However…

We will not be beaten by the restraints living two stories up.  Last year we managed to construct a platform within the gutter to house our planters, sadly we were not the most faithful of farmers, this alongside the fierce winds that hit our building, left our mini garden looking rather sad.  This year we are much better prepared and committed and dare I say, our very modest crop seems to be thriving.

This is a beautiful purple spinach plant, with windbreak constructed from an old duvet case & bamboo cane.

Obviously we would not be able to live off our ‘land’ but there is such a wonderful satisfaction in grabbing a handfull of leaves and herbs for your salad from the window ledge, or picking some fresh mint for a summer Mojito.  More so than anything it is another example of reinforcing those old fashioned values that are coming back into, well fashion.

More and more people are shopping in Vintage and second hand stores, re-styling and re-working old outfits.  The balcony gardening trend seems to be following suit, so many shops and websites are stocking easy to sow seeds, that are ideal for window box and grow bag allotments.  I am seeing an increasing number of cookery books, designed to cook from your crop, focussed on ingredients you can grow on your windowsil.  The balcony Gardener have such a great variety of seeds and the packets are so pretty too.

The french bean plant is beginning to sprout, taken on Easter Sunday

This year saw a re-make of the classic 70′s television show, ‘The Good Life’, this time around starring Sue Perkins and Giles Coren.  The couple filmed a sort of comedy docu-sitcom and actually attempted the things Tom and Barbara did in the original; re planting their garden as a veg plot, raising livestock, even making their own goat’s cheese.  Obviously this is not a realistic lifestyle for those of us aiming to afford to live in a City, but with allotment share schemes and the growing popularity of farmer’s market trade, it seems we are inching closer to a collective self sufficient way of living.  Hopefully I will have some more pictures to update you with in the coming weeks, watch this space

Some wild flowers I scooped up from Brockwell park

An image of a section of a piece developed for a public art installation at Penarth Marina

This image is comprised of small handcut discs of copper, which I treated with a Borox Patina, to acheive this beautiful aquamarine finish.

I was lucky enough to spend a week of the Easter break in the incredible German Capital City of Berlin.  The architecture is magnificent and I was astounded by the sheer size of the buildings.  The streets there are so wide the city feels vast and has a lovely laid back atmoshpere.  Day one we did a FREE walking tour that takes you around att the major historical landmarks of the city.  Our guide was fantastic, full of energy and he really knew his German History, I learnt so much about pre and post war Germany.  I would definitely recommend this to anyone visiting the City, they run most days, twice a day I think, meeting at the Brandenburg Gate.

I wanted to share some of the wonderful sights with you.

Brandenburg Gate

The Jewish War Memorial

Catherdral at Museum Island

A quirky, retro cafe bar, near the Prenlauberg Flohmarkt

These were on the ceiling in a Thai restraunt, in Prenzlauberg, I think they were made from coffee filters, but can’t be sure.  I love the way look like they are dancing along the ceiling.  I would like to experiment creating light features and lampshades, these caught my eye from the street and we ended up staying for a beer.

The government buildings that line the river near the Reichstag make a pretty spectacular skyline.

Such an amazing city to wander round and get lost in, came home with a list of places to visit and re-visit next time.

I am sure many of you agree that it is about time we had a bit of sunshine here in the UK and after such a harsh winter Spring is just round the corner…it maybe a big corner but it’s there!  And what better way to celebrate the thaw than stepping into a party frock and celebrating country style…

For the past few months I have been involved with the organisation of a charity ball in aid of Jamie’s Farm, situated in the beautiful countryside surrounding Bath.

Thier Mission: “To support the development of vulnerable young people by providing opportunities for achievement, wellbeing and sustainable change in an agricultural setting.”

The team at the farm work hard to help these children explore activities that encourage, teamwork, a healthy lifestyle and safe outlet for an abundance of energy.  Children are involved in taking care of the animals, cooking, countryside walks and creative activities.  Jamie’s Farm Spring Fling is an evening of music, dancing and fine food, and you don’t need any excuses to attend this splendid event, bring your friends and help support this wonderful cause.

Aside from being involved with such an inspiring charity, the ball has also provided me the opportunity to explore my creative side.  I was asked to design some images for the ball, that had a village fete theme.  Thinking about dancing and nature and the sense of spring in the air…

Inspired by these images, I began to think about Flower Fairies, those little fuchsias remind my of two ladies dancing.

Eventually I came up with these little dancers, the shape of the petals and reminded me of swaying dresses.  Thanks to Tom’s technical wizardry, my sketches were transformed into these neat, line drawings.  This little project has inspired me to do more illustrative work.

I hope to see you there

‘An Investigation into the benifits of ‘The Arts’ in Healthcare, Education and Criminal Justice Establishments’

I developed a particular interest in Mental Healthcare and the outstanding benefits of art and creativity in this field.  I have had the opportunity to work with a fantastic charity, CoolTan Arts, a community arts centre run by and for those with mental distress.  At the moment I run a knitting group at their community centre, based on Walworth Road, in Elephant and Castle.  CoolTan offers survivors of mental distress the chance to meet with others and become involved in a variety of activities that contribute to wellbeing.

Every month CoolTan runs a walk around Southwark called the Largactyle Shuffle.  This is a pilgrimage to uncover the history of Southwark and aims to target the Stigma surrounding Mental illness.  This walk has been named one of London’s top ten walks, by Time Out.  During one of the midnight Largactyle Shuffles a film crew were invited along to document the journey, last week I attended the screening of this film and two others about the work of CoolTan at the British Film Institute, (BFI) on the Southbank.  The turn out was great and the production was extremely professional and well put together.  Footage from the walk was amalgamated with animations that explain what the walk is about and where the name comes from.

You can see a trailor here for one of the three short films premiered, ‘In the studio with Maggie Hambling’, a patron of CoolTan.  If you are in the area definitely pop in and have a browse around their gallery and studios; a wonderfully vibrant hub of activity.

I got the feltmaking kit at the top there, in comparisson to other felt mats, this seemed like a teriffic bargain, due to the selection of rainbow wool tops.  However I did not read the description properly and the mat itself is huge, great for making scarves and large sheets of felt which you can store for mixed media projects.   On top of all that you get really easy to follow instructions on how to make basic sheet felt, which I found really usefull being a little out of practice…and they are laminated (as felter’s will know it can be a pretty messy hobby) Genius!!

Alongside basic materials, Gillian offers books, pre-made felting kits, to make a variety of fun projects, for different experienced felters and they all come in lovely bright colours.  It maybe winter outside but in your ‘Art’ it can be spring  If you fancy trying your hand at felting, but need more instruction you can book onto a feltmaking course too,  (vouchers are available too if you know someone who might like to go…hint, hint)

I absolutely love the range of tea cosies.

And this lovely snuggly hot water bottle cover.

Since getting my new computer I have had Ffffound set as my Safari homepage, this has introduced me to many a lovely new website, but at the same time is responsible for a lot of internet procrastination!  I am sure many people are familiar with the problem; by the time you have clicked through to the website and all subsequent links, you have forgotten why you logged on in the first place.

One of  my most favourite finds, a site many will be familliar with, is Desire to Inspire! A blog collated by two design enthusiasts Jo and Kim, who have never met, but both like to share their love of good design.  My desktop is filled with images of beautiful houses and furniture and I thought I would share some of these delights…

Many of the houses and apartments seem to feature some element of textiles, arts and crafts.  Thus I have pretty much planned myself a lovely studio…

I find to if you are spending many ours hunched over your sewing machine, it is really important to have a comfy chair and plenty of storage to hand.

I just love these little apothecary drawers, fellow crafters (and most likely clutter bugs) will be familiar with the amount of tiny ephemera that accumulates in your sewing box, this could be perfectly housed and organised in these little boxes.

The same goes for knitting, as much as it is a relaxing hobby, it is not good for the posture, I could quite happily sit comfortable on here…

I could do a whole post just about the amazing chairs featured on Desire to Inspire, the other speciality seems to be fantastic wall displays, examples of making use of wall storage to save space in smaller houses, excellent for city dwellers!

Not only do I think these are all beautiful, well thought out spaces, but there is something refreshing in the use of pattern and colour and proving that having a little clutter on display does not have to be messy.  After all you wouldn’t collect the things if  you didn’t htink them worth looking at.

Images all courtesy of Desire to Inspire, with examples from Design Sponge and Marie Claire Maison and many, many more I just cannot remember where!

I just returned from another visit to London, with some old school friends.  Whilst there we went to see Breakfast at Tiffany’s at the Royal Haymarket Theatre.  I thought it was a stunning perfomance, Anna Friel was superb as Miss Holly Golightly, nobody can say Audrey Hepburn is an easy act to follow, and the accent was spot on.  Oldham Theatre Workshop turns out some of the best actors.  The costumes were terrific and the acting was full of energy, the set was fairly minimal, but the famous silhouette of the New York skyline, set the scene perfectly.  I had never been to the Haymarket Theatre before, it is a lovely size and we had a great view, diffinately worth going to see.

The only thing that left me a little confused was that Anna Friel was blonde on stage, yet in the theatre programme and the famous movie Holly Golightly was a brunette!?

Alongside meeting lots of new people I have been exploring the capital and thought I would share some of the highlights of my visit.

Some interesting Architecture

This is a new development on Central St. Giles, not far from Covent garden Market.  I was tipped to visit this by my Dad, it is an unusual concept, designed by Renzo Piano, but I actually think the luminous colours work!?

This interesting structure is the Back of the Mile End art pavillion, which nestles underneath the hill.  Unfortunately the centre has not actually been open any time I have been past, but the building itself is worth a look.

Taking some time out, you would not think these images were from the ‘City’.

We found this beautiful creature at the side of th Serpentine after a lovely lunch at The Serpentine Bar and Kitchen.  I think the only thing that tells city birds apart from country birds, is how tame they are.

This is Isis, a new sculpture in Hyde Park, a more urban bird, it is better from the other side (as you can see in the link below), but this was taken from across the river.

“Isis, by Simon Gudgeon, represents the Egyptian goddess of motherhood, who could take the form of a bird”

I spent a lot of time with a friend of mine who works as a woodland educator, so I learnt a lot about the surrounding nature.  This is a Weeping Beech Tree in Victoria park, you can stand inside the branches, like a curtain.  The bumpy bit is because one tree would have been grafted onto another.

something we are working on…more to come later.

Whilst I was there I went to several different events.

I was lucky to get free tickets to See Peter Pan at Kensington Gardens, it is worth going just to experience the 360 degree scenery.  I have to say it was an unusual twist on the traditional story, but the atmosphere was terrific.

Finally, but by no means least…Interesting 2009!

It was  my first experience of the conference and I would deffinately go again.  As well as learning a lot, hearing a lot of, well interesting things and meeting lots of lovely and important people, it was great to see such a sense of community spirit.  I don’t think I am alone in presuming there is a lack of community in big cities.  People came to visit from all over, all contributing tea, biscuits, cakes and their own mug.  At the end of the conference, before heading to the pub, everyone pitched in to help clean up.  I also went to a stitch and bitch meeting, people of all ages, getting together, having food and sharing a hobby.  The amount of events like this has been a lovely surprise and I think are definitely what’s needed to take time out from the inveitable hectic city lifestyle.

This was one of my favourite presentations all about Guerilla Gardening, (now thats my kind of London)

It has been lovely to spend more than a day or two in the City and actually have quite a normal lifestyle.  In keeping with the theme, I just thought this was quite interesting…

First a little trip home to Saddleworth, this is not a great photo, but anyone who has experienced the Rushcart event will know how colourful and extravagant the costumes can be.

Then a little camping holiday in York with my family, every morning we had breakfast with these little critters:

A little trip into the city, led us to the famous and magnificent York Cathedral.

Most evenings were spent here, apologies to Dan Germain for this image, however in my defense I was taking a picture of the tent and not the sunset!

Next up to Newcastle, for a friend’s wedding, it was my first visit to the City.  This is a beautiful old shopping arcade we wandered through, on the way to the Biscuit Factory an Arts Centre, which is well worth a visit.  An eclectic mix of art, a crafts shop and a lovely cafe.

After a lot of walking we gave into our throbbing feet (unrelated to dancing all night) and took the city metro back to town, all of a sudden it didn’t feel like we were in the UK anymore.

I then took a lengthy trip to the ‘Big Smoke’ but I have way too many images to fit in this post.

So finally I landed back in Manchester, I think this will always be my favourite city.

This is not very clear, but I came across this fantastic shop window display on Market Street, it was in fact hundreds of…

Traditional Singer sewing machines.

So that concludes part one of my UK tour, I have visited many places ‘on my doorstep’ I never have before and I have seen so many lovely sights, turns out a credit crunch summer is actually quite fun