Yorkshire

Henry on Hornsea beach

Clouds over Hornsea beach

I love these little boats.

Henry standing under the whale bones in Whitby

Whitby

There were sooo many sweetshops in Whitby!

Whitby rock

... and sooo many ice cream places!

... and crystal shops!

I love this necklace

Seagull chilling

I bought truffles and fudge from this shop

There were baskets of bottles everywhere for sale!

More bottles...

View of Whitby

Sealife centre at Scarborough

Looking through the porthole...

Fishies!

Mermaids purses. Baby sharks inside!

Henry rowing me around

I wanted to go in a dragon boat but we didn't have the change.

Practicing my water photography skills

Handsome Henry

Bridlington

Me on the wall. This was the sunniest day we had!

Bridlington beach

The arcade at Bridlington. We won a packet of fried egg sweets...

Henry racing

Little model houses

Little model harbour

Little model shops

Little model campsite!

Toppling people at a wedding!

Henry and I had a lovely time in Yorkshire.  The weather was a bit erratic but we made the most of it and spent a lot of time visiting places. We went to Whitby which was interesting because when I was younger I read a great book called 'The Whitby Witches,' which was set in Whitby.  It was cool to see all the places that were mentioned in the book, like the ruined abbey on top of the cliff.  I liked the shops in Whitby too. Lots of sweetshops, chocolate shops, fish and chip shops and jewellery shops. Henry told me that Whitby is famous for it's jet and there was a LOT of jet jewellery around.  There were also gothic and witchety hints everywhere.  Henry bought a chocolate strawberry cream filled coffin.

We also visited a sealife centre in Scarborough, had a speedboat ride in Bridlington, went rowing in a park, ate fish and chips, had a disastrous cycle ride, walked on the beach, drove around alot and went round a very run down model village where everything was mis matched and the miniature swimming pool had no water in it.  It was quite funny really. We actually managed to get a little bit sunburnt that day!

Anyway, now I am back and getting back into work again.  I hope you have all had fun exciting weeks. The sun seems to be out this morning so let's hope it stays that way!

See you soon!

Tomorrow Henry and I are going to Yorkshire for a week with his family.  I'm excited!  I hope it's not too rainy...

I've been practicing more with my new camera. Before I go, here are a few shots of life lately:

A bunny/dog thing I made the other day. I've changed it's head since.

I didn't make it's cardigan but I DID make the striped trousers!

The shelf above my work space.

I've been having a bit of a fabric buying spree lately!

And a bit of an obsession with strawberry patterned fabric.

Can't resist buying glittery netting!

...or those purple spots either.

Token picture of my dog because I love him.

I hope you all have good weeks!  I am planning to take my camera to Yorkshire and practice more.

See you when I get back xox

Janet and Anne Grahame Johnstone

Today I wanted to showcase two of my favourite illustrators of all time!  My Grandmother used to have one of their books and often I would disappear upstairs whenever I went to her house so that I could go and look at it.  It was a book of nursery rhymes and absolutely beautifully illustrated. That book is now mine! :) (my grandmother gave it to me after graduating)

Janet and Anne Grahame Johnstone were twin sisters.  I think it is amazing how they both worked on the illustrations together, passing them back and forth until they were both pleased with the outcome.  I could never imagine working with someone else on a picture and being satisfied with it...

I always loved those two little fairies down in the corner here.

Anyhow, I am lucky that I now have a few more of their books. So I have lots more of their illustrations to look at! And I often do get them out and look at them.  I just love the detail and stylization in the pictures.  I find them very inspiring.

This was my favourite picture in the Nursery Rhyme book.

Nursery Rhymes again. Love the colours!

Couldn't get all this picture in the scanner. Hansel and Gretel

The Water Babies

Peter Pan

 Bye! xox

a jumble of things...

Hi there!

A bit of a jumbled post today because I have been up to lots of different things this week. Let's start with the drawing!

Yesterday I went into London with my friend Sian to go to the V&A museum and draw.  I havn't sat down and done some proper observation drawing for ages so it was really good to get my pen and paper out and practice some.  We wandered around for quite a bit before hand and eventually settled on drawing some bottles and things in the glassware section.  I love drawing bottles. They are so satistying.

I have to mention here that the jewellery section in the V&A was a-m-a-z-i-n-g!  It was by far my favourite section. I was sorry I forgot to bring my camera- though sparkles never seem to transfer that well into photograph anyway.  But ohmygosh the amount of sparkle and dazzlement in the jewellery section was incredible!  There must have been tons and tons of diamonds, emeralds, rubies, opals, sapphires etc in that one room. Also the jewellery was really interesting too, there were some really unusual designs. Oh how I wishI had remembered my camera! Will have to go back there.

I would also like to mention that the food hall in the V&A is also worth going to!  Some of the food is really expensive but I had a hummous wrap with chickpea salad and cucumber salad which was really nice (and one of the cheaper things) Also they give you massive portions! Always good.  As we were eating I kept being reminded about the book 'Clara Button and the Magical Hat Day' that I own.  It's a kids book about a little girl who goes to the V&A museum. Theres a really beautiful double page spread in there of the food hall- big round sparkly chandeliers and all!

So yes, that was my V&A adventure!

What else have I been up to this week? Well, I ordered a book called 'Palm Sized Softies,' which arrived the other day and which I have already made a couple of things from in my spare time. I used to sew a lot when I was younger and have recently been wanting to get back into it. I thought this book had a lot of fun projects in it that wouldn't take too long.  I really want to get comfortable with making different shaped animal heads so that I can create my own patterns.

I made this pink chihuahua with striped ears and goggly eyes.  I'm not sure the beads work so well for eyes- they stick out rather a lot.  I'm thinking I need to get my hands on some of those safety eyes...

... and I made this 'goat.'  I say 'goat' because I think it looks more like a lamb to be honest. I think it's pretty cute anyway even if it does have slightly wonky eyes.  I like it better than the chihuahua.

To make these two little animals I used felt.  I got a load of felt for Christmas which I hadn't used yet. It was the perfect time to get it out!

rainbow colours! My mum bought these in a Japanese shop in Dubai.

I love the caption on these packets of felt!

pattern cutting...

 And finally, a few little snippets of life lately:

a commission I was working on. Finished now.

beginning of the commission.

these books took me hours and hours to make!

as you can see there were a lot of books in this set. All labelled!

flowers from Henry

My little Barney

 I hope you have been having nice weeks!  What have you been up to? xox