Puffin- drawings and first stitches.

All I wanted to do this week was draw puffins and try some puffin stitching! Unfortunately there is always other stuff to do after a holiday and a little recovery time from all that sun and activity. However not so long ago that trip to Skomer would have been unthinkable in my heavy, leaden M.E. days so it was a dream come true for all of us. If you are suffering now take courage things do get better even if it takes a very long time.

Puffins on Skomer.

 

More puffins - my husbands photos.

The day we went to Skomer.

 This is Skomer- a small island nature reserve off Pembrokeshire, South-West Wales. Last Sunday, in glorious sunshine we had an unforgettable day out.

 Plenty of puffins with beaks of sand eels to feed their young.

 Nesting in burrows on the beautiful flower covered cliffs.

 Perfect blue sea and sky.

 Guillemots and razorbills in colonies on the cliffs.

 The manx shearwaters come in at night and are heavily predated on by the gulls- also having chicks to feed.

It is just a short boat trip in the Dale princess but visitor numbers are strictly limited and you have to queue early in the morning to get tickets.An amazing experience and the highlight of our holiday.

My holiday finds, including a discarded puffin beak ( bottom left) they lose these after the breeding season is over.

Jay feather.

A grey day, with a little patch of light. A gift. ( 20cms x 11cms)
This tiny feather from a jay was a gift. I started working on it before and during the exhibition. All hand stitched and begun by putting coloured fabrics together in a small strip - inspired by Jude Hill at Spirit Cloth. Finished now and I will be away for a week. Going to the seaside. Now where are those binoculars........

Cutting the hay field.

The farmer next door has begun to cut the hay. The lovely rows of hay make perfect stripes of texture. The exhibition is over - excellent small sales of cards and unframed pieces - time to unpack the pictures get them safely back onto our walls and then plan my holiday packing.

Glos Guild of Crafts Exhibition, Tetbury.

My table yesterday at the exhibition. I met and chatted to lots of lovely people interested in my work, including a blog follower! Great to get the feedback. Great to wander round the exhibition and admire other peoples work. Lots of card sales and some portfolio work sold but no framed pictures sales. It finishes tomorrow. It is a long day sitting there from 10-6 so a quiet day today. Body feels rather stiff and aching. If you spot the half eaten apple on the table- that was part of my lunch not an exhibit!

Winter Birds.

 I have at last finished this piece of birds in Winter. It needs to go off to the framer so needs must!

 Nuthatch.

 Goldfinch.

Great tit. It will be at the Guild at 51, Cheltenham from July 25th for the Birds exhibition. A bit strange working on winter trees in late spring/summer but it has been so cold and wet these last two days it was back to winter clothes anyway. A reminder, if needed, that the seasons don't roll on seamlessly, there are interruptions.

Spring green.

This is the piece I was working on at the exhibition yesterday. A long way to go yet. The greens of the Cotswolds, lots of different textures in the fields, walls, hedgerows and copses.