Calm...

We had a lovely day of calm on Sunday, before the madness of Christmas kicks in. Walking on the beach we could see the snowy tops of the mountains in the Lake District, it was bitterly cold but very beautiful.

The Mill...

Wow, its been a very busy month so far, so excuse my lack of posting. However I am looking forward to a little Christmas excitment when I do the Christmas at the Mill event next Thursday at Islington Mill, Salford. I'll be sharing a stall with my very good friend Sarah Jay and I haven't done a market for a very long time, so it should be lots of fun.

Old slides...

Slides from childhood, these definitely inspire me. there's something lovely about slides that have started to degenerate a bit...

Always...

Inspired by the past, stories and myth. Photos from my grandparents honeymoon in the Lake District.

If you go down to the woods...

When the weather is right I'm a big fan of autumn.

Paper houses...

Perfect paper houses, you can build you own little town, great idea. I've got lots to post but I've been ill then I went away to a lodge in a wood, which was lovely and we had perfect autumn weather, but hasn't left me with much time to catch up. I'll be back with more pictures soon!

Online store...

I finally got round to putting in my first items in my online store, have a look here for details.

Don't know about where you are today but its blowing a gale here and the window is being pelted by rain, quite a difference to the sun and warmth we last week. Glad I took advantage of the warm evenings and weekend now!

Taking things apart...

Cushions...

Very excited to have made my newly printed postcard fabric into cushions with velvet backs, perfect for autumn, although it is unseasonaly warm here at the moment. I'll post more images soon and get my online shop stocked, it's on my to do list! What I love about the collage fabric designs is that the base for them were my mums old postcards from the 70's, one from her friend traveling through New Mexico and the other from her Grandma (my Great Grandma) from somewhere in the UK.

More houses...

Playing with houses..

One day on the way to school...

We finally get to a place where we are happy with this piece. More pictures soon...

Autumn...

Some quite incredible skies this weekend on our visit to see friends in York - sunshine then black clouds, its starting to feel a lot like autumn with all the oranges and browns around. Top picture is what our friend has grown in her allotment - most impressive, I had to photograph it to try and capture some of the amazing colours.

Underneath every building in the world...

So the weekend didn't quite prove to be the spectacular finish to the empty shop piece that we were hoping. In fact although we very much like bits of the piece we really don't like it visually all together. But that's OK because we did it to experiment and push the boundaries. We will carry on working on it, it's a bit like having a studio in the public eye. Even though we not sure about the outcome yet, I am still really pleased with what we've produced, we just need to make it sit together better, and whats the point in making if you can't experiment...

Until then, here are some beautiful images from this studio, found via,  liking this work a lot.

Empty shop piece...

We've been working hard to get this piece finished over the weekend. The work will be completed by next Saturday when we will have a little celebration, or a sleep, one of the two! This week we have still to laser cut our vinyl pieces and do a lot more paper work. If your in the area, Victoria Road, Thornton, Lancs, you'll be able to watch the piece grow over the next week. We'll be there most evenings, so come and say hello!

Dancing postcards...

My mum picked up this postcard for me at a carboot sale this weekend. How brilliant is it - the dresses are actually stitched on - looks like one of my pieces of work, not sure I can bring myself to alter it in anyway.

Old signs...

These are a sneak peek inside the empty shop we are using for our upcoming exhibition, I'll be spending a lot of time there this weekend in preparation. I love some of the old signage in there, especially the Salora sign. It used to be a TV repair shop but it looks like it would have made a good private detectives office with the wood cladding! Very excited to be working with this person again, looking forward to seeing what will develop as we start to install the work.
Also got a package at the weekend of some samples for a fabric design I've been working on, can't wait to do some sewing with it, more coming soon!

Paper houses...

Making quite a mess...

Saturdays...

Saturday has been spent making presents for friends, wrapping parcels and sewing new cushions. Oh, and eating rice pudding for tea, building up energy for a bike big ride tomorrow!

Collections...

Work developing for up coming project - lots of little collecions forming.

Apples...

Lots and lots of apples from the in-laws garden waiting to be made into lovely things for the freezer.

Changing..

Not sure what its like in your little corner of the globe, but here in the north of England, this morning felt decidedly autumnal - which just isn't on. As much as I like autumn, we just have not had enough summer yet, I really think the weather should start trying harder. I'm not sure if its the terrible weather, or the 'nearly time to go back to school' mentality that we must have had programmed into to us years ago, but I have to say I'm in rather a reflective mood. I'm having a week of circulating those age old questions, how do we find a balance in our life, do what we want whilst still paying the mortgage etc etc. Somebody told me the other day the gap between what we have and we want is what motivates us in life, and I know that this is very true, but sometimes I wish the gap was a little smaller! I realise that there are no real answers to these questions, and that we just have to plod away at it, but I think its important to acknowledge the difficulties in the creative life, the sacrifices we make and share them with like minded people. Basically, I'm having a moan, feel from to moan back at me!

Something in the pipe line...

Something I'm working on means I'm looking back on childhood photos for inspiration and stories. Yes that is me a long time ago!

One day there was a bird...

He's not totally sure what he's doing or where he's going yet, but he's made an appearance in this work, so we'll see where it goes...

He may well be going through some of the same issues as are being discussed over here, he's a very philosophical little bird.  Perhaps I should call him Pip, and yes I know but it can be a boy's name too...

Escape...

There's some very strange things happening in the world today, escape to your imagination...

Gentle Saturdays...

Spent a lovely Saturday with my fairy god child, walking to the swings, eating vegetables from the garden and general gentle times. Ready for a whole day of making tomorrow, in preparation for an upcoming project.

Day dreaming...

Can someone take me back here please?!

Tuesday...

Paper, comics, thread, ink....

This weekend...

This weekend brought unexpected visitors, a visit to Brantwood and sandwiches on the jetty. I also bought this book by John Ruskin, which I'm very much looking forward to reading.