Brooding topiary at Longner Hall

  

Is it just the British who have a penchant for pottering around stately homes when the so-called summer weather is typically 'iffy'? Not too far from here is the lovely Longner Hall, who were having a garden open day. 

So Brian and Jean from next-door, Joe and myself all crammed into one vehicle and bimbled across the lanes to have a little look and admire the topiary.

I do like a nice topiary bird.

 

 

But I like even better, sinister green domes who seem to be watching you as the rather grandiose 'big house' looms overhead.

 

 Some people like grand houses.

I am more taken with the ramshackle.

Such as this sweet little conservatory nestling between shapely hedges. 

 Or intriguing secret paths leading to who knows where?

And cunning doors which beckon you to enter...

 

 ...revealing the most beautiful Victorian walled garden.

 

And then the rain descended, as it had been threatening to since we arrived.

We all took shelter, packed like sardines in a funny little theatre shack and I passed round mints some found at the bottom of my bag. Jean found them a little strong and had a slight coughing fit.

 

Once order was restored and the rain passed, we carried on admiring the neat and orderly rows of vegetables, lined up like soldiers on parade.

 One of the old glass houses has been restored.

And already filling up with tidy rows of geraniums.

In the manner of these things, just as we were heading off, the clouds cleared to reveal beautiful Shropshire.

Back along the ever-so-long drive. It's time to return to our own humble but much loved homes, full of grandiose ideas for schemes which may one day come to fruition. Who knows?

Wool, automata and cake

Sometimes I am asked to do private workshops and it is always a huge pleasure. Apart from the fun of going away visiting, I am always treated like a visiting princess and thoroughly spoiled. This month I stayed at the home of Ian Mackay, maker of exquisite automata and Fleur Hitchcock, the children's writer. Here is Ian, making a needle felt version of one of the chickens on his amazing pecking chicken machine. Needless to say, as a skilled craftsman, he picked it up at once.

 

It was a fairly informal workshop, and people pretty much free ranged their designs, which was interesting for everyone and made me think on my feet.

There are wonderful examples of Ian's work all over the house, with intriguing handles which beg you to turn them. And when you do, magical things happen.

Driftwood houses are so much the in thing now, with so many people making them,  but Ian was one of the early originators and I loved this little wooden street.

Lunch was pretty darned splendid.

 Amazingly, after all that, people carried on working. This was a particularly splendid guinea pig.

And the youngest member of the group produced her own version of Totoro from Studio Ghibli.

I am always thrilled to bits when someone who has never needle felted or indeed crafted much, produces something lovely. Often they start out with a little trepidation, but at the end of the day, they have made something beautiful, and in this case, entirely their own design.

Naturally, mid-afternoon, there was cake.

The next day, I myself tried my hand at creating something outside of my own comfort zone, in Ian's workshop, but that's another story for a later date. Thanks so much to Ian and Fleur, for making my weekend really special and reviving my own creative batteries, which have been a little flat for the last few years.

A little poetic mystery

 

Out with Marjorie the other week, pootling to the Post Office which is two miles away. On the way back, I spotted a notice pinned to a gate post and, as one does, stopped to investigate.

However, it wasn't a planning application for a new housing estate (although that is in the pipeline for this area). It was a Thomas Hardy poem. Rather random, but lovely. 

 The Walk

You did not walk with me

Of late to the hill-top tree

By the gated ways,

As in earlier days;

You were weak and lame,

So you never came,

And I went alone, and I did not mind,

Not thinking of you as left behind.

I walked up there to-day

Just in the former way;

Surveyed around

The familiar ground

By myself again:

What difference, then?

Only that underlying sense

Of the look of a room on returning thence.

  

Pondering this and wondering 'who, what why and when?', I cycled on. And came then stopped.

Another country poem, pinned to another gatepost, with the brooding Wrekin just showing in the background.

A sonnet, by John Clare.

A Spring Morning

THE Spring comes in with all her hues and smells,

In freshness breathing over hills and dells;

O’er woods where May her gorgeous drapery flings, 

And meads washed fragrant by their laughing springs.

Fresh are new opened flowers, untouched and free

From the bold rifling of the amorous bee.

The happy time of singing birds is come,

And Love’s lone pilgrimage now finds a home;

Among the mossy oaks now coos the dove,

And the hoarse crow finds softer notes for love.                        

The foxes play around their dens, and bark

In joy’s excess, ’mid woodland shadows dark.

The flowers join lips below; the leaves above;

And every sound that meets the ear is Love.

Viking Hoard and a spectacular dress

A visit to the Museum of Lancashire, principally to see the Silverdale Viking hoard while it is still on display. Buried for more than a thousand years, it's an amazing find - and the painstaking conservation work done is incredible.

Yes, I do seem to have taken mostly photos of jewellery! Well, an ingot is just an ingot, isn't it?

The museum is dedicated to local history, in all aspects. Joe was particularly interested in the First World War memorabilia. 

I always find the little personal details almost unbearably poignant and wonder how many of the card senders made it home.

Even I was taken with the Hussars jackets, delightfully glamorous - how hearts must have fluttered upon seeing an officer in one of these uniforms!

My favourite bits? Well, the entertainment section and the vintage Punch and Judy set - 

My lovely neighbour Jean, confessed recently that she used to find Punch and Judy terrifying when she was a little girl. Brought up a sheltered country child, and in the days before mass entertainment, she found the whole thing a bit too much on the occasional visit to the seaside.

 

And my other top pick, this spectacular 'roller skating costume' dating from 1910, entirely made from sewn together cigar bands, cigar box labels and stamps. 

It was designed by a cleaner, Charles Hamer, for his wife Anne; he saved the bits and bobs he found at work - both Charles and Anne took part in skating contest in the Burnley (Lancashire) area. 

How wonderful that other people's rubbish was turned into such an object of beauty - and undoubtedly worn with great pride. 

Kings and Queens will always have their place at the top of the history hall of fame, but I find the history of the humble 'common' people just as much - if not more - fascinating.

In print and on the cover!

It's been quite a year so far for magazine appearances - a few weeks ago, my ever popular pattern for doglets were featured in the Comic Relief/Mollie Makes Crafternoon bookazine. This was the first pattern I ever wrote, over three years ago and people still seem to love it! You can still buy the digital version of this from Amazon UK via this link.

I've also started writing patterns for the UK's best selling craft magazine, 'Craftseller' - my first contribution was in last month's issue, number 48, a set of three tropical bird brooches. This is a copyright free pattern, which means that people can make and sell their versions of it. You can buy the back copy of this issue directly from the Craftseller site here.

This month's issue, number 49, sees me on the cover, with a cute trio of pet shop sweeties. These designs are also copyright free and they hit the selves on April 4th, so there's plenty of time to grab a copy and start making.

Craftseller is a UK based publication and on sale at WHSmith, good newsagents, large supermarkets and some craft shops. I'm really thrilled to have been asked to work for them and also to have snagged my fourth magazine cover.  Bottoms up!

In non-needle felting news - lovely Joe has mended the shed roof after a couple of large chunks were torn off in recent gales. It's good not to be alone anymore, in so many ways.

Alpaca birds workshop p-Lush 2015

My first creations with alpaca wool - I was thrilled to be asked to host a workshop at the p-Lush Alpaca Show on March 27th. So I chose to make little birds, which are ideal for beginners.

Rather different to my normal merino - bizarrely, the fibres seemed finer and yet at the same time, more 'hairy'.

So although I strived for my usual smooth finish, they did come out looking a little fuzzy. But I rather liked the natural effect. There are only 12 places on this workshop and they are booking already - details and registration can be found on the p-Lush booking page here. Join in, it'll be fun!

Remembering Andy today

Two years ago today, my lovely Andy chose to leave this life. Today, I and all his many friends and family remember him with love. It is a bleak, rainy winter's day and the trees are bare, but I have picked all the colour in the garden for him and hold his memory close in my heart. Always.