Schoolhouse Arts

Last night I managed to stitch the picot edge on three sides of my pyramid, much happier with it now.
Tonight it was round to Nickie's house to plan for the next six months at Schoolhouse Arts. I shall be doing my travel log which was to have taken place tomorrow but unfortunately we had to cancel because of low numbers. We are now going to be doing it in May. In July, Pauline Verrinder is coming to do a workshop for us. For those of you interested in what is going on look at our Schoolhouse Arts blog.

More reverse stitching!!!!!!!!

Last night I was able to spend a few hours sewing my dangly-bliss!!!!! BUT I was still worried by the wobbly picot edge on the pyramid, I have re-done it several times as it was not to my satisfaction, and after the last attempt I decided I was going to live with it, but I couldn't. So tonight come 9o'clock I will be re-stitching the picot edge AGAIN! I have to have it finished by next Sunday when I am at Cottenham for the Embroiderer's Guild meeting as Pauline needs it for the following Thursday when she sets up Textiles in Focus. Art Van Go are going to be there, I was going to try and be frugal in February, but I don't think that I will have much chance of that!

Back to the hospital-again

I came home from work anticipating getting lots done this evening, only to have my plans fly out the window within minutes of coming through the front door. My daughter was hit in the eye on Saturday with the ring pull on a drinks can, an accident, and had been complaining that it was hurting, she had a small red mark in her eye, but nothing else. Today though, she came home from school complaining that her vision was blurred. After ringing NHS Direct they advised us that as it was her eyes we should go to hospital to get it checked. So back to Basildon Hospital again, twice in one day! Three hours later I am happy to say no damage had been done, it was just a foreign body way down low, almost going behind her eyeball-thank goodness! But needless to say, by the time we had had an evening meal, made ANZAC biscuit mixture for school tomorrow, sorted my brothers invoices, my me-time has passed me by. Never mind ,tomorrow night-fingers crossed!

Bury St Edmunds

I finished my lemon and mustard seed chutney Sunday evening- and it tastes good! It only takes 5 large lemons to get this amount of pickle. This will help my credit crunch!

Last night Nickie and I borrowed my hubby's Sat. Nav. and went to Bury St Edmunds to give a talk to a patchwork group, amongst the audience was Annette Morgan- quite daunting, as we have heard her speak on several occasions. We also met up with 'Mrs Sat Nav' A.K.A. Shirley, a lovely lady who we got to know on our two visits to Belstead last year.

Before the talk we were given coffee and biscuits as we had left home at five. What a lovely group of ladies, thank you for being

such a good audience. For the ladies who were asking about the Fen Edge Textiles exhibition at Sutton Hoo and are going to be popping into this blog to find the date,it is June6th-21st, sorry I didn't have the dates with me last night, I suffered a senior moment!

I have had this morning off work as I had to my husband to hospital for a prostrate biopsy- we were there for several hours which enabled me to complete the hand stitching on three more broaches and sew half the picot edge on another medallion. I commented to my hubby, that this was a good way of getting lots of stitching done, and maybe he could do this again next week- he was NOT amused. He is lying downstairs on the couch taking it easy, following doctors orders. ( he does look a bit peaky, I must admit).

I have also had a chance to ring the Courts about my small claims that has been going on since October. I had agreed to go to mediation, but the defendant has not returned some paper work even with a seven day extension, so I now have to get a judgment- bailiff's of freezing of his bank account! The forms will be in the post tonight- I hate filling in forms, especially legal ones!!!

Well must go and feed the patient before I go back to work!

Lemon and mustard seed pickle

I started to cook my pickle this morning, but had to stop half way through to go and buy a new television set as our old one blew up yesterday. It was then round to Nickies to go over the arrangements for our evening out to Bury St Edmunds, where Nickie is doing a talk. I have come home to my son compaining about the'pong' in the houise from the pickle-just wait until I finish cooking it!

Does the tax man owe you any money?

If you read my blog and have children born between 1986-2002 you could be entitled to some money from the tax man. You need to look at your tax code and if it ends in H or T you have already had this payment, if not try claiming, you could get as much as £1,000. Just think of all those bills you could pay or textile bits you could buy! To claim this money you need to download a form 11CTC from hmrc.gov.uk, I don't use my blog for this type of info usually, but as we all work hard to keep our heads above water, we pay taxes, I thought I would share this with all of you out there. You need to get your claim in quickly as the deadline is 31st January 2009.

What little stitching time I have had this week I have spent on my dangly. The end is in sight, just not sure when. In my original sample I had used a blanket stitch and bead (ala Kemshalls)on the edging of my medallion and intended to do the same on the pyramid. When I blanket stitched my pyramid, the beads wobbled

all over the place, this didn't happen on my sample. I did lots of reverse stitching trying to get them to sit nicely without success.So I have now undone it all and replaced the blanket stitch edging with a beaded picot, it does sit better but still has a slight wobble. I have just got one more side to complete with the picot and then I can carry on joining the medallions together. This one I have been stitching at work in my tea breaks.

I have had an email from Pauline Verrinder last night to say that my class is now fully booked at Textiles in Focus.

As it is soooo cold, I have been doing a few chores before I can start to stitch. I have tackled the huge pile of ironing and I have got some lemon and mustard seed pickle fermenting, and I shall be cooking it up tomorrow. It was my fathers recipe and is lovely in cheese sandwiches! Quick to make too! The longest bit is the fermenting time, but well worth it!

Have you seen this job?

I didn't expect to get very much stitching done tonight as I had to do invoices for my brother and he also wanted me to write his C.V. for a job that has been advertised. I have posted the link.
http://www.islandreefjob.com/
What a great way to escape from all the news about the recession!!!! AND you get paid!!!!!
On reading the application I found I cant help him with his C.V., as it has to be done on a video and take less than 60 seconds to watch.
So I am now off to do some more work on my dangly.

At the moment it is a pleasure to slave at the kitchen sink, my hyacinth's have such a wonderful smell!

Tonight at Embroiderer's Guild it was member's night. I was up until 1 a.m. today stitching my sample to take to the meeting. After playing a silly game to break the ice, we got down to work. Members had been asked to bring in fabric, threads and embellishments in either green for spring, yellow for summer, red for autumn or blue for winter. The finished four inch squares will all be displayed at our branch exhibition 6th March-4th April at Chelmsford library. The committee took along cake for members to have with their cuppa.
I found it quite hard to stitch in red as it not a colour that I choose to work in, but, when I have a bit of spare time, LOL, I fancy making the three other squares to represent the other seasons and join them all together, hence why I attached my work to the card with eyelets rather than lacing.
Lots of talking and laughing, lots of stitching, lots of cake- a good night!

Camera found at last!!!!!

My camera has turned up, just as we were going to post off the insurence forms. Nickie found it when she was tidying up her studio!!!!!!

A busy Sunday!

Here is the picture of my A.T.C taken yesterday in DAYLIGHT, as you can see it is a much better photo. I really enjoyed making this one, and when I have time I shall make another one for myself to keep as a record.(Based on my visit to Borough Market in London,)

I have also finished another broach, just got to sew on the pin bar.

I started making these broaches yesterday at Fen Edge Textiles, metal hearts that I made Friday night, F.M.S. stitched onto layered silk and felt. I only beaded one as it was then time to pack up to come home.I then cut them out last night, I think I prefer it unbeaded now! I need to stitch on the backs and pin bars, a job for my tea breaks this week. Might try and do these in other colour ways. These are to go on our stall at Textiles in Focus to help raise funds for our exhibition in June. I hope they sell!

Today I popped to Craft Arena to get some more metal for me to stitch with and some silver lame for one of the girls in the group. I have been getting ready as well for tomorrow nights Embroiderer's Guild meeting, which is a members night. I have made my cake (and nearly burnt it!) found some prizes for the game we are going to do, and just need to finish my sample, which I can't show on the blog until after the meeting.

Fen Edge Textiles

Nickie and I have an early start when we have to go to Cambridge for our Fen Edge Textile meeting, and though it was raining and windy in Essex, as soon as we got to the border of Cambridge the sun came out!
We had a busy day sorting out the final details for Textiles in Focus. Nickie and I are both teaching a 2 hour workshops, AND we have got people who have signed up - a bit scary!!!! I need to go through my notes as it is such a long time since I made my sample and got it o.k'd I need to refresh my memory. The books Nickie and I have been making for the sales table were approved by the group. Everyone got out their A.T.C.'s they have been making for the swap, and they will now be going back to the other group and we will get ours back they have made for us in our March meeting. The rest of the time that was left was looking at our website that Ann has made for us (she has done a really excellent job) and making more items for the sales table. I started making some broaches, I can't post any images as the computer is refusing to upload tonight, so will try again tomorrow. I was also able to take another photo of my A.T.C. in daylight, based on Borough Market's fish stall, so much better than the one I took the other evening. So I will try and post this one as well tomorrow.
Here is the link for Fen Edge Textiles in case you are interested-
http://www.fenedgetextiles.co.uk/

A very sad day.

Today was Kezzy's Dads funeral, and we are both wrecked (emotionally not with alcohol). It was lovely to catch up with the relatives some of whom I have not seen for some time. We just made it off Mersea Island before high tide. I was hoping to do some stitching when I got home but my eyes are just too sore. I will pack my bags instead for my day in Cambridge.

Lost camera

The insurance forms have arrived at last for my camera, so I hope it wont be too long before I am able to get the replacement, I am lost without it! No stitching tonight, I was out with my daughter, scrapbooking.

Frantically stitching

I am back to Cambridge on Saturday for our next meeting of Fen Edge Textiles. I am busy working to finish my dangly, as I was intending only having 1 medallion, but it looks rather silly, so I have been busy constructing 2 more medallion's in descending sizes. I will try and take a photo when it is finished. Must go, I need to do my stitching!

Textiles in Focus

Just thought I would post this link for the Textiles in Focus event that is happening in February at Cottenham. The website went live today. I shall be there on the Saturday spending money with the traders and enjoying the exhibitions.
http://www.textilesinfocus.com/

Dangly

I am still working on my dangly, though I have done a lot of reverse stitching trying to get the beads to sit nicely along the edge. I now need to make two more motifs in different sizes as the one I was going to use looks silly by itself. My camera has not been found, so we are in the process of dealing or trying to deal with the insurance company, they are not returning our calls.
I will post a photo later in the week when I have something to show. (I'll have to use the one I got for my birthday and still trying to learn how to use)
The 'sunset on the Nile' hanging has been greatly admired I am told by the lady that I made it for,and, she has been asked for my name and business card. Something else to think about organising!

Why is it everything takes much longer to do than you think? The curtains I made for my brother were only just finished as I was getting in the car to come back home to Essex. On Monday, my first day to myself since my holiday started, I decided to do my 2nd A.T.C for the swap. F.E.T and Stitch business a textile group in Durham are swapping A.T.C.'s. The first 2 that I made are already up in Durham and I then got back 2, the idea being that in the end we will have 4 A.T.C.'s , 2 made by ourselves and 2 made by 2 others from the Durham group. My theme this time was Mexican colours and markets.

The card I received above.

I have a book on Mexican designs, so I added one to liven my A.T.C up.The A.T.C I received above.

This A.T.C I made was based on Borough Market and the wonderful fish stall there. I really enjoyed making this one, even though it took much longer than I anticipated. I made a list on Monday of all that I was hoping to achieve by today as I am back to work tomorrow, I have failed miserably to meet my targets. What I hadn't bargained for was how much time I was going to spend shopping getting a new suit for Kezzy's Dad's funeral. He died in the very early hours of Boxing Day and the funeral is next Friday. I had to go to Freeport, Braintree to get it, so I just had to go to the Papermill Shop and get a couple of their sketchbooks. Tonight I am going to tackle the 'dangly' as it has to be finished by next Saturday, our next F.E.T meeting.

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!!!!!
I will start blogging again next week all being well, as I am back to Buckingham for the week end to take my mother back home. She has stayed with us for a few days so that she can see her great grand children. I am busy making curtains at the moment for my brother and hope to get them finished over the weekend and start being creative.