Views of Llyn Brenig

..... more views from my mobile kitchen door.

We only had a few hours to spare, so we took our kitchen with us, stopped at the Rhug Farm Shop, and then drove on to Brenig for a lovely picnic and short stroll.

I'm not sure about this little chap - but I vaguely remember keeping tiger moth caterpillars as a child (I think they were similar) and, since something I kept ate willow herb, and he was certainly heading in the direction of a clump, we helped him across the road just in case of accident -

Some views of the lake/reservoir:

There were quite a few very small and spindly rowan trees and they all seemed to have an unreasonably large crop of beautiful but heavy looking berries in large clumps. The rowan in the last two photos inspired this lakeside brooch:

Driftwood... and so many new ideas!

I have quite a collection of beach combing goodies. I'm not sure whether its the sun (hopefully present) sea air, sound of the sea, or a peculiar 'foraging thrill' (I have always loved seeking out sweet chestnuts, conkers, acorns...... ) which makes this such an enjoyable pastime. The collecting of items is as important, if not more so, than their ultimate re-purposing (and the period of storage - or vain attempt to find another nook or cranny for storage, in the meantime is definitely not enjoyable!).

Whilst strolling along a Gower beach at the weekend I found some small pieces of bleached, bark-less, driftwood which I wanted to add to my collection. Knowing that they would be noticed upon my return to the campsite, I was under pressure to have an imminent project to which to assign them when asked to justify the collection. Recent work has included a number of hangings and I have long had a vague idea or two in mind about a combination of techniques including free-form crochet, weaving and embroidery. A vague concept of a 'sea/beach/dunes' inspired design came to mind, quickly followed by two winter/snow/Christmas ideas and then a 'fall of autumn leaves' as a sort of cross pollination from some brooches I have stitched recently, of which this is the most recent:

There are so few hours in the day and I have other tasks which the majority of folk would consider essential (mostly of the dreary housework, weekly shop, laundry variety). Rather more pressing is tidying my work space since that is starting to delay my searches for 'urgently vital' materials (urgent today/join the 'vertical stack once used' tomorrow), and my productivity is slowing down. I always find that I need to wade into a new idea immediately otherwise it 'goes a little stale' whilst being constantly re-worked in my mind before appearing in reality - quite a dilemma!

This piece was a little too large for my collection:

This next photo is something which I intend to research a little when I have time. My sister pointed and pronounced that this was 'a strange place to find berries' - the edge of the dunes. On looking more closely the berries turned out to be rose hips and the pretty leaves were on a low-growing rose which had colonised large areas of the dunes - something I had not seen before -

Off to sketch hangings/tidy yarns/find some lunch/check that I 'have something in for tea' - I'm sure I can't be alone in my chaotic crafting and creating! Please tell me there are more of us 'out there'.

PS - on the lunch-front - I have just found some left over new potatoes, two rashers of bacon and some salad - I think an omelette might be in order!

From My Kitchen Door.....

...... a beautiful view along the coast of the Gower. I have cheated a little. My 'kitchen door' tends to relocate from time to time and this was taken from a lovely campsite at Nicholaston. 

Th weather was pretty awful on Friday evening when we arrived. We had no idea whether any other pitches were occupied, whether there was any prospect of a sea view..... What a lovely surprise to wake up to.

We indulged in two short walks - one towards Three Cliffs and the other to the west of the campsite, before visiting my sister in Swansea. I had made the rare mistake of packing entirely the wrong clothes. I had been shivering up here in North Wales for a couple of weeks. For Saturday at least it was definitely T-shirt weather. All the views were spectacular!

More tomorrow!