Some Thank Yous

Not some but lots of thank yous really. First of all a HUGE thank you to everyone who has left kind, encouraging comments lately. I know I am not alone when I doubt that what I make or do is good enough (or even good at all!) and it is so encouraging to receive your friendship and support. I used to try and reply individually to all the comments I received but lately pressures of time have meant this is not possible but I do appreciate every single one... so THANK YOU!

I've been doing some more Etsy shopping at the weekend and bought this beautiful brooch from Monda. It is lovely, it goes with so many things and I have worn it twice already. Thank you Monda!


My other lovely Etsy purchase was from Lesley - one of her gorgeous baskets. (I've just noticed a bit of a flowery thing going on here)



Which is the perfect size for keeping my latest sock knitting which has been neglected of late. At least it looks nice sitting in its basket while it waits to be finished.



And there was also this little surprise in my parcel. A beautiful hand painted bird plaque. Thamk you Lesley!

A little while ago I mentioned I had been the recipient of a few blog awards but I've been a bit slow at mentioning them. First of all I got a "You Make My Day Award" from Kitty... thank you Kitty!

And "I love you this Much" from Lesley... thank you again Lesley (Love you too!)

And this "One in a Million Friend" award from Jane... thank you Jane!

I'm going to break the rules for these awards and not pass them on to individuals because I think I would find it too hard to single anyone out so if you read this and leave me comments or if you read this and don't leave me comments... then consider these awards yours too! And that especially goes for the three of you who gave them to me in the first place!

This post is getting seriously like an Oscar acceptance speech. But I think I've mentioned everyone who deserved a thank you... and so I leave you with news and pictures of Joe. These were taken in Fiji, although he is now in Australia. Aussie readers beware... he tells me he has a job selling door to door!

I love this photo of Joe and his friends on the beach... don't you just wish you were there!

Crazy

I feel more than a little crazy! Frantic activity this week trying to explore my crazy patchwork theme using lots of different materials to produce "crazy" samples. Plus lots more research. I'm finding this all very exciting but it doesn't leave much time for anything else... and there is still so much more I want to explore. (Ah well... it's only for the next five and a half years!)


Also I'm going crazy making things to sell on Saturday when I will be here:

Reach is a lovely village just north of Cambridge and there should be lots of fabulous things to see... and buy! Fellow blogger Purple Podded Peas will be there with her beautiful prints too, so if you live nearby do come and say hello!

Couple of other bits of exciting news to share - I've been asked to teach classes and have an exhibition at the Jersey Textile Showcase next year and also I've just heard that I've been accepted as a member of Prism which is the exhibiting group for Opus... which is all very exciting and more than just a teensy bit scary!

Bad Hair Day?

Ruby has been having trouble with her hair...

Only one solution really....

I Said I'd be Back...

... and here I am! I have missed blogging but it has been a very productive week. I have been glued to the computer and had my head in books virtually all day and everyday... only leaving the house to walk the dog... but I have managed to work my way through the remaining assignments and I'm ready for my tutorial this evening. YIPPEE!!!!

I've covered just about every stitch technique you can imagine - from smocking to crazy patchwork, from goldwork to rug making, from the work of artists as diverse as Magdalena Abakanowicz and Ritzi Jacobi to the work of designers like Jean Paul Gaultier, from corsets to anoraks, kayaks to yurts... if it's been stitched then I've read about it! I've even managed some samples too.



I loved doing the crazy patchwork and have lots of ideas where I might take this technique although I'll not be sorry if I never try smocking ever again! I've now got to focus on three of the methods studied and develop them into personal projects - got about five weeks to do that!

In order to relax in the evenings I've been... doing more sewing! First of all Jacob wanted something to protect his ipod when it is lurking in the depths of his pockets along with keys, coins and other objects likely to damage it! So we found some suitable fabric for a fifteen year old boy (he chose it) - and this is what we came up with.

There have also been a few of these friendly chaps being made as I've got a craft fair coming up in just over a week and thought my dwindling stock needed replenishing. Any that don't sell might be appearing in my soon to be announced Etsy shop!

Also with the craft fair (and Etsy) in mind I wanted to try some naive applique, inspired by some of the work by we saw at the Country Living Fair, and so I made this little clutch bag from linen fabrics...

With a bright pink lining to match the buttons....

On the applique picture on the back.

(Ok... I can see it needs ironing but there hasn't been much of that going on this week!)

Not much cooking and baking over the past week either - except for this fruit loaf. A fabulous sugar free recipe sent to me by Trashalou which Jacob (and his friend who was over for the day) absolutely loved. Full of fruit like raisins, dates and apricots it also had a secret ingredient that I didn't reveal until they'd eaten it... mashed sweet potato! Thank you... I'll be making that again!

Finally I'll leave you with a glimse of what I've been doing with those dyed recycled blankets.... more crazy patchwork inspired by the gorgeous work of Madeleine Millington.

I'll show more when it is finished but first I need to clean my house, wash some clothes and restock the fridge!

A Pause in Proceedings

Last night I had a tutorial for my Opus course and we (?) decided that as I am a little behind on this module, due to a spell in hospital and tending to our little family crisis, it would be a good idea for me to make a real effort to catch up before my next tutorial. There are seven stitch methodology assignments we have to study before moving onto the next part of the module - so far I have managed to finish two in the past two weeks - "Image" and "Pattern" which means I have five more to get through before Thursday 27th March... Aaarrgh!!!
So I've got to prioritise... and I've decided to take a little blogging break for a week or so. It was that or not feed the family... mmmm, tempting...


So before I go I'll leave you with a little colour. At the weekend I found two wool blankets in our local charity shop (thrift store) for the bargain price of £1.50 each. But not very inspiring colours.



So, I cut them up and with the help of some machine dyes I've now got all these beautiful pieces of coloured recycled blankets to use in some lovely stitch projects... if only I had the time for some stitch projects. I guess I'll just add them to the ever growing stash of other fabrics I never get around to using. Nice to look at though.

I've also had a few blogging awards from some of you recently but I've not been organised enough to mention them. I'd like to say thank you for thinking of me - you know who you are and I promise I'll get around to mentioning them soon. On that note - I'd better get back to feeding the family before continuing with the next assignment! Have a wonderful Easter holiday... think of me... and in the words of this man... "I'll be back!"

Baking and Stitch

After our wonderful day on Friday I spent most of Saturday morning sorting out problems for my travelling eighteen year old - "Of course I'm a responsible grown up" - son who has managed to lose his wallet in Fiji complete with two debit cards and about £250 of local currency! He has two accounts - one with Nationwide who were incredibly helpful over the phone (I actually managed to speak to a person at his branch) and put a stop on his account. His second account is with one of the major banks ... who weren't so helpful! Failing to get through to anyone in person I had to make a trip into his branch where I was met with much resistance. After convincing them I was his mother (despite different surnames), that no, they couldn't phone him, that it was okay that I was opening his mail etc etc - they too eventually put a stop on his account... but it was hard work! In four months he has lost his phone, broken his camera and now lost his wallet. Only five more months until he comes home.... do you think it has anything to do with the company he keeps???

Sunday we resumed our quest for tasty low sugar treats. Although there are no forbidden foods for Jacob he has to make sure he has plenty of slow release carbohydrates at every meal - bread, potato, rice, pasta etc and limit the amount of fast acting sugar he consumes. Val recommended the chocolate bread from "Apples for Jam" which got a mixed reception from the family although Jacob approved...

And I thought it was fabulous for breakfast with a chopped banana. Thanks for the tip Val - I'll be making that again!

I also found a recipe for these fruity muesli bars made with apple concentrate and no added sugar. Stewart and I really liked them but Jacob was disappointed... not surprising really as he thought they were flapjacks. And nice though they are, they don't really compete with the real thing laden with Golden Syrup!

And finally I made some granary rolls to go in his packed lunches this week. I think that's enough baking for one week!

I also managed a little bit of stitching of samples for my "Pattern" module. Having seen so many wonderful photo collages on other peoples blogs recently I thought I'd have a play around and I'm feeling very pleased with myself because this is the result....

... my stitched samples! Time to move on to "Sculptural Form" this week - should be interesting!

Didn't we have a lovely day...

You've probably read all about it by now but yesterday six bloggy friends - Lucy, Lesley, Val, Jane, Lucy's big sister Ally (not blogging yet but under pressure!) and me - met up in London to go to the Country Living Spring Fair.




Val and I live quite close to each other so we drove down together as far as Cockfosters where we left the car to get the underground into town... we were both very excited and started getting text messages from Lucy on the way!

We stood around outside for about 30 seconds before Lesley and Ally found us (wearing our pink carnations!) and before we knew it Lucy arrived in a taxi amid much squealing and hugging and general excitment! (Jane had to work in the morning so she joined us later)

It was fantastic to meet for real and it was as if we had all known each other forever! In all the excitment I forgot to take any more photos so I don't have any of us all together but Lucy's friend took one which I'm sure she will share very soon! In true blogger's style there were lots of lovely gifts. Val gave us these fab mug cosies and genuine Dotty Cookies! I shared these with the boys when I got home but not before I got one first! Yummy!

Lesley had made us each a bag to carry home all our purchases... mine is fabulous (well, they all were!) and has been used again today!

And Lucy made us each a wallet. I love the fabric on this - it's gorgeous!

Look at those cute hedgehogs inside! And the fabulous spotty fabric.

And if that wasn't enough Ally gave us all chocolate...

Inside was not one but two egg laying bunnies! (I kept quiet about those and didn't share them... very tasty!)

Of course when we eventually went inside there was shopping too though I think we all would have been just as happy just sitting around chatting. But there were some beautiful things to see and buy so I did make a couple of purchases. We all bought these cute little handbag mirrors in vintage fabric cases from Acorn and Will - a stall laden with tempting goodies.

And another stall which caught all our eyes was The Polka Dot Pear Co. (no website yet) which had beautiful applique pictures made from recycled fabrics by Sharon Blackman. I bought these four cards which show some of the pictures. They were much more beautiful in real life.

So as you can see by all my enthusing and superlatives we had a fantastic super duper day and everyone was just as lovely as you might imagine. But then that's no surprise really because we all know how lovely bloggers are! We are all looking forward to the next time!