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Hanging the Love Letters to the Land exhibition at Fodder and Farm

barn at Fodder and Farm

This week I have been hanging my embroideries in a white washed barn, as part of Forth Vallery Art Beat - an Open Studios trail. The barn is part of Gartur Stitch Farm near Port of Menteith in Scotland - an education led regenerative smallholding which is host to Fodder and Farm, an events company specialising in local food, making and community.

It all brought up a lot about whether I am an artist - self trained, working in textiles and with local materials . . . .

In this video I discuss all that and you can see us making decisions about what art works to put where - and get a close up of the amazing quilt making of Eilidh Weir of All that is Braw.

Relax into the weekend with my Friday Letters delivered straight to your inbox.

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Love Letters to the Land; Gartur Farm

Love Letters to the Land; Gartur Farm

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A few people have asked for a list of the restaurants in Hvar that we loved best. To be honest we didn’t have a single bad meal - the food is beautifully sourced and cooked, informal, seasonal delicious. But there were a few places that were particularly good. First if you are flying into Zadar airport and have time to spend in the town then @konobastomoricazadar is worth a visit. The cuttlefish and chickpea soup/stew was the best thing I’ve eaten this year. In Hvar itself @konobamenego is a cosy restaurant with a great menu of traditional food, including vegetarian options, we shared a plate of marinated fish (eel I think) and then I had courgettes and aubergines in a sweet and sour sauce prepared to a family recipe. Go early as once they are full that’s it, there is no squashing in extra sittings, the kitchen staff need time off. I loved this. Our nearest town was Stari Grad and we lived @antikastarigrad - tables set outside so we could people watch, great food. Celery and smoked mussel soup with pine nuts 👌🏻 The dog is the photo was snapped at #konobahumac - a deserted hilltop village which featured in last week’s Friday film. There is a small restaurant with a wood fired kitchen - you can either order 24 hours in advance for traditional dishes cooked under a dome or have simple grilled meats and salads. Simplicity is wonderful. I’ll continue this in the comments.
Back from holiday, looking a little less frazzled than my pre-holiday photo and I'm trying to keep it like that (which is why Instagram posts are now in the afternoon - I'm reading in the morning). ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ In this week's Friday film I talk about the difficulty that I've always had in not working while on holiday and why that is a great mistake and what changed this year. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ For me getting proper rest is important for living my best life. It isn't a sneaky productivity trick - I don't want to rest on holiday so that I can work more efficiently when I get home. I want to rest so that I can feel more alive, stand taller, be more vibrant. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I've also added in a film of the sea, a courtyard garden and a deserted hilltop village to show you why Hvar is one of the best places to go if you need a little relaxation. The link is in stories. #hvar #mudridolac #smallbusiness
This is a woman who is about to head off on holiday but has packed absolutely nothing. Today’s Friday film is out - I’ll post the link in stories - and it’s all about why I’m deleting social media apps while I’m away, what is the kind of ‘work’ that I find revitalising on holiday and what stops me relaxing. And a tour of what I actually do day to day (minus the boring bits). Here till 5pm today and then away for a couple of weeks. Knitting is #heirloomquiltcardigan by @katrynseeburger
I seem to have spent this year writing about plants that have turned out to not be what they were meant to be . . but that I have grown to love more than whatever it was I thought I wanted. There were meant to be Hopi black dye sunflowers, Tceqa' Qu' Si, (Helianthus annuus macrocarpus). They clearly are not. I've never actually grown giant sunflowers - and these tower over the sweet pea tunnel, gawky, heads bowed. I love them. The birds will love them even more.
I'm not really a person who is very good at theory. I'm not enthused by swatches. I was never good at experiments in science class. I mean I appreciate the science in botanical dyeing, and I really, really appreciate the people whose brains work that way, but it just isn't me. I love the process but even more I love the result. I think that the most obvious example of this is the ongoing knitted blanket - three stripes from every plant that I try dyeing with in the garden. A record of sorts. The best I can do. At the moment a lot of the dyeing and making and embroidering that I do is centered around clothes - bought second hand and made more beautiful. I'm inspired by @prophet_of_bloom and @thedogwooddyer and they way they wear their creativity. I've bought this silk camisole from Vinted (it was described as vintage but I refuse to believe that the 1990s are vintage). I've now dyed it with fresh indigo for my younger daughter, a mermaid blue, gently mottled teal. The photos of the process are up on my blog - last night I gave it another coat of leaves so I am now waiting for it to dry to check the colour before I post it to Katie. #botanicaldye #naturaldyeing #prelovedclothes
In the early summer this rose - nicknamed the
This week's all about managing my energy - I go on holiday in a week and traditionally I've been terrible at pacing myself in the run up to a break. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Everything seems to get out of hand and pile up on my desk, leaving me exhausted and crabby. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ This year I'm determined not to let that happen so I'm building in plenty of the things that I know buoy me up into my days - rest, creativity, nature. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ The rest and the making are being combined in making squares for the Heirloom Quilt Cardigan - a wonderful pattern by @katrynseeburger - which I'm knitting in a linen/bamboo yarn that I botanically dyed a couple of years ago and have been hoarding ever since. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ You can see what I'm on about in stories . . . .
Often people tell me that they would love to learn to dye with plants but they don't have a garden, or they worry about foraging for plants or that they run out of time and never get around to it. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I completely get that. I am the same. Life is busy and unless things are easy I often let the desire slide. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ It is why I am spending time each day drying out the dye plants that I grow here and packing them up into sealable envelopes - each decorated with a drawing. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I want to make it easier for people to try out botanical dyeing with a wider range of plants than is generally available. So far I've been packing up willowherb and dahlia flowers alongside the more traditional marigold and dyer's chamomile. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I'm not completely sure what form this will all eventually take - kits that make everything easy perhaps, possibly a 'workshop in a box' kind of thing. I'm currently trying to work out all the practicalities while prioritising making sure the flowers and leaves are packaged properly so that they won't spoil while I work out the details. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ At some point, if you are on my newsletter list, you will no doubt get an email with some questions in it! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ But in the meantime let me know what you think - what would you value in a botanical dyeing kit? Help me make something that will inspire people to create something beautiful. #dyersofinstagram #botanicaldye #botanicaldyersofinstagram #tagetesdye
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About Snapdragon Life

At Snapdragon Life I help bring the changing seasons into your daily life, helping you slow down, so that you can experience increased well being, calm and creativity.

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