All aboard there’s lots to see - woyww725

All aboard its full steam ahead

We spent a lovely day aboard the Northern Belle Train being entertained

and eating the most delicious five course meal while the train trundled

along from Manchester Victoria, picking us up in Rochdale then heading

upto Yorkshire and completing the loop back via Cumbria. I even went so

far as having a little tipple of champagne. It would have been rude not to.

There’s a great series on the telly on Monday nights on More 4 about

the worlds most luxurious trains.  Watch it, you’ll get a real feel of

the trip we had.  It’s an amazing experience.

On Sunday we attended the fabulous annual Manchester

Antique & Vintage Textile Fair, hosted by The Textile Society.


Met up with the very talented ceramic artist Karen Shapley, who

is also a textile vintage trader.

Oh yes I may just have taken home this lovely vintage petticoat.

Karen Shapley Ceramics Link


Now if you are not into textiles or Japanese culture you may not

understand why I am so drawn to this amazing piece of Boro.

It is over a hundred years old and is the result of the Japanese

belief in repair and reuse.

Pieces of fabric, recycled from damaged textiles are reused

again and again. Nothing is ever thrown away. I spent ages

talking to the most interesting lady whose stall it was on.

And yes, I had to bring it home. To me it’s like looking

at a painting. Every aspect of it fascinates me.

The rips, the frays, the stitches, the repairs, the front, the back.

It’s better than any Monet, Pollock or Rembrandt.

I know not everyone will get it but if you do you are welcome

to come and see it anytime.

Craft wise I attended a workshop in Brighouse recently where

we worked on vintage postcards.

First we made stamps by Lino cutting into rubber erasers and

Linosheets. Next up we died threads with Kohi-Nor dyes, then

we stitched and stamped the postcard before building up the

piece with buttons and trim.

Well I think I’ve left you with enough to go at today.

Hope to catch you all next time. There’s more adventures on

the horizon this week with a visit to Dandy Style Exhibition

in Manchester. Looking at 250 years of Men’s Fashion.

Dandy Style Exhibition Link

Take care 

Lynn

x

linking to WHATS ON YOUR WORKDESK WEDNESDAY

Hares, ballerinas and a cat called Tango - WOYWW

Postman Sid brought me a mystery parcel this week

It was a box full of fabulous things from friend Tina in Montgomery,

Wales. 

I don’t know what I swooned over most, the paper hares made by Tina.

The beautiful books or the stunning piece of textile art she has handstitched.

Everything is enchanting and I can’t stop looking and appreciating it all.

What a very heartfelt, thoughtful thing to do

There’s been zoom meetings with my textile group the

No Rules Textile Society, where we meet once a week, talk

about the latest prompt and look at what members have been doing.

On the home front after 15 years my sister is returning home from Oxford.

She’s bought a house and this is the style she is hoping to replicate 

in her front room.  She is even adopting a cat like the one in this

picture. She’s seen one at the local animal rescue centre. It’s called

Tango and is a three year old house cat.

Telly wise we are enjoying the three part series on BBC 2

about the life of Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo. I’ll admit I’ve

being a fan for the past 25 years since doing my HND in

Textile Design at college and studying her work.

Sara Cox BBC 2 programme Between The Covers book programme

has returned for another series and is another favourite in our house,

even though the wandering welder never reads anything other than

the Saturday paper and the covers on his cd’s.

I’ve just finished reading this book I picked at random off the shelf

in my local library.  It was a really good read and I can recommend it.

We had a trip out to Manchester with my goddaughter Amy,

who gave us tickets for the Nutcracker Suite by candle light,

accompanied by a string quartet. 

I’ll never bother taking the car into Manchester again, we were there in

12 minutes by train and it cost us just over £5 each return on the train.

As March draws to a close we will be spending the last

week with friends holidaying in and around Stratford upon Avon.

There’s a trip to a butterfly farm and Blenheim Palace planned, as

well as Burford and Warwick Castle.

See you on the other side.

Take care

Lynn

xxx

Linking in with

WHAT’S ON YOUR WORKDESK WEDNESDAY

In and out of the garden - WOYWW

There’s snowdrops in the garden 

daffodils on the table

and pancakes for tea

I’ll have to do two rounds of the reservoir to get rid of this sugar laden load of calories.

Craft wise I’ve watched a fabulous zoom talk by Ceramic Patchwork artist Zoe Hillyard

Link to Zoe Hillyard

Zoe takes charity shop find vases and pots, smashes them into pieces then rebuilds them by wrapping the pieces in fabric with stitch, no glue. Then she stitches the pieces back together into the original shape.

She was commissioned to do this series using these images from a fashion shoot.

I’m having a little go but it’s proving a lot harder than it looks.

It’s been a busy start to the year getting Mum’s finances sorted, along with the completion of the sale of her house. Add to that I’ve been house hunting for my sister who is coming back up north after 15 years in Oxford.

In the meantime I’m going to straighten out my fabric stash ready for the new prompt with the No Rules Textile Society. Hope everyone is well and still busily engrossed in their chosen creative craft.

Take care, catch you again soon

Lynn

X

Here’s a bit of trivia before I go. On my birthday in 1994 the largest pancake ever made was in Rochdale near to where we live.

LINKING to WHATS ON YOUR WORKDESK WEDNESDAY

Movies, celebrations and collage

Up north in Lancashire, UK,  it feels like it’s never stopped raining

since the new year kicked in.

It’s been perfect weather though for staying in and getting on

with course work and a new prompt with the No Rules Textile Society.

Saying that I’ve been wrapped up warm to avoid putting the heating on.

I’ve a new notebook for our zoom meetings and had the new

Celia Pym book bought me for Christmas. It’s a history of 

damaged and repaired garments, who owns them and what

happened to them.

CELIA PYM TEXTILES

This is a fascinating project.

One dress, stitched by 370 embroiderers, in 50 countries

over 13 years and now on exhibition around the UK

THE RED DRESS EMBROIDERY PROJECT 

After a great zoom meeting on Saturday with my textile friends

all around the world, I got stuck into the new prompt COLLAGE.

The stash of magazines I keep came in very handy for the

first task, creating flat lay paper collages.

Next up I’ll be moving onto creating fabric collages,

possibly working with old samples from last year.

Saturday night was the start of our friend’s Trish & Lee’s

60th birthday celebrations.  If they are anything like me it

will be never ending haha.

After I posted last weeks blog post we went to see the new

Whitney Houston film.  I know a few of you mentioned you had seen

it. Well it was amazing.  It is so sad that her life ended as it did though.

Today we are off to see the latest Tom Hanks movie

A Man Called Otto.

Let’s hope the rain holds off.

See you soon

Lynn 

X

WHATS ON YOUR WORKDESK WEDNESDAY LINK

Hello 2023, let’s be having ya !

Happy new year from the hills of Whitworth 

I always thought I’d get through life without making a Christmas

dinner, but at 67 I’ve been caught out.  Mum is 90 now and decided

she didn’t want to do it anymore.  I’ve told my sister it’s her turn

next year or we are going out.

I had a lovely gift from goddaughter Amy, she is taking me 

to Manchester Cathedral to see Swan Lake by candlelight.

Back in the studio I’m all tidied and ready for 2023 projects.

I’ll finish off stripping the cork wall in preparation this week.

A friend bought me a bag of assorted wool off cuts and a

metal frame to make a rag wreath

There’s new pens and a notebook for a Masterclass I’m

doing called Essence Of Identity.

One of the modules asked us to do a self portrait. I nearly

had kittens thinking I’d have to paint a picture of myself

On closer inspection, it actually meant to put together

images or objects that showed who I am.

So here’s my little vintage writing case filled with things

that represent what I’m drawn to creatively.

Hope everyone is well over at

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday

It’s nice to be back.  We’ve lots of plans for this year.

There’s a trip to the cinema to see the Whitney Houston story

this afternoon and a meal out with friends on Saturday.

Have a good week and thanks for visiting

Lynn

xx