Another New Year!

It's nearly a month since my last post. During that time we have been to UK to visit friends and family over Christmas and New Year. I hope that you all enjoyed Christmas and I wish you all a

VERY HAPPY 2019!

A new year means a new journal and this year I have decided to combine my sewing journal with my day to day 'to do' lists etc. I purchased a cheap bullet journal last year and had some fun making a cover for it.

I made a large piece of embellished felt ( you can see my method here ) and used a DMTV travel journal tutorial, adapting it to my own needs.

We spent the weekend before New Year in Bristol and visited the Clifton suspension bridge. I have driven over this stunning bridge several times, so on this occasion it was good to spend some time walking over it and looking around the visitor centre.

There were several competitions to choose the design for the bridge during the early 1800's and Isambard Kingdom Brunel's design was eventually chosen. However the bridge you see above, although his design, was modified by the eventual builders. The bridge was opened in 1864, after Brunel's death.

The bridge is a toll bridge and self funding.

There are lovely views - if it is not foggy and grey!

Good to be out for a walk.

Another lovely visit during our trip was to Hestercombe Gardens near Taunton. Another grey day but even in winter the gardens are beautiful and with a small person in our group the Christmas garden trail was worth doing for it's chocolate reward!

The Witches hut is a favourite stopping place ..

I love the way this tree has pushed its way though the back of the hut and produced some beautiful catkins.

Well I think that is enough for one post - more tomorrow!

Piecing Myself Together in Sunny Spain

Yes, it's PYT Tuesday again!

And many thanks to Anthea for hosting this linky again despite suffering from a Western Australia heatwave!

If anyone has an EPP project on the go then please do link up with Anthea - the more the merrier!

I brought my box of hexies with me and have been basting a few here and there! But I also brought my swap hexies for February to work on and these are now complete and ready to post.

These are off to Australia

And these to the UK

It took us two days to drive down to our apartment here on Vera Playa, Almeria Province. On the way we stopped at an old mill about an hour south of Zaragoza. A family run hotel - simple but clean and excellent food. Part of the old mill machinery still works - just for show, not to mill - and the owner is happy to switch it on for visitors to see.

The road from Zaragoza to Valencia is called the Autovia Mudejar, the bridges decorated with Mudejar stars and related sculptures. This George and Dragon is a favourite of mine standing guard over the motorway.

Our apartment is a five minute walk from the sea and this laguna which is always full of birds.

Behind me as I took the photograph is an excellent restaurant and several bars and the promenade going south takes us to Garrucha in just 20 minutes. We like to walk there along the beach and back along the promenade.

From the balcony outside our sitting room we look down onto a lovely green walkway between apartment blocks. This is looking north

And this is south

In the distance you can see the Cabrera mountains behind Mojacar.

As you can see virtually all the apartments are empty at this time of year - except of course the one whose balcony is directly opposite ours!

I love the way the orange trees are pruned into wheels here

and the beautiful bougainvillea which are in flower. This red one near our apartment is particularly striking.

And yes! I have been working in my journal - here is a page of prints I made based on the Mudejar star

plus a few beach finds.

Wishing you all a great week and I'm looking forward to catching up with all the other PYT posts here

Holiday Challenge

A few years back now I was asked to keep a daily journal/sketchbook as part of a course that I was following. I enjoyed the process very much and continued on long after the end of the course. The Journals make interesting reading and my artwork is a useful reference. However, it is now several years since I seriously did any work on a Journal and so I thought that my upcoming holiday to Spain - did I mention we are off to Spain!! - would be an ideal opportunity to make a new start.
So hence my holiday challenge.
I have a small, A6, plain boring sketchbook which I intend to transform with lots of sketches, notes and colour.

It shouldn't be too difficult to fill at least one double spread a day should it?

I have packed my favourite pens and a small selection of paints and crayons.

Of course, the reason I am blogging about this is that I need to be seen to make a commitment - otherwise it will never happen!

Hope everyone has a great month of February.