The Changing Face of February on the Grange

The weather on the Grange has been changible

we had a smattering of snow

then bright sun on the same day.

Nigel gets busy on the Green Patch

Charlie, Carole's whippet meets Sue's dog Sam

they are now firm friends!

The afternoons are getting lighter, Spring is on it's way!

You can see more photos from this set here

Book Working

Carole brought in poetry, alphabet and picture stamps

and we began thinking about

what makes where we are special.

After a busy school day concentrating on science

we found it hard to concentrate for long

especially as outdoors, fresh air 

and running games beckoned

We enjoyed using the materials

and felt proud of our lovely handmade books.

Back To Books - World Book Night 2015

We are always looking for ways to add elements to our projects and our Project Coordinator Carole Miles applied to become an World Book Night 2015 institutional volunteer which means we will be giving out books in our project postcode area in the Avondale Grange Ward as part of our The View From Here project.

"Dear Back To Books - We'd like to congratulate you again on being accepted as a World Book Night 2015 institutional volunteer and say how delighted we are to have you on board. We're also thrilled to finally be able to tell you which books you'll be getting, with apologies for the slight delay.

You will receive:

Book Title: Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb

Book Title: Spring Tide 

World Book Night is an annual celebration of reading and books that takes place on 23 April. It sees passionate volunteers give out hundreds of thousands of books in their communities to share their love of reading with people who don’t read regularly or own books. World Book Night is run by The Reading Agency, a national charity that inspires people to become confident and enthusiastic readers to help give them an equal chance in life."

We are very excited to be able to incorporate this lovely giveaway in our View From Here project!

The Binding Thread - Felting

The wintery weather gave us the perfect opportunity to roll out some fleecy, felted scarves with artist Carole Miles. We used hot water, soap, bubble wrap, bamboo mats and plenty of fiction to make light weigh scarves to keep off the winter chill.

Laying out the fleece

Rolling so the fibres mesh together

Scarves after the felting is complete

Drying out

After noticing that the scarves were a little fragile we sewed on vintage woollen fabrics to give extra strength and warmth. Scarves modelled by artist Phiona Richards (wearing her own demonstration creation), project volunteer Margot Norris and Green Patch friend Nigel Bennet.

The View From Here - Gathering Papers - Hand Made Books

Artist Phiona Richards has been visiting the Green Patch 

helping us to create hand made books from re-cycled materials

A number of reclaimed papers were collected 

(Primark carrier bags, old brown wrapping, 

wallpaper etc) and cut to size. 

 The group were shown how to measure,

 mark and punch their pages.

 The books were stiched together

using pamphlet stitch

Each prticipant made 2 booklets

and carole will keep them safe until

it is time to start filling them with drawings, 

thoughts and observations about our view from here!

You can see all the photos from these fab making sessions here