View of the Malvern Hills

I took some pictures of the skyline to get an accurate image of the Malvern Hills whilst at Croome Park.  I have joined two photos together to get this vista.  We live at under the end of the hill on the right, below North Hill and End Hill. The Worcester Beacon is behind the cedar tree in the centre.

Letter C

Letter C came from some plasterwork in the grounds of Croome Park.  We had a lovely walk in the grounds over Christmas.

Letter D

D is for Door ...
especially when you turn it round sideways.

Letter 'E'

I have had this one for ages.  It was part of a drain cover.  Need 'D' and 'C' but have my 'A' and 'B' already.

Letter 'F'

 Not very original this one ... I saw it on something else.

Seasons Greetings

At the last meeting of the Worcester branch of the Embroiderers' Guild all those present were given a present from the lucky dip.  Mine was a kit to make a Christmas card.  I thought I would never get round to doing anything with it, however, whilst having a break and a cup of coffee and as a distraction from stitching the dreaded curtains, I decided to stitch the beads onto the piece of cream background that had been provided.

After several stops and starts, I eventually got all the beads stitched on.  You were then meant to glue it to the piece of gold card provided, but I thought I must be able to do something better with it than that.  I got out my Inktense blocks and coloured in the background and wetted it.  I was still not happy so I added some Quink ink, then I ran it under the tap.  It took ages to dry. In the meantime I had found a piece of denim for the background which I had glued to the reverse of the gold card.  (Bet you can see why it takes me forever to make curtains!!)

Not sure what I am going to do with it now ... perhaps it will get posted to someone one day ... in the meantime it will go into a box, much the same as lots of the things I play around with!!

Letter G

This is my pathetic effort at a letter 'G' and is part of a wrought iron door near the bookshop in Malvern

I am off in search of a letter 'F' now .....

More Yarn Bombing

Oh what happened to poor old Elgar .... he looks like something from Planet of the Apes.  This is the result of a 'Yarn Bombing' day to celebrate the switching on of the Christmas Lights on Belle Vue Terrace.  I had forgotten all about it and came across a storm of snowflakes hanging on the railings and lamp posts when I was out shopping yesterday.

Not as good as Bishops Castle, nor as colourful, but still very seasonal.  The snowflakes made with fluffy wool were the best and some had been stitched onto plastic so that they stayed rigid.

Yarn Bombing and all that

 Starting at the top of the hill and working our way down we saw all of these woolly things ....

 Stopped for coffee and a cake and discovered these two lovely buildings in the secondhand book and record shop ...

Yarborough House - Should it be 'Yarnborough'?

These were on both sides of the entrance to a private house

 The delightful new bookshop had its handrails decorated eitherside and also a frill along the bottom of the windows.  Just noticed the knitted lacey edge to the windowsills too!

Loved the peapod on this side

Detail of above

More Bishops Castle

Spotted this house!!

We went to Bishops Castle so that we could see the Marches Book Arts Group exhibition in the Public Hall.  It also meant we had chance to visit some of the lovely shops in Bishops Castle including Textile Traders in the High Street who sell lovely fabrics, beads, printblocks, etc from all around the world.

Whilst we were visiting the exhibition this lovely steam engine was brought out and put on display

and finally on the way back to the car through the Auction Mart this sign appealed to my quirky sense of humour ....

Caterpillar Binding

I have struggled a bit with this binding and still have not mastered making a curvy caterpillar.  Maybe a task for over Christmas when I need a break from the DIY jobs in the house.

Top Caterpillar was my 2nd attempt

A closer view

Practice 1 and 2

My second practice attempt led me to believe it was probably better not to follow the instructions too precisely.  Instead of wrapping the threads as I went, I found it easier to make the legs and then go back and wrap the body.  I wrapped the top caterpillar on my book cover with chenille thread which gave him a furry look.  He has also got bead eyes and gold thread wrapped around his body to add some sparkle.

Worcester TJ Part 3

Inspiration

Resolved piece (loved this)

March Artwork - must have a go at this

March resolved piece

This piece folded out of the sketchbook

May inspiration pg 2

May inspiration pg3

Resolved piece for May based on a tile design by Peggy Angus for Carters Tiles.

The entry for May was amazing and was so relevant after being to Compton Verney as they have a collection of Enid Marx' work and Folk Art Collection.

Compton Verney

The Venture Group had a day out at Compton Verney on Wednesday of this past week as our Christmas outing.  We did not get a lot of time to look around at everything due to the fact that we exchanged our Travelling Journals, had a guided tour of the "Curious Beasts/Animal Alphabet" exhibtion which was followed by lunch in the restaurant.  As it was a nice day yesterday (Saturday) I managed to persuade DH we should go again and we had a lovely day, saw much more and even had time for a walk in the grounds.

A fantastic Autumn afternoon

Took time to see the Laura Ellen Bacon sculptures from 2011

First Encounter

Web Site

the latest commission by Hilary Jack "The Nest" is amazing and you can walk up steps to stand on a platform and enjoy the view ...