Time and the lack of it - a textile enthusiast's view

Where does the time go? It is over a month since I last posted here with all good intentions of posting regularly.

Mosaic footpaths on Madeira.

A beach on Nevis.

Amazing skies. 

I must admit that we have been away (for three weeks) and I have been trying to catch up with one challenge whose deadline was this week..........

Sadly, I can't show any photos of the challenge. I was in such a hurry I forgot to take a photo of my finished piece. It is a Chinese Whisper challenge. Each person taking part has to make an A5 (8.5inches x 6inch) small quilt based on a photograph. Each small quilt is then passed to the next person in the chain without being shown the original picture on which the small quilt is based. At no point is anyone else in the group to see the quilts or the original photographs. The whole thing is quite intriguing. I now have a small quilt made by Ros hanging from my bookcase on which I have to base my own small quilt. The small quilt I make will then pass to the next person in the list in January, (she currently has my first small quilt) whilst Ros' quilt returns to Ros.

I finished working on my last three Journal Quilts. I just need to get them trimmed and the machined satin stitch edging done. Then I can take photos.

Back again and raring to go!

I've been away on holiday for a couple of weeks. My workroom colleague - Felix, the furry fiend on the right - just won't leave me alone for long. He loves to sit on my shoulder while I am working. It makes for a noisy time, since he likes nothing better than to purr down my ear.....



On my return I had a lovely surprise - a package which had these lovely stamps on the front. It contained the February page from Johoanna. This is all part of the Traveling Pages project. For further details see the link at the side of this Blog.



Isn't this lovely? I feel so lucky to have this as my second page.



Talking of being lucky. This arrived in the post today. I am a member of Just Hands on TV, an internet community which has a really good series of quilting related videos. They have sent me a small bundle of the new Fusion Fabrics from Robert Kaufman. The fabrics are just as gorgeous as they look here.

Going into a local Supermarket today, I found this delightful not-so-little fold-up bag. So useful. Just fifteen inches tall and thirteen inches wide, it is six and a quarter inches deep.



It rolls up small into a package just six and a quarter inches wide and three and a half inches deep. Something I shall now start to carry around with me.



The crafter in me wonders whether I could use this idea to make a series of similar bags for myself. I shall of course be using much better fabrics - the only fault I find with this present bag. Rest assured that I shall not be copying this design - that would break copyright laws, I feel sure....

Oh, back to the title I have used. Coming home rested and relaxed I now find a multitude of ideas welling in the back of my mind. Watch this space for new proejcts as they start coming to life.

But first, has anyone got any good ideas for getting a cat, painlessly, off my shoulders?

Exploring and learning new things.

I've been away. On holiday. Short notice as usual, a last minute decision to go away for a few days. The cats were not impressed, but forgave us a soon as the next mealtime came around.

(Outside display of a small shop in Nice. The steps you can see were those of the alleyway leading up past this shop.)

(Picture taken while the ship was in Ajaccio, Corisica.)

An amazing experience. We went on a cruise in the Mediterranean. Its the end of the season there, and we were very lucky with the weather. Taking advantage of any trips offered, we visited Nice, Monaco and Monte Carlo, Florence, Pisa, Rome, Girona, Palma and a quick tour of Corsica!

(The gardens in front of the casino in Monte Carlo. I just loved the use of the mirror in the fountain. It is reflecting an image of the casino itself.)

This photo is the Duomo in Florence (Firenze).

I later found evidence of knitting in Firenze! I didn't see any yarn shops though.

Some delightful carving on the side of the Leaning tower of Pisa.

Blocks of marble at the port of Cittavecchia, From this port we went to visit Rome.

This marvellous marble floor is that of the beautiful Pantheon.

A wonderful mix of the ancient, the old and the new.

Our only bad weather arrived in Rome, when it rained. It didn't stop us having a really interesting tour around the city. There were also a couple of nights when it was a bit blowy at sea, but even that wasn't much. As I mentioned before, we were very lucky with the weather.

The following photo is of a gorgeous tile floor I saw as we passed through a narrow alleyway in Girona. The house was being renovated.

This amazing building is in Ajaccio. The Post Office occupies the ground floor.

The last few photos were taken as we walked around Palma, Majorca on our last day.

This building used to be the Grand Hotel. Its now a Library and Civic centre.

This is the floor inside the entrance of the Museum of Modern Art. The building can be found in one of the alleyways up in the old section of Palma. We found an interesting temporary exhibit of Picasso's drawings while we were there.



My last photo was of one of the private courtyards to be found in Palma. The gates were being rebuilt, and so we had this delightful scene peeped at through some railings.

We saw so much that I really couldn't explain it all to you. It's such a special experience to wake up every day knowing that the ship has arrived somewhere different. We shall try to return to Rome and Florence again one day - these places are so huge and there is so very much to see. Girona was quiet by comparison. A lovely place to see. Corsica was amazing. Now that is another place I would love to return to, perhaps to visit Sardinia as well.

As you can tell, I took loads of photographs, mostly following my own fascination for texture and colour. The colours were so bright and gorgeous.

I promise I shall get back to the textiles next time.

Back again!

Well, its been an eventful few weeks here, hence the lack of posts.Finally, I am able to get back to the stitching once more.

My dear husband and I have been able to get a few days away in North Wales. A short, but very welcome break.









These first two photos are of the Clive Engine House which was standing next to the site where we were staying. We later found out that this interesting building had housed one of fifteen steam engines which were used to drain the Talargoch Mine which closed in 1884.



We were staying near to Dyserth which has a most beautiful waterfall. A delightful place for a walk. My own photos just could not do the area justice.



On one day, we went to visit Llandudno. It was beautifully sunny, but with such a very chilly wind! I took a number of photos of the textures and patterns in the metalwork on the pier.











The second photo was of a disused section. I just loved the colours of the rust on the white paintwork.







Another day, we went to visit Conwy. The photo here just shows some of the wonderful colours of the stonework in the castle. If you visit this next site there is a stunning aerial view of the castle and two famous bridges.

Conwy is a walled town and is really marvellous to walk around - lots of interesting buildings.







I found the rooflines particularly exciting.



Whilst here, we visited a rather wonderful tudor house called Plas Mawr. It has been beautifully renovated and its so interesting to learn about how the family used the house all those years ago. The building was completed in 1585.



Whilst in the area, we had a glorious few hours in Bodnant gardens. It is looked after by the National Trust.











We saw these pine cones growing on the largest Blue Pine I have ever seen. It is over a century old and would fill my tiny garden garden............

Such a wonderful place to visit - so peaceful and seemingly empty with just a few people walking around. An illusion since the gardens are well-loved and there were a lot of visitors that day, judging by the busy car park.



Ah well, back to earth again. We had a marvellous few days in Wales. Not a long drive from here, but so nice to get away from the phone..........







As you can see, work has been continuing on my blanket. I have just completed the third border and have still nine of the "holes" to fill. In trhe end I completed 35 squares and the whole blanket is roughly 42" by 52". I shall remeasure it when it has been blocked. I will not show the other side - it has so many ends to be sewn in!

A happily creative 2008 to all!

I hope you have all had a creative start to this new year.

The orchid shown above was given to me as a Christmas present by one of my pupils. A truly delightful, and much appreciated thought. I love flowers.

This holiday from school has been a very creative one for me. I've been very busy with the Band-Robin. The stitching is now getting close to completion. I started the Ice Queen cowl, but have now ripped that back since I really wasn't happy with the way I had knit the pattern. It really wasn't quite right. So I shall start that again once I have got the stitching completed for the Band-Robin. (Photos for this will have to wait until after the sampler has found its way on to the next participant.)

I have also ripped back the Naive socks which I had also started knitting. The wool I was using, although wonderful to knit with, was really too dark to show off the subtle cabling of the design. The yarn will be great for a plainer pair of socks.

The other day I bought myself three huge balls of aran weight yarn (400g x 3!). Its not such an expensive purchase since the yarn is a mix of acrylic and wool. I needed some bright colours to lift my mood. The red is destined for a cardigan and the blue for a warm cowl to go with my blue jacket on windy days. Yes, I do have a scarf. But this is such a nuisance when it is windy, since I really can't keep it warmly and comfortably round my neck.

Amongst all this activity, I completed Hazel. Yes, it is too cold here in the Northern Hemisphere, to wear it just now. I really enjoyed making it though. The cables are such fun to do. I have plans for a cardigan/jacket to go with it.

I also decided this week, to sort out my fabric stash. I'd had to live with such a lot of it blocking access to a cupboard for rather too many months. The cupboard housed my collection of books and a number of other textile bits and pieces. So I spent a useful day sorting it all out. The books now reside in a bookcase in my workroom, just where I can use them. Wonderful! The pile of fabric has also gone, it is now sitting inside a large box in my cupboard and the fancier fabrics also sorted into the relevant drawers and shelves in my workroom. All my stash of fleecy fabric is together at last, sitting on the shelf under my sewing table. I have plans for a couple of new jackets.............

Amongst it all I found this

An unfinished aran jumper that I had completely forgotten all about. I must have left it partly because I was using metal needles at the time. I find I can no longer use these - they make my wrist and fingers ache far too much. Nowadays I use the reinforced plastic needles or bamboo. So much nicer. Now, I am not certain whether to rip this back and use the yarn for something else, or to finish it. I shall wait for a few days. I don't wear jumpers very often, so I could turn the design into a cardigan...................... but a jumper is so cosy when going out on a walk...........

Have fun!

Back again!

Well, its been quite a long time since I last wrote to this Blog. I have been away from home and on holiday.
For the first week, I went to a Summer School. This was really interesting since it introduced me to the style of working needed for the City and Guilds courses. The Summer School was run by the School of Stitched Textiles.
http://www.sofst.org/
I shall post some photos and more information next time.
The next couple of weeks saw me going away on holiday with my husband. We had a most enjoyable holiday which saw us travelling to Hong Kong, a visit into China, then flying to Singapore, moving on to Bangkok and lastly a relaxing week on Koh Samui.
I was able to indulge myself in buying some gorgeous silk. The photos will follow in the next post.
Its been a really interesting summer...........
Oh, and I managed to finish my shawl!