Keeping busy

We are away on our annual pilgrimage to the Lake District. With the weather forecast to be rainy and windy for most of the week I brought along some stitching to keep me busy indoors.

I will confess that both pieces are kits bought recently. But then I wonder, as I do when new stitchers at our Embroiderers' Guild branch guiltily comment that they "only do cross stitch", what is wrong with working the occasional kit? It is directed stitching, yes, someone else's design and inspiration, but enjoyable stress free creativity, which when you are away from all those tempting threads and fabrics at home, is a lovely way to continue a daily practice in stitch without taking half the sewing room along "just in case"

Both of these are intended for someone special, so only a teaser in the image above, but I am really enjoying the quiet, meditative stitching each day, and a return to canvaswork which I haven't done for many years.

It hasn't been all rain and wind though. Yesterday was a beautiful sunny fresh day so I walked up to Chapel Stile to pay homage to the Langdale Millennium Tapestry 

and beautiful stained glass

in Holy Trinity Church, a quiet gentle space nestled in the Langdale valley.

There was a delightful man making repairs to my favourite window, so we chatted briefly about William Morris and stained glass and when a tapestry is really an embroidery. A lovely way to spend a morning.

Lakes 2015

Well, a week away in the most lovely weather we've ever had in the Lakes, it truly was delightful, warm sunny days after the morning mist lifted and the beauty of mist and dew to enjoy beforehand. There are always things I enjoy again and again when we go to the Lakes.

The way the light is layered, reflected, captured, bounced around, as the sun gets lower in the sky

The early morning mists and dews

The pleasure that the ever present dogs take in their surroundings

Boating activity on Windermere - we always take a trip down the lake

A gradaully fading away willow tree that may well be the last Ent in England

And this year, the wonder of the "supermoon" close

and eclipsed

The curious carvings, which look as though they should be ancient, but are actually try outs on slate at the local slate workers at Skelwith Brisge

Driving through Kirkstone Pass, morning and evening

on the way to a fascinating walk up the valley of Martindale,

past the C16th farmhouse

and on, guided by John White, to watch the wild deer there. If you closely at the pics on his FB post, you'll see a couple of curious folk peering over the wall - we had the privilege of being the only people John took out that day. It was truly magical.

There are some more pics here if you'd like to see them

and at the bottom, some images I took of the Langdale Millennium Tapestry, which sits in the lovely Holy Trinity Church in Chapel Stile, surely a very old pace of worship, given the still running spring and ancient yew tree which exist in quiet company with the simple cross in the curchyard

I particularly like the St Francis window with its rich and delicate colouring

Hope you've enjoyed this little glimpse of what draws us back, year after year.

Serene in Green

It's impossible to define this place with words. A rainy day, plans delayed, yet we can sit on the balcony, in gentle light, listening to the water pattering in the trees, echoed by the Beck lapping below. 

There is birdsong, rich velvet greenness, a vivid palette of bronzes, slate, golden yellow and light. 

Away away!

we've reached the week that is The Lakes at last. Tomorrow we toodle off to Buxton for a couple of nights, then on to Langdale for our yearly pilgrimage. I'm hoping we'll go to Eyam Hall, Craft Centre and Village while we are in Buxton; it's close by and looks well worth a visit. But the holiday proper starts when we get to our "lodge" in the valley below Langdale Pikes. It is just the best time of year for me; my pleasure in Autumn increased by the wonderful Lakeland scenery. I'm nowhere near fit enough to do many of the more uppy downy walks (though I always hope to be fitter next year), but the area is just so lovely and so removed from the day to day that just being there is a delight.

I'l be taking various bits of stitching to play with, a couple of sketchbooks and some books on shibori to find some ideas to explore over the coming Studio 11 year. I've also got a couple of "serious" reading books (Iron Age and Mesopotamia!) and an iPad stocked with 6 library books, along with a couple of recent treats from Batsford - Colour in Art Quilts by Janet Twinn and Mark Making in Textile Art by Helen Parrott, both wonderful books with delightfully textiley covers. I always end up taking more things to do than I actually achieve, but it would be so annoying not to have the very things I want when it's all at the other end of the country!

Toodle Pip!

home again

No, I've not really been away for two whole weeks and a bit, though that would really be a treat! I've simply been catching up a bit on life and work.


We had the best week ever in the Lakes, with glorious sunshine and warm balmy days. We stop off in Matlock Bath on our way there as it breaks the journey. It is a delightful place, nestled in a valley -  almost Coleridge's "deep romantic chasm", beside the river Derwent. This time my dear one did a Very Brave Thing. We took the cable car all the way up to the Heights of Abraham, which for someone who has vertigo, was pretty daring! The views from there are magnificent

over the valley to Riber Castle, a Victorian Folly

and down to Matlock Bath

There are some remarkable wood sculptures there. Made in 2000 by Andrew Frost, they represent the sprits of the woodland and have weathered to a gentle silver grey.

After a night there, at the very fine Hodgkinson's Hotel, we went on to Langdale where we spent the week relaxing, walking, looking, sitting, reading, stitching, eating and generally being on holiday. It is a beautiful place, nestling alongside Langdale Beck, which runs beneath the lodge, giving us the benefit of its rushing energy and soothing sounds, lulling us to sleep and greeting us when we wake

The Beck is controlled by a weir, which was being rebuilt last year when we were there by these very fine chaps. We spent some time watching them hard at work, admiring their expertise and hoping the job would be done by the time we came back this year.


You can see how they went about it here 

This year, all was restored, bringing back the wonderful reflections and giving water back to the Estate where the Lodge is located.






And here is the most delightful video taken in the 1940's. The spirit of the place is the same, the Britannia still provides fine refreshments to weary walkers, but the accommodation is distinctly improved!

A few more pictures, to share a little bit of the pleasure we had

Sunset above the Langdale Pikes

Roses round the windows at Dove Cottage

Reflections on Windermere

Falling leaves patterning the lake

The rhythms of wooden boats by the shoreline

Stone, shadow and light

Autumn colours

and Grasmere, home to Wordsworth's daffodils

A beautiful place to restore energy and soothe the busy soul.