My first butterfly this summer, a very small blue, in my wonderful garden

And then this weekend I have been at an inspiring shibori workshop at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, with Michele Griffiths http://www.shibori.co.uk/index.html learning some shibori history and culture, and techniques for getting texture into fabric, which I'm hoping I will be able to use in the very near future. 

A busy couple of weeks, weaving at college. My work on this warp is pretty pedestrian, definitely learning material, but not so pretty as I'd like. I t was interesting to see how different threads in the weft changed the feel of the warp  and I have begun to look at putting texture into my weave with a few short lines of crepe and some honeycomb. I'm hoping that the gold coloured linen will soften with finishing. 

                                                                

My garden continues to grow, bluebells, cow parsley, forget-me-nots, tulips. And dandelions. Even in the rain my garden gives me joy, the air smells sweet and clean, and the birdsong is liquid sound.

Heard a snatch of this on an advert and had to look it up, beautiful

More flowers are opening every day. My garden is looking ravishing and lush from all the sunshine and rain. The colours change as the season progresses. I love to just sit still, to see and hear the passing bees, bugs, birds and squirrels

So, it turns out that, if you print on a lambswool warp with procion dyes with soda ash, the wool falls to pieces. Fortunately the silk warp seems to be fine and is looking fine on the loom. And David, our fab technician at NUCA, really kindly made me a new lambswool warp which I will put on the loom tomorrow.   

Back to college. This week I am weaving. But weaving is not all weaving. I made up a warp last term, before the holidays, half lambs wool, half silk bourette. And the past couple of days have been about prepping it for printing and painting on the warp. This is now done and today I am looking forward to putting it on a loom. Well, kind of looking forward to it. There is something quite relaxing and meditative about threading up a loom. But, after printing it needed washing, and now, oh boy, some tangles, and then some more tangles. So my day ahead will be combing out threads.  

Some flowers from my garden taken yesterday in the sunshine

Easter weekend, the past week I have let myself be buoyed up by hope. The garden is full of hope at this time of the year, birds are nesting, and everyday new flowers emerge. The plum blossom is all but over, but has been followed by the cherry, and everywhere there are primroses. The forget-me-nots are just coming thru' and there are lots of pinky-red tulips and some fab helebores. The comfrey, alkanet, honesty, cow parsley and alexanders are all about to do their thing. And my inherited camelia, which is really too pink and blouse-y, is on the verge of bursting it's buds. 
I am cursed with insomnia at times, this is not good, but on the up side I hardly ever miss a dawn chorus and the birds are going for it at the moment, great bubbling streams of song, ripple into the darkness. It starts with maybe just one voice, which is joined by another, and another, and another until it is so loud it fills the morning, then it softens out to the cooing of the pigeons, maybe they are late wakers. It fills my heart too. Happy Easter.