Beach combing

The Dr Bean team went to collect some rather splendid driftwood pieces washed up further along the coast at Thorness. These ranged in size from large to extremely large (and extremely heavy) but Dr Bean is not to be beaten. . . and we found a way to get them back home, which was slightly wetter than some of us had anticipated. We should have known better of course.


The photo above shows a small ginger cat claiming rights on large bit of driftwood that now sits in the garden.

Lynn Muir

We meant to post this earlier . . . Lynn Muir was at Bovey, showing her beautiful driftwood-based sculpture. There is a lovely seaside theme to Lynn's work, with bits of shipping forecast and thoughtful words  incorporated in the larger pieces - very much to our liking! This lady has come back to the Island with us.

New - Blue Bags!

Just thought we'd post a photo of our new blue Shipping Forecast Bag - it's a very jolly bright blue and so far we're trying it with a blue spotty lining or red stripy lining. AND. . we've also started doing the shipping forecast in black canvas . . . for those of you who worry about getting the natural canvas grubby.


It was a beautiful morning down on Gurnard beach - the photo above is a view past Gurnard Sailing Club and beach huts towards Cowes.

More from Bovey

Yes, we know it's almost a week since we returned from the Craft show at Bovey. . . But we think it's worth putting another couple of pics up. We loved the sustainable Contemporary Garden feature (with fantastic birdhouses), by Chris Eckersley, and others. The traditional Punch and Judy tent was popular also.
Back home, this weekend sees the Round the Island race, which is quite a spectacle to watch, especially if you can get up early to watch the various starts from Cowes. And yes, Bag production is under way again.


Photos courtesy M Bean.

Contemporary Craft Fair

Dr Bean's Bags had a lovely weekend in Bovey Tracey ay the Craft Fair. We were overwhelmed by the response to our bags and would like to thank everyone who bought, thought about, looked at or ordered bags. It's really good to realise that lots of people think along the same lines as we do and recognise the loveliness of words and stitch and seaside.
It was great to be surrounded by such clever people and really appreciated the support from fellow artists.

If you haven't been before, we can thoroughly recommend a trip next year - it has the all the atmosphere of a small friendly festival, but with more to see. (And yes, it was worth missing the Isle of Wight festival for).

Old Gaffers Fair

We've just had a busy weekend on the coffee side of things. The Old Gaffers fair in Yarmouth on the Island is a favourite for many and the hot weather brought a lot of visitors. As ever, hot weather is not necessarily good for coffee sales, but it was pleasant to be outdoors enjoying the sun (or hiding from it, in some cases).
The lack of posts is due to last minute preparations for Bovey - everything is now done and Ali is off to Devon tomorrow.

Photos courtesy of M Bean.