London Life Part One – the bit where we see famous people!

July 10, 2011August 23, 2011 stitchesoftime1 Comment

We have just got back from a very lovely, very busy trip to London and I have so many pictures of beautiful places to show you I have had a hard job editing them down to a few to post.

We visited the British Museum, the Museum of Natural History, the British Library and Hampton Court as well as Canary Wharf and Leicester Square on the evening of the Harry Potter premiere.I will post the historical venues later on in the week but meanwhile here’s what we got up to at the premiere.

We knew we had very little chance of getting near to see anything much as we only arrived on the afternoon and there were people who had been camping out for days. Here is a pic of the kids at one of the blocked off sections of the square by the publicity hording.

However we were lucky enough to get to the back where the stars were arriving in their cars (the largest collection of silver Bentleys with blacked out windows in the world!) and peek through the hoardings surrounding the square to be able to see lots of red carpet activity.It was very amusing trying to work out who we might be seeing – we realised the next day when we saw pics in the paper that we had seen Helena Bonham Carter (recognised the hat!) We worked out we probably saw everyone arrive but since they were all behind their blacked out windows can’t really saw we saw them!

Sadly we did not see the main stars but we did meet a lot of very lovely people who were very excited, like us, just to be there and Ellie and Jake got interviewed and broadcast live on BBC Radio London which was fab! The pic below shows them with the reporters.

I can’t find the live interview but here is a link to the earlier interview the reporter did with them that went up on Twitter and the pic from the Twitter site.You can just see one of the fans peeking over the top trying to see who had arrived!

http://audioboo.fm/boos/406900-harry-potter-fans-gather-at-trafalgar-square-for-the-final-premiere-of-the-series

Later on in the week we went to Comicon – a Sci – fi film and magazine convention where we did see lots of very famous people from TV and movies close up, there were stars from films such as Star Trek, Star Wars, Harry Potter and TV series like Buck Rogers, Doctor Who, Firefly as well as loads of fans dressed up.

We saw some very nice Storm Troopers, a Charles Xavier (Professor X from X Men – we have just been to see the new movie which was brilliant), Wolverines, a Klingon, a few R2D2s, some Disney princesses and too many Dr Whos to keep track of – more Matt Smiths than David Tennants and only a couple of the older Doctors – sadly no John Pertwees who was always my favourite doctor (probably because most of the people at the convention were not born when he was the Doctor!) Anyway it was a really fun day and the kids were very excited – the same as I was at Hampton Court. I have started watching all the Tudor series again tonight in homage.

As it was London and we were living the glamorous city life we had some very nice meals out and had a special picnic on the train on the way back from Marks and Spencers including this very lovely little glass of wine, you may remember that last year I posted about portable wine containers in my post on Glamping. This plastic glass full of Chardonnay came from the chiller cabinet with a peel off lid! Very useful.

I made good progress with my fabric Xmas ornies before I went away – I now have about 20 in various stages of completion – here are some pics of the crazy patchwork ‘sheet’, the cutting out and one of my newest finished batch in case you want to use this method to make your own.By careful placing of the heart I managed to get 8 cut out of this sheet. The final pic shows the backing fabric I have used as well. I added a small Xmas tree button to this set from the packs I bought at the Malvern Quilt Show a while ago.

I appear to have solved the problem with the fabric pics on my posts being wavy lined, I thought it was my old camera but realised that when I looked at them in slide show preview that wasn’t happening , it seems it was my photo editor software, am using another one now and pics are a lot clearer!

I spent part of this afternoon working on the Makower farm animal quilt which needs to finished in a couple of weeks for a family birthday present. Am making up my own pattern so it is very challenging – think I know what I am doing but am being very careful cutting out!

Don’t forget to post a comment on my giveaway post if you would like to win an ornie. Thanks for visiting.

Listography

July 4, 2011 stitchesoftimeLeave a comment

While looking at the other contributions for this month’s Scavenger Hunt I came across a post about making lists that I liked from Ellen’s Blog. The list is ‘Top 5 decisions you are glad you have made’ so here goes.

1. To have kids – without a doubt my best ever decisions as they are wonderful – we have had such fun together ever since they arrived and still do, they are such fun to be with and we get to go off and have adventures together – like London tomorrow!

2. To move to Huddersfield – I came here to study for my degree and I had various options for where I might end up, I am very glad that this one was the one I chose as I have been very happy here, loved the degree and have loved living here since then.

3. To buy a house in Spain – a big decision but like the Huddersfield one somewhere I really, really love to be and I am so glad to be able to spend more time there with my family.

4. To apply for my current job – it is a very demanding job but I love it , the students and the staff I work with are really great and I get a real buzz out of doing it – and have been doing it for 10 years now.

5. To take life as it comes and look for the joy and the positive aspects of every situation. I didn’t used to be very mellow and tried to have everything planned out but a few years ago circumstances changed and I decided that I was going to try to ‘roll with it’ a bit more and I am very glad I did. I am far happier now than I used to be and am having a lovely, lovely life!

See you all soon.

Thanks for visiting.

Birthday and the Bard

March 28, 2011March 28, 2011 stitchesoftimeLeave a comment

This weekend we went to visit Ellie in Worcester as it is her birthday this week. For her birthday treat she wants to visit London and do some more museum visting (goodie!) which we will do later in the year.On Saturday we took a little trip to Stratford-on-Avon so we could visit some of the Shakespeare houses.

For Ellie this was not only a day out but of course a field trip, she is doing a module on musuems at the moment and is very interested from a professional point of view about how things are displayed and how the information is presented. She is currently employed as a conservation assistant at a Tudor house owned by the National Trust in Worcester so was also very interested in how they were looking after the houses and was not impressed by the cobwebs and dust at one of them!

It was a bit dull and cold so apologies for not having nice sunny pics to show you. They also did not allow interior pics in Shakespeare’s house so have only got exterior pics to show you here.

Stratford 1 — Primulas outside Shakespeare's house

Stratford 2 — More arty pics from the garden

Stratford 3 — Beautiful carvings on the Griffin Inn

There were also very few textiles, there were some bedhangings and clothes in the house – Shakespeares’s father was a glove maker so there was a room laid out as his workshop but most of the textiles were very utilitarian apart from some lovely painted linen wall hangings which were very impressive. I did find a lovely blackwork coif in one of the other displays – apologies as it is a bit dark!

Stratford 4 — Seventeenth century coif with insect embroidery

We also went out for a meal with Ellie, my sister, nephew Sam, Jake and her friends. She really liked her birthday pressies which I hoped she would, I bought her Cath Kidston’s Stitch and Sew books, another craft /quilting book Simple Sewn Gifts by Helen Phillips and some pretty material and cup cake decorations and cases.

Simple Sewn Gifts — Look at those cute little patchwork hearts!

It is brilliant having a daughter who enjoys the same stuff as I do and I am looking forward to borrowing the books as well when she comes home in the summer! I can’t believe that she will be 20 this week (she can’t either!) she is so grown up now and very lovely!

Ellen b day 1 — Ellie with her birthday cupcake fixings

Ellie b day 2 — Can't fit that many candles on the cake so she had to make do with the words instead!

I have finished the red chunky wool hat so will get some pics of me modelling it – it has been so nice and warm here that hopefully it is going to straight into the drawer. I managed to get lots done to the garden last week and it is lovely and sunny again today, it is so nice to have an extra hour of daylight in the evenings now so I will have chance to do a bit more pottering later on. I am planning a trip to the garden centre this Sun (as it is Mother’s Day) to buy myself some pretty primulas and lillies for the empty pots.

I am working on a cross stitch exchange for Spring so won’t be able to show you that for a while but have also made a good start on my next Xmas ornie – am doing the JBW Xmas pudding – bit late with this one as it was supposed to be the March finish but better late than never!

JBW Plum pudding — It is stitched over one using a single thread so is coming along fast

Hope that you have all had a lovely week and thank you for visiting.

A few pretty pictures

February 27, 2011February 27, 2011 stitchesoftimeLeave a comment

I have just returned from Spain and as well as some knitting and stitching (no finishes to show yet!) I have been indulging in two of my other favourite pastimes, mountain biking and photography. I am hugely amateur at both of these but do love to do them and have spent a lot of time over the past week enjoying myself. I had the luxury of a week on my own (no children!) so as well of lots of sitting on my terrace in the sun reading and crafting it meant lots of cycling off-road and staring at the mountains and taking (hopefully) arty photos of the landscape.

Here are a couple of my bike ride locations.

Spain bike ride — Off towards the mountains!

Spain bike ride 2 — On the scrubland between La Marina and the coast

I had great fun and this time managed not to injure myself (apart from a few minor scratches when I got a bit lost in the pine forest one day!) which is better than the last two times when I have come back hurt. It did me the world of good and now am raring to go (at least for the next six weeks till I go back at Easter!)

I don’t have a very good camera – mainly due to the fact that I keep breaking them so have never been able to justify spending a lot of money on one but I took what I thought were some nice landscape shots.

Spain beach 1 — Walkway down to one of the local beaches

Spain landscape 1 — Looking across from one of the verdes to the mountains

Spain - flowers — The flowers on my terrace

The sunsets in La Marina are amazing and I keep trying to get good pics but most of mine end up fuzzy or with houses (or telegraph poles) in the way. This one I took from my Mum’s back terrace one evening – the sky goes such lovely pinky orange colours.

Spain sunset — Sunset over the mountains

We also went to visit an exhibition of costumes from 25 years of fiestas in the local town of Torrevieja which was very good – these are just a couple of pics from there –

Fiesta 2 — One of the many beautiful beaded headresses

As well as all the lovely me time there was lots of time with family and I got to meet the newest member of the family in person (this is one of the little girls I have knitted cardis for). Here is Avive, who is now 9 months old, with her lovely Mummy, my cousin Joanne, and her great – grandmother my Nana – who will be 99 this July! Avive is Nana’s 7th great-grandchild and her fourth great- grandaughter. Ellen was her first which means that there is 19 years between them all.

Spain Avive and Nana — Avive showing Nana how to clap

I have just finished a pair of aqua wristwarmers in the same moss stitch as the pink ones I made a while ago – have got to sew them up still and am half way through another one of the little JBW Xmas stockings. I have also cast on for a hat for me but am having a little trouble with the pattern (purely due to my incompetence!) so may have to start again with that.

I finished the black version of the beret for Ellie so that will be on the way to her this week. I did take some pics of that but they came out awfully (told you I was a very amateur photographer!) so will have to get her to take a pic of her modelling it.

Hope you have enjoyed my pics and thanks again for visiting – off to cut out more quilt pieces next!

Jazz, cake, ducks and a sheep called Baahney!

October 11, 2010October 11, 2010 stitchesoftime5 Comments

I have just had a wonderful weekend helping out at the Marsden Jazz Festival . I was there all weekend (out till well past my bedtime on Saturday as I was stewarding at the late night event!) and finally got home at 10 on Sunday – a bit tired but very pleased that all went well. I saw a few bands play which was great but most of my time was spent manning the box office selling tickets and a bit of whizzing round Marsden checking that bands were ok and the punters were happy – oh and collecting money so that we can run the festival next year!

This year was the 19th year that the festival has been run and there were over 60 live music events over the weekend – every pub and club in and around the village hosted at least one band – many had four or five so it was an absolutely massive feat of organisation – I only joined the committee in July by which time most of it had been done but it all went very well. There were 12 ticketed events which was why we were running the box office but all other events were free.

It was so much fun and I am very, very grateful to all of the committee for being so welcoming and making me feel so included.I also made some new friends from some of the other volunteers which was great.

Music wise I got to hear my fave combo String Fellows , Jacuzzi 500, the Huddersfield University Band and a bit of Blue Toots, Jackie Dankworth (who I also got the chance to meet – she is lovely and very beautiful as well as having an amazing voice), Dizzy Club and Orchestra DC Dansette. It was a really buzzing weekend!

I was also interviewed live on radio for Two Valleys radio in their ‘Caravan of Love’ on Saturday about being a volunteer – have yet to listen to that yet but the broadcast from the whole weekend is on their website so will try to find my bit .Pic of the caravan below – isn’t it fab!

There was also cake – lots of it keep us going all weekend (and fish and chips and lovely pie and peas – great Yorkshire grub!) – I had to take a pic of this little cupcake which was being sold by one of the local cafes Crumbals – how cute is this – and it tasted very lovely!

Marsden Jazz 2 — The Jazz Festival cup cake - limited edition -all eaten now!

Marsden is a very pretty village with the River Colne running through it and many of the events were centered round the river including a Duck Race ( yellow, plastic ones not real ones ) organised by the National Trust. I love feeding the ducks whenever I visit.I took this pic on Sunday when it was lovely and sunny!

Marsden jazz 6 — The River Colne in the centre of Marsden

Marsden is also famous for its sheep who roam around in the village , invading people’s gardens and eating their plants, lolling in the middle of the road and generally being woolly and the sheep is a feature of the Jazz Festival publicity – being on all the posters and T-shirts. This year one of our merchandise items was toy sheep and I couldn’t resist buying one – who I have named Baahney in honour of the festival committee chairperson who is called Barney. Here he is manning the box office with us.

Marsden Jazz 1 — Baahney being very helpful answering customer queries

Anyway back to crafting news – I have just taken possession of some fab knitted items – not made by me but by one of my students, the very talented Juliet who runs her own business selling knitted hats – these are Xmas pressies for the family babies – how cute are they! Thanks very much Juliet – excellent work.

Juliet's hats — A pair of strawberry beanies

And I have finally (big drum roll….) joined the local quilting group – something I meant to do about 18 months ago and kept being too busy to make it but I went tonight and listened to an excellent talk by Vivien Finch who showed us some of her vast collection of quilts including many vintage ones.I had a very warm welcome from all the members which was lovely and I will be joining them on Saturday for a sewing day so I will get the chance to cut out my Xmas hanging.

Am also planning a trip to the one of the local museums for their knitting afternoon on Sunday so am looking forward to another textileiciuos weekend! Hope you have something nice planned.

Thanks for visiting.

I’m putting on my top hat ….

June 25, 2010June 25, 2010 stitchesoftime1 Comment

Well not me actually but Jake has – he had his prom this evening so thought I would share some pics with you.

He and friend Sammy decided to adopt a Holmes and Watson theme (having recently seen the movie at the cinema ) so he hired a very dapper dinner suit complete with cravat and waistcoat and bought himself a top hat which he has been wanting for ages.

prom 7 — He also had pipe and pocket watch for those deep in thought moments

Ellie and I got dressed up and went to the hotel where the Prom was being held to watch everyone arrive.

We had a lovely time watching all the limos (and two horse drawn carriages) arrive and they all looked so lovely. The scary thing is that I have known quite a few of these kids since they were 2 at toddler group!

Prom 11 — The purple dress was one of mine and Ellie's favourite ones

Jake’s limo was one of the last to arrive – they all had black windows so you couldn’t see who was inside so of course I took pics of every limo that arrived just in case but his was a very cool one with pink flames on.

Prom 1 — Ellie managed to capture the moment that Jake stepped from the limo

Prom 5 — Jake and Sammy ready for action

I hope that they have had a really nice time – I am just here waiting now for them to come back and collect tent and kit and go off for a post prom camp out.

I know that have said this before but I am very, very proud of my kids. They are successful in what they choose to do but more importantly they are kind, supportive, helpful and really lovely to spend time with. They have had to cope with some really tough stuff in the last couple of years and have been so brilliant about everything. I am very much looking forward to our holiday together where we can spend lots of time just chilling – hopefully with some very lovely weather.

Mind you England is supposed to be nice this weekend which will be good as my brother and his partner are coming round for a BBQ – the 6th at home this year – I love BBQs – the smell of the charcoal, the roar of the sausages!

Anyway thanks for visiting and will be back after Italy!

A grand day out and a slightly damp BBQ!

June 13, 2010 stitchesoftime7 Comments

Well it wouldn’t be England without BBQing in the rain would it? Today I visited my brother Ben to christen his new hand-built BBQ. We had a lovely time (in the rain) but luckily his BBQ is under a shelter (we do live in Yorkshire after all) so rain did not stop play. He plans to extend the outdoor cooking complex with a pizza oven next.

Bens BBQ2 — All his own work - the finished BBQ with plinth for pizza oven in the foreground

Bens BBQ1 — The BBQ with the salad plot behind it

Ben and his partner Amanda are really keen cooks and as well as the veg they grow in their garden they have an allotment so tonight’s menu featured home-grown new potatoes, salad leaves and radishes which was all wonderful. Amanda also makes brilliant jams and chutneys – her rhubarb chutney is superb and is very sought after in the family.

I travel a lot for work and mainly it is local city visits but I have been to Oldham a couple of times in recent weeks and as the train station there is currently closed for refurbishment I have taken the bus which is the most wonderful journey through Saddleworth and the moors. The scenery is fab so this week I took my camera to capture my journey.

Yorkshire 2 — The view from my bus over Saddleworth

Yorkshire 3 — All the rhodedendrons (or as we used to call them when the kids were little 'rondedodrums') were in bloom

At the moment I live near town which is very convenient and practical but am planning on moving a bit further out towards the moors in the not too distant future.

This would be an ideal location for me – just look at that little fixer upper (aka derelict cottage over there) – what wonderful views!

I have been very busy on the sewing front but nothing finished yet to show you – lots of boring hemming etc but hopefully will finish Ellie’s new dress soon – needs to be ready by Friday anyway.

Hope that you have had a good weekend – thanks for visiting.

Happy Mothers’ Day

March 14, 2010March 14, 2010 stitchesoftime3 Comments

This is hoping that you all had a very lovely day today. I would like to think that you all got some me time – possibly involving textile related crafts and even breakfast in bed , nice lunch or nice tea.

I had my Mothers’ Day pressies last week when we saw Ellie in Worcester – the gorgeous little hanging above was one of them and I was really pleased with it – I had admired lots of things from the designer Gisela Graham in a little gift shop we found in Worcester and the kids sneakily bought it for me. I also got two more boxed sets of Little House on the Prairie which I am saving till work gets less hectic and I can have some lovely me time!

I am constantly amazed by what the Mums in blogland do as well as look after their families. Obviously not all of the blogs I read belong to people who have kids and their work is just as fabulous but what really impresses me as a Mum is all those people (some with very young children) who manage to produce lots (and I mean lots!) of beautiful stitched and knitted goodies – often not only for their home and family but for sale as well. You are a wonderful inspiration to us all!

What I particularly like about reading blogs is the number of women who have chosen not to continue previous careers but who have started up businesses – I think this just shows how valuable the internet can be (sites like Etsy and Folksy) in promoting these ventures and I really admire those people who have taken that step.

A couple of years ago I was hoping to join them going part -time at work and setting up my own business but sadly a change in circumstances meant that I have had to put that on hold. Maybe one day I will but I gain an awful lot of inspiration and useful knowledge by reading about people’s experiences of doing this though their blogs.

Becoming a Mum was the best thing I ever did and I am thankful every day (not just on Mothers’ Day) that I not only have a brilliant Mum myself who has always been there for me and has always been such a good role model but that I have two wonderful kids. They have had a tough couple of years for lots of reasons but remain focussed, successful, optimistic and great fun to be with. Jake has just had his interview for sixth form college and has been offered a place on his chosen Graphics, Media and Games Design couse so I am very proud of him.

One of the things I never realised all those years ago when I had little babies was that they would be such great friends and we would really enjoy each others’ company so much. They are fab – thank you Ellie and Jake for being so helpful, thoughtful and generally lovely.

I have had a really nice day, a lie in followed by my favourite Sunday activity of a long bath involving reading a good book (have just finished Martyr by Rory Clements which was a very good read) and then 4 hours gardening (helped by Jake) which made a serious dent in the sadly neglected, snow damaged back garden. Lots has died off so we spent two hours just clearing out and replacing pots with new plants. It is all looking a lot better now.

I have also managed a bit of knitting , have finished the last of the teddy dresses and knickers and am now on the headbands. Should all be finished and ready to post by the end of the week!

Thanks for visiting.

New beginnings

September 21, 2009 stitchesoftime2 Comments

We have just come back from dropping Ellie off at Uni – it was a lovely sunny weekend – very warm which Ellie was very pleased about as she was hoping that moving down South would mean less Yorkshire rain!

She has settled in very well – we moved her into her hall on the Sat so here are some pics of her new digs.

Not a very good pic but this is Ellie's room in hall

We took her to Sainsburys so she could do her first shop on her own as she is now fully self catering in her little kitchen below.

She is having a great time – has made lots of friends already and has been out the last two nights at the Students’ Union. She has hall accommodation on campus which is only 140 paces from the union building so she has not far to come home after a night out! (she told me off for counting how far it was!)

We spent Sat afternoon shopping in Worcester which is a very pretty city – it has a lovely cathedral right by the river. Sat night we went for a very nice meal with my sister Jacky and her kids Sam and Sarah. Ellie is looking forward to being able to spend more time with her cousins, as are me and Jake when we go and visit.

I am sure Ellie is going to have a wonderful time – I clearly remember leaving home and moving to college 27 years ago and I loved every minute of it so I am sure she will have an excellent time. We will miss her of course but I so pleased that she has got where she wanted to be. She really deserves it after all her hard work over the last two years and has not let anything deter her from her goals.

I have had an exciting new start as well as I have begun a Creative Textiles class through my local Adult Education Service. The first meeting was today and I had an excellent time in the company of a group of women who like me wish to improve their creative and technical skills and a lovely tutor called Brownwyn.

Today we did some transfer printing – I have actually bought some transfer paper but was not certain what to do with it. Bronwyn had printed some fish pictures which we colored in with pens then ironed on to fabric , sewed onto to a felt backing then stuffed. I now need to quilt and add beads to my little fish but I am very pleased with him so far.

In the coming weeks we are going to do transfer inks, batik, machine embroidery and quilting. I have homework for next week’s class which I am planning to do on Sunday looking at some inspiration for my printing.

I am also planning to join a Knit and Natter group that meets locally which one of the other women at the group goes to so will have lots of lovely textile related fun going on each week!

A lovely weekend

June 14, 2009November 24, 2009 stitchesoftimeLeave a comment

This weekend we were camping again but here in Yorkshire. Some friends, Jane and Patch, who live locally have a beautiful barn conversion which used to be an old mill complete with large mill pond – see pic below.

They host a little gathering every year where we all go and camp, bbq, have a bit of a sing song round the campfire etc. in the field attached to their house. This year we were entertained as well by friends who have band called Stringfellows.

We had a really lovely time and it was nice to catch up with a few people I have not seen recently.

Last year I downsized a bit and bought a smaller tent that I could take more easily on the train – the pic above shows us in it this weekend. It is a Vango 500 and is a great tent for a couple of nights away with plenty of space for sleeping, kit storage and cooking if the weather is not good. It has its first outing in on a clifftop in Cornwall last year when we did the Tintagel event and survived a very windy pitching and a few heavy rainstorms which is a very good test of any tent.

We still have the very large tunnel tent (nicknamed the aircraft hangar) which I will use again when I get a car, two small two man tents (one of which is Ellie’s) and a medieval tent. I love tents – could quite happily own loads and loads and love spending time when camping going round and looking at other people’s tents!

The weather was fab – apart from a short but heavy shower about 10pm Sat night there was sunshine all round. It has been really hot today as well so after we got home and cleaned, sorted and re-packed the tent ready for the event next weekend (hurrah more camping!!!) I did a bit of a garden tidy up.

I have also finally put together the new bike I bought myself a while ago – it was a winter sale bargain but it has been in its box waiting to be fettled. Being a well trained girlie I was able to put it together with a bit of help from Ellie keeping it steady as I sorted the brake calipers. Just need to get a new bike pump and I can be off!

Had another bbq for tea tonight – must be the 7th one so far which is a bit of a record for this time of year – weather has just been so nice we need to make the most of it and I love cooking outdoors.

Have had a busy week costume making – have completed a new peasant dress for Ellie and three pairs of brais (trousers) for Jake and two of the boys in the group. Am off tomorrow to a goldwork day workshop at my Embroiderers’ Guild so am really looking forward to that. Will post some pics of what I do later.

Saturday was my very last day of teaching for this year and Ellie has now finished all her A level exams so we are looking forward to a very mellow summer of camping, stitching and generally chilling out. Life is very good!!!

Stitches of Time

I have created this blog to share my interest in all forms of stitching, quilting, sewing, knitting, medieval re-enactment and costume making – particularly my love of historical embroidery. I also love travelling,especially when it also involves any of my other interests.

Category: family life

London Life Part One – the bit where we see famous people!

Listography

Birthday and the Bard

A few pretty pictures

Jazz, cake, ducks and a sheep called Baahney!

I’m putting on my top hat ….

A grand day out and a slightly damp BBQ!

Happy Mothers’ Day

New beginnings

A lovely weekend