Tuesday 28 February 2012

A twist of lemon

Enjoying the sunshine in Menton on the Cote d'Azur during the Lemon Festival with Martin and Janine. Off to the Jardin de Lumiere this evening - more pics of this night time lemon extravaganza later.




Monday 27 February 2012

Off to squeeze some lemons in Menton

I shall be away until Friday 1st March when I shall be celebrating St David's Day and announcing the Drawing Competition winners.

See you soon with pics of lemon trees.

Wednesday 22 February 2012

Fancy a bit of sun and textiles?

Join me in Jersey the week after next. Lots of exciting workshops - including Shibori with me -  and free textile events. I can email you the workshop details or phone Pat Robson - her contact details in the pink box below.

Monday 20 February 2012

After an amazing  five hour car journey diagonally across Wales, I arrived at the magnificent house, Plas Tan-Y-Bwlch with terraced gardens on steep slopes with lovely views over the Vale of Ffestiniog and snow capped mountains of Snowdonia in the distance.
'Plas' was built in the 18th century by a wealthy local slate mine owner and is a large, impressive stone built house with a separate servants’ block and a salt-water swimming pool, the water for which was brought up on the Ffestiniog narrow gauge train from the coast at Porthmadog. Elsewhere on the estate are lodges, a dower house, farm buildings, sawmill, smithy, game larder and a laundry cottage along with a deer park and lake.

  

'Plas' is now owned by Snowdonia National Park and is used as a study centre for outdoor pursuits as well as many in indoor pursuits such as textiles. My Shibori class worked in the refurbished glass fronted stable block; Ruth Issett and her group (with Chris Jones and Jane Jenkins from Distant Stitch) were working in the 'messy' studio above and interesting spinning and beading classes in the library and lounge rooms.

Chrissie and Elke show their busy tables, making fabulous scarves and other accessories using the steam-setting method of Shibori. Thanks for a super weekend girls and I hope you all had a safe journey home.

Thursday 16 February 2012

Shibori in Snowdonia!

Amid the peaks of the snow covered mountains  - I'll post the pics on my return, but in the meantime, I'm busy preparing new samples and cutting lengths of fabulous coloured fabrics ready for the workshop event at Plas Tan Y Bwlch, a residential centre. I'll be meeting up with college friend, Ruth Issett, who is also running one of her workshops there, so we're set for a fun weekend.
Before and after photos.



Monday 13 February 2012

Happy St Valentine's Day!

Hope your special person has responded appropriately today.


Love and best wishes to all Distant Stitch students and good luck to everyone who has entered the Drawing Competition which closes at the end of today.

Wednesday 8 February 2012

St Valentine's Day - a date to note!

'LOOKING INTO' Drawing Competition
As I write this post, you have seven days left to enter.
Send me a message with your own blog address to say you have posted your drawings on your blog. To check out the details, use this link to the Distant Stitch website.

Don't miss out on one of those prizes!

 
'Looking Into' my garden.
Thought you might like to take a look at this beautiful fellow who remained there quietly in the soil while I planted something and waited while I got my camera and sketchbook.
Thank you Mr. Toad but you should be hibernating!

Wednesday 1 February 2012

Sketchbook Drawing Competition

You can post your drawing competition entries on your blog now until the final day on 14th February.

Please post all your drawings in one posting to make it easier for the judges. Then send me an email or leave a message on my blog with your own blog address.

This is very exciting and I hope you are all enjoying drawing anything you like that could fit in with the title "Looking Into".

If you still haven't got going yet - well - you have 13 more days!

You could still make it if you started today!

So, sharpen your pencil and remember that if you don't enter, you will miss out on one of the lovely prizes on offer. Take a look at the details on the Distant Stitch website.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon!