An unexpected afternoon off work......

.........and time to play with sketches in photoshop! 

just having fun!

Over a month....

...since Ally Pally and then we did it all again at Harrogate....

I was overwhelmed by the response from all visitors that came over and said hello and would like to thank everyone for all their very kind comments.  It was very rewarding to receive such a response, and has been more than a little difficult to come down to earth since. 

But I have been working on my "visual studies" with a recent trip to London where I happened upon the newly opened Anthropologie store......an absolute visual feast.  I took more than a few photos ....

...the whole store was beautifully styled  ....and yes that is a wall of real plants!

Liberty's window displays were good too.....

and covent garden early in the morning is just fab....

Well.......

.....we made it!
All the way to London and back, and, had a wonderful time. My very supportive husband was with me all the way as we lugged the work down on the train, tube, bus and by foot to Ally Pally and set it all up in my designated space. We then spent a fantastic 4 days of the exhibition meeting the public and other exhibitors and both thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. The show was buzzing all 4 days.....so many people and a lot of them called by my space to say hello and make some lovely comments. It was great to meet so many textile enthusiasts particularly the students who were very keen and interested.....so many enquiring minds!

Thank you to everyone who called on by. I'm saving a lot of my photos of the event until after the Harrogate exhibition but here's one of the "before" state of my exhibition space.....

and one of my "London" shots to give you a flavour of the experience.
Oh and thankyou Mr. Xstitch for the mention on your blog.......very much appreciated!

The last week......

....has been non-stop round of drawing, knitting, sewing, taking images, ordering postcards, business cards, booking hotels and train tickets and thinking about the million and one things I will need to do to try and be at least a little bit prepared for setting up my exhibition area for the Ally Pally Knit and Stitch event which starts next Thurs. I'm beginning to think that maybe my bargain rail ticket was not such a good idea after all when I've worked out exactly what I need to take with me next week.

So as a little bit of light relief this morning I took a stroll around my somewhat neglected garden. The remaining flowers are fading fast and everything has a crisp autumny feel to it but there is still beauty to behold.

....and best news of all...... the starlings are back. Normally they would have stripped our Rowan tree bare by this time of the year and the berries have begun to rot waiting for them. But this morning they arrived. I wonder how many days it will take them to munch through the lot!

Taking a brief break.....

....from relentless sewing to mourn the loss of my digital camera which appears to have given up the ghost at a very inconvenient moment! So here are some images i made earlier as all true Blue Peter fanatics would say!

....first year degree work

a very old pastel drawing.....

and just for fun sewing....

back to the sewing machine!

The sun shone.....

....yes, even in mid-September!

...and the crowds came (sometimes there was nowhere to stand to keep out of the way of visitors viewing the art!)

....and a wonderful time was had be all at the final weekend of the Saltaire Arts Festival Open Houses Arts Trail.

.....and I even sold a few pieces.

Thank you to everyone who called by! ....and thank you to Paula and Nick for generously allowing their house to be an art gallery for the duration!

Its started.....

.....the open house artstrail at the Saltaire Arts Festival opened for the first full day yesterday, and is on for the rest of this weekend and all of next weekend. Its a grand day out for all the family so if you are in the West Yorkshire area...call on by and say hello.

Check out our house blog and the festival website for more information! The pictures are of our open house - 6 harold place.