Tree Range Egg Cosies

Ta daaa - The Tree Range Egg Cosies are now available from http://www.treehuggery.co.uk/ - for people who want to keep their eggs roaming free for as long as possible!

And I've only just got them finished in time, cos I'm planning a muddy off road run with my friend in an hour - its all go here!!!

its a small world

Until last week, I'd never heard of the pretty little village Holloway, and then I went up there a few times to get my giclee prints sorted, and do colour checks, then today I find out that Holloway is the place where some of my friends have rented a holiday cottage and are staying.  Its a bit like the time when we got lost coming back from a holiday in Yorkshire and ended up in Harrogate, we'd heard of it before, but never been, then after we'd gone there it just kept cropping up in conversation again and again. 
I'm wondering at what point the 6 degrees of separation (the number of people we're all separated by) will officially drop.  It must already be less than 6 as a result of social media; there's no end of times I'll see that some of my friends, who i didn't know, knew each other, are linked to each other on facebook.
Its a small world

And he's a runner up

Colin is far too modest to share his achievements, he didn't even tell me, until I asked him, but he's currently third in the leaderboard for this years Accelerate series of fell races in the peak district.
It's even more amazing when you know that the only fell running he does is at races, so no opportunities to  practice the hills or the technique; that he only started doing a few fell races last year, and that he's so busy working on the Brinsley wreck, that this year, he'd hardly been running at all since last August 
Personally I wouldn't recommend this approach as a model training programme, but he seems to be doing quite well out of it!

I've just returned from Holloway

I've just returned from Holloway (the village in Derbyshire, not the prison).  Its a beautiful village, near to Crich, which, if anybody is familar with Crich Stand will know, means extremely steep single track windy roads!
As well as a really beautiful village, scenic route and pretty canal, theres a lovely gallery, there called Studio 61. (http://www.studio61gallery.co.uk/) and I went to meet the lovely owner, Karina, to discuss getting some of my images giclee printed as cards and limited edition prints.
I'd popped back to approve the test colours, and I'm really excited, because the print and paper is really high quality, you can see all of the textures of the original pieces.  Here's a sneak preview of whats, very shortly, going to become cards and prints, and I'm already planning some more!

Wilde Woods

I've just had some brilliant news today, my collection of silver birch cushions have been accepted by the lovely online gallery "From the Wilde" (http://www.fromthewilde.com/), I can't believe I'm lucky enough to be featured on there, although in true understated  "Ward" style, I texted Colin the good news, he responded within seconds, which I was pretty impressed with, until I read what he'd put "No, I don't think so"  - It's a good job I realised that he was responding to an early question, of did he want me to ask for something from Freecycle.

What else.... as a result of customer feedback I'm going to start making the old Summer and Spring cushions again, and these will sit alongside the newer more tactile Spring with Blossom and Summer leaves!

Great hucklow fell race

Another fell race to try? Why did I go I wondered at the end, well the reason was it's part of the accelerate series ,I've now completed 5 races so am now eligible for a score in the series. But the main reason was it was a great day for racing. It was a lovely day with a good few hills to negotiate , Boggy under foot and narrow in places .The route was well marked and well marshaled .At six miles it was enough for me as I have had limited running since the last race. It took me just under 58 minutes  and was 11mins behind the winner,but I felt that was the best I could do,achy lungs and wobbly back legs meant it was as hard as I could push today.  I managed to see people who I have not seen for a while.
Fell racing is more sociable than road in my opinion. Although some competitors were berated by others for not using the stile and climbing over fences. You need to respect the farmers fields as that's there lively hood there trying to protect.
I also had my fingers trodden as I slipped and the following guy was eager to get on ,only trouble was he went  down the bank in his haste and ended up further back. 

Albert

It's pretty impossible to wash the pots and keep both hands dry, but since one of my hands is cut from falling over last week, whilst out on a run,  and my other hand is now bandaged after grabbing a saucepan handle that had been to close to the flames, that's what I'm doing.  Right now I'm feeling rather like Albert, the one armed pot washer, from the 1970s comedy Cuckoos Nest, and am starting to wonder if I should get my hands insured, although I'm so accident prone, it would probably cost a fortune.... Here's hoping I'm a bit safer tomorrow when I use the heat gun and soldering iron. I've got the Moorgreen show coming up next month, and so I need to make  more Silver Birch cushions

Greetings

I'm very excited as I've decided to develop a range of Silver Birch greetings cards, they're going to be photographs from the existing collection, and it will be really interesting to see printed replications of them, I'm hoping that they'l look just as tactile... The hardest thing is trying to decide which designs to convert into cards, I'm keen to have at least one of each season of the cushions, possibly a few different winters (as these could be nice for Christmas cards) the Well Walked Path and  a thistle maybe, the possibilites are endless, and I'm really excited!!!
I'll post an update when I have more news.

West Hallam Well Dressing, Art Market and Scarecrow Festival 2012

I've just had a lovely afternoon with my TreeHuggery stall at the West Hallam Well Dressing and Art Market.  The sun was shining (which was amazing given all of the recent downpours and the prediction of further rain for the weekend), the well dressings and the scarecrows were brilliant, and I met some lovely interesting people who came over to my stall for a chat.
One of my silver birch cushions has winged its way over to California to a lovely lady who is currently holidaying over here, and I chatted to some of the very talented women who make the well dressings.
This year the wet weather has made the well dressings particularly challenging as the usual flowers that are available weren't available, one of the women told me that as part of her forraging, she has been knocking on doors asking permission to take petals from gardens.  The well dressings can't be made to much in advance because the petals fade and brown, and, they need to be unattractive to squirrels too, who apparently are pesky little critters who steal the berries and seeds given half a chance....  And I thought that creating big textile works was challenging!

Making the most of things

My running buddy and I made the most of the wet weather on Tuesday, running in the pouring rain that was so heavy we couldn't see where we were going, and had lasted so long it had turned the footpaths into streams to splash through - once you get your feet wet, its actually fine,it's having damp feet that's unpleasant and causes blisters, but once you are wet, your just wet, and can't really get any wetter.  I love running in the rain, the trick is not to wear too many clothes that just get heavy and sodden, all you need are shorts and a vest, and to go somewhere off road and preferably muddy, that brings out your inner child.
Yesterdays run was much drier, and we made the most of an evening working late at the Brinsley wreck before running in the local woodlands along some paths that we'd only just discovered and admiring the evening's sunset - we really can't wait until we move house, and have this is on our doorstep everyday.
No runs today, I'm sorting out my wares for tomorrows West Hallams Wells and Art festival - I am hoping that it stays dry for that, the stalls are all in the courtyard, and all of the villagers take so much care in making the well dressings, and the scarecrows for the scarecrow festival, it would be a real shame for it to rain.
It's only for the afternoon, so fingers crossed the weather will be kind to us.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane?

This is an advertisement by BA, but it is very very good, so I thought I'd share it.
Click on the link below, and put in  any UK postcode or address (or try both) and  the advert will include the B777 taxiing up your road! I love it, I've just sent one taxiing past the Brinsley wreck!


See: http://taxi.ba.com/

Where's Wally

Yesterday a guy walked down the street dressed as a very good "Where's Wally" - frankly I was a bit disappointed that he was so easy to spot, but I'm assuming that he was going to a fancy dress party where it might have been a bit more difficult to search him out. 
I love fancy dress but the moment that I'm not with my fellow fancy dressers I always feel really daft and self conscious, but this guy was looking really happy and confident in his stripey red jumper and hat, and blue trousers - I'm really intrigued to know what everybody else was dressed as.
We attracted lots of attention this weekend too, but for a different reason, Colin put in our new windows, in the pouring rain - who but a wally would do that!.  They look lovely,  - there's still a lot of work to be done on the house, but its starting to look like the cottage that we'd love to have

Fish Slapping

Yesterday I was out, minding my own business, running along the towpath, when I got stopped by a fisherman, and asked to take a photo of him holding a giant turbot.  What is it with me and running? In the last month, while I've been out, I've been chased by stampeding cows, witnessed a wedding proposal, run through a puddle that nearly came up to my middle and now, very nearly engaged in a Monty Pythonesque fish slapping routine. 
I thought running was a solitary activity, where your mind could wonder, and you could solve all your dilemmas! 

Honesty?

I saw this on facebook, and it made me smile, and then I started thinking about how honesty is undervalued.
Far too many people, talk a good talk and promise the world in order to clinch a deal but have no intention of delivering what they promised - but a bad reputation travels far more quickly than a good one. Surely it's far better to be honest and be able to deliver exactly what you say your going to do and do it when you've said you're going to do.  If its delivered quicker or better, the result is that everybody is a winner, no body feels cheated or let down.  Of course half the problem is the 24/7 Culture where people want everything now and aren't prepared to wait....