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.
Have had a lovely quiet day today courtesy of the very heavy snow fall that started last night. The kids were off school because of it , what I was planning to do was cancelled and I have spent a large part of the afternoon stitching and watching the Tudors Series 2 .Can’t show you any stitching pics as the item is a surprise gift but it is blackwork appropriate for my TV viewing.
I love the series and wish I could go and see the costumes for real – if anyone ever hears of an exhibition please post and let me know.
Meanwhile here are some pics of our snow – it has not stopped yet and we now have about 6 inches – the first one was taken last night.
Snow in the garden at night
We had just come back from seeing Valkyrie at the cinema and having Pizza Hut and this pic is taken with my new camera (hurrah will try not to break this one!).
Here are some more that were taken from Jake’s attic bedroom this morning.
Snowy roofsSnow on the hills
We have had a busy weekend sewing and cutting out new costumes for the coming season. Am now making a lovely stew for tea to stave off the cold. A very domesticated day!
My recent technical issues with the lovely PC I am currently working on (got to be polite or it might take offence and crash again!) have meant that I have been going through all of my web sites in Favourites and writing down those that I don’t want to lose if the PC finally bites the dust. Am hoping to be able to get new PC soon so am planning to transfer things over.
This means that all the sites are organised in my little book and I have finally got around to working out where some of the pictures I seen have come from! So I thought I would share some pics and their links with you so that you can go off and have an explore.
The first site Medieval Beads run by Jen Segrest has some amazing examples of beadwork through the ages. I hope she won’t mind if I show you a couple of examples from her wonderful collection.
A beautiful 15th century beaded piece - copyright Jen Segrest 2009Detail of the above beadwork - copyright Jen Segreat 2009
This very talented lady collected all the pictures on this site and her accompanying Flickr picture collection and also makes wonderful beaded work and pincushions. Jen very kindly shares how to make the pincushions in these photo tutorials on Flickr. Here is an example of one of her cushions which you can buy through her Etsy store.
Some of Jen's pincushions
You can also buy a book of how to make some of her pincushions – this is going to be on my wish list for when I have time (right after I find the blog with the knitting pattern for making extra days in the week!).
The second site is another blog that I found by accident – a bit of late night surfing as you do! The blog is called Extreme Costuming and is run by Laura who makes costumes for her roles in the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) in the US and her volunteer work at various history projects. I hope that she won’t mind me showing you this picture from her site (the copyright is V. Dye, 2006) but it shows the amazing quality of her work.
Redwork jacket made by Laura of Extreme Costuming
Not only is the embroidery fantastic but the research is as well – on this page of the blog she details the process and includes photos of original pieces from museums in Kent and London. I am hugely impressed by everything this woman does!
As well as this jacket she has many other pieces on the blog such as superb coifs. Makes me really wish that I did Elizabethan re-enactment but then I have enough trouble keeping up with making the simpler costumes for our period!
This is what I love about the Internet. I know there are all those debates about whether it is a good thing or not but having access to all these blogs with all this embroidery, knitting and general wonderful stuff on can only be a good thing! It certainly makes me very happy :-).
One of my personal heroines (if you can have one who has been dead for just over 400 years) is Bess of Hardwick. Regular readers of this blog will know that I have been to her house, Hardwick Hall, many times to look at the embroidery there and have two fabulous books about the embroidery collection. My lovely children bought me another biography of her life for Xmas .
I admire Bess not only for her embroidery but also for being a powerful and successful woman in the Elizabethan era when that was not easy. I have just been watching the Tudors second series on DVD and it really brings it home to you how little say in their lives most women had.
So I was really pleased a couple of weeks ago to be able to visit Bess’s tomb , which is in Derby Cathedral. It was very special for me to be able to go and pay my respects to such a wonderful embroiderer.
The pictures below are of her tomb with close ups of the crown and dress.
The tomb in Derby CathedralThe top of the effigyBess at prayerDetail of head and crownDetail of front of dress
For an overview of Bess’s life click here and the Hall itself is well worth a visit – there is a a link to the National Trust page giving details about opening times etc in the first part of this post.
I will leave you with a few pictures of the embroidery you can see on a visit to the hall – just a few of many wonderful things!
A bed canopy at HardwickA stool cover showing a flower motifOne of the marvelous heraldic pieces
Yes I know it is a little bit late but had a house full of people when we got back and then have been laid up with the dreaded chest infection so have not had time to post since we returned from sunny Spain.
We had lovely time – it was mostly very warm and sunny and we had a couple of visits to the beach and a few bike rides. Also did Karaoke with my cousin Joanne which we really enjoyed – Ellie and I did a couple of rockin’ Meatloaf duets!
Have got a couple of pics of the seaside bit –
Kids and Granny Pat on La Marina beach
The pic below was taken on Xmas day where we had a very nice picnic and Granny Pat and I shared a bottle of Cava to celebrate the festive season.
Us on the beach Xmas Day
And we paddled of course as is traditional now. I do love Spain , it has a very unique atmosphere and I love visiting as well as being there to see my family. These are a few of the things that I really love about the place.
Ice cream – the Spanish really do ice cream properly, they have loads of fab ice cream parlour cafes where as well as brill coffee you can choose from about 50 flavours – not only does it taste good it is all so prettily presented with each flavour decorated – so much better than the bricks of Walls Neopolitan that we grew up with. This is taken in one of my favourite places on the seafront at Torrevieja where we went on Christmas Eve.
Ice cream!!
Tapas – I love little bits and nibbles and what I really like about all the bars are the little sandwich tapas that they have , this one is salmon and cheese with a glass of red -yours for 2 Euros in a little backstreet bar in Bendorm.
Yummy tapas
To counteract all that eating and drinking you need some exercise and one of the things I like most to do in Spain is go cycling. This is Jake in one of my favourite places to cycle, the scrubland just about 5 mins ride from my little Spanish house. It is a big off road paradise (much easier on the bones than the Annapurnas!) with the most wonderful views of the mountains and sea.
Jake off road
I also love the weather of course , that pic above was taken on Dec 23rd – look at that sun! Nothing like Yorkshire.
This pic below is the view from my little house the morning after we arrived, the 22nd Dec – you can’t tell but you can see the sea through the gap in the houses – fab!
View on a sunny December morning
I also love the fact that the Spanish do Xmas very traditionally – there are lots of lights and all the beautiful large scale nativity scenes – the Belen. This is the church square in Torrevieja.
Torrevieja Church all lit up
They have a celebration on Christmas Eve called Papa Noel where Santa (0r in Torrevieja a whole train of them!) comes into town and gives the children sweets or presents. Most of the children dress in Santa outfits – this little girl was waiting to see him all dressed up looking very cute.
Girl in her Santa outfit
Sandcastles – I remember building some pretty good stuff as a kid on the beach at Weston Super Mare – boats and cars etc but the Spanish sand artists are amazing – this was one on the beach in Benidorm this Xmas.
Amazing sandcastle
We came back to the UK on the 30th and spent New Year with my sister, her two kids and cute dog. New Year’s Eve we had my brother Ben and his girlfriend Amanda round and our neighbours.
This is Ellie with Isabelle, our neighbours’ beautiful granddaughter, who was with us for a bit on New Year’s Eve before she got sleepy.
Ellie and Isabelle
Do not have any other good pics from New Year’s Eve sadly as old camera does not like taking pics in low light – new camera has been written off by the menders and they have sent vouchers towards a new one so will be sorting that out soon – will try very hard not to get this one wet – but will buy insurance as a precaution!!! However do have a very cute picture of Buffy my sister’s dog who behaved very well on her first visit here.
Buffy
Well I hope that you have all had a good festive season and are looking forward to 2009. It has been a very sad year for lots of close friends with lots of heartache and we have had our share of traumas here but I am confident that the future will be so much better.
I am very, very lucky. I also have the most fabulous kids in the world and fantastic friends and work colleagues who have been so supportive – couldn’t have done it without you guys, thank you all! Wishing you all the best for the coming year.
We are off in a couple of days so this will be the last post for a week or so. Mum says it is very warm there (hurrah!!) so we will hopefully be having our now traditional picnic on the beach on Xmas Day and barbecue. We are also having a big family meal on Christmas Eve at the local Chinese buffet which the children love. You chose your uncooked food and the chef cooks it for you and you can watch. The children are always most impressed at how he remembers which order belongs to them.
They have been doing quite a bit of cooking this week using the new raclette and the fajita grill. It is excellent for me as saves loads of time. I just prepare the meat and veg and we cook it at the table. Below is a pic of the raclette so that you can see it in action.
The raclette - cook your own tea time
The small pan handles can be seen sticking out from under the grill and there is one on top warming oil ready to be filled with meat and veg. Jake is now very happy and plans to have raclette and fajitas once a week each at least! Note that is my plate there – healthy salad (the kids don’t do that sort of stuff!).
Have also been busy finishing off Xmas stitching – up till 1 am this morning but cannot post pics till have given the gift. This project was a bit of an experiment but I am very pleased with the result and will post pics when I return.
Will leave you with another pic of glamorous daughter – this was taken on a night out recently for a friend’s 18th birthday. Poor Ellen is not 18 till March and can’t wait. Neither can we – she is taking me and Uncle Ben for a drink!
Ellen, Maxine and Charlotte - Happy 18th Charlotte!
Have been doing various things to the house in the last couple of weeks so thought I would share some pics here. The loft conversion is virtually finished so here are some pics of Jake’s pc and gaming area and his new shower room which he and Ellie really love.
Jake's computerJake's gaming area - Ninendo 64 on one tv, Nintendo Wii on the other and one of those cool rocker chairsThe shower room
The little bedroom is still to be done but I have been diverted by Xmas stitching most of which I cannot post here due to the need to keep it secret or the fact that my old camera is appalling at taking shots of anything close up – newer one still at the menders due to slight accident in Nepal with water bottle!
Have also had to have new kitchen equipment as cooker blew up (literally very big bang!) for third time this year. Decided that at £70 a time it was now no longer worth mending so downsized from the old range cooker to a very nice new one. Here it is looking very shiny and me doing an artistic shot ( a la Crazy Aunt Purl) reflected in the shiny mirror front.
My new cookerMe photographing new cooker
Have also been doing some more exciting decorating as have put up all the Xmas decs. I love decorating for Christmas and have to really restrain myself not to go over the top!. Last year I made loads more things and posted pics of them but these are my current decorations on the mantel piece in my lounge
Mantel pieceMy Xmas tree
This year the kids did everything with the tree from setting it up to decorating and they have done a wonderful job.
The table laid for dinner
And this is the table for our Xmas dinner last Sun – I hope that you all enjoy your Xmas celebrations – this will be the last post for a couple of weeks as we are off to Spain on Sunday for 8 days – warm weather lovely!!!
And of course the song goes – ‘so what have you done , another year over and a new one just begun’. I know it is not Christmas yet but here we have been celebrating early as we are off to Spain next weekend (hurrah) for some r and r in the warm. So this weekend we had our now traditional pre Xmas party and celebrated early with Xmas dinner and some of the pressies.
My brother Ben came to us today for pressies and dinner – sadly his partner Amanda had to work. They got the kids some fab Xmas pressies from them so big thanks. The first was a fajita cooker that you use on the table top – it’s a small griddle with pan included. Jake’s favourite food in the whole world is fajitas so he was thrilled.
They also bought them a raclette which is another table top grill which comes with little pans – you cut up meat, fish and veg, top with cheeses and grill your own food at the table – a very sociable way of eating. They have had one for years and the kids love it so so they are very pleased to have their own. We are going to try it out tomorrow then use it for New Year when my sister and her kids are here.
Below are some pics from the party and our xmas dinner.
Me and wonderful daughter Ellie
Some of the girls from the medieval group all looking very glam at the partyJake wearing all the cracker hats!!
So another year over and what have we done – well loads and loads as usual, holidays, work, the build, Nepal the new life stuff – been a very, very busy year. I have also had this blog for just over a year – forgot to check when the date was but sometime last Nov I think.
Am really looking forward to next year which is nice to be able to say as there have been some bits of this year that have been very stressful!! But that is all over now – still got a bit of decorating to finish but that will get done. Have been having such a good time just recently and am looking forward to lots more of the same wonderful stuff.
So I hope that you all have a lovely festive season wherever you are! My best wishes to you and yours.
Have had a very nice day today – have been trying to finish off the final bits of the build – 5 months on and it is still not done due to various things but we are getting there.
Today have been painting and varnishing and fitting a shelf and mirror in Jake’s shower room , that is nearly finished – just the little bedroom to go and that is currently a decorating store! I will get it all done but do get frustrated that it has taken so long but with the events of the summer (and subsequent no money!) it has taken longer than expected.
I have also been working on my Xmas ornaments – I have not had time to do them for fundraising this year so have just done them for friends and family. Have been stitching little bits of these all year, not got as many done as I had hoped due again to various interruptions like work, the loft conversion and life getting in the way but below is a pic of my first three finished ones.
Ornaments
Apologies as the pic is a bit fuzzy – am working off old camera as newer one has gone back to the menders after getting wet in Nepal! These are mainly from Quaker samplers – little motifs that I have stitched on sparkly Aida – mostly at 28 count which does wonders for my eyes! I then back them with nice Xmas fabric and stitch round inserting a ribbon – stuff and hem.
I also have a couple of pics from our last medieval event of the year – the weekend before last we were at Bolsover Castle for a Michaelmas event – indoors at the castle rather than the usual camping and tournament show we do. It was very, very cold even indoors but we had quite a few people come to see us and made decorations and cards with the children and did a small fight display and weapons, heraldry and armour talks. We also had a wonderful banquet and thanks to Bev for cooking the food – pies to die for!
The pics below show the ladies – Lady Bardolph, Lady De Lacy and my lovely daughter Lady Rose and then Rose and Arthur ( or in real life my son Jacob) in one of the castle rooms.
The ladies at BolsoverRose and Arthur
We have a busy week ahead getting ready for Xmas – we are having a party on Sat and thankfully I am having a new cooker delivered on Thurs – old one blew up again (third time this year!) so decided enough was enough so from Thurs I will have an oven again.
So I will be decorating the house Thurs and Fri – interrupted by the need to go in to work for a very important meeting about Ofsted – they are visiting us early next year which those of you in the know will realise spells minor panic.
Will take some pics at the party and post them later. Have a good week.
A couple of weeks ago I had a reunion in Yorkshire with some old friends – we all were at college here (we met 25 years ago) and have met up at intervals ever since but the last time was about 6 years ago so it was wonderful to see them all.
We had a great time revisiting old haunts on the University campus, doing a tour of the new pubs in town and having a curry and were very pleased to see that we can still hack it – we started at 2pm and were still going at 1am which is not bad for a group of forty somethings!
Here is a pic of the guys – most of whom are called Dave bizzarely enough – and girls in one of the local hostelries.
25 years on the Class of 83 - not looking bad!
So a lovely few weekends – we are having a party here next week – my usual pre – Xmas event – an excellent time is being had!!
Apologies for the lack of posts recently. Have been back from Nepal for a while but returned to various technical issues including lack of PC and Internet and since those have been fixed have been trying to find time to put together a summary of my trip including whittling down the 800 odd pics I took to a selection for this blog. I have finally done it so please visit the page – it will take a couple of minutes to load as there are about 50 pics on it. Unfortunately I have had to change my site theme so that you can see the link to the new page – don’t like this one as much but will work on it.
What was it like? Very much as I imagined it to be – I have read so much about the country and seen so many pics that much was as I expected. Was not expecting such lovely hotels and restaurants – a lot of it was much more sophisticated and we had swimming pools and lovely food when we were in Kathmandu and Pokhara as well as the roughing it in the village.
The work was as hard as I had expected and it was very, very hot but we coped and I am very proud of myself for being able to do this project. Two years ago I had major health problems that meant I was walking with a stick and in considerable pain so the fact that I went at all makes me very pleased. I would also like to thank my Mum and lovely children who supported me so much in wanting to make the trip. You are all fab and I really, really missed you while I was away.
Life changing experience no – don’t want life to change any more have had enough changes for a while! Life affirming yes – very much so, have come back stronger, physically and mentally and knowing that I was able to do something really special.
I will leave you with a few recent pics – one from graduation this year with my students – my last as the Foundation Course leader as I have gone part-time for this year.
Graduation
The next is my lovely kids again – this was taken on a recent night out. They are still so supportive and have been so wonderful this year.
Ellie and Jake
We went to a friend’s wedding reception on Sunday – congratulations to Nick and Clare from the Team Falchion re-enactment group. We had a great time and this is me and my lovely kids in our medieval costumes as it was a fancy dress event.
My lovely (and very tall!) kids
Promise that there will be regular updates from now on – as long as my internet does not die again!
Stitches of Time 