Happy New Year 2024
It is hard to believe but 2024 marks the 20th year I have been blogging. Are any other bloggers out there having a 20th birthday? We could have a party! There have been many changes online since I started and when I started my blog all those years ago it was with some trepidation about putting myself out there and thinking I had anything to say that anyone could possibly want to read. Since I started several computers have died including a back up drive where I had much material stored from 2004-2011. I had thought of making a book from my blog posts but there are too many pages. I seem to be on instagram more these days like many others and of course we are still doing more work on the Inkpot Alchemists website and will blog there. To be honest I have thought of closing this blog because I get so many spam comments on it- it takes more work to delete them than it does to make a blog post (almost)- yet something keeps me staying here. It is almost like, now that I have been here this long I would be sad to see it go. I know my posting has been more intermittent these last years though I have not been less busy apart from the pandemic years.
So 2024 is shaping up to be busy. I shall be travelling to Europe in March and April. Cheryl my inkpot Alchemist friend is coming along with me, as we want to trail some European plants for the inks and see how the water interacts with our recipes and what tweaking we need to do. This is all research for the book we are writing and will self publish. We also have a newsletter available, if you would like a copy send an email. We will write a newsletter quarterly with all sorts of information.
The grasses have been phenomenal this year- I don't ever remember seeing them so tall and such variety. They print so beautifully.
We are heading to Italy first and landing in Venice. Cheryl has not been to Europe before and you can't go to Italy and not see Venice. Then it is on to Milan to teach at Roberta de Marchi's shop on the weekend of 9-10 March. If you are interested in coming along contact the shop. We leave Milan for a few days in Lyon and hopefully some botanical encounters there- any suggestions will be most welcome.
On the 2nd of April we depart for the United Kingdom and a village near Lancaster to visit a friend of Cheryl's and hopefully get in a bit of a walk in the Lake District which I have not visited before- and then its home again. Could not be away too long as my vegetable garden needs my attention and hopefully there will be some things that can still be harvested. It is always such a balancing act- garden/travel/ work at home- and then there is my feline friend who needs to be looked after whilst I am away.
I have not done much stitching of late, been too busy trialing printing inks and printing- there is so much fun wild foliage to work with including roadside weeds ( I did a whole series of work about roadside weeds from my morning walks in the shadow of Pic St Loup in France)
I would love to hear what you have enjoyed most from my 20 years of blogging. It has been such an incredibly supportive community for all this time and I am truly grateful to those who have followed this journey through its ups and downs and have purchased books and prints and quilts over the years. I doubt I could have achieved what I have without my blog and you its readers- so from the bottom of my heart thank you! And I will send a special small gift to my favourite comment!
