Or should I say…”Autumnwatch”
Yes, ‘Autumnwatch’ is being filmed live from our local RSPB Leighton Moss on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday next week.
You might like to come along and catch some of the action and also drop into a local ‘wildlife art exhibition’ at the same time!
Yes, myself and a few friends are in a small exhibition hosted by the neighbouring Silverdale Golf Club. Here are some snaps….
So, take one old display case, (recently purchased on a trip to the Antiques Centre in Lancaster…”I’ll do something with it one day”, I said). ……… Stick some acid etch cream on the clear glass, (taking care to observe the correct health and safety), …. then stuff full with christmas fairy lights….
And ‘voila’…. a d.i.y. lightbox!
I am thinking that this is going to come in real handy for displaying my wares at Craft Fairs when light is at a premium.
Moonlit Hare is drawn to it ….. 
Meanwhile sunlit hare is at home in my workshop ……… until he gets collected tomorrow. (ohhhhhh)
It’s that last Friday of the month time again and I really should be doing my ‘Open Studio’…and I would, but I have an unavoidable appointment so instead why not ‘Come for Coffee’ with my neighbour Lynne who is raising money for the Macmillan Cancer Support Charity with the ‘World’s biggest Coffee Morning’. She if offering delicious home baking with refreshing cups of tea and if the sun is shining we shall be sitting outside in the freshly weeded front patio. Lynne is an absolute STAR, (she has met the Queen you know!) Her scones are infamous so why not come along and support her.
(I’ll be back in my shed in the afternoon).
Also it is the last chance for any of you to come along to the ‘SAACT Pop Up Gallery’ this weekend. 
21 exhibitors from this years Art Trail are exhibiting all together in the stupendous exhibition space that is the Leeds Children’s Holiday Centre. The artwork on offer is fab, as is also the delicious home baking in The Leeds Cafe as well as an ‘Art Raffle’ where you have the chance to WIN original works of art. All prizes have been donated by the exhibitors and all proceeds will go to the Leeds Children’s Holiday Centre Charity.
So thats your weekend sorted!
This time last year I started this blog having just got my youngest off to high school and with me starting full-time work in my shed.
It began with me “procrastinating” over a wasp nest and getting distracted by lemon drizzle cakes in order to avoid getting stuck in to my jobs.
Well, only a little has changed in a year, I am still easily distracted by a cake but this year I was desperate to get back into my shed.
I had been secretly counting down the days for…..(well quite a few days)….. when my off-spring would go back to school. And then my other half announced that HE was going to work from home!
My rant went something like….”6 weeks …blah-blah.. peace…food….space….blah-blah”. You get the picture; I was a little touchy.
Anyway, it is now Friday. I am on my day of peace and solitude. And I am tired. I have been cutting, foiling, soldering, grouting, drilling, grouting, scrubbing and lots of other ‘ing’ things and so my rest is to type this up whilst having a brew.
And the reason for me being so industrious is that next week I will be busy setting up a ‘pop up Gallery’. I am joint organizer of the ‘Silverdale and Arnside Art and Craft Trail’ and some months back I thought it would be a good idea to involve us, as a group, in another art trail called ‘c-art’.
C-art takes place throughout Cumbria and is huge. We are the ‘SAACT Pop-up Gallery’ and you can find us at the Leeds Children’s Holiday Centre in Silverdale, Venue Number 96. I am very excited about it and have been hassling all the 22 exhibitors to get there delivery notes in so that we can get some lovely labels made. (And this is a little big coming from me who hasn’t even decided what I am showing yet!)
Hence the industry. Fifteen beautiful things I need of a varied price range, plus I have orders to fill! (Tired shoulders). Check out my progress…..
Flocks of birds in various stages of construction….
Ummm. Perhaps a nice manicure is in order!
And check out the poor bristles on my ‘scrubbing’ brush….
But hey, I am loving it. And bring on next week where you are all cordially invited to come along!.
Check out the dates here on our wee flyer.
It really will be lovely to see you all!
Emily came to visit me in my shed today to have a bit of a tinker.”Making is what I want to do” she said.
So it was straight to the drawing board. Inspired maybe, by my somewhat ‘cold’ freshly painted dining area, ( a shade of blue which needs a pull-over I think), she plumped for making a penguin….. a delightful cuddly baby penguin. And not wanting to be tied to that old monochrome colour scheme she opted for, (no surprise here again!), icy shades of blue. Here is her time with me….(she is a little camera shy but certainly not ‘tool shy’ – she tried it all, Well done Em’)
Cutting…
Grinding….
Foiling in the sunshine….
Soldering, (Emily’s favourite bit)
She particularly likes the ‘ttsssssssssssssssssss’
Hacksawing….
Drilling….
Nearly there….
There!
Just back from our annual pilgrimage to Pembrokeshire. A place I visit to get sun-battered and rested and I wasn’t disappointed. Beach everyday. Most days our family fave’ of Broadhaven which has it all…….. waves, dunes, lagoons, rocks and even familiar faces, (we’ve been going there that long!)
Now I am a sucker for a secret hidden beach and with much beach loafing being done during the day I felt obliged to drag the folks on a cliff walk one evening. ‘Skrinkle Haven’ was our destination and after much tramping and cries of, “are we there yet?” We eventually descended a metal staircase to the beach. “But this can’t be the beach” thought I, when faced with a handkerchief patch of sand but some impressive looking cliffs. And then we spotted the ‘passage way’ through the cliffs, (ignoring the warning sign that talked of different beach levels?!!) and glimpsed a golden patch of sand beyond. I was hesitant but the kids were through. “Yeah, yeah, there’s a path at the other end of the beach,” they shouted back. So all of us intrepid explorers went through, scampering over the barnacled rocks and dodging the waves to land in paradise.
What a stunning beach. Seeringly high cliffs with hanging green foliage and not a soul to be seen. It was like our footprints were the first to mark this beach.
But they can’t have been. There, constructed at the high water mark from beach salvage was a structure with a hand drawn sign saying, ‘MikE’s BeAch Bar’. The kids were straight over ordering imaginary pina colada’s. Me, the cautious girl scout, just wanted to check out the return path before getting too comfortable as it did look slightly dilapidated.
I scurried up through the undergrowth, the squeals of delight carrying up to me as the kids discovered fairy lights at the beach bar. After climbing so high that the beach had disappeared from view I suddenly found my way barred by a palisade fence! Yikes. We were on military territory again. I could see a ‘footpath closed’ sign on the opposite side lying at a funny angle in the overgrowth. I shivered and expected to look down and see the red dot of a sniper rifle on my chest. (I can be prone to a little over dramatization!) I hurriedly retraced my steps and the words were swiftly echoed around amongst us all….
“There is no way off this beach!” (du-du-duuuuuuuuhh!)
Honestly, it was like a scene from ‘Lost’. “Kids, step away from the bar, it’s time to go home”. It seemed to be only me that was moving with any urgency, (I am such a scaredy). We retraced our steps, up over the barnacled rocks. To add to the drama the tide had definitely turned and much more skill was needed to time it through the plunge pool before bouldering round to enter the door of the passage again. Exhilarating stuff. (And funnily enough, only me that ended up soaked!)
Ham butties and battenburg on the safe handkerchief of a beach next door had never tasted so good.
We gave an arrogant nod to the warning sign on our ascent of the steel staircase. We’d survived it but I didn’t want to feel too bolshy so I figured I should take on the role of sensible parent… “Now we took a risk here tonight kids and in future you should always heed the warning signs…… I only allowed you through because I knew we were at low tide….”etc etc. “Yes, Debbie, we know” they replied. Smart kids, I’m proud of them.
It was only when we’d got back to the car that I realised one of them had gone and nicked the bleedin’ fairy lights! Honestly, you can’t take them anywhere!
But anyway, talking of fairy’s…what do you think of this little gem that I fitted for Isobel before popping off on my hols.
It is Isobels third panel, and it nestles into one of the panes of her small Georgian windows. I made two for her last year with little birds and if I could only download the image from my phone I could show you all three in-situ….
Anyway here is the ‘fairy panel’..
This is me making some custom brackets to fit the panel into Isobel’s existing window. The brackets, made from a little bit of brass angle bar allow the panel to be screwed into the wooden frame, but also allow air to circulate around the panel and prevent condensation.
I made a ‘jig’ to help me position the brackets so that the panel would sit evenly within the frame. All interesting stuff!
Granny Sim came to my ‘open studio’ a month or so ago. She spied my birds. “I’d like a curlew”, she said. “Bunting for me”, said the beautiful Anne…”And a heart for my friend”, said Anne’s friend. And then I took them off to see my fish…
Granny Sim sat in the shade whilst we chatted and then it was time to go. “I want my curlew” said Granny Sim. “Ooooh, sorry”, I said….”I can make you one!”
Granny Sim told us all about her growing up in Scotland and how she remembers the sound of the curlews in the neighbouring fields…all the while that soft borders lilt creeping back in to her voice. Turns out that we lived quite close to where Granny Sim grew up, for a while.
Her brother still lives in our old home town. Nice memories.
And what Granny wants, Granny gets!
And talking of ‘open studio’..I’m afraid i am not around for my next one at the end of July. But I will make up for it at the end of August, last Friday of the month, 30th August. See you there.
Jan came along with her precious nick-nacks and story way back in April….. She wanted a commemorative piece to surprise Husband Steve with on their 40th Wedding Anniversary.
“….A lifetime’s journey filled with significant treasures”…I have been pondering on it for some time. Then, with deadline looming it came to me. A strong and beautiful family tree seemed the perfect way to go.
In 1971 the seed was planted ………
And with the ‘pop’ of champagne in 1973 the ‘tree’ began to grow…
Strong branches hold the children’s memories…..
And further branches blossom in to grandchildren with coins to mark the years of their birth.
Strong foundations of happy holidays and DIY hold the family tree together.
“Congratulations Jan and Steve”, it was a privilege and joy to make .
Black and white cat,
stubbornly he sat,
Cared not a jot.
“You want to wrap wot!”
Black and white cat,
Getting in my way.
…………………………….
He has the final say.
…….and so the weekend went. Please feel free to help me out with that second last line. I can’t quite get it……. feeling jaded…….the weekend has faded……a-dren-alin….must ‘ave bin.
(Oh, dear stop me rapping)…….
That’s what happens
when you’re searching for a headline.
Images jostling for your attention.
See how it went.
Music did I mention?
Now I really will shut up before you all tune out completely. Just having a bit of taxing fun, exercising my mind after the festival fuelled carnival charged atmosphere of the Art Trail.
For crying out loud, shut -up and just load the photos.
Basically it was fab. If you didn’t visit, you missed out. It was a joy. Lots of lovely people to meet and beautiful things to see. Some really excellent images can be found here and mine can be seen here….
Yesterday I played a very small part in helping my friend Penny complete her ‘Bob Graham (BG) Challenge’. Basically she ran a 66 mile lap of the Lake District which funnily enough featured none of the lakes but 42 of its highest mountains. She had to touch the summit of all 42 and that amounted to a massive 27,000 feet of climbing, (almost the height of Everest at 29,000ft!). And as if that feat alone doesn’t sound challenging enough, she had to do it 24 hours! Now just in case that isn’t quite registering let me talk you through my day……
As Penny left the Moot Hall in Keswick on Thursday at 5pm, I thought about prepping some tea for the boys and me. Later I idly packed my rucksack with egg-butties, jaffa cakes and liquorice all-sorts then kicked up my heels in bed for a bit with my alarm set for 11:20pm (that is ‘pm’ not ‘am’ you’ll notice!) My shut-eye was interrupted by many bleeps of the mobile – “her feet have wings and she’s flying down Hall’s Ridge”…..”Great Dodd done”….”Stybarrow Dodd done”…
Radio! Aha, my alarm.,.. but I haven’t slept!
Off to Dunmail with my pal Jess to meet Penny for the leg 3 change over. Penny arrived about 1:20am, legs one and two of the BG complete, and a flurry of activity sprung to life…. I was promptly sacked from doing the foot-rub, (I thought I was supposed to be making her laugh!) and seconded into loading my backpack with all her fluids and biscuits… and then we were off. Into the dark up Steel Fell. There was ‘Tom the nav’, ‘Jess the gels’, ‘Joe the pouch’, ‘Dave the fruit’ and me the ‘soggy biscuit’. Oh and of course ‘Queen for a Day – Penny’. We chatted along for a bit getting to know new guys Joe Hill and Dave Swift…. (Could you get any better names than that on a c.v. for BG Support?!)
Penny proved to be a very fair and indefatigable* Queen and really only tried to trip us sherpa’s up with her walking poles cos’ Tom the nav’ said that that was OK behaviour…”just drop ‘em when you don’t need ‘em” he shouted back. Charming. (*Dave supplied that adjective).
Many peaks and bogs later, with headtorches off and the dawn making a half-soaked arrival we crested Rossett Pike to get our first good view of the night; Bowfell, and Penny’s halfway point. The view didn’t last long though as into the clag we carried on, climbing…..topping……trotting…..hopping… all the way to the highest point in England, Scafell Pike. Jess, Dave and I then left Penny to do Scafell on her own and we tap danced our way down the brick road of Mickledore. (I had noticed wise words on Jess’s daughters bedroom door earlier that day… “You should always make time each day to kick up your heels and dance!”) Good advice, so dance we did, towards the delicious smell of John at base camp frying bacon.
My duty was done at Wasdale after a meager 16 miles and 10,000 feet. Penny scurried off up Yewbarrow taking Jess, Joe and Dave with her, (hang on, was that me getting the sack again!) Oh no, my turn to be nav’ and show Tom where the showers were….”err, watch out for those poles!”.
Then it was off for an ice cream at Buttermere for us, an essential part of John’s BG support ritual. Followed by me performing 4 hill starts on the very steepest part of Honister mountain pass because John wanted me to prove I was capable of later driving his car. I’d like to think it was because he thought I wasn’t 17 yet, but it wasn’t. Oh, and now he needs a new clutch!
Penny, in a flash of red, tottered in to Honister still smiling, and I was pleased to see she hadn’t hobbled any sherpa’s. More foot rubbing, (I didn’t offer!) and then off up Dalehead taking John with her; but not his car keys, a-ha!
A convoy of us set up camp at the Church in Littletown for the next Royal flash-by and we were by now basking in sunshine. John, (a different one) laughed at my geriatric attempts at climbing up on to a stone wall, so I sulked and scanned the skyline with his glasses. Here she comes. New shoes and Dallam gown for Cinderella and then she was off on her final six miles in to Keswick.
“Er, can someone help me down off this wall?”
Thankfully I managed to beat her in to Keswick using John’s trusty vehicle and dashed in to Londis to purchase a celebratory bottle of their finest. Then before we knew it, the crowds parted and to the contagious applause of bemused tourists, Penny came sprinting up Market Street before bounding up the steps of the Moot Hall. She then liberally doused the crowds with bubbly to the shout of me saying, “hang on Penny that was the good stuff” and Jess rushing to catch a last desperate dribble as she’d been abstaining for a whole week!
Oh, and some time later the clock struck five.
She’d only gone and done it. What a girl. Amazing. I will be in awe of her for Ever.
Penny Attwood, 23 hours, 40 minutes.
What did you do yesterday?
And in honour of Penny I unveil the epic I have been working on in my shed. I started this story some months ago with a commission from fell-running friend Helen. ‘Something with mountains and walshes”, she said.
From the beginning please……..
Lets put that all together and, ta-da……
And for a little bit of detail…..
This is a glass appliqué technique with a difference. Helen wants to mount the panels on her wall and so to mimic light I have appliquéd the glass on to boards I prepared with britebak foil. The light bounces beautifully off the backing creating a picture with a difference.
For authenticity i have added some real rock
and a natty piece of beach crock.
And the sole of a trusty innov8…
Come and see it for real at ‘The Silverdale and Arnside Art and Craft Trail next weekend, 28th-30thJune. I am exhibiting with a couple of friends at my home, Venue 13, (13 Shore Road, Silverdale, LA5 0TP.)
d c stained glass :: debbie's shed 