North to East

Hello all and a special welcome to new followers and readers. I'm back from my trip to Scotland but will soon be off again, this time to Skegness on the East coast.

The journey up to Hamilton took rather longer than expected due to a late train and then a further delay caused by someone putting a huge freight train in front of the one I was travelling in....something of an error from the way it was announced! Honestly, I could have walked from Carlisle quicker!

So, I arrived later than I'd hoped and that didn't give me much time to take a look around the town. I've been there twice before, once with David, and neither time did I get to see anything. I recalled David telling me that there were lots of modern art installations and sculptures and I did manage to see a few of them this time. I particularly liked this one of a man's head and shoulders looming up from the ground with a whimsical looking dog on his head......

....I couldn't see any information about the artist or a title, so I was left wondering about the meaning of the piece. I just liked it anyway and I did think it might have looked quite good in my garden! I ate at a Chinese buffet restaurant that evening that David and I had dined at when we were there together....just for old times sake.

I was staying in a hotel just around the corner from Inkspot so I didn't have far to walk in the morning and soon had the workshop underway. A special hello to all the ladies that attended and hope that you have all got your plaques proudly on display now! I received a gift of a pair of handmade earrings from one lady, so a special thank you for those - they're lovely.

Sorry...I couldn't fit everyone on! In the afternoon I was demonstrating and then, in what seemed like no time, I was off again to catch the train to Glasgow and then onto Gourock on the West coast. This was a beautiful part of the journey with gorgeous scenery that I would have photographed if my camera had not somehow managed to drain itself - gggrrrrr! Suffice to say that the Scottish coastline did not disappoint.

Next day I was demonstrating at Cardwell Nurseries (oh how tempting were all the plants but I couldn't have carried anything else - whew!) and had a lovely day with lots of very friendly people that came along to the event which also included two other demonstrations and a craft fair with people selling their handmade goods. It all made for a very enjoyable time.

Needless to say that I got back quite late on Saturday night and was still nursing an aching tooth that had suddenly flared up on Friday evening. Ouch. Plenty of paracetamol kept it bearable until my dental appointment on Tuesday where my dentist performed a virtually pain free root canal treatment. Last time I had one of these done was excruciating - partly because I was at the dental hospital being treated by students! My dentist at the time couldn't see me until a few days later and I had been in such pain that David drove me to the hospital instead....turned out fine but it was pretty horrendous whilst I was enduring their administrations! I've still got a "missing" tooth until my crown is remade and fitted, so, if you're visiting one of my demos in the next week or so, please bear with me....I can't say my "f"'s properly apart from looking like a pirate!

This week I have been getting ready for my trip to Cutting Edge Crafts this coming weekend. I'll be there for two days with a demonstration on Saturday and a full day workshop on the Sunday. I believe that there may be a couple of places left on the class, so do contact the shop if you'd like to book one. We'll be creating a range of projects.....a steampunk birdhouse using some gorgeous Graphic 45 papers along with all sorts of paraphernalia, a Doo Lally Pip tag, a wall plaque and, if time is on our side (!) a Zendoodle card. It will be all go but great fun!

Needless to say, I have been prepping kits so all I can really show you is.....

...just a few of the packs I've been making up. Not a great deal of room for working in the conservatory at the moment due to the expanding number and size of my plants and "crops"!

Everything from tomatoes to Sweetcorn, French beans to courgettes and Chard as well as lots of Pansies, Violas, Nasturtiums, Carnations, Dahlias and Sweet Peas! It's a veritable greenhouse and there are more to the side that you can't see!

The house has two definite sides really....the front of the house where the lounge is just doesn't get the sun and the back of the house gets more than its fair share. So, I like to work in the conservatory to get the sunshine until it gets so hot that I can't bear it anymore. I have to keep popping out to my garden bench with a cool drink every so often and can almost guarantee that Thomas will come and join me as it's one of his favourite spots. Today however, he decided to stay in the conservatory and foil my attempts to pack my case! 

Little monkey! He always senses when I'm getting near to going on a trip and he really doesn't like it. I'm sure that one of these days I'll open my case at the other end and Thomas will jump out having sneaked in there!

Oh yes, I have a project feature using my Zendoodle stamps and Viva Decor products in the June issue of Crafts Beautiful which is out now.

I loved using these cheerful colours and the Viva Decor products gave me some great textures to contrast with the graphic look of the stamps.

You may see the following advertisement in some of the craft magazines that are out at the moment....

....promoting the event at the Craft Range, Burnley on 14th June. This will be my first visit to this store and I'm really looking forward to it, especially as two of my great friends will be there - Andy Skinner and Mark Gould. Clare Horner will also be there for Indigo Blu....Clare and I met several years ago at one of my demos and she's one of my blog followers. This year she was demonstrating across the aisle from me at the Stitches trade show so it will be good to catch up again.

So, it's pretty hectic here one way and another. I watched the film musical version of Les Miserables last night (and cried almost throughout the entire two and a half hours!) as we are using it as the basis for one of the courses that are run through Church. It should be very interesting as we will be concentrating on a different character each week and discussing them in depth...their motivations, weaknesses, strengths etc. Something a little different! I loved the film and Eddie Redmayne's singing voice was a revelation!

When I get back from Skegness Heather and I will be going to the Grand theatre again, this time to see Black Coffee by Agatha Christie starring Robert Powell as Poirot. Really looking forward to this as I do like a good who dunnit. This was Agatha Christie's first play and, I think, is the first time that Poirot put in an appearance - but don't quote me on that!

Well, that's all from me for the moment. Hope to see loads of you at Cutting Edge Crafts in Skegness this weekend - if I haven't melted...it looks set to be a bit of a scorcher!