Off on our travels again

Just thought I'd let you know I won't be around for a couple of weeks as we're off to the Farne Islands to see the Puffins. Having an OH who's waking hours, and probably non waking ones, are filled with finding ways of catching wild life on camera, does have it's compensations now and then.

I finally got around to sifting through what I did, creatively in Norwich, and as a result of my spending spree there, so thought I'd post a few pics before I go silent!



This is a sample I did when I was sitting on the deck in our little chalet by the river. I used the Oliver Twist yarns that I bought at the quilt shop



And here is the start of the back for the jumper that I bought back in February and finally managed to start.



This is the pattern, notice I didn't go for the green. not my colour.

I did do a little WC sketch too but it needs finishing so I will put that up when I get back .



I put the lovely turquoise printing ink and gorgeous little roller to good use and created this fabric swatch. I don't know what I'll do with it yet.



And finally on the same theme I made this PC for Doreen as a swap for the lovely tassel that she sent me.
It was loosly based on the Traci B book.

Look forward to catching up when I get back, after I've done the domestic thing as our children and neighbours will be in and out on live stock and garden duty, so no point in doing it before I go.

More from the Gower Peninsular

We had a great Father's Day visit with our DS and his DF and managed to fit in another gorgeous walk on the Gower Peninsular (South Wales).
Just a PS here for Carol. I'm so sorry that we passed right by your door again! but my DS said we had a 9 mile walk to do so there was no time for socialising :-( but we intend to come up again in September/October so will try to meet up then.

Anyway the scenery was breathtaking and just like the TV ads, hardly anyone on the beaches.



I think this is Oxwich Bay. The walk took us through some lovely woodland, disappearing every so often into little tunnels of greenery that were quite magical, it was very difficult to capture the atmosphere on camera but here's a couple of shots.





Along the way we discovered this great tree swing and guess who had to have the first go, our intrepid tour guide (DS) of course.




We didn't keep up the pace that the walk guide suggested, surprise, surprise!! So after lunch, having completed about a third of it we headed back along he beach, but not before I'd taken a couple of textural shots.



I just loved the dappled light on this fallen tree and the leaf reflections.



And this seaside thistle plant was too good to miss, even if it was a bit hurriedly taken as DS disappeared over the sand dunes!



On the way back along the beach we discovered this jelly fish, thank goodness it was a dead one as we were paddling at the time! I've never seen one this close before.

We finished off the day with a lovely Italian meal in Cardiff Bay, followed by drinks in the old Custom House.

On Sunday the weather had done the dirty and we got soaked on our walk into the Bay to see the French Market, so we just had to warm up and dry out at my favourite gallery Craft in the Bay. We'd already been treated to a delicious cooked breakfast, but managed to squeeze in a cake and coffee, well it would have been rude not to!

Once again our DS and his DF proved to be the 'hosts with the most'

Dedication is all you need!!

We have a pair of chaffinches nesting in our hedge , so of course my intrepid OH has had to get out all the gear to get a pic of Mum and Dad on the nest.
You might think this was a fairly quick procedure, unless of course you've been following the Spring Watch team, on T V. Anyway if has involved scaling the ladder from dawn till dusk in order to achieve about 300 shots, one of which is this beauty.
BTW he set his gear up slowly over several days so Mum and babies were well used to him and took no notice of him during the daily feeding frenzy. Boy am I glad I'm not a Mummy bird, she never stops!



And just to prove it here she is in another shot , hot off the camera ! Isn't she gorgeous!



Speaking of babies I thought you might like to see one of the recent shots of our latest GS, he wasn't too happy here as yo can see, I thought his T-shirt said it all. But on the other hand, maybe he was thinking:



One day I'll be as clever as my big brother!



We're off on another flying visit to our DS and his DF for Father's Day so will be off line till late Sunday/Monday, have a good weekend.

Calendar Girls PC's

I had lovely surprise today when the post man brought this lovely PC from Debbi who's doing the CG swap. The beading is magnificent and the colours are really subtle, I'm so thrilled. As if that wasn't enough Debbi also sent me these gorgeous napkins.



I've had a very productive post holiday day in the studio today playing with all my new stuff and will blog the results as soon as I've had time to develop it further and do the dreaded photos.

In the meantime here's a pic of the CG June PC that I made for Doreen




The inspiration.

I started with a BG created by dipping a folded kitchen towel into several different dyes, the method is in Traci Bautista's book Collage Unleashed. As this months text featured friends lending a helping hand I thought I'd use hands as the subject. I found this pair on Google, and changed the colour. I then backed the towel with interfacing and printed the hands and some text on to it. I finished it off with some beading and some doodles in the TB style. I then added some wadding and stitched the outline of the hands to give it some depth.

Last month I forgot to post up my CG PC here so here's a pic of that too, the method is on the CG blog along with all the other PC's if you've missed them.

Mission accomplished

We're now back from our lovely break in Norfolk, and thank goodness there was a small window in the weather on Thursday, when the sun came out and so did the Swallowtail butterflies. Patience paid off and my OH got this lovely shot.

I did do some creative stuff while away, but it's all WIP so I will post it up later. In the meantime here's some textural shots I took on the day we went sight seeing.

This is a close-up of an eel catcher's basket that we saw in the 'Toad Hall' cottage, I really liked the spots on the cane work.



And this one is one of the cogs on a windmill that we think was used to pump water.



I loved the green moss on this one and the textures.



This is the windmill that the cogs were photographed from.

Shopping and Norwhich

The sun is almost out and the boys are off butterfly hunting, so I’m on a day of much needed R&R.

As promised here’s my stash confessional, the first pic being my purchases from the lovely quilt shop.
I don’t know what you call it but I managed to get some double-sided bondable vilene for my PC’s and some Wonder Under, thought I’d try that instead of bondaweb. I then just had to buy the Oliver Twist pack, well you do don’t you, and then I spotted the coloured cotton a broder, which I can’t get down South at all. And to finish off 2 reels of beaading thread and some ribbons for sampling. Oh I forgot the cotton batting I just had to try!



I went into Norwhich yesterday and found the lovely art shop I’d sourced on the net , before I left home, and you’ve guessed it they had the exact little roller that I had to go and find as my friend Shirley has one for her lino printing, so I had to have it, plus some gorgeous turquoise printing ink, also coveted from Shirley’s stash.



And then as I’d done so well in getting around with my map I had to find the fabric shop and would you belive it, they had some wonderful cotton lawn and something they called craft cotton, so I just had to buy it. Ooops!!!




Anyway after all that shopping I was looking for somewhere quiet to recover and went off in search of the cathedral and here’s some pics I took there.



I can never resist the patterns of cloister arches, there's something so pleasing about the symetry.



One of the 1000 roof bosses!!



I couldn't resist this gorgeous boar!!



Or this beautiful tomb pattern.

Well it's off to have a creative rest of the day now, this is life !!

Norfolk

I discovered when we arrived that the area of Norfolk that we're staying in, 3 miles out of Norwich on the edge of the river Yare, has a free open internet connection, so yippee!! I can blog! Not such good news for the projects that I bought with me.
So here are a few pics of the trip so far.



These cheeky pair kept me company yesterday while the men went looking for their butterflies, they thought they could come in for a free meal, no chance!



This is the balcony where I can watch the river while I blog.



Our local pub, but only if we take the dingi or drive several miles round the road route.



As the weather was too wet and dull to entice the butterflies out we went in search of windmills instead and found this beauty.



We found a lovely little cottage, named 'toad hall' oddly enough, it's been restored as a marsh keeper's cottage of the late 1800's. There were some lovely textile artefacts on show, as you can see.







To finish the day I had to have a spending splurge in a fabulous quilt shop, but I'll reveal those naughties on the next post.