August

Flaming August? Well yes it was yesterday. DD is up from London for a few days and we went to The Summer Flower Show in Gateshead. We had a lovely day, wonderful flowers, lots of crafty items and plants by the pot-fulls.

We watched a demo on potting up hanging baskets by a local garden center. Even though I've done HBs for years he gave some good tips.

I bought, some new parsley, curly and flat leafed as I've used up all of mine and the stuff I grew from seed seems to have disappeared or isn't really ready to be cut. A new Abutilon, a baby bottle brush, another plant I can't remember the name of at the moment, a few bulbs and two cyclamen corms and finally at the end of the day we picked up - literally, three big glazed pots for ten quid. I have to say the herbs were half price as it was near the end of the show, the bulbs I got 10 for the price of 8 and the two very strange looking cyclamen corms I got a BOGOF. (Buy One Get One Free).









In the craft sales tent I got a lovely new necklace - it took me ages to choose which one and DD got a large ball of 'wool' to try out my big crochet hook.


Stitching wise I can't show you any pictures as I'm working on some new ATC's, the first lot went before I had time to take photos. I've completed my big knit bag. The two pictures show a before and after felting.






My painted pots are increasing in numbers and my first proper picture pot now has my shed and arch, the start of the fox gloves and some tobaco plant flowers on the arch. I never thought I'd be able to do realistic painting but Sandra - my tutor - is encouraging me all the way. Many thanks Sandra.

Garden party and update

Sorry I haven't posted for a while been very busy. The garden party went well on Saturday the weather was kind to us and we were outside until 7.30 moving down the garden as the sun disappeared over the roof tops. There was loads of food left and we are still drinking the wine! Great company and lots of banter. Thank you to everyone who came and supported us.

I've finished another felted bag. Here it is before and after felting it shrank in the washing machine by nearly half, starting off very floppy as I used my broom shank needles and 8 strands of pure wool.

My beaded bracelet is growing slowly but I'm on the last run through and am nearing the end, I'll have to decide what kind of clasp to put on it.


I've done nothing to my black and white patchwork portfolio bag this week, sorry nothing to show, maybe tomorrow.

Apart from that I've been packing boxes. My study has been moved into my work room and the small bedroom is being decorated and will be reclaimed as a spare bedroom. That way I won't have to clear my study/workroom every time someone comes to stay. Photos will be coming when I'm a bit more organised.

DD is coming tomorrow so looking forward to seeing her.

Weather

Don't you hate weather forecasts? After postponing the Garden Party yesterday morning at 10am when it was still raining and showing no signs of stopping. By 12 the sun came out but it did rain again at 4pm. Then today we have had glorious sunshine! RATS we could have had it today.

Never mind we had a great mini party 8 people total, a good time was had by all and we will do it all over again next Saturday.

Weather forecast right

Today has been a miserable day up here in the NE, rain and gale force winds. The poor garden is swimming and I've lost some of my outdoor tomato plants which fell over and broke. Fortunately I have plenty more and they hadn't set any fruit yet.

The BBC forecast for tomorrow sounds a little more optimistic but I haven't been able to do the last minute tweaking I had wanted to do for my garden party. Why oh why didn't I have it last weekend?

I'm sorry there have been no photos of what I've been up to recently. I hope this makes up for it. In between preparing for tomorrow I have painted some papers, I'm not quite sure what I'm going to use them for, completed my felted vessel, cut some fabric for a large patchwork portfolio bag, this will be done in the fractured colour technique I learned quite a while ago - more about that later.









I have also been working on my small beaded vessel and a blue/turquoise beaded bracelet

Getting worried

The weather forecast isn't too good for tomorrow it poured it down this afternoon. I just hope it picks up for Saturday as I am hosting a garden party. But the long range forecast says rain in Newcastle right over the weekend Boo hoo.

Well I've done it

I completed the 5k of the Race4Life in 54mins. Less than the one hour I thought it would take. I'm really pleased as I raised more than my £200 target as well.

IT'S tomorrow

Yes I'm really going to do the Race4Life tomorrow. I have my number badge and DH is coming with me as a supporter. Many thanks P. A big thank you also to everyone who has donated, it's great that people want to help. Off to have an early night! Yes it is only 8pm but I've had a busy day, up at 5am I made some scones to freeze for my Garden Party next weekend, did a bit of pottering in the garden. Off on the bus to go swimming and then I walked back home. By the time I had had a bath, sorted out all the papers for the Guild meeting this afternoon, my last as chair - I hope. Water the plants, have dinner which DH made, chicken, pots and salad. Now I just want to sleep. Only problem is I'll probably wake up again at 11 or 12 and not be able to get back to sleep.

4 days until R4L

The time has just slipped by since I first decided to do the Race 4 Life and it's on Sunday. I've been a bit lax with my walking recently as I've been so busy in the garden - well that's my excuse! Anyway I did an hour walk followed by a quick swim this morning and I'm really suffering for it now! Never mind I'll be OK on the day. I'll let you all know how it went. I've also managed to raise £175 so that's really good when I started off aiming for £100.

The garden looked beautiful, then we had the thunderstorms and the flowers took a bit of a bashing and I'm busy going round picking out the weeds that have flourished. It doesn't seem to matter how many I pull out there are still several more round the corner!

I've made progress with my black and white patchwork to make a portfolio bag, I'll take a photo when it's further on in the process. My Blue bracelet looks great and my log vessel is looking at me saying, finish me, finish me! The design is finished for the knitt to felt bag and all I have to do is print it out tomorrow - note put that in my diary! So doing my prioritising was a good idea, it certainly focused my mind on what I should do first.

Two of my friends are in hospital - just found out today - one has had a mini stroke and the other is having a cancer op tomorrow. What a shock my best wishes go out to them both and hope all is well.

Night all

Prioritising

Today I sat down and started to think about all the different projects I'm doing at the moment. I'm going to write them all down and try and work on them all in a more organised manner.
1. C&G tree trunk vessel - to be completed over the Summer holidays
2. research into the embroidery of three countries for C&G - as above
3. beaded vessel - no hurry, but I enjoy making it
4. beaded bracelet - started as a coral piece - for a friend's aquarium project but the colour might be wrong - to be worked on Thursdays
5. patchwork large portfolio bag Friday's project - must sort the cut strips and number the order by next Thursday
6. preparation for helping craft group start their Purple Rain fluffy bag - need to do that for next Thursday!

Do you think I'm doing too much? Variety is the spice of life! LOL. This doesn't leave a lot of time for the garden which has to be set in order before the 18th when I'm hosting a garden party. I'll try and let you all know how all these things are going. Off now to work on mmmmmm the beaded bracelet I think.

garden pictures

I've just taken a whole lot of pictures of my garden, I have rearranged my Webshot album if you would like to see them. Take care there are lots of them on 6 pages. I am just going to show you a few here. Please visit my Webshot page if you would like to see more.
The first picture shows my painted pots There are actually 5 of them but one is still with Sandra and I am in the middle of painting it. Then there is a close up of my first pansy pot. I was so pleased with it.








My shed has now blended into the background, no new wood sticking out like a sore thumb and I have an automatic arm on the window.









Oh yes my tomatoes are going red, each day there are more showing a blush. Now when can I pick them?

My Rambles Part 2

I came back from my rambles to find my first flush of pink on one of my tumbling toms. Hurrah, they are small but I'm so pleased that all the efforts are starting to show.

As you know from my earlier post we went away to North Yorkshire for a few days. On Friday we did a rather wet walk near Leyburn, not all that interesting as the mist(low cloud) obscured much of the scenery.

On Saturday I did a workshop making some free form beaded elements, small bell/flower shapes using some different beading stitches. The main piece I'm now working on was the start of a small beaded vessel. The inspiration for it is the log in my garden which seems to be influencing much of my work at the moment. The finished piece is NOT mine but the tutor's, Sandra Wallace, and I just had to make one. The small scraps on the brown velvet are the pieces I made on Saturday, not much for a whole day's work but I learned a lot and I have gone on to make more. see the red velvet samples which is a better close up of the small elements along with the extra flower I made on Saturday night.

My little vessel is growing and I am pleased with it. Still quite a bit more to do though and lots of threads to tie in yet. The next photo shows the two free form dangles I made before I went down on the course and I really didn't know what I was doing. However from these two came two that are now on my log vessel.




The final photo today shows the flowers that will adorn the top of my 'log' however after carrying them around in a carry pouch over the weekend the flowers need a bit more work and I've put them back onto dissolvable and am putting some hand stitches onto them. I'm going to see my tutor on Friday when I'll show her all the pieces that will make up my 'log'. After that it will just be a matter of stitching all the pieces together and doing my backup work

TUSAL June

Well just started a new SAL thanks Yoyo and also those other Blogs where I saw this started at the beginning of the year. I've only just got round to joining. So what is TUSAL - a Totally Useless Stitch A Long. Here are my first ORTs Old Raggy Threads taken from my work table after working on my vessel. There are also some threads pulled off some new patchwork fabric that has just gone through the washing machine.

Off Rambling

Yes literally. We are having a long weekend in Middleham, North Yorkshire (Nr Layburn). 1 days of walking and one of beading for me and 3 days walking for DH. Then off to see my sister and BiL on Sunday evening - Happy Birthday F. Tell you all about it when I get back.

Warm day

Don't know what the weather's been like where you are but it's been HOT in the North East. Very sticky this afternoon until we had a short rain storm and then it was beautiful again. Did some work in the garden before going for swim - not much swimming done but the Jacuzzi and steam room were bliss! We do a systems managemnt course on a Monday, I'm filling in lots of gaps in my ICT knowledge. A visit to B&Q on the way home for more compost and some chippings. I picked up a new plant, I wonder how long it will last? I'm not sure about the quality from there. A quick food shopping trip where I got 4 more plants, must get them potted on tomorrow. A tidy up session in my dinning room where most of my stitching has been going on over the last month or so and a short clear up of my 'puter. What a busy day!

These flowers are on my old log and are the inspiration for the flowers on my vessel.

Productive Day

Well week really. I finished my patchwork bag after fighting my machine with the Indian metallic thread. Got to say I won in the end.

I've also done some more to my vessel, the lining is in loose and flowers are now sprouting from the top and butterflies and bugs are dangling.





Got to say that all these components are not fixed yet and I'm still playing with the look. It probably won't go much further now until I see Karen (my tutor). They are all just pinned on and I have a few more machine stitched pieces that may - or may not - be put on.

Feeling much better

Much to my surprise I woke up this morning (sorry yesterday morning) feeling much better. My throat while still slightly sore wasn't as bad as it had been over the last couple of days. I had much more energy and wanted to get things done.

I'm completing a patchwork bag which just has the finishing touches to be done, a few buttons. My vessel has all it's components done. I don't want to put them together until my tutor sees them This won't be until September so it will be put on the back burner for a while. It means I have time to do some playing and reminding myself what I have in my crafting stash. FUN.

I can also get back to the academic side - my country studies - shame as this is the part I find the most difficult.

Bugs

Think I have a virus - the medical kind. Started with a sore throat on Tuesday, by Wednesday it was very sore and my head hurt. Today my ribs and limbs were aching. Doc says just keep taking the tablets. Slept for 2 hours this afternoon and think I'm ready to go back again now.

Shed now in use more photos

Yes I am now fully into the shed! I still have to sort all the boxes that are in the garage. There needs to be more shelves on the back wall with lots of hooks for the tools and Then the outside needs painting and the little finishing touches to the corners and joins need to be put up. Don't think much will get done tomorrow as DH is into doing a deep clean of his 'puter and then is out on his Philosophy course in the afternoon. We have visitors coming round in the evening. So not much will get done. I'll try and get out to do a bit of box sorting and deciding where I want all the tools tomorrow.

My back is giving me a lot of pain again and I've finally got an appointment to see the physio at the hospital I don't expect to get much joy from them but at least they now know I have an existing problem. The appointment isn't until 2nd July! Do you think I have much faith in the NHS? I've waited soooooo long for this.

Lining for my vessel and other stitching

I've made the fabric using the techniques I learned on the Jan Beaney course. I am now hand stitching the edging so that it is strong enough to be stitched together to go into my log vessel. I used flax thread which is quite harsh and slubby and quite difficult to stitch through the fabric, small pieces with long tails add to the fringing which I'm leaving to trail out of the top (I think, however I might change my mind when I see what it looks like.) I'm still blanket stitching the edges which is why the needle is still in the work.

I'm also making a small crochet bag with some freebie wool that came with a magazine. It looks a very strange shape as I'm not very good at shaping. I need to practice a bit more. Photos will follow when it's complete.

Thought you might like to see the yellow squares our Embroiderers' Guild Branch have made as our contribution to the Region Rainbow Square project. They will eventually be in two long panels that will be hung from a small curtain ring at the top. I love the variety of techniques that have been used. We are now starting on a green panel and 4 squares were handed in at our meeting on Saturday afternoon.