Good Books and Happy Thoughts!

I finished another book this week - The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. It was gentle, humourous, slightly old fashioned and full of wonderful quirky characters but by the time I reached the end I felt as though I'd read something quite powerful that told the story of the German occupation of Guernsey during World War II. The unusual feature of the book is that it is written entirely as a series of letters between author Juliet Ashton and various members of the Literary Society and other friends. It is a charming book... do read it if you get a chance!

It immediately brought to mind another delightful book that is largely a series of letters - 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff. I read this years ago but fortunately still have my copy and so I've been reading this again this week too and it is just as good as I remember it. The true story unfolds through a series of letters written by the author Helene Hanff to a bookshop at 84, Charing Cross road... wonderful stuff!

It did get me thinking how sad it is in these days of email, text messages and various other forms of instant communication that the art of letter writing seems to have virtually died out. Will historians of the future be able to put together such vivid pictures of the past without these wonderful personal accounts and little snapshots of lives that are contained in letters? And what about diaries... how many of us keep hand written diaries now that we have blogs? With this in mind I sat and wrote a letter to a friend yesterday...

Which brings to mind a tag I was given recently by Pink Cat to list 10 things that make me happy and so top of the list (and then rather randomly):

• Receiving a hand written letter or note
• Reading a good book
• Finishing a current knitting project and deciding what to make next
• Waking up and noticing the mornings are actually getting lighter at last
• Waking up on a Saturday morning and realising that I don't have to work this weekend
• Waking up on a Saturday morning, realising that I don't have to work this weekend AND discovering that the sun is shining... and being brought a cuppa in bed!
• Finding a warm egg in the hens' nesting box
• Eating that egg, poached on toast, for my lunch
• Having a walk in the sunshine after lunch
• Receiving parcels in the post... which is good news because Pink Cat and I have both posted each others seven days of specialness swap parcels which should arrive at the beginning of next week.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend and I hope the sun is shining where you are!

A New Lease of Life

It is a favourite cardigan. Nothing fancy... light, jersey, cheap but comfortable and perfect for brightening up an outfit. When the hole first started to appear I would push my sleeves up and hope no-one would notice. But it got bigger and trying to stitch the cuff back on seemed an impossible task. Time for the rag bag?

Then I remembered some rather beautiful Japanese binding, bought years ago and put at the back of a drawer for the day I would find a use for it.

It seemed like a good use use for it....

And my favourite cardigan has a new lease of life. Do you think I should cover the buttons too?

p.s. Sorry about the dreadful quality of photos - I'm having camera problems that are putting paid to several potential blog posts and I'm not sure what to do about it! I've tried with flash, without flash, various settings and even photoshop editing but nothing is working. Arrrgh!

Another little woad trip...

Cast your mind back to the long drawn out story of the woad dyed fabrics.... there was a challenge... Jude and I were to make each other Christmas presents using said fabrics. In desperation, Jude attempted to saw off her thumb to get out of her side of the bargain and sent me a wonderful book on knitting for Christmas instead. Meanwhile I cheated and dyed my fabrics with indigo. But yesterday a parcel arrived. With her thumb on the mend Jude has made me this gorgeous napkin holder so I may eat my lunch in style...

In truth, it is so beautiful I would really like to wear it... but my hand won't slip through. Instead I shall just linger over my lunch and sit and admire it while I wipe my mouth with my crisp white napkin... which beats the back of my sleeve anyday.

Thank you Jude... most unexpected when you'd already sent a gift but very much appreciated. Do you think we've finally come to the end of the woad....?

A Long Day

We had a great workshop at Art and Stitch yesterday - very busy and productive. I took lots of close up photos of each individual book thinking I'd make a very arty looking collage... and they were all out of focus! So here are all the finished books plus a few in progress that the ladies made. Didn't they do well!

I got straight home, made an apple cake to take as a pud and then we got dressed up to go out to friends for a Burn's Supper...

Needless to say I'm feeling a little jaded this morning... and the wearer of the above is still in his bed!

Tickled Pink!

I'm quite sure that a lurid pink cake stand might not be considered the best possible taste but I couldn't resist it... especially at the princely sum of £1.60. And I was rather hoping it was so awful it might be considered kitsch.

But frankly, I don't care because where else could I sit my lurid pink cupcakes?

And I feel tickled pink every time I look at it!

Hot off the needles...

Another pair of Maine Morning Mitts... but this time for me!


Because they are so very easy and quick to make...
Because I had a skein of Rowan Colourscape begging to be used...
Because a girl can never have too many pairs of mitts...

And because they really are so very warm and cosy!

Fun Guaranteed!

Do you live within easy reach of Peterborough?

Are you free on Saturday?

Do you fancy learning how to make little books?

I'm running a workshop at Art and Stitch this Saturday, 23rd January to make small books with origami folded pages. The covers are bonded layers of fabrics with trapped leaves, which are then machine stitched. We will cover some basic free machining as well as learning to make braids on the machine and at the end of the day you will have completed your own little book to take home. There are still some places available so get in touch with me or Angela at Art and Stitch if you are interested. Would love to see you there!

Fun guaranteed!