Worth a look

This thoughtful paper animation was produced for the YMCA and is entitled 'Where did community go?' Good question.

Workshops

It's been a week of workshops - one that I was lucky enough to attend and another that I was delighted to deliver. The picture above shows the results of a book making day I provided on Wednesday at our local museum in Narberth. The objective was to encourage older members of the community to record their memories for future generations using childhood photographs and photographs taken on the day. I did two sessions and was shattered in the evening but I had great fun. The groups were great. No-one had ever made a book before but they all had a go and produced something that will now be on display for a few weeks alongside bygone photos of the town and some of its famous sons and daughters. Children from the local school visit next week and they will be encouraged to ask their parents and grandparents to share their memories with them. It's a project funded by Age Concern and the Welsh Assembly Government and as I have just read and been inspired by the book of memories that my darling Mum left for us to read, it is an idea I would recommend to all.

The workshop I attended was yesterday, in Bromyard, near Hereford. I was going to make paper shoes! I saw the work of Pippa Meddings a couple of years ago in an exhibition. She had made the most fabulous shoes from paper and I inquired about workshops. Well, Pippa has moved into a new studio in the town recently and has got her workshops off the ground . Any thoughts that this would be easy were quickly dispelled. As a professionally qualified shoe designer , despite the fact that the paper shoes are a sideline , Pippa still makes them in the right way. We used proper wooden shoe lasts and cut templates and patterns and measured everything accurately. Pippa had maps and vintage papers on hand to use as well as fabrics. You can see from my insole (above) that I picked on a piece of sheet music that appealed to me and embellished it accordingly.

Similarly, when I made my straps I chose music that had words that fitted with my walking shoe theme. Slow, steady and cheerfully just about sum me up! The pattern design and cutting took all morning so I did not finish yesterday. I have sat outside enjoying today's sunshine embroidering french knots onto my straps and whip stitching the edges before constructing my sandal. It's not easy to see from my photo but it also has a small platform between the cardboard sole and the fabric covered insole.

I really enjoyed myself yesterday and today. It was a fabulous workshop that was well prepared and thorough. Pippa provided all the materials and even had a ginger cake for us in the afternoon! I think I have another obsession.....

Philip Glass

Found via A Drawing Diary

Out of the Archives

Whilst dashing in the car between A and B this morning I managed to catch Woman's Hour on Radio 4. There was a very interesting piece about two exhibitions at the Women's Library in Whitechapel. One focusses on the use the suffragettes made of the Royal Mail in their fight for the vote. The second, called Out of the Archives is new art inspired by the collections at the Women's Library. It really was a fascinating ten minutes. If you follow the link here to the Women's Library blog there is a subsequent link to the 'listen again' feature for Radio 4. It's worth making a cup of tea and doing just that.

150 years of Sanderson

I had a postcard the other day showing one of the key images from this year's Quilts Exhibition at the V&A. It was a nudge to get on and organise my diary, book my train tickets and go! Well, I know I wanted to go but every experience I've read about the exhibition makes me less and less keen if I'm honest . Even the cheapest train deal from way out west where I am costs more than a flight to Spain, so I'm looking at other exhibitions as well . At the Fashion and Textile Museum in Bermondsey there is an exhibition celebrating 150 years of Sanderson and this video*made me want to see this one more - but - and there's always a but - I'm even more excited by the Horrockses exhibition to follow which will show off the peg dresses from the 50's and 60's. Decisions, decisions! Help.....

* I can't get this video to widen so you might want to see it on the Fashion and Textile Museum website for a much better view

Garden ups, garden downs

While I was sat drinking a cuppa yesterday I suddenly noticed something down at the bottom of the laurel over by our cold frame. I realised it was a nest straight away and my husband had found a piece of a nest over there only the night before. A quick inspection revealed that it was empty and I was left to wonder if the brood inside had fledged (which was unlikely) or whether they had been predated (more likely).

This bush has been the centre of much activity in recent weeks and we knew it was being used by a pair of chaffinches. I think I read somewhere, but don't quote me on it, that they have become the most common garden bird. They are abundant that's for sure, although now, perhaps not so abundant here. It's making me concerned for another chaffinch nest that we found the other day in the crown of a weeping sedge that I was encouraging my husband to take the spade to. As the female chaffinch flew out of it and surprised us into looking down into the plant, we saw three or four dark little featherless bodies, hearts pumping like crazy. We beat a hasty retreat and now take long detours around this part of the garden as we don't want to disturb the nest any more than we should do. Neither do we want to draw attention to it - I know those magpies are stalking around and I trust them no further than I can throw them....

Elsewhere there is more life, plant life that is. Lots of aquilegias around this year . I love this pretty little semi-aquilegia that we bought recently but also adore every chance seedling and permutation of the common aquilegia, also known as columbine or granny's bonnet. The next few weeks will see me constantly turning their heads up to see what colours and patterns there are this year. I've no doubt I'll be boring you with those photos in due course. I'm giving you advance warning....

No garden post from here would be complete without some sort of insect in it, preferably a bee of course. When I was looking at the bird's nest I started to look, really look at the flowers on the laurel, all too often something I take for granted. I don't know if it was the loud drone of this huge bumble bee that made me do it but I am in awe of these beautiful flowers. They look like lots of little sea creatures clustered around the stem. I always thought I was good at looking at plants properly but this was a revelation for me.

After the bumble bee on the laurel I found lots of honey bees on the comfrey and the peony lutea that is just coming into flower in our front garden. Under our window there we have this lovely blue plant. Look hard and there is a bumble bee there - honestly! It's a stunning blue but a rampant thug. I forget it's full name but it is a buglissoides - yes, quite.

Finally on the garden front and maybe out of context, but can I recommend, if you've never read it, to read this wonderful book about Derek Jarman's garden in Dungeness. I re-read it every year and hear the words and see the photos afresh every time. The photos were taken by Howard Sooley who writes about Derek Jarman and the garden here : http://bit.ly/koUSK Unbelieveably, Dungeness is officially the UK's only desert but perhaps that explains why the chosen plants thrived like they did. Jarman also kept bees here. He called them 'the bees of infinity, the golden swarm' . It is a gem and so worth reading if you love all types of gardening. Getting off my soapbox now.

Romance in Welshpool

I snapped this in Welshpool the other week. Women losing their heads over men. It was ever thus.