R is for...."R & R"

..."Rest & Relaxation" aka a quick holiday-related post....

Cornwall this year was fab as ever. We were hugely lucky with the weather and we stayed in the same house as last year so we had all our creature comforts (three large bedrooms and a shower/loo each!), nearby pub, best restaurant in Cornwall 5 mins away, our fave boarding beach and Padstow all within easy reach. Perfect!

I know photos of other people's hols are never as exciting as your own so I'll spare you the full album and share just a few of highlights of the week...

Clotted cream tea on arrival - nom nom : )

Dinner at the Journeyman - the best restaurant in Cornwall 

Sandcastle #1 (the first of many!)

Poldark Mine

The Eden Project

A trip up the biome platform - very high, very hot, super-humid (but worth the three trips round the dome to see if it was open!)

Not one to do if you suffer from vertigo!

 (Note my rather rosy cheeks!)

Labyrinth Circus at the Eden Project - awesome!

  And the Juggling Skills Workshop...

(Also note the obligatory tongue sticking out - an essential aid to any act requiring concentration!)

 The subject matter for my first "proper" watercolour  - there may be a pic of the acutal watercolour later but it's a bit "rudimentary"

Caaaaake! (At Pauline's in Newquay) And that pic does not convey the scale of those pieces, believe me!

And for you texture/colour lovers out there, I've uploaded some of the plants/buildings/rocks etc. onto my Pinterest page but here are a couple of my favourites...

"P" is for Proud Parent

This post is definitely a "double P" event!

GCSE results were out shortly before we went on hols and it was a time of nailbiting, sleepless nights and nervousness (me and the DH not the DS I hasten to add - he was reassuringly confident). The booking of a holiday not 24 hours after results day was starting to feel rather ill-advised and it was hard to concentrate on the packing.

Results were out at 10am and when I hadn't heard anything by 10.20am I was getting panicky. Deep breaths, happy thoughts (and tea) were in order. 10.28am and the news was in - 2A*s, 5As, 1B and 2Cs. All the right grades were in the right places (sciences) so a place at SGS was secured : )

Not being ones for leaving things to the last minute (!), this necessitated a Betty's Mad Dash to the Trafford Centre for suit shopping (6th formers wear proper suits) so he'd have at least one suit to wear when we got back. Pleased to say we weren't the only ones as we bumped into his bff in Topman, also purchasing suits!

(I know this may not strike you as us being overly confident about the results but we like to think of it as not tempting fate!).

Seeing Will in a full-on three-piece (suit not suite) was amazing. It was like someone had stolen my little boy and replaced him with a young man overnight. What happened to those first 16 years? He'll always be my baby of course, but I feel truly blessed to have such a great young man for a son. Well done, Will : )))

A rather out-of-sequence post brought to you by the ABC meme (I blame not being able to find the photos!)

Q is for....Quiet

In a bid to catch up on matters blog/IT-related I've come along to the new Manchester Jelly. Mostly I'm very happy working at home but just occasionally I need to be taken away from the distractions of housework and gardening (not doing them you understand, just looking at them and thinking I should be doing them).

So here I am, armed with laptop, patterns to type up and photos to upload. Free tea and coffee, whizzy wifi and no distractions. Nice. I could get used to this.....

This week's (even later than normal) Q is brought to you by the ABC meme

"Photo-story" - or a catch up in photos

(pic-heavy post - you have been warned!)

Anyone remember photo-stories in Jackie and Blue Jeans (erm, am I showing my age a bit here)? Well, as I'm so far behind with my blogging I thought I'd do a photo-story of my own...(no speech bubbles, dramatic expressions or dodgy 80's outfits you'll be pleased to hear). Oh, if you have no idea what I'm talking about (or want a sneaky reminder here you go (promise I won't tell anyone!).

So, the last few months there have been....

A fab dyeing workshop at Purl City Yarns- many thanks to the lovely students who attended and to PCY for inviting me to teach at their lovely venue : ) 

You may recall I joined The Textile Club at the Creative Recycling Gallery in Chorlton? It is such a lovely creative hideaway in the Sculpture Garden, a tranquil courtyard full of exciting art. And of course, being in Chorlton there's no shortage of yummy cafes to visit, as well as the essential shopping trip to Unicorn Grocery and the Barbakan Deli. Takes me back to being a student (sighs wistfully).

For the first meeting we made tassels....

The second meeting was a general gathering, sharing work in progress,

 and discussing projects (oh, and tea and homemade biscuits)

A spot of volunteering next at Creative Stitches in Liverpool....

No photos of us (that's Julia and I), but, far more interesting, some of the exhibits.

On the Beadworkers' Guild stand, one for the DH and Dr Who geeks fans everywhere...

A Dr Who scene made entirely in beadwork - how awesome is that?

Next up the knitted Above and Below the Waves exhibition, masterminded by creative genius Alison Murray.

Thank you to UKHandknitting and to KnittyFred for his hard work co-ordinating proceedings : )

And a very civilised "Ladies What Lunch" meet-up for shopping and lunch with Caroline and Tracey

We must do this again soon : ))

And this is one for Helen (aka My Heart Exposed). A braid of beautiful fibre I received from her in a Secret Santa Swap. I haven't forgotten it Helen, it will be socks, honest! It is proving lovely to spin and the colours are gorgeous.

Well, we'll call that episode one before you all keel over with boredom (or your iphones crash). Clubs, Summer School, workshops and more to come....!

My first dyeplant bed - part two - the plants!

Blog posts here are like buses - nothing for ages then three all at once! Well, this week is no exception. I've got so many part-completed posts and stacks of photos waiting to be uploaded that if I don't do it now, it will never happen.

Remember the dyeplant beds? This was early summer.....

And here they are at the height of the summer. I was amazed by how well they came along!

The feathery yellow flowers are lady's bedstraw - I highly recommend this one just for the smell - it is so fragrant especially in the early evening. A lovely plant to grow near a window where the smell will drift in on the evening breeze. I'll be using the roots from this plant for reds - it is similar to madder but not as strong in colour. I'll be letting it grow for at least another year or so before I attempt any harvesting.

The purple flowers are alkanet. This has exceeded all expectations so far! The bees love the flowers and it just keeps on flowering - it is still producing new flowers now in September. I'm growing this one for its roots also - pinky/purple/greys (hopefully). I'll let this one grow for another season too, just so I'm sure it is strong enough to survive the winter.

The thistle-y looking buds are safflower. These were a bit delicate so I need to plan how best to grow them next time as they need a bit of support.

There is also some meadowsweet in there although you can barely see it. I think I'll try this again and plant it somewhere where it has less competition!

Since these photo were taken there is also a newcomer - a large borage (I think). It came as root cuttings and I thought I'd killed it, but obviously not as it is looking very healthy. Might move that one too, as it is getting rather large!

Ooh, and an update on the woad plants - I have several new plants! Not very big yet but a good sign that they will re-seed. I shall be making space to sow some more seeds soon as I still have some from last year.