Louise with her display at Hoopers

LOUISE TURNS SEWING INTO ART

Artist Louise Gardiner has become a celebrity through nimble finger work on the sewing machine.

Louise, who has a studio at the family dairy farm in Cheshire, took up embroidered art after studying at Manchester Metropolitan University and graduating from the prestigious Goldsmiths College with a degree in textiles.

Now Louise, whose family is the fifth generation to farm on the National Trust estate at Styal,  teamed up with TV celebrity Kirstie Allsopp in a new hand-craft series this month at Hampton Court Palace.

She was invited to take part after previously collaborating with Kirstie in her Channel Four television series Homemade Home.  Her work was also selected for exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery and Liberty in London.

Louise uses a sewing machine as her tool to produce flamboyant and highly colourful intricate pieces of embroidered artwork. More recently she has used the original embroidered designs for top end silk scarves printed in limited editions at Bollington, near Macclesfield.

Her work has been described by a connoisseur as making “antiques of the future” and Kirstie Allsopp believes the tricks and self-taught techniques she employs with the sewing machine have made it an addictive form of craft.

Louise and her sewing machine

Examples of her work have been on display in two windows at Hoopers of Wilmslow as part of the town’s first ever art trail showcasing the work of 30 local artists in 17 locations this month.

In November she returns to the store to set up a month-long pop up shop.

Louise’s output and her series of workshops, more recently at Quarry Bank Mill, Styal, are contributing towards a nationwide surge and revival of interest in embroidery and sewing.

The creative art is centuries-old and famous examples of the craft like the Bayeux tapestry depicting the Norman invasion of England continue to attract thousands of visitors.

“People have a cosy image of embroidery as some sedate pastime making seat covers and samplers, but in my world that couldn’t be further from the truth,” said Louise.

“The sewing machine is a dynamic medium to work with, and I can often feel more a spontaneous chef than an artist.”

She returned to her roots in Cheshire to set up the studio after a spell of working in Bristol. “Farming has been very much part of my life and is in my blood,” she says. “If something wants doing on the farm I still occasionally get involved.”

A model showing one of her scarves

 Louise can be contacted on her mobile: 07736081423

Pictures: Emma Williams Photography 07976795494

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This website:www.countynewsandpicturepost@blogspot.com
 Sister site:www.blogsfromthebongs@blogspot.com

An example of machine embroidery

BIG POTHOLE SAGA IS NEAR CLOSURE

The point of sewer collapse in Blackden Lane

 In the words of Victor Meldrew..."I don't believe it"! But yes, it is true. At long last we are to get highways action on Blackden Lane. For months I have listened - and the property has shuddered -  from crash, bang wallop as vehicles have wheel-dived into a big hole between Bridge House and Brookside Farm. Several months ago after constant banging on at the council about this whacking great  pothole in the road, a TV inspection crew turned up from United Utilities. The men from UU soon discovered the root of the cause.  The ground beneath the road is on the move - a

The public notice in the Chronicle series of  newspapers

s the result of a collapsed sewer. Now to my satisfaction  - and I guess the rat-runners who speed up and down the lane at morning and evening - the Great Hole of Blackden Lane is to disappear as the road is torn up for sewer repairs. The downside is the road is to be closed from August 31 until the completion of  work. Just in case there are any major snags, the closure order is for 18 months but don't fear, it is anticipated all be finished by September 14. Sad the road has to be ripped  up  after Cheshire East Council did such a magnificent  job of re carpeting only last year, but I guess for highways people that is life! The road is to remain open to pedestrians but I'm afraid it is a bit of a detour for anyone else using Church Bank and Blackden Lane as a cut through to Knutsford and Chelford. My informant for all this is a public notice in the latest edition of the  Sandbach Chronicle  - one good reason to buy your local paper - but I  thought the council  would have contacted me and my neighbour, Paul Chaisty, in view of our complaints about the road. Even last week as the Chronicle was published there was nothing on record at the council offices to give an update on the Saga of the Pothole. But I mustn't grumble, the work is to be done,I presume by contractors for United Utilities. And council taxpayers shouldn't have to spend a penny, and what a relief!
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Sister website: www.blogsfromthebongs.blogspot.com
This website: www.countynewsandpicturepost.blogspot.com

 County Travel

A DAY ON THE RESERVE IS MADE FOR WALKING

A gateway to an adventure trail at the RSPB reserve

Sally shows the way

I am always up for  an outing  with a freebie as the destination - especially when two boisterous grandchildren are in tow! Okay, I can hop over the fence into Goostrey bongs but once  we have done this half  a dozen times the kids get a tad tired of  the same old routine.

Now I have found another spot close to Leek in North Staffordshire (see Manifold Valley item in www.Blogs from the Bongs.blogspot.com) where children  have the time of their lives in close harmony with nature. In fact for a small donation of £2 for parking the RSPB reserve at Coombes Valley offers a woodland escape for a family visit that takes a lot  beating, and it is free from dawn to dusk! My two even took their bikes but it is not to be recommended because of the terrain, some of it with fairly steep slopes. A series of trails are shaped more for walking and exploring meadows filled with wild flowers, bird watching, butterflies and splashing  barefooted in a stream like some reincarnation of  Tom Sawyer. Sally Granger, a resident volunteer for the charity and visitor intern, was looking after the small information centre the day I arrived and directed me to the meadow area where butterflies are in abundance.. There is a small collection of nature bric-a-brac including fragile skeletons of creatures found in the vicinity, as well as lots of useful information about the reserve and  surrounding areas. There is also a well-maintained toilet block for visitors. The woodcock trail is one of the most popular. It is only a little over a mile but it can take a couple of hours to finish and could easily take  a full day if you want to be more adventurous  and venture into wilder corners together with an essential survival  kit of a packed lunch! A woodland loop has been established for youngsters where they can spend time creating secret dens and  do anything else they might fancy from their childhood dreams. It reminded me of the uninhibited days of  youth when "our  gang" would clear off for days on end in the school holidays to the local woods  with matches nicked from the kitchen to build a bonfire to cook spuds in the ashes. Whatever else we got up to would have made our parents hairless had they only known,

RSPB free to roam reserve

I am sure! Several miles from the RSPB reserve is Cheddleton station of the Churnet Valley Railway, a mecca for loco buffs. It was closed by the time we arrived, but the platform was available to pick up leaflets for a future visit. The ten-mile long steam-powered railway takes passengers a rural ride through glorious countryside but to call it "Little Switzerland" is a little far fetched, I would think.  The railway is manned by an army of volunteers and travel is not cheap at £11 for adults, children under four are free and up to fourteen £5 and pensioners pay £9 but the fares are for all day travel. However, the best buy is a family ticket covering two adults and two children for £28. Just across from the station the boys made friends with a collection of Gloucester old spot piglets to end an adventurous day - described by one young visitor to the reserve as a "Great way to spend time in the school holidays - we loved it, especially the den making..." Link to sister site http://www.blogsfromthebongs.blogspot.com
* Finding your way there: RSPB Coombes Valley, Six Oaks Farm, Bradnop, Leek ST13 7EU
Tel: 01538 384017  Website: rspb.org.uk/coombesvalley

Hugh and Joe find the family of pigs

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GOOSTREY BLOG PICTURE SPECIAL
I have been a little frustrated of late at my failure to put more images on Blogs from the Bongs. So now I have created another site called County News and Picture Post to run in conjunction with the main blog. The idea is to include pictures, as well as to provide more up to date news content from Goostrey village and other places. Newsy and general items for the site please send to scoop2001@aol.com Websites: www.newsandpicturepost.blogspot.com and www.blogsfromthebongs.blogspot.com

*Click on or tap the pictures to enlarge

VILLAGE BLACK-SPOT CRASH

The scene of the crash

Yet another accident has happened at the junction of Hermitage Lane and Booth Bed Lane, and perhaps we should now ask if there are any safety measures which could be introduced at this black-spot. It appears the car rammed into a post for some reason I am not privy but I am still on the case! The car slammed into a post and was extensively damaged on the front offside but despite the police and an ambulance at the scene on Saturday I  am not aware of any serious injuries.



MONSOON BIGGER THAN BERTHA

This shopper decided to get wet

A boy dances in the rain

We may have felt a bit of a lashing from big Bertha today but anyone out and about on Friday will tell you the tropical-style monsoon that struck the area  was far worse. I don't think I have experienced such a force of torrential rain for years. I was caught out in Sandbach with  grandsons Hugh and Joe. We managed to shelter under the awning of supermarket as the rain lashed down and then during a window in the storm made a dash for the Goostrey-Sandbach circular bus - only to be caught out as the storm returned with a vengence.  We all got drenched but the boys loved it - the first time they had ever been able to dance in the rain! Two of the regular ladies using the service were lucky as they managed to catch the bus just as it departed ten minutes late.  But what a remarkable change on Saturday when summer returned and the monthly  farmer's market in the old cobbled square in Sandbach brought  more visitors than I have seen in the past.

Sunshine returned for the farmer's market