Spoiling Myself!

I enjoy going to the hairdressers.  I don't always like the way I look when I come out but I don't worry because I know I only have to wash it and it's back to 'normal'.  Although there are more staff there, the atmosphere at the salon is quite like Truvy's in Steel Magnolias (a film that I LOVE btw - despite it being very 80's).  Everyone is so helpful and friendly and makes me feel very relaxed.  I sit and drink coffee, read a magazine or chat knowing there's absolutely nothing else I can, or have, to do for the next 2 hours. 

 I'd like to say the best bit is having my hair washed but I have a sort of love/hate relationship with it in reality.  Having someone massage my head is heavenly but finding a comfortable position for my neck on the basin has always flummoxed me.  Only once have I been completely comfortable but I don't know what I did so I can't repeat it! 

 The top picture is what my hair looked like when I came out of the salon the time before last;  Smooth and shiny and nothing like I can ever manage myself.  Also, it's not 'me'.  The lower picture is the next day after washing it out and letting it dry mostly naturally.  It's less trouble like this and how I like it (messy)!



Two little purses lined in orange - all materials re-purposed

I was carrying my bag around the other day and after a while it felt very heavy and uncomfortable on my shoulder. The weight was mainly caused by my purse so I decided there and then that my next project would be a little zipped purse for myself.  As I had 2 zips handy I thought I may as well make another at the same time.  This scrap of fabric I had in my shed is so sweet as it is, it didn't need any further embellishment so they came together quite quickly.  I think I may have just enough left to make 2 more like them.  Now I can take just enough money with me when I go out instead of carrying around a load of bumf that I don't need.

In further progress, I have finished hand-quilting the last 2 of my quilt-as-you-go quilt blocks - Way hay!!  There'll be a bit of delay before the next stage, until I decide how I'm going to put it together but I'm quite pleased to have got this far.

As an interim project - plans are afoot for something for the engagement party!! 

Progress since last time - all of the above!!!

Bye for now
Teresa x

3 Well-organised Events! (on different scales)

OH went out to a boxing match on Friday evening so, instead of meeting our usual gang for drinks, I took the opportunity for some 'me' time and stayed in to watch the whole 3+ hours of the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony while doing some hand-quilting.  I'm so glad I did!!  It was an amazing feat of organisation and with so much to see it was difficult to take it all in.   Highlights for me were; the REAL queen with the fictional James Bond; the fireworks; the 'forging' of the Olympic rings and, to top it all, the stunning cauldron!!

A new flight of stairs up to one of the castle towers, which had been closed off for many years due to the dangerous state of the original stairs.

OH and I popped into our local  Castle the other week during a walk.  There was a company of re-enacters showing the mediaeval way of life and demonstrating different sorts of battle-dress and weapons in simulated fights.



The view from the newly opened tower that I haven't seen for a long time.  These children are trying archery.

 I started to take pics of the action but remembered how people can be 'funny' about taking photos of children.  I became suddenly self-conscious and stopped snapping, so didn't get anything decent to show.

 This is another view from the newly opened tower across to the higher main tower that has always been open.  I've climbed that tower many, many times and also, in my childhood, climbed on and into many places where the public were not allowed. ;-)



Demonstrating how to use a coracle

The organisers of the Royal Welsh Agricultural Show must have been very grateful for the good weather they had for the week.  OH and I went on the Tuesday and it was positively sweltering!  A bit too hot for me, if I'm honest, but I shouldn't say it too loudly because it really was lovely to see the sun and a welcome break from the rain.  The last time we went to the show was about 7 years ago when OH received an award for working 30yrs in forestry with the same employer. 

I don't know how we managed it, but we spent the whole day at the show and found plenty to do without actually seeing a single farm animal or entering a single marquee!  Being a forester and owner of 2 vintage tractors OH was interested in the machinery so we spent quite a bit of time in that section, which was thankfully less crowded than the trade stalls.  The tractor above is the same as one of OHs and is the same age as me.  I hope I'm wearing as well!!

We sat on the bank of the main ring for a while to watch the Ukranian Cosacs perform their amazing horseback skills but couldn't bear the heat any longer - it seemed to be concentrated on that bank.  So we popped along to see DS's girlfriends parents, who had a stand selling stock feeders, taking them some grapes and still-warm doughnuts for some afternoon munchies, before heading for home. 

Progress since last time:

Quilt-as-you-go-quilt - I'm finally in the process of hand-quilting the last block after deciding to concentrate on finishing (if not a whole project then at least) one stage.

Bye for now

Teresa x

It's in the Bag!

It was very remiss of me not to add a link to my last post when I mentioned the International Eisteddfod so here it is, better late than never.

I've finished Bag No 2 at last!  I'm glad I persevered with it because this is the one my colleague chose to buy for is wife.  I didn't have a pattern, just an idea, and I'm pleased with how it turned out.  The tricky bit was working out how to sew the main pieces together at the bottom corners.  It's mostly stitched wrong sides together with the binding covering the exposed edges.  This is what I planned but before I got to this stage I searched online for patterns or tutorials that would give me a clue to help. 

I found nothing, despite looking at dozens of sites so had to just go for it!  I had to slighly change my idea so the bottom side seam is sewn right sides together; the corners were just too fiddly otherwise.  All the checked and striped fabric is from furnishing sample books and the flowers are scraps from various sources.  This design could be made in any size or shape without too much trouble. There's no troublesome turning because the lining is sewn in as you go.!!

These yarns arrived in the post the other day.  I couldn't resist sending for a couple of skeins to sample these interesting yarns when I saw a link to this website on a blog (I wish, for the life of me, I could remember which one).  The top skein is a hemp yarn and is quite rough and rustic.  The bottom colourful one is made from the bark of banana trees!!.  Obviously, this is dyed but you can get the natural colour too.  It's softer than I expected. I bought only the one skein of each so I'll have to think of a couple of little projects to try them out. 

Progress since last time:

Bag no 2 finished!!!

Knitted baby booty ready to sew up - (I'm not very hopeful that the result will be as nice as I hoped)

Quilt block - almost finished hand-quilting ( the last  2 of these are going to be my next task - I'm going to get these finished before moving on to anything else)

Bye for now

Teresa x

Two Memorable Occasions!

What do you do if you go to Disney World on holiday and you don't get proposed to?  Well, you go again 2 months later, that's what!  DD and her boyfriend A are now engaged!!  Not exactly a complete surprise to her (or us) but we're thrilled for them and I'm looking forward to helping with all the wedding arrangements (probably 2014).

 They came around one evening shortly after they got back from America to make the official announcement and we immediately went out for a meal to celebrate. We went to the restaurant where son K works on Sundays and had a lovely meal. As we were deciding whether or not to have dessert, this lovely selection was brought out from the kitchen along with glasses of dessert wine, with the compliments of the house!! How lucky were we!!!!

My parents were away on holiday at the International Music Eisteddfod in Llangollen at the time and despite many attempts I was unable to contact them to let them know about the engagement. They haven't succumbed to the lure of modern technology so, although they had a mobile phone with them, they hardly ever turned it on! It wasn't vital that we contact them, but we would have liked to tell them before the rest of the village heard the news.  But it wasn't too many days later that the need to contact them became more urgent.

We've heard on the news about many areas in the UK having had a months worth of rain in 24 hours.  Well, on Sunday, I'm pretty sure we had our months worth in an hour and a half.   My parents house, being the lowest in the street, bore the brunt when a stream overflowed. It was surrounded by water as it ran through their garden like a river and unfortunately found its way into the house.

  We could see the water through the window but didn't have a key. To cut a long story short - we contacted my parents by phoning the Eisteddfod office and asking them the make an announcement.  My parents subsequently called and it turned out there was a key hidden near the house all the time, that we didn't know about.  So, we got in, mopped up as best we could and carried out the rugs.  I persuaded my parents not to drive back straight away because there was nothing more they could do that night. 

They're back home now, after cutting their holiday short by a week, but the insurance company has been very helpful so far which is good.

Progress since last time:

Bag no 2 - almost finished. I was on a roll and well on the way to finishing bag no 2 when the flood struck, so that's been delayed AGAIN.
Quilt-as-you-go block - started quilting a block at club on Saturday.  Only 2 more left after this one!!

Bye for now
Teresa x

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!!

--------

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