Golden

It's been a glorious start to the Autumn. A proper Indian Summer  - all misty mornings, hazy sunshine and glowing evenings.  We've crammed a few adventures into these golden weekends; a bit of kayaking, some swimming while the sea is still warm and calm, a little foraging, sleeping out in the camper van, exploring the coastline... I wish it would never end.

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I have just finished working on a few freelance jobs (pictured above) and am now making a start on some of my contemporary pieces for Christmas.  This year I will have some pieces available for sale at Mostyn, as well as at The Stained Glass Museum Shop.  I will also be making a large batch of singing birds for my Etsy shop. To find out when the listings are going live, sign up to my mailing list in the side bar as I will be giving advance notice to subscribers first. These usually sell out pretty quickly at this time of year, so keep an eye on your inbox.

Postcards from Sisterhood Camp

Such an inspiring and refreshing weekend, with a fantastic group of women, in the beautiful countryside of the Hartland Peninsular, North Devon.  We stayed at Loveland Farm, in their brand new geodesic domes.

Pictured top to bottom:

Shibori fabric dying workshop with Heather Young & Bethan John

Leather cuff making and decorating with Golden Bear Belts

Clifftop picnic lunch

Evening portrait photoshoot, led by Xanthe Berkeley and Louise Gibbens

Spekes Mill Waterfall swim

Exploring the Hartland Peninsular coastline (2 images)

Elderflower Mojitos 

Packing to go home

There was much, much more that I haven't posted, like the delicious evening meal, and the flower crown workshop, and the impromptu folk musicians who serenaded our picnic...

Thank you to Xanthe Berkeley for capturing it all so perfectly...

If you're interested in finding out more about Sisterhood Camp 2016, or getting involved in any way, you can sign up to the mailing list here.

Massive thanks to Lou Archell and Hannah Bullivant for all their hard work in bringing it all together.

I made a playlist on 8tracks to capture the spirit of the weekend, featuring songs from Laura Veirs, Paper Kites, Lord Huron, Fleet Foxes, Beth Orton, Alela Diane and Michael Kiwanuka.

Sisterhood Camp 2015 / Victorian Stained Glass Roundels - Blue Tit and Goldfinch

This weekend I will be joining 24 inspiring women at the Sisterhood Camp, a weekend spent under the stars at beautiful Loveland Farm.  

Organised by the amazing Lou Archell of Little Green Shed, and sponsored by Toast, the weekend promises creative workshops, feasting, wild flower gathering, dancing, waterfall swimming and camp fires.

The aim is to share skills, dreams and goals.  To encourage, and hopefully develop, a working relationship together and inspire new directions and future collaborations. 

Feeling very lucky and excited to be invited to what will hopefully become an annual event.

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I recently painted this pair of my always-popular British Bird stained glass roundels, for a stained glass studio in London.

I spotted a real goldfinch the other day, and now they might have just taken the lead in my affections from the long-tailed tit.

January

A few images from the longest and most tedious month of the year.

We went on some good walks, I started the process of getting my new (bigger!) workshop ready to move into and I cut a lot of glass for a large panel I'm working on.

Hedgerow Jelly (Autumn in a Jar)

If you have kids and, like mine, they love to collect everything and anything they spot while out walking (shells, stones, feathers, broken blue and white pottery, coins, bottle tops etc. etc. etc.) then you might enjoy making this with them.

On our last walk we collected all sorts of edible Autumnal treasure - crab apples, sloes, rose hips, rowan berries, black berries, haws... but what to do with it all? Hedgerow Jelly, that's what.

We found this recipe, which worked brilliantly, and really you can be fairly flexible with what you put in, depending on what you find.  Always be careful to check that what you have picked is actually edible though, and not deadly nightshade berries for example. Make sure you wash everything thoroughly before starting.

As long as the sugar to juice ratio is 1 pound : 1 pint, you should be ok. And we totally cheated and squeezed the muslin straining bag (which looked like something out of a terrible slasher movie as the thick, red, viscous liquid oozed over our hands). Yes our jelly is a little cloudy, but we got twice as much, which is more important than perfection in my jam making school.

Then when it was done and poured into jars, we made labels (Isla's was so nice I copied hers).

It tastes very nice on porridge, crumpets and pancakes and would probably be very nice with game too, as it is quite sharp and sweet.

Ready.... Steady.... Go....

First swim of the year at Burton Bradstock this evening.  It was great.

Photos by Nelly.

Knocking knees and chattering teeth by The English Channel.

Gypsy Caravan

It's nearly the end of the Easter Holidays.  I haven't done a stroke of work.

We stayed in a proper Gypsy Caravan set in an orchard in a very beautiful part of the world.  Our stay coincided with beautiful spring weather, clear skies and a massive yellow moon rising as we sat around the campfire.  There were frisky little lambs to coo over and big scary cows to run away from.  We took our wildflower and bird books and spotted-and-jotted.  The girls wrote and drew constantly.  We climbed hills, swung on rope swings, paddled in rivers, fell in nettles and slipped in mud.

Details here.  I can't recommend it highly enough.


(NB. Not a sponsored post.  Just an actual holiday)