Tag: blogs

Quilt Love

stitchesoftime2 Comments

Well I had a lovely time at the quilt group sewing day on Saturday. I went armed with my selection of lovely Xmas fabric and my brand new rotary cutter and came away with the pieces for an Xmas wall hanging which I put together yesterday and edged this evening. All that is left to do now if to buy some wadding so that I can layer it and quilt it at the weekend.I adapted a quilt pattern that I have had in my folder for a long time – it was originally meant to be made of 12 blocks but I only wanted a small hanging so just made 4. The pattern is based on two different nine patch quilt blocks with four of the nine patches being split in half.

Xmas Quilt 1
My nine patch block and my new best friend - my rotary cutter

You then join the blocks and applique a tree where the four paler blocks join. I plan to sew brass Xmas charms in the pale blocks around the tree and to put some beads on the outline of the tree after it is quilted.This hanging will go in my hall on the wall opposite all my little baubles which are made of this fabric.

Xmas Quilt 2
The completed four blocks with appliqued tree
Xmas Quilt 3
Close up of the tree in contrasting Xmas pressie fabric

 I love the bauble fabric from Makower  which has been in my stash for a couple of years – I am hoping to get more of this at the Harrogate show.

I really enjoyed the day , everyone was very friendly and helpful , especially Jackie and Davina ,who I sat with, and they taught me how to use the rotary cutter properly and lent me a larger cutting mat and their rulers which made life so much easier. I am going to treat myself to these essentials tools – may wait till the Harrogate Knitting and Stitching Show  in Nov and add them to my shopping list for that if I can wait that long!

I am amazed at how quickly the piece came together, being so used to hand stitching which takes me weeks sometimes. Davina cut out and made an entire quilt top for a child’s bed in one day. I think I will really enjoy this new crafting! I won’t stop hand stitching or knitting as I like to do that in the evenings in front of the TV but now I have got my new machine I will be doing much more with it. I have always been a bit nervous of sewing with a machine – I learnt to use a hand-operated machine so electric ones always seemed too fast and I have not really used them for anything apart from costume making.It has always been a bit of a love hate relationship as I seemed to spend half my time battling to get the thing to work! But the new machine is very lovely and I envisage many happy hours together over this winter!

In other exciting news I have won my first ever blog giveaway! I was looking at my blog with a friend earlier today who had come round to look at setting up a blog for our branch of the Embroiderers’ Guild and was showing her how you could see where people come from to get to your blog and noticed a lot of people clicking on my blog from Greedy for Colour , Kate from New Zealand’s fab blog, and then realised it was because I had won the pincushion giveaway that she ran for her recent birthday. I am very thrilled, especially as her work is amazing so thank you very much Kate! Do go and visit her blog and admire the loveliness.

Am getting on very well with the little Xmas tree patchwork ornaments for my craft fair – assembled another two tonight after adding the border to my hanging. Will be doing some more of those at the weekend as well as finishing my Xmas hanging and the next Monday we are off to lovely sunny Spain for a week during half term ! Can’t wait – especially as it is absolutely pouring down here at the minute and the weather forecast says we are in for a very cold spell at the end of the week.

Hope you have a nice weekend , see you when I return  – thank you for visiting.

The problem with technology ……….

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Is that we have come to rely on it so much. I have just acquired a new (to me) laptop courtesy of Ellie who has got a new one so donated poor old Mum her old one. Fantastic thought I , as I have been making do with a very, very old and slow cast off from work since my last PC failure a few months ago. Finally I can type and the letters will appear on the screen as I am doing it (rather than 5 seconds later) which will make blog posts so much quicker. Also I can install my fave game The Sims  and build and furnish lots of nice houses which will make light relief of all the marking I still have to. 

So it has been great ever since last Tuesday and I have been playing and surfing and doing all manner of things technical …. until yesterday. Jake and I did notice  a certain flakiness about the wireless connection but just unplugged the modem a couple of times and all was well. Today all is getting a little less well as it keeps disconnecting randomly – rang IT help and all is fine with hardware – he suggests that we are getting interference from a neighbour’s connection which makes sense as another network shows up on my list – think it belongs to next door. He advised trying to change channel to avoid them which I have done 3 times so far – fingers crossed for this one. Trouble is you can only change by going to a website so you have to be connected to do it! Ho hum. 

However what I was going to share with you this post was something completely different which is actually quite appropriate for the topic of technology and other little things life throws at us. I was looking at the lovely Mary Kathryn’s website  the other day and she had a link to a site which lets you make your own version of the Keep Calm and Carry On posters from World War 2. I love these – we have them up at work as it is a very appropriate sentiment for anyone involved in education and I use the logo with my students. 

This site allows you to make your own so here are a couple of mine – the first one is so appropriate for my internet woes – though is a little early in the day for imbibing. 

Keep calm - redwine
I think I might get a t-shirt printed with this on!

Have also been having a few problems with my latest knitting WIP due to vagaries of variegated yarn on a short repeat – have done one wristwarmer and have tried to make a second matching one, so far am on third attempt with different parts of different balls. So this is a good poster for the knitting at the moment. 

Keep Knitting logo mine
A very worthy sentiment - I'm sure you will agree!

 Here is Mary Kathryn’s which I love – 

Keep calm logo - Mary Kathryn
or 'take-away' for our UK readers

 If you want to make your own version the web site is called Keep Calm O Matic.  

 I am currently just at the end of my latest stitching WIP – which was started ages ago but needs to be finished asap as it is a birthday gift for a stitching friend and I only just realised that it is her birthday next week! Hopefully it will be finished tonight as I have a lovely evening in front of the TV planned (Syfy channel has been showing lots of disaster movies and remakes recently which has been good for stitching as you don’t have to concentrate!) I am planning a different finish inspired by something I saw on a stitching website – a pin keep with a scissor pocket on the back so will post pics of that later in the week – assuming the internet is still ok! Keeping fingers crossed. 

Thanks for visiting.

A crafty weekend ahead

stitchesoftime3 Comments

Hello there 

As you may remember from my last post we were heading down to South Wales this weekend however that has not been possible due to a combination of my work pressures, Jake’s GCSE work pressures and me being in a lot of pain due to back problems etc. 

Work has been so manic recently that I have been doing additional hours and working the last two weekends and realised that all I wanted to do this weekend was sleep, read while enjoying a long soak in a bubble bath and indulge in lots of crafty behaviour. So that is what we are doing instead. There may be a little bit of gardening involved (if the back is ok) but at the moment that looks unlikely due to very wet weather. 

Hopefully things will quieten down a  bit at work in the next couple of weeks ready for a mellow and relaxing summer ( I am very much an optomist!). It is a very lovely job and I get to work with wonderful people but there is always such a lot to do – if anyone can lend me 100 hours they are not using or can point me in the direction of a pattern to knit more time that would be most useful! 

My full-time students finished their course this week and we had a lunchtime celebration – they very kindly bought me presents amongst them these beautiful flowers. 

Gerbera 2
The bouquet in the hall - I love lilies and gerbera so these were an excellent choice
Gerbera 1
What a perfect flower - and such a fab colour

I grow lots of lilies in the garden and always have great success with them – have not tried gerberas yet. The garden is looking very lovely at the moment – the rhododendrons and azaleas are blooming along with the pirieus and the clematis are just about to start so it is all looking very colourful – so nice after the long, cold winter. 

I have several knitting and stitching projects on the go at the moment – I am making very good progress with the lace scarf from the Ravelry pattern. 

Lace scarf 3
Only 1/4 ball left to knit
Lace scarf 2
A close up of the fan and feather pattern

I have another lace scarf pattern lined up but in between have got some stitching to finish. I have completed the cross stitch for my next exchange – have just got the finishing into a pillow ornament to do and that one can be sent to the USA. 

I have just started on a Quaker motif scissor keep as a donation for Tracy at Cupcakes at Home’s  fundraising raffle. Tracy is rescuing rare breed sheep so do go and visit her blog and if you can help in any way I am sure that she would be very grateful. 

I am also planning to do lots of reading – I have just finished the second book by the wonderful Laurie Perry aka Crazy Aunt Purl  – ‘Home is Where the Wine is‘. I think Laurie is fantastic – if you have never read her blog do go and visit – she will have you in stitches both with her humour and her knitting inspiration. She has done a great job of keeping me sane over the last couple of years with her inspirational writing. 

Aunt Purl book
Crazy Aunt Purl's new book

I hope she won’t mind me giving you a sample of why she is so my kind of woman – this is from one of her recent posts where someone suggested the idea of a lending library for yarn so that we can borrow rather than buy stash we are never going to use. 

‘I’m sure lots of folks here can give you great ideas on where to donate yarn but I wanted to tell you that your craft lending library idea is BRILLIANT and I hope when I am a gazallionaire (as I hope to be one day) I can open up the world’s first Craft Lending Library and Wine Bar. We’ll have big comfy couches and chairs, plenty of books, yarn, hooks and needles and a shop cat who will be one of those rare felines that loves everyone and sits everywhere. And I’ll have a poolboy.’  

Laurie Perry – Crazy Aunt Purl 2010 

Well I hope you have a really lovely weekend and that the weather improves – have optimistically suggested we have our first at home BBQ on Monday so here’s hoping for sunshine! 

Thanks for visiting.

Travels round my internet

stitchesoftime1 Comment

I just love the internet! When it was first invented I can remember saying that I didn’t really see the point and didn’t think I would use it – how wrong I was! I just love discovering new blogs and interesting sites and thought that I would share a couple of my new treasures with you today.

I found this first one in an old article from the Guardian Online Life and Style section about the rise of new domesticity – how baking cakes and knitting has become trendy amongst the ‘younger generation’. Personally I have always done these things but then I had a traditional girls only grammar school upbringing and could do five kinds of pastry by the time I was 15 so I think it is great that people are enjoying making and creating things whatever their age.

The blog is called Yarnstorm  and is run by a multitalented lady called Jane Brocket who does all manner of household crafts and has some fab pics on the site – lots of lovely garden pics which I really like as well as all the crafts.She has also published a few books and one in particular will have to go on my wish list – Cherry Cake and Ginger Beer – a collection of recipes taken from childrens’  books of the sort I used to love reading . I am currently watching Little House on the Prairie on DVD and am having huge nostalgia moments for all those wonderful books I read – next I will go and find Susannah of the Mounties!

Most of the books I loved as a child were about adventures and people living or visiting  quite remote places and I am sure these very heavily influenced me to want to travel.

It was the description of one of her visits to Kew that led me to look at a link she had to a botanical artist – an amazingly talented woman called Susannah Blaxhill. I hope that Susannah will excuse me using one of her pics but I just had to share with you some of her work. In keeping with the unofficial ‘theme of the month’  this is one of Susannah’s illustrations of some pumpkins from her web site. Go and visit and marvel at the detail. These are amazing works of art and I am going to add a book of her illustrations to my wish list.

Pumpkin illustration
Susannah Blaxill's amazing pumpkin picture

I have a busy week coming up with work but hope to have finished all of my Xmas ornaments by the end of it. I have done very little the last few days but stitch as have had the tail end of horrible flu so have got loads finished off.

Thanks for visiting and I will be back soon.

Xmas baubles and general domesticity

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It has been a very wet and windy weekend so I have spent most of it indoors creating ornaments and cooking. I did venture out yesterday as there was a vintage clothes and textiles fair on in town. Lots of lovely things – mainly 40s and 70s clothes but some lovely beadwork and embroidered bags.

I was looking for textiles I could use in my stitching and got a bargain with these two sets of old textile samples that I will use as backing on small ornaments/ pincushions etc.

Fabric samples
Fabric samples

I don’t think they are very old probably only 1970s or 80s but very pretty.

I have been bauble and pine cone making all week and so far have these towards my fundraising efforts.
Christmas is coming ......
Christmas is coming ......
The pine cones are not in the aforementioned book – they are from Sue Schofield  as before but I bought one of her kits to get the instructions for those. They are made from folded ribbon and lots and lots of pins ! I now have now have very sore thumbs as the one in the middle – the burgundy one – is made of very thick ribbon!
Have also been busy in the kitchen – have made pumpkin soup – as delicious as always! Have not done the lantern with Jake yet – he is very poorly at the moment with bad flu and cough poor lad.
My lunch - pumpkin soup served with olive ciabatta roll - how nice!
My lunch - pumpkin soup served with olive ciabatta roll - how nice!

My children will probably be rolling their eyes in despair at me posting pictures of food but I am also going to post my breakfast as well. Have discovered a fab new blog (was a link off someone else’s – forget who – that I found last night) and is one on the theme of breakfasts. There were some really lovely ideas so thought I would try one of them today – this is a multigrain bagel and pesto topped with a  fried egg with Lee and Perrins Tomato and Worcester sauce – lovely!

Sunday's leisurely breakfast
Sunday's leisurely breakfast

The blog is called Simply Breakfast  and belongs to Jennifer Causey. I plan to try out some more of her lovely ideas – she has a total of 457 posts so that should provide some variety to my mornings (don’t worry kids will not be posting pics of them all!).

Please do go and leave a comment on the 100th post (scroll down the page) – I will be doing the draw in a week. Thanks to everyone who has left comments already.

The wonders of blogging and an impending blogaversary!

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When I started this blog nearly two years ago it was because I was enjoying reading other people’s blogs and felt I should share some of my stuff as well. I wasn’t certain if anyone apart from my family and friends would read it.
 
I discovered Blog Stats early on and found them very useful in checking what people were looking at and that is why I have gradually put more info up about medieval costume and re-enactment as those have proved to be popular pages. I keep a check on overall visits as well as pages and have seen these steadily grow. There was a drop over winter last year during the off season but the visits have climbed up again as this shot of my Stats page below shows.
Look at that line graph go!
Look at that line graph go!

 

I am very pleased to report that last month (Sept) saw a record number of hits. Here is the total.

It says 1852 views that month!!!!
It says 1852 views that month!!!!

This is excellent news for me and I would like to thank everyone who visits here. I didn’t know when I first started if I would be able to find enough to post about on a regular basis or the time to keep it up but it has become something I really enjoy doing.

I used to keep a diary years ago and enjoyed reading that and I enjoy looking back at my posts and pictures. I also really enjoy the fact that I am (hopefully!) contributing to an exchange of knowledge about textiles. I really, really enjoy reading other’s blogs and would hope that people get the same satisfaction out of mine.

A very significant blogging event is about to happen as this is my 98th post! Therefore within the next week I will be putting up my 100th and in true Blogaversary tradition would like to offer a little gift to one of my readers. I don’t know exactly how many people visit regularly (I do have some regular posters) but would like to encourage you all to post a comment on my 100th post and I will randomly choose a winner from those comments.

Please leave your comments on that 100th post and let me know if you would like a stitchy gift or a non stitchy gift. I will leave this open for a while after the 100th post so will put a closing date it to give people who are not frequent visitors chance to enter.

Blog stats – how wonderful!

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I was wondering if anyone was ever reading this blog apart from my relatives and a few friends who I know have left comments (thank you very much) when someone mentioned that there may be blog stats showing how many times the pages have been viewed.

Well not only are there overall number of views (281 at last count – thank you everyone for stopping by!) but details of how many times each post and page has been viewed and when which is very useful. I seem to be getting quite a few hits from people searching for info on medieval stuff so if you are one of those please feel free to ask me any questions through the comments. I am not an expert but know a lot of very talented and knowledgeable people who can usually help with queries. Also let me know if there are any more photos you want to see . Meanwhile if you stop by do leave a comment (yes that means you as well Mum!) – I am guilty of reading blogs for years without doing that but I do now as I know it gives the blog owner a warm fuzzy glow!

I have also changed the blog header – this is a piece of 15th century beadwork that I found on the web – have no more info on the source than that. Have decided to change the header every so often to share with you my large collection of beautiful embroidery pics. Am also attempting to add some other things to the blog – having some trouble but will persevere!