In a hotel - and Lucy Anne Harding The Milkman's Daughter

Well to keep myself sane I have booked into a hotel for an overnight but - wow aren't they expensive!!
But my house is a plether of dust from saws working, plumbers plumbing stuff and a painter lining walls and painting woodwork so I've escaped.
My hair is dry with dust although it keeps its shape better - go figure!

I SO need a bath or shower because neither do I have working at home. Nor do I have my ironing board or iron and I have a large bag full of ironing and few clothes to wear, so I can use the one in the hotel room - bonus!

The house is within striking distance of being sorted but I'm really struggling at living out of a suitcase in a bedroom and have had kidney and ovary pains, both on the same side, this week, which has gotten me down and I've had nowhere to simply lay down and relax - so here am I in a hotel LOL
and double bonus - I can also use my laptop with their WFI!!! yeahhh

Anyway I wanted to show you this work by a delightful young woman who talked to our embroidery group this month.
You may have seen her work in magazines, Lucy Anne Harding - is the Milkman's Daughter ...... although a Milkwoman in her own right too!

Lucy was a real breath of fresh air, since not only does she have a delightful Staffordshire accent but she's not yet one of those overly experienced, 'polished' speakers.
She was just her lovely self, modest, unassuming and really interesting because she's telling you about her family and their business, which happens to be that of delivering milk.
Something we see less and less of on the streets we live in here in Britain.

She's also telling you about the rural community in all manner of weathers and she goes on to mention a charity she supports that assists farmers who find themselves in difficulty too.

And its perfectly plain to see that she not only loved the Guernsey cows they farmed back in the hey dey of farm milk, but she loves the land and the rural community, that she now, her father before her and her grandad before that, served as rural milkmen.

Her textile illustration, because that is what she's making - and you know I adore textile illustration anyway is a representation of some of her customers and each has a story to it.

Given that not all her rural neighbours are tall and slim with no faces LOL
she has given them a unique physical form, whilst recording that she meets them as she delivers the milk.
The background fabric features a variety of drawings she has made of the doors of houses she delivers to, so its unique too.

See the text on the fabric backgrounds in some of her work?
These are original pages from the milk rounds delivery books/orders, further personalising her work.

http://www.lucyanneharding.co.uk/

Oh and I also wanted to show you this below which was sat on a table at Scrapstore and has made use of the broken bits of manikins that were donated by Next stores.
I will show you the finished model as and when its completed, because I'm sure there will be more done to it over time by one of the resident artists.
Cool eh!!