'Boats' involved colouring the base fabric with oilbars/paintsticks, some layered strips, and free machine stitching. One has felt boats and the other various sayings about boats ('Don't rock the boat', 'all in the same boat' etc, that kind of thing) stitched over.
Another place we visited is Eyam, a village famous for cutting itself off during the Plague in 1665 so that the infection wouldn't spread. Nice Celtic design cross in the churchyard.
This isn't a stately home but the cottage we stayed in, at least, the lefthand end of it is!
Flowers at Chatsworth.
WE had the use of the patio at our cottage and very nice it was in the sun, though here it was raining! 
Here's a nice old stone house, typical of the area, local stone. It is in Eyam, one of a number of cottages where the plague victims who died in the house are listed on a board outside. So many from each family, so sad.
We were there with grandchildren so a visit to the farm was obligatory, and most entertaining with these little rascals wriggling and sucking.
Another visit was to Caudwell's Mill where they have examples of different sorts of grain growing and sell lovely flower ground on the premises in the historic mill.
. . . some not-so-local looking inhabitants! (The grandchildren had come all the way from Scotland to find highland cattle here.) . . .
. . . and some radio-controlled planes.
A brilliant view . . .
. . . in all directions.
. . . outdoors. . .
. . . and indoors . . . yummy yummy
But where these (below) came from we have no idea! Funny, times when I think out carefully what to grow where, go and buy it, get it planted in just the right place etc etc, the stuff doesn't always grow. Other times things just appear, don't know where from, in places you would never choose, and flourish amazingly. Is there a life message there somewhere??? If you think you know what it is, please tell me! Meanwhile they brighten up the bed with the brussel sprout plants in.
I'd like really to have these poppies in the back garden alongside these . . . a pink geranium that survived from last year, an unusual geranium-type plant from the local garden centre and fuchsias bought at a sales table at church.
If your local allotment waiting list is too long, an alternative is to find an elderly person who is willing for you tidy a bit of their garden by digging a veg patch in return for some of the produce. Derek has been able to do this and as well as strawberries, peas and broad beans we have had these . . .
. . . and these come from our own greenhouse, doing a bit better than last year. Red and green again, but perhaps a bit more attention to the background when taking pix might be a good idea! 
I think it is the colour grouping that makes these interesting.
The compulsion to make these strip things seems to go on for ever, but at last I am moving on a bit . . .
. . . though not for long. Back to strips, but thinner, even more likely to be in the bin, and running stitch all over them . . .
These bags also use up all sorts of offcuts - strips, trimmings and tiny scraps any normal person would just throw away. Lay them out on a piece of fabric cut to the size required for what you want to make. Cover with organza (stripy bag) or net (blue/red bag), pin everywhere then machine stitch all over, handling carefully so bits don't escape. Of course you could use fusible web but I hate the stuff. This bag is done with straight stitch, to show that you don't have to be able to do free machining to use this method of creating fabric.
And this one used up a lot of tiny scraps and bits of thread, and has been free machined with scribbles and zigzaggy lines.
Since we moved back here to Dorset Derek has been salvaging pallets from houses locally where some building work is being done (with permission of all concerned of course). He was horrified to discover that pallets on which various building materials were delivered just got taken to the local landfill, not returned to anyone for reuse. People seem very happy for him to take them, it saves them a job dumping them. 
Small garden tables/stands, large table, benches, a picnic table we haven't got a photo of, doors, fences, duckboards, garden gates, a woodstore shed . . . 
And when they do a roof conversion round here in a very bungalow-rich neighbourhood, all the old roof timbers seem to be discarded too. So guess what is filling up our back yard!
There were framed pictures, cushions, bags, boxes, pin cushions, book covers, small hangings, postcards, journal quilts. To hang things on the walls you have to knock nails in, then fill in the holes afterwards and restore it to its previous condition. We didn't want to cope with that so we had mostly smaller items, the sort of things embroiderers tend to make compared with quilters.
We all made items for the sales tables, top pic bottom left, to raise a bit of money. General consensus seems to be that it was a very successful event, and it has given us confidence for another one in the future.
With this to inspire us we painted away, on paper, using drawings Eileen provided of flowers and butterflies. The iris one was popular. The idea is then, when the paint is dry (a hairdryer helps speed things up. I seldom use mine for drying hair!), you lay the painted paper down on fabric and iron it carefully. The heat releases the colour. Polyester absorbs it very efficiently, so we tried out pure polyester and polycottons. Colour does come off on natural fibres alone but needs special treatment to fix it.
As we loosened up we tried other effects, splodgy backgrounds, tearing strips, sponging.
And you can also print one image over another.
There was so much to show at the end I've had to make 2 collages to display it all. 
And these are my folder covers, not given pages yet (I'm still figuring out how to organise the holes), done with Wendy Jackson.
The outer fabric is a piece of batik done at a workshop at Quarry Bank Mill in Cheshire several years ago. The inside fabric was done one day dyeing with a friend. It is a bog standard Dylon dye, bronze rose, and has separated out into interesting bits of colour, adding nicely and unexpectedly to the intended splodgy effect of crumpling into a jar.
The embroidery is a slip that was added on. It has knotted cretan stitch, wrapped to make more textural. 
Flowers are simpler ... last year's birthday present survives.
This year's geraniums . . .
. . . and the poppies have x3 more flowers this year.
Chard detail - looks like something from the jungle.
I shall enjoy studying these . . .
. . . and these . . .
. . . not to mention these . . .
. . . trumpeter, saxophone player (well, nearest we could get to a saxophone!)
. . and a violinist. Interesting mixture. I wonder what that would sound like if they all came alive one time and started to play?
The figures were constructed and the work facilitated by Jacqi Lea, a community artist from Southampton. 
This was on the lable that went with it.
