I had a lovely inspiring weekend in London..with a long list of stately homes I wanted to go to… we ended up going to one of the ones I was most excited about; Leighton House near Holland Park- the colours in the house were so beautiful…
The walls were covered with green silk….
We were near the V & A, so popped in for some more inspiration. I spent most of my time in the iron work section!
The wind was rattling last wednesday, but I still managed to hear most of what the lovely Donna Wilson had to say.(She was giving a talk at the Harris Gallery in Preston.) Hearing her chat about her work and how much of an influence the countryside is to her work rung true with me. She also spoke about how her Grandma`s encouragement inspired her and gave her confidence, which made me think how little things are such big things for children and can shape their whole life!
Donna`s journey sounded so straight forward, I`m sure it hasn`t been, but I would have liked to hear more about her struggles, but I do like a journey to be winding!
It felt like Sunday was the first bit of sunshine in months, so we headed to the Cheshire countryside to soak it up…We saw snow drops! and a robin…the first signs of spring. I felt so refreshed after my little walk and the hope of spring! We stopped off in a cosy cheshire pub on the way home- the perfect sunday!
I don`t know about you, but i`m dreaming about holidays! so I thought i`d give you a sneak preview of my new Ile de Re Collection. The collection is inspired by the french island and my holiday there last summer…Available to buy soon…
Clementine
Grace
Charlotte
Lily
I love Grayson Perry even more after hearing the radio 4 reith Lectures and so i was so excited to see the tapestries in real life (I`d seen the documentary about them on channel 4, where he was gathering inspiration for the work)
The detail and colour is amazing! Here is a taster……
Happy new year! I`ve not made too many resolutions so far I don`t think the new year feeling has properly sunk in, but reflecting on my favourite bits from 2013 reminds me of what a lovely year it has been!…here are my top five highlights…
1.Top on my list has to be my new studio…I`ve had a break from it over christmas and am really looking forward to getting back in there!
2. France and in particular my visit to the beautiful island of Ille de Re, my spring/summer collection 2014 is named after this island, ( I`ll give you a sneak preview of that collection soon!)
3. The inspiring buildings of Portugal 
4.My visit to beautiful Blackwell House and now my jewellery is sold there!
5. And my final highlight… I started my patchwork quilt last January and recently I `ve been inspired to start up again and it`s been making my winter evenings so cosy…this was where I was last year…..
and now….(i still have a long way to go!)
Hope you`ve had time to reflect on 2013…
