by the sea

Some images from our weekend, we got away from the London madness and escaped to the seaside.  Twister cushion found a new home in my sister Clare's house among her collection of studio pottery and delicate paper sculptures, some destined for her latest book due to be published in the Autumn. We hung around Margate old town for a bit, amongst the vintage shops and bank holiday mods and rockers (all looking a bit vintage as well these days) and saw the beautiful Tracey Emin exhibition at the Turner Contemporary, not many mods and rockers there, a different bunch of people altogether.

weekend break

Some images from last weekend, staying with my sister by the sea, sea breezes, corners of her house and cherry picking in the sun, perfect.

mermaids

Margate was looking festive last weekend for the recent opening of the new Turner Contemporary art gallery, perched on the edge of the harbour and looking crisp and new in the sunshine. Plenty of mermaids to be found, shell ladies in Margate, Lucy and her cousin Flo on the beach and my mermaid cushion looking at home by the sea in my sister's lovely house in Broadstairs

three out of three

We had a gloriously sunny weekend in Broadstairs, the beach was looking stunning in its chalky seaside colours and I was able to fulfill my three wishes; flip-flops, sun screen and burnt sausages. (Well, actually I'm cheating, we cooked the sausages today in our garden in London)

day trip

This sewing box was a surprise win on ebay for £1.99. I didn't realise that it was buyer collect until I had won, so it involved a day trip to the Kent coast this week. However I managed to combine it with a visit to Whitstable to drop off some roddy&ginger to Frank, tea with an old college friend and a scout around the seaside charity shops which turned up a splendid globe, some vintage Summer reading and a delicious dish which I think is Norwegian. I am not surprised the sellers were unwilling to post the sewing box, it is truly massive with a wingspan of nearly five foot when fully opened out and will double up as a handy coffee table!

weekend finds

I found myself back in the charity shops this weekend and came home with a few bits of chunky pottery, some pattern inspiration plates and another odd looking owl. The cylinder vase is a piece of Rye pottery and is typical of their studio style, characterised by freeform pattern and scratchy matt glazes. I now have a collection of three! 

bexhill on sea

On Saturday I escaped London and spent the day in Bexhill on Sea with my daughter who was researching for an A level photography project. We visited the splendid modernist De La Warr Pavilion with it's amazing staircase, ate fish and chips in a cafe with ice cream coloured anaglypta wallpaper, and crunched along the beach photographing whatever the tide had left behind; including the rather sad stuffed elephant. 

seaside palette

I picked up this painting of a Scottish harbour scene at the boot sale along with some old wooden cotton reels. The little bit of red in the seaside colour palette was just what I needed for my mermaid print. The print is in my Etsy shop now and  in my web shop later this week.

roddy&ginger at the seaside

I took a trip to Whitstable in Kent yesterday to take some samples to the lovely shop Frank run by Mary Claire and Rob. They sell a quirky selection of British handmade, home made and contemporary applied art and will now be stocking a small selection of roddy&ginger prints and textiles. Although Whitstable has changed a lot from when I knew it in my college days it still has it's slightly scruffy fishy charm and was looking lovely in the sunshine, getting ready for the famous oyster festival next week.