There it was - Gone!

All that time preparing for Christmas and then it seems to pass in a flash.    But I have had some beautiful presents which remind me of that lovely time spent with our family.

I obviously have impeccable taste as the original painting of the above print is in Prince Charles' downstairs loo!   My husband bought me this and allowed me to choose it to be on the safe side.   I love it and if you look closely, in the bottom left corner you will see the Prince of Wales' feathers and underneath is the title of the painting 'The Hare Apparent'!

Among many other gifts was this beautiful Venetian glass pen from our son and daughter-in-law.  I hope you can see the gold flecks in the glass which make it look so elegant.   I am almost afraid to use it in case it rolls off the table and breaks.   It writes very smoothly,  but it would be interesting to try it with a calligraphy nib to see what other effects I could get.  
It has been a glorious day today but we are warned of further stormy weather to come.  So many have had their Christmas ruined by the power failures and flooding - they have my commiseration - I hope they find the strength to cope and that their lives will be back to normal before too long.   The same applies to those who fell foul of colds and flu or other infections.   We kept free of germs but lost our garden fence in the gales, so the first job of the New Year will be to get a new one installed.  I call that getting off light!

Merry Christmas to one and All!

Just a quick post to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.   I hope you are managing to stay free of the germs which abound at present and have not been blown or washed away by the awful weather we've been getting.   A section of our garden fence has collapsed but otherwise we are unscathed.

Have a lovely Christmas and I'll try to be a more frequent blogger in the New Year.  What makes me think that is almost a resolution and almost guaranteed to be broken?!!

Indulgence.

I found the current issue of this lovely magazine on the shelves when out shopping today and grabbed a copy.  It is a firm favourite of mine among the plethora of other new publications which have flooded the market in recent years.   It has the most beautiful photography and is very informative with features on various arts, history, folklore, recipes, crafts and more besides.  It's pages are sprinkled with fitting quotations from poetry and prose by famous writers.  It has a sister magazine called Landlove which will be out next week and that is hard to resist too.   Sometimes I have to be even more indulgent and buy both.  For those of us who don't live as close to the countryside as we would like, they are just the thing.  I hope they don't go down the 'Country Living' path which was once a favourite but seems to have become the publication for those who have weekend cottages in the country and just play at it.

I attended my final meeting of the textile group I belonged to on Tuesday.  It was our Christmas meeting and we hired a local hall, each took a plate of food to be shared and had a wonderful lunch.   It was pre-arranged as to who would provide what, to ensure a balance of dishes, and so much nicer than going out to eat.  I shall certainly miss the companionship of fellow members but am quietly relieved to shed the commitment of producing work to exhibition standards.  

I shall still carry on making textile art and have plans for a couple more books going round in my head at the moment.  Currently I am making printing blocks for the online course I am working on.  I foresee a very colourful and messy time ahead.

All ready for Christmas?   Not long now, and don't panic - you're supposed to enjoy it!

I'm still here.

The time between my posts seems to get longer and longer.   I suppose I have been busy but there doesn't seem to be much to show for it.   I am nearing the end of my online course and there is a lot of drawing in this last chapter which is quite time consuming, especially the time I spend avoiding getting down to work!  I am also making an altered book for one of our daughters but can't show you yet as it's a surprise for her birthday in April.  It is taking ages to complete but I'm nearly there and then there will just be the cover to do.   When that is done I shall put it away and then take a final look to see if anything more needs to be done shortly before I give it to her.

I have my little friend Poppy with me today and we have just been for a walk.   It's lovely out there between the squally hail and rain storms and the leaves are falling fast now.   When the sun shines the colours are beautiful.  

To get Poppy to turn her head like this I spoke very quietly to her and was saying 'Shall we put our coat and shoes on a go for a walk?   Shall we?'    'Shall we' seems to be the key phrase and engenders great anticipation of wonderful things to come.   I'm sure I never quite turn up trumps for her.   It was hard to get the best swivels as her head seems to be constantly on the move from left to right and back again, but these too are not far off the mark.  

I am still waiting for delivery of an order which ArtVanGo despatched on the day I ordered it, which was Monday 11th November.  I finally succumbed and treated myself to some Derwent Coloursoft crayons.  They will be ideal for the coursework I am doing at the moment.   Maybe I'll get them tomorrow - we will be out so that will mean a trip to the sorting office the following day to collect the parcel.   I think it is a bit hard on suppliers when they respond so promptly to orders, to have to advise their customers to allow at least 10 working days for delivery.   The postal charges keep increasing but the service doesn't.

I suppose I should start to get myself in the festive mood.  It seems to get harder every year but I always enjoy our family get-together on Boxing Day.   Note to self - write out 100 times:  I must not think Bah Humbug!   I must not think Bah Humbug!    I must not ..........

I think it's finished.

The pictures go from front cover, through all the pages to the back cover of my fabric book.

I made the little spiralled panels from painted and gilded paper clay.  The clasp and hinges are painted Grungbord which is a product found in good craft shops.  All have been stitched in place.  I have posted some of the pages before so apologise for the repeats. 

Most of the images are made with foam print blocks and taken from a Dover book of medieval designs, one or two others are bits that I already had and seemed to fit the theme.   I am in danger of ruining things by fiddling but feel that some areas need a bit more definition.  I shall put it away for a few days and take another look to see what is wanted.

We had an interesting day yesterday.  After doing the weekly shop we were going to Pershore which is a very nice little market town just northwest - I think -  of Tewkesbury.  However, the car was making heavy weather of being driven so we headed for home along the A38 instead of taking the motorway.  Thank goodness we did, as not far south of Gloucester the clutch died on us, fortunately in a layby with a snack van in it.   I was looking forward to being taken out for lunch but that bacon sandwich went down a treat and we sat patiently doing our respective crossword puzzles as we waited for the AA and our son to come to our rescue.  Hopefully the car will be back with us by Wednesday but my husband's pocket will be quite a bit lighter!   You never know what the day will bring.

Arboretum photos.

It is not a good idea to spend the morning shopping and then go to the Arboretum.  We were both wilting a bit by the time we got there and I had no idea how much it has developed since we last went, probably 25 or 30 years ago!   The bit I remember is now referred to as the Old Arboretum and there are acres of lovely walks through amazing trees which just weren't opened to the public back then.   We didn't even get to the Acer Grove but someone told us the leaves would have taken on more colour in a week or two.  That is if there are any leaves left on any trees after the forecast storm.   We hope to revisit on a non-shopping day and will phone first to find out how things are.

There are photos crying out to be taken at every turn and I did find some colours.

I love the way shrubs and small trees are planted almost peeping out from behind a majestic giant.

Or they just light up a little glade where there is no other colour yet.

I don't know which tree has these enormous leaves.   If you look carefully you will see an ordinary oak leaf lying nearby.  The large leaf must have been at least a foot long.

The colour of this bark really glowed in the sunlight.

I couldn't resist a shot of these beautiful fungi.   I must find out what they are.

The book is nearly finished so I'll put it on my next post.

  Batten down the hatches everyone, and keep safe.

Another fortnight has passed!

Where does the time go?  I can't believe how long the gaps between my posts have become just lately.

As you can see I have been busy making more pages for my fabric book.  I'm not sure what the gentleman on the left in the above photo is doing, but it looks rather dangerous to me.

And I wonder if this one has toothache, poor chap.

I can't fathom what it is about their mournful expressions which appeals to me so much.   Usually I prefer happy faces but these are so quaint and quirky.

Now I must pluck up the courage to make the cover and bind the pages into it.

After a very doubtful start to today, it has turned into a lovely autumn day.  We are hoping to go to Westonbirt Arboretum tomorrow, weather permitting - I would like to take some photos of the glorious colours at this time of year.   Fingers crossed.