Snapdragon's garden

Karen McPhail

Last year - standing behind my stall at the Green Gallery Christmas Fair - I was near a table full of slip decorated ceramics by Karen McPhail.  I have rarely liked a whole collection so much - they are simple, yet complex, and fit with all my Scandi stuff and my 1950s stuff and the 30s prints . . . and well they are just gorgeous.

It was a busy, busy show and by the time I made my way over to the table it was rather depleted.  I managed to buy a lidded pot for my brother, but all jugs, mugs and bowls were sold.

Yesterday I popped back up to The Green Gallery as I knew that Becky had had another delivery

and bought my Mum a beautiful blackbird jug and my brother a couple of mugs to go with his pot.

I also treated myself to a lidded pot (reward for hitting March's sales target) for keeping coffee beans in.

If you can't get up to Buchlyvie you can buy them here . . .

http://www.greengallery.com/lifestyle/decorated-jug/

I'm now just hoping I hit those April targets - for the jugs are very covetable and you can never have too many jugs . . .

Just my kind of ice cream van

Yesterday Euan and I bunked off for the afternoon and visited the new transport museum in Glasgow - The Riverside Museum.

I might post more about it later - but in the meantime here is my very favourite exhibit.

a toy ice cream van made and taken into schools to teach young children of the danger of running out into roads, lured by  the promise of ice cream.

I can just imagine how many of the children listened to the road safety message and how many fought to get a go in the van . . .

 

Retro Villa, Copenhagen

I love it when you happen across things without planning.

While we were in Denmark we took a day trip to Copenhagen - we spent most of the day browsing through oh so tasteful, horrendously expensive designer shops (£12 for a printed paper compact mirror - hmmm) and though I LOVE classic Danish design it was all beginning to merge a bit.

Then turned the corner and came across this wonderful shop

and suddenly everything was full of colour and fun and creativity.

I sent Euan and the girls away for a walk and a sit down and had such fun browsing through all the wonderful papers - spending far too many kroners in the process.

There are some real beauties - watch out for them appearing in designs . . .

Dougaling again

On Saturday we collected Dougal from his winter quarters.

and yesterday we took him for a short trip along to Balmaha for a walk alongside Loch Lomond.

It is part of the campaign for me to do minimal work at a weekend, part of a campaign to get a bit more exercise, part of a campaign to get the girls outside more.

We met these beauties

and ran about a lot with this one

Katie attempted to turn herself into a Highland Cow.

while I looked hard at the cows and thought how we should add a Highland Cow to our range of mirrors

Because of course, if you have your own business, well its such fun that you don't ever really take time off.

Lovely people, lovely things

One of the wonderful things about attending fairs - both trade and retail - is the really interesting people you meet who are also manning stands.  Of course there are some closeted, uncommunicative stand holders but on the whole people tend to be very chatty and helpful.

I think that this is particularly important if the fair is busy as you are pretty much stuck to your stand.  Having people who will get coffee or mind the stall while you run to the loos makes the event so much cheerier.

This year at Country Living I was lucky to be surrounded by a really great bunch of people.  Chief amongst whom was Ondine Smith who was opposite me and who it was a great thrill to meet as I am rather a fan.

Back in the mid 1990s, when I was living in Glasgow and writing a PhD on a designer of Edinburgh tea rooms, a friend bought me one of her cushions with its motif of off kilter teacups and tea pot.  It was the first freehand machine embroidery I had seen and I was bowled over.  I am sad to say that the cushion got lost in a house move but, as I always try to buy myself a treat each fair, I bought an embroidered picture from Ondine on a similar theme.

I love the contrast of the tweed and the lace.  It is a beautiful piece. And as there is no chance of us moving ever again it will not get lost

Over the past five years or so, many textile artists have incorporated Ondine-style motifs into their work - I wonder how many people know the originals.  If you get a chance to see her work, do.

Scottish Trade Fair

Thanks for all your kind supportive e-mails.  I am just about to set out for the 2nd day of the Scottish trade Fair in Stirling.  Yesterday was very good and I am now much happier that I have a good range of stockists in Scotland.

Slightly disconcerting though to be talking with stockists about next summer's stock when I can hardly bring myself to mention Christmas!

Old fashioned pursuits;

This weekend I was over at my parents house in East Lothian as it was the Gala day - Gullane Games; the first Saturday in August; the culmination of a week of sandcastle making and treasure hunts.  My girls had been there all week.

Old fashioned fun enjoyed by all.

Playing hooky

Yesterday, ith the girls away at my parents this week, and the sun shining brightly, Euan and I decided to play hooky.  We packed up the tent and headed up to Glencoe.

At the moment our long awaited extension is being built - and the house has descended into even more squalor than normal.  It was just heavenly to head off somewhere completely different.
An evening of woodland and moorland walks, fantastic beer, pub grub and live music.
It put everything else into perspective - as you can see from this photo.

When I'm at home, there is a tendency to work, work, work - to stress about getting a balance right between work and family; to stress about the need for my business to bring in a decent wage and take the pressure offEuan a bit.
Getting away - even if it for 18 hours in a Aldi's tent - is just wonderful.
Someone else loved it too.
I hope your weekend was good too.
J x

How does he do it?

Last night we went to the Springsteen concert at Hampden - started with Flower of Scotland on an accordian; ended with 50,000 people giving it laldy to "Twist and Shout" and the 3 hours (yes non-stop 3 hours, no support, no break) were filled with constant high level, pretty darn fantastic bopping.   I say this as someone who came to Springsteen pretty late via the Seeger Sessions on t.v.
There were requests, sing alongs, some amazing electric fiddle playing . . .
I am exhausted and I was only bobbing up and down on my chair - how does the man do it?

Jupiter Artland

Today we went to visit Jupiter Artland in Edinburgh - a new contemporary sculpture park set in a 80 acre area of woodland and park around Bonnington House which opened in May.
It was a wonderful place to visit - there are the big names represented - Ian Hamilton Finlay, Charles Jenks, Andy Goldsworthy - dong what they do, but it was actually a couple of artists that I hadn't heard of before that I was most impressed with.
Laura Ford's Weeping Girls is a series of 5 life size tamtrumming girls - all wild hair and dramatic posture
Modelled in wax and cast in metal.  They are set in a still dark part of the wood and are amazingly atmospheric - perhaps particularly to people who have girls!
The other piece that I really liked was Shane Waltner's Over Here - a knitted net strung between two beech trees overlooking a meadow
Like a shimmering spider's web.

Another thing going for the venue was it's cafe
a lot shinier than ours - with a little pink booth
and great cakes.