Quiz: Guess where the card-reader was?…. (Answer at the bottom of the post…)

The photos:…

• The building where the course took place.
• A beautiful cow who communed with me one morning!
• Annie’s wonderful creation with a honeydew… Melonie Wood! :D
• The last afternoon in the local inn, before we all went our separate ways.
• My sock monster! :D (Made by Abi) Help me name it please? Suggestions welcome. She/he is very sweet and has a pleasant temperament.

Answer to the quiz: In the shed at the bottom of the garden!!!! It’s proof…Men are from Mars. :)

Just a quick post… to say I’m back in the Land of Brick and Mortar after a few days tucked away in a rural retreat with Shonaleigh, other Storytellers and some fellow Story-Lovers.

A few memories of the week: Pheasants, owls, an old ice-house, bear-furred cats, communing with a beautiful cow one morning, Abi’s Hommity Pie, a very tall crinkle-crankle wall (thanks due to Suzie for teaching me the term :), the games we played, the stories we heard, the pleasure of the company of fellow Wild-Wood-Walkers, Mellors the long-booted gamekeeper :D, the ad-hoc Thursday night storytelling session in front of a log fire, the challenges, the laughter and Peter Chand’s performance of  ’Mangoes on the Beach’ … and much, much more…

My photos are still locked in the prison of  my camera’s memory card (waiting to be released into Blogland with the help of the CardReader… which has gone on it’s own personal retreat somewhere). I’ll post photos when I find it!

We all had a wonderful time, the same course is running in May 2010, so can’t give away too much… don’t want to spoil the fun for those who are joining Shonaleigh in the New Year. During our stay we were looked after by Charlotte, (Artist Administrator) and Abi* (Chef), so I’d like to record a BIG THANK YOU to them and Shonaleigh who ran Walking in The Wild Woods and who generously shared her wondrous Storyteller’s gift with us during the week.

*PLEASE visit Abi’s blog to see her suberb SOCK MONSTERS!!!!* Will show you my own made-by-Abi sock monster when I find that blinkin’ card-reader…Sassa-Frassa-Rassa!!!!……

Hello again me hearties!

Here’s some images of my work from Ten Plus Textiles’ exhibition at the Rossendale Museum …

The show went well and the curator and staff at the museum were very helpful and enthusiastic. Next exhibition is at Bankfield Museum in Halifax UK, in the Spring (2010).

Next week I’m on a residential storytelling course run by Shonaleigh called Walking The Wild Woods in Derbyshire UK. Shonaleigh is such an inspiring storyteller, she’s spellbinding and is in much demand around the world. I’ve been adapting a story (one of the requirements of the course is that you each prepare a story to tell)… I’ve chosen to trya tale about about Childe Rowland. He’s a character who crops up in folk songs too. I’ve really enjoyed working on it, but the thought of telling it to a group of people makes me feel very nervous. I’ll post the story and tell you about the course when I return later in November.

Best wishes to all but especially Uta, April, Laura, Doris, Chrissie, Michelle… sorry I’ve not been in touch recently x

Whoa! Time flies. Nice to be back. And now the News…

New laptop, (thanks D!) Old PC is lying down in a dark room. New season of posts to begin. Yay!  New Ten Plus exhibition now showing at Rossendale Museum. It looks good. Will post some images soon. New mini blog,  At The Lavoir, started for personal musings. New breadmaker on its way…mmm can’t wait to try it out.

Summer is drawing to a close here in the UK. The comforts of Autumn to look forward to.
Off to the cinema tomorrow with  friend to see ‘Julie and Julia’. Will let you know what it’s like…

Fingers: Been testing out a sturdy artists’ canvas in my free machine stitched drawings. My machine took a dislike to my Big New Idea….and went into a huff. Sooooo it’s been a testing time (in more than one sense). Tried different needles, jean, leather, topstitch, metallic…. Tried threads, cotton, polyester, poly/cotton, topstitch threads….Tried drawing image with pen first, tried drawing image with pencil, tried drawing with Magic-Pen-That-Disappears-With -Heat, tried stitching through photocopy of drawing, tried stitching through tracing paper, tried stitch-and-tear…  AAAAAAAAAaargh!

Anyway, here’s a couple of rather tatty looking samples and one/two? that might be going somewhere… (the bin? hehehe)
 
 

News from Brittany: Jean is taking Ellie to a recording studio today, to record a CD. She’s hoping to get 10 to 12 tracks down.
Think Jean will be accompanying her on some of them. Can’t wait to hear how it’s going…. Eeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

Field Trip: Going to town this afternoon, drawing.

When we were in Brittany, Dave and I accompanied Ellie and Jean Kérivan to a session at  Radio Kreiz Breizh radio station in ‘deepest Breizh’. Jean had kindly arranged for Ellie to be interviewed and recorded. Christian Rivoallen, le (wonderfully warm and funny… and he’s a singer) directeur, welcomed us and regaled us with stories, as he showed us around and tried to explain in fast French how the radio station broadcasts its programmes….. fairies, pixies magic dust.. that sort of thing.  (Thiiink I translated it ok…:).

Then he took us into the recording studio and Ellie played some traditional tunes (and two she’d composed herself) on domra and accordion. Jean, (he plays the Breton accordéon and teaches Breton dancing), accompanied her on one  track. On another track, Dave accompanied Ellie on mandola, while I ‘clacked’ along (with all the subtlety I could muster)  on a pair of wooden spoons that Jean had kindly given me.

Christian interviewed Jean, then Ellie, in French (bien sùr), while Dave and I tried to sit verrrry quietly in the corner! I think the gist was… Ellie being English, but having quickly developed a passion for Breton music and dancing. Also there was a discussion about the difference between English trad tunes, played mainly for themselves, and Breton tunes- played mainly for dancers and how that effects the music.

Christian then kindly gave Ellie and Jean CDs of the music recording session. We have much to thank Jean for,  he has introduced Ellie (and hence us all) to the delights of Breton music and dancing.

Well today, I got an email from Ellie….
“WOO HOOOOOOO!”    http://www.lulu.com/content/compact-disc/coincidanses/7248280

and there’s her CD, uploaded to a website. Here’s the cover:

Nice eh?

Rosie has made a montage of  drawings to illustrate a track by Tunng from the Imagined Village CD….

Take a look here on youtube

Ten Plus Textiles: So good to see everyone again. Great to see members’ work progressing.
Ooh er… ..not long now before the Rossendale exhibition! Also, Yvonne and I have both been selected
for the Three Shires Textile Fair at Quarry Bank Mill, Styal. It’s on Sunday 12 July 2009. We’ve been
allotted stalls next to each other, which is nice. I’m looking forward to it.. .Yvonne will be showing
with the inspiring Priscilla Jones. So it will be well worth a visit.
Thoughts for: Celia,  recovering in hospital. And cousin John and family.
Fingers: I love to see flowers picked and ‘plonked’ in a jar, a cup or a mug, do you? Here’s some 
stitched  illustrations running with the theme of  Picked and Plonked….