stitch&bake

Creeping towards a finish

2012-02-01T22:37:00.003Z

Yesterdays progress, today I have been working on a very large design, so it will probably be a couple of days in the sewing, then only one more intricate large flower. Its looking good.

Crewel progress

2012-01-31T13:20:00.001Z

Autumn Glory

Well I have been busy of late and no sewing has been done apart from the Crewel work and this is the latest flower to be finished. I have most of it done in the right hand corner too so mainly 3 very large flowers to work on and then finito.....

I seem to have done nothing but attend meetings towards the end of last week which left me feeling a bit flat. But the cold spell gave me the chance to get out on the hills this weekend and take my ice axe for a hike (once a year) and so that was good for me. We had very good conditions on the top with fresh snow so the axe was not needed. I did get my crampons out though and they are wonderful on crisp snow which was what we found on the windward side of the hill.

Well I must dash, I have a fair bit to do.

Thank you Walmart

2012-01-17T16:24:00.000Z

This is the back of my Christmas tablecloth and I just wanted you to see how good the cheap fabric backing is. I bought it in Walmart, Palm Springs in the spring and its just perfect for the job. I would not make a quilt top with this quality of fabric but for backing stuff at about £3 a yard it can't be beaten. Next time I'm over visiting DD I will need more room in my bag for stashing some more.

My Seville Orange Marmalade

As you can see by the other photo it is Seville orange season and I bought 10. My recipe is simple. I pare off the rind and place it in one pan with about 2 pints of water and simmer for 2 hours slowly, (topping up the water if need be to just cover the rind). In the end I have about half a pint of liquid and the softened rind. I place the rest of the oranges in another pot and cut them into quarters and then once more into eights and add another 2 pints of water to them. These simmer for the same time as the rind and I carefully watch towards the end of the cooking time for any sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Then I take the pulped fruit and pass it through a fine nylon sieve just a few tablespoons at a time and push it around with a wooden spoon so that the liquid all comes out. I scrape the mushy stuff off the bottom of the sieve and that also goes into the marmalade as its quite ok. The sieve contents should be quite dryish and well 'rung out' when I discard them. I repeat this operation until all the pulp has gone through and the result is usually a lovely thick consistency. I then add the rind and its juice to this sieved pulp and pop it back onto heat up. Then I added in this case about 2 and a half kilos of preserving sugar. This only needing boiling for about 5 minutes and then I tested for set and it was ready. (I test on a saucer, just a small spoonful, leave it 5 minutes and then push it with my finger, if it forms creases, its ready.) I use old jam jars with the pop up lids and always make sure they seal i.e. they don't pop back up when pressed. Of course the marmalade goes in hot and the jars are sterilised prior to use with scalding water which is tipped out just before I fill them. In this case the marmalade is a lovely tawny colour and has set perfectly.

My Seville Orange Marmalade.

New year so far

2012-01-06T22:05:00.000Z

The new year is going well apart from the really windy days we have suffered. My neighbours chimney cowl blew down at 7.40 am last week when I was in the kitchen, lucky I was not outside as it came down right outside the kitchen door and hit my DH's workshop door with a large thud. Damaged it slightly too and it just missed their new conservatory. Anyway, the workshop is really near the house so its handy for his projects and this was one of the most interesting I had seen in years of receiving wonderful parcels from him and the way he did it up was stunning.

The present was a lovely spice rack he had made for me and he even painted the chicken too. Needless to say it now sits proudly on the kitchen wall near the hob. He bought me some new pretty storage jars too so I must look out for some more as they really are cute.

I took the tree down on Thursday and as I was doing so most of the needles fell off despite my efforts to stop it happening like lopping off an inch from the bottom and conditioning it in water and leaving it outside for a week. Anyway, Bella was sitting by it and I noticed as the dry needles were falling near her she started sneezing and wheezing a bit, this was not good as the last time she went into kennels she had a reaction against the sawdust they use on the floor and had to be given an injection by the vet who runs the kennels. So it was with Bella's health and well being in mind that I decided I would have an artificial tree in future and I had a quick look on Hayes Garden Centre site and found a tree which in the sale was knocked down by £70, it was originally £209.99. Well nothing like keeping to my new resolution of having no unfinished business or jobs I thought, so I bought it and it came today. So no mess and hoovering up the needles anymore and a much happier dog too. Shame about the smell of pine which I love and remember from when I was very small but Bella is more important.

Bella on Christmas day with her new sheep and bunny

All the best for 2012

2011-12-31T10:15:00.001Z

I hope you all have a Happy New Year and best wishes for peace and prosperity in 2012.

I have made a new year's resolution to finish off things I start....ahmm I hope to be able to stick to it and to show I mean it I am going to spend the day on a cushion cover and another ufo which have been hanging around for a while now......

Table manners

2011-12-28T13:33:00.001Z

My Christmas table

I made my DD a tablecloth as one of her Christmas presents and was so loath to send it to her, ha ha because I liked it so much that I had to make another for myself. Hers should now be gracing a table in California if not it will be used for her marmalade furry to sit on (She has a huge ginger tom.)

Mine is not so subtle as I did not have a Moda charm pack called 'Portugal' for my selection of fabrics. No mine were what I had in the cupboard at the time which was bright and anti gravy proof. Yes the whole idea was to plan for stains and make sure the fabric would hide any...... Both cloths are lined, infact mine has some pretty pink Walmart fabric I bought in Palm Springs in March on the back. So mine can be flipped if I need to change to subdued tones. I made them simply with 5" squares and ten squares across and down. DH likes it so much he said I should make some more.

Desert colours?

Advent day 24 phew.....The Moot Hall

2011-12-24T19:29:00.002Z

Christmas card showing The Moot Hall, Keswick

Well its Christmas Eve and now well into the evening with torrential rain pouring down, but I still have one last job to do. I always decorate my mantlepiece above my wood burner with some greenery and lights so that's the last job. All being well we will venture into the abysmal weather and go for a drink in an old coaching inn with friends. At least that is the plan at the moment.

I hope you all have a peaceful and prosperous Christmas with loved ones around you wherever you are in the world.

If ever you fancy seeing the above building it lies in the middle of our dear little town's Market Square and was built by German miners in the reign of Queen Elizabeth the first.

Christmas wreath idea

2011-12-23T09:36:00.001Z

I used a plastic ring and oasis well wired on and then filled it with greenery

I just love making one of these each year and have a particular tree which I raid. I only take a little because I don't like to spoil the tree. Its the pretty greyish fir which is always good for filling in the background. Then I added Pieris and a few sprigs of Rosemary and finally the red berries on what I think is Cotoneaster? Not sure about that last one but it grows in abundance down towards the lake. I should know it because I used to do a lot more flower arranging, but sadly don't have the time now. Anyway, I saw a clip from a programme BBC Victorian Christmas which showed them making a wreath and they used raffia to wrap around the twigs so I thought why not make a bow from it this year. So this is my effort and I hope you approve, its not showy at all but quite pretty I think.

Shopping bag finished

2011-12-22T20:58:00.001Z

Shirley shopper with removable decoration

I was having lunch with a good friend some time ago and she admired my new shopper so I said I would make her one too. Well that was earlier this year so I just had to make her one soon .... Anyway, this is the shopper which has expanding sides and a removable Christmas medallion just for fun on black and silver glittery ribbon. I will give it to her on Saturday a bit late for Christmas shopping but it might come in handy for the sales...............

Its a bit more sophisticated than the photo looks because it does up with a clasp at the top for security and also inside are one very deep pocket and another for a mobile or glasses, so it took me quite a while to make. The handles are extra thick and soft so they won't cut into hands when the bag is loaded and they are long enough to go on the shoulder. The centre panel is pink not rosy red like the photo and its made with and lined with furnishing fabric so its good and strong, with a plastic insert along the bottom for extra strength. Well that's it for today, I still have some sewing left to do so if it doesn't get done tonight there is always tomorrow.

Shortest day

2011-12-21T18:30:00.001Z

Some haberdashery for my project

Yep, I am still making last minute Christmas presents, so no time to blog much. I ran out of the ribbon so had to dash into town to buy more. I hope to be able to show you what I am making tomorrow, but meanwhile, sorry this is short but I really have to crack on.

Which to choose?

2011-12-20T17:10:00.000Z

Two superb fabrics

I need to make my mind up which of these to use for a project I might have time to do. Both are chocolate brown with silver but the one infront has definately much more bling.......

We went out for tapas last night with some colleagues from Keswick Rambles and I can recommend the Lakes Bar and Bistro tapas it was very good and so was the pudding after, Crème Brûlée, mmm.

A night in tonight as I have things to do but tomorrow we are hoping to go and see the new Sherlock Holmes movie, has anyone seen it yet? Is it good? I usually like Guy Ritchie films so I have a high expectancy of this one as I enjoyed the other very much.

On Guard

2011-12-19T16:58:00.001Z

Bella looking for trouble

She really does think that an odd putty tat is going to stroll into the garden and steal her presents from under the tree.

I have made sure that the door will be closed when we are out tonight and Bella will not be in the room ahm.

Sunday 18th day

2011-12-18T10:14:00.000Z

Father Christmas night light

Somehow without a candle inside this looks daft, but pop a lighted candle inside and it glows. I always bring it out and light a candle when I decorate the tree, its an old custom of mine. So yes, the tree is done and that's why I'm so late with the blog. This year I went for a colour scheme of white, cream, silver and gold.

Meanwhile, this morning I found a video on yahoo which shows how to wrap properly. Wish I had seen this years ago. My DH is brilliant at wrapping stuff but then he has run a mail order business for 30 years, so has plenty of experience. I can't even get the brown tape to go on without creases but he does and the corners of his parcels are perfection. They even admire his handiwork down at the local post office.....So this year I am going to improve my wrapping. Click on the link below if you want to look at the webpage with the video too.

http://uk.lifestyle.yahoo.com/how-to-perfectly-wrap-your-christmas-presents-.html

Its gone colder!

2011-12-17T18:41:00.001Z

A sort of teletubby gingerbread man?

This was just a photo through a shop window, but the effect is weird with the reflection above the smile. I don't suppose I could have designed this shot if I had been trying. I love gingerbread and its great with a cup of tea so with the weather getting colder I think of goodies to eat by the fireside.

I have started to feel a bit more like I want the festive season to happen now. I must admit it takes me until the last week before to really start to get in the mood. Tomorrow I am going hunting in the countryside for greenery to put up in the house; a ritual I do every year. I take a rucksack and some sharp scissors and off I go with Bella to see what looks like it would make a good decoration. I usually target holly, ivy and fir trees. Sometimes there are berries on the holly but this year I think the birds have eaten them all. I hope to put up the tree tomorrow too but I'm not sure if I will have time to decorate it as well, we'll see.

Winter wonderland of snow

2011-12-16T14:23:00.000Z

View from the studio

That's his room by the way, I call mine my study but he calls his 'The Studio' all rather grand sounding don't you think. Funny how men make things sound different to women, and both our rooms are the same size but his sounds so much better and bigger!

Anyway, this fresh snow was there when we opened the curtains this morning and it was enchanting. I just love it when the tree branches glisten with a fresh dusting and have you noticed everywhere goes very quiet when its been snowing. The world seems to hold its breath.

We trudged into town and saw off my brother's parcels for another year, phew that's another job on the tick off list done, but I have more. As it's Friday I do need to work on some urgent business jobs so until tomorrow then.

Disney cake anyone?

2011-12-15T15:44:00.001Z

Brysons's bakery window in Keswick

Well you might think that living in a small town like this (5000 inhabitants) would produce dull shop windows but not at this time of year. Bryson's always put on a superb show. This year they feature this wonderful shimmering ice cake. But they also have other tempting goodies in the window which I might show you later in this advent challenge. I am quite pleased with myself because so far I have managed a blog posting every day and its the 15th so more than half way there, phew!

I have nearly finished designing the Christmas cards today, so I had better crack on.

Cumbria Patchworkers Christmas do

2011-12-14T21:08:00.002Z

My buffet sausage rolls

I made these last night and we had a couple of them warm and they were really good, I can't say that they ever taste as good once they are cold. My fault, I should have asked our hostess to warm them up again and then they would have been at their best. I can post the recipe if you want it, just let me know.

Table decorations thanks to Gloria, wonderful

This was our magnificent spread for our lunch to be shared between 13 of us, but I am pleased to report that the plates were emptied. Some of the cakes are off camera to the right. Just realised that quite a lot more plates of food were added after I took the photo, the table was packed.

A forest of trees

We sat and made these little trees from circles of fabric which diminished in size and were skewered on a bamboo stick which was stuck into an old cotton reel. The angels on the top came all the way from a little shop in Poland and were especially sought out by Marion, so thank you for going to the trouble and especially as you had a bad backache that day! We made more trees than this but they sneaked off somewhere.

We exchanged mug rugs

Lastly, our gift this year was a mug rug for our frequent sewing breaks. To be honest they looked too good to put a mug down on leaving a nasty brown ring, so most of them had been given very colourful backs to take the stains....very thoughtful. They were supposed to be 6" x 9" but as you can see a certain amount of licence abounded amongst the creators.

We had a great day despite the appalling weather (sleet and snow) and thanks very much for all who attended and sorry that quite a few of you had to miss it. I will be emailing out the photos but as I don't have an email for Liz our secretary I wonder if anyone can let me have it. If I don't hear from you I shall send them onto Pat whose email I do have.

Keswick shop window

2011-12-13T16:52:00.000Z

Union Jack Crinoline

This is a fabulous dress! Every time I passed Textures I meant to photograph it but only today did I remember to pack the camera. Keswick does have some lovely window displays at this time of year as it is a major holiday destination so they really try hard to put on an impressive delight for all the tourists.

Its really a shop selling curtain fabric not dress making stuff so I am not sure what they have made the dress in. I need to go in there next week for some supplies so with any luck I will ask if I can have a closer view. If a pattern was used I will try and find out which one it was.

Tonight I am baking something for our Quilters get together tomorrow and if all goes well I will give you the recipe tomorrow but you will have to wait and see as this is entirely dependent on a good result........

New ornaments for the tree

2011-12-12T16:00:00.000Z

My trusty Bernina 1260

Yes it is a trusty machine, and I could never part with it. A little cleaning and oiling each time I use it is going to be my New Year's resolution as I think it needs tlc now its older. Not that there is anything wrong with it, I just want to have the best out of it. And this is one of my new decorations for the tree, homemade silk tussah pinwheels with homemade felt bobble centres covered in gold mesh and beading on the corners. They were a bit fiddly to make but they are done now.

The good news this week is that the Lesser Redpolls are back in my garden. The Nyger seed feeder had 3 females and one male on it this morning along with a couple of Goldfinches and a couple of Siskins. So I am pleased as they are such cute birds and they stayed all winter last year with 14 coming to the feast one day! I will see if I can photograph them but they are not easy to pose.....
I do have last years photos on this blog so if you are new to it you can use the search to see what they got up to last December. Well that's all for today, I have so much to do.

Homemade cards

2011-12-11T13:25:00.001Z

Card design Sally Evans

I do love to receive home made presents and cards and I also enjoy making them myself. This card for instance is charming and so easy to make although you do need to buy the commercial backing card. The tree is very simple but effective and the stuck on sequins bring it to life, although I would have added a star at the top, I might do that actually! And what about a couple of presents at the bottom?

I have still to decide on our home made card for this year but it will have to be soon as today is the 11th I see which means only two weeks to go. But one can achieve a lot in two weeks. Meanwhile, I am still making silk paper ornaments for the tree which is sitting comfortably in its bucket of water outside under the covered way, so its fine and I keep topping up its water so it gets a good drink and retains those needles.

Double the glow

2011-12-10T16:26:00.001Z

Whenever I light candles I try to place them infront of a mirror that way I double the amount of light and the flickering effect. Sometimes I place them in unusual containers too like this rose bowl of potpourri but I never leave a lighted candle unattended.

I have some candles which I use only at Christmas and this is one of them as it is such a lovely deep red colour but when lit becomes rosy. Where do you like to place your candles? I always make a fresh floral arrangement for the table at Christmas and I usually add a candle or two and light it whilst we have our dinner.

Anyway, I have to decide yet which lights I will put on the tree, I need to go and find them and see what choice I have. I seem to remember using blue ones for the last 3 to 4 years so maybe its time for a change and I have never tried white.

Put a cuppa on - Christmas past food

2011-12-09T13:33:00.001Z

I have been so busy sewing of late that thoughts of Christmas food and baking have been kept on the back boiler so to speak. So in an attempt to show you something new and of interest at this time of year I thought you might like to meet a food historian, but not an ordinary one. I first met Ivan Day at least 35 years ago at the house of a friend and he struck me as an individual character with a great interest in art but I did not realise he also loved good food and historic good food too. We kept bumping into each other over the years and then the last time must have been about three years ago when we were in Carlisle for the day. Ivan was in a hurry but did manage to say he was making a programme for the television on historic food and gave me his website address. I had a good look and thought it all very interesting but when I looked recently he had also started a blog, now that's more like it I thought, so for your delectation I offer you his two url's, I hope you enjoy, but I warn you the food looks magnificent and you might need to make a cuppa and put your feet up whilst you browse for quite some time.

Ivan's blog http://foodhistorjottings.blogspot.com/

Ivan's website http://www.historicfood.com/about%20us.htm

Embroiderers' Christmas Lunch

2011-12-08T20:17:00.001Z

A pretty Santa in the bar window seat

It was our annual lunch today and we went to Threlkeld nestling under majestic Blencathra to sample the delights of the menu, and we were not disappointed! We had a good choice on the Festive Menu which included roast turkey, pan seared venison scallops, salmon on a bed of tagliatelle and smoked haddock with poached egg etc.

So if you want to have a really good lunch and you are visiting Cumbria you cannot do better if you like a good traditional English pub than to try the Horse and Farrier at Threlkeld.

Before I go I just want to say hello to Marilyn who has been recovering from a broken wrist and Sally who also was missing today because she is suffering from ill health too. I do hope you are both better soon and have a good Christmas.

I have received the parcel I waited all day yesterday for today.... so now I can finally finish wrapping all those presents and send them on there way to Palm Springs; phew that will be a relief... So I have to crack on, until tomorrow then.

Cold and wet but warm inside

2011-12-07T15:34:00.001Z

All wrapped up!

Well nearly - I am still waiting for a delivery and then hopefully tomorrow this parcel of goodies will 'cross the pond' and be on its way. I have to be careful to wrap stuff properly when it gets to this time of year because DD reads my blog :-)

There is nothing worse than having to sit in and wait for a parcel to arrive is there? I would love to walk Bella or do something else but no, I am waiting and trying to get on with other jobs but somehow its not my full attention being applied. At least we don't have to cook dinner because we are going out to the tennis club Christmas dinner tonight. Sounds grandeous but it is not, just a few of the regular players who make an effort to get together but would you believe it; they are having a committee meeting first! What a way to put a damper on an evening. Anyway, at least I am not a member so don't have to attend the boring bit. So until tomorrow then.

Dreaming of a white Christmas?

2011-12-06T18:17:00.001Z

Well the snow is already here so it might not be for Christmas, who knows. Anyway, my DH and a friend + Bella the Border Terrier decided to go play in the snow today. They attempted to reach the top of Carrock Fell behind Blencathra. All went well at first and then the snow became deeper and deeper until it was over the top of Bella but when it was over the top of Pete's walking poles and not far from the summit plateau their movements were so laborious that they decided to turn back.

This photo was taken before the conditions became worse and it shows Bella taking it all in her stride.

Hang on while I licks me nose will ya!

Tree topper

2011-12-05T13:06:00.001Z

What do you put on top of your Christmas tree? A fairy? or a star maybe? or something else? Usually I find something amusing so I used to put an owl up there complete with feathers... but for the last few years its been a fairy made with an old toilet roll for the base to slip over the tree top. It was made at one of our Embroiderers' guild workshops and I think it was a Sally idea. However, this year I am going to use this funky silver stuffed star, just because it looks silly and brings a smile to my face.

When I was a small girl I used to walk home from school along our road and look carefully at each tree lit up in the window and see how many had fairies and I used to judge which one was my favourite, and of course sometimes the curtains were drawn so you could only make out dim shapes of coloured lights because in those days not many people could afford lined curtains and a good many of them were probably home made; I know ours were. I also used to count how many Christmas trees I could find on the way home and was always pleased when another one appeared. Its a good game for children, I wonder if they still play it nowadays.

Sitting on a candle on the dresser at the moment.

Christmas cards - day four advent

2011-12-04T16:04:00.001Z

A cheerful robin on a christmas card

Cards have started arriving at our house but not all of them are real, some are emails. So how do you feel about this? I know times are hard and many people resent the costs involved in buying the cards and the postage but it is traditional. I for one like to balance the cost by making my own cards, mainly because I enjoy it and because it has become a tradition in our house. This means the outlay is low but the fun element is great, afterall we don't have a television and have not had one for over 10 years so we like to make our own entertainment. Anyway, whatever you decide I hope you enjoy the result. We have not designed our cards yet as its usually done nearer the time and sometimes in a huge rush, but done it is.......................

Advent continued

2011-12-03T12:55:00.001Z

Preparations are under way for Christmas and the tree has been chosen from Whinlatter Forest visitor centre and sits in the covered way in its bucket of water so it gets a long drink. It will then keep its needles until well after New Year. We tried a different tree last year but I do prefer Norwegian Spruce so we went back to this traditonal tree. I need to go and collect some greenery next to make my door wreath but I will probably wait a week before I do and then I will need to condition it so its good and wet before I put it on the front door.

If you decide you need some help making a Christmas wreath then you could try here for inspiration.

Meanwhile, I decided to make some new decorations for the tree. I have all the usual baubles and lights but fancied something new, so I hunted around and found I had loads of silk paper I'd made so I experimented with cutting and folding it into rough star shapes and added a few beads. I have used a handmade felt ball in the centre (left overs from an EG class with Marilyn where we made felt jewellery) and I wrapped it with some gold mesh. The background is more silk paper I made ready for a silk purse workshop I ran a while ago. Its such a versatile material because it handles like paper but you can stitch on it and manipulate it into all sorts of shapes.

experimenting with silk paper

Advent day two

2011-12-02T09:51:00.001Z

There are some amazing competitions out there if you look around and this place is running one every day over advent so what are you waiting for; go enter and win a prize.

http://www.dougalsden.co.uk/blog/category/competitions/
Good Luck!

oops bad start to advent Day one

2011-12-01T22:57:00.001Z

Nearly missed the first day of advent, just scraping in here. But I did blunder over the timing of my shopping in Keswick as I found out that this item which was on my Christmas list for Bella had sold out...blast it.

I don't intend getting her a real one......been there and she dug holes in the lawn all around it poor thing, we had to take it up to the farm and rehome it.

Sunday sewing

2011-11-27T13:12:00.001Z

I don't always have a sleeping pet, she has not been like this today at all, infact I have been playing tug of war for half an hour....

I did manage to do a little research on the internet this morning as I was seeking inspiration for some projects and I found a few sites of interest. Try http://pinwheelponders.blogspot.com/2009/08/fabric-ornaments.html for making Christmas ornaments. Or http://stitchtales.blogspot.com/ for Christmas ideas.

My little one has jumped onto my sofa and is sighing, a good sign that she is going to take a nap which is what I want really if I am going to fire up the Bernina and finish off some sewing. I have a new idea too and I can't wait to try it out but I do need a respite from doggie games just for a bit.

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T22:40:00.001Z

Cushion nearing completion

This has to be finished as I have had it lying around for a month now. I have sewn on the piped edging and I just have the back to do, then a cushion pad to purchase. It looks better than I expected and DH likes it too; always a bonus.

Well I do have a few readers from "across the pond" and as its a special day I found a quilt of a turkey for you. My DD in California is having a chicken she tells me, I suspect its less hassle and she is English so I don't suppose she is really bothered, but I know some of you will be having turkey so my best wishes to you all. We had a humble pie for our dinner.

New mini quilt

2011-11-20T16:58:00.001Z

Chairman's challenge mini quilt for Cumbria Patchworkers

Well this is how far I am along the way to completing this for Wednesday's meeting. I have just pin basted it as its only 16½ x 24 inches. I now need to quilt and bind it, adding a hanging sleeve too. Then sign and date it, phew not much then! Better crack on......... Oh by the way the colours are supposed to be pale lemon, bright green and royal blue as those are the colours on our little badge. Also I have picked out the design on the badge as the main theme with a slight change to make it easier to do as I didn't have time to make circles.

Our badge

Now for the hard part, the quilting, I haven't worked out what to do yet............

Mug Rug

2011-11-19T21:08:00.001Z

Patchwork weave on the left, silk machine embroidery on the right

Just a quick update for those of you who were wondering how the mug rug was coming along. Well I quite enjoyed making it in the end and as I chose woven patchwork for the left side you can actually slip things under some of the weave, like the odd stray pencil or pins. Also the heart is on a green pocket so you can slip bits in there too or of course it can hold your biscuit!

Colour is showing much lighter coz taken at night with artificial lights

Self explanatory really, I did some guesswork on the stitches and came up with these which look ok. Stem stitch and fly stitch with some long stitches and soft shading on the little red flowers. So it's coming on and I will keep you posted as I progress, but I do need to turn my attention to something else tomorrow as I have another little item to make which I need for Wednesday all being well. I am a busy little bee at the moment but deadlines have to be fulfilled and then there is the little matter of finding suitable presents for DD across the pond.......

Making steady progress

2011-11-18T10:24:00.001Z

Long and Short stitch on the leaves and Stem stitch on the ahem .. stems

I have been concentrating on this crewel work kit and I think its coming along ok, so too is my sore back. I am happy with the progress of both at the moment.

So until I have more to show you I will keep this posting short and sweet.

Progress

2011-11-14T09:58:00.001Z

Autumn Glory kit by The Crewel Work Company

I am going to have a go at another crewel project, not sure if it will turn out quite like this photo of it because I only bought the linen marked out ready (not the full kit) as Phillipa Turnbull was selling off some redundant stock a couple of years ago. I have had this waiting since then, yikes, how time flies. So this is the project, to see if I can make this huge cushion anything like it should be. I am not even sure what some of the stitches are because I don't have the instructions either, so I shall ask one of our EG ladies who is an expert and does a lot of sewing in crewel as she makes up stuff for Phillipa sometimes. If you want to make a similar cushion here's the site. They are very good kits by the way and I have now made up 3 which all look very professional.

Next bit of good news is that I asked DH if he would modify my number 9 foot for my Bernina and take out the front so I can see the needle when I am free motion sewing or quilting and he did it this morning and its great, no rough edges or anything, but then he is a master craftsman with metal. His latest project is coming on very well indeed and I love what he does its so beautiful and it works too.
And lastly, I am about to sew a thing called a 'mug rug' which is all about making a mini quilt or something like it with dimensions of 6" x 9" and then you put your mug of tea or coffee on it and there is also room for a biscuit. We are all making one for Christmas in our little Cumbria Patchworkers group and then going to exchange them. I will post a photo if it turns out ok.

Neglecting this blog

2011-11-09T22:05:00.001Z

Today's mayhem

Well yes, I have been busy on my other blog and rather 'blogged' down with doing my C2C posting, but I finished it a few days ago now and still did not have anything new to show on this blog. But hey I went to Wasdale over the mountain passes last weekend carrying all my gear in a rucksack and back the next day, so I have been busy. Trouble brewed with my back though as it had been a bit tetchy the couple of days before we left and by the time we came back on Sunday it was telling me it was not happy. Result, see that hot water bottle and the messed up sofa, that's where yours truly has been hanging out since Monday, apart from when I crept up to bed and gingerly slid in. However, the stiff back is better tonight and maybe tomorrow I will be able to help out with a few chores around here as DH has been a brick as usual. The good news is that having immobilised myself I did not know what to do and no current novel was lined up either, blast I thought, then I remembered my crewelwork....Yes its been a while in this frame, if I want to find out I only need to check back in this blog, but I don't think I'll bother. I also intend to finish it this time round and not leave it again, so wish me luck. Oh well back to the hot water bottle treatment.

Couldn't resist

2011-10-21T20:41:00.005+01:00

Brooklyn skirt

I went into White Stuff this week and they had another skirt like the one I bought last year but in mushroom. So I bought it as the other one is so pretty on and warm in winter too. I am wearing it out tonight as we are going down to the George later. I have to go as I am still trying to write up my other blog.

Regional Day last Saturday

2011-10-15T13:04:00.000+01:00

Some of this was bought at the Regional Day

I forgot to take a camera along to the Braithwaite Institute last Saturday which is a shame because we had Ferret showing us her quilts in the afternoon and they were astonishing. She is a very good speaker too so if you have never been to one of her talks I would encourage you to go.

She showed us many of her award winners as well as others she had made and they ranged from large double bed size to quite small. I had a close look at some of them as I was on the stage at the end and helped her re-pack them all. If ever you are asked by a famous quilter to help pack make sure you pay attention because they like it done their way and know exactly how they want you to fold and pack so that its easy for them to get them all out again for the next show. I learnt a lot, not just about packing quilts but also some very useful tips which she gave without prompting. Ferret is loquacious and she is not at all fazed by being asked how she does things because she wants people to learn from her and from her mistakes which she points out too. I appreciated her altruism and hope to be a better quilter for it.

I also volunteered to make a panel for the North West Regional Banner which is going to be completed and hung at St. Anthony's Hall in York. As luck would have it the subject I fancied doing had been chosen as one of the panels they needed and yes it is going to be another lighthouse, yippee! I will need a Cumbrian one of course and I just happen to have passed the very one I fancy on my recent Coast to Coast journey at St. Bees. So it will hopefully be one of my next projects. I will keep you posted of course as to progress.

Gothic Door

2011-10-03T22:45:00.003+01:00

Grasmere Church

This is another view of the church at Grasmere, and its a close up of the doorway. I rather like English Oak doors and this is a lovely example of one. The sun shone on us all day, sigh, I wish it would come back, as today it rained and blew.....

Grasmere Church

2011-09-29T21:51:00.003+01:00

This is day 3 on the coast to coast when we arrived at Grasmere where William Wordsworth is buried. The village is one of the most beautiful in Lakeland and certainly provided a haven for our weary travellers. They had the chance to visit Dove Cottage in the morning before setting off again on day 4.

I'm back from the coast to coast

2011-09-28T22:45:00.002+01:00

I wanted to let you know why I have not posted for a while so as you can see from the photo I look set for a journey. Infact it was the longest sustained hike I have ever done, two weeks on the coast to coast across the North of England from St Bees in Cumbria to Robin Hood's Bay in Yorkshire, that's Irish Sea to North Sea. It was an incredible journey of a lifetime and I was with my DH and we were leading a group of Americans all the way. We set off on Monday 12th Sept and reached the end on Sunday 25th. I have to admit that I resisted the temptation to take a needle and thread with me, I had enough to do.......

At last, the chance to do the coast to coast

New bit of delicious kit

2011-09-09T12:54:00.000+01:00

This new top of mine is almost good enough to eat! I can't wait to wear it on a cold day. It is a quilted, ripstop nylon inside and out piece of kit designed to go into a diddy little bag and it weighs only 5 ozs. Yes, it's destined to be part of my rucksack necessities and will be my emergency clothing for those odd times when it really turns cold. This is a down filled top and it is so soft and warm. At the moment it is lurking in my wardrobe but it's going to go on an adventure with me soon. Oh how I wish I had had this with me in May 2010 when I camped at Tyndrum for 4 nights and it was minus 2 every night with the tent covered in ice in the morning........freezing wasn't the word. Bella was so cold she crept into my sleeping bag every night and the two of us snuggled up but even then I was still cold. The downside was the price at £225 not cheap so I had to wait for the sales ladies and hey Needle Sports came good with £75 knocked off. It has one very slight disadvantage in that it is only a little bit shower proof so no getting it soaked or it won't work.

Hmm, looking at it now on the screen before me I am tempted to keep it for best...and wear it to Quilters Guild Meetings as I am joining the committee as an Area Representative of Region 15W. Oops better not, I might just need it on that next Scottish trip.

Camera problem solved

2011-09-04T20:49:00.004+01:00

Pete's C2C embroidery

We went out hiking all day today and when we came back I took the photos off the small digital camera we use and they were like sludge again... Made me wonder if DH had changed a setting by mistake or something, and sure enough I discovered that the ISO was set to 1600, surely not I thought it should be 400. So now it is and this is the result after taking the C2C photo again.

So always check your camera and make sure its not been touched by predators! He knows what I mean (family joke).

2011-08-29T22:37:00.004+01:00

I have been making Alfred Wainwright Coast to Coast embroideries for some wonderful people from the USA who completed the full coast to coast recently.

They were only the 2nd group in 8 years with this organisation to complete the whole of the route without taking any days off; so for that alone they have been nicknamed 'Team Awesome'.

I have made the embroideries with hand made silk paper top and bottom to represent the two coasts the Irish Sea and the North Sea and then I put a picture of AW himself in the middle with beads for his braces and a few French Knots to emphasise the rocks on the cairn. And his socks have a fluffy topping of knots too!

As I have made about 7 of these I have had to work on a production line and I used my Janome 300e to embroider the words C 2 C and 2011 on the finished items purely because it was the fastest way to do the job.

These embroideries will soon be crossing the Atlantic apart from one going to London and I hope they will express some of the spirit of the wonderful team of lovely Americans I met recently who were determined to finish. This is my gift to them for being such good company on the three days I managed to walk with them; my DH did the whole 14 days so one of these is for him too ;-).

The photography is not my best, but I am in a hurry tonight so I hope you will forgive me.

2011-08-18T21:14:00.003+01:00

I have been very busy today. This was the state of affairs around 5pm this afternoon and I had only just started adding beads and French knots to the embroideries. But I did finish my project at about 8.20pm so I am feeling pleased with my efforts. I can't reveal what it's about just yet as it might just spoil a surprise I am planning. I will post early next week and then you will see what I have been upto.

Make do and mend

2011-08-13T11:18:00.000+01:00

I sometimes do repairs, but I draw the line at this... maybe restuff them?

The culprit!

I have obviously found the slr and its quite easy to use, so watch out DH your toys are being exploited by predators.

Volunteering again

2011-08-12T21:23:00.001+01:00

http://www.quiltersguild.org.uk/ This is the official site of the Quilters Guild of the British Isles, and I have been a member for a couple of years now, so it was a surprise to be invited to join the local Regional Committee, but I have accepted the challenge and hope to meet all of you soon at the Region 15 North West meetings.

I have lost my simple little camera whilst DH has it so I might have to resort to foraging around in his studio and looking for his new SLR: ha ha. I wonder what he will say if he knows I have been using it behind his back: but I can't blog without the odd photo can I?

Flowers and Lace

2011-08-01T17:03:00.001+01:00

A thank you for the quilt

My friend has sent me a bunch of flowers for making her quilt. I arranged them above with one of my 'Moorish dancing girls'. I used to arrange flowers much more than I do nowadays so I am a little out of practice, but bring em on I say, as I love the challenge.

What I really wanted to share with you though was some information on the lace which was attached to the Duchess of Cambridge's wedding dress. I was browsing the news this morning and noticed it mentioned the lace, so after some digging around I found this page http://www.jeanleader.co.uk/articles/weddinglace.html so enjoy.

Gone to Glasgow

2011-07-28T22:14:00.001+01:00

Well the new owner came to pick up her quit this week, it's going to be placed on the bed on cold nights in the winter. I hope she enjoys using it and it brings her plenty of warm, cosy sleep.

I rather liked the simple quilting on it which seemed in keeping with the scene. However, I have a feeling this might not be the last time I visit this subject matter as I feel I have a new avenue to explore in the quilting field.

Noup Head, morning light, Orkney

This photo does not do it justice as I took it in the garden in a hurry and the sun was too bright really, but its all I have of the finished design, so here it is.

Bella's annoying habits

2011-07-14T11:37:00.001+01:00

She is the perfect companion except when I am hanging out the washing, then my clothes pegs are chewed. She always carefully selects what she wants and then settles down to chew and spit. So the lawn ends up with lots of little splinters on it. Sometimes she will chew at least 2. I could do with a constant supply of good pegs, anyone know where I can buy some?

mmm tasty

Sneak a Peak

2011-07-10T21:19:00.002+01:00

Oh what a shock, blogger has changed the way you post, I hope this comes out ok.

Anyway, without further ado, let me show you a photo.

The drawing is compared to the fabric shapes

This first shot shows you a drawing of a lighthouse detail which I am representing in cloth. Basically this first stage was to break down a lighthouse into component parts and then to make them so they fitted back together. Quite long and involved it was too, I had to cut out the template shapes then apply them to freezer paper and then cut them out again and iron the freezer paper sections onto starched white fabric. Then I carefully cut around the fabric leaving a small seam which I turned under onto the other side of the freezer paper and secured it with pritt stick glue. I then assembled all of the parts together by sewing them onto a thin T bag paper backing. Once the shapes were sewn down I could wet the T bag paper and cut away the backing of each shape in the centre to remove the freezer paper.
The result was perfect. The fabric was stabilised and turned under all ready to apply to my quilt, but before I did that I had to refer to the drawing and carefully mark on the white fabric the lines I wanted to follow for the stitching. I also wanted some permanent colour in there so used Inktense pencils by Derwent to apply the colour and then dampened it so it spread just where I wanted it.

I have started to machine embroider the railings on the lighthouse

This photo shows the stage I have reached with the lighthouse so far, I have placed stabiliser behind the quilt where the light house is and have started to embroider on with free machine embroidery the lines I want to emphasise. This is not quite complete and needs more doing to finish it off.

Hand coloured flowers with beads

I had made some flowers to go on the border of the quilt which are shown here, they were all cut out of fabric after I had coloured and tinted it with the Inktense pencils and some had a wash of pink silk paint on them too. It took 2 hours to do but the result is well worth it and they only needed a hot iron to set the colours so they will be colourfast. I used Bondaweb to set them onto the quilt and then machined around each flower to make sure it stayed in place. Lastly, I added beads to the centre of each flower.

Jammy

2011-07-03T20:16:00.000+01:00

Made some blackcurrant jam this evening as the bushes were ripe with fruit and it was starting to fall off. I am not convinced that this is a good year for fruit overall because the apple trees are not looking very over populated. Sometimes they are bursting with apples. So perhaps the early warm spring and early cold winter have had a detrimental influence.

I also lost quite a lot of my gooseberries to a damned wood pigeon before I set up an anti landing device, actually it was DH he simply stuck a long flimsy stick into the top of the pole which the pigeon was using to reach the fruit, dah; why didn't I think of that.

I have opened a twitter account for my other blog which deals with work namely guided walks, and I have discovered that twitterers are very amusing and its also very informative, I don't know why it took me so long to try it.

I will not be able to indulge too much in that type of thing for a few days though as I have some sewing to do. I have to leave the garden to itself for a few days which is a shame now that the sun is finally shining in Keswick.

A rest day

2011-06-26T12:40:00.000+01:00

Jamie Oliver's Lemon Drizzle Cake without the icing sugar topping.

I had a day off from toil with the Cumbria Patchworkers summer gathering. Quite a jolly event held in a conservatory in Threlkeld. We had an enormous groaning table of goodies to tempt us at lunch time. I made a carrot cake as a contribution and no the cake featured is not a carrot cake, you've seen photos of those before so this one is a Lemon Drizzle. http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/other-recipes/my-nan-s-lemon-drizzle-cake

We had to make something whilst we chatted away so the choice this year was a small drawstring bag which could contain a gift or perhaps some dried lavender in a mesh bag.

I am busy clearing my den today ready to hit the sewing machines and I have an idea for some new machine embroidery. Let's hope the sewing machine God's shine on me......

First produce from the greenhouse

2011-06-18T12:54:00.000+01:00

This is a mini cucumber which has a small leaf attached at the side, its an oddity I think. I grew them last year very well so decided to plant some more and this one tasted great in a salad with toms and olives.

I also grow Aquilegias and this year I had a new one which had been pollinated by the bees in my garden and it was a cross between the blue/mauvy ones I have and a white one nearby which has a different shape. So the best of both worlds has come out in my new flower. I am leaving a few more seed heads this year as the results the next year can be fascinating.

Comments problem

2011-05-29T21:14:00.000+01:00

Hi Miriam,

I tested the comments on my other blog today http://keswickrambles.blogspot.com/ and they are working fine and I did it from this laptop too, so still don't know why I am having problems. It really is most frustrating to hear that you had problems too. My DH has another blog which is not blogger based and he manages fine with no hiccups and he is really not into computers at all, so I am concerned. I hate these distractions which take the fun out of blogging.

Comments still not working

2011-05-29T12:37:00.000+01:00

Hi all, I am beginning to be neurotic about this as I now cannot make any comments work, I just tried leaving a comment on the site and it would not work and I also tried leaving one on another blog and that did not work either. What is going on?

I know blogger crashed the other week and loads of blogs could not be used for days but should that mess up comments? The only other change on my blog is I updated my browser to IE v 9.

So is it all a Microsoft blunder I wonder? Also my Skype has stopped working too. I need to look into all of this but not today.

Not allowed to comment

2011-05-25T08:15:00.000+01:00

My reply to your comments has stopped working, it won't let me comment, don't know what's wrong.

So in reply to Miriam and Alice, Bella is very cute and uses it all the time as a ploy for lots of titbits but I won't ever give her chocolate as its so bad for dogs. I tried buying her the special dog chocolate which does not contain the toxins that ordinary choccy has but she was not fooled, oh no, she spat it out........

Sachertorte

2011-05-23T21:43:00.001+01:00

Self explanatory really, this is the cake I could not resist making, but you will note that I have scored it into quarters ready for further divisions.... It is so fattening, you would not believe it if I told you the recipe....I will only add that it is not a conventional cake, so you need to have fresh brown breadcrumbs and ground almonds to the ready. I always make my own bread first and then save some to make the 2ozs of breadcrumbs required. It also contains creamed unsalted butter and castor sugar which I can now make myself with my new glass liquidiser as it grinds granulated sugar. You also need fresh free range eggs and they must be separated and of course good quality chocolate. I use 2 types; Cadbury's Bournville for the cake mixture and Prestat Choxi for the topping which is double cream and chocolate mixed. Before you spread the chocolate icing on top you need to cover the cake top in Apricot jam too and I have to admit that this I do not make myself, I usually buy it. So now you know why it has to be given out in small portions. This is the richest cake recipe I make.

I have to report that I have tried very hard since eating some of this cake to lose the pounds by pounding up a hill or three. It was the Keswick Mountain Festival over the last weekend and I was helping out with leading some of the walks, not fit enough to lead myself yet though as my ankle is still not 100%. It was five hard days up the mountains for DH so he had the lion's share of this cake to himself. I did go out on the worst day though when the gales on the top reached 70 miles an hour, it was so bad on one particular ridge that I and one of our clients were blown sideways by the wind and another leader (a man) was blown off his feet. So today I am resting and I need to as it was very hard on the muscles.....If you need further proof of how tiring it all was, well here it is, Bella on the Langdale Pikes walk; day 3.

Kenwood capers

2011-05-15T10:44:00.000+01:00

A dismal scene

I had been meaning to post for ages and then all hell seemed to break out last week when my beloved Kenwood Chef mixer of 27 years devoted service broke whilst making the daily bread...I had bought this dream machine back in 1984 and it had been touch and go if I could afford it back in those days. I had to convince myself that it was worth the money and I was right at the time. Imagine my horror when it broke, because I can't do without it.

How did the local paper get in there?

So after researching the latest models I came up with the one above. They have not changed the design very much because it is so well made. I did opt to buy the one with the glass liquidiser this time as I intended to keep the old acrylic one anyway as a backup and for DH who always makes soups with loads of turmeric in them and they stain so......The only real difference is that this model has a larger motor than my previous one and also does not have a medium speed attachment outlet, but I never used that anyway so I don't suppose it matters. I do use the top fast outlet for the liquidiser and sometimes the slow front outlet for a cream maker.

It's quite heavy

I have another attachment which peels potatoes but had never really bothered with it, but as I was playing with my new toy all last week I decided to give it a go. Hey it peels potatoes and leaves them as roughly rounded shapes. Next I popped them into my trusty Remoska and the result 40 minutes later was what you see below. I hasten to add that DH was away in Scotland in his tent doing 6 remote hills (I could not go as my foot is not completely healed yet) so I unfortunately had to eat all of these myself ;-)

These were simplicity itself

Meanwhile I have been resisting the temptation to try and make a cake so far but I think it will be soon.......

Another repair

2011-04-20T19:46:00.001+01:00

A new edging had to be made.

This is another repair, I had two which I did whilst in Palm Springs visiting DD. This was the second quilt I ever made and I called it after a joke we had in the family about my DH's old sweater (Skunky) so the quilt was given this name too......

After much use it had only become frayed along the edge so I simply added a new strip to it in a pretty contrasting fabric. The main fabrics used for the rest of the quilt had worn really well and I remember the bright purple one with the exotic flowers was a Hoffmann Fabric. I took a photo whilst I was on holiday this time because I did not bother taking any photos of this quilt when I first made it. Seeing the hand embroidered label on it reminded me that I am becoming very lazy with my latest quilts because I have not been bothering to label and date them. I am really going to have to sort myself out.

We had a lovely time in California which was marred only by my breaking a tooth on a crab cake on the punultimate day. This was the start of my troubles, for when I was leaving the dentist back home after a horrendous 4 plane, jet lagged journey back with cancellations and our baggage lost a 2nd time, I tripped and sprained my ankle badly......C'est la vie!

Repairs to a quilt

2011-03-27T18:00:00.000+01:00

I've been sewing a new backing onto one of my quilts which I made in 2000, and I made this particular quilt in a hurry. I had just bought an overlocker and wondered if it would be good for quick piecing of strips.
So I made loads of thin strips which I serged together very quickly and because I only had navy blue or white thread on the cones which came with the machine for some reason I chose the navy. Wish I hadn't now but I maybe thought at the time that I would be able to see what I was doing a bit better.

So the quilt has had some very hard wear and loads of washing with strong powder I suspect and the back had started to go into holes. The front had split at many of the seams so I had to decide to use decorative stitches on it just to save it. So it's now a saved 'vintage' quilt but I can tell you it's owner loves it to bits :-)

Close up of the baskets

I made all the flowers myself just using fibre pens and then appliqued them above the baskets. Some of the quilting stitches have come out but they were done using invisible thread so it does not really matter and anyway after so much time, the ghost of the marks still gives clear chevrons on the quilt.

So I have learnt a lot about how they survive and this will help me to improve my techniques. This last photo is the quilt after it's revamp, I hope it gives a few years more service and it may be used as a decorative hanging in future instead of on the bed!

Fleurs d'ete revamp

You may have noticed that I used one of the baskets as my logo for this blog so I have a soft spot for this quilt too and may even make another one like it for myself, if I do I will show you how it works out. By the way the photo was enhanced because the lighting was not good and the quilt was a bit dark, but the enhancement has made it too bright really so its more muted shades than this in the flesh.

Spring flowers

2011-03-19T20:53:00.000Z

Aspidistra Flowers

I have a large aspidistra in my lounge which sometimes flowers in the spring and a few days ago I just thought I would take a peek incase and voila there they were. They are always very close to the earth under the stalks so they can be difficult to spot. You can just make out the second one in the photo with its back to you beside the right hand stem. Once there, they seem to last for a few weeks. I have never detected a smell but then I must admit I can't get my nose in close enough.......

My desk calander keeps coming up trumps with some beautiful bags and this was a very pretty one.

Antique patchwork bag

The bag dates from the 1920's and is described as crazy patchwork velvet with a ball closure. I think it is enchanting.

I had to go to White Stuff this week as they were doing a special one day with 20% off. I could not resist buying this top as it fitted well and white is so versatile, I only hope it stays that colour and does not go washing machine grey.....

Not sure I like the big label in the back though

I may need to unpick the label as it is quite noticeable and is pink with a pink velvet bow, it looks good on the hangar but the wearing of all that stuff against my back might be itchy.

A weekend in Glasgow

2011-03-04T11:15:00.000Z

Reflections in Glasgow shop window

Last weekend we went to Glasgow to visit old friends. Whilst their, I did a little shopping or rather lots of window shopping....This one fascinated me and I had difficulty taking a shot because of the reflection but the whole shop walls were lined with ranks of old sewing machines. I went inside and could not believe it, there were hundreds of them on every single wall. Instead of taking an interest in the extremely trendy clothes I found myself mooching around looking at the different makes of machines and wondering why I did not see any Singers. Not surprising I thought as most of these must have been manufactured abroad and so did not hold their value hence their decorative use in the shop. The shop was on Buchanan Street but I had never heard of the name before and now can't remember it, my friend could tell me but she is in France at the mo.

Meanwhile, I am nursing a stinking head cold, I have had it about 4 days now and its time it left me...........

Tempus fugit

2011-02-24T12:02:00.000Z

Landscape showing cliff and seaweed island at dawn

I can't believe I last posted about this project on 10th October. Where did the time go? I remember an inscription under a clock in Folkestone Kent which said something like "Tarry not thy time is short" I always passed that clocktower with a shudder. Well I have now completed the base for the top and I have to decide how best to continue. The view is a cliff at Noup Head, Westray, Isle of Orkney in Scotland. The actual place has a wonderful lighthouse on it and that is what I need to do next. My original plan was to make a separate machine embroidered and applique piece and attach it to the white wall you can just see in the top righthand corner. I will let you know how I get on.............

I've been working on a project

2011-02-22T23:43:00.000Z

This one was suspended over the Christmas period and has only just surfaced from the cupboard again, but it is now on track to be finished. At least the top is as it's a quilt. I don't have any new photos tonight and it's getting late, so I will post again tomorrow or the day after depending on how it goes.

Quaker squares and how to turn a blunder into an asset!

2011-02-10T22:08:00.001Z

Ok, I have some photos of the finished squares for the Friends Meeting House in Keswick which was devastated by floods in November 2010. So hopefully these will be going up on the wall in the room we hire off them and another 10 sets of four squares from some of the other ladies too, all in different colours of the rainbow...............

Crazy patchwork with goldwork

So first up is one I was still working when I took the photo last night. I layed some sticky backed stabiliser down and just applied the fabric in sections until I was pleased with the result. The orangy coloured piece is actually some ribbon and then there was a piece of velvet and some brocade and silk with gold embellishments added. I worked a bit of free machine embroidery here and there and lastly of all you see my needle and gold thread as I attach a gold edge which I am carefully twisting with some Linton Tweed thread.

Machine embroidered flower with beadwork

This one was a lot of fun to do. I started with a background fabric which was beige so I overlaid it with a piece of brown gauze from an old scarf. It immediately turned the black flower design underneath to chocolate, hmm just what I wanted. I then picked out the central motif and did my silver thread machine embroidery on the top after I had placed the whole thing in a really tight embroidery hoop so I could drop the feed dogs. I was after a passion flower look and wanted it kept simple. So I beaded the centre with yellow and red beads and then radiated out with silver long beads; then finally added the pinky red beads around the flower. I added the edge which was Linton Tweed thread again and stitched it down with the same silver thread I had used on the flower it's by Madeira and called Jewel.

Little applique hearts with buttons

Here we have a simple background which was stabilised with sticky stabiliser again and then I added the heart shapes and buttons. I did a bit of machine embroidery around the leaves which were part of the background silk fabric. I cut out some more and added them to balance the effect. Lastly I added the edge trim again using scraps of threads taken from Linton Tweed and stitched with Madeira Jewel in red.

My little trees

This photo won't enlarge unless it is huge so I am having to put up with it.......I really enjoyed making this square and I simply took some velvet and satin stitched the tree designs on. The little red one was part of the giveaway I won last month, I simply detached it from it's background embroidery and re used it...... Then added a gnarled stump from a bit of old jute string and twisted it a bit to look like a tree trunk. I added a few red beads to the first 2 trees so they looked as if they had berries on them and finished off with a lovely satin stitch border. Then I had a snag because the square had pulled out of shape a bit so I had the idea of disguising it with the edge which is taken from Linton Tweed again. Its a wonderful glittery sort of riot of sticky out bits of thread.....Take a closer look and you will see what I mean. This was the 2nd square I made and when I had added the edge I realised that it was a good idea to do the same on all subsequent squares. So that's why I had the idea, to disguise my very non square design, hmmm. Where there is a mistake always turn it to your advantage.

Designing with the needle

2011-02-09T22:53:00.000Z

I have been completing a project over the last few days and it took longer than I expected. (It is ages since I posted so I am feeling guilty of neglecting this blog.) Anyway, the design ideas I had were not too bad because the problem is that I am good at some things with a needle but can't work up any enthusiasm for hand embroidery unless it is crewel work. So I like to think that I design with a needle.... I am simply making 4 inch squares again like the Rainbow Squares we made for the EG a couple of years back but this time they are for the Friends Meeting House (Quakers) who were flooded last autumn. The room which the Keswick EG hire off them needed a lift so the Quakers asked us to make them a rainbow squares type decoration. I was given 4 squares to make and the random colour was brown..... Now brown is not really a colour which turns me on, but I noticed some of the other ladies in the group were envious...so I thought OK I'll do brown.

Tomorrow they will be finished, and I have been taking photos, so until then.

Finished fringe - and keeping it simple

2011-01-29T23:01:00.000Z

Patchwork jacquard velvet curtains with rainbow fringe

I said I would show you the effect when it was finished so here are two shots. Both curtains are random so they are not supposed to be exactly a match and give a good effect when closed. I like the way the fringe has added an informal look to them and hope it withstands the test of time on the back doors from the kitchen.

This next view is a bit more of a close up showing all the lovely bits of yarn which were used, and there was a lot of it believe me, a bit more than I had anticipated when I started..... I will most likely make some more fringe soon as I enjoyed the process and it went together well I realised because the ribbon I used was strong grosgrain, I am not sure if it would have worked out as well on a flimsier ribbon. I have always liked grosgrain though and still have a piece I have kept for a long time which I attached to the top of my wedding cake. I did not make the cake but I asked for a plain square large single one because I did not fancy a triple decker having a dislike for them as over fussy. So when it came I had the fun of deciding what to put on the top of it and I chose strawberry pink silk grosgrain which I made into a big rosette. I keep the bit in a small navy blue cardboard box and its always on my desk very near to my laptop. Now and then I take a peek at it, once every couple of years or so, I just did so now......it always brings a smile to my face. I don't know why but I like simple things and simple weddings too, fancy ones make me cringe with embarrassment.

A few chores less to do this week

2011-01-23T21:51:00.000Z

My Bag Calendar

This has been a productive week with a number of jobs finalised, but there are always a few left. Meanwhile, everyday I get to look at the next page on my bag calendar which is a present from DH. He certainly chose well this year as the idea is you put the day before behind the stash of cards and voila a new bag appears. They are all ages and vintage seems to crop up a lot like this one, 1910 crotcheted metal thread overlay with a braided handle, European and look at those little bobbles... oh so cute! I would love to own a bag like this and the shape is pretty too. At weekends you only get one card so I await tomorrow...

Anyway, one of the jobs I finished today was attaching some fringe to my new kitchen curtains for my door. I decided they lacked a certain edge if you know what I mean. I thought about buying some fringe and then even found some bullion fringe I liked on the internet but somehow I could not bring myself to hit the buy button.....Was it a return to my austerity days which was nagging me to 'make do and mend'? Well I don't know but I found myself rummaging, as you do......Well I have quite a few places I can go when I have this urge and I soon found what I needed for inspiration, some odd bits of Linton Tweed fabric of course and a few bits of velvet too along with some lovely stiff chocolate brown ribbon, enough for two curtain bottoms. Last night you would have thought a bomb had hit my room with pieces of thread everywhere piled into little colour coordinated batches.

TIP. If you want some lovely different thread for couching down in machine embroidery you cannot go far wrong with a trip to Carlisle and bagging some Linton Tweed, (they now do mail order) Carefully tease and strip out individual threads and you have a unique range of threads which are perfect in embroidery. Did you know that Chanel have a lady who does the same and makes the braid for their Haute Couture suits from Linton Tweed fabric? In France this is called Passementerie, and here is an inspirational site run by Gina B.

Now back to my fringe, 1st I had to sew small pieces of thread to the ribbon keeping the ribbon in the middle and the thread evenly spaced either side. I kept the threads fairly tight together so you could not see the ribbon through the fringe but did not worry too much about a ragged edge as the colour changes and thread changes were more important to me. I was trying to achieve a rainbow effect. This was not looking too good last night I thought, so I left it until this morning wondering if it was turning into a mistake............But after a night's sleep and on reflection, I decided it was working and finished the 2nd phase of making the fringe which was to fold it over in on itself and sew down the long edge of the ribbon being careful to keep the threads well out of the way and sort of combing them into place with my stitch ripper as I sewed. The photo below shows this in progress.

Making the fringe

The 3rd part was to sew the fringe onto the curtains, which I did this afternoon but no photo as yet. However, they have met with DH approval who was consulted now and then I have to admit. Remember he went to Art College so has a natural eye for blunders..........and equally knows when something 'works'. So I can recommend giving it a go and I now fancy a few more fringes after checking out British Vogue online and seeing that they are going to be part of this years fashion trend which is craft......hmm

I must not get carried away with this success as there are still many more jobs awaiting this week.....one of which is the planting of chillies in January in the greenhouse otherwise they will be ripening in October like last year.

Don't you just love those gardening jobs.

I am not hibernating - just not enough hours in the day to blog

2011-01-19T10:24:00.000Z

My poor, sad woodburner.....

The reason is simple, I am trying to catch up with some chores around here. Number one is wood burner repair as the glass cracked last week and I had to go to Penrith to buy more which is expensive. Whilst there I decided I would need to redo the rope around the door seal too and I thought I had cement/glue left over from last time so did not buy any. Wrong again: I now have sent for some from Ebay as driving back to Penrith with the cost of petrol was not an option......So the Morso cannot be lit and I have resorted to various candles to bring a bit of cheer to the gloom of no comforting fire. The place does not seem the same in the morning either because its colder as the heat usually keeps in until the next morning and I just pile on more wood and it springs to life.

Number 2 was new curtains for the kitchen door as the draft is a bit of a problem in winter. I decided they had to be thicker but did not go for interlining because I was worried the weight would be too much and bring down the curtain rail (that once happened in the hall and it smashed a favourite large pottery bowl made by Marea Goodman who is now resident in Colorado so no chance of another). So I just used light fabric for a backing and went for the velour/velvet material. I thought they were going to look too dark but DH says they have transformed the kitchen, a welcome pat on the back....

Probably the darkest fabric

Contrast

The material is actually very pretty and I used it to make a patchwork of rectangles so the kitchen does not look formal as it's country style with a dresser and open shelves with pottery on display.

For those of you interested in the bird saga, I had a fright on Sunday morning because a hawk swooped down to the bird table when 6 Lesser Redpolls were having breakfast.... I don't know if it made off with one or not, it was so fast. I did find though that the speed with which it scattered the other little birds caused one of the Siskins to fly into the greenhouse glass and I found it lying in a pool of water hours later. The poor little bird's neck was probably broken, I was very upset and decided to put something up on the greenhouse glass so the birds know its a solid wall. I am going to a garden centre later today to see what they have. Any suggestions?

I won a giveaway and some recognition for the blog

2011-01-12T21:51:00.000Z

Scrumptious swag.......

I won this fabulous collection of goodies which includes all my favourite things too, so thank you Sarah at Happiness is a bottomless button box The ideas have started to flow but I need to work this week, so they are put away for now. I also had some other good news but I must leave that until I have a bit more time to do it justice on here. Meanwhile, I am working on the schedule for my summer job as it were. So tomorrow is the deadline for deciding which mountains I will be climbing from April to October and then I have to post them all up on my other blog. So it was back to earth with a bang this week with more to do than I care to think about, also DH has a bit on his plate and as I am the computer guru round here I have labels to print and websites to update. But the other thing is we have decided to extend the house again, so I am also checking prices of supplies as I tend to be project manager when we do any building. Well when you consider that the garden is in a mess too and the greenhouse needs a good sort, you start to get the picture.......But I like to be useful around the place and I have done with resting over the holidays I think so I may be busy but I don't mind.

We went to see a Planning advisor at the Town Hall this morning and he seemed to like our methods and approach to the extension so all we need now is to finalise our ideas and DH always does the drawings as he went to a really good Art College (the likes of David Hockney taught there) and was trained in drawing properly so can produce building plans and drawings which are really good. Even the planning guy said how good the previous ones were, not like the one's architects produce on Computers.......he he That's one job less for me.

Vintage Bothy Blog

2011-01-07T12:58:00.000Z

Bella showing what to do when it snows.............

Just could not resist adding this blog to my list, and love the little terrier called Florence! Well that was my Mum's name so I had to include it didn't I. So check it out for all things vintage...

Wonderful day

2011-01-06T14:42:00.000Z

Yesterday saw me snap Gloria's stocking above her Lakeland slate fireplace at our Cumbria Patchworker's party. We all had a great time and I made two new ornaments for the Christmas tree which sadly I took down last night and it's now outside waiting to be chopped up and put onto the wood burner. The job of taking down the decorations took most of the evening and I had not been able to look at this blog all day with being in Penrith so I had a quick peek at about 10 pm. Imagine my surprise to see that I had won the wonderful giveaway from Sarah at Happiness is a bottomless button box. So I will be a busy bee this month with some more goodies to play with. I have also a few projects to finish not least a quilt I started and had to put away before Christmas because I just did not have the time to settle down and give it my full attention. I have not forgotten it and I will be getting it out again once a couple of other sewing ideas have been completed. One of them is a bag for a dear friend who lost her husband last February and I want to make it special for her so I have been working on it this week. So I have plenty to do and never a dull moment, now if only I had time to tidy up the garden too life would be perfect. Speaking of the garden, those little Lesser Redpolls have been coming back every day and I counted 14 of them last Monday. I must go and top up their Nyjer seed, I think that is the correct spelling after getting it wrong before.......

Cumbria Patchworkers ~ December Workshop

2011-01-03T13:50:00.000Z

I didn't dare show you this patchwork stocking we made before because as you can see it is stuffed full of pressies and it was just prior to being wrapped and sent to DD in California, so no way could I put it on the blog and spoil her surprise :-) So it is with great relief that I can now show you what a superb workshop we had and how lovely the finished stockings were.

It was a shame we could not have our Christmas Party in December, but the snow and ice put paid to that idea....Anyway, we postponed it until this Wed 5th Jan, so we are going to have our party and our late Christmas presents then, I can't wait....

Happy New Year 2010

2010-12-31T10:56:00.000Z

You can't beat a Pavlova for parties and this was one I made earlier this week, eaten into of course, they don't last 5 seconds in this house.......

Recipe for my foolproof Pav follows:-

5 egg whites always free range and I use large ones
8 oz caster sugar
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon corn flour

that makes the meringue and then it's up to you for the filling but double cream and Greek yoghurt in equal quantities work well and then add fruit of choice and sprinkle on grated chocolate or icing sugar.

4 oz double cream (you can use more)

4 oz Greek yoghurt (again how much you use is up to you)
fruit
chocolate or icing sugar

Method

Place egg whites in a spotlessly clean bowl and don't allow any yolk in there, then beat like hell until stiff.
I use a mixer. Once the white foam has turned into ripply looking folds and the mix is stiff (some people even turn the bowl upside down to see if it moves - they like to live dangerously ha ha...) - add the sugar in 3 goes and beat in between additions. Lastly beat in the corn flour and then beat in the vinegar. Spoon onto an oven proof container (I use a flat greased pizza tin) make a rough circle with a hole in the middle.
Bake at 180 deg for only 5 minutes until it just starts to turn slightly brown on the peaks of the meringue, then lower the temperature to 120 deg and cook for another 50 to 55 minutes. The thing is you are now very slowly setting the meringue.

Whip the cream until thick but don't over whip so it goes hard looking, then fold in the yoghurt. Spoon half into the hole in the centre and put half into a piping bag with a large star nozzle. Then pipe it in a swirly ring around the top of the circle of meringue. Decorate with fruit however you like, then sprinkle on the chocolate or sieve on the icing sugar. Enjoy as soon as possible.

Lastly, Sarah Payne one of the Advent Bloggers who did all the days, good show Sarah, is having a celebratory give away of some lovely yummy silk paper making goodies, beads and other stuff, so if you go to her blog you can enter to try and win the freebies. I am going to go there now before the rest of you do...............
http://sarahlpayne.blogspot.com/

I hope you win, and have a happy and peaceful 2011.

Another quilt convert

2010-12-28T22:45:00.000Z

Check out Lisa Lam at uhandbag who has just made her first quilt, and now she knows how addictive it is......anyway go see it on her blog, the colours are wonderful. Well done Lisa, join the quilting club....

Interestingly she has used the new Janome Horizon a sewing machine which looks awesome, I have had my eye on it......But where would I put it, maybe I need a bigger house?

Birdfeeder Battle! - More Nyger seed is the answer

2010-12-27T11:08:00.000Z

Well this morning, 2 more Lesser Redpolls arrived, which now makes 4 and then 4 Siskins turned up. All of them at the one Nyger seed feeder designed for a cosy pair......So after the inevitable tussles and wing displays and seeing each other off I darted out and took another feeder to them full of Nyger seed. I am now hoping they all settle down. I was not able to photograph this as it's still snowy slush outside so was not in the mood for cameras too. So the moral of this tale is if you want to attract Lesser Redpolls which are on the red endangered list then get in some Nyger seed, it's little black seeds, they don't feed on anything else at all. Lesser Redpolls it says on the RSPB site are often seen in flocks with Siskins, so I suppose my breeding pair of Redpolls were invaded this morning by a marauding flock. Anyway, I don't mind as long as they are all fed. Phew................ I am going to do some reading of the 5 books DH gave me for Christmas, he spoilt me with some new waterproof warm Gortex gloves too as I had been complaining about cold hands on the last two mountains I was up. Deliberate on my part I have to add ;-) because he had invested in a pair of waterproof gloves last month.

Day 24 Advent Challenge Made it, 24 posts and not one missed

2010-12-24T17:13:00.000Z

Well I did it. I think in retrospect it is not as difficult as it seems. Next year you should try it too as I have had loads of fun reading the other blogs. So thanks to Gina for coming up with the idea and I hope she instigates one next year too.

Meanwhile I have a message to share with you via an ecard, if you don't like them then don't click on the link but if you do put your sound on and be ready to click your mouse on the snowballs...........

http://ak.imgag.com/imgag/product/preview/flash/bws8Shell_fps24.swf?ihost=http://ak.imgag.com/imgag&brandldrPath=/product/full/el/&cardNum=/product/full/ap/3166187/graphic1

Day 23 Advent Challenge A breeding pair

2010-12-23T09:12:00.001Z

I can't tell you how much pleasure I am having from seeing the Lesser Redpolls come to the feeder each day. Yesterday I snapped away and when I checked the photos found some real gems. What I had hoped was true, they are a breeding pair, the male on the right with the pinker breast and his female on the left. With the wonders of Corel Photopaint I have slightly enhanced the colours so you can clearly see them. I am crossing my fingers for this pair to stay and breed next year and will certainly do all I can to encourage them. Meanwhile, we had another visitor to the bird feast yesterday, a male Reed Bunting, now I have had one of these in the garden before. I took a photo but he was on the ground and much shyer than the Redpolls so it did not pass my strict photo censorship as I like to try and keep standards up.....

I am also still working on the Christmas presents and I have done a few up, this one is under the tree awaiting it's fate. Strangely, this one was bought by Bella for DH. Now I wonder how a Border Terrier managed that! hmmm and how did she know to buy something in '0' Gauge?

I am going to go for the Turkey Crown later today, we only have the 2 of us and Bella so a whole turkey would just be impossible to eat. I have opted for a free range, organic, Soil Association Certified, bronze feathered bird this year, but please don't mention this to my friends above.........shhhhh

Day 22 Advent Challenge Did the earth move for you too?

2010-12-22T11:05:00.002Z

Well it did here in Keswick.... http://www.earthquakes.bgs.ac.uk/recent_events/uk_special/coniston_21_dec_2010.pdf

This link gives the info on last night's earthquake. It was at 11pm when DH said his door shook upstairs and I heard the rumble in my den. Anyway, we looked out of the window and saw another chap doing the same but all was quiet on the street, no bedlam or panic, only our white icy winter wonderland which has gripped us now for what seems like a month!

I had been engrossed for the earlier part of the night in my floral arrangement above the mantlepiece in my den. This is the before photo, and I hope you can see the different foliage I used, namely, holly, ivy, fir tree and Cupressus with a couple of candles for good measure, not to be lit mind....

The clock was made for me by DH after we collected shells whilst on holiday camping on the Dingle Peninsular years ago when we were right by the sand dunes which led onto the beach. Twice a day Jock and Bramble our two lovely Parson Jack Russell Terriers used to charge at full gallop down the beach. That's when we collected the shells. I am afraid they are now rather blacker and dirtier on the top of the glaze as the clock has been over the wood burner for about 8 years now! Never mind, I have a second clock constructed on similar lines in the hall which is pristine. The painting is by my Dad and it's a fox he did the winter before he died and I always keep it in my room. I love this little painting because I always think he was as clever as a fox.....He was only an amateur though not like DH who was an art student at Maidstone College of Art when I met him.

Anyway, onto the second photo which is the after..............what do you think? is it an improvement?

These are the lights I went to Ambleside to buy at Hayes Garden Centre, you see I used to have a set which did this lovely slow fade in rotation so not all the lights went out at the same time. They were leftovers from DD's move to California and I inherited them along with lots of other Christmas decorations when she went. But a couple of years ago some of the bulbs failed and I did't know which voltage to replace them with. So after searching in vain I decided to send them to the re cycling centre. That meant no slow fade lights last year and that meant no arrangement over my wood burner which kinda spoilt the effect in my den.......So I was really pleased to find a similar set when searching on the internet at Hayes. This is showing them all on together not on slow fade but I did need to get a lighter photo.

Day 21 Advent Challenge I see the moon, the moon sees me......

2010-12-21T20:26:00.000Z

Now that title is in a song but I can't get past those few lines, does anyone know how it goes?

I did see the eclipse this morning through the bedroom window and I was not going to open it for anything as it was -14 outside! Anyway, I snapped away with my camera but none of the results were good enough for this blog; I do have some standards. By way of a substitute then, I am showing you a kitchen cupboard the way I like to display it with my dryed hydrangeas on top. Each autumn I replenish them so they stay fresh looking as in my opinion there is nothing worse than old, tired, dusty flower arrangements. I usually add a few fairy lights at Christmas and they look pretty in the kitchen at night when all the other lights are out. So I am gradually decorating the house with a little bit new each day.

This afternoon, Bella and I went for a walk in the woods and picked some wild ivy and a few little snips of fir tree from Hope Park..... I went round the back of the tree and took a little from there. The result will be shown soon as I am still arranging the foliage at the moment and broke off to do this blog because I suddenly realised that time was ticking away again......So I must go or else.......

Day 20 Advent Challenge "4 & 20 Blackbirds, baked in a pie......."

2010-12-20T20:32:00.000Z

Actually not quite that many, but I had 14 Blackbirds eating apples on my lawn yesterday, so this morning I went into the greenhouse and found some more lovely red apples I had left in there which were still good enough for the birds but not for us and tossed them onto the lawn where the Blackbirds could find them. Then I went to Ambleside on the bus because I wanted to go to Hayes Garden Centre for some new Christmas lights.

When I returned the apples were gone and only a few Blackbirds remained, very fat Blackbirds they were too.

When I arrived back in Keswick off the bus I was dying for a good coffee so I went into one of Keswick's best known secrets, Peter Sidwell's also known as simplygoodtaste. He is a local celebrity chef and runs a fab cafe which also makes very good bread. He has written some cookery books and one of them is all about bread; it's funny he uses Carr's flours too, just like me.

Day 19 Advent Challenge A quiet town today

2010-12-19T16:22:00.000Z

Not many people seem to have braved the snow and bad roads to come to Keswick today. I noticed the shops were not doing any brisk trade. I like it when the town is not so full of visitors though because it seems more normal that way to me. We popped out to deliver our local Christmas cards by hand ourselves, something which has become a habit now. In contrast to the town my garden has been seething with birds this afternoon. I counted 14 Blackbirds mostly eating the fallen apples on the lawn, I make a point of leaving some for them because I know they need this extra nutrition.

Anyway, as you see I made the door wreath this morning and used some lovely small pieces of variegated holly I snipped off in Fitz Park. Now the other day I saw a person really taking a lot of holly from the park, I must say I try to take a few small pieces from the back of the bushes usually. However, most of the holly with the red berries was collected in the wild yesterday along with the fine grey fir tree fronds which only grow wild in one place, so I am not going to let you into my secret......When I was doing my City & Guilds Flower Arranging course, my tutor was Eva Gardner and she was a case.... she used to say that she always snipped a little bit here and there when the owners were not looking! And she always put some foliage at the back of her designs 'for the Vicar'. I finished off the arrangement by wrapping some red ribbon around 3 cinnamon sticks and attaching them to the wreath just to give it a bit of a lift. Eva always taught us to make the central placements last and to choose something which highlighted the design. I wish I did more flower arranging as I miss it, maybe I will this Christmas for fun.......

Day 18 Advent Challenge Dusk and the garden goes to sleep

2010-12-18T19:44:00.000Z

I love that time of day in winter with the snow lying when you can turn on the outside lights and watch them twinkle against the frosty snow. This is one of my mature apple trees and I keep a set of lights in it for Christmas time and sometimes during the summer for lighting the garden. You can just see the moon through the tall branches trying to peep out from behind a cloud. The little birds have all gone to bed, and yes the 2 pretty little Lesser Redpolls were back feeding away today. There was a very funny moment when a male blackbird decided to chase a thrush which had taken a liking to the meal worms on the birdtable.....They chased into this tree and sat there a while before resuming hostilities and flying off with ruffled dignity and feathers......

My Christmas tree is all aglow too but I have not finished decorating yet as I like to do a little each day to make it all more interesting. So I have a wreath to make for the front door, and the holly is as I speak sitting in deep water so it gets a good drink first. I have other plans for other rooms too but there is still loads of time. DD emailed to say her parcel had arrived and she had opened the box and had been feeling the pressies....... I hope you took Wallace and Gromets advice about the last posting date, as it's now gone I am removing their warning. Don't forget that the list top right contains all the other bloggers doing the Advent Challenge and trying to post something everyday. There is some good stuff there.

Day 17 Advent Challenge just a quicky before I decorate the tree.....

2010-12-17T18:47:00.000Z

I have been graced or rather my garden has been, with the presence of 2 very special little birds. At first I thought I saw a Linnet but no, today there was no mistake and there were 2, you can just see the other forked tale on the left as its feeding from the other side. The little red markings on the head are the giveaway. Yes they are Lesser Redpolls and they are on the red endangered list! All day these little birds have been at my seed feeder, pecking away. So I popped down to my favourite pet store Podgy Paws and bought some more Nyger Seed and also Bella's favourite 'sweeties' dog training treats actually.

Anyway, this is a short visit because the tree awaits in the lounge and I have to make a start..........

Day 16 Advent Challenge times running out.......

2010-12-16T20:58:00.000Z

Well it is today, as I have been a busy bee again. DH has been making cards today and I have been printing them and helping out too. I have started finding the decorations from their various hiding places around the house and now have a motley assortment of fairy lights on my desk to check to see if they are still working. There is nothing worse than your lights failing once they are on the tree. That's happened to me twice and it's not funny, is it? The last time I think a little dog's teeth had chewed through the wire.............I once had a pet rabbit of my DD's do the same and it chewed through the collar of a good jacket too.

Anyway, the clock above is part of a collection which came my way when DD left for California, I still have a lot of her things here and this clock hangs on the kitchen wall by the door. I love it because it's big and makes a ticking noise and she said she bought it because it reminded her of the one in the nursery rhyme 'Hickory Dickory Dock, the mouse ran up the clock. Well this is my mouse for Christmas....It's better than the real thing believe me!

Day 15 Advent Challenge Bought the tree, yippee!

2010-12-15T20:03:00.000Z

Yes, we went to Whinlatter and chose a Nordman Fir for the first time, our usual tree is a Norwegian Spruce but they all looked a bit bushy round the bottom without much stalk. It's being conditioned in a bucket of deep cold water in the garden with the old end cut off to expose new wood which will take up the water more easily. I will leave it there a couple of days though because that's how long it needs to condition. You see one of my skills is Flower Arranging or at least it used to be, as I have a City & Guilds in it, although it was a few years ago now and I don't often 'arrange'. But I like to at Christmas and will try harder this year. (The reason people have 'needle drop' on their trees is because they rush them into the warm house before they are given a really good cold drink.) It's going to be very cold here tomorrow and may snow again so the tree will be in it's element outside too.

The ducks used to have pate in them and they sit on my dresser in the kitchen and I usually try and buy another one each year but Booths Supermarket are not displaying any this year ...... I wonder why? They have been putting them out on the Christmas shelves every year for many years but none this year, blast.... I especially wanted to buy one because a friend admired them in the summer and I thought I would buy one as a gift for her, eat the pate first mind because she usually comes up in the Summer. If you see any, will you let me know where?

Tonight we are starting to design the cards and we have already chosen a photo we like and bought some lovely bright red card for the backing.........

Day 14 Advent Challenge - rest and be thankful

2010-12-14T20:18:00.000Z

Yes, that's what I did all day. I took time off after the exertions of the whole weekend on that 16 hour course. I needed to re charge the batteries so I read my current book by Jenny Uglow, 'A Gambling Man' her work on Charles 2nd. I did study the English Civil War and its aftermath with Professor Austen Woolrych at Lancaster so I have a fair number of academic tomes on the subject. However, I have not dipped my toes into this water for some time and DH had bought this book in the Autumn and enjoyed it so I picked it up last week and became engrossed too. The good thing about studying history now a days is of course the internet. As soon as you come across a new character you can quickly look them up and even Google for images of their portraits. I did spend at least an hour looking at Sir Peter Lely portraits this afternoon which was enchanting. I love the sleepy eyed beauties he painted in the style of Barbara Villiers one of the King's notorious mistresses. The little snowflake candle charm by the way was picked up in Keswick last Christmas and goes round and round for hours when you light a candle under it, rather like I have been doing on the internet today looking up all the characters in the book.

Day 13 Advent Challenge - I love Cumbria

2010-12-13T19:25:00.000Z

I make no apologies for loving my adopted county or thinking it the best county in the whole of England..... Ever since I was at infant school whenever we were asked to paint a country scene I always painted mountains, and more mountains and I never tired of it. And do you know what my second choice of country scene was? Yes, you guessed, it I painted lakes, and more lakes.....So what could be more fitting than living in my childhood dream, a county surrounded by mountains and lakes and the most breathtaking scenery. But it is also the food heritage which pleases me most about Cumbria too because it has so much really good food production here. It has always been famous for certain items, after all when we went up Everest we took Kendal Mint Cake, yes I know Kendal used to be in Westmorland until the counties were re organised but it is now Cumbria. Then there is the equally famous Grasmere Gingerbread which is the most mouth watering stuff I can think of that is apart from the Hand Made Fudge at The Toffee Shop in Penrith which is exquisite, moorish and totally out of this world......But there are lesser known gems to be found in Cumbria, take for instance the humble wheat grain...mmm what can she mean? Well Carrs of Carlisle turn this into the best flour money can buy. I have been baking my own bread (without a breadmaker) using only my hands or my faithful Kenwood Chef mixer for over 35 years and this flour has been my staple. The photo shows my last freshly baked loaf of wholemeal bread just taken out of my Remoska. Of course Carrs are also well known for producing their Table Water Biscuit which was originally developed as a ships biscuit, I never, ever forget to have some in my store cupboard because they are wonderful.

Well I hope this inspires you to stock up with some of these Cumbrian goodies for the festive season, I am going to......

Day 12 Advent Challenge ITC Outdoors First Aid Course - in the dark

2010-12-12T20:28:00.001Z

It's quite difficult to do anything when your outside in the dark let alone assess casualties, so I was rather glad when our course today headed for the inside again away from the soggy wet wood we had been grovelling about in. The last exercise of the day over and we had all passed with flying colours of course, phew that's a relief. I should now be able to start thinking about the Christmas presents I still have to buy and where I put all the decorations, not least of my problems will be buying the tree. We always buy a fresh tree, nothing artificial is ever countenanced here. So where do we buy ours? Whinlatter Forest is the place and we usually go up Whinlatter summit first so Bella gets a little exercise too.

Meanwhile, I was given these goodies at our EG Christmas Lunch the other day, I might just have time to have a play with them and make something else too, who knows. I do like to put some home made decorations on the tree and I have a small collection now of little embroidered and sewn items which I use. I am going out to lunch again tomorrow with a friend and we hope to go here as there is a new Orangery part to the cafe and we have not been able to get inside it yet.....It's always packed with people and it's only small, so maybe we will be lucky on a cold Monday in December, fingers crossed.

Day 11 Advent Challenge First Aid is exhausting

2010-12-11T19:25:00.000Z

I feel a bit like The Tailor of Gloucester from Beatrix Potter's famous book. We are certainly being given the treatment on this First Aid Course. But to return to this book, it always reminds me of Christmas and it must be my all time favourite Christmas Story, forget about 'The Snowman' and if you have not read it go for it....I just love the way she treats her subject matter and how she involves a naughty cat Simpkin! Did you know that you can read the story online and also see the actual fascsimile of the book with all the illustrations? I know that the book is deemed public domain in the USA so if you are over there you can view it but I think UK readers are not supposed to. Anyway, for any american followers of this blog, you can legally read the book on the Gutenberg site. For other readers of this blog, go out and buy it for the children or grandchildren or even for yourself, it's magical.....

I am too tired to do much more tonight so I think I will go for a lovely shower as I have been crawling around on the floor most of the day dealing with fake casualties, so until tomorrow take care, when you are doing a first aid course somehow people seem much more precious......

Day 10 Advent Challenge Thin Ice!

2010-12-10T16:47:00.000Z

This is a view across the lake towards Derwent Island taken on Tuesday, with posts showing which are usually lapped by water. I did stand on the edge of the ice where it was safe, but no way was I going further out......Last night a big thaw set in and the lake has started to return to normal. I am pleased temperatures are rising as on Wednesday it was - 14C here but today its 7C or 45F if you just happen to live somewhere hot like those lucky members of the family! But the weathermen say it is going to come back again........ We shall see. The days are not long now until Christmas and I need a push on this stuff below.

Currently, my present buying and wrapping has been sluggish I must admit. I have two brothers and their wives down south to buy for yet and I am on a 2 day outdoors First Aid Course all weekend because I have to renew my certificate every 3 years and it's nearly run out. So tomorrow and Sunday I shall be up to my eyes in triangular bandages and CPR. They pitch some of the training outside to make it more authentic too so I am glad the ice is receding as I didn't fancy grovelling about in the snow on my hands and knees assessing casualties............wish me luck, I am going to need it.

Day 9 Advent Challenge Gotcha!

2010-12-09T17:48:00.001Z

This was the best I could do with Robin because he is a secretive little bird and refused to stay for long or to pose, this is also taken through the window of my den so it is not as clear as it should be. But I did get my Advent Robin. He is very fluffed up because this was when the temperature was about -9C, so he is a very round robin ha ha....

Today was the Embroiderers' Guild Christmas Lunch at the Horse and Farrier, Threlkeld and a jolly event it was too. I had a Parma Ham and melon starter which was very good indeed and then traditional turkey followed by Key Lime Pie. Then we had their own mulled wine which was delicious, followed by coffee, mince pies and mint chocolate. To be fair I took a doggie bag for Bella and brought her home 3 slices of turkey and a chipolata sausage wrapped in bacon too. Needless to say this was enjoyed once it was all chopped up on a plate, she is a well brought up little dog and does not wolf her food but she did grab the sausage out of my hand when teased.........then dropped it onto the floor to try and chew it demurely...... No photos of this event except for a rather fetching reindeer all lit up in the window.

I found a rather good countdown reminder about the last Christmas post on the Post Office website and placed it at the top of the blog to remind you and me about those ticking away days....... Also you will see below it the list of all the mad bloggers who have accepted the Advent Challenge. I am enjoying looking at their postings every day and hope you will pop by them too. The good thing is that everyone of us has a different approach to this thing so it is lots of fun.....

Day 8 Advent Challenge relaxing by the fireside and dog psychology

2010-12-08T16:13:00.000Z

Well today has been all about working on the website for Border Miniatures and putting on the new kits and castings which are available. It should be done soon, but I am taking a break from it to continue with this challenge because I need a warm up. As you can see from the photo, I have a wood burning stove in my den downstairs and it's going full blast today as the temperature is 28F or -2C which ever you are used to. Upstairs on the Border Mins machine is a tad colder, hence the need to sit here at my cosy laptop and blog away..... Bella has moved into the hall because she was getting too warm, and because that is where I keep a basket with old newspapers inside it for lighting the fire with and she likes to snuggle down amongst the papers and get comfy as it is one of her favourite places to snooze around the house. She has this thing about finding little hiding places and often when she is in the hall (the basket is in a recess under the stairs) I walk past looking for her; she smugly keeps her nose down until I realise where she is..... Another favourite hiding place is behind my Horn sewing cabinet when the door is open, she sneaks behind it and lays down with just her nose showing underneath the door......and thinks I don't know where she is. mmm

Day 7 Advent Challenge late again ;-)

2010-12-07T21:00:00.000Z

I thought you might like to see the effort some people make in my home town to decorate the shop windows. For instance someone posted a gingerbread house on one of the advent blogs the other day (can't remember who) but anyway it made me realise that there is an art to this gingerbread stuff, so feast your eyes on this....

A whole trainload of gingerbread, wow that must have taken ages to make, it even has two trucks loaded with goodies......mouth watering.. This is the famous window of Bryson's bakers in the Main Street Keswick and they are always up for a challenge at Christmas. Last year's was very sparkly with a white Disney effect castle and other stuff, but this is better.

By the way Derwentwater is frozen over again, and we went down for a closer look and it is white with snow and ice and completely covered. The ice is too thin at the moment to walk on like last year but I did venture out a little way for a photo and maybe I will show you it tomorrow....I don't think you will forgive me if all I ever show is photo's of ice and snow...... Anyway the other news was disappointing but inevitable I suppose given the freezing conditions (tonight it's going to be - 11C) as the Cumbria Patchworkers party tomorrow has been postponed because there are 20 of us quilters and some of us live in very remote areas of Cumbria with frozen solid back roads so its off until January now. Never mind we will have Christmas all over again when everyone else is sick of it.....

Speaking of sick of it this was the visitor to one of my bird tables today, not what I wanted of course...

I want an Advent robin as you know and one did fleetingly and tantalisingly land on the bird table for a couple of seconds, so I grabbed the ever ready camera and it flew off..........annoying bird. But there are still many days and blog posts to go yet and I am determined. DH has been reading this stuff and his comments were "I don't have to make a meal of it", a photo and a few words would do, says he. So tonight as it's a bit late I will take his advice.

Day 6 Advent Challenge ''Visions of Yesterday"

2010-12-06T21:12:00.000Z

That was the title of a book I bought when I was at Lancaster University reading history. The author was Jeffrey Richards and it was all about the history of film, as his course was the only one at the time doing the history of the cinema in the UK. Since those days it has become more popular. Anyway, I digress because this posting is to show you some of the wonderful photos I took yesterday when we took Bella up Latrigg which is over to the left of this first photo. It is a small mountain not as big as the one you see in the middle distance which is Blencathra. Anyway, the route goes via the old single track railway which was closed in 1971 by Beeching. I actually must have been one of the last few people to make that journey that year because our DD had been born in the Spring and I took her in her carry cot on the train to stay with my DH's family. He took the car loaded with stuff and I had to get the train as there was no room left for us. It has to be one of the most beautiful sections of line ever engineered and the railway ran from Penrith through to Keswick and beyond to Cockermouth. This is one of the bridges which crossed the River Greta and it is now just a lovely narrow footpath. There is a society who hope to restore it all as a railway track again and they raise some money, but I think it is a forlorn hope as it would cost millions to re open as the M6 motorway goes right through it......Best to keep it as a super walk for the folks in Keswick.

The day was very cold but the sun did manage to come out for a couple of hours and created lovely long shadows on the ground because it was so low in the sky. We passed a few folks on the way to the top and then we stopped to put on our crampons because we intended to come down a very steep section and knew it would be icy.

I was busy taking some photos of Bella because she had some ice on her chin and when I looked at them later discovered she was doing the very famous 'Border Terrier Nose Lick' on one of them. Did you know there is a site on the internet which is dedicated to the BT nose lick? People are invited to submit photos of their terriers performing it.... Well done Bella, it's a good one.......

After this DH picked her up for another couple of photos and then decided to drop her back onto the snow. I was still snapping away and I found this photo when I got home, it's Bella about to get that sinking feeling..... I could not have taken this shot if I had tried to set it up, what superb colours and action.......

After this we walked back down into town because it was the Keswick Christmas Fair and we wanted to mooch about the stalls and take in the atmosphere. But before we ended up in town we took a short cut across the park near the cricket pavilion and the mist had come down over the pitch. It was really pretty with this lovely white cloud of mist hugging the ground. DH took this shot of our local Museum in the background with Clough Head right behind it snug in it's snowy glory.

Well it is hard to believe that this is day 6, until tomorrow then.............

Day 5 Advent Challenge better late than never...........................

2010-12-05T20:49:00.000Z

Just made it today I hope. I have had another full on day with plenty to do. Tomorrow I am having a stair carpet fitted so this morning I had to clear the landing. You see we have a desk and computer on the landing which is very convenient for us because there is a superb natural niche up there. It allows us the luxury of a computer each and the landing one also serves as the music centre because it has good speakers and they kind of give a better sound around the house from up there. So the music is softer than blaring out from mine down here. Then in the afternoon we went up Latrigg for a doggie walk in the snow again and although it's only a small mountain (1000') it has some steep bits going down and also going up ha ha......

Anyway, now you know why I am a touch late with the challenge....... So today's piccies then. This is the back of the bag which is showing how I attached rings to the side expansion straps. This is a glitzy bag with silver in the fabric so I used silver thread to attach 1" black rings underneath the handles.

This shot shows how I attached the same rings to the front but added swivel thingies (like on a dog lead) so I can un clip them and make the sides of the bag bigger; useful when in the supermarket not all the food fits into your bags. Also good when out shopping or taking the mail down to the post office :-) for DH.

And finally, the rest of the bag. This is a back view....I stitched on a simple fastening tab which does up on a magnetic catch. I top stitched the tab with silver thread to match the rings and also decided to top stitch all around the tape I used on the edge of the bag. Result, I am pleased with it and I can't wait to go shopping with it. I am beginning to enjoy designing and making my own bags and without the wonderful fabric from Guleser Textiles in Turkey I don't know how I would manage. Loads of their fabrics can be purchased in Keswick at this Aladdin's cave of a shop Textures it is bursting with goodies........... I am thinking new curtains for the kitchen for Christmas already......................

Day 4 Advent Challenge snow fun

2010-12-04T18:04:00.000Z

Today has been full of fun. I finished my bag this morning and this afternoon we went up Walla Crag for a little doggie walk in thick snow....yum. Bella loves a walk but this snow has produced a dashing spring in her step. The only exception to her enjoyment seems to be when its snowing heavily and she has to go out in it for a wee like last night, then she displays a tendancy to dither at the open door before dashing for the covered way........

So we took the camera and there were certainly some stunning shots like this one of our lovely lake Derwentwater.

You can see Keswick too in all it's wintry raiment, it just looks like a fairytale city nestling under Skiddaw the oldest mountain range in the Lake District. The snow was quite deep in parts and of course DH wanted to go up an adventurous way, rather than the footpath, so up we went by a little known way and saw tracks. I think the first set were a hare and then another set which had to be a fox. Nothing else though had passed that way and there was no sign of any walkers because they all stick to the tourist tracks which are the boring ones. We went up in snow which nearly came to my knees but we were both wearing big boots and of course crampons only he had on his new shiny ones of course.....

He did look smart with matching gaiters and new red and black jacket too. He does not like to look shabby on the hills as so many people seem to do, no he is very much the Mountain Leader and dresses accordingly.

I have a reasonable 'turn out' too I might add and today I was sporting my new black Hagloff jacket to keep the cold winter chill at bay and I had on my trusty cap to keep the top of my head warm which is essential.

Well I am off, until tomorrow that is.

Day 3 Advent Challenge and breaking the rules guidelines

2010-12-03T10:48:00.000Z

Well today was supposed to be a day out on the hills but we had enough trouble last Saturday getting the car up the country lane to Seathwaite, (4 guys had to push us) so when we saw how the temperature was due to plummet to -10% c overnight with more snow coming in from the West this time across the Irish Sea, we decided to stay at home. It's sometimes not worth the hassle and it looks like being a much better day on Sunday, so we have pencilled it in instead. I am baking bread and have plenty to do, mind I am hovering about trying to photograph a robin on the bird table and it's not easy. This is for you dear reader, coz I am doing this challenge thingy I thought Advent must have a robin in it somewhere......I am really trying to look after a few wee birds at the mo which are coming down to feed by one of my 3 big apple trees. I am so lucky to have mature apple trees in my garden; you can't have a garden without an apple tree can you?

Just a tick he's back, camera time again. Damn, missed him.

Anyway, yesterday's White Stuff purchase, well you didn't really expect me to not buy something did you? It went very well, in fact, it was splendid. I used to have a favourite skirt which was a simple black little number but looked gorgeous, like they do. However, it had one drawback, an elasticated waistband, now you know what that means, never buy a skirt with an elasticated waistband or you will expand............So always break rules like that and you will be happier. This skirt is called Diamonds.....who could resist it and cheaper than the real ones.

Not too short as it just floats on my knee and it has even got a lining....very simple style but this type really suits me.

Oh no, a huge wood pigeon has landed on the bird table and its stuffing itself.......