Perpetual journal.

 Here are my March pages for my perpetual journal. The idea -from Lara Gastinger on Instagram, is that you have a centre fold for each week and you add to it every year. You can identify plants and wildlife and make notes and observations. You should observe your drawings improving over the years and what flowers when.

 I did hope to draw every day but of course that is not always possible. With this idea it doesn't matter if you miss weeks or months because there is always next year to do more.

 At the moment I haven't put the book together. The weeks certainly speed by! I think I shall make 2 books for one year. I am leaving one full page at the beginning of the month for additional notes and drawings. Hoping it might last over 5 years worth of entries.

Threads by Mirjam Gielen.

 I had a lovely surprise when I won these eco dyed threads on Instagram.Beautifully packaged and super soft colours from Mirjam Gielen (mirjamtextiles) If you don't know her work, it is amazing - 3d textile textures and stitches, inspired by nature.

Harvest field.

 I started this harvest picture in September I think and this week finished the trees and hedgerow shadows around the edge. It is layers of silk, painted, machined in rows, cut and fluffed up with a suede brush. (Stitch and slash method ) I have added loop stitches and painted a background. Footstep running stitches around the edges.

Spots and stripes.

 Last week I found a scrap of tape with spots on that I love and have used every inch of in the past and not seen again in the shops. So I made a card with a guinea fowl feather with a spotty theme. This week, lo and behold I found some striped red legged partridge feathers so am in the process of making a companion card.

 Also working on the field map piece slowly. Herringbone stitch is hedge, long running stitch -road.

winter field book finished and a new piece begun.

 The winter field book is finished ( I think.)

 As it is long these two photos show the front pages

 and the back pages.

 This is the beginning of a new slow stitch piece with threads. It is a map of the enormous field from above with a further field behind. The red stitching shows the original pack horse path, still a bridleway and official footpath. There is going to be lots of stitching on this for crop lines, unofficial paths and hedges. It is 3 layers of soft fabric - grey linen and tablecloth underneath all secondhand and well washed so delicious to stitch in its softness.

Winter Field Book Covers.

 As it has been so Spring like (back to Winter now though) I thought I should push on and finish the Winter Book. Here are the covers. This one on the front is a mini version of a larger piece I sold last year that started off this whole body of work. I was experimenting with loop stitches, which I hope to continue with, and thinking about the walks around the Enormous Field. You can spot the gates into the field (top right and top left) Bottom left there is a small tunnel in the hedge that all the walkers use. A desire path i.e. not an official footpath but one that people have created (see Robert McFarlane books for these useful landscape words)

 The other side has a tiny landscape on a scrap of indigo dyed fabric. This is the Lost Hedge in the enormous field. More about that to come in the future. I am aiming for 10 pieces to go to the Quennington exhbition but will continue with this theme of documenting our nearby fields.

I made the tie with a blue scarab beetle and a glass leaf - now I have to put it altogether.

Made by Hand Cheltenham.

 Remember the puffins from Skomer? They are framed and with the little concertina book will go to Made By Hand at Cheltenham Town Hall next weekend (8-10th March.) They will be on Stand 12, the Gloucestershire Guild of Craftsman. Cards are available at the Guild at 51 and the pieces will go there after the show unless they sell. If you are wondering how much? £450 for the framed picture £150 for the book with its own traveling bag and £2.50 for cards. Phone The Guild at 51 for sales- they will post things out to you but extra cost of course. 01242 245215. A huge amount of work in the picture -all hand stitched and months of work so hence the price. No-one ever puts the prices of things being so discreet, but why not? I am always curious with other peoples work. This frame cost £75 being bespoke and museum quality glass. Worth it for the glass, you can see right through to the stitching with no reflection. My tip to all new craftspeople - take huge care how you present it, spend the money to show it to its best advantage!

I am field.

 I thought this piece was finished but it wasn't until this morning. I often have words in my mind when I am working on a piece, sometimes I write them down in my sketchbook. I decided to be brave and write them around the field.

 I am field.
My heart is old.
I have been beneath the sea.
Seen countless trees come and go.
Weathered and witnessed seasons,
Turning,spinning, cycles of change.
 But I am unchanged.
Plough, seed and harvest.
I am field.

There were a few more lines in my poem but I made it join up - well like a cycle of seasons I guess. Beth said it is a fence of words around the field.