff

Well, it didn't take me three weeks to get rid of the cold that I brought back from Cornwall but I have been fairly busy, mostly with finishing off some old projects and thinking about new ones.

First of all a few photos connected with Mousehole.

 I was lucky enough to receive one of Carolyn's beautiful hearts all in its Christmas colours and with its own version of the Mousehole Harbour lights.

Carolyn inspired me to experiment with a low angle shot in the Rock Pool Cafe at Mousehole.

 And more experimenting with close ups of surfaces of ornaments in the apartment.

I did have several sessions of printing with the Gelli plate (all of 5"x3")

I was really happy with this one.  The circles were made with an Acrylic Marker pen.  No, I hadn't heard of them either but having tried them out I love them!  You can even draw on the Gelli plate with them and then lift it off.  Hmmmm.  I've just thought.  You must be thinking, what is the point of that?  You may as well just draw on the print.  Ermm, yes, I think you're probably right.  Doh!  Anyway, it was fun playing.  The best bit was using feathers I had found on the seashore as resists on the plate and then printing onto a background from the feather.  The marks are beautiful. 

The prints were all made using deli-paper which came with the plate (I ordered my baby plate from Hilary Beattie).  It is a very lightweight paper and takes the paint beautifully from the plate.  I used some home made stamps, corks, bubble wrap, feathers, some wierd plasticy stuff that made wonderful organic marks, freezer paper resists and generally anything I could find to make interesting marks on the plate.  I cut out some little fish shapes from the freezer paper and had fun with both the positive and negative (resist) prints from them.  You can just see a fish's tail in the detail shot above.

So, since we've been home I've made a mug tote, to carry my mug to and from our Sit & Stitch day.

The pattern was really easy and it made up in a flash. (Sorry, the link isn't working well.  Maybe it's a temporary hiccup)

A long time ago I took part in Kate North's 'Another Little Quilt Swap' and received a quilt made by my pal Tina.  The quilt was A4 size and I love it but it has languished in a drawer (sorry Tina) so I thought it was time I did something with it.

I've turned it into a cover for my sketchbook.  I had to improvise to get it to fit the book and combined it with a sample from a Hilary Beattie workshop that had also languished.  At least now I can enjoy the artwork every time I use my sketchbook and I can move it on to every new sketchbook too.

The images aren't the best as I used flash, sorry about that.

Finally, yesterday I spent nearly 3 hours sorting out one of my boxes of scraps.  Boy!  Who knew it could take so long?  A friend is going to inherit the useable small pieces and the larger pieces have gone back into the box for making some scrap quilts. 

I've still got another box to go and then I need to start on the whole room!  Or maybe not! :-)

New Year in Mousehole

We decided to do something a little different this year and spend New Year down in Cornwall.  Instead of going to St Ives we chose Mousehole (pronounced Mowzal) where they make Christmas and New Year a bit special by putting up illuminations.  The Mousehole Harbour Lights are run by a group of volunteers and draw thousands of people to the small fishing village every year. 

We stayed in a fabulous apartment in a house right at the top of the village with views right across the village and out to sea.

 Looking down on the harbour at sunrise.

 The lounge was very comfortable and had lots of quirky art pieces all around.

 The apartment is in the house above all the others, on the left.

Looking out to Mounts Bay.

The dining table at the double-aspect window was a great place to play.

I sat here every morning to watch the sun come up too.

Not quite as sunny on New Year's Day but still lovely.


We were treated to a couple of beautiful sunsets too.

The view across the village at night was beautiful too.

We had a wander round the harbour at dusk to photograph the lights and reflections.

Not to be outdone, Mousehole staged its own firework display at midnight on New Year's Eve and my DH took miilions of images which I'll spare you.  Here are just two.

At the risk of making this post a mammoth one we did venture out of Mousehole courtesy of the very lovely and special Carolyn who took us to Morvah, which was shut so we talked to the cows and they slobbered everywhere.

We were also treated to a short visit to St Ives but alas no beachcombing this time.

 Approaching the town through the grounds of the Treloyhan Manor Hotel.

 The sandbank is still there in the mouth of the harbour.  It was interesting to see the muted colours in the clothing of the people on the beach, very different from the summer colourscape.

I'll be back with part two, not so long as part one, soon.  I need to go to bed and nurse the cold the old year left me with :-)