Weston-super-Mare in Pictures: April, May & June 2018

I love living by the seaside, and spend as much time as possible going for walks along the beach and around the town. I'm really enjoying exploring my new home town and seeing how it changes with the seasons!

I have an Instagram account where I share photos from my walks, and I'm also putting together a quarterly round up of my favourite pictures here on my blog. I was on a blogging break back in July (when I'd originally planned to post this) but now it's finally time to look back at my fave pics from April, May and June. With autumn rapidly creeping in, I really enjoyed looking back through my photos to put together this post and I hope you'll enjoy them too...

April started off a little grey, but at least it had stopped snowing... and the grey didn't last long! We've had so much sunshine this summer that my camera roll has been absolutely bursting with blue skies.

I have to admit though that I rather adore a long walk on a misty grey day. There's something weirdly appealing about how bleak and empty the beach can be during the off-season, and it makes for a wonderfully quiet walk. I've missed it a little during the hot and busy tourist season!

I made the most of spring while it lasted, with lots of visits to see the bluebells at Uphill...

... walks along the beach...

... and regular strolls up the cowslip-and-orchid-covered hill (later the buttercup-covered hill!) to the old church.

Then in June I got slightly sunburned going on lots of longer-than-expected walks around town, photographing the local architecture and other bits and bobs that caught my eye. I really need to remember to always take extra suncream on walks like this, as there's always another tempting street to go down and another new path to follow.

 

 

There's no shortage of charming houses and interesting architectural details here in Weston: I have a crush on so many of the local buildings but this one is definitely in my top ten:

Taking nice photos and sharing them online is fun, of course, but I particularly like how the act of taking photos is making me really look at the place that I live. The shapes and the colours and all the little details it would be so easy to overlook.

 

It's been a fun challenge photographing some of Weston's summer events, too. I loved the classic car show at Grove Park...

... and the hot air balloons on the beach were an absolute joy. The balloon launch was a wonderful little taster of a new event coming to Weston's seafront this autumn - I'm really looking forward to it!

Fancy some more seaside snaps? Follow me on Instagram for regular (ish) updates from Weston-super-Mare.

You can also explore my travel archive for lots more pics from around the UK.

April & May in Pictures

With 2018 rolling rapidly onwards, it's time for a quick look back at what I was blogging and Instagramming in April and May.

In April...

... I finished my patchwork mini squares blanket and blogged about the six and a half year process of making it...

... shared a snap of my scrappy cross stitch project (which is now almost as colourful as that blanket!)...

... started a new Instagram account to showcase my collection of Post Office posters (I haven't had much time to devote to this yet, but I hope to be updating it frequently this summer)...

... stitched a cross stitch pattern to celebrate the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle...

... bought some new books (which were both quite delightful!)...

... and had a Book Week here on my blog, reviewing Mandalas to Embroider, Craft a Life You Love, and Creative Marker Art and Beyond.

... I also started my 100 Day Project (which I need to write about properly sometime soon!) and took part in Art vs Artist on Instagram, which prompted a really interesting discussion in my social media feeds about what being an artist means to each of us and who "counts" as an artist (I personally don't think of myself as an artist, though I occasionally make things I would describe as textile art).

In April I also blogged about my visit to Oxford's Exeter College, Kew's Palm House and magnificent magnolias ,and the joys of Kew in the spring, wrote an update on my flat renovation project, and shared a felt cake tutorial with my newsletter subscribers.

I also set up an archive page for my travel blog posts and took a time-travelling trip back through eleven years of craft blogging. This was meant to be the start of a monthly series but turned out to be quite a time-consuming post to put together so I'll be making this an occasional series instead, taking a trip through my blog's archive whenever I have a time to do so.

In May...

... I shared a tutorial for making layered felt flowers with my newsletter subscribers (I'll be sharing the link to this pattern in July's newsletter so there's still time to subscribe and get this free project!)...

... blogged about three ideas ideas for using felt flower brooch tutorials...

... watched the Royal Wedding while working on GDPR paperwork (so fun!) and making preparations to move my newsletter to a shiny new service...

... wrote about the evolution of my rainbow blanket...

... started (and finished!) binding my Christmas quilt, and blogged about the long process of making it (part one, part two).

I also shared some of my favourite photos from my local walks, and developed a new level of respect for fashion bloggers after having to take pictures of myself for a post about 5 ways to customise a denim jacket!

This spring I also had a lot of FEELINGS about using social media (as a designer/maker sharing my work but also just as a person existing in the world) and ended up deciding to take a break from Twitter for the summer.

Social media is one of those things that affects different people in different ways, and the noise and stress of Twitter was definitely starting to outweigh the chatty social fun side for me. Maybe I'll be pining for it again come September? We shall see!

Want regular updates without visiting my blog to check for new posts? You can find me on Instagram and Facebook or subscribe to my weekly(ish) newsletter.  

Weston-super-Mare in Pictures: January-March 2018

I live by the seaside, I go for a lot of walks... and I take a lot of photos!

I share a lot of my seaside snaps over on Instagram; I love having a space to share the lovely views and interesting details that catch my eye. This year I'm also doing a quarterly round-up of my fave photos here on my blog - I hope you'll enjoy following along as the seasons change.

It's been so cold and wet and grey this winter, I've not been for nearly as many walks as I'd have liked. The walks I have been on have been rather wonderful, though.

This grey winter day was beautiful, but so incredibly cold. I kept having to stop walking to jump up and down a bit and wiggle my fingers and toes to keep them from getting too chilly!

The light when it was sunny, though? Oh my goodness. So bright and clear and gorgeous.

The winter sunsets can be pretty magical, too.

This sunny day followed several days of heavy rain, the paths were little muddy rivers and I narrowly escaped slipping and falling several times. It was totally worth it for these views.

I get why people don't think to visit the seaside in the winter, but look what you're missing out on!

In March the weather went a bit weird, and the beach was covered in heavy snow thanks to the Beast from the East. I was particularly smitten by the combination of the snow and my favourite seaside shelters.

Later in the month, it snowed again: not as heavily as before, but with a similarly transformative magic. (I blogged about this walk - click here to see all the pics!).

Finally, at the end of March I walked a slightly different route through town and discovered a new-to-me bakery (yum) and what is now my new favourite door (you can't beat a good door).

Follow me on Instagram for regular (ish) updates from Weston-super-Mare.

Catch up with my faves shared in February to August last year, and in September to December.

Weston-super-Mare in Pictures: September-December 2017

Since moving to the seaside a year and a half ago I've been on a lot of walks, and taken a lot of photos of my new hometown! I started an Instagram account to share the photos, but I thought it would be nice to do occasional round-ups of my faves here on my blog as well.

I blogged last year about my fave photos I'd shared between February and August, and I'd planned on doing another "six months of seaside snaps" blog post... but then when I came to actually choose the photos I realised I had far too many faves to fit in just one blog post! What can I say - I love it here and I take a lot of pictures!

So, this year I'm going to try doing roughly quarterly round-ups and see how that goes. Today I'm catching up by sharing my faves from the end of last year, then next week I'll share my faves from January to March this year. I hope you'll enjoy the photos, I really enjoyed looking back through my snaps to choose my favourites.

An end-of-summer-holidays sandcastle:

Rocks on the beach near Uphill:

Rock meets concrete - I love these pretty pink rocks at the North end of the beach!

A very angry wall:

Pink twine:

Autumn light:

One of my favourite houses in Weston!

More excellent houses in the autumn sunshine:

Deliciously textured tracks on the beach, during preparations for the Beach Race:

A tiny silver shoe on an overgrown wall - I walked past this wall last week and the shoe is still there, like a tiny bit of public sculpture.

Just one of many gorgeously moody sunsets:

A gate being swallowed by sand:

Reflections on a calm, clear day - it's almost always breezy here, so it's a real treat seeing the water in the Marine Lake this still.

More reflections, because how could I just pick one photo from that beautiful day?

Boats on the river:

This is essentially just a photo of some bins but I love it:

And finally, bright boats on a gloriously sunny winter's day:

More seaside snaps coming soon!

Follow along on Instagram for more frequent (albeit slightly irregular) updates. Check out my travel archive for blog posts about my walks and trips around the UK.