How rude of me - I should have introduced this lot to you a couple of weeks ago, but well, you know how it is! Anyway Here they are - God help them! Check out all the strange things that make them who they are here......
Tuesday, 25 September 2012
Sunday, 23 September 2012
Clever, clever girls.......
I have had two pieces of great news this term from some "old girls" who are both doing rather well. I am always so touched when they think I am important enough to share their fortune with.
Firstly I found an exciting parcel in my pigeon hole at work - it was a copy of House & Garden magazine, some fabric samples and a very charming handwritten note.... It was from a lovely girl called Katherine Pool or, naf-kaf as she was always known when she was at Alton! In a nutshell, post graduation from Leeds College of Art she has secured a position at Fermoie (the people who brought us Farrow & Ball), and is quite a hit - as she was always destined to be! House & Garden saw fit to publish an editorial on the company and there is a great deal of emphasis on how instrumental her input is - BRILLIANT! You can read the whole article here.... http://www.fermoie.com/press/4
Katherine in action!
Rosie Stride left us more recently and coincidently continues to study at Leeds - they must be good there - she "Facebooked" me to let me know that she has just received the wallpaper history society award in the CAMAC student wallpaper design competition.
Well done Rosie!
Happy Birthday!
I would like to ask you all to join me and offer some hearty birthday wishes to my washing machine - yes, really, it is now 30 years old and still going strong!
Zanussi, I salute you!
Round up of last few summer projects
With one thing and another I have been kept away from my blog over the last week or so, mainly because I have been pretty busy with personal statements & summer project marking - although I am still waiting on quite a bit of this to still come in - arrgghh, naughty boys and girls - yeah, you know who you are.... I have been squeezing in some last minute own work in prep for the winter selling season which also consumes my time whole, and irritatingly, our phone line (and therefore internet connection) disappeared. Finally in the shock of a the flick of a switch, Alton college has become a much poorer place and has taken its toll - this I will sadly explain in a later post.
So here are some last minute things, and now it's down to the nitty gritty of the autumn term - see you on the other side!
At last! The stools got their freak on!
Some more cushions were born.
I made the bunting I had been commissioned to make - and they LOVED IT apparently (thank goodness)!
The tea towels got ironed and folded.
Some new books got made (and sold already).
All those cushions got put together.
Let the selling commence (please)!
Another thing I did was spend some time with my new nephew - grandma reads a mean story too!
Tuesday, 18 September 2012
La vie en swiss
I always like to do a last minute.com thing before my return to college and it normally involves my friend Bex, this is the first year I have visited her whilst she has lived in Switzerland, Basel to be precise. We have been mates now for 20+ years - since uni, which makes me feel so very old, although we both maintain that we still feel exactly the same. I am always rather surprised when I consider just how old 41 is. But I suppose that 41 now is a lot younger than it was when are Mums were our age - for a start they both had kids that were practically 20 and that's bound to age you! Neither of us have even managed to catch that particular bandwagon let alone jump on it. But whilst we are still youngish without "family tie's" it's quite nice to hang out in the city, do a bit of culture and drink far too much prosecco!
So I arrived at sunset, this year it was nice to have an uneventful flight, last year the storm I travelled through to get to Bex was so bad I though I might die.....
Window boxes are a big deal in Basel - not many gardens I guess!
Don't know who did this or what it is, but I saw it in a window - much more attractive than the chap below who was also hanging out behind glass, creepy.
I discovered the department store Globus - it is a bit like Selfridges I suppose, but well, even better. I am a total sucker for food packaging and its presentation - you can forget the fashion bit - just take me to the food hall!
Bex, always one to enjoy the chocolate!
Some of the home ware stuff is quite interesting too!
Had to bring some nice bits home.....
And some ribbons for me.
How sweet is this little chap? I would never be able to leave him tied up outside any shop no matter how fab it is!
Talking about dogs this is Gilbert - he isn't so keen on walking.....
A highlight of this trip though, aside from just chilling and spending time with a very dear friend, was a trip to the Beyeler Foundation to see the Jeff Koons exhibit - well worth a look, and the person who sold me a ticket based on my fake student card actually believed I was 29 (you have to be under 30 to be a student in Basel), so that was a bonus!
And then it was time to come home and go back to work.....
Tuesday, 11 September 2012
In awe
Oscar Pistorius is my new crush, simple as that. I have enjoyed every second of the paralympics and will always be inspired by what I have seen. I know that we are supposed to be in awe, especially given the "super human" status that these athletes have been awarded by our popular media, but well, it's an apt description isn't it? Never again will I just roll over (ah, O.K. I never have, but I'm making a point) when one of my students says "I can't", well, yes you can, because if there is one thing that we have learnt this summer, it is that if you put your mind to it, you bloody well can. Being without a limb(s) must be devastating, but using determination and damn good design takes those obstacles out of the way - not great at drawing, but still want to be able to express yourself creatively? Well, you find another way don't you, it might be with a silk screen, a camera or a computer - the point is, it doesn't make what you do any less valuable, you have still used your imagination and stepped up, put yourself out there, if you like, just as running on blades doesn't make your athletic talent any less impressive. Life moves on, and at an incredible pace it would seem, gone are the days (thank God) when a "less" able bodied person was kept low profile and relatively static, as are those when your creative endeavours only meant something if you picked up a palette or a pencil.
Thursday, 6 September 2012
Nicely bronzed!
CONGRATULATIONS LIVVY!
Yep, she has done it! Got a medal, pretty good for someone who has only been part of the paralympic team for only matter of months! As the first runner to go in the 4x100 relay Livvy showed us just what she is made of - Ivan (Mr Bicknell) and I were on our feet screaming at the telly like a pair of mad things! Today she competes for the individual 200m (T38), having already reached the final of the individual 100m and ultimately coming 5th! So we are keeping everything crossed...... we have both agreed that Livvy is a very good excuse for a trip to Rio in 2016!
Wednesday, 5 September 2012
Cornish Capers
Although the majority of my holiday was taken up with home improvements and lots of making, Ivan (Mr Bicknell) and I did manage to get away for a few days together this "summer" for a bit of camping in Cornwall - despite what some may think, I do love to camp! Our camp site of choice was just outside St Just and I spent a large proportion of the time being amazed by the impressive camp craft demonstrated by our fellow campers, and just how much of a home away from home they seem to need to make their pitches - a far cry from us in our tiny, sparse mountain tent I can tell you, for a start we were without a wind-breaker, a kettle, a BBQ, a T.V, a radio, a fridge, a pet of some description or indeed the proverbial kitchen sink, I even saw one couple engaged in companionable knitting outside their tent! No we were up and out ASAP, using our time to walk, sight see and eat out at nice places - I'm afraid that for me camping is generally a great excuse NOT to cook at "home"! The best bit about the camp site however were the showers (you should know that when we camp normally we are either in a developing world country or on a D of E exped where washing is not generally part of the deal!), for 1 shiny 20p here you could have a very good hot shower! I can tell you now from first hand experience, that you have ample time between dropping your coin in the box on the exterior of your shower and lathering up nicely under a substantial length of hot water time to shed your clothes in relative leisure, but the lengths the teenagers who frequently surrounded me went to, to maximise hot water time, was impressive - this mainly went along the lines of one girl standing begrudgingly outside a shower, coin in hand in readiness for her much bossier mate inside to indicate that she was ready to get all hot and soapy - much admonishment of "Cheryl's" lack of concentration would then take place as "Sandra" endured a cascade of icy cold water before the clink of a coin could be heard - might this have been intentional?!
On the way down we stopped in Glastonbury to see Ivan's (Mr Bicknell's) Dad and then took a tiny detour to Callington to visit an old family haunt where Ivan (Mr Bicknell) and his sisters spent some time when they were younger .
This swimming spot on the river Lyner is situated very close to a property once owned by Ivan's (Mr Bicknell's) step grandparents and although the heaven's opened the moment we jumped out of the car to have a look, someone couldn't resist a dip!
Oh, and I couldn't resist this shot - he didn't just hurl himself in, there was a better formed dive stance than this, but not nearly as funny!
Splash!
The sun came out and the whole place came alive with damsel flies and look even a bit of blue sky!
Next stop was the Eden project - I have been dying to go for years and it really didn't disappoint!
As you will shortly see in a new post, we are doing quite well, as our washing machine is nearly 30 years old! This chap was made up of , amongst other things, 8 of the wretched things!
Do you know what it is yet?
Inside the tropical Biome - this leaf would have been handy earlier in the day!
High up on the viewing platform - so much so that my legs had a panic attack.
A sad reminder that a return to college and the "wasp" project was just around the corner!
Day two - a day walk south of Lands End - yep, alll, day!
Only in GB can you find a landscape like this - lots of tempting rocks for someone to salivate after!
St Levans Bay near Porthcurno - a quick scramble down and we were straight into the water! Well, we were on holiday afterall!
See, he couldn't help himself!
The Minack theatre carved into the rocks - sadly we couldn't see it up close and personal as a sold out performance of Return to the Forbidden Planet was taking place - but thanks to good zoom from another headland I managed to get this shot!
This is what it really looks like!
More rocks....
In fact in the evening I was deserted for an hour whilst a certain rocky itch was scratched - not to worry though, the camp cat engaged me in some worthwhile conversation!
Day three - the Lizard
Where's wall....err, Ivan (Mr Bicknell)?
Oh , there he is!
Then to Gweek to see the seals!
With the odd penguin thrown in for good measure!
And then to Mousehole!
This place is special to me as I remember it so well from childhood holidays and despite the grumbles from a certain party we spent a lovely evening there!
This is an exact replica of a photo my Mum has of my Dad - it even looks like someone is quite cheery!
Searching for stones
And in came the tide
Pre dinner drinks in a local hotel brought some interesting entertainment!
A dinner of incredible seafood at a restaurant called The Cornish Range was an added bonus!
Harbour lights
Day 4 - it positively chucked it down all night - thankfully taking our tent down in our PJ's wasn't too horrific and I was glad of my 20p shower afterwards!
The cooked breakfast at the cookbook in St Just - a strange combination of cafe and second-hand book shop - warmed us up further!
Strange bird thing
Cup cakes in St Ives where we also headed to the Tate to see the Alex Katz and the Barbara Hepworth museum to swoon.
These postcards written by some young visitors made us howl! Out of the mouths of babes huh?!
A last trip to the beach - how big is this mussel?
And a great time was had by all!
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