Books and Bargains.

click on the images for a closer look.


The photographs show Knutsford, a Cheshire market town close by where we go to for the odd treat. There are good places to eat, cobbled streets packed with galleries and best of all the charity shops. “Posh” people it seems, throw away the best stuff! Of course I had to buy something when we visited last week, I found a lovely old wooden blotter for £3.50 and a vintage toast rack for 50 pence which I just had to have.

We ate lunch inside a quirky little museum which houses a collection of Penny Farthing bicycles and later explored some of the buildings associated with Elizabeth Gaskell. The novelist lived here and immortalized the town in her novel Cranford. Some of the buildings have an Italianate feel to them especially the Gaskell Memorial tower, which would not be out of place in San Gimignano!




We had World Book week a few days ago so I thought it would be fitting to share with you some of my recent acquisitions. I love a bargain, don’t you? I found this gorgeous re-print of Walter Crane’s “Here we go round the Mulberry Bush” for 99p and a very tatty copy of “Mrs Molesworth’s Four Winds Farm” for less than a fiver. I shan’t tell you what I paid for the “Baby’s Opera” but I am going to attend a book restoration workshop so I have told myself that this will be an investment. All of these titles were illustrated by my hero Walter Crane; my heart still skips a beat when I come across his work.

The other two books I bought in London, “Engraved Gardens” published by Primrose Hill Press Ltd is a beautiful book about wood engraving’s inspired by gardens. I came across “Twelve Poems about Birds” by Candlestick Press in The British Library bookshop; I bought it to give a friend on her birthday so I am hoping she won’t be reading this!

Wood Engraving Workshop

Last weekend I went to a wood engraving workshop here at Northern Print.
I have been a long time admirer of wood engraving and have been promising myself that one day I would try to learn from an expert, there is only so much you can do from books and videos, there is nothing to compare to watching a craftsman’s hands at work.

The class was held by Chris Daunt whose work I had admired at The Bankside Gallery earlier this year. He is a member of The Society of Wood Engravers and has a website here, where you can buy wooden blocks and learn more about the craft. The class was well attended and everyone came away with a series of prints. Although I did not manage to finish my block on the day I carried on at home and got it completed, although I don’t have a press, instead I used a hand burnisher. I now feel more confident to do more engraving and have a better understanding of how to hold the tools and how much pressure to use.



We stopped off at Durham and explored the lovely old cobbled streets around the cathedral. Both Newcastle and Durham have magnificent and dramatic locations, steeped in history and art, they are also very friendly, warm places and we hope to go back again before too long.

Somewhere over the rainbow.

Hello again, I hope all is well with you in this New Chinese Year, The Year of the Rabbit.

I won’t say much about my absence, you have troubles of your own I am sure. Let us just say that these past few months have been full of heartache and personal loss and at times I have felt like I was drowning in grief. I am happy and grateful to report that I did not drown, my family and friends pulled me through.

When I started this blog I wanted to share with you my inspirations; apart from the usual meaning inspiration can simply mean to breathe in and to draw oxygen into the lungs. That it is how I feel at the moment, inspiration is a vital part of life and has helped me overcome that terrible feeling of drowning. So I would like to thank all of you for sharing your creativity and inspirations with me.

Sometimes grief becomes too heavy a burden to carry around, we decided to visit our son in London for a little respite, it did us the world of good and have come back with hope in our hearts. We recently visited The Bankside Gallery in London and saw an exhibition of Wood Engravings, passing through the nearby Borough market, filled with spring flowers and wonderful food aromas. We saw St Paul’s Cathedral and climbed to the top of the dome, enough to make anyone breathe deeply! You can enjoy a virtual tour here. On our final day we went to the new British Library, if you get a chance this is well worth a visit. It looks a little austere on the outside but inside it is beautiful, very light and airy. It reminded me of Japanese architecture with its simplicity and elegance, I will definitely try to visit again before too long as there was too much to take in one day.





The rabbit painting is one I did years ago for Camden Graphics Ltd. I used gouache and coloured pencils, hence the grainy effect on the rainbow.

More time out.

It seems like this year has started the same way as last and I need to take more time out, so please bear with me a while longer.


To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

"A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance."

Best wishes and good health!

“Happy New Year everyone and Good Health”. I have had hardly any time to catch up with your news so please forgive my tardiness. Our Christmas has been dominated by worry, over the health of family members and concern caused by the cold and all its complications. We did manage to enjoy ourselves despite these difficulties and had lots of our younger family members to stay, including our lovely grandson and great niece, both of who are walking, talking and generally charming all and sundry. Now I have to catch up on getting the house back to normal, catching up on laundry, larder replenishing and work whilst continuing to visit my frail and elderly parents.

I choose this new illustration to start off the year, I have brought the lemons, you will find hot water in the pot, now you need to add some honey, stir well with the spoon provided and help yourself to a piece of cake! I hope to catch up soon.

Vintage Christmas Collection.

Thanks to all those who took part in my giveaway and thanks especially for all your kind words of encouragement throughout the year. It really does make a difference and although I don't always have time to respond I do read and appreciate every word.

The winners are Alexa, Nan, Milly, Heidi, Elizabeth and Michelle. I hope you enjoy your app this Christmas.

The illustrations above and below are part of a new quilters Christmas Collection that I have designed for Makower. Hopefully it will be available in a quilt shop near you in the next few months, just in time to do all your Christmas 2011 projects!

In the meantime I would like to wish you all a very warm, safe and Happy Christmas. Take care x

Giveaway and work in progress.

We are delighted to announce that Apple have relaxed their controls on promotional codes, (until now these have only been available to customers in the USA). This means that I can offer six free copies or “promo codes” to anyone wishing to own our new app “The Bird with the Rainbow Tail” This will work on any iPod/iPad or iPhone. If you would like to share this E-book with your children this Christmas all you have to do is leave a comment and indicate which code you need e.g. iPad or iPhone and I will pick six at random. I will then need your email address in order to forward the code, which is valid for thirty days. This means that you have thirty days to download the app from your computer to your iPad/iPhone. I know this sounds complicated but I assure you it is quite simple so I hope you will throw your name into the hat. I will pick the winners on Sunday 19th so hurry! If you don't own any of the above you can gift it to someone who does.



Life continues to be problematic although the snow has now left us; we have had amazingly clear and sunny frost filled days, which have transformed the landscape into a Narnia world although as I write today is grey and dull with the promise of more snow.

I am very behind this year on all fronts, work, Christmas preparations, and blogging, barely able to keep my head above water or so it seems. I have been painting, painting and painting, so much so that my fingers are stiff and aching but feel now that I am getting towards the end of the “Owl and the Pussycat” poster for Long Barn Books mentioned earlier. There is just a little more work to do on the borders and I think it will be done.