You Know Where You Should Be.........

This weekend, No not laying on the beach drinking a cocktail or catching up on your gardening but here

And just so you don't miss anything

Textiles on the Hill Demonstrations


Saturday 26th May 2012

11.00 - 12.00 Beverley Folkard

12.30 - 1.30 Helen Wilson

2.00 – 3.00 Sara Impey

3.30 – 4.30 Chris Spencer

Sunday 27th May 2012

11.00 -12.00 Margaret Lacy

12.15 - 1.15 Lynda Monk

1.30 – 2.30 Janette Bright

2.45 – 3.45 Juliet Bryson

Hope to see you there!

A lot of Firsts

Last week we were on holiday, it was Betsy's first time away, in fact there were a lot of firsts. The first time she'd been into a pub, the first time she'd spent so long in the car and the first time she'd seen the sea. Everything was a great success apart from the sea, she wasn't at all impressed, mind you even though other dogs were going in for a swim I wouldn't have gone in either far to cold! We stayed in a cottage in Edingthorpe Green, Norfolk, the cottage was a  stable conversion attached to the owners cottage a former Forge, it  was beautiful. There were lovely walks through dedicated 'Quiet Lanes' not something we had ever come across before. There was a foot path to the coast, something we would have probably used if the weather had been a little better as it was a couple of miles. Instead we had a few lovely walks through Bacton Woods and visited a few other places that were dog friendly, I have to say we were really surprised how easy it was to find places that welcomed Betsy. She didn't let us down at all, we even sat in a pub restaurant and everyone said  how well behaved she was.  The only problem we had and it wasn't really a problem at all , the owners of the cottage have two elderly Jack Russell's and every time they left their cottage to go for a walk they barked, as dogs do Betsy needed to bark back! Our biggest problem was Betsy was woken up every morning at either 4.30 or 5.00 AM and I mean every morning, the sun shone straight through the skylight in room where she slept, after the first morning we brought her bed into our room once she was awake, she went back to sleep until 8. Thankfully now she's home she's back into her routine of waking up at 6, we've not started letting her into our room although I must say I'm tempted but Dave isn't, he thinks its the thin end of the wedge and once we start she'll be sleeping on the bed! Anyway that's enough of our week away apart from a few images......

North Sea a bit rough!

Norfolk is feeling yellow!

Holkham Beach 'You get your feet wet if you want to I'm not getting any closer'

All this walking and fresh air is very tiring!

Sandringham ' Is that a corgi heading my way?'

Crab salad

A very quick walk through a field of cattle at Blickling

Robin shares our afternoon coffee and cake at Blickling

View from window at cottage

Another view from cottage window into the garden

This week will be taken up with a few family things and baking cakes for next weekend.... yes it's 'The Material Girls - Textiles on the Hill'. A lot of hard work has been put into the event so I hope to see you there!

Nothing Wasted

I wrote this over a week ago, for some reason I couldn't get the images to load properly and gave up, then I've been on holiday so better late than never!!!
As I said there is now a page for images of my Quilts, not all are there as I cant believe I have given some as presents and didn't take photographs! I will have to get images of them and get them posted, some of the dates are approx as I didn't put dates on them in the beginning, why? I will also get a page up at some point of Art Quilts!

A while ago I posted about a felted bag that went terribly wrong here , this is what I did with the mishap, nothing wasted! Brooches I have used the embellishing machine, and stitched them, I think they have turned out OK.

I spent some of Saturday getting them ready for the Material Girls event Textiles on the Hill (see side bar).  I've found the images of the bag that did turn out OK. A before and after shrinking image, Betsy seemed impressed, not sure if it was the bag or the fruit that was most intriguing!

Where has it gone?

Time just flies by and I'm struggling to get everything done especially keeping my blog up to date. In the previous post  I said I was going to get a gallery set up of the quilts I've made, nothing yet, I still plan to do that! The trip to London and the British Museum was a success, I had already decided on my theme for the next Material Girl project but it was an enjoyable day. Oh yes, thanks for the 'sympathy' I seemed to give you a laugh about the VERY felted bag. Never defeated I made another bag this time it turned out OK ( I cant find the image at the moment) and the first lump of felt has been used to great advantage, watch this space! So nothing lost only time.....

Despite the bad weather we've been experiencing here, I've had a lovely week.  Here's why Julie at THIMBLE FINGERS awarded me a blog award, I've been following Julie for long time she just celebrated finishing a distance learning C&G course. I'm full of admiration for anyone that completes a distance learning course, it takes a lot of dedication, please pop over to her blog and have a look at her wonderful images not only of her work but also places she visits in her home country Australia! I was also really flattered not only for the award but to be on the same list as Louise Gardiner, I was lucky enough to attend one of Louise's classes at the Jersey Textile in Focus two years ago, you can see the results of that here

The Liebster Award is a blog award, which apparently originated in Germany, to showcase bloggers with fewer than 200 followers.  Upon accepting the award the recipient must then pass it on to five more blogs of note, which is a wonderful way of introducing bloggers to your own favourite blogs.

The Liebster Convention says you must:-

1. Thank your award presenter on your blog and link back to him/her;

2. Copy and paste the award to your blog;

3. Present the Liebster Award to 5 blogs (with less than 200 followers) that you love;

4. Leave a comment on their blog to let them know;

5. Have faith that those award winners will spread the blog love.

I now get to pass this award onto five other blogs that I read and enjoy, easy I thought, but I discovered it's not as easy as you might think. The problems I found are not all bloggers publish their followers and a rule of this award is the blog has to have under 200 followers. I wish I could give all the blogs I read an award you all deserve one but here are my five;

Lyn at stitch&bake 
Su at Living On The Edge
Jacqueline at Super Gran
Anna at inky fingers
Chris at chrissythreads

Please pop over to these blogs and have a look, I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.
I was over the moon to have a piece of my work mentioned on Lynda Monk's blog this week, Lynda will be doing a demonstration at The Material Girls- Textile on the Hill event towards the end of this month, take a look here for more details of the event.

These are images of Water Water, that Rachel took at the Brentwood Road Gallery,  it was so difficult to photograph I keep meaning to try again but..........
To top off last week on Sunday I went to see the Lucian Freud exhibition at the Portrait Gallery, I'm not a big fan of his later work and I must admit I came away from the exhibition feeling the same!! Why go you may be thinking, well Rachel had booked the tickets then realised she had something else on and couldn't get a refund. She offered the tickets to us, as Dave and I are all for broadening our minds we decided to go. The best bit of the day was afternoon tea at The Langham, we came away totally full and as a picture is worth a thousand words, ( I did forget to take a photo of the six scones, yes six and no we didn't eat them all).

Sandwiches!

Cake!

Same Cake but closer!

Laugh, it's OK!

I'm not, well not just yet anyway...... readers of my blog will know that The Material Girls have an event coming up at Horndon on the Hill. Just to digress for a minute everything seems to be going well for that, even publicity in Essex Life (fame at last).  Back to the theme of this post, I need to have things to sell in the shop, I'm not the greatest at producing lots of small pieces for sale. So far my collection includes  a selection of bowls  and two knitted felt bags, the second one I knitted came out a bit small after the washing process. So I decided to try another one this time I made it bigger used larger needles but the same yarn,  I washed it in the machine with a pair of jeans at 30C it came out no smaller infact it came out exactly the way it went in but wet!  Without another thought I washed it again at 60C with a hand towel and two bath sheets, when it finished the cycle I took the bag out of the machine I was over joyed, it had felted to a perfect size........ Oh, I thought I should let it dry over some sort of former...... But next.... Oh (excuse my language here) Bug**r the bag had felted it's self together so I can't open the bag...... Any ideas what I can do with a nice size lump of knitted felt? It's OK I have ideas. When Dave got home from work and I showed him he said 'Oh, Bug**r, you spent a lot of evenings knitting that'. Then he laughed, no I didn't damage him in anyway as I think it's funny too, I've knitted and felted quite a few times before and never had this happen, any ideas why it happened this time? Photo evidence I was so prepared I even used a plum to show the scale of the shrinkage, after the  DISASTER I ate the plum very nice too! I feel disappointed I had great plans of how to dye the bag and decorate it, never mind. As I said I have plans for the felt, and no not the bin, watch this space or better still come to the event. Pop over to here and see the list and times of the demonstrations.

Before

After

Saturday I was at the ERTF conference at Girton College, Cambridge, Chris gave a talk about the Bridging Waters Exhibition. She did a really good job, mind you she had great material, but then I'm biased.

Chris Spencer

Betsy is up to her usual tricks, she never stops, it's like living in a whirl wind most of the time. Today she's discovered a root that she had taken a fancy too, I have a dreadful feeling that by the end of the week the Camellia bush is going to fall down! Bless her..... I get a rest tomorrow I'm off to the British Museum,  research for the next Material Girls body of work and maybe a chance to have another visit to the Crypt Gallery and lunch, of course there's always lunch!

Betsy

I have a plan in the near future to make a page of photographs of the Quilts I've made over the years, I cant believe I made quilts and gave them away as gifts and never kept a photographic record? It's a project to get photos taken, Rachel jumped at the suggestion as she said the quilts she has at her house could do with a wash!!!!!! The joys of being a Mum.

Playing with Wordle

Take it easy!

A couple of weeks ago Betsy went to the vets, so no chance of pups,  after the operation she was supposed to take it easy for a couple of weeks. No long walks, that was easy, but the NO letting her chase around in the garden wasn't quite so easy! As she was such a good girl she has a new collar and lead and a couple of new toys, spoilt no not her......

It's lovely when the garden starts to show signs of the season ahead, it looks like my garden is all very pink this year.

The camellia is doing it's usual thing and is covered in blooms, the blue berry bushes are in bud so with some luck we'll get another good crop this year.  I haven't  many plans for vegetable growing this year, the part of the UK I live in is threatened with a drought, and from the start of April we have a hose pipe ban which will make everything more difficult. I'm thinking of only planting a few salad crops, also Betsy dashes around the garden at a great rate so anything to delicate would be destroyed in five minutes or dug up. Dave has put a small picket fence around the raised beds to help keep her off. I was getting fed up with her digging in the dirt and coming in covered in mud every time she went outside, every day was bath day! Never a dull moment here.

The plans for the next showing of Bridging Waters are in full swing, a few of us went for another visit to the venue this week. I've been busy getting bits and pieces made for the shop, so far I've made a couple of bags and a couple of bowls.  Also I've crochet a  Scrappy Granny blanket I'm not sure whether to put it in the shop, sometimes I lack confidence that others will want to buy what I make.

Scrappy Granny Blanket

Knitted Felt Bag

I've a few more things to make before the Exhibition, I'm sure that shop is going to have a huge selection of things for sale when the Material Girls put all their creations together.

The Material Girls had their meeting last week and Chris gave us our next project that is Cottenham 2014. Some time yet,  you might think but there's going to be a lot of work and research, our next meeting is at the British Museum in April. We are so lucky to have such good resources on our door step, how foolish would be be not to take advantage.

There are a few things planned for the coming months, Dave and I have tickets for the Lucian Freud exhibition, I'm not sure I would have chosen to buy them but Rachel bought the tickets then realised she was doing something else that weekend so we are doing her a favour, she's bought herself more tickets for another day. The things we parents do for our children.....I've book myself onto a weeks Shibori course with Janice Gunner in July that's in Walthamstow, not far from home so I can drive there each day. I did a similar course with her a few years ago and had a fantastic time. I've ordered my fabrics already so I'm very keen as you can tell.

On Saturday Dave is flying off to Kuala Lumpur to work for a week, a long way to travel for  a week, I could have gone with him but decided  I would rather stay at home and get some textile work done. He'll go off to the airport with a list of things I'd like from the duty free though. I did mention to him last night that he could look out for some batik whilst he was in Malaysia, but trying to explain what sort of fabric I'd like...... I wont expect to get any.

Has anybody been having trouble leaving comments on blogs?  I get the comment typed  then when I try to put the two key words in nothing happens. So just to let you know I have been reading blogs but the comments are very hit and miss.