How Late is Late?

I got up 10 minutes late this morning. Not a momentus occurance I know, but my morning routine is so finely tuned that 10 minutes can make all the difference.  But to be more accurate (seeing as I get up 10 minutes late most days), I got up 10 minutes later than usual but 20 minutes later than I should.


Bran flakes with chopped apple. Mint tea (mint from the garden because I ran out of tea bags - should be the other way around I know!). Also in the pic -  a piece of birthday cake that I ate later, from a colleague)

 The result of this on a 'normal' day is that I'm always 10 minutes late for work.  I was still 'only' 10 minutes late today though because I took my breakfast to eat there instead of at home.  Lots of my work colleagues eat breakfast at work (they stay away from home during the week and start work at 7am).  I don't feel justified in doing this regularly (my start time is 8.30am) but I found that eating breakfast later today I didn't get hungry mid-morning. 



Comtemporary arrangement called 'Reflection'

 One of the churches in our local group had a flower festival over the weekend.  It's a small church and they'd put flowers in every place imaginable but, although the style was quite comtemporary, the subdued colour theme ensured it was in-keeping with the church building and didn't overwhelm it.



The Last Supper

I took a photo of the lovely tiled floor around the altar to keep as inspiration when quilting.



I was hoping to finish bag no 2 but here's another little peak instead.

Progress since last time:

Bag no 2 - nearly finished
Baby booties - started knitting a pair to try out a pattern.

Next project will be a little zipped purse for myself for when I need to take a little money but don't want to take my whole purse full of cards, stamps, receipts and whatnot.

Bye for now
Teresa x

Music Mayhem!

I was surprised last weekend when I heard that this is the 12th year for our village music festival.  I would have guessed at maybe 7 or 8 at the most!  We've enjoyed fantastic weather for nearly all of those years so I suppose a complete wash-out was on the cards sooner or later. 

Most of the smaller events went ahead indoors but the big concerts (already downgraded from the Castle venue and minus the headline acts due to poor ticket sales) were a big disappointment.  The photo above was taken on the Sunday afternoon and, although there were more people than you can see here, it was disappointing.  Saturday had been worse.....much worse!!!  The rain was torrential and the area you can see cordoned off had become a pond.
 

First bag choice for work colleague

 But, as per our camping trip, we and our friends had a laugh anyway. Personally, I saw performances by The Saturday Singers (that I used to belong to) the local hand bell ringers, a soul singer, a tenor horn player and various cover bands and open mic performers.

I don't know what will happen next year (if it depends on this year's takings) or even if there'll be a festival next year.  I hope they bring back what used to be a highlight for me - the Male Voice Choir performance at the Castle. 

Progress since last time:

Second bag for chap at work to give his wife - started
2 cat mouse-toys - finished (above photo, sitting on the second bag, which I just realised looks like it might be the same design as the first - but is not!)

By for now
Teresa x

"Summer" Holiday!

Despite the extremely unseasonably bad weather on our recent week in Cornwall (shortened to 5 days) we had fun, mainly due to the fact that there were 15 of us plus 2 dogs in 7 tents.  Our tents were erected in very strong winds and taken down in rain and winds verging on gale-force - quite an experience I can tell you!  Some campers (not us) didn't have to bother taking their tents down because they blew down!!  We did have a couple of dry days (and parts of days) here and there, though, and had fun making the most of it.  It'll certainly be a holiday to remember!  We came home on the Thursday after hearing Amber Weather Warnings for later!!

 The extreme weather conditions completely over-shadowed the fact that the journey there (which should normally take about 3 and a half hours) took more like 7 and a half!! Some of us headed off the main route to have lunch at Jamaica Inn (of Daphne du Maurier fame) and decided not to re-join the crawling masses.  Consequently, the Sat Nav took us down narrower and narrower lanes until our vehicles were practically scraping the hedges and banks on the sides of the road. 

 Still, we made it safely there and camp was erected.  This is our tent and DD's behind.  Can you see the small towel pegged to the rear guy-rope swaying gently in the breeze!!!!!  We also had our bunting and windmills up ready for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee weekend. 

 One reasonable day, 6 of us headed for the Eden Project as we'd not been before.  It's a thoroughly amazing place that does great social and environmental work. 

This impressive flower was within days of blooming while we were there. You can see the result on this page on a short video.

This bunch of characters is a sculpture but it struck me how it looks in this photo as though they were actually leaping and jumping about.

We held our own Jubilee celebrations on the first dry afternoon of the weekend. 

DD painted her nails for the occasion

We went prepared and soon rustled this up between us

Some 'special guests' arrived!

We couldn't leave without spending at least a little time at the beach!

Progress since last time:

One bag (ordered by chap at work for his wife) finished.
Another bag (to give said chap a choice) started
2 mice cat-toys stuffed.
15 or so hexagons prepared while on hols.

Music Festival this weekend
See you all soon
Bye for now
Teresa x

The Olympic Torch Came to Town! and A Giveaway Winner!

Most of the locations on the route of the Olympic Torch Relay were well-known towns and cities.  How it came to be going through our little village last Friday I don't know, but I'm very glad it did!

 It was a gorgous day without a cloud in the sky; the bunting and flags were up in plenty of time and council workers were around early to line the main street with barriers.  Crowds built up over the morning and school children from nearby towns were bused in as a treat.

 In the build-up to the main event the local handbell ringers entertained the gathering people, a drumming band from another town paraded along the route and Rocky the Bear (the local Music Festival mascot) amused the children.

 As the first few police out-riders drove by and a police helicopter circled overhead we all craned our necks for a better view.  The atmosphere was buzzing with anticipation.

The torch-bearer is behind the boy with the blue T-shirt.  I think you can just about see the flame above his head (I'm not very good at action shots!)

We heard the procession before we saw it. The torch-bearer was preceded by more out-riders, a few advertising floats for large multi-national companies and further support vehicles.  It was a noisy, happy procession with a carnival atmosphere and certainly got everyone waving, clapping and cheering.  Then the procession disappeared onto the next town and within minutes it was like it had never happened - apart from being left with the feeling that we'd been a part of something special; a part of history!!

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Right - now to my SMS Giveaway result.  First, I must say thank you to all 61 people who left comments.  I was stunned that so many people liked my little purse enough to enter.  As soon as I get the chance I'm going to checkout all your blogs! And a special thank you and welcome to the 3 who became new followers.  I hope you stick around.  Things can be a bit slow around here but it's definitely varied.  I chose the winner using the standard random number generator and up popped number 47 who was The Hippy Housewife.   So, many congratulations to Cynthia.  I've emailed her directly and now have an address to send the purse to.   

 

I might have mentioned before that I've been looking in charity shops for Charles Dickens books. I've only seen one and, although I can't remember which one it was, I knew I didn't want it to be my first experience of CD.  Call it luck or divine intervention but in an email from Freecycle last week someone was offering the Complete Works of Charles Dickens!!  I emailed to register my interest, crossed my fingers and, to my surprise, was contacted the next day to pick them up despite there being a lot of other interest.  This is just half of them!!!  I thought "Great! Now I can read whichever one I want to first." And THAT is my problem!! (Or rather one of them - the other being where to put them!)  So, which one do I read first?  Should it be one I've not heard of, one I know well or one I've heard of but don't much about? I was leaning towards the latter option until someone suggested that maybe I should read them in the order they were published, and that put a real spanner in the works.  Now I don't know what to do!  Help!!!

Progress since last time:

Bag for colleague's wife - nearly finished

Mouse cat-toys - still to be stuffed

Planned projects - more bag and cushion ideas

3 quilts to keep plodding away at (Quilt-as-you-go, Tag Square Bee and Hexagon Quilts)

Bye for now

Teresa x

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day!

Hello and welcome to anyone visiting from Sew Mama Sew for the giveaway.
As mentioned in my last post I'm going to give away this little zipped purse for this year's Sew Mama Sew Giveaway day.  I made it as a bit of an experiment but it turned out quite nicely so I thought it would make a good prize.

If you're interested in entering for this, I don't expect any jumping through hoops, just leave a comment telling me a little about yourself (if you like - you don't have to) and all will be entered in the draw.

The purse is crocheted in one piece from leftover yarn with a recycled zip, buttons, ribbon and fabric lining to finish it off.  It measures 5" by 4" and is not quite big enough to hold my phone, which I considered as a possibility. 

I'll pick a winner on Friday and will post anywhere.  Good luck!

Edited to add - Since first writing this I've been doing the rounds of what else is on offer in the SMS Giveaway and it's made me realise what a poor excuse for a blog post this is.  I've been very remiss in not introducing myself properly to new visitors and not inviting you to stick around if you'd like to.  For anyone who's not been here before - my name is Teresa and I live in Wales, UK.  I have husband and 2 grown up children.  I love to craft (especially sewing, quilting, knitting and crochet) and try to do as much as I can within a very limited time-frame. So, although this blog is supposed to be about my stitching exploits, it tends to be about that and much more besides, like singing, activities with my friends, village life etc and very occasionally I spout off about something that gets my goat like poor grammar. 

In other news: A work colleague has asked me to make a bag for him to give to his wife.  It seems that I don't even need to advertise to sell stuff!!  I hope the same can be said if I decide to start selling seriously!

Edited to add the result:

Hot off the press and sorry it's a bit late (pc probs) but the winner is The Hippy Housewife!!!  I've emailed her directly with the news and will send off the package as soon as I get the address.

Bye for now

Teresa x

I wasn't looking forward to this month's quilting club meeting last Saturday.  Two members were giving demonstrations but I often find the projects are not to my taste and prefer to get on with my own work. It was possible to do our own work but I had nothing suitable prepared and doing preparation at the meeting would have been too distracting for others.

I scrabbled around in my shed for something (anything) to do.  I ended up grabbing my crochet hooks and a ball of yarn.  However, as it turned out I was quite impressed with the demonstration project (above).  It's a method called twist and turn. I didn't think much of it at first from the designs in the book we were shown but I absolutely love the version that our member is making.  The colours are right up my street and the chicken centres are so cute. I made a mental note to have a go at this sometime.

As I watched, I began crocheting, trying out another idea I had mentally filed away.  I managed to finish most of the main part of this purse during the day.  I completed it later by adding ribbon, buttons, zip and lining.  I sewed the whole thing by hand and am pleased with how it turned out and how quickly it came together. All the supplies are repurposed. The ribbon is from the lengths you get inside new clothes to help hang them up! I knew they'd come in useful one day.

The old yew tree in the churchyard

On Sunday after Church, OH and I headed off to Cardiff Bay with 4 other couples for a 40th birthday meal. The cupcakes and sparkling wine we had when we got there were a lovely touch organised by the birthday girl's OH. The plan had been to have them on the mini-bus but we ended up on 2 buses (men on one, women on the other) but that's another story.  After a wander and a drink in a bar we headed for an Italian restaurant where we had a lovely meal.  I'm afraid I didn't enjoy the rest of the outing.  Behaviour began to deteriorate (partly due to drink) and incidents occurred (not all due to drink surprisingly), and when we came back to our village hotel (on one mini-bus due to the fact that one couple had already left and made their own way home - separately!!) OH and I went home as soon as was polite.

Monday afternoon, I was off to another church service.  This time to sing in the choir for a Mother's Union Deanery Service.  They said there'd be tea after and I was ready for a cuppa.  I didn't realise they meant full afternoon tea with sandwiches, cakes and scones!!   I didn't bother with dinner when I got home!

Progress since last time:

• Crocheted purse - which I may enter in the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway if I get my act together.  They're doing it a different way since I last entered and I'm not sure how it works.
• QAYG quilt block - one more quilted (2 or 3 left out of 25ish but I've run out of wadding).
• Mousey cat toys - 2 cut out
• Bag for friend - cut out.

Bye for now
Teresa x

Piles of Purses!

The order for 7 purses has been fulfilled!  My friend thought they were lovely and said they went down well with her grandchildren too.  She decided to give the farm animal ones to the 2 boys and let the 5 girls choose from the rest.

Version 2 of the doggy purse. It's been taken apart and the damaged zip replaced

Most of  fabrics and zips in the purses are reclaimed. Some, like the apple and bee fabrics, I bought before I thought seriously about what I was doing.  With one exception, I haven't bought any new fabric for a few years. 

The exception was last week when I wanted to get a particular colour for sashing my Bee Quilt.  It's been a while since I asked for suggestions on how to put the Bee Quilt together and decided Linnhe's suggestion to use a soft green was good .  I haven't been able to find a recycled source so, after choosing a fabric online, asked a friend to pick up a metre from a shop near where she works on Saturdays (see, I even avoided making a special journey to get it!). However, it appears I now owe my friend a big favour after the lady in the shop managed to to keep her there talking for half an hour!!

Apple purse embellished with Suffolk Puff and matching button

Now the purses are finished my mind is buzzing with all the ideas I tried to surpress until now. As well as getting on with the Bee Quilt I've decided to use one of the bag patterns in my patchwork magazine for a gift for the friend who gave me materials and make one for myself at the same time.  I also want to make more zipped purses, cushions and bags. 

Bee purse with felt circle attached with button.

Making  the purses was a good exercise for me in finding out what materials and methods I was happiest with. 

Purses altogether before being dispatched.

It also made me think about different designs and led to trying out this side zip version.  Although I winged it to a large extent, it came together quite quickly. 

 I couldn't work out in my head how to make it all-in-one so made a separate lining and hand sewed it in.

The Summer social whirl is about to begin with lots of events lined up (which is hard to believe looking out of the window at the grey sky and cold, wet conditions!), including a Wedding Fayre, Music Festival, camping trip or two and Raft Race, over the next few months amongst other things.

Progress since last time:

• 7 zipped purses - last 2 finished and all delivered.
• Knitted cowl - I found another part ball of left-over yarn so undid the join and added it to make the cowl a better length. Incidentally, I neglected to mention that the design was largly taken from the Burberry inspired cowl neck scarf by Julianne Smith aka the garter girl.
• Brown jumper that I don't wear any more has been taken apart and unrun ready to wash and make into something else.
• Side zipped purse made.
• Nearly finished quilting another Quilt-as-you-go Block.

It's a Bank Holiday weekend coming up and there's lots planned. Out with the usual gang on Friday evening, mini-bus trip to Cardiff Bay Sunday afternoon for friend's 40th and hoping to go to a craft fair on Monday but let's see how things pan out.

Bye for now

Teresa x

The End of the Show!

Me and My Girl is now over!  It's a strange feeling knowing I won't have to sing any of those songs again.  I really had a fantastic time doing it.  Surprisingly, I wasn't at all nervous which I put down to a few things; I knew what I was doing; I couldn't see the audience; I was too busy concentrating on singing, moving and acting at the same time to worry.

 The final performance was an amazing experience with the biggest attendance the society has ever had.  The audience became more and more responsive and enthusiastic as the 'run' went on.  At the very end they were clapping and cheering, whistling and singing along.  Those of my friends and family who came to see it told me they loved it (even the bits that weren't meant to be funny, but were - if you know what I mean!).   OH bought me these pretty tulips on the last day to wish me luck. 

At the after-show party we were informed that we'd had a royal visitor in the audience on the Thursday night.  It seems she's a friend/acquaintance of one of the performers. 

OH asked me if we were actually saying anything to each other in the scenes where the chorus were standing behind the main action pretending to be at a party.  The answer is yes and no!  We would sometimes quietly say things in character like, "How lovely to see you!", "What a lovely dress!" or "Isn't this a wonderful party!"; other times it would be things like, "I can't think of anything else to say!" or "We shouldn't have come on so soon!"  while nodding and smiling.  Then there were those who would move their mouths but make no noise, I'm convinced, from my attempt at lip-reading, that one woman was saying 58, 59, 60, 61....etc.

I'm still progressing slowly with the crafting and have at least a million ideas lined up in my head for future projects.  My subscription to Popular Patchwork runs out this month and I'm not planning on renewing it but was pleased to see that my final issue is a Bag Special.  There are some great patterns in it and I plan to use one for the bag I've been intending to make for the friend who gave me lots of materials.  The book Make and Mend also arrived in the post the same day.  I didn't buy it so it must be a competition win or giveaway.  There was no clue in the package!

Progress since last time:

Knitted cowl finished - (see above) actually, I ran out of yarn or I would have made it a bit longer.  I used the left-over yarn from the Boring Beige Cardigan.

7 Zipped pouches - the last 2 are almost finished.  (I had to take apart the doggy one because the zip was faulty!)

Bye for now

Teresa x

It's Showtime (almost)!

(Jess - if you don't want to see my costumes before the show stop reading now!!)

I'd like to introduce you to Zipped Purse number 4.  I don't have much fabric suitable for children.  I'm hoping the purses will be suitable but will give my friend the chance to reject any she thinks aren't.  The little dogs were on a small scrap of fabric and are surrounded by a border that matches the checked fabric so I cut them out and appliqued them on.  And I used a red similar to the dogs' background for lining and to end the zip.

I'm trying to add a different embellishment to each purse.  I found a tiny button that sort of echoes the ladybirds in this fabric and attached a ribbon bow with it.  Number 6 is cut out so I won't be too much longer on these.

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 Rehearsals are stepping up a notch for 'Me and My Girl'.  Last night we held our first rehearsal in the actual venue.  Seeing the stage and all the seating brought home to me what I'm actually doing!!!!

I roped OH in to take photos of me in the garden in my costumes on the weekend.

 Above left is my costume for the opening scene.  All these items I've borrowed from what was available from the items lent to our society.  I added a piece of elastic to the inside of the skirt waistband just to add a little extra security!  The skirt did stay up but was a bit loose and I didn't have complete confidence in it's ability to stay where it should.  I think a hat would complete this outfit but it will have to do.

On the right is my servants outfit for my next 2 scenes including The Lambeth Walk.  The blouse is from the same place as the other outfit, as is the head-piece, which is actually half of a choirboy's neck ruffle (I'm sure it must have a proper name)!  The skirt is my mother's and the apron came from my great-aunt's so is probably a genuine item from the actual era of the show!

 Here, on the left, is my outfit for The Sun Has Got His Hat On.  I don't think it looks very 1930's so I'm hoping someone can help me out when I take it in tonight.  The skirt was borrowed from the same stash as above and the top is one that I machine-knitted for my mother many years ago.

 Last is the outfit for The Hunt Ball and Finale.  The dress is my own, the gloves and the headpiece (a band with black and red feathers) are more borrowed items.  The little top I got from a charity shop the other week.  It's a lovely red cashmere cropped cardigan.  The shame is, I have to cut the arms short to accommodate the gloves.  I tried pulling them up but it's too bulky. 

So there you have it.  I haven't seen any of the other costumes so have no idea how they compare.  I suspect we'll look a right mish-mash between us!   One thing I must remember during the show is to SMILE when appropriate.  It'll have to be a really conscious effort though, because I thought I WAS smiling in these photos and they're dreadful!  Why do you think I kept them small?  I even had to resort to cutting my head off in one case!!

Progress since last time:

2 more of 7 zipped purses finished - 2 to go.
Knitted cowl - on the home stretch.

Since we've got rehearsals tonight and Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, then start performing on Wednesday until Saturday, I don't expect to get much done during the next week.  I wonder how much time I'll have between scenes, maybe I could take some knitting (so long as I don't miss my cue).

Bye for now
Teresa x

Three Peaks and a Dog!

Last Thursday was my birthday (half-century minus one, if you're interested).  At work, my boss gathered everyone together to say Happy Birthday (no singing - they were mostly men standing around awkwardly like spare parts, a couple of whom I'd never met before and were just visiting), give me a round of applause? and present me with a card and cake.  It was a lovely chocolate cake which I had to distribute (as per the office custom) to the waiting gannets colleagues.

When I returned home the family were all waiting for me with flowers and cards and 2 more cakes?  And I was happy when they agreed to join OH and me for a meal at an Italian restaurant. 

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As I was driving home from a 'Me and My Girl' rehearsal in the dark last week I noticed that the horizon looked different and seemed to be glowing.  I realised when I got nearer home that what I could see was the mountain on fire!! 

Photo taken Oct last year

The fire was on the ridge of the mountain (The Blorenge) in the far left of the above picture and was spread quite a way across. There've been lots of fires in the area over the last few weeks as a result of all the dry, warm weather we've had.  There's no hint of warm weather today - I've just been out for lunch and it's about 2 degrees and blowing an arctic gale!!!  March was more like June and April has started off like November - What's going on?!!!

The picture above was taken near the top of The Skirrid Mountain on Sunday (when it was still warm and sunny).  The Skirrid is the one on the far right of the October picture. In the distance on the right above is The Blorenge that was on fire.

I couldn't remember if I'd ever climbed The Skirrid before, until I got to this point.  Then I remembered sheltering from howling wind and rain behind these rocks to eat a picnic years ago. I think I must have been in my early teens because I remember certain friends of my mother being with us with their dog.

Talking of dogs - this little cutie is how we came to be here that day.  Friends are looking after her for the week and we went with them to take her for a walk.  I tried to get a cute picture like DD does, with the dog looking up at the camera, but she wouldn't keep still for a second!  She's only still here because she's watching the next group of people approaching.

OH put her on the summit marker for a photo shoot. There was no way she could avoid the photo on there. Under her body the summit of The Sugar Loaf is visible which is the middle mountain in the October photo. 

So, by now you should have quite a clear picture of the whole of this area :-)

It was good to get out in the fresh air and get some exercise.  I'm afraid getting any kind of exercise has completely gone by the wayside in the last few weeks, but a walk in the countryside is much better than any gym session as far as I'm concerned!

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DD was laughing at me the other day when I asked her if she'd seen my latest blog post.  She said this blog was supposed to be about sewing but there was never any on here.  She didn't mind because she likes reading the other stuff and finds the sewing posts boring!  Despite that, she's right!  Hopefully, the balance will shift one day and the crafting posts will out-number the rest.  I don't know what keeps the rest of you reading but I hope I don't lose any followers if/when that day comes.  You're all very good to keep popping in to read my random ramblings.

Crafting progress since last time (which is quite a long time but it doesn't show!)

• Knitted cowl - a few more rows knitted
• 7 Zipped Purses - 2 more cut out 
• Quilt-as-you-go-quilt - 1 more block quilted (4 left to do out of 25ish)
• Bag for work friend - looked through my books but couldn't find one to make that I liked.  Also, the friend has left work unexpectedly and lives about 2 hours drive away!  Will still make the bag but will post it or visit and take it.

The "To Do" list is pretty much the same as last time, which is to finish the above, but with the Easter Bank Holidays coming up I should be able to make a little progress. 

The week after that I will officially call "Mad Rehearsal and Performance Week" in honour of "Me and My Girl".  Oh! My! Goodness! We open 2 weeks today!!!! Costumes - check. Words - check. Moves - check-ish!   Confidence...........?

Bye for now

Teresa x