Challenge 2010 with Shelagh Folgate

Okay so you must look at Shelaghs Folgates blog, theres so much to see on there and she strikes me as avery nice and hugely talented lady.

And no, shes not paid to me say that!

The piece to the left here is Challange 2010, well, my version so far anyway, because everyone taking part has selected different colours and a different basic design, whilst following the same directional instructions.

Simpler than it sounds trust me lol

I now await the chance to attack this with granite stitch for my next stage, but since Im holed up in a hotel, I have limited opportunity at the moment.

Though I may just take the machine here and now back there with me since Im going to fall behind and besiudes Im frustrated not being able to get stuck in with it!

Some time ago I bought a cd off Ebay with photos of the london cemetary, whose name now escapes me..........H.............. give me a minute, the cold is getting to me, sat here in a freezing house with no water to flush then loo ( and yes I need a pee.....) or to make a cupper with. HIGHGATE!!!

( I get there in the end.......................)

Well Ive been thinking about doing a small patchwork hanging about WW1 and my Grandad, who survived it thankfully but is now long gone of course. He enlisted though only 14 yrs old, and was in Germany by the time they realised his true age so he spent his war far from the front, looking after the horses.

Anyway, not having Photoshop ( yet....) I used the free software Picassa and played with some pics, which I will print onto fabric and incorporate into the patchwork.

I aim to use crazy patchwork as symbolism and comment on the whole crazy events of that war........though any war is crazy isnt it really. But that loss of youth and life at that time, seems to me the most pathetic and wasteful of all somehow.

And here we are all these years later, still losing young lives, and older too of course, and ot seems we have learnt so little of the value of a life.

And heres me who was Aircrew in the RAF during the 1970s, but since being a mother I suppose things fall into perspective for us dont you think..........and yes as we age too.

Okay am getting maudlin, so will shift my frozen limbs and go to the hotel to warm up and ready myself for a visit to friends this evening........ Its my mates 50th bday and his partners arranged a 'surprise' party for him, which he must surely know all about by now lol but he will have tried his best to avoid letting on he knows am sure!

Popped in at home to use pc but sooooo cold!

Okay, so here are afew piccies

the first two of which are trees Ive worked on whilst imprisoned in the hotel room Im inhabiting whilst they repair my home of previous workmens crap workmanship..... nuff said....

The trees are unfinished and Ive had to lighten the pics abit, so you can make out the yarns used. They are from Yarn Paradise on Ebay, you can get 8 balls of most yarns at inexpensive prices, and the postage isnt that bad at all, even though I think they post from Turkey.

The one on the left is simple crochet with loops here, there and everywhere, worked freeform and then stitched to the branches. I know the colour is wrong but it reminds me of trailing Weeping Willows, so am not on the hunt for a lighter version of this yarn.

The other yarn doesnt work so well in crochet, you lose the delicate nature of the yarn itself, though a man on a galloping horse might have thought this tree an apple blossom maybe?

I used trebles to form small cupped shapes but will try a simple lopped version and se ehow that shapes up too.

Why I felt I needed to buy more novelty yarn I dont know, its not as if I havent got 2 enormous see through A1 sized plastic bags of the blessed stuff...........but I hadnt got these yarns, in these colours of course...........Shelagh will gift you a ball of each of these to play with, so watch for them next week. I reckon they will embellish nicely but my machine is tucked away rto escape the dust in the house at the moment.

The fox is 'Dog' who resides somewhere out back of the school fields, and my workroom at work, overlooks those fields and since it snowed I have been feeding him and his Vixie, who had a damaged front leg.

They are out in daylight most days now, having seen them in the snow foraging, I took to leaving eggs, liver, chicken, dried and canned dog food etc.... so they now come look near to my office before they forage for insects etc lol

Well Vixie hasnt been see since Xmas so I fear for her since she wouldnt have been able to lunge for prey and of course the cold may have got her in the end.

But theres another fox on the scene now, and Im fairly certain its not Vixie, so have called this one Plushy cos shes got a plush brush..........lol

Anyway they both like their grub, collect and carry the eggs away, to who knows where, and the above pic was captured by the graphics lad in our room and he added the words for me since I was daft enough to be giving them tops ups of food.

Now the weathers better Im going to reduce the food but will still treat them to eggs, free range naturally...!

The head hugger is what I also made whilst in captivity and have knitted a scarf with the same circles at each end to go with it, but think I may need more circles on the ends yet, am still considering that.

The fight goes on with the builders who having opened up the fllooring found sleeper walls that had been built solid, with no ventilation holes in them, the old holes stopped up and pipework that had not been lagged, so my popes were heating the underfloor areas lol Andy Capp could have done better..........if anyone remembers him lol

Oh and the piccy of the bricks shows what they uncovered behind the plaster in the rear porch. A shame I couldnt have reinstated this old window but it would make the porch less secure and I live in a neighbourhood that needs a culling of the criminally inclined let us say....

Okay will post this and then add some pics of the piece I am currently making by following instructions from Shelagh Folgate on her current Challenge 2010. Wont let on how its done but I know you will be able to purchase insts. from her if you fancy a challenge too! Its a learn as you go experience and good fun!

No pics today, am sat at home freezing to death, sat in my bedroom, the ground floor of my 1903 terraced house, is virtually gutted through again by builders repairing the shoddy and negligent work that was done after I wasnt flooded in 2007.
After 2 years of nagging the Insurers handling agents to check work that was done. they have had to admit their was crap workmanmship and negligence AND I have finally got someone on side who has complained to the Head Honchos of the Insurance company and they are investigating the work undertaken. I always said I hadnt actually reported a flood. I simply informed my Insurance Company that water had entered the patio area and I wanted them to log the call lest in years to come anything could be backtracked to a cause...to cover my back you know?
But the Handling Agents went gung ho and gutted my home telling me I had no alternative but to comply.
And now they have doubled and doubled my annual insurance premiums to £1250 a year.yup thats right, £1250. And I wasnt flooded!!!

So Im in a hotel for 5 weeks this time, when last time I was 10 months squeezed upstairs and at least 4 of those months I had no workmen in the house at all!
BUT, I have no wish to be in a hotel, my daily life has been upskettled yet again and having spent years travelling worldwide, staying in hotels, its not exactly a joyful place for me to be these days. Though it is warmer than camping in my bedroom it hasto be said.

Its too chilly to sit and chat for long, so this is me signing out, whilst I still have the use of my fingers!