Last Year's Journal

Stuck for things to put on my blog today so looked through last year's Yorkshire Travelling Journal pages and found this lovely bird .....

and some nice wild trees.

Unstructured Drawing

For some reason this week I was reminded of the cola pens we made with Amanda Hislop so I found a can and the pattern, plus some narrow dowel and made some new pens.  They are such fun to draw with using various inks, waterproof and non-waterproof.  You can spray the lines with water, make them thick or thin, fine or dragged.  I tried a cheap energy drink can I picked up on my travels, but it was not much use - metal too thin.  I resorted to buying a Guiness can and it was much better. Sorry to say I had to drink the contents!!

New Journey

Finished a small bag for my new Travelling Journal, which has been put in the post and is now wending it's way to the first participant based in Harrogate, North Yorkshire. Hoping to receive my first one from Masham next week.  It is soooo exciting starting a new project and anticipating what surprises will arrive in the post over the next year. Hope we all manage to adapt to the new format of one long, narrow piece of cloth.

Banish the Blues

Met a friend for coffee at NT Hanbury Hall on Tuesday morning.  First time I had been there and I will certainly go back again.  We caught up on what we had both been doing, chatted and drank lots of coffee.  Need to return to view inside the house and explore the gardens further.

Journal Playtime

Although I am meant to be getting on with the new Yorkshire Travelling Journal, which has a new format, I have also been playing at making voids in my 'Dummy Run' one.

Sting in the Tale

I have not been stitching anything that I could blog for a while so have looked at last year's Yorkshire Travelling Journal entries to see what I could find.  I messed about with dyeing with nettle leaves in the middle of the year.  An experience I will not be repeating.  It was very smelly and the results were very poor.  I used the Silk Noil fabric I dyed to create this piece ....

I made a plastic stencil and used Markel Oil Sticks to colour the fabric.  The image was then stitched into and a scrap from a dictionary was added.

Back to some kind of Routine

It was back to the weekly trek to Cheltenham on Thursday.  Having done nothing over the festive period (and still suffering with an ongoing cold) I took Sue's advice and chopped up an existing print and inked it up. A surprising result.

Hope Springs Eternal

These gorgeous little snowdrops were out in flower when I parked the car to go to the hairdressers yesterday.  It was bitterly cold, yet they were still happily sitting there with their heads bobbing in the breeze.

Also managed to fit a little bit of stitching in whilst waiting for the dinner to cook and almost finished the final needlecase ....

Got the Needle

Folded Needlecases

I have not been well all week as I seem to have got a horrible cold, but have been trying to ignore it and get on with finishing off these three needlecases.  Probably not a good idea but they are meant for presents and I need them for next week.  I still have one to finish.  I just used up some bits and pieces I had lying around and then added stitch. I am a very sad person as I can never bear to throw away any of the bits of shibori fabric I dye, as they always have special little areas on them, so this is an ideal use for them.

Isn't Nature Wonderful

Following a recent walk I came home with a very sticky large fir cone which has been sitting on a piece of plastic in the Utility Room for about a week now waiting for me to get round to do some drawing from it.  It oozed a very sticky resin all over everything including my gloves and it is very difficult to remove.

Stupidly I decided to turn the cone around as it was getting water on it from the draining board and what did it do but explode!!

It is so beautiful and the seeds are amazing.

The lower part of it has a long spike that the wings must be attached to.  It looks just like an upside down spinning top.  It is actually the wrong way up but I am afraid to touch it as it will probably disintegrate even more.

This is the otherside of it.

Cinema Visit

Between Christmas and New Year went to the cinema to see Paddington II and decided to walk as I needed some exercise.  This surprising view towards Bredon Hill was taken from the centre of Great Malvern and looks as if I am out in the countryside.

Wish I could get out on my bike but the weather is too windy, wet and cold at the moment and I have also got some kind of flu which has given me a cough, sore throat and temperature so not straying far.