Mix3dStitch

Fun but exhausting few days setting up Mix3d Stitch first open studio show.

Exciting work from three talented makers.

Hilary Grayson, Textiles
Jane Charles, Textiles
Yvonne Elliott , Textiles

3 Station Road
Winslow
MK18 3DZ
Tel: 07967 742598

livingtowork-workingtolive.blogspot.co.uk

6th/7th June. 12th/13th June/ 20th June 

Saturdays 11am-5pm Sundays 11am-5pm

Get along there if you can but be warned,you will want to take a lot of the work home with you and the prices are very accessible.! Just look at the enthusiastic crowd at the private view.
For lots more pictures gp to https://goo.gl/photos/Ts7ZT4NSgYev5eYu7

Done and dusted

Finishing the roof shingles at great cost our knee joints.
Add the guttering and rainwater butts and its time to finish off the inside

The natural birch proves a bit too woody so blond the walls with Liberon white wood stain.

Have a therapeutic edit of all the studio junk we have collected over the years. 

You have to be ruthless.

Dig ourselves out from a mountain of mug hooks and get them into the wooden walls, easy peasy.

Its great to have enough space to show the many samples that never make it to the website. 

Find a new home for our garden pots,topiary box and lilies in pots and were done and dusted.

Our first major project in the new house under our belts. Time to start planning the garden.

Pop in and visit the studio anytime , just let us know in case were walking Molly.

We love an excuse to stop for a brew.

Overture and starters for ten.

So here we are, moved in with the bare essentials, and all the good stuff (art, music, books etc) in storage.

Our long held dream of finding an old house to eco renovate is at last coming true. Be careful what you wish for.

Fully immerse ourselves in the maelstrom that is architects plans, building control, green technologies and the integration thereof. The shamefully cynical and wholly inadequate Green Deal (a complete waste of time) and the frequently fruitless quest for a builders quote,  (if you ask six you may end up with the recommended three) Its all slow slow slow, and very draining.

We must be able to work so press on with is the building of our new garden studio. Once the kiln is set up in the garage we clear away the broken down old summerhouse and garden shed.

Nothing beats a bit of demolition for tension reliving therapy and provides us with enough combustibles for a roaring bonfire.

Andy is in his element preparing the groundwork’s. Laying in mains water pipes and electricity. Frustratingly I am forced into a supervisory role due to very recent heart surgery. The sidelines is not my natural habitat.

A hired concrete mixer is a joy and goes right to the top of Andys Christmas wish list.

The bits arrive for the 3 X 6 mtr wooden shed from Dunster House Constructions wiz along and are completed in 4 exhausting but satisfying days.

Paint the outside as we build ( something I can do Yay) with Sadolin extra durable wood treatment in black. A favourite colour for all garden buildings, it makes them recede into the background and stops them dominating the space.

Inside we add extra velux windows on the north facing side and insulation in the roof and floor.

Its good to be back

Hello my darlings, long time no blog.
As my dearly departed mother used to say, time flies whether your having fun or not.
So a quick recap on the last 5 (yes read it and weep) FIVE years.
We got back from our Italianate adventures safe and sound.
Though we absolutely LOVE the place, ultimately it is as infuriating as it is breathtaking.
Living there is not an option.
We have enjoyed a few shorter visits in between. The Venice bianalle (of course). Back to Florence and we always ski in Alta Badia as many times as we can afford every year.
Now we have sold our B and B and have moved to an unreconstructed  mid century chalet bungalow just round the corner. Great views over a tidal salt water lake and far enough away from the clanging church bells for us to enjoy them.We are at the planning stage of an eco renovation, knocking out all the ground floor walls and installing solar thermal, Solar voltaic panels, an air source heat pump. Air and rainwater recycling and underfloor heating throughout and insulating, insulating,insulating.
Lots of folks have asked us to blog the eco House, studio/ garden renovation so here we go.

Day 136

Day 136.Fri 13th August.
MART

It’s a dryish morning and were off to Rovereto for MART. Italy’s largest modern art museum. (Yes we do love our art)
Its has a famous collection of Italian Futurist and American pop art of the 21c. None of which was on show when we were there. There was an enjoyable show of American painting from 1850 to the 1960s and some Italian stuff we could live without. A surprisingly great restaurant with fantastic food and charming staff saved the day. Our planned trip up a cable car and mountain walks with Molls was cancelled because it’s pissing down AGAIN. Where have all the blue skies and fluffy clouds gone. It was like this when we arrived in the spring.
Our Internet access only covers Italy and as were heading for Innsbruck tomorrow (yes Franz a whole night in Austria) this will be the last blog for while. We're hot footing it though Europe to Calais and the labyrinthine pet passport procedures. Molls has to be flea’d, wormed and certified not less than 24 and not more than 48 hours before she can return to the UK.
Home on the 20th August so Ta Ta for now. Andy clears his wardrobe for the journey home.

MART

ART

Day 135. Thurs 12th August.
RainRainRain.

Through the night Molls suddenly leaps onto the bed and after much huffing, puffing and grunting, snuggles down between us. Fully awake we hear the thunder too.
She hates it. It rumbles all though the night and dawn breaks wet and miserable. It rains all day but fortunately we stocked up with books in Sienna and DVDs on our last supermarket trip.We watch “Avatar” and “Julie and Julia” in Italian with English subtitles in a vain attempt to improve out deteriorating language skills. We can manage to ask for most things in restaurants and shops but if anyone asks us a question were stumped. It’s hopeless. Were hopeless. Andy has a better understanding of the structure of the language but now his spoken Italian is so bad no one even knows what language he’s talking. Fortunately the English tradition of point and grunt, gets you a surprisingly long way.

Day 134

Day 134.Wed 11th August.
Trento.

A good early get away for the 250 K drive into the Alps and our next destination Trento. The forest clad mountains either side of the Adige valley make for a stunning drive. We love Italian service stations, great coffee; freshly squeezed orange juice and cornetti (Croissant) all served with lightning speed and €4.00 the lot.
Camping San Cristoforo is a good site, by lake Caldonazzo (no dogs in the lake but that don’t stop our girl). As expected the place is packed, most Italians holiday in the first two weeks of August. Children swarm like midges but it’s only for a couple of nights. Stretching our legs on a lakeside walk Molls makes friends with a Dutch family who play with her till it gets dark.
We can’t work out the Dutch at all. More of them travel than any other nationality and they have been both the most and least friendly campers we have met.