t w o

This month has been the start of planning the new store for The Linen Garden, 

although it will not be launched until the end of January '16 there is so much to do.  

New departments too, homewares, wedding, paper and print, inspirational gatherings...

I am incredibly enthused and inspired at the moment...a good place to be. 

So for a short while I squirrelled myself away in the caravan...

a little silence...a little head space...

as well as time out to walk and explore and just 'be'....

This time I stayed near Richmond.....

I have totally fallen in love with Swaledale and Reeth and its surrounding area.  

The sense of community, the beautiful landscape, 

greenery against the contrasting moor, the friendlyness.

The wonderful mining heritage has links to my home county 

too which obviously enriches my connection with the area...

September has also been the month of making and hand stitiching....lots of new products arriving over the next few weeks ....these pretty sewing cases are now available in The Linen Garden and arrive filled with pins and needles in its own decorated keepsake box.

...the art of packaging orders to send to new homes is always my favourite daily delight...

it takes me back to being a child and pretending to own a shop...

and now I can play for real as I have my very own

...and... 

it is the time of year to launch this seasons collection of my 

'Bloomsbury Meandering Bags'

...a task of love...

...each one different and carefully curated in colour and pattern and detail...

and each one given a name as I never make the same design twice...

Available in The Linen Garden early-ish in October...

a preview will be available to view here over the next two weeks. xxx

 ...and my love of this time of the year is the changing of light

...dark mornings...low sun...lamplight...

the ever changing season of Autumn...

studio diaries - o n e

I love posting here.  because I love looking back through the months and now years observing past happenings and busyness and the ever changing face of the studio walls.

Like all, my time is precious, so for a while I have decided to post here once a week-ish  - just images collated over the days....simple story telling of a studio and a maker and a shop-seller...along with a simple gathering of words...but working in this way will ensure I post and not neglect......

o n e
...the hand painting of labels...making the details ready for the launch of 'owen and hunter' - a partnership about friendship and meanderings with my hoarding buddy Jane Day from Tea with Ruby - our pop up online store opens late Autumn (blog post to follow soon).  A project we have been working on in the side lines for a couple of years.

trying so hard to keep a tidy home... (only lasts hours)

delicate found linen treasure......

...stage one of the return making of this years collection of Linen Garden Bags

 ..you can also follow me daily too over in instagram land...

time

...around this time of year is when we, as a family, disappear in the caravan.  Never too far away from home as home is a beautiful part of England...  I sometimes wish I lived a little further south...as at times is seems that all the hustle and bustle and opportunities and the enticing and relaxed business/social events seem to be branched across the southern counties.  But then I wouldn't have the stretch of varied and dramatic, constant  changing, landscapes on my doorstep as I do .... all to inspire and hold my thoughts....

.....an absolute visual indulgence. 

 Industrial landscapes of Teesside, the moorlands of North Yorkshire...the vale of York....the beautiful north east coastline....northumberland just an hours throw away...and within a two hour stretch across the tiny nipped waste of this gorgeous isle of ours is The Lake District.  

At any possible opportunity we squirrel away in the caravan at any of these destinations....the last couple of weeks I have been hibernating on the edge of York.  I take two old tins that become my portable studio and leave a little space in the car for any found treasure en-route.

My holiday makings - Flower Bed Brooches - are now available 

to purchase over in The Linen Garden store.

Below is a little visual diary of happenings in the studio since my return...and you can also see a few snapshots of my time away over at my Instagram library.

So excited about the next 6 months...so many ideas...a new web site to design...a bigger shop to construct...some inspiring projects to complete... I have said this before here in my journal but I always consider September to be the start of my new year as it follows a time and holiday period of reflection... time out to gather thoughts...ignite new pathways...and fill lined books with notes and ponderings.

I now just need more time than a week offers to fulfill even just a quarter of what 

I would like to achieve over the next 12  months.

Oh! - and a little project, that was sown around 18 months ago regarding hoarding-meandering-friendship, and has been curated together with my dearest friend Tea with Ruby 

launches its first online pop-up store in October.

Our little nurtured and treasured

'Owen and Hunter'

(click above to go to our gathered site and stay in touch to find out more as it unravels)