Wishing You A Merry Christmas

Our Snow arrived on Wednesday and within about an hour we had about 20cm of snow!
Unfortunately our boiler decided to pack up at the same time!!
I rushed out or shall I say trudged out, in all the snow, to get a couple of heaters and several hot water bottles.
It seems a lot of boilers have suffered in this cold spell and the earliest date we could get someone to look at it was the 29th of December.
So the last few days we have been wearing hats, coats and scarfs indoors with hot water bottles stuffed up our jumpers!
Then yesterday my husband continued to try and fix it and miraculously it worked, although we are not sure for how long.
I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and New Year without travel disruptions or boilers breaking down.
M x

Winter Wonderland

Hawthorn Frost

Hello,
We had the most amazing frosts last week and these few pictures are from our garden.
I wished I had been able to walk through Abbey Fields our local park, as the trees were exceptionally beautiful, a Winter wonderland which I could only glimpse at on my way to work.
Trees covered in frozen tears, sparkling like diamonds against the bluest sky I had ever seen.

I have many stitched pieces I am working on and I am holding back in showing you as I want some surprises for my exhibition next year.
Next week I am going to The Herbert Art Gallery to record a pod cast interview about my work which at some point I hope to share with you here.
I must now get back to my stitching , have a good week and wrap up warm as that cold weather is on it's way back!
Michala x

Winter Landscape

It's turned icy cold here this week, but thankfully with clear blue skies and sunshine.
We have not experienced the heavy snow that the North has.
Here is my own Winter Landscape.

Please forgive my limited time on the computer as I have a huge amount of stitching to do this weekend, in fact a whole blanket of stitching!!
Thanks so much for visiting my blog and for anyone who pops by or follows, have a lovely weekend.
M x

I'm Still Stitching!

Last week I went on a school trip to The Herbert Art Gallery to see Street Art , a touring exhibition from the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
The work on show is from many well know street art artists including Banksy and Shepard Fairey.
I was surprised to find some very thought provoking images and a wide use of materials which had been used in unusual and creative ways.
This included a tree made of old industrial timber pieces and painted with African style patterns and faces, which seemed to me to represent an urban jungle.
The children also attended a work shop to produce their own street art and had a very enjoyable, busy afternoon.
I'm off on another school trip at the weekend to visit the art galleries in Birmingham which I hope to tell you about next week.
 I spent all last weekend on my own work and I'm stitching on many new landscapes for the exhibition.
Bye for now
Michala

Sketching Landscapes

I had some news from The Herbert Art Gallery this week which has been making me nervous, well, I think it's positive nerves because it has spurred me on with my stitching and drawing.
My work will now be in a larger gallery space measuring 44 display running metres and I now have some pencilled in dates for the 3rd December 2011 until 29th January 2012.
So, I have an extra few months but I will need more work!
As I write this, I have various blankets submerged in dye, including some very large pieces, one in the sink, a bucket and a washing up bowl, not to mention purple fingers because of a hole in my washing up gloves!
This weekend I will devote my time to my sketchbook and sewing machine.

Here is one of my sketches from a few weeks ago, before the leaves started to turn.
Have a great weekend.
M x

Art Stitches

This week I have some of my art work on display at The One Elm in Stratford-Upon -Avon.
The event is called The Roaming gallery and a selection of artists will have work on display on Thursday 28th October from 5.00pm until 11.00pm.
The event is being organized by Ginger The Art Of Print you can find out more about the event here http://www.theroaminggallery.co.uk/.

I will have a few textile art works and art brooches available to buy.

If you have time do pop over to Gina's blog she has photo's of a quilt my Mum -in-law has nearly completed and also news of a very interesting lace art project she is working on about continuity and connectivity.

I have still been working on exhibition pieces, mainly working in my sketch book and with half term this week, I will endeavour to experiment with my paints.
Those of you in the UK may be interested in the series The Genius Of British Art, on tonight, which is called 'Visions of England' and focuses on landscape, can't wait to watch it!
I hope you have a good week.
M x

Pink Sky

Another stitched landscape to add to my collection.