A Belated St Ives Part 2

The past two months haven't been amazing health-wise. I keep losing my balance and I become disorientated  and sometimes dizzy. I bump into things and seem to do a lot of curtseying to compensate for my wobbling.....when we go out I tend to hang onto my husband so people won't think I'm drunk :-(
I have an appointment at a Balance Clinic at Derby Hospital in three weeks; hopefully they will be able to tell me what's causing it (and whether its connected to my other health problems).

I promised more photos of St Ives so here they are. I don't want this to be a wordy post so I'll just add a few for each one:

I always say that St Ives is beautiful no matter what the weather.....we spent a happy hour in Caffe Pasta watching the rain one day. I love the way it gives the buildings a soft, muted appearance.

St Ives harbour beach....Caffe Pasta in the centre of the photo....

 There were some special high tides whilst we were there, such fun to watch and dodge. 

Porthminster Gallery is on the left.......probably my favourite. 

They usually have some work by Matthew Lanyon there.

 Houses on the beach. Wonder how they cope with the high tides!

The famous Sloop Inn. Had a few drinks here....

The view from our little balcony.

 The Seafood Cafe....great fish soup!

 The Digey Cafe......another favourite coffee shop just around the corner from the house where we stayed (you can see pics of the house in my previous post).

Surfers on Porthmeor Beach.

Porthgwidden Beach. Gorgeous early in the morning. There's a coffee shop at the back with a deck.

And finally.......a few little glimpses. 

Brian's whitebait starter at The Seafood Cafe.....coffee and cake at Caffe Pasta.....a scarf I bought in Seasalt....the famous shabby door a few yards from the house where we stayed.....my collection of St Ives treasures.....daffodils and an honestly box by the harbour.....gorgeous soup for lunch at The Digey Cafe.....and the all important warning about the gulls! They are so naughty....

As I'm unable to sit and sew at the moment I've been doing some digital scrapbooking and moodboard stuff . I post most of my work on Instagram these days.....

 I recently read this book (above), recommended to me by Sarah at Paisley Rain Boots. 

Its wonderful.......if you get a chance - read it.

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(Most of my digital supplies are by Anna Aspnes and Katie Pertiet)

St Ives Part 1

I love the excitement of arriving in St Ives, whether by train or car. Both routes give you a glimpse of that wonderful harbour scene as you're getting close to the resort..
I took this from the train as we reached Porthminster beach (foreground)...

There are four main beaches....Porthminster, Porthmeor, Porthgwidden and the harbour. There are also a few more tiny ones.

Well, the weather forecast was not good.....we expected to arrive in heavy rain. But thankfully it was wrong; the sun shone all afternoon and we were able to sit out on our balcony having a cup of tea (with no coat on!)

We rented a beautiful house from Sailingbystives......if you click on the link you can see more pictures.

Here are some of mine....

I'd be happy to stay there for the rest of my days, but we'd have to take Angel of course :-). 

Don't know what she'd make of those seagulls......

The six days flew by; lots of walking, eating, drinking, gallery-visiting, photo-taking, reading.......and just sitting staring at that view.

More next time.....

Since I got back I've begun making more collages....

I like adding these shabby leaves to my collages; they're really easy to make. I keep all my paper scraps in a box (from making inky/painted backgrounds) and simply free machine the leaf shapes onto them in a random way. 

When I've done, I just tear around the leaves - the messier the better! (The needle makes perforation holes).

I'm not a fan of straight/cut lines so I prefer to tear. I guess you could cut around with small scissors if you wanted to. 

I know you can use pre-set patterns on a machine, but I like messier hand 'drawn' ones better. 

Experiment with different types of paper.....soft (thin) cartridge works well, as does printer paper and newsprint (just tear carefully).

When they're done I lay them on an acetate sheet and brush on acrylic wax. It holds them together and gives a nice finish. I guess you could use PVA. 

Peel them off the sheet when they're dry.

Here are some close-ups....

Stitching freestyle on the machine....

And tearing....

I hand stitch them onto my collages in different ways.

Hope that helps!

Happy March :-) Yay....Spring is coming!