Little Ole’ Wine Drinking Me!!!

November 7, 2011 stitchesoftime2 Comments

As regular readers will know I like a glass or two of red wine and on my recent trip to Spain had a lovely day out with Mum which involved my favourite tipple.We went on a coach trip up into the mountains, we have been on quite a few trips with various companies over the last few years and they are an excellent way of seeing the country if like Mum and I you don’t drive, or like most people you doubt your ability to navigate your way up scary, winding mountain roads into unfamiliar villages!

The coach driver did an excellent job as there were lots of very tight turns and long drops and we had a lovely day. The first place we visited was a little village up in the mountains above Alicante called Polop where they have the most amazing village fountain which has about 100 water jets coming out of the walls in the square where people used to go to take the water. This pic shows just a few of these jets but they carry on all around the square.

Then we went up and up passing beautiful olive and almond tree groves right to the top of the mountains where I took these pics –

It was so beautiful – my pics do not really do it justice and it doesn’t look like the Spain you imagine at all – more like being in the Lake District or in Switzerland but you still have the wonderful blue sky and sea down below and it is so wonderful!

We then went back down the other side of the valley and stopped at a bodega for a little wine tasting (and buying!). Bodegas are where you can buy locally produced wine, all the wine sold here came from the valley and it operates as a co-operative supporting local vineyards. So not only could you taste and buy lovely (and very, very cheap wine) you have the satisfaction of knowing that you are supporting the local economy – how good can it get!

The smell when you entered the bodega was amazing! All that lovely wine and you could just sample any that you wanted – heaven!

There were wine tasting tables with carafes of all the varieties.

Then we went further down the valley for a lovely lunch then a stop off at one of the little coastal towns for a paddle and a coffee on the way home, it’s a tough life but someone has to do it and I will be that brave volunteer!

I have loads more Spain pics to show you but will post again with those from our visit to Elche as there was a very lovely market and some fab architecture which need their own post before this one gets too long!

Two of the things I adore about Spain are the sunsets and sunrises and the beach. I cycled down the beach a couple of times and took lots and lots of arty shots of my favourite bit where the walkway goes through the dunes and this is one of my favourite views. I just love the colours and the light – and this pic was taken on the 25th Oct!

I have posted one of my sunset pics in the last Scavenger Hunt but the following evening there was the most beautiful pink sky while I was sitting on my terrace.

And then there was this lovely sunrise one morning – apologies as the pic is a bit fuzzy but hopefully you can get an idea of how amazing the colours were.

It really is food for the soul seeing all that amazing natural beauty and it makes me very happy!

I have been having a great time since I have been back as well, a very nice week at work, my students are very lovely and I am really enjoying this year. I had a free weekend which was good as Christmas is fast approaching and I have two craft fairs to do so I was very busy making stock this weekend. I made lots of little Xmas stocking ornies to complement my Xmas hearts – below are pics of three ornies with picture details of the charms I have used.

I have also finished my latest wrist warmers, very useful now the Yorkshire temperature has dropped so much and winter is very much upon us!They will be very useful in the office when it gets so cold you cannot feel your fingers!

Will see you again at the weekend when I will have more Spain pics plus some more Xmas crafting finished.Have a lovely week and thanks very much for visiting.

A happy coincidence

November 1, 2011 stitchesoftimeLeave a comment

As regular readers will know I am involved in some cross stitch exchanges – one that I really enjoy is the Seasonal Exchange, I got my gift from Conny some time ago and I posted a pic here a few weeks ago of the beautiful pillow she sent.

What I could not reveal until my partner Kathy had got her piece from me was that this was what I stitched for her.

Yes that is exactly the same design – JBW Designs French Country 4 – how weird is that!! Don’t know if it has ever happened in the history of the blog exchanges that someone has stitched the same pattern that they have then got.

In reality it is not such a weird happening – when we get give our partner’s name we always go and look at their blogs to see what they like and if Conny did that she would have known I love JBW designs. But to choose the very same one is a very lovely coincidence as I always pick designs I would love to have myself and now I do. So thank you again Conny – I could not say too much when you first sent me the piece or Kathy would have known what she was getting!

I have had a lovely week in Spain and have done some more trips which I will post pics of later in the week. The blue wristwarmers are finished and another little JBW stocking ornie has been stitched but not yet backed. I have cast on for a second version of the wristwarmers and started another stocking (I am a little bit addicted to these – well Xmas ornies in general at the moment!).

Hope that you are all having a lovely week and will catch up with you again at the weekend.

Thanks for visting.

Photo Scavenger Hunt October

October 31, 2011October 31, 2011 stitchesoftime11 Comments

Well here we are again but I am only just making this posting at the end of the month – I have been in Spain again (lucky me) and only got back this evening so I have hastily sorted out the last of my pics for the hunt this month.

Witches’ Hat

Spotted in my local pound shop this very lovely hat!

Sunset

One of so many beautiful ones in Spain – this pic was taken this week from outside my Mum’s house.

Something eerie

Though the weather is usually great in Spain they do have terrific thunderstorms sometimes and here are the very black clouds on the way back from my bike ride one day.

A black cat

You will have to trust me on this one as I could not find a cat to stay still long enough but up on the roof of this very ugly house near mine in Spain is a little black cat – you can just see the ears above the tiled wall.

Crunchy leaves

Taken on the canal bridge near my office

Golden

The canal side lights taken on my home from work one evening

Pumpkin

A couple in fact , these lovely gifts were sent last year from the USA as part of my Autumn stitching exchange.

Heritage

The lovely Marsden Mechanics’ Institute – centre of the village where I spent the weekend selling tickets for the Jazz festival.

River

Another pic from Marsden , the River Colne on a sunny Friday morning

Fog/mist

The view from my bus stop one grey October morning

Graffiti

From Spain – a colourful piece on an electricity substation

Candlelit

In Spain I like to sit on my terrace and read in the evenings and this is a lovely candle holder my Mum bought me that I use there.

Lovely Stitching

October 16, 2011 stitchesoftime2 Comments

Hello there and hope you are all well and happy.

I have had a lovely parcel in the post – my Autumn exchange piece for the Seasonal Exchange blog which has come from Conny at Creative Basket.It is from my favourite designer JBW and is called French Country Pumpkin 4. I love it – especially the finishing with the two different pumpkin fabrics and the very clever outlining.

I have just finished stitching my piece for the exchange and will be posting it tomorrow. Can’t show any pics till it arrives at its destination which should take a week or so.

I have also just finished another Xmas ornie – I did post the WIP for this a couple of weeks ago when I had nearly completed the stitching. This design is from the Christmas edition of Cross Stitcher magazine and I really liked the Scandinavian style, especially the backstitching. I decided to do a slightly different finish with the ornie to fit in with the shape of the stitching. It was a bit tricky to fit the pieces round the design but it looks ok at the end (if a little asymmetrical but never mind!) I have used the Makower Joyful fabric for both front and back.Not that long now till we can get the tree out and display all the lovely new ornies!

It has been a lovely sunny weekend – I have had another busy week so I have had a very nice relaxing weekend with mainly cooking and stitching. I also made it to my monthly knitting group this week so the wristwarmers are nearly finished.I am really looking forward to next weekend as I have a week off work and I am off to Spain again – lucky me! I have not got many plans as just really want a relax but Mum and I are planning a couple of trips out to see some more history so I will take some nice pics for you all.

Thank you very much for visiting and see you all again soon.

Jazz Time Again!

October 11, 2011 stitchesoftimeLeave a comment

I have had a lovely weekend at the Marsden Jazz Festival, this was my second year helping out and this year I was running the box office. We had a very good time, despite the horizontal rain on Saturday and Sunday but it didn’t dampen enthusiasm, even the street band on the Sunday played on despite the very soggy conditions.

The pics of the village here were taken on the Friday when it was lovely and sunny! This is the little festival shop with a display of our t-shirts for this year.

The festival takes place in all the pubs and clubs in the village and this is one of the banners outside the very nice Riverhead Brewery pub – lots of real ale brewed here plus very nice food. It is also right next to the village river so is a great location, especially when it is nice weather.

This pic is of one of the very cute cottages in the village, I love the flowers over the door and the disused post box in the wall – very picture postcard!

It was very busy so didn’t get the chance to see many of the bands but did get to see a bit of the late night Saturday gig by the wonderful Submotion Orchestra whose CD I have now bought and am listening to as I type this post. They are fab – the vocalist Ruby Woods has the most amazing voice and I am going to see them live again as soon as I can. Really soulful music with excellent lyrics. Go and watch their video at the band’s web site .

Not a lot of crafting going on due to the weekend away. I have just got my Autumn Exchange piece so will photograph that to show you next post.

Meanwhile hope that you are all well and happy and thanks for visiting.

It’s a miracle!

October 2, 2011 stitchesoftime2 Comments

Do you see the above picture my dear readers, that was taken in my garden yesterday Saturday October 1st and we were having a BBQ! In Yorkshire, in October!

It is an absolute miracle and I am stunned. We have had an enormous heatwave here in the UK – it has been so so warm so Jake and I decided to make the most of it and BBQ for tea. And afterwards I sat out watching the embers glow, drinking a little red wine with no coat on till 8pm. Oh if only Autumn could always be like this!

I hope you have also noticed the beautifully restored decking – isn’t it nice the way it matches the chairs so well. It had got very scruffy so I found a very nice gardener man to come and pressure wash, sand a re-stain it for me so it is all looking lovely.

I have spent a few hours today tidying up (what would normally be the putting the garden to bed for the Winter tidy up but who nows it might be the start of the Spring growth season!) It is possible the world has flipped over and we are now having New Zealand’s climate which would be fab (can we flip back before we are officially supposed to have Spring please?)

Jake and I had a very lovely visit yesterday to Stafford for the University Open Day there. We were very impressed, it is a pretty town with a park and canal and a very lovely campus. The course and lecturers were also very good and there was a great welcome from everyone we met. He has to fill in his choices form soon and then fingers crossed he will be offered some places!

I have had a ridiculously busy week again, we had another Marsden Jazz Festival meeting (things are hotting up as the festival is next weekend!), went out for a meal with work friends which was very nice and had the girls round for the evening. And there was work which was very busy but very nice – I am having a lovely time with my new group.

All this of course means very little craft time so apologies for only WIP pictures again. I have finished one of the Little Cotton Rabbits wristwarmers and cast on for the other one last night and am nearly finished with my latest Xmas ornie. I was stitching this on our train journey to and from Stafford which was a very pleasant way to spend a few hours.

This is a pattern from the Christmas 2011 issue of Cross Stitcher magazine, I have stopped buying cross stitch mags generally as I have a few (ahem!) patterns still to do but was very taken by the prospect of more ornies and they had some lovely Scandinavian style ones (and a free ornie kit which I have sent to Ellie).

I am stitching this on very fine count sparkly evenweave (think it is about 28 count) with only one strand of Silk Mill thread and all the backstitching and contrast rows are being done in a dark red sewing cotton it is that small-scale! I am very pleased with it, will change the bottom of the design I think and put another heart in and then make it up as a hanging ornie for the tree.

The images below from the Cross Stitcher web site show the original design made up as a picture and also some very cute little bird ornies which I will also make for my tree.

Well I hope that you all have a lovely week ahead – I am spending the whole of next weekend in Marsden for the Jazz Festival (yippee!!) where I will be running the box office. Hopefully we shall have some lovely weather so if you are in the area do come along, lots of wonderful music and a great time guaranteed!

Thanks very much for visiting.

Photo Scavenger Hunt September

September 30, 2011 stitchesoftime14 Comments

Hello there

As last month click on the pic above to go and see all the pics at Kathy’s blog.

This is a bit last-minute to say the least! I have been so busy this week I nearly didn’t get chance to take the last couple of pics I needed for this but have just made it.

Relaxation

This was taken at our last WI Saturday craft get together – coffee and a bit of knitting! Just what you need after a hard week at work. Check out those super sized needles in the background.

View from above

My lovely little teapot and cup.

Road sign

Where I catch my bus to work – next to a lovely ivy hedge.

Something taller than you

As he reminds me often, my little baby Jake is taller than me now – he is also taller than the fridge!

Back to School

Well college anyway – I don’t have the joy of buying new uniform and pencil cases anymore but here is Jake’s new timetable for his last year before University.

Football Season

I’m afraid this is as close as I get (inspiration for this taken from someone last month) – the football listing in the TV mag.

What’s in your bag?

Pinkness!

Harvest

Every year we pick the blackberries from the lane at the back of our house.

A pile of things

Donated knitted squares at my lovely friend Lydia’s yarn shop Spun.

Workspace

The best bit of my desk at work – thank you cards from past students.

Public phone box

Apologies as it was a bit dark – this is the phone in the lobby at work – love the fact that there are 3 phones in a row here!

Apples

My friend Rebecca from knitting group has this lovely bag made from apple drink pouches.

Mellowness

September 26, 2011September 26, 2011 stitchesoftime2 Comments

It has been a very busy week here – term is in full swing and I am having a lovely time with all my new students. I am very lucky to enjoy my job so much, we are having lots of fun and everyone is settling in nicely.

It has been hard work and I have forgotten what a busy time this is – came home on Friday after another 13 hour day aching all over which is why it is very important to have lots of mellowness in the off work times. So I have been settling down to some lovely knitting (bit of stitching as well but only if I am very alert as am working on an impossibly small-scale project at the mo!).

I am making another pair of wristwarmers – this time for me – to take to work as it is still very cold in my office (not helped by the fact that we have had the builders in for the last few weeks so it is cold, dusty, noisy and last Friday I had no lights either). These are from a free pattern from the lovely Julie of Little Cotton Rabbits blog – if you have never visited do go and drool over the ultimate cuteness of not only the rabbits but foxes, pigs, bears etc that she lovingly creates. The woman is a genius!

These are knitted in my favourite Sublime wool – this time a four ply using one of my fave stitches, moss stitch and are a really simple pattern with no shaping – perfect for when you are really a bit tired and can’t concentrate.

So I have been coming home and lighting the candles to add to the mellow atmosphere and have been trying out taking pics of these as well. I love candlelight it makes me feel very peaceful and I go through loads of them in the winter.

I have been knitting while watching lots of lovely cookery programs (I always cook more in the winter, lots of warming stews and casseroles) including Rick Stein who is one of my favourites.I have just finished watching his latest series on Spain and have got that book on my Amazon Wish list for Xmas (hint, hint kids!).

I had a very lovely weekend – as well as working I went to visit my friends Taru and Bob who have just bought a new house in the lovely village of Marsden, they were having a ‘trash the house’ party as lots of things need removing before they can restore the house. I was only able to go for a couple of hours after work but did a bit of fettling and then went to another freinds’ house for takeaway and wine afterwards – a thoroughly pleasant evening!

I do hope that you have had a lovely week as well.The weather is very nice here at the moment – a real Indian Summer so I may get a bit more gardening done tomorrow – last bit before winter sets in.

Enjoy whatever you have planned for this week, see you soon and thanks for visiting.

The end of a busy week….and then there was embroidery!

September 18, 2011 stitchesoftimeLeave a comment

Hello everyone , hope you are all well and happy. I am currently feeling tired but happy after a very busy first week of term, I must be getting old as I was very glad to see Friday :-). I have had a lovely time with my new group of students, they are very lively and I’m sure we will have a great year ahead.

I had a nice relaxing weekend planned and I have been enjoying myself – once again surrounded by textiles. My local branch of the Embroiderers’ Guild were having their biennial exhibition on Saturday so after meeting at Lydia’s lovely yarn shop Spun for a couple of hours of the WI monthly craft session where I cast on for a new pair of wristwarmers I wended my way to that.( I love that word ‘wended’ don’t you – always sounds like something out of a fairytale!)

I have not been able to attend a meeting this year due to work pressures but it was very lovely to see everyone, eat nice cake and marvel at all the wonderful talent that is in the group. The slideshow below shows just a small selection of the fabulous work there was on display.

Free picture slideshow generated with Smilebox

I also bought a couple of books on historical textiles (bargain at £1 each) and added this little piece of needleace to my collection of textile creations.

Today we had the first full planning meeting for our new re-enactment group Swords of Mercia held at the Hardwick Inn, this is a lovely old pub – see pics below, in the grounds of the fantastic Hardwick Hall – once home to my heroine Bess.

Apart from a very nice lunch and a catch up we also organised lots of things about how the group will be run , I am to be secretary, booking us into events and also help with costume making and advice. We have until next year probably before we do our first show but I already have some fettling to do to make new hangings for the display tent we will use for talks.

I have finished the stitching on my Autumn exchange pice (no pics allowed as it is not be posted till 1st Nov) so as well as the wristwarmers I have started on another Xmas stitch – this is a Nordic inspired tree design from the Cross Stitcher mag I treated myself to yesterday.No pics yet as not much stitched.

So a busy week but a very nice one, have had great fun once again and am very much looking forward to the year ahead – both personally and professionally.

Hope that you all have a nice week ahead and see you soon. Thanks for visiting.

It’s official

September 9, 2011 stitchesoftime3 Comments

I have tonight lit the candles in the lounge for the first time since about May and started stitching for this year’s Autumn exchange piece so I am now declaring Autumn officially here. Along with the excessive rain that we have had this week (not that in Yorkshire that distinguishes Autumn from Spring, Summer or Winter :-)) Is there an official start to Autumn ? It seems to have come pretty early this year or maybe I have been too busy waiting for Summer to arrive properly and in my confusion lost track of time.

Not that I mind Autumn at all – it is in fact one of my favourite seasons, I love snuggling up at home after being away lots in Summer, and watching my candles flicker, preparing for Christmas (mind you I have been making ornies all year!) and meeting all my new students for the year (the first lot arrive on Monday!).

But I do like Winter as well (except when the snow is really bad though I am better with my snow paranoia now that I realise that the children are grown up and we can all get supplies in and we are not going to get cut off!) And I love Spring because that is when the teaching winds down and my garden looks lovely and I can start having BBQs again. And I love Summer when we can go camping and do re-enactment events.

I just love all the seasons for different things and am very happy to be able to enjoy so much. I am feeling very, very happy at the moment, not for any particular reason but just very relaxed after a busy year so far, I have been doing lots of work on the house which is nearly at an end, we have been here nearly 6 years now so lots of things needed freshening up. There have been lots of changes at work – higher education is in a bit of an upheaval at the moment to say the least but we are looking forward to a great year ahead.

I am very lucky, I have a job I really enjoy, two wonderful kids, lots of friends and a really nice life and I am very thankful every day to be here and having such a lovely time – even if I have got quite wet this week!

I have finished two more Xmas ornies this week , one of these has been on the go since my last trip to Spain and the other I completed most of on my train trips down to Worcester and back last week.

The one is another version of the JBW Christmas Motif Sampler tree – did not realise I had already stitched this one until I checked my blog posts under the ‘Xmas ornies’ tag to see how many I had done but you can never have too many ornies can you? For this I used some variegated thread that I bought at the Malvern Quilt Show – only one strand was needed as it was quite thick and it stitched up really fast. I am not certain what the backing fabric is – I have had this in my stash for quite a while.

The other pattern is an old one from the Gift of Stitch magazine called Red Berries by Rosewood Manor , I made this for my Mum some years ago and always wanted one for me. I finished this as a little pillow and I am really pleased with the way the fabric complements the stitching – this is some of the fabric I got at Malvern and I think it looks fab. The fabric is called Joyful 2 by Makower and you can get it online from The Cotton Patch It may be a bit big to hang on the tree but I can find somewhere for it.

I also had my delivery from The Silk Mill – look at all these lovely Xmas colours!

I love using silk thread for my stitching as it is so nice to work with and has such a beautiful sheen. It does cost about twice as much as stranded cotton but I usually buy the Silk Mill sets which are good value and am building up my stock of colours gradually.

I do need to get a serious move on with the rest of my Xmas ornie making as the WI are having a stall at a local Xmas craft fair which I have volunteered to do as well as the Oakwell Hall one I had planned and both of those are on the same weekend. I would like to do another local school one but don’t know if I will have enough time to make stock for 3. It’s the little matter of the day job taking up so much time!

Here’s hoping for a little respite in the rain this weekend so that I can do my gardening!

Take care and thanks for visiting.

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.