Soup’s off the menu…

Our lovely bass marimbula: We bought it from Michael Allen and his family in USA. at Cloud Nine. It’s beautiful. I asked Michael what it’s made of, here’s what he wrote…

” …several different woods.  The tongues or keys are made of Northern (US) Ash which has been cut so that the stock is quartersawn (vertical grain when viewed on end).  The bridge assembly
is made of hard maple, the body is made of birch veneered laminate, the interior bracing and blocks are made of Adirondack Red Spruce (top, quartersawn) and Poplar (back and blocks)”.

Here’s a short video of a friend of Michaels’ (that’s the player on the left of the three) playing his marimbula with dulcimer hammers~ (the marimbula makes a different kind sound  when the tongues are ‘stroked’, here Mark strikes them). Take a look, it’s a crackin’ little tune too.

I’m adding a permanent link to Michael’s shop under ‘other sites of interest’, you may like to see the range of instruments he makes =)

Ten Plus Textiles: Here’s the (web version) of the flyer I’ve done for our next exhibition… it’s coming up fast now…eeek!  

 

 

 

 It shows details of work by Diana Shone,  
 Janice  Moilliet, Michelle Barnard, Caroline Turner and Jean Ball.

 

Nantwich Museum have a lovely new Community Education Officer, (Alison Horrobin) who is planning workshops for children and families that link with the exhibition. Should be good fun!

 

Anti-Gravity: I’m definitely anti gravity today! Things kept slipping through my fingers and then la pièce-de-résistance… I dropped a pan of soup (cold, thank goodness, straight from the fridge). The pan did a remarkable thing on its journey downwards.. it turned over! And the lid went rolling off,,, and the soup… well, it went EVERYBLINKIN’WHERE!!!! Lovely delicious, homemade brocolli soup, with leek, garlic, onion and lemon all over the floor, up the kitchen cupboards and splashed up the chair and over my foot. Joy!!! Good job the cat wasn’t there, it would have freaked her out good and proper! Ah well. We went out for pizza. And it was nice!

Tomorrow: Dave’s birthdaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeY!!! Can’t wait!

Bye for now!

 

 

New Layout

Photo Julie Bryce 2008

Fingers: made a book, (used the cover material Frank and Joyce gave me~ sorry, no image… and it’s already gone to its new home).
Restored the framing on an older monochrome watercolour (elephant sketch) and it’s found a new good home too.
Am knitting a wrap~ponchoey thing for Rosie, which I’m making up as I go along… oh the joys of working out mid-row increases!
Have been crocheting accessories too.
Been working on the (Ten Plus Textiles) Nantwich exhibition images… had hoped to have got them to the framers by now. Tsk tsk!
Wee weird critters on the go.
Oh and I made a dry felted buttoned pouch too… should fit a certain someone’s phone!

Feet: Not much further than the local towns for shopping, but seen some lovely birds and cats on my walks though, to and fro.

And then there were three: Ellie has gone back to university. She had a great time in Paris with her friend Sarah during the Easter break. Sadly, she left her travel journal on the plane, (made from elephant dung incidentally… erm.. the journal that is, not the plane! : ). Let’s hope it’s sitting in ‘Lost Property’, waiting for her to reclaim it.

Ears: Oooh! I’ve got some soft beaters for the bass marimbula! I’m trying them out on the tunes I’m learning. It’s good to have a choice and the different sound they bring to the marimbula works well with a few, like ‘Argieres’ and ‘New Rig Ship’.

A change is as good as a rest, so they say. I’ve chosen a different format and made a new header image for the blog. May have another play with it over the next few days…

Bye for now dear readers x