AWOL

Yes I have been AWOL for a while. I have given myself time off from my daily blogs to do WORK, look after my new family of cats and go on courses.
So here goes with my update.


1. Didi and Holly are now well at home going outside, except in the rain over the past two days.

Holly knocking over the plant-pots while chasing frogs

 Didi sitting on one of my houseplants

DH has now made small stakes to dissuade her from making this a permanent sleeping spot. The plant dies back occasionally anyway and will recover soon.

2. My pretty pink and blue papers are now safely in new poly pockets in a new lever arch file and nowhere near my dye solutions.

3. I have completed Purple Rain 2 a felted and beaded wall hanging.

3. I have been to three exhibitions recently, I may have told you about some of them, Helen Cowan's Exhibition at Paxton House, Stitch-in-9 exhibition in Sunderland and Influences plus exhibition by It Happens at the small Bailiffgate Museum in Alnwick. Oh and of course I went to Hampton Court Flower Show and two small textile and design exhibitions on the South Bank.

4. My garden has taken some time to look after as everything is growing so quickly and I am having my bi-annual Garden Party on behalf of the APTT  next Sunday 24th July so please keep all fingers, and toes, crossed for good weather. Here are just a very small sample of the 130 photos I took going round the garden the other day after coming back from London.

Cucumbers

 Tomatoes and other veg in pots

 Clematis over the stumps of two trees

 More seedlings in the shed

 Holly investigated the shed, the wall and next door's garden

 I have a few of these chimes around the garden

 I got this one from my sister

 BIG strawberries 

Passion flower

 Cabbages

 Garlic

Update on the Stone River

I think I had better stop as you will be tired of the tour. Thank you so much for visiting.

Another busy week

  After the accidental dyeing incident last week I have sorted my wet papers and dried them out and the majority are still readable. So the file has been reconstructed. They are such pretty colours. The mop up cloth fabric is starting to look quite pretty but the large poly-cotton drip cloth still needs a bit more work.
  On Monday I went on a visit to Alnwick Gardens and had a lovely day with DH, DD and friends.
  On Tuesday I went to London with DD and partner, Wednesday was a trip to RHS Hampton Court Flower Show and a meet up with DS. 
  Thursday was a visit to the new Embroiderers Guild headquarters at Walton on Thames, a short train journey from DDs home. In the afternoon I went into Central London and visited The Design Museum and the Fashion and Textile Museum. This was a busy day and ended with a walk along the South Bank of the Thames with DS and a mediocre Greek meal.
  Friday back home and a lovely weekend outside with the cats loving the freedom of the garden. Holly got stuck on next door's extension where the roof tiles were so slippery she could not hold on and kept skidding  She had to have a helping hand (wooden board) to return to the garden wall.
  There are photos to go with this post but they will have to wait until later when I have time to download and process them. Thank you everyone for your kind thoughts and comments about my accidental dying.

Accidental Dying

Why do things go wrong when you are at your busiest? I am preparing for visitors. All my dying bits and pieces were put into the garage as DH does not like it lying around the kitchen! This morning I went to get something from one of the boxes and I noticed that my cat litter tray with mop up cloths and files soaking wet!


I blamed a leak in the garage roof - no said DH dry as a bone. I took the file and fabric out of the tray to remember that I had decanted dye into jars - separate tray - and not wanting to waste the drops left in my dye bags I had filled them up with a bit of water to perhaps use later.

Of course some of them had leaked out and the water + dye had wicked up over the week through two pieces of fabric that I was going to dye later and the poly-cotton drip cloth that really wasn't very messy after the dyeing process. All fabric is now prettily tie-dyed and all papers in the loose leaf file is soaking wet.

 I have stood all afternoon separating papers and remembering my paper making placing them between J-Cloths. Fun.

Thank you

Thanks to all my friends who commented on my last post, service is now restored to normal. Obviously a Blogger blip.

Can anyone help?

While playing on another blog I was looking at followers options. This then seems to have deleted my followers gadget in my blogs leaving a blank space. I've tried deleting the gadget and re-instating it but that did no good. Can anyone help? I want it back! It's good to see my followers!

A fun exercise?

Well I did it, thanks Chittle Chattle It was very hard. I had to draw with my left hand and I'm right handed. To add insult to injury I couldn't look at the paper, I was looking at myself through the bathroom mirror and it is 1.37 in the morning! No need to lock the bathroom door, no-one else is up, even the cats have gone to sleep. Before you ask, no I will not be posting a picture in my Journal Blog which I now realise I haven't updated since we came back from Keswick. 

Very remiss of me but in my defence I have been busy, doing some embroidery/felting/knitting/crochet/dyeing projects, playing with the cats who will insist in getting in on the act and going to lots of exhibitions in Durham and Northumberland. 

Last week I was playing with metals with Alysn Midgelow-Marsden, great fun. I have over 21 small samples which are being backed and presented on small hangings so I have a record of a very pleasant two days. Sorry the photos are on their side but I just haven't had time to Photo-shop them. This is very much a work in progress.

Dying thanks to  Myfanwy

That's all I have to show you today, there will be more photos to follow. Thank you for reading my blog. All your lovely comments are read and much appreciated. An especially big thanks to my friends who keep my creativity going.

Tantalising dying

Well I now have my fabrics in their dyes, can I wait 24 hours to take them out. Silly me of course not. I might just be able to wait 6 or 7 hours. I am out all day tomorrow and Thursday so it will have to be done today. Don't they look fantastic. I'm not sure what I've done to the photo I think I have over-sharpened it. Never mind it gives an idea of what those colours look like.

Happy Summer Solstice

I hope everyone who went to Stonehenge last night had better weather than we had here! I suspect not.

Sorry I should have credited this image to The Stone Circle Blog and Mysticdreams.com.

Dying

I am just starting on some new dying experiments. Thanks to Chittle Chattle  I have everything ready and I had planned to start today but I went out this afternoon to visit a stitching friend that I haven't seen for a while. It was great to catch up and she gave me some beautiful purple lepidolite earings. I must take a photo and share their beauty with you. 
Then I fell asleep while watching a video and trying to do some of my crochet lap blanket. This evening has been spent catching up with me emails, reading blogs etc and now it's time to go to bed where has the time gone? 
Does anyone else have this problem? As I get older there is so much to do, so much I want to do and the days go by faster and faster.

Do What You Love

I just have to share this with you. Life is so precious we must make the most of every minute. Thank you Chittle Chattle for reminding me of this.

Paxton House & nostalgia

Helen's Exhibition was fantastic we had a good catch up as well. I then went into Berwick upon Tweed and while having a nostalgic trip to where my Mum was brought up and I was born met a brilliant 91 year old lady who remembered my mother and all her family. Absolutely brilliant. I wish someone had taken a photograph of the smiles on both of our faces.


Here is a picture of my Mum, Gran and Great Gran who all lived in Berwick.

 

This lady remembered all my uncles and went to school with Uncle Harry who was drowned at sea with his son-in-law while they were out fishing. I wish someone had been there to take photos of our faces we were both grinning like Cheshire cats!

Here is one of the pieces of work I have done over the last few weeks, it uses the above image along with the map of Berwick and Coldstream where my father was brought up. The embroidery on the piece reminds me of the first embroideries I did for my Gran who loved the pieces I did when I was a teenager. The painted Bondaweb, tissue paper fabric and scrunched brown paper are a reminder of my recent embroidery journeys. I have loved working on this piece and it is still a work in progress.

One more share of my recent work is a felted piece that uses up scraps from my TUSAL jar. The beads are not stitched on yet.

Busy Busy Busy

Like most of us Summer has brought on a manic case of Spring Cleaning, both of my home but, more importantly, in my garden, the new foster cats and my creative 'work'. There is a lot to tell you but it will have to wait for another time when time is not quite so pressing. Just to let you know two or three pieces of work are well on their way, a few more revived, more projects started. I need to take a whole batch of photos to share with you.


Today I am off to Berwick upon Tweed - the town I was born in and my grandparents lived - so real nostalgia, very in keeping with some of my current embroidery work. I will drop DH off and he will go for a walk and I am going up the Tweed to Paxton House to see an exhibition by one of my good friends Helen Cowans. Anyone living in reach of Berwick can see this up to 29th June should try and get to see it. Helen's photos have really inspired me to get up there and see the pieces for real! Well done Helen everything looks brill. Will make a report when I get back.

Meet Didi

Foster cat number 2, Didi is not as friendly as Holly and hated having a collar put on her this morning and went in the huff by hidding under the bed all day. There have been no fights between the two today either. Didi is certainly more aggressive than Holly and yesterday saw Holly off with some rather rude words! She is a beautiful looking cat but will be more difficult to integrate into our family.

Holly update

Well she has now been neutered and it's amazing how quickly these little mites bounce back. The vet said she'll be a bit sleepy and stop her from jumping onto things for at least a week - fat chance! I opened the basket and she was up and out and onto the back of the chair where she likes to sleep. She was famished as well and cried for food - the first time she has done this since we got her. Here are some better picture of her antics.

This will make a good bed 

Now that cupboard looks interesting

 Yes I am in there

I got a shock this morning, just before I was due to go out, I couldn't find her and she didn't answer to my call or the food box being rattled. So DH and I went through every hiding place, opened cupboard doors etc. Eventually DH opened my wardrobe and parted the clothes and there she was all curled up and had made herself at home. She must have got in there when I was getting dressed without me noticing. Minx.

Another new project and a newcomer

Please welcome a new foster member of my family. This is Holly. Well it would be if she would stay still long enough. 

I was trying to take a photo of my new 'Precious Memories' piece and she was so keen that I made a fuss of her I had difficulty getting this photo. Holly's last owner called her Harley and I just can't get away with that as the name to me is male. Unfortunately he was an elderly gentleman who died suddenly so she was left all alone in his flat and his daughter could not look after her for various reasons. She is beautiful and so loving. Although 5years old she looks like a kitten as she is so small. There will be better pictures of her to come later.

Precious Memories WiP

I am still working on the embellishment. I did a workshop with Mandy Pattullo at Make Allendale Mill in Northumberland yesterday. I had a lovely day with like minded people, lots of remembering things that happened in our youth. The photo is my Mum, Gran and Great Gran, the map shows the Berwick - Coldstream area were I was born and my grandparents live and my father came from Coldstream. The backing runner is one that I used up to recently on my hall table. It started to pill and I felt it needed a new lease of life. The piece of embroidery is not one I did but it is similar to the arm chair covers, tablecloths etc that I embroidered for my Gran who loved having my embroidered pieces. I have included some brown paper bag and painted Bondaweb which represent my recent embroidery journeys. I still have quite a bit more embroidery to do to highlight the white-work embroidery.


Nearly forgot to say that I have now lost a stone in weight. So I am really chuffed.

Inspiration

If anyone has read my journaling journeys blog you will know that I have been in Keswick for a week, supposedly for a bit of R&R with DH, we went walking, I had to visit the emergency dentist, I won't bore you with the details of that, I slipped and fell leaving a rather nasty bruise on my shin, oh yes and the antibiotics made me feel sick - a real barrel of laughs I was!
HOWEVER, the scenery was fantastic, especially when the sun came out. The wildlife around the cabin we were staying in were a hoot. Yes the ducks came calling at least twice a day and we saw lots of birds.
I've taken lots of photos and I haven't really sorted them all out yet. DH took hundreds - yes I did say hundreds and our favourite is the one I am going to share with you today. It's Castlerigg Stone Circle, much has been written about this quite inspirational place. Samuel Taylor Colderidge visited the stones with his friend William Wordsworth while they stayed nearby wrote in 1799 that a mile and a half from Keswick stands "....a Druidical circle [where] the mountains stand one behind the other, in orderly array as if evoked by and attentive to the assembly of white-vested wizards”.

Yes DH did produce this photograph and he is very proud of it. I certainly think it is as good, if not better some of the others I have seen of Castlerigg on the net.
I wrote my own few words:-
              
                                                    Stones

       Stone Circles

     Stones

A sanctuary

Man, woman, child

Earth, Wind, Fire

A ring of mountains

   Majestic

     Waiting

              Elemental

Thank you for visiting and to all my new followers welcome.

Eurovision

OK we are sad, but sitting watching some of the very bad music Europe have to offer. However there are one or two good ones so far and we are only up to number 7 - Sweden which started badly but warmed up towards the end. I quite liked Bosnia/H #2 and I hate to say it but Jedward gave a good show for Ireland #6

May TUSAL

Just one day late, I should have posted this yesterday - sorry.

My Garden April 2011

At the end of last month I took a load of pictures of my garden. They didn't get uploaded until last week and finally I have managed to post them up on my Facebook page here.

I will just show you the best ones.

The Stone River, can you see my collection of stones? Dragon seems a bit lost on the photo and Face has a strawberry plant in the top.

 The Octagon - raised bed for veg

 Shady border - for onion and the overflow cabbages. I now have a pot of rhubarb in there as well.

 Part of the Jungle and you can just see my shed at the back with lots of spent pots with the leaky wheelbarrow. My potting table is just on the right out of shot - this is my favourite place in the morning as the sun shines on my back.

Journal 3

I have just updated my latest Journal page. Have a look by clicking on the word Journal. I would love to read your comments. Thank you to Julie, Mylene, Kate, Christine and Rachael for your lovely comments recently they are much appreciated. Fabrilicous, yes I have pots of spent Procean dyes that I keep and then forget I have. There are only so many paints a girl can have. I did pull them out to use in a spray experiment recently then had to go and buy a new water spray which is not as good as the first one I have, not fine enough to mist, just squirts water in a jet. Jane, in case you didn't see my reply to your post, I'm not sure if I would recommend that magazine, I will get it a few times before I decide. It did cause some interest at the craft club I go to the other night.