Spring Thoughts

Happy Easter!

I hope you're all well? Here at The House with the Blue Door time seems to be flying and life is busy, busy, busy. Since I last posted I've decorated three rooms and P has made countless trips to local charity shops and the refuse tip, as we've embarked on a huge decluttering project in our house. Our three youngsters are well and truly grown up now and as a result they come and go. Sometimes there's two or three of us, sometimes four or five. Our lives have changed and it's time for our home to reflect that, so we have been re-organising and streamlining things. As well as all this P and I have had a little more time to follow our own pursuits. P's been following his musical hobbies, and I've been trying new crafts. I have so much to share with you but will content myself with giving you the edited highlights of what I've been up to lately. Grab a cup of tea, pull up a chair and make yourself comfortable.
Something that I really enjoyed was a day's workshop in lino printing. Being a big fan of the art, I've enjoyed artists like Angie Lewin and Mark Hearld for years, but have never tried it myself. My friend J and I spent a wonderful day at an old barn in the Somerset countryside with the lovely Toni at The Barn Studio. The surroundings were peaceful and pretty, and her studio was just stunning. J and I were in heaven all day!





Equally good was the very warm welcome she gave us, not to mention keeping us well-supplied with coffee, cakes and a delicious lunch. I loved making a design, cutting it into the lino and then printing it in different coloured inks, and used some of my favourite photos to make spring-inspired prints.

Here they are drying,

and here are the finished results. I'm definitely going to do more of this!

I've been enjoying my stained glass class too, and have done a little more fused glass (below), as well as starting my first leaded piece.

Crochet has been going on in the background too - I made this little corsage from some soft pink Welsh wool I discovered in our clear-out.

My love-affair with hellebores continues, and two double ones were added to our collection after a visit to a garden open day in Bath.

I've never seen so many different varieties in one place.

I get out to my shed as often as I can, and it's lovely to spend time there now that the weather is warming up and the sun is stronger. A few weeks ago I went out one wet Sunday afternoon and got out my watercolours.

I painted a crocus and listened to the patter of rain, a truly meditative and mindful activity.

I've been out and about too, to some lovely places. One of my favourite work trips is the yearly visit to Chepstow Castle in Wales. It's always a breath of (very) fresh air in March and a welcome break from the classroom for everyone.

A Mother's day walk along the River Thames to Sonning on a gloriously sunny and blowy spring day was real treat. The colours on that day were so bright and the floral world had properly burst into life (we even saw George Clooney's house from a distance!).

A fortnight ago we went to Winchester to see Angie Lewin's A Printmaker's Journey exhibition which she curated herself and which contains her own work as well as pieces by Eric Ravilious, Edward Bawden and Mark Hearld.

 Oh my goodness, it was so inspiring my head was positively buzzing with ideas afterwards! You know that feeling when you feel really inspired to make things, but aren't quite sure where you want to start and what to make? I certainly had that. The exhibition is on until the end of this month and if you're in the area I can recommend it. A bit of a wander and lunch with family in Winchester afterwards helped to calm my creative excitement.

This week we visited lovely Lyme Regis, a favourite Easter outing. A chilly day, the soft Dorset countryside was beautiful and the hedgerows as we drove down were full of primroses, wild garlic and the first bluebells. The little town was as jaunty and pretty as ever.

The sea air did us good, and we ate pasties from our favourite baker on the sea wall while listening to the gulls above us and looking at the calm sea. We didn't mind when the sun went in and after a wander around the shops and an ice-cream we went for a walk around the harbour.

Walking on the famous Cobb is a bit vertigo-inducing for me, so I walked around the bottom of it and enjoyed the boats at low tide.

Now that spring has sprung there is floral gorgeousness everywhere. This ornamental cherry is on my walk to work. I did feel slightly self-conscious taking a photo of it, but it had to be done. You get that, don't you, dear reader?

Our own native cherry tree has grown bigger than ever and is covered in white blossom at the moment. It looks like the birds will have lots of little cherries to feast on this summer.

 

The fritillary on our rockery flowered its socks off and was a chequered delight.

When the sunlight catches the tulips in our garden they glow and I'm always glad that I planted them back in the autumn. They're such vibrant, happy flowers.

It seems to be all about blues, greens and yellows at this time of year, with the garden exploding into zingy colour.

 

Last weekend was so warm the temperature went above 20 degrees, and it started to feel like summer. I sat in the garden and wrote in my beautiful new journal, a Mother's Day present from J with Van Gogh's almond blossom on the cover. 

I'm really enjoying writing, planning and doodling ideas these days, and have missed blogging. It's been a place to mark and enjoy the seasons, everyday life and creativity, and I'm not exactly sure why I've neglected it for so long - just lost my blogging oomph as well as struggling to find enough time in the day to fit everything in, especially in term time when I work full time. I have considered giving up completely and just Instagramming instead, but my blog calls to me and I have missed it, as well as reading all my favourite bloggers. I do appreciate anyone who finds the time to visit me here. 

I hope you are enjoying the spring too and having a good Easter break x

Christmas Round-Up and a Happy New Year!

Hello again! Thank you all for your Christmas good wishes - I hope you've had a lovely Christmas holiday! Our Christmas here at The House With The Blue Door has been a very good one indeed, full of festivity and lots of nothing in particular which has been very restorative. With J back from university, P and B off work for a few days and D and I in the school holidays, our time has consisted of getting up late (bliss), reading, watching TV, chatting, eating treats, going out and generally being rather lazy. The character of our Christmasses has changed over the years as our children have grown up. Of course we no longer read them 'The Night before Christmas' on Christmas Eve (although we do all still have stockings), and they've all gone off the pantomine. However, these traditions have been replaced with new enjoyable pastimes. I have loved the fact that we have all had the time to catch up with each other again, and all three of our youngsters have enjoyed being reunited for the holidays. There has been much laughter and companionable chatting, along with pleasant shopping trips and our annual big family Christmas meal at a lovely country pub in which three generations of us gather together.

In the few days in between my last day of work and Christmas I managed to squeeze in some creativity. I made this wreath with foliage from the garden and berries which I'd bought from a florist.

I love the bright orangey-red ilex berries against the blue-green eucalyptus leaves.

I also crocheted mistletoe brooches as presents from a pattern in Lesley Stanfield's '100 Flowers to Knit and Crochet'. They were really quick to make and, after spray-starching them and sewing brooch-pins on the backs, I added pearly beads for berries. 

I had a glitter-tastic experience covering these cones in the sparkly stuff. I was confident I could keep the glitter under control - how wrong I was! It went everywhere. Reminded me of when I was a primary school TA and we made a giant glittery star for the nativity play - such a sparkly mess.

I also decorated a bough of blue spruce for my shed and hung it with tiny baubles and bells, as I've been looking forward to decorating my shed.

Even Miss Blossom dressed up in her festive finery. She does like a bit of sparkle.

Today P and I went to Weston Super Mare which isn't far from here. Our youngsters were all otherwise engaged and we felt the need to blow away the cobwebs by the Bristol Channel. Weston has a large beach which is perfect for long walks either on the promenade or the sandy beach, and the sea is always a long way out, even when the tide is in. When we arrived the sun was shining and there were lots of people with the same idea as us out walking and enjoying the fresh sea air. After several days of being lazy and eating chocolate and crisps, it felt wonderful to feel the cold wind (my, it was cold!) on our faces, smell the salty air and stretch our legs.

 

It was very blowy indeed, and seagulls hung suspended in the air above us.

As we walked gradually the sunshine disappeared and the sky became very grey.

We ate toasted sandwiches in a sweet little beach cafe as raindrops started to fall, and afterwards we walked to the end of the pier, by which time the rain was lashing at us horizontally. Luckily you can walk the length of it undercover.

We took refuge on the pier and in the shops of Weston for a while and, when the rain had stopped, we discovered a shining sunset over the beach.

The low, glowing light reflected off the puddles on the sand and lit up the horizon.

It was a beautiful end to our visit, and as we drove home we felt very happy to have had such a brisk and breezy walk at the coast. Perfect.

I wish all of you a very Happy and Healthy New Year, and I hope that 2016 brings you much peace and joy
xxx