You may remember that, a couple of years ago, I was involved with a project to create a design inspired by the wonderful textile collections at Gawthorpe Hall. I designed the Richard the Roundhead tam, inspired by a crewel-work coverlet that Rachel Kay Shuttleworth had embroidered over several decades, in memory of her parliamentarian ancestor,…
Read MoreWhile I was away in Lancashire I popped over to Gawthorpe to see preparations for the new season’s exhibitions. Excitingly for me, my Richard the Roundhead Tam is included, – the first time my work has ever been displayed in a museum or gallery context. I can tell you that the thought of the tam…
Read MoreWe have been away in Lancashire for the weekend. Tom will shortly be participating in a rather testing race, and the Bolton Hill Marathon provided the ideal training run. While he was off doing that, me and my parents visited Helmshore Mills Textile Museum. For someone interested in textile history this is a truly wonderful…
Read MoreYou may remember that, last Autumn, I spent a happy day visiting Gawthorpe Textile Collection with Debbie Bliss, Jane Ellison , Claire Montgomerie, and Emma Varnam We designers had been commissioned to produce designs inspired by items in the collection . . . we worked on them over the Winter . . . and today,…
Read MoreSome days I wake up and I feel massively, incredibly lucky to have somehow landed here, in this curious new life, as a designer of hand-knits. Last Thursday was one of those days. Because I had been invited — along with Debbie Bliss , Jane Ellison, Claire Montgomerie, and Emma Varnam — to visit Gawthorpe…
Read MoreWe spent this weekend in Rochdale, where my parents live, and where I grew up. I wanted to walk to a special place – somewhere I’ve been meaning to introduce to Tom for a very long time. It is always lovely to have a walk with my Dad. The Roch valley, crisscrossed with canals and…
Read MoreWe’ve been down in St Annes for a couple of days. I enjoyed walking in the dunes, where there are many opportunities for wintry still-life photography. . . . . . thorns and lichen . . . . . . dessicated rosehips. . . . . . those trees. . . . . .and not-so-still…
Read MoreA few days after the stroke, the physio who came to work with me on Ward 31 discussed setting some goals. She suggested that it would help my focus and motivation if I gave myself mobility targets to aim for. I decided that, by mid April, my goal would be to walk the four miles…
Read MoreI returned to Lancashire for the weekend, and went for a walk with my mum and dad. We parked the car near the colliery gates. . . . . .and we made our way over the landscape which covers the site of the mine. The trees thinned and the ground rose up before us. Then…
Read MoreI love the Fylde coast, and particularly love photographing it. We’ve been there this weekend, and I took a lot of pictures of Lytham, of St Annes, and inbetween. Here’s a selection from today. birds rising now sadly closed, despite a vigorous local campaign duck pedalos, wintering the most intriguing shop in St Annes. The…
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KDD & Co 