Feeling down

When I came back from Urchfont I discovered that the house and studio had nearly flooded again - within 1/2inch of coming through the door and floor.  The studio is still damp - you can feel it through the floor.

Look at the damage the water has done again.....we now have a dam!
Getting the government agencies to take action (only they can action work on the river, not the land / river owners) is like, well, you can guess.  I am phoning and asking for action as much as I can.

Wednesday I have a site visit from the Environment Agency and I can only try my best to put my point across.  Wish me luck.

 

Can you see the fence across the water..... a chunk of field has disappeared again.

And my little baby isn't a baby anymore!  This was his last day at First School, from September he'll be going to the Middle School for four years.

We celebrated his leaving with a meal out in Wooler - this was my pudding....... wonderful!

DS had some friends around on Saturday - his birthday is next week,
but its a good excuse for a cake and candles :)

Also this week I discovered that I have lost a huge chunk of my blog pics.... anything before April 2009 has disappeared!  Seems the album has been deleted in Blogger.  It coincides with the blog being moved to the new web site but I'm not sure if this is the cause.  This is a HUGE loss to me - all those memories and photos of daily life.  I have family pics backed up of course, but not the little snippets of everyday life.

Depressing.  Very depressing.  Hugely depressing.  *sob*

And my energy levels have gone to minus readings....... I would give almost anything to be rid of the ME. 

I'm fed up of being so tired and drained all the time. 
Life is such an effort these days and I want it to be fun again.

Guess it will feel better again soon........

My favourite art shop.......

Is Heaton Cooper in Grasmere - Lake District.

It's small and perfectly formed.

You can just see it though the door.... it stocks just everything you need (and more you don't actually need but would like to have).

Great delivery service too... the parcels arrive wrapped in brown paper which somehow makes them very special.  Their web site is here.

Stonehenge

A morning stroll around Stonehenge - in the pouring rain with masses of American, Canadian and Japanese tourists...... but just to prove that you can capture the spirit of the stones even with all the people around.  I did want to sit and sketch but believe me it was absolutely drenching rain.

The end photo shows it as it really was!

 

More from the Summer school

Janice asked me about the summer school - we are a group of textile artists - some teachers and tutors, some have written books, most of us blog and we all belong to a private Yahoo group.  Some have met before but we have never managed to get together for a week.  Unfortunately not everyone could  make it but 13 of us did (one ran off early before I got a picture), we came mainly from the UK, but also France and Austria.  The group also has members in the USA, Australia and Sweden.

Throughout the week we all shared our skills - Paulene showed us how to print and we used her pasta machine which worked really well.  Here is a leaf print I made - I loved this.

This was our main workroom.

Sara showing Liz either crochet or spinning.

Gill demonstrating the Docucam in the second room.  During the evenings we could sit in here watching DVD's, crocheting and often drinking a glass of wine.  Nothing was too planned, nothing was obligatory. We all got on so well and there was much nattering and laughing.

 

It was very sad to leave and less said about the journey home the better..........

Pictures from Stonehenge to follow soon.

Summer School Day 4

The days are going far too fast.

Controlled chaos, we all have laptops / notebooks as comforters.

 

The best Green Man I’ve ever seen – in his autumn colours

Summer School

 

Some pictures from the Summer School retreat in Wiltshire…. guess what I’m making?

A display of some peoples previous work

The beautiful setting

Avebury

One of the most special places in England – a stone circle and the most wonderful trees.

Urchfont

What happens when 13 textile artists who met on the internet get together?

They get the computers configured for the web :)

Dyeing time

Take small pieces of several types of silk... one length of rayon (for another tunic) and one large length for a commission and one pre-made cotton tunic.  Soak in soda ash for an hour then drain.

 

Make up the procion dyes with water and urea.

Dye one batch black.

Dye another black + purple + raspberry (this is the combination for the tunic and rayon length too).

 

Cover table tops with polythene and lay out fabric, liberally sprinkle with dyes.

 

Swish around and leave crumpled.

Wash and dry.

Hope Anne likes the final result!

Use up the dye to paint a piece of lutradur - for the inside of a new "tower".