Lake Windermere...

Yesterday I visited Lake Windermere with my lovely sister. We had a fabulous day and oh boy, the weather was truly on our side, glorious sunshine, not a single drop of rain to be had. I have not been to Windermere before and I really enjoyed it, such a beautiful picturesque place. We sat by the lake and had cinder toffee and chocolate ice cream which was scrummy yummy. On our way home we went via Blackpool to see the illuminations and stopped of for fish and chips.  I was positively shattered when I got home but I loved every single minute of our day out.

Regional day...

I had a great day yesterday at the regional day. Two very interesting speakers Lisa Walton and Isabel Dibden-Wright. As always I took my camera but it didn't even make it out the bag, so sorry no pics. I love regional and area days they are good for meeting like minded people and yesterday was no exception. I met a lovely lady named Pat who did her degree in social care at Uclan. I also met the new rep for Lancashire, Liz. We had apparently met before on Ferrets work shop but shamefully I did not remember her but then again I don't remember anybody else on that work shop. I wore my new shoes, very high red wedges and they where much admired. I took my Summer Harmony quilt as did my delightful friend Gwen, for show and tell. I was thrilled that we got some oooo's and arr's from the audience. Fun, laughter and good company was the order of the day I enjoyed every minute.

Always looking....

Since going to college last year I am constantly looking at the world around me for inspiration and ideas. However, I am very camera shy and often feel uncomfortable just whipping out my little camera and taking pictures.  Yesterday I decided to overcome my embarrassment and take photographs of anything that sparked my interest. Seeing as I have not blogged for a while I thought I would share just a few of the photos that I took.

Of all the things.....

I am rubbish at embroidery and needle turn appliqué and what was our first assignment? A small sample of embroidery stitches and a piece of needle turn appliqué.  To be fair you only had to do a running stitch, a back stitch and a satin stitch. However, if anyone felt confident to do other stitches from the sheet provided then you could. For the needle turn appliqué you only had to do a circle or a square. Does anyone think I've been a bit of a show off by doing a jac'o'bean flower??? (That is a rhetorical question so don't answer that lol). It took me all day Sunday to complete my flower but I think its fairly expectable, however, it is far from perfect and anyone who is an expert at needle turn appliqué would surely laugh at my attempt at this incredibly skilful technique. I have to say I was quite shocked at such a request from the teacher and the five minute demonstration at the technique to a group of novice sewers (no disrespect to the group of lovely girls). I myself find this technique difficult and I have attempted needle turn appliqué several times including a very intense work shop with Barbara Chainey no less! and I am rubbish at it. The thing is I could not bring myself to do just a little circle or a square, it seemed so pointless, so out came the Jac'o'bean book and this was the end result.

First projects for UIni.....

Choose a natural unusual object. i:e fruit, shell stone leaf etc.... I chose a pomegranate..

Make representations of your object by drawing, painting, printing  etc....

Be realistic and impressionistic with you drawings of your object.

The last two weeks have been really busy but I am enjoying every minute. I realised I have not blogged for a little while but in truth I have not had anything to blog about. (sorry) I thought I would give you all a glimpse of what I have been doing this week and a peek into my very first sketch book for Uni. I feel I have exhausted drawing, painting, printing and photographing the pomegranate so today I am hoping to stitch one on my lovely Bernie.  This project is for creative thinking and besides the sketch book I have had to collect hundreds of images from magazines, books and take photos of everything and anything to be able to create mood boards.  Mood boards are new to me but I will save showing you my first one for another posting.

Its a start.....

It has been a real busy week and time has just flew by. I was getting my bag ready for Uni tomorrow and decided to take time out and decorate the cover of sketch book number one. A few days ago I bought a pair of pumps from Primark and the brown paper bag that they came in has been lying on the floor in my sewing room.  When I decided to decorate the front of my sketch book this morning I picked up the brown paper and bag and decided it needed to be ripped into strips and it became the basis for my collage. I added masking tape, again roughly torn into strips, a bit of coloured paper and began to randomly stick the pieces to the front of the sketch book. Nothing was planned and I used whatever was to hand. I even had some little left over threads on my desk from the current stitch along I am doing with Homespun Magazine. I added some stamped images and the text Imagine, Wonder and Dream is a lovely strip of cloth. I am really pleased with the end result as I am not very confident when it comes to collage. I hope I will make the inside just as interesting as the front cover and it invites people to want to take a peek inside.

Unexpected gift.....

I have started Uni and it has been a very busy week. Last night I went to Liverbirds and was greeted with a beautifully wrapped gift and card on the table where I sit.  It was from my very generous, wonderful friend Sue. Inside was a big square Oink sketch book (my favourite type of sketch book) and a lovely lilac A5 (very posh) sketch book, to start me off on my journey in Uni. I was so overwhelmed, I think I hugged her and her son Josh to death. On the bus home I took out my new sketchbook and stroked them loving, enjoying the anticipation of knowing they will both soon be filled with doodles, scribbles and wonderful images of things that inspire me to be creative. Sue thank you for your wonderful and very thoughtful gift. I am truly blessed to have such amazing friends in my life. XX