Sorry to have been so absent from the blog for the last week or so.  I have a good excuse though ... I've been on my travels.  This time last Wednesday I was just settling down to a lovely evening with my friend Liz, and her husband Roger, chatting over the plans for the forthcoming shows in Darlington and Rheged.   And bright and early on Thursday morning Liz and I set off in the little white van.  We took the, ummmm, scenic route!  But the scenic route took us through Wooler where we found a wonderful art shop, The Design Room Art Gallery.  In the shop I fell completely and utterly in love with a painting - but I forgot to make a note of the artist!  (After a speedy reply to my e-mail requesting the artist's name, Jason from the Gallery has not only sent the name of the artist which is Allan Morgan, but kindly sent some pictures through too.)    Liz has promised I'll have it when she wins the lottery, so it should safely find a place on our walls soon then.

From Wooler we wound our way to Alnwick where we found our way to Barter Books.  What a shop!  It is housed in the old station, and from the moment you walk through the door and see the lovely model trains finding their way around the shop above your head,



you are completely overwhelmed by the huge choice of second hand books available.  And all the time you're drawn towards the back of the shop by the lovely smell of coffee and snacks which you can enjoy in what were the old waiting rooms.  The building has so many little features to catch your eye, including the floor in the waiting room that is made out of wine boxes from around the world.  And the original water tap:



What I particularly loved about the shop was that it welcomed dogs - as evidenced by the two water bowls on the floor above.  How civilized!   And so many shops these days would have silly signs saying "please don't splash the books with water", but instead this shop treats you like an adult with common sense - very refreshing.

After Liz and I had made our modest purchases we set off on the road again.  The next stop was one which I'd been wanting to make for some time, and with the help of Liz's great sign reading we found our way to the Angel of the North.  This magnificent piece of public art was sculptured by Antony Gormley.  I have been an admirer of his work for many years, and have always loved this particular sculpture.  Unfortunately by the time we reached it the weather was taking a rather rainy turn, so we probably didn't see it at its best, but it is still a stunning piece of sculpture:



You can get an idea of the sheer size of the sculpture by the people standing at the base:



However there was little time for dawdling, and after finding our way back to the A1M (not an easy task!) we were on our way to Darlington to A Fine Yarn, owned and run by my friend, Chris Smith.  I know I'm biased, but I just love this shop.  It has a wonderful feel and is stocked so well.  Here is what the table full of Ripples Crafts goodies looked like after we'd finished setting it all up:





On the left is my trusty companion, Lizzie.  She did a grand job of keeping me on the straight and narrow, but we won't discuss the little episode in the Morrison's garage when I tried to climb into the wrong car .......

Early on Sunday morning we packed up the van and set off for Penrith and the Rheged Centre.  It was a glorious morning and a beautiful drive over the A66.  We arrived and didn't have long to set up before the doors were open to the public and before we knew it we were busy chatting to folk and after taking this photograph of pre-setup I forgot to take any more!



A lot of work goes into these events, and throw into the mix travel time and trying to find your way around places that you don't really know in a van you don't really know, and a week away leaves you feeling a little shattered.  But in a good way.  It was lovely to meet so many folk at the two events, and especially to renew my acquaintance with so many.  I'm now chained back to the dye pots getting ready for the next adventure down to Wonderwool in Wales next week.