September

The Autumn Equinox has just passed for another year, and the Sun is making it's journey through the sky a little lower towards the horizon each day . The stubble fields left after the harvest  attract the attention of lapwing and wood pigeon flocks , and the swifts have long headed South & only a very few  swallows  remain before they too will have gone in a week or so , all signs that a new season is upon us .
We ended the Summer ourselves , with a hare workshop at Artison , on the 19th of this month, where we were made welcome once again by Sue and Gaynor . We all had a fabulous time as usual , thanks to everyone who came along and worked hard to produce some more fine characterful hares  of which you should all be very proud !
It was also very interesting to watch  the stone carving workshop which Gaynor was running . They were outside enjoying  the glorious late Summer weather , they may have said they  were enduring  though as  it was quite hot out there . The clicking of chisels  carving  stone   and dull thud of needles  felting wool , continued  throughout the day . I have to say I was really impressed by the beautiful designs the class had  carved into the stone tablets they were working  .
We made the best of the weather the following day as we had stayed locally and decided to go for a circular walk  of about four miles round the Masham  area , which took us through fields along side the picturesque River Ure  and one of it's tributaries , the River Burn which ended with a brief stop for refreshment at the Theakston brewery tap , where we sat outside  in the warm sun .

.Autumn got off to a great start yesterday at  Greystoke 's Quirky workshops hosted of course , by Annie . On the drive through , I took a moment to pull over and take a photo across Bassenthwaite Lake towards the South East & Kewsick , with the early morning sky looking so dramatic and Autumnal . I met a lovely group of new people who had came along to make a Herdwick sheep doorstop  for their first time . Thank you all so much for a fun and enjoyable day  and I think everyone was justifiably proud of the flock we turned out at the end of the day ! The day was all about stone and wool , as once again , we shared the venue with  a stone carving workshop ran by Pip Hall , but this time Annie was getting herself involved , making a superb job of her carved stone name plaque . It is fun and interesting mingling during the day with the other classes  running alongside our own and taking an interest in each other's work . Some photos from both the September workshops are posted on the workshop photo page as usual .

This year's workshop calendar is almost complete with only 3 more dates to go ,  hedgehog , Herdwick  and hare , respectively . Keep an eye open also , for the 2020 workshop dates to be announced  soon , and I will catch up with you next month !
Thank you and best wishes .