German Holiday!!!

Hi all sorry for delay in posting news regarding our holiday-

Well the news is John only experienced 2 days & myself only 4 days, as John contracted pneumonia & ended up in a German Cardiology Hospital at Coswig for 11 days.

I left the riverboat at Dresden, to spend 2 nights in a hotel in Wittenburg. As the taxi journey cost 80 euros per day and John was struggling with the language barrier etc in hospital, it was decided that I joined him & stayed in the hospital.

It was a beautiful place, brilliant building & facilities, and excellent grounds.

When I finally conquered the German dinner menu, thanks to my trusty German/English dictionary, we settled into hospital life, with our diet including fresh fruit along with the bread, cheese & sausage. I had previously yearned for bread & cheese, but being on a perpetual diet could not partake, and now thanks to the German breakfast & tea I don't think I can look those delicacies in the eye for quite a while. maybe I will at last loose some weight!!!

I did manage to read 7 books on my kindle, but thankfully as I had taken a sketch book, paints & aqua brushes, I managed to paint some of the glorious wild flowers surrounding the hospital. Another bonus was seeing atleast two pairs of nesting Red Kites, and a stork flying directly overhead.

Our room was opposite the helicopter pad, and although it was sad that heart patients were being flown in, it was very exciting to see the landings- on one hot Saturday we saw 3 helicoptors landing, with 2 of them landing at the same time. Apparently the hot weather creates more heart attacks.

The few days of our holiday were very enjoyable, Berlin is a treasure & well worth another visit. We were both surprised at how Berlin & Potsdam were so well forested, with beautiful deep woods.

We had a few lovely visits to Palaces, gardens & towns- not bad for a few days holiday!!!

Berlin

Berlin

John standing against not sure where??? could be Check Point Charlie -Potsdam???

Typical German building!!!

Sanssouci Palace I think?

Worlitz 

on lake at Worlitz Park

Wittenberg

View from my room at Wittenberg

View from out hospital room of Helicopter pad

Woods surrounding the hospital-Coswig

My bed in the hospital- note the snazzy wardrobe & bedside table

Not sure of most of the photos -unfortunately the holiday seemed a long time ago & was before Hospital Gate.

off to hopefully Summery climes?

Off on a Viking cruise -Berlin to Prague. All packed but not weighed, so hopefully not over the limit- that would be a first!

I have howcver spent all day trying to do on line check in - very frustrating but had success after about 20 attempts- mind you all best seats had been taken!!!

I will add some photographs when we return- hopefully good ones??? I do know I want to gather some info on Brandenburg Gate & the history of the wall, as our theme for next years exhibition is Freedom-

As well as packing clothes I have included a sketch book, paints etc- so should have time on the boat to admire the views, take some photos & do some sketching- well that is the plan!

Well signing off for now.

'Batik By-Pass'

Hi all after the great workshop 'design to Stitch' I have decided to run a new workshop 'Batik By-Pass' where we will explore the beautiful technique of Batik fabrics, but in an easy way-no messy dye vats. If we have time we will also be able to stitch & embellish our pieces or  just keep them as samples.

This will be held at Avant Garden Centre, Wigan Road, Leyland PR25 5XW on Tuesday 23rd June 10.00am to 4.00pm.

Cost is £40.00 which includes a light lunch in Avant Restaurant & tea/coffee & biscuits during the day- well worth it!!!

Contact Avant on 01772 433777 to book your place & obtain the requirement list. A non returnable deposit of £20.00 will need to be required.

Book cover 'Hints of Barcelona' based on work of Gaudi 

Book cover 'Crazy Batik' based on work of Hale Woodruff

Both the above pieces of work will be exhibited at 'Art & Soul' Samlesbury Hall in July and August.

Trip to Carnforth

Hi, me & my friend Chris decided to go on a train trip to Carnforth Station- the ultimate goal was to view the Arty Bird exhibition which was being held in the station heritage centre.

The weather was slightly iffy, as is British weather, so even though Mid May it felt like Winter, especially on the station platform in Preston, where we had to change trains for Carnforth. Good job I found my gloves in my jacket pocket!

As usual as soon as we arrived at our destination we decided to have lunch- we take 'ladies that lunch' to the extreme. As Carnforth town is very small, we found that Booths did a good warming soup & a sandwich- heaven!!! and for a change we did not have cake (we left that for later!)

I located a very old rambling book shop & as I normally do, bought three textile books for a grand total of £10.00 the lot- I will now have to read them all & find somewhere to put them- I do seem to have more books stashed away than our local library!!

After visiting a couple of charity shops & Chris spotting two new Viking luggage labels ( I am going on a Viking cruise at the end of next week) so very handy!!! We decided to hit the hot spots of Carnforth Station Heritage Centre.

What a treat, the station featured in the film 'Brief Encounter' so there was a room solely based on the film, with mementos & the film running- didn't we speak very beautifully then!!! There were also a few rooms showing the history of trains, WW2 & train posters etc.

After a good while searching we found the exhibition- beautiful felted & embroidered hangings & 3D objects- a real treat- well done ladies. I have included a few photos of the work , which I unfortunately did not note the artist against each piece- so I do apologise.

Sue Tyldesley's work

love this outfit

bag & lampshade

embroidered large piece

Then off to tea in the really atmospheric tea rooms- beautifully served on a tray, loose tea in a pot which obviously you need to pour using a tea strainer, and a large portion of apricot, sultana & ginger cake topped with cream icing. Blow the diet!!!

We then had to get 3 trains home, but had a very late dinner due mainly to the cake!!!
Good times.

Design to Stitch

Hi just back from workshop 'Design to Stitch' -great day & I think the six students that attended (2 were off sick) enjoyed it.

We had fun developing designs using collage, brusho, acrylic paint & inktense pens etc-some ladies finding it difficult to let go & be freer with their art work- but we got there in the end!!!

Then the hard part deciding which techniques would work best with their chosen designs- they all worked a background using different forms of paint & then some used bondaweb to position pieces of fabric to the background.

A few of the ladies used my embellisher & loved the quick & contemporary effects- others used free machine embroidery & some appliqued fabric.

Nobody had time to finish their pieces, but hopefully they will at home. The time just flies by!!!

However, they should all be pleased & proud of the results, producing abstract pieces, which all have the potential of being great art & good design.

So stitch away now!!!

Decisions, decisions???

In the Zone!!!

a bit blurred! I think they were worksing too fast!!!

embellished flowers

Helena's abstract Venice

Mary's Honesty machine embroidered

Ready for embellishing

Margaret's contemporary waterly piece

shapes of arches in a contemporary style

BOB

Hi dropped into Best of Britannia show in Preston on Friday- What talent we have in the North- from beautiful leather cases & bags to chocolate, handmade shoes to jewellery- UCLAN degree students work & promotion of Big Mill, which is a new enterprise which will showcase local artists work with the view for sale via the gallery or Internet.

Of course as I was in town I had to pop into Abacans, primarily to purchase a belt buckle for a bag(as you do!!)- however I came out with said buckle, some beads & two bags of leather, which was possibly in my mind after seeing the leather goods at BOB?

I then popped into M&S clutching a £10.00 voucher, & proceeded to buy 3 items of clothing in the sale!!! Why do I do it?? It is wiser for me to completely avoid any shops at all.

Yesterday after struggling at Patchwork classes with manipulated flowers (too precise for me) John & I went with 2 friends to see the 'Importance of Being Ernest' a classic , very wordy but funny. I do not know how actors can remember all those lines?

Today I am taking it easy at Johns, no rush!!!! however this afternoon its back to mine to fix a half removed toilet seat- which will possibly result in a Laural & Hardy Moment, as neither of us are very agile & the seat does not want to be removed & is in a very akward spot, No photos will be shown here!!!

Fun packed weekend

Hi on Saturday after a short notice situation I managed to book Katie Duxbury to give a talk at the Embroiderers Guild- what a find!!! She was a very good speaker, had some fantastic samples of her work and we were given a photo show of some of the clothes she had made for theatre, and also her own beautiful creations. These can be found on her website www-duxburydesigns.co.uk. 

Here are a few photos that I took, obviously with Katie's permission.

Dress made with small pieces of leather material 

Extremely heavy ornate necklet

Jaunty hat

Tiara

It seemed strange seeing photos of some of the costumes I had seen previously at the Promenade Plays in Lancaster- which are always fantastic.

On the Sunday, John & I met up with Caroline and Richard to visit Art in the Garden, which was set in a a beautiful garden belonging to Spring Bank House, Cow Ark in the Forest of Bowland, near Preston.
We had a great lunch, loads of laughs and met some artists I knew & some I now know.

I did not spend much -for a change- but bought a lovley carved mushroom (some sort of nut!) -not me I meant the mushroom!!! also bought 5 ceramic buttons- not sure when I will use them -but who cares???

So all in all a great weekend- here are some photos of the 5 acre garden- which is very slightly bigger than my postage stamp back garden.!!!