Home again, home again, clippety clop

I am so disorganised it's untrue!

I returned from holiday early on Sunday morning, but since then my feet have hardly touched the ground. There has been so much to do. All the things I postponed until after my holidays had to be taken care of.

The sky was black with chickens coming home to roost!

I had a central heating unit to service, a tooth to be filled, hair to be cut, a dog to collect, a mum to return, a class to attend, meals to book, tickets to buy, letters to write, and two days work promised. Then you have to eat, so you have to shop, so you have to cook.

Hey ho.

We went to Southern Ireland for two weeks and what a beautiful place it is. I thought we were lucky here in the North of England, we have the Dales, the Moors, the Coast and the Lakes all within an hour or two, but Ireland - well - its something else.

My only tiny gripe is ......the rain.

And boy, did it rain -

river-flooding,
garden-drowning,
despair-making,
holiday-spoiling,
monsoon-copying
rain.

I became very expert at winding down the car window, snapping a quick photo and winding it up again before we all got drenched. In the end, it was so bad it was funny! We decided just to do everything we had planned anyway, but it was a shame. There were pretty villages and fishing harbours which we only peered at through the swish of the windscreen wipers!

I have pictures and I will post some when I am on my main laptop. This is just my netbook and I don't store them here.

I took sewing with me - Mary Wigham - but actually did none at all. There was certainly time, but somehow my mind was in a whirl and I just couldn't settle to do it. Now I am back I am trying to pick up and finish some of the smaller projects I started before I went but which were too much hassle to pack and take. I have a 'Welcome Baby' heart, a Christmas ornament and a needle case similar to the one I gave Patti well on the way.

I have had some lovely comments on my blog, some even talking about previous postings which means readers actually went back and looked at them. Thank you so much. I have had queries and tips and praise and I am grateful for them all.

As soon as I get my head together, I will finish choosing my award winners.
About time too, some would say.

Irene
xx

Too hard!!

I need to write a quick post to say that it is too hard!

Patti's 'rules' are that the award is passed on to blogs that are smile worthy and not necessarily to those of people who follow or comment regularly on your own blog. These rules are good rules.

But - finding only six blogs that especially make me smile from the very many that I read every day that make me smile, is just too hard. And because I was so pleased to get the award from Patti I don't want to award mine in a higgledy piggledy, devil may care, what does it matter, kind of way.

At the moment I have three definite nominations, but the other three........????

And tomorrow I go on holiday so there will be a two-week gap in my posts. So, if your blog is funny, or flippant, or wry, or dry, or just crazy, hold you breath......it might be you!

Well, OK - it is two weeks, you can have a couple of breaths if you really need them.

Happy holidays
Irene
xxx

My first blog award!

I was delighted to see that Patti had given me this award. How cute is this? Thank you so much Patti, for the award and more importantly, for the sentiment that goes with it.

Now I need to pass on this smiley acknowledgement by choosing 6 blogs which make me smile too. No easy task - I could give this to many lovely interesting funny blogs. So, if you will forgive me, I will take a little time to think about it.

It feels so special to receive this, and it is wonderful to have contact and even make friends with people all over the world. A few years ago, such a thing would be beyond imagining.

Best wishes, and again many thanks. I am off to peruse some of favourite blogs.

Irene
xx

A gift for a friend

I made this little needle case as a surprise gift for my blogger friend Patti. She has been so supportive and always writes a lovely comment when I post. We live at different ends of the country, but found out recently that as we are both members of The Sampler Guild, we will both be attending the Jackie du Plessis classes in this country in May next year - so we will meet. In fact we have arranged to be room mates! I can see it will be great fun!!

The basic chart for this is from the French book 'Miniatures au Point de Croix' but I added the 'les aiguilles' bit (it seemed more exotic than 'needles') and I just made up the construction as I went along. Actually this slap-dash approach led to the formation of the little pocket which could hold packets of needles, or threaders, along with loose needles on the flappy bit. I think I will do this again. I stitched it one over one with Vikki Clayton's Blueberry Soup silk. My exceptional photography means that you can't see it ties with a ribbon bow. I included a few tiny antique buttons, a little tin heart and a few of those little tags you can just see on the top, which say things like 'made with love', 'created for you' and 'hand made'.

Patti mailed me this morning to say she is delighted so - if she is pleased, I am pleased - and I was very very happy to stitch it for her. Thank you again, Patti, and here's to our stitching weekend.

By the way, Patti has a super draw happening at the moment, to celebrate the safe arrival of her grandson Oliver, so pop on over and have a look.http://tapestry-of-dreams.blogspot.com/

The Sampler Guild web site is http://www.thesamplerguild.co.uk/ in case you want to have a look there too. It is a very friendly group of like-minded people.

Thanks for visiting.

Irene

xx

Quaker pyn keepe

I used a motif from a larger freebie chart for this little pyn keepe. I wish I could give credit to the designer, but unfortunately I trimmed up the pages to make it easier to work across the motifs and cut off all the information. If I find it again, I will certainly note the details here.

This was my first pin keep and I can only say it is 'OK'. I think the stitching and finishing are alright, but the little bow on top was a nightmare to make up. I have since found a blog giving hints on how to do it, but too late for this one, which, if you look closely, is still slightly off centre. Believe me, this was in spite of much fiddling, pinning, cursing and sighing. I do not give in without a fight and hate things to be 'not quite' but in this case - !!!!

It was stitched one over one on 28 count using HDF Gandy Tango.

To tell the truth, it was going to be my first Blog Draw too. I recently reached 1,000 views and wanted to celebrate, but it ended up not good enough so I will try again and let you know. Maybe I will just have a draw for no particular reason.

I did a little more stitching too, but that is a gift and not to be shown here yet.

Love
Irene
xx

Pretty cut-glass pin jar.

This is another little find in my quest for sewing bits and bobs. It is a pretty little pin jar with a white metal lid and the word 'Pins' picked out in gold ( I should be so lucky!). The pins were included when I bought it, so I didn't realise at the time that the jar is quite shallow, in fact you can just make out a line about a third of the way up on this photo. This means that the jar is heavy and very stable, but also that when reaching in for a pin, your finger can easily reach the bottom. Those Victorians actually thought quite carefully about how objects would work in practice, didn't they?

I have some stitching to show too, a little Quaker pin keep, sorry - pyn keepe - but I need to charge up the camera first.

Thank you for your previous comments. I love to read them

Irene
xx

Ecriture

I showed this stitching to my son who tried to pick up the pen. My job here is done!!

I haven't pressed it properly ( actually - I haven't pressed it at all ), so apologies for the wavy appearance.

It represents a page from a child's French writing practice book, complete with teacher's corrections - and a ink splat. It appealed to me, but I am not sure how to finish it. I am thinking it would make an excellent slip cover for a note book, but this is a finish I have never tried before. Still, as a teacher I must have covered a million books with paper, really - a million - easily, so that must give me a bit of an insight into how to begin.

OK, I am going to tell you something.

I wasn't going to, but I will.

This was almost finished and only needed my name and a date adding. So, with determination this morning, I put it into a small hoop, ready to complete it.

I began to sew, and immediately panicked because my eyesight seemed to have deteriorated overnight. I was poking about in the back of the work, unable to hit the hole I was wanting. It was awful. I thought 'This is it then, the end of my sewing, I just can't do it anymore'.

I changed the needle, maybe that one was blunt, no difference.

I plodded on but it took an absolute age.

Finally it was finished and I took it out of the hoop.

Mmmmm - eyes not blind. Needle not blunt.

Sewing doubled up in hoop giving two layers of fabric.

Idiot!!! I couldn't bear to frog and repeat so I just treated the second layer like waste fabric and picked it out thread by thread.

Anybody else make basic beginner mistakes like this? I thought not!

Best wishes

Irene

xxx

Look what I've got now!!!

Actually I have had this beautiful sewing box for a few weeks and I am busy hunting down old needlework tools to go inside. At the moment I have, all in bone, some bodkins, a tatting shuttle, some thread holders, quite a lot of crochet hooks, (some with mother of pearl handles) and some carved things which look needleworky, so they're going in too. There is a lovely old painted tape measure, and of course, some thimbles and some antique packets of needles. The back of the lid is a pin cushion and it drops open to make a space for charts or patterns - or secret love letters??

It's nice isn't it?

I have some sewing pics to show too, but I haven't worked out how to load two different pictures into the same blog using Picasa. The above is a collage which downloads as one picture. If you haven't tried Picasa, give it a go. It's free to download.

Regards
Irene

Just exquisite! And another draw to be won.

A quick posting to say that I received my draw prize from Patti and it is just lovely. The pin keep is so finely stitched and finished it will take pride of place in my collection of smalls. Thank you again Patti.

New news.

Patti is having another draw and this one will be even more spectacular. Pop over to her site again and have a look. www.tapestry-of-dreams.blogspot.com

It finishes on July 14th and is definitely worth the effort.

I don't know whether I should have a go or not....it seems a little greedy.

Aw, go on then, I will!!!

Best wishes

Irene

It's mine, it's mine!!!!

Let me tell you, if one of my blog favourites is having a draw, I add a comment and my name to the list, but I never win.

UNTIL NOW!

I won Patti's draw, so soon I will be the proud owner of the lovely Mary Little pin keep above. How lucky am I? The awful truth is, I had been so busy that I hadn't had time to read any blogs or to check Patti's (http://tapestry-of-dreams.blogspot.com/) so when I eventually did, my surprise and pleasure was even greater.

This will be my first ever pin keep, I have never made one and have never been given one before. I am so looking forward to receiving it.

Thank you so much for you generosity Patti.

Regards

Irene
xxx