adios

just a quick note as I am going on holiday for a bit.......

our annual Spain trip

am really looking forward to some reading........

thinking.......

looking........

calming........

planning

before I go

I thought I would show you some photos I took

a couple of weekends ago

while at the Horse Trials

at Chatsworth House

what an amazing and beautiful place!

and this is just the gatehouse!

while at the horse show

we saw this amazing horse whisperer

Jean Francois Pignon

he had his horses doing amazing things

without any sort of yelling or whipping

they really seemed to be communicating

after the horses were lying down

the little pony came over and jumped over them!

of course, I didn't get that photo

it did make me a bit teary

missing my Dad

knowing he would have loved to see that

several times I have seen him stand by a fence

and all the horses come over to him

there might be several people standing

by the fence

but they always went straight to my Dad

I hope everyone is doing well

having lovely creative thoughts

and actions

thank you, thank you for coming by

maybe leave a message and say hello

have a good weekend

bye bye

for now

__a

birds and chairs

not sure about my stuffed birds......not sure about them at all

they are kinda cute - but not sure I like their heads...should I keep putting eyes on them?

think I will do a few more and then move on to my next project

whatever that is.......

oh! me and S went to an upholstery class this past Saturday - loved it!!

I was hoping I would

I had no idea what to expect from the class, so I got two really (cheap) simple

chairs to work on

when we walked in, it was like we had walked into the middle of the class

everyone seemed to know what to do

some people had taken the class before - but the new ones even seemed to know

I panicked -

but then settled down and started taking the ugly, stained, ancient

(not ancient in a good way)

green fabric off the seat (duh, forgot to take “before” photos!)

I thought perhaps there would be some sort of opening talk or explanation

from the teacher - who is a very old, sweet man who has an upholstery shop in town

but no......just dive in

then he'd come around and show you things - or answer questions

I loved watching the others - who brought far more complicated chairs

deconstruct their chairs - seeing the layers of old fabrics,

horse hair or ancient fillings

I especially liked the chairs with just the bare bones

and hessian (burlap for you US people)........the rough materials

with the tans and brown colours

anyway - we finished our little chairs, who have actually been growing on me

study and capable with a bit of mid-century “design”

I settled on a simple, linen stripe with lovely muted colours of brown, tan, grey and a minty-green

with the original seat colour; the orangey colour of the wood was really awful

but with the new seat; it tones it way down

I still want to strip the wood and stain it a dark brown

what do you think?

leave it or stain it darker?

tomorrow; I am spending the day ion London

there are so many show I want to see;

V&A, Mall Galleries, Hayward

not sure how many I will actually get to

I always have such good intentions;

and then forget that it takes forever to get to each one..........

you walk around.......back to the tube.......next one, etc

then; I am going to the opening night of

CAMERA OBSCURA AND OTHER STORIES

a show of works by Ellen Bell

beautiful work.......check it out!

and as always; thank you so much for stopping by and seeing what I am up to

I appreciate it.......very much

I know.......I know.......

well, that break ended up being far longer than expected!

as you might imagine; my passport did indeed show up in time

our trip to Mexico was lovely - perfect weather and nice company

the view right outside our gate

the wandering mariachi band!

on our first day; we came back to our place after shopping -

and the maid (we had a maid! I know......a maid!!)

had folded all of our towels into swans!

she had a bouquet of flowers from a wedding and used some

of the bougainvillea petals to decorate two large towels in the front room -

so pretty and such a lovely surprise!

my favourite thing!

mango on a stick with chilli pepper, salt and lime juice

she cut the mango into a flower shape -

convenient to eat it on the beach so you can wash off all the juice that

inevitably drips down your arms

so good......had one every morning for breakfast

my sister’s dinner

I wish I would have been closer to this statue;

so serene and beautiful overlooking the little cove

now I am back at home -

and as usual......trying to get myself together!

I finished the bird I left before the trip

it is on its way to the US now

for my next project; I am working on some little stuffed birds

(I know......again with the birds!)

using these fabrics.......

the top of the bird will be one pattern

with the bottom being a contrasting fabric

will of course show you when I have a few done

similar to the aprons I made

which I have put in the cafe next door

and have sold 3 of them!! yea

so......that’s it for now

thank you so much for not giving up on me!

I will try to get back into “the groove” of writing more posts.......

and getting on with all the different projects I have in my head

and on several different lists floating around the studio

happy spring!

__a