Category: blogs

A Lovely Week!

stitchesoftime8 Comments

Hello again

Hope you have been having a very nice week. I have –  filled with lots of lovely crafting and fun with other people while doing it. I only started crafting socially (as in joining groups) about 4 years ago when I joined the Embroiderers’ Guild but now the kids have grown up and I have a lot more free time for me it forms a large part of my social life and I love it! It is so nice seeing what other people are working on and getting advice when you get stuck and having a good laugh (and usually some cake!) while you are at it. This week was a very nice one as I went to two knitting groups, did one session at WI and spent all day yesterday at a Quilt Workshop run by Christine from my quilt group.

First of all though my Spring Exchange for the Seasonal Exchange blog  has arrived in the USA so I can show you pics of that.When I was given my partner Lisa’s name I went to look on her blog to see what sort of things she liked making and I saw that she had made this as an exchange piece for her to send off and she mentioned that she liked it so much that she would want to make one for herself in the future so I thought this would be perfect and luckily she is pleased with it.

Spring bird ornie 1

 
The design is called Friendship Bird Floss Ring and is from the Jan/Feb issue of Gift of Stitching magazine. It is stitched on evenweave with thread from The Silk Mill. It is the first time I have used the little pearl thread rings which I got from Sew and So.
 
I have seen on a few people’s blog pics of their smaller stitched items photographed outside on bushes so I thought since this is a bird it would be nice for him to be in a tree so here he is in my garden!
 
Spring bird ornie 2

Knitting progress with the pink baby cardi is slow but steady – not helped by the fact that I keep forgetting to do eyelet rows while I am decreasing so I have had to take back quite a few rows!

I have also almost finished my latest Xmas ornie and made a start on another this week as a demo piece for my WI meeting. I have recently joined my local branch of the Women’s Institute which meets monthly with a variety of activities on the programme. This month it was a Craft Bee and I was asked if I would like to demo something so I chose blackwork which turned out to be  good choice as no-one had heard of if. There were quite a few cross stitchers who came to my table but some people who had never tried crafts before so we had a fun evening. The pics below show my demo table and a couple of the pieces that beginners did. I used patterns from the Blackwork Archives  for the beginners as there are some very good simple designs there that you can download.

WI Blackwork 1

WI Blackwork 2

WI Blackwork 3

The quilt workshop I went to was based on a design called Stained Glass Windows. I forgot to get a picture of the original quilt that Christine had made as a demo but it was made from bold plain colours with black sashing to give the effect of stained glass. We had been asked to bring any fabric from our stash and as I have rather a lot of Xmas fabric (ahem!) rather than buying anything new I decided I would use the workshop to make an Xmas version of the sofa throw WIP.

The quilt design seemed quite complex to start off with (especially for me as I am a little spatially challenged!) as you layer seven 10 inch squares of fabric and cut them all at once into seven different sized rectangles, then you lay them out so that each block has one of each of the seven colours.

You can make any size of quilt by cutting extra sets of seven fabrics. I will probably only use 6 of my 7 blocks for the throw – I may cut out pieces for another block to make 8 blocks once I see how big the 6 are (am hoping to get some more quilting done this afternoon in between hedge cutting and other domestic duties!) Here are the three I got finished yesterday, I decided to use green sashing rather than black as I thought it looked more festive. 

May quilt 1

I am very pleased with them as it is the first time I have done a sashed block and it wasn’t as hard as I thought. I had lots of help from the others and it was very nice to see all the different colour combinations that people chose and how they turned out.

In cake news this week I have been experimenting with my recipe and have made a different flavour – vanilla with a hint of ginger (Jake approves!) – here are the strawberry and chocolate star topped versions I made for quilt workshop.

May cupcakes

Lastly I will leave you with some pics of my neighbours’ very cute cat, Henry, who was climbing in the clematis this week and very kindly posed for me. We don’t have any pets any more – all having died of old age –  but Henry comes round a lot and is very friendly.

Henry 2

Henry 1

I just love that last pic – so cute!

Well I hope that you have a lovely week ahead – I am going to be super busy as I am out every night, all social and crafting which is lovely. Thanks as always for visiting and for all the lovely comments! I especially welcome all those new people who have visited through the photo scavenger hunt

Photo Scavenger Hunt – April

stitchesoftime10 Comments

Once again I had great fun with these – trying to interpret some of them in different ways. Most of them were taken on my recent trip to Spain. Hope you like them!

A church

This pic was taken from the boat when we went on our trip to the island of Tabarca and shows the old church which is being restored. I love the contrast of colours between the blue sea and the stones of the buildings.

A cross

Again from Tabarca, this is taken outside the church and is the cross from the top of an old well. I really like this pic – think it is one for printing off and framing.

A sculpture

I did see lots of nice sculptures in Spain as they love public art but then came across this on the beach so thought it was a good one for this category.

A set of keys

I wanted something interesting for this as all my personal keys are very boring them I came across this advert for a cross stitch picture which I think is wonderful so I am using this. The kit is called  Keys to the Kingdom from Rosewood Manor Designs and I am using this pic from their website as I have not got around to ordering this yet. I am going to stitch bits of it as greetings cards – I thought they would be lovely for 18th and 21st cards.

An interesting shop name

Not only an interesting shop name but a very lovely shop. This is my LYS in Huddersfield where I go as much as I can for Knit and Natter!

April showers

Back to Tabarca for this one which is interpreted a bit differently. Most of the beaches in Spain have showers where you can rinse yourself off after your stay. Some are just for feet but this is a full size one. So here you have a pic of a shower taken in April!

Breakfast

I have posted pics of breakfast before on my blog and I now I get to do it again without seeming strange. This is my all time fave brekkie which I have for special occasions – scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and bagel – yum yum! I like the way my chilli sauce has formed a heart shape – breakfast with love!

Eggs

Jake found these in a supermarket in Spain – we were there just before Easter so I guess it must be a Spanish tradition. I was going to use them for scrambled eggs then I thought  ‘ I wonder what huevos cocidas actually means? ‘,  looking at the label – it means boiled eggs so we had them for picnics instead!

Something to do with Shakespeare

This pic was actually taken in March as we went to Stratford for Ellie’s birthday but I thought the fact that we had actually been to Shakespeare’s birthplace was too good to miss. No pics allowed inside so here is a shot of the house.

Something to do with St George’s Day

Again a great one for me as we did a three-day show at Bolsover to celebrate this the other week. My pic of choice from that is a shot of William de Bohun’s beautifully decorated helm resting on its stand after our show. De Bohun himself was looking a little hot after fighting in full armour in very high temperatures!

Something yellow

Again from Spain, these pretty flowers grow wild everywhere, they are all over the beaches and any uncultivated area. I don’t know their proper names, they have very thick fleshy leaves to conserve water and come in pink versions as well.

My camera

Pic taken using mirror in good old blog tradition! My trusty little camera – on its last legs but still taking some lovely pics – what would my blog be without it! It is a Fuji A850, about 2 years old.

ThimbleAnna’s pics can be found here – she’s got a good one for keys and the lists and links to other’s collections are at Kathy’s blog if you want to join in.

Thanks for visiting – see you for more craft updates soon!

Little stash, big ideas

stitchesoftime5 Comments

Hello there

I have been having a very lovely week and I do hope you have too. It has been absolutely glorious weather, I have spent lots of time in the garden, doing both boring practical things like cutting the hedge ;-( and nice stuff like having a bbq and enjoying my flowers. My garden has really matured this year , the clematis is about 3 times the size it was last year and everything is looking very lovely so please indulge me while I show you a few pics.

clematis - may

garden may 1

garden may 2

Quite a lot has been going on indoors as well though this has been a relatively quiet week for me (like most of the population here in the UK) with only 3 work days and lots of lovely holiday. I celebrated the Royal Wedding by having a few friends round for cupcakes and Cava during the ceremony and a little buffet lunch afterwards. I thought Kate’s dress was absolutely stunning – just perfect for her. Will not post pics of that as apparently a third of the world’s population watched the wedding so I’m sure you will have  seen it! However here are my cupcakes that I made for the do – the first chance I have had to use my cake stand!

wedding cupcakes and cava

On the crafting front I have been working on my pink Sublime baby cardi and my JBW Plum Pudding Xmas ornie – the latter is nearly finished. I also have started a new quilting WIP. I said a while ago that I wanted to organise my quilt fabric stash in a similar way to how I have seen other people sort things on their blogs so bought some plastic storage boxes and was surprised to find that I actually have very little quilt fabric (lots of other types of fabric but that is another story!) This is it basically.

stash - may

Pretty poor isn’t it compared to some of the big names out there in the quilting world? However I am planning trips to the Malvern Quilt Show at the end of May and the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham in August so will have a chance to add to the stash. Sorting it all out did give me a chance to mull over a project I have had in mind for a while which is a small throw for the back of one of my sofas in the lounge. It is a brown leather sofa which is quite plain and since I have lots of lovely medieval style fabrics I thought I would make a start on cutting out some squares which I did this afternoon.

sofa quilt wip

This is not the final layout just a bit of a working plan, I am thinking about a large central square of one of the dark red fabrics with gold silk sashing and then strips of all the other squares with red silk sashing in between each square. No time limit for this piece just something to pick up as and when I get time – things are about to get very hectic round here with term starting again and all my re-enactment and other things.

I have finished my Spring Exchange piece for the Seasonal Exchange with a whole 3 days to spare  and that has been sent to the USA this week so will post pics of that once it has been received. I got mine from Lisa  last week when I got back from holiday so here are the pics of it. Please do go and visit her blog as she has loads of lovely stitching on it.

Spring Ornie exchange - front

Spring Ornie exchange - back

It is very lovely, the finish is so neat with lots of really even blanket stitch and I love the backing fabric as well. It is hanging on my patio doors with last year’s seasonal exchange Spring ornie making me feel very happy – I do love this season camping, bbqs just being able to be outdoors lots – fabulous!!!

Finally Elmsley Rose asked me in comment a while ago what my header pic was – it is part of a crewel work picture I bought from E-Bay about 4 years ago, unfortunately no info came with it about date or maker but I did promise that I would take a pic of the full thing so here it is. It is not a brilliant pic as it is framed with glass so there are some reflections but I really like this piece – it hangs in my hallway.

hall crewel embroidery

Well I will love you and leave you and hope that you have a very good week ahead. I am looking forward to a quilting workshop next Saturday and as much crafting as I can squeeze into my tight schedule!

Bye for now and thank you for visiting.

Made with love – and surprisingly straight machine stitching!

stitchesoftime3 Comments

Hello there everyone

I have just been sitting outside in my garden basking in the late evening sunshine drinking a glass of bubbly (only the cheap cava type!) and celebrating life. It has been the most glorious weekend here – hope you have had nice weather where you are.We have had a really unexpectedly hot weekend – it is never usually this hot in April in Yorkshire, to be fair it is often not this hot in Yorkshire in July.

I have spent most of the last few days finishing off my charity quilt that I posted about earlier this month. This has been a WIP for many months but I got a lot done on the last Quilt Group sewing day and wanted to get it finished to take to the Quilt Group meeting tomorrow. I am very pleased with the way it has turned out – the machine stitching is not perfect but better than I have managed previously.

Hospice quilt 1
The quilt front with hand quilted hearts
Hospice quilt 3
The quilt back made with fleece and a bunny applique
Hospice quilt 4
Detail of the bunny face with embroidery

The quilt was machine pieced and then mainly machine quilted – I quilted ‘in the ditch’ round all the blocks which was good for developing my machining skills and shadow quilted around the dark turquoise border. The original design had the bunny on the front but the consensus at the quilt sewing day was that the front was very nice on its own so I just added some hand quilted hearts and backed it with fleece and the bunny applique.

In the style of one of the bloggers I very much admire, Hen House , I have taken pics of the finished item in the garden, lovely son Jake has been absolute star today and spent two hours mowing the lawn (not that you can see it in these pics) but it has been a great help. I have been on light duties only as my back has not been good so I have been deadheading!

I have posted lots of pics of my garden before but have been trying to take some more arty shots so this is one I took today which I really like, the garden is looking very splendid now which makes such a difference after the horrible wet and messy months.

Garden - April
Can never remember if this is a Skimmia or a Viburnum - anyway I have two and they are very pretty!

This quilt is going to a local children’s hospice which is opening soon so it has been a strange piece to make. I have enjoyed making it but I have been thinking a lot about who will use it and the things that they and their parents will be going through. It is a cot quilt so that make is very hard to think about especially as I have so many friends who have young babies or are expecting babies. But life is often not easy and all we can really do is support people who are experiencing difficult times, be it friends who you can help face to face or others who you can give a little gift made with love.

On the subject of made with love I thought  that I would show you a few recent baking goodies – one of the reasons that my son is so nice and helps out with the garden is that he gets a regular supply of cake. These are adapted from a very nice recipe from Sainsbury’s magazine and are chocolate orange cupcakes – yum yum.

cake
Version 1 - with Smarties
WI cake
Version 2 - with white chocolate stars

In other crafting news the pink Sublime baby cardi is coming on well – the eyelets have been a bit of a challenge and my knitting friend Barbara suggested stitch markers which I have been trying for the first time but have been getting a bit tangled with – they seem to slow me down a lot! The Spring exchange piece is almost complete. I am off to Spain on this week so am planning lots of lovely sitting on the terrace in the sun reading and crafting – I have four Benni Harper quilt mystery novels to take with me so am in for a lovely time!

If you read last week’s post about Mothers’ day you may remember I was writing about how much I admired all those Mums who have young kids who craft and this week at knitting group I met another person who does just that. She knits, she quilts and she blogs – it was very lovely to meet Justine and I have really enjoyed looking at all her posts and links to fab fabric sites that I have not come across before. I have saved them in my favourites and may have to indulge very soon! Please do go and visit her blog Sew Justine Sew  as it is lovely!

Hope that you have a nice week ahead and see you all in a couple of weeks – thank you for visiting.

Photo Scavenger Hunt – March

stitchesoftime2 Comments

Hello there

An extra post this week as I have got a new addition to the blog. Some time ago I read on Thimbleanna’s blog  about a photo scavenger hunt for each month organised by Kathy – each month she puts a list of things that you have to go and take pics of and post them on your blog and there is a Flickr group as well but not done that yet.

As I love taking pics I though it would be fun to do and it was, there were some that were a bit of a challenge and I had to be quite creative with. I kept my camera in my bag while I was out and about on my visits – quite a few of these are from a day out in Leeds. I have just gone and looked at the list for April on Kathy’s blog and am very excited as there is something that fits in exactly with our recent field trip!

Thimbleanna’s pics for March can be found here and mine are below.

Peeling paint

This picture was taken on my way home from work – my building is next to a canal and this is from the bridge over it.

Peeling paint

A lion

I had to think hard about this one as no zoos near us! But very near the train station where I spend lots of my time is a building called Lion Chambers built in 1853 and they have not one but two lions – one on the roof….

lion 1

… and one over the door.

lion 2

Apparently the one on the roof is not the original stone one but a plastic replica – have not been near enough to check!

A lamb

Of course living in Yorkshire there are loads in the fields but could not get out to the country for a good photo but found this cute little choc one!

lamb

A rainbow

This was a challenge as well – lots of rain here but no bows, until we went to visit my sister and I spotted this logo on one of her Facebook pages.Sorry it is so fuzzy!

Rainbow pic

A collection

I had spotted this the week before in Leeds, this fantastic collection of old sewing machines is the front window display in a clothes shop in one of the beautiful arcades, they are a chain and one of my friends mentioned she had seen the same display in their branch in Manchester so they must have hundreds of them. They are so lovely.

Collection 1

Here is a close up so that you can see them better.

Collection 2

Something as old as me

I was going to use this one for another category but here is a pic of my feet paddling in the sea on my recent visit to Spain!

my feet

An empty chair

This is one of a pair in my garden – we don’t use them to sit on any more but I love the way that the terracotta has weathered.

empty chair

Something sentimental

This belonged to my Nana who now lives in Spain. She bought it when she first visited Spain in the 1960s and it is a little matador jacket and hat for a bottle (every home should have one of course!). It used to live in her lounge which she referred to as ‘the room’ which we only ever went in on special occasions like Christmas. She used to make corned beef and onion sandwiches on white bread which I thought were delicious and trifle and coffee with all milk as a special treat.

bullfighter 1

A fancy gate

This was taken in Leeds again and is at the entrance to one of the Victorian arcades with all the very posh shops in! The actual gates are folded back at the sides.

gate

A shadow

I could have used the one of my feet above but I decided to try some arty shots so this is me taking a pic of one of the statues outside the train station in Leeds.

shadow

A ring

I wanted to interpret this rather than take a picture of a ring. This is part of a water feature outside our train station (again) – as well as water there are lights that change colour.

ring

Something green

Again from my garden, I have several of these terracotta representations of a pagan figure – the ‘Green Man’ – they gradually degrade and get covered in moss.

something green

I have really enjoyed finding all these pics and hope that you have enjoyed looking at them. Have got the new list for April so will be off snapping again!

A quiltilicious week!

stitchesoftime5 Comments

I have been doing lots of quilty things this week. Yesterday was International Quilting Day so it is very fitting that lots of my week should have been spent doing these activities.

The  first thing that I completed was this block to give to one of the members of my quilt group. She is making a charity block quilt and last month gave me a piece of cat fabric which I then added to make a crazy patchwork block. I was pleased with the way this turned out in the end as I has to do the join with the dark turquoise triangle in it several times as I could not get the points right. I have done crazy patchwork before when I have made bags but never with so many different angles so it was a bit of a challenge. It has helped improved my machine work which I wanted to get better at.

cat block
You will recognise this fabric from my current quilt WIP - more of this later!

Yesterday I sent the whole day at the quilt group sewing day where I finally managed to get the rest of the pieces cut out and the whole of the top put together except for the borders which are cut. It was very helpful to have advice from the others as I am very spatially challenged so had a bit of difficulty working out which pieces to sew together first but got there in the end and I am very pleased with the end result. Consensus of opinion among the group was that it looks very nice as it is but I did still want to put the rabbit applique on then one of the group suggested making it double-sided with a fleecy backing and putting the rabbit on that side. I thought that was an excellent idea so am now going to source some pale pink fleece to do that.

Bunny Quilt 3
A bit crumpled but looking good

One of the women from the group Christine, runs her own quilting business – she has a long arm quilting machine and also sells fabric and runs workshops and she had brought her wares with her so I had to have a little indulge. I bought this very cute cat fabric and co-ordinates which I thought would be a good children’s quilt – probably be an Xmas pressie at the rate I am going though!

cat fabric 2

cat fabric 1
A close up of the pretty cats

I also bought two different white on white prints to use as contrasts and this cute vintage bunny print. I now have quite a lot of fat quarters and  feel the need to have a nice box to put them all in like  Crazy Mom  has rather than them be in random drawers all over the lounge as I lose track of what I have bought. I want have them all together so that I can see all the different colours which I hope will help me plan more effectively what I want to make.Will have to buy a box and get sorting!

Vintage bunny fabric
Vintage bunny fabric

Kerry and Tracey from my medieval group came for a sewing day today – we haven’t seen each other for a long time so it was great to have a catch up. I didn’t get much done but did sew up the JBW stocking but they both finished little ornaments , Tracey’s was a lavender filled one for her kitchen which made my conservatory smell really nice and Kerry made a lovely Xmas heart ornie for her tree. They bought loads of Xmas fabric stash when we went to Harrogate last Nov so are starting to use that up.

Tracey's heart
Tracey's heart
Kerry's heart
Kerry's heart

Also managed to make three knitting sessions this week which was bit of a miracle so am making very good progress with the red chunky wool hat. The weather was extremely good at the start and the end of the week – though dull and misty in the middle  – so I may finish it just in time for it to go into a drawer for next Winter but at least I will be prepared!

I have been out in the garden twice doing some tidying up after the long soggy cold season but thankfully there is less frost and snow damage than last year so it won’t take so long to get the garden restored. It does gladden my little heart to see all the signs of Spring, my clematis are looking very good so far and the rhododendron are just about to bloom. I have lost a couple of azaleas and a pireus due to frost but will probably just get some nice bright primulas or similar to put in pots as I have a lot of empty ones at present. I have all of next week off work in order to do lots of house stuff so hopefully the weather will be kind and I can get a lot done outside.

Then we are off to Worcester for next weekend to see Ellie as it is her birthday the week after and we have a little history field trip to Stratford-on-Avon planned. I am hoping to come back with some Shakespearean inspired textile pics for you.

I hope you have a lovely week ahead and thank you very much for visiting.

Another day, another dollar

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I have been working lots this week including teaching on Saturday so have not had as much time for crafting as I hoped and only made one of the three knitting sessions that I had planned. However it has been a very nice week – I have been out and about observing my students teaching which has been very interesting. I consider myself very lucky to have a lovely job that I enjoy and hopefully it will continue – massive cuts in government funding ahead so who knows!

I have made pretty good progress with the hat – I am making this out of the same James Brett marble chunky that I used for my wristwarmers knitted over Xmas. I thought maybe I wouldn’t get the wear out of it being so late in the year for hats but it has been very much blowing a gale this week so I have been very cold when out and about so will be glad of it. Some parts of the UK have had snow but luckily not us – yet! Though snow at Easter is not unheard of in Yorkshire. The pattern is another freebie from Ravelry called Springtime Sloppy Beret  and has a lacy pattern on the main body of the hat. I might try the same pattern for a scarf and put some fringes on each end as well.

Red chunky hat
The variegated wool looks good on this longer repeat

I have also finished another one of the JBW Xmas Stocking ornies for my tree – this has yet to be made up but I am doing ok so far with my one a month – though this is actually Feb’s ornament as it was started then so will have to get cracking on March’s one. Thinking of doing the Xmas pudding one next. Have also just signed up again for the Seasonal Exchange Blog   Spring exchange (missed the Winter one due to slackness on my part of checking blog) so will have to have a think about what to do for that.

JBW stocking
Look at all the pretty little trees!

I would like to share with you a blog I have just recently found – this is not a crafting blog but a gardening one and belongs to Dave who is the brother of one of my old friends Pete. Pete posted the link on Facebook and I read all of his old posts last night and loved it. He has a brilliant and very funny writing style and the photography is amazing. He is a professional gardener who mainly works at a Tudor Priory in Sussex. The blog is called The Anxious Gardener  so do go and have a read.

Well here’s hoping we all have a nice week ahead,  I have a very nice weekend planned at the end of it – a sewing day on Saturday with the quilt group (might finally get the bunny quilt cut out!) and a sewing day with the girls from the medieval group on Sunday. Am trying to give up housework for Lent so have to find distractions to stop me being tempted!

Thank you very much as always for visiting.

Me and my imaginary friends – why I love blogging

stitchesoftime2 Comments

I have recently started another blog for work that I am doing as a way of keeping in contact with my students while they are away from University on their teaching placements. I had thought about using blogs for work before and have done some short inputs about using blogs but this year I have had a couple of students who have been very keen so we are all doing it. I have also realised that it is a very good way of keeping all my good ideas, links etc. in one place for my students to be able to share and comment on.

Doing all this and explaining what I see as the benefits of blogging have made me realise just how much I get out of having my own blog and how much I really enjoy all the contact with my ‘imaginary friends’ as Thimbleanna  calls them. I am thrilled that so many people visit me – around 4000 a month now – about half of whom are looking for info on re-enactment or historical subjects and love the fact that I am part of this big network of people all sharing things.

The first two blogs I ever read were Mary Kathryn’s  needlework blog and Crazy Aunt Purl’s  knitting and general coping with life blog. These two women have had a big impact on me in so many ways over the last four years which is remarkable as we have never met nor are likely to – though I hope to go and visit their parts of the USA sometime soon.

I have been very impressed by their craft skills, their attitude to coping with life’s little (and big!) ups and downs and have loved the way that they have shared so much of their lives and their passion for all the things they do. Other blogs have been added to my favourites along the way – usually as links from people’s blogrolls or posts and I have been entertained and awed by so many talented people.

It is very difficult to describe what you get from this to non- bloggers as I know people (and my kids!) often look at me a bit strangely when I try and describe how I feel about being connected, inspired, uplifted, amused and generally made very happy by reading everyone’s posts. To me it is like having lots of pen pals – with the added advantages of seeing pictures of so many lovely things all the time Hen House’s  gorgeous vintage quilts, Do You Mind if I Knit’s cute doggies, beach walks and fabulous art, Crazy Mom’s  lovely quilt work, Don’t Look Now’s wonderful original designs to name but a tiny few. You are all wonderful imaginary friends and thank you so much for sharing.

As well as all the craft love and the free patterns and the like I also love the ‘extras’ that blogging brings to my life. One of these has been the chance to read a really good book as I have been participating in Crazy Aunt Purl’s  latest book club. It has been a very last-minute participate as my copy only arrived on Friday and we are going to post about the book tomorrow so I have spent most of the weekend reading. The book chosen is When We Were Strangers’  by Pamela Schoenewaldt  based on one of my favourite subjects, that of emigration to the USA – in this case an Italian seamstress in the late 1880s. It is really good, I am intending to finish it tonight and would recommend it to anyone . I will be passing it on to my Mum when I next go to Spain as I am sure she will love it.

It has been a very literary week one way and another – I have not done much in the way of crafting this week, have been very tired so have been going to bed early with lots of good reads , a friend from knitting, Cath,  lent me two of the Benni Harper quilt murder mysteries  by Earlene Fowler and I have really enjoyed those. I have always loved a good murder mystery, being a lifelong Agatha Christie fan, and have recently read Agatha’s biography and autobiography ‘Come Tell me Where You Live’  which was very interesting. The Benni Harper books are particularly good in terms of the way the characters are written, I really identify with the main character and can’t wait to read more of the series.

This week there was of course World Book Day  which I have always promoted as part of my job and the new World Book Night where a million books were given away by people who had registered with the scheme. My friend Barbara from knitting who has a wonderful blog  about knitting had registered to get copies of Nigel Slater’s autobiography Toast  so I went along to my friend Lydia’s wool shop, Spun, yesterday to collect the book and have a little knit and natter. As soon as I have finished the book club novel and the other couple I have one the go – another Laura Ingalls Wilder biography and a history of the National Trust Ellie gave me for Christmas I will start on that one then pass it on to my sister-in-law Amanda who is a very keen cook.

I love reading and am a huge fan of print books – I have seen and admired other people’s Kindle’s and i Pads but I think I will be sticking to my old-fashioned books for a long while yet – I love buying books and spend far too much on them (aided by the lovely Amazon wish list!) but just think it would not be the same to have a download rather than a thud on the doormat when another lovely tome is delivered.

To conclude I will leave you with a pic of what little crafting has gone on this week – I am still at cast on stage with the new hat as the other pattern I was having trouble with got even more troublesome so I abandoned it and am about three – quarters of the way through the latest JBW Xmas stocking. So the only thing I have to show you is the pair of Moss Stitch wristwarmers in Aqua Sublime (which are not even sewn up yet!) and some lovely Artesano Hummingbird yarn that I bought yesterday. These are both presents for  family member (not Ellie in case she reads this and gets excited!)

Aqua handwarmers and wool
Lovely colours and look there is sun - in my dining room, in Yorkshire - hurrah!

I have a lovely week ahead, as well as all the reading there are three knitting groups this week so I should get a bit more done on the hat and then a dinner party at the weekend that I am holding for my brother and sister-in-law. I hope that you have a lovely week as well and thanks as always for visiting – to paraphrase Fleetwood Mac -‘you make blogging fun!’

More talented friends and relatives

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You may remember some time ago I wrote about my talented friend Bucket and his 18th century embroidered waistcoat. Well here is a pic of it in its finished state – I hope Bucket does not mind me sharing this pic from his partner’s Facebook album. Look at the amazingness of this!

Bucket's waistcoat finished
A master embroiderer indeed!

My wonderfully talented daughter Ellie has also been very busy – she had a very cute patchwork cushion kit from Madeline Millington  for Xmas and her friend Gemma has given her a sewing machine so she has produced this very lovely cushion.

Ellie's patchwork cushion
Ellie's patchwork cushion

Here it is on her bed.

Ellie's patchwork cushion 2
Being looked after by her collection of frogs!

I have not got much to report myself this week – so it is a good job Facebook came to the rescue for me as I am still only halfway through Ellie’s hat – since it is knitted in black and the weather has been awful I don’t think I could have got a decent pic for you anyway. Would have made more progress but have had another very busy week. Did have a long train journey this week and took the knitting but sadly it was a crowded train and I didn’t want to poke the guy next to me with my needles so got little done – must learn to knit on circulars so I can knit more on trains!

I was hoping to do a bit of garden tidying this weekend – we had a couple of days with a bit of blue sky and I got all optimistic but then I remembered that I live in Yorkshire and it is only the first week of Feb! The poor garden looks so tatty – I am longing to be able to get out and restore it to prettiness – roll on summer!

The very, very good news is that full boiler function was restored on Weds – ohh the warmth – it is so fantastic and it did not mean having to have  a new boiler thank goodness so we are all very happy and toasty once again.

I have just ordered a new book from Amazon as I am going to be participating in Crazy Aunt Purl’s book club on her blog. I have meant to join in before but have missed deadlines but this book looks particularly good as it is about immigration to the USA which is a subject I am really interested in. The book is called When We Were Strangers  and looks like a very nice read. It may well be my holiday book as I am off in two weeks for a little bit of ‘blue skies and bougainvillea’  therapy in Spain again. Have also treated myself to another Laura Ingalls Wilder book as I love reading things from her life.

Well I hope that you are all having a lovely crafty weekend and are nice and warm and toasty – just listening to the rain lashing down makes me very glad to be inside – off to stir my beef stew now!

Thanks for visiting.

Cold hands, warm heart

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Hello everyone and welcome.

Hope you are all wrapped up warm and cosy, I am busy knitting woolies at the moment, luckily my LYS opened again yesterday after the hols so I was able to cast on for the last of my knitted gifts – pics of those later when finished. I am making a pair of wristwarmers. That being the item of choice round here at the moment. I have just finished a pair for me yesterday in the nick of time as look what happened again this morning!

Rib wristwarmers 1
Modelled against a backdrop of my snowy garden

I was not expecting snow again – was only thinking the other day ‘oh this was the really bad weekend for snow last year when me and Jake only just got home as they had closed lots of airports’ and lo and behold it is here again. The wristwarmers will come in very useful, we have a conservatory on the back of the house and it provides a lovely view of the garden while I am sitting working (or blogging!) at my computer but it does get a bit cold in winter and I do have very cold hands a lot of the time.

I was looking on Ravelry for some more patterns the other day and found this very lovely site  CreativeYarn  with lots of wristwarmers among other things so do go and visit – all patterns are free. This very talented lady (sorry don’t know her name ) lives in Rome – fab city, went once a few years ago and would love to go back. Here is a peek at one of the patterns I am planning to do for me soon.

emerald_handwarmer2
Moss Stich handwarmers - pic by Creative Yarn

 I have recently been reading  ThimbleAnna’s  brilliant blog (am still going through all the archives which has been a lovely antidote to the marking I have been doing!) Be warned before you visit her – not only is her blog wonderful but she has links to so many other fab people as well , this could take up serious amounts of your time – well I suppose one of my resolutions was to spend more time on fun stuff on less on housework so I can justify ThimbleAnna as a form of therapy!

Well hope that you are keeping warm and happy – thanks again for visiting!