Another Little Day Trip

After our visit to Moulton Mill and the Flower Festival on Saturday I took the opportunity yesterday to join a local coach trip round 4 local churches which were also holding Flower Festivals. It seemed a good opportunity to visit buildings that I have often passed but never had the chance to go inside. Many of these buildings can trace their history back centuries and all were inspiring buildings.

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The church in the collage above is in the village of Donington, which was the birthplace of Matthew Flinders who was the first known European to circumnavigate the coast of Australia. He named many features of the coastline of Australia after members of his crew. Within the church is a display dedicated to Mattew Flinders including a modern stained glass window commemorating Flinders, Sir Joseph Banks, the botanist who was responsible for establishing Kew Gardens as one of the foremost botanical gardens in the world, and George Bass, the ship's doctor, after whom Bass Strait was named.

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An unexpected highlight of the day out was a visit to Springfields at Spalding. Springfields is one of those Outlet shopping places but it is also home to the Festival Gardens which are beautiful just at the moment, with all the tulips being in flower.

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I spent a very pleasant hour walking round the gardens and found the tulips glorious. If you click on the collage you can see a novel use for car exhausts! I would love to be able to make use of the rust on this sculpture. The sculpture in the bottom right of the collage is a type of windmill which should move in perpetual motion but was unmoving on such a calm day as yesterday. The surfaces of the paddles are all reflective but I couldn't get close enough to photograph them. Springfields will be especially busy this weekend when the annual Spring Flower Parade will be in full swing.

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This beautiful window was in the parish church of Gosberton which was, I think, the prettiest of all the churches. I have to apologise that I didn't photograph the church in its lovely setting. I'm sure that my DH and I will go back another time for another look as it is a lovely church. The double cross in the left hand panel is based on a cross in Southwell Minster and the Runic cross in the right hand panel is after a cross at Bakewell in Derbyshire.

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You can see from the photograph above that Gosberton's church is a substantial building. In all the churches there was the feeling of awe as your gaze is drawn ever upwards by the height of tthe building. I'm sure this was the intention when these buildings were erected. Many of the churches in Lincolnshire were built out of the wealth of the wool trade, hence their dramatic size. Gosberton was a particulary vibrant church with a great feeling of community and it was the only church that included displays by members of the local Embroiderers Guild and a Patchwork group. All of the churches had stalls to tempt people to part with a little money to maintain the churches. A lot of people had obviously worked very hard baking, sewing, knitting, and of course, there was plenty of tea and cakes on offer! Oh, and of course, the flower arrangements were inventive and stunning. A very pleasant way to spend a day.

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Today, apart from recovering from yesterday, I have been catching up on some of my sewing projects including making my first Little Gem. It just needs a little handsewing and then I shall be able to post it up here.

Ruby Dolls

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I heard from Sue today that she had received her Ruby Doll from me so I can now show her to you, the Ruby doll not Sue! I made my doll partly from my own dyed fabric. The arms and legs and skirt are commercial batiks.

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Sue's doll for me arrived before mine made it into the post so they had time to get acquainted :o)

It's official! Summer's here!

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Look what we saw today! Yay! The swallows are back! This chap and his/her partner were zooming about inspecting potential nest sites in a delapidated building at Langar in the Vale of Belvoir.

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You may recognise my DH in his usual stance of ace photographer during a walk we took today at Naturescape (more of which in a moment).

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The glorious weather we had yesterday has continued today and as I had a day out yesterday I thought it only fair that my DH had the cahnce of a run out in the sunshine today. I have known about Naturescape at Langar for a long time but, as with so many places on your doorstep, we had never taken the time to visit. As it turned out we are too early for the wildflowers per se but, as you can see from the photo of my DH, the cowslips were stunning. Great drifts had been planted around the woldlife pond and looked amazing in the sunshine.

Naturescape

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Our walk at Naturescape brought us to this wildlife pond which, thanks to the dynamic sky reflected in it, presented some wonderful design potential.
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I tried to take photos today that showed potential for transferring to textile design and looked for contrasts of shape and texture. Who knows where these images may turn up? Maybe in a Journal Quilt? We will be going back to Naturescape next month or in June to see the wildflower meadows which should be in full flower and to see the dragonflies that will be flying over this pond. What a lovely way to spend a sunny morning! Not forgetting the very yummy homemade cake that was sampled with a cup of tea in the Tea Room!

Moulton Mill and Mill Quilters

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This is the amazing mill that the quilt exhibition was held in this weekend. The mill is the tallest mill in the country and provided a fitting setting for the beautiful quilts on display.

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The quilts above are displayed in the modern extension to the mill, the outside wall of which you can see at the back of this photograph.

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The photos above and below were taken in the windmill itself. The bags which you can see on the staircase in the photo below arepart of a bag raffle. I had never seen the method used before. Each of the bags carries a number and the idea is that you buy raffle tickets and then put them into pockets carrying the number of the bag you would like to win. You can just see the numbers 1 to 4 which are the top of the pocket board in the photo. I've not had a phone call yet so I don't think I've won anything ;o(

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The exhibition was very busy while we were there and I'm sure that has continued today. I have to apologise that I didn't get this blogged yesterday but we were out for a meal with friends in the evening and I didn't have time to blog.

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Needless to say there was a certain amount of selling going on at the exhibition including a stall run by the very friendly ladies of Top Stitch Fabrics of Wisbech (no affiliation). They had some very tempting fabrics with them but I was fairly good and only bought one fat quarter, a couple of offcuts of velvety fabric and some handsewing threads. (Oops, no pics) I did spend some money on another stall which had trims for 10p a metre and buttons for 1p each! Excellent for us but sad for the lady who was retiring and selling her stock. (Oops! no pics again!)

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You may be able to see the rounded wall of the mill behind this quilt.

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After we had visited the Mill quilters we took the chance to visit the village church which was staging its Flower Festival. The theme of the exhibition was "Two by two" and there were many imaginative interpretations.

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Postman Pat and his cat Jess made an appearance.

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Isn't this hen beautiful? I've never seen the egg-like chrysanthemums flowers before.

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The weather yesterday was glorious and my friend Ann and I had a really lovely day enjoying all the creativity in this beautiful Lincolnshire village. If you live in or near the South Holland area of Lincolnshire you have the opportunity to visit Flower Festivals like theone we went to as many of the local churches are staging these events to raise funds. If they're anything like the display at Moulton they will be well worth the visit.

Harrogate and Happy Post

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Yesterday was a glorious Spring day and I enjoyed it with my Mum on a coach trip to the Harrogate Spring Flower Show. My Mum has long enjoyed flower arranging so she was keen to see all the Floral Art entries and we spent a lot of time admiring the beautiful displays on show. While I don't know much about flower arranging I did enjoy the beautiful flowers and needless to say kept my eyes open for texture and pattern in the exhibits. There were lots of design ideas that could be transferred to fabric/textile art and the collage above shows just some of the inspiration that caught my eye. Can you spot the headless woman? Oops! Mea culpa! You might also notice my little mummy checking out her camera. Aren't the 'planets' amazing? They are all made of natural materials, including in one instance, painted cabbage leaves! I kept returning to this stand over and again, there was so much to look at.

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Our latest swap over on the Yahoo group MixedMediaATC_UK (link in my sidebar) has involved making Ruby Dolls and today I have received my doll from Sue.

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Isn't she beautiful? Sue has paid great attention to detail and has added little shoes and necklaces and earrings. She is delightful!

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Sue also included some pretty bias binding and a small pouch and card. I have not seen printed bias binding before and I shall enjoy finding a project to include this in. Sue's lovely ruby doll has already met her counterpart who will soon be on her way to Sue but I can't show you her yet or it will spoil the surprise for Sue.

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Studio update: no progress :o(

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Tomorrow I am planning to go to Moulton near Spalding to see an exhibition by Mill Quilters and Friends at Moulton Windmill (you will need to scroll down to see the Lincolnshire entry). It is their first exhibition and the Mill will also be working so it should be a good trip out. We're making it a girls' day out but I think my DH would probably have enjoyed it for the Mill photo opportunity. Oops!

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Whatever you are all doing, have a lovely weekend. Can you believe we are nearly at the end of April?! Where did the month go?

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PS I nearly forgot! Good luck to everyone competing in the London Marathon on Sunday and in particular to the runners from Grantham and to Silverpebble's husband who is running in aid of Headway. There is still time to sponsor Andy by clicking on the link in my sidebar to 'justgiving'.

Disaster!!

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Remember this photo above from my last post? I had a great time yesterday clearing stuff out from my shed and spent this morning clearing the bookshelf and the metal drawer press that you can see in the photo. I stopped for lunch and had a little snooze while I waited for my DH to come home from work and move the press out of the corner for me. I was going to put it where the bookcase is. Was? I hear you ask. DH was manly heaving on the thing and dragging it along the floor when.........CRACK! The floor gave way underneath his foot! Gaaaaaaaaargh!

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Fortunately DH wasn't hurt and managed to move his foot before it went all the way through but what a mess the floor is in underneath the drawer unit!

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There is very obviously wet rot here and we are going to have to get the floorboards cut out and replaced before I can do anything else out there :o((( The rot is confined to the area under the press so I guess we should have had it up on blocks to allow air to circulate. Guess what we'll be doing when it goes into its next position? Up on blocks! I am hoping that if I speak very nicely to our friend he will come and rescue me so that I can get everything put back before too long. He's used to cutting thro floorboards in his job so hopefully he'll take pity on me and repair mine. I was getting on so well too! The best laid plans of mice and men! (I hope there aren't any mice under the shed! Or worse, rats! Yipes!)

Aaaaaaaagh!

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This, believe it or not (you probably do) is my wet working studio/shed. How did it get in this state........again? I have had a serious case of open-the-door-and-throw-it-in-itis over the winter! Heather aka The Ragged Old Blogger has made a sterling effort and sorted out her workroom and reminded me that mine is destined for a remake next week. Don't be fooled by that empty square foot on the table. It was only there because I took some books indoors.

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The drawer press in the photo above is going to have to be emptied so that I can move it to another corner (currently occupied by an obsolete hi-fi cabinet storing back issues of Leisure Painter and The Artist) to make way for these!

The cavalry is coming! (courtesy of Homebase/Argos - no affiliation). Assuming they deliver on Monday as requested. Fingers crossed. I hope the easy assembly statement is true if not my DH is not going to be happy......or maybe I should be a modern girl and get the hammer out myself??? Nah!!!

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The floor space you can see is about all there is all round the table and is in danger of taking over the entire space so that soon I won't even be able to walk round the room.

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The new shelves are going to go along the one wall I haven't photographed but first I am going to have to virtually empty the whole shed before I can get them in! Oh dear, I feel very faint all of a sudden. So much work and you can tell I'm not the world's best organiser, can't you? I'm going to lose at least a week's creating time to sort this mess out but I can't do any dyeing or painting until I do, so I shall just have to bite the bullet. Here's praying for dry weather so I can shove half of it outside to give me some room to work. If anyone knows any spring cleaning fairies who could help and stop me from turning round at the door and running away send them along please! If you don't hear from me for a few days you'll know I've drowned under a sea of stash. What a way to go! :o)

PS I am actually cringing at having to admit to this unholy mess! Embarrassed squirming going on here! lol

Ooops! How did that happen......again!

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Somebody in my blogroll, I can't remember who unfortunately, gave a link to a fabulous site for fabric and put temptation in my way! Truly Scrumptious Fabrics run by Kate Wyatt is Scrumptious by name and scrumptious by nature. These two carefully wrapped packages arrived today within a few days of my ordering. Easter added maybe a day to the delivery.

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The first pack is the Neutrals pack which has silks, linens, voiles and taffetas among other beautifully textured fabrics which have already got my imagination drooling! I think some of these are going to go straight into my Journal Quilt for May.

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I am not sure that you will get the wonderful vibrancy of this Aquamarine pack which has a wonderful range of glorious blues, turquoises and greens in gorgeous textures that I just want to sit and stroke! I don't even know the name of some of the fabrics but they feel beautiful. Sizes of the fabric vary from fat quarter to smaller pieces.

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I have tried to get the colour as close as I can to the actual colours in the photo above. The vibrant turquoise is similar to the fabric I used in my March JQ and I only had a tiny piece of it so I am delighted to have a fat quarter to play with again! (Are these taffettas?) * See Footnote

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Each of these packs cost £12.50 (plus postage)/$18.63 and Kate has been very generous with the amount and variety of fabric she has supplied. Added to that, the fabric had all been very carefully pressed/ironed before despatch and looked immaculate on opening the parcels. I don't have any affiliation with Truly Scrumptious but can you tell I'm delighted? I wouldn't hesitate to buy from Kate again in the future. She obviously cares very much about the service she provides.

* Kate sent me an email today with these details

Your Aquamarine pack contained:
3 silk dupion fat quarters and one fat eighth
1 duchesse silk fat quarter and one fat eighth
Fat eighths of silk habotai and silk satin
and various smaller pieces including a crushed and plain silk taffeta, silk crepe, velvet, brocade, silk organza and that fabulous two tone Imperial duchesse silk.

Your Natural pack contained:
5 silk fat quarters
1 cotton net fat quarter
Fat eighths of georgette,silk chiffon and linens
and a few more silk pieces.