Taking advantage

 After the dreary weather we've all been subject to recently it is a joy to wake up to sunlight and you can't help but want to get out and make the most of it.  I am lucky to have a number of habitats to explore local to home and one day this week just cried out to be enjoyed by the water's edge. I often take a camera but forgot this day so went back the next day with it for a specific reason which I'll share.....

 Tenby's South beach and dune system is a favourite for a winter day or summer's evening walk. It is either very quiet or just peopled enough to make it feel like you're not in a crowd. I am always scanning the strandline for things, often ranting at the amount of plastic washed ashore or marvelling at a particular shell or rock or pattern in the sand where it is crossed by the returning tide. Until this week I had never seen any goose barnacles so I had to go back the next day with the camera and hope that they were still there.

 And they were. Thousands of them festooned on a rope about 12 feet long. They had obviously been battered about overnight and were now covered in sand, no longer the clean and fresh specimens from the day before. I later read that boat owners cut their ropes adrift as the sheer weight of these barnacles is a hindrance to their passage. Like all things they are fascinating when you try to find out more.

 I admit to being a compulsive collector when I am out on any walk, no matter where it is. If something will fit into my hand and if I think that removing it will cause no detrimental or significant loss, it somehow finds its way into my pocket. That it is small and can be carried lightly is a rule... so no tree trunks then, despite being a thing of beauty. I always try and limit myself to three things maximum per visit but when you walk on the beaches so often those rocks mount up and it is finding rocks that give me the greatest pleasure.

I love finding stones with complex patterns or forms or even simple ones. These three were what came home in my pocket on Wednesday along with the bird ring. OK, I know that makes 4 things so I broke my own rule but it was plastic and at least the bird was not still attached to it! I don't know when I'll use any of these items but they are all adding to my visual memory and waiting for their time in the spotlight.

Want to join me?

 I have been busy in the past few days getting my samples ready for a weekend retreat I am teaching next month for the Wolverhampton Embroiderers Guild. I am looking forward to  a full on two days in the company of 16 creative women - 17 if you count me!

I have also been making samples and taking photos of books for a workshop I am going to teach later in the year. This may seem early to tell you about it but  I am so excited to be teaching a one day workshop at my friend Sue's workspace, The Yard Artspace, in Cheltenham.

 The date is set for Saturday October 15th from 10.00am to 4.00pm. I will be providing a pack for those who want it of paper, cover boards, linen thread etc for £5 which is passing on the costs as they cost me. The fee for the day will be £70 and my expectations are that everyone will go home with at least one completed book but hopefully two, plus all the knowledge needed to make many more. I don't want to mention the C word but they would make fabulous gifts for the end of the year. There's nothing better than receiving something hand  made and personal is there?

 We'll be focussing on the french link stitch either as a stand alone stitch or combined with gathering stitches and sewn over ribbons and tapes leaving a decorative exposed spine. I'll be demonstrating how to make this book with both hard and soft covers and also looking at how we can add ribbon or elastic closures.

You can see from these samples that I made last week that the covers do not have to be paper alone. I used a vintage tray cloth I had for this one above along with some hand made paper from Khadi. I also repurposed some photographic cabinet cards I had  and although it was fiddly cutting the rounded corners it is a lovely book in the hand and I shall be making more of them alongside some other samples I've been working on using  the covers of discarded vintage books. More of those later along with details of a coptic stitch workshop I am also teaching in Shropshire in April.

I hope some of you who have left comments in the past are handy to Cheltenham and want to give this a go. Anyone who is interested please e mail Sue directly from her website. Go on, do it. I promise we'll have fun.....