Arty Crafty

Hello Lovelies, 

It's been a busy week around these parts, good busy. My days off have been filled with interesting and exciting trips out. 

On Wednesday I spent the day accompanying youngest on his last last primary school day trip. I love going to help out at these memorable days visiting interesting places and I am more than a little sad that this was my last opportunity.

On Thursday I went with Mum to the Patchings Festival....somewhere I visited for the first time last year.

There are lots of marquees filled with a mixture of skilled arts and crafts people.

This stand caught my eye...............

I loved this lady's bike and her paintings filled with colourful cycles.......she was painting a lovely watercolour of some cottages and a pond....with her bike in the foreground..............

THIS is her website

The day was cloudy but warm and there's a lovely relaxed atmosphere at the event. I was super busy in parts but there are lots of places to sit a while. Here people are listening to a Jazz band.....and you can just see the Pimms stall on the left.........

At an exhibition by amateur painters in one of the permanent log cabins on the site I loved this painting of Staithes...........

And this mixed media collage of Haworth is very appealing.........

There are lots of Bronte references in there if you look closely.

I'm sorry I couldn't find any web sites for these artists.

I loved spotting this Robin..............

On the way to the craft studios............

And look , there was yarnbombing.......yay..........

These rainbow drain pipes were very effective..........

And the gardens looked wonderful........

But it was this corner that I found the most delightful...........

I loved all the bunting and granny squares.

See it painted HERE

This display of wonderful yarny creations against an old brick wall was perfect.........

They are made out of knitted rings and I've never seen this idea before...........

Here you can see some more............

and looking up there was a delightful display of crochet bees...........

just brilliant

I also loved this African flower motif duck on the wall..........

and the floral garland around the well...........

Inside these little studios are the ladies who had created this wonderful yarnbombing display. Such a  pretty porch window..............

 I bought a pretty embroidered heart they made............

A sweet memento of a lovely day.

Jacquie x

Also Last Week.........

Hello Lovelies,

once again I seem to have lots of pictures left over from last week that I meant to share with you all, so here's a mish-mash of things that made me happy.

On Wednesday I was looking out at the gloom and wondering when I would get good light to photograph my latest drawing....even holding it up to the window didn't do the trick, but I still like this photo.........

Thank you to Chel who suggested this banner would be nice as a button you all could use and join on with this series of posts.........I'll certainly try and figure this out and anybody is welcome to join me in writing some "Celebrating Home" posts this year ( with or without the button )

Also on Wednesday morning, I went for a walk in the rain, it wasn't heavy and I notice different things on days like this. 

I've walked down this road many times , but this was the first time I had seen this lovely roof with it's huge chimneys and  cute  little window. It made me wonder what it would be like to sleep in that bedroom under the eaves .........

The grey weather continued into the afternoon and I decided to pop into the gallery in town to take a look at some artwork ..........I love these colourful mixed media works.......

And the Tulips on the tables were a sweet touch.

They are made by using collage, paint and machine stitching and they really are gorgeous........

This one was called "the north wind doth blow" and it seemed like a beautiful celebration of winter.

The artist is the talented Helen Hallows . She has a blog and THIS post shows some of her other works that I loved.


January seems to flying by and I'm actually surprising myself by quite enjoying winter ( so far) this year. The weather has not been too severe yet and we have seen a reasonable amount of sun between the downpours.
Even on a dull January day this village still looked  pretty..........

On Thursday I did my usual weekly shop and was happy to find the lovely Lucy in print on Morrisons magazine shelves.....so exciting :0)

we love Lucy's crochet blankets too.....don't we lovelies.

Mum came over in the afternoon and brought her calendar to show me ( she knows I love them ).
 It's of old railway posters and  I particularly love January as we have just booked a summer holiday on the  North Wales coast ........

I've never been to  the Lleyn peninsula before and I'm really looking forward to exploring somewhere new.


On Friday I was at work and when I got home I noticed how much my Amaryllis had grown. This one also has a second flower stem emerging.......I've never had one with this happy bonus before......

out of my kitchen window I also noticed  a lovely full moon so I took my tripod into the garden to try and see if I could capture it's beauty. There were clouds swirling around it and this time I managed to capture them in the photo, I like this picture a lot despite the very blurry moon.......

And I zoomed right in with my little compact camera , once again I was thrilled to get a clear image of the moon........wow.........

using a tripod makes a big difference.

THIS is the camera I'm currently using. It has it's flaws ( it struggles with contrast like my old IXUS) but I love the big zoom .

On Saturday I was zooming in again , this time to capture Mr Blackbird enjoying my latest Coconut feeder.........

And also cheeky Mr Squirrel...........

He looks so pleased with himself, don't you think.

Later that morning I walked with Eldest to the shops. In my LYS I bought some chunky yarn in a gorgeous teal colour...........

Ideal for my latest, super speedy, project .

In the afternoon we headed into the City for a short visit. There were lots of these Elephants dotted about, all decorated differently. They made me smile.........

In years gone by I would have been too interested in what I could buy in the shops to notice the beautiful architecture. These days shopping does not have the same appeal and I look at the city with new eyes..........

As we left, the setting sun emerged momentarily from behind the clouds.  The view from the fourth floor of the multi-story car park made me gasp at the beauty of it.

 The fabulous golden light made the buildings glow and the cloudy sky turned brilliant blue.
 I think it looks like I have edited this photo to enhance the colours, but I really haven't....mother nature did it.........I was totally gorgeous...........

I hope you lovelies are finding time to notice the changing light and the small things that make you happy.
Jacquie x

What A Wonderful Win

Hello Lovelies, 

on Sunday I was lucky enough to win Heather's kind " just because" giveaway.

When ordering one of Katie Daisy's lovely calenders for herself she thoughtfully decided to  purchase an extra one to giveaway on her blog.

Oooooh, isn't it gorgeous! I'm a huge calendar fan. Think it's such a treat to get twelve new images to enjoy thoroughout  the year. They are better than pictures in many ways as they seem to catch my eye more than the images on my walls that remain unchanged.

Heather generously included a sweet treat and an adorable Caroline Rose card. I had the biggest grin on my face when I saw this card as I had swooned over this very image last year when Lucy introduced us to this talented lady..........

Thank you , thank you Heather I'm so thrilled with this adorable calendar ♥♥♥

It even has a page for the last four months of 2013, so I can legitimately start enjoying my lucky win straight away....yipee.

Want to see what the first picture is?
....
oh, go on then
...
ta-dah :0)

eeek, isn't it perfect . 

Such an uplifting phrase beautifully painted with adorable touches like the flowers and leaves, and even some raindrops. The more I look at it the more things I find to love.It's already hanging over my computer so I can  be cheered by this happy, simply charming artwork.

I'll leave you lovelies with a few images of my favourite tree in all it's Autumn glory.......

What a wonderful world indeed.
Jacquie x