Lucky me !!! A runner up prize whoop...whoop....

http://bustleandsew.com/store/

If you havent visited Helen's wonderful site Bustle and Sew, please pop across and languish amongst her delightful patterns and handi work.
There are really wonderful patterns to buy, a few offered free and a  useful pdf which you can download too, explaining how to transfer patterns.
Helen has a Bustle and Sew eZine, featuring some of her patterns as well which looks really interesting.

The Bustle & Sew Magazine offers at least 3 free original Bustle & Sew patterns each month, plus vintage patterns, news and tutorials from other designers. It’s a great read and is delivered in pdf format so it’s easy for you to download and print too.

Helen had a draw and I was lucky enough to be a runner up and I have received a pattern for the most wonderful mouse Pilot!
I am totally smitten lol THANK YOU HELEN!

Helen's 'Brave Aviator Mice Softies'



Aren't they just wonderful!!
I have lifted this pic off Helen's website, so please pop in and see her Monty the Parrot softie and her Owl and the Pussy Cat softies too.
Then go find her also delightful, Stitching Bunny by Nakisha who is so very, very lovely too.

Now do I make this aviator mouse for my grandson.......
or for ME since I'm ex RAF aircrew myself!!

Though no, I didn't actually fly the aircraft.... I loaded it with freight and passengers, then flew with the airframe wherever it was going to.
(Sheer Hell - Fiji, Midway Island, Hong Kong etc..........sighhh, themS were the days....)
But I loved flying and had I had the ability would have loved to have piloted aircraft. Though not the VC10s which I worked on, think I'd have been more light aircraft material!!

I have always been fascinated by the women who flew in what was very much a mans world back in the early days. 
At school I knew about Hulls' own Amy Johnson and learnt about Amelia Earhart and felt they were ahead of their times and must have been strong willed women.
What great role models for women to follow.

These female pilots were called 'aviatrix' - women who were aviators.........what a bizarre word lol but I love it!

There was Karen Blixen too who was fascinating in her own right as a woman in the African colony and a writer. 
And Beryl Markham who was the first woman to fly from England to America in 1936.

Beryl flew and lived in Africa at the same time Karen did.
In fact Beryl also dated Denys Finch Hatton...he got about abit, that chap!
Her biography 'Straight on Till Morning' is well worth reading if you can find a copy..........she must have been one hell of a capeable woman.

And then there were, the as amazing women, who flew all manner of newly made WW2 aircraft  from aircraft factories, to the pilots who would then fly them on into war.
These women had to fly all manner of aircraft types at the drop of a hat and without them, the young pilots would not have had aircraft to fight in the skies with.

So...........yes....
I will make a male aviator mouse for my grandson ....
AND an aviatrix for me lolol
Watch this space..........I'm off to search thru my many felted woollies!

Felt wristlets and a daft idea.....

I took myself off on sunday to the coast, whilst the weather was bright and sunny. Sometimes I just need to see the sea and listen to it you know?
Anyway I went to Flamborough Head where there is a lighthouse but its years since I was there last, I guess when the kids were small...and they are late 20s now lol

 I ended up turning to south landing and it was not the place I was expecting........no lighthouse or caves in the rocky cove, so I suppose I should have gone further, to north shore maybe lol

Anyway since I was there and didnt know what was ... there ... I walked down the hill towards the water......down a  --- steep --- hill, no cars allowed and sat for an hour or so, on white chalky stones and watched the tide flow out.
Fishermen were there but using canoes/kayacks to fish..... and Id not seen it done that way before.
 I forgot my camera and though I did take pics on my phone, Im still looking for the widget to take my phone pics off and transfer them to the pc .............. its somewhere safe.
 
Anyway these chaps had 2 fishing rods sticking up at the back of the canoes and theyd simply canoe out into the furthest reach of the cove and back again, offload whatever theyd caught then set off back out again!
Quite calming to watch, no idea what they were catching but it struck me as 'fishing with exercise'............not least because theyd be lugging the canoes up and down the hill!

Ah yes, that hill.................a third of the way, walking back UP that bloody hill.............it struck me how insane I was to have gone down it in the first place.
It was easily 1 in 4 ie. it rose a foot in every 4 foot, then eased to maybe 1 in 6.........thats steep.............especially when I recalled that my struggling to breathe, had as much to do with the fact that Id had heart surgery only just over 4 weeks ago.............
............how can I be so dim?

I had to walk abit, stand and look back and 'admire the scenery' whilst desperately trying to breathe. I sat on the few seats and walked abit further after each one ............ I was crackered by the time I got back to the car ............ I wont be going back there soon!!
Brainless............Im just brainless ............ so last evening and today Ive done very little, to balance out abit lol

Ive made the wristlets as part of that doing very little, pics above, from hand made wet felt I made a while ago.
I machine embellished some yarns into them, then hand stitched here and there. Cant decide whether to stitch press studs or use an inch or so of elastic as a fastening, so I will sleep on that and decide tomorrow.
Glad I have tomorrow off as a concessionary day, so its  ashort working week for me thank goodness...... : )

Another beautifully illustrated story and a discovery box of sorts

I couldnt resist paying 50p for this story book at a charity shop.
Whilst I will read it with my grandson, it's really for me!
Just look .............

These above are the inside front cover pics....notice anything unusual?
 If you enlarge them I think you'll get an idea how clever these illustrations are...

And remember, these are pages from the book.
This edition was published by Walker Books Ltd in 2001 and at the back the author Jeannie Baker says the following..
"All the pictures in the book are collage constructions."
It took her 2 years to make them and she collected grasses, feathers and other found items which she treated especially to strengthen them, for example grasses and leaves were bleached with chemicals and soaked in glycerine for several days.
Then they were sprayed with oil paint as near to their natural colour as possible.
Tree trunks were modelled from clay and beyond the creative skills used to illustrate it, the story is simple but quite delightful.

Mister Punch has been gessoed in readyness for painting.....

and today Ive been making a discovery box for use with our VI kids.
I started with a car boot buy that I machine washed, a set of several fabric square boxes, in reducing sizes.

the idea is to put items in the container/box and the child takes them out one by one, discusses them and hopefully recognises them!

obviously still missing a 4th flap at this stage......

I've cut pelmet vilene flaps and covered them in fabric, so small hands can push nicely into the box through them.
There's a similar kind of solid box in one of the educational catalogues but its an arm and a leg price, so it will be interesting to see if this does the job just as well.
If you get chance to buy or see the 'Home in the Sky' book, you too may be as enthralled as I was, it' s worth enquiring about it at the library at the very least.

Ralph McTell and Edwina Hayes.....

Not great pics, but this is the inside of Holy Trinity Church in Hull where last night I went to see Ralph McTell ( Streets of London) and listened to his velvety voice..........and he still sings divine!
His voice is better now than when he was younger I think.

But I was totally won over the most, by local living Edwina Hayes, who has a voice thats crystal clear...........do yourself a favour and listen to this.......
(it says it all for me about my ex husband, who left then died at only 40....)
 but her voice is just wonderful...she's an unassuming lass with no affectation..very refreshing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry4M-eifR-4

hard to make out on this wobbly pic but the ceiling above me made me think of patchwork hexies lol

Its funny sometimes what happens when you pay a £1 for an old, year 2000, boxed game at the charity shop...........will it pass an hour away for a child or not...........well this is one major success!

Its been a real winner lol

Then there was the ambitious ice cream.....

that nannie had to finish....yummmmmy

I really like this statue thats been erected alongside the harbours entrance here at Hull's marina.

It commemorates the many europeans who passed through Hull, on their way to Liverpool and onwards to America in search of new lives.

It was donated to Hull in 2001 by the Sea Trek Foundation of America as they retraced their descendants journeys in tall ships from northern europe.

It's a touching statue, not simply tactile but emotional somehow.

This muddy clagg is what give the River Humber its distinctive colour! And also why one side of Spurn Point is so great for wetland birds

I imagine. Note the wartime artillery gun.......still aimed at Lincolnshire!!

I know, I know but for some reason I do like these architectural waves laid beside the harbour ...... well I think thats probably what they are meant to be ...
though Im sure they are fun to ride bikes over, for the young at heart....................
I resisted walking up and over them but of course grandson had a go - holding my hand naturally, in case nannie fell over watching him....................

Boxing hares and Punch paper mache head

These boxing hares were new in the garden area at The Ropewalk the other day..........aren't they great!

And made out of chicken wire thats rusted up beautifully.

This horse was made out of it too....but painted black.

Well I assume the hares were rusted but maybe they were painted too come to think of it.

 And what could you do with these wonderful spool bobbins, left over from the rope making days!

I worked on my Punch puppet head some more at work today, sliced the paper mache head shape in two with a craft knife.. it had dried nicely and cut apart cleanly.

 You can see the mache layers and the fimo mould inside here.

I hiked out the fimo easily enough, since I'd blethered it with   a covering of vaseline so the mache wouldnt totally stick to it.
But you'll notice I left the bits in the nose and chin,
so they are maybe less likely to get bent or broken off
.............that's my theory anyway.

 Since I hadn't fashioned him a neck, for the fore finger to go into, I snipped a little away at the back of the head and inserted a cardboard tube piece.
Its the central tube from a roll of blue cellophane.

                                                               voila!

 Then I had to mache over the join and cover the neck,
so its layered into position and stays put.
Now I must tell you this is not all my own clever idea.......
I did some googling for suggestions of how to make a paper mache Punch and this technique was explained on an interesting site I found.
http://www.squidoo.com/punch-and-judy-puppets

and this has some good clothing patterns which I may use
http://www.punchandjudy.com/dryadleaflet.htm

So here's Punch, all wet and mache'd up, sat at work till next Monday when I'm back in. He should be dried out by then and I can paint him in gesso to seal the paper mache and give a base to paint on.

OH by the way.........I picked this cotton cloth up at Scrapstore...does anyone know what the presumably chinese characters are please?

I'm guessing it may be the name of a chinese restaraunt but it would be a real bonus if it was something prosaic!

~ ~ ~

Ive been playing with the blog layout.........bet you noticed!
Id appreciate your comments please.......whats it like from your point of view?
I'm tempted to think it could be scary and intimidating for visitors, maybe hard to work out whats where too?
I'd rather have you pop in and feel comfortable, than stick with a new blog layout, so please let me know if its an overwhelming layout like this!

These 4 old telephone boxes have been set up in Central Library and contain a 'Hullness' display within them.
Where British Telecom had the iconic red phone boxes, here in Hull, Kingston Communications have their own telephone company and painted their boxes white ads part of their individual identity.
So its apt that these now unused boxes contain a visual and audible exhibition about 'Hullness'.
Least they wont smell like latrines, like many on the streets used to!

Talking about iconic.............how about this cracking print in the Open Exhibition at the Ropewalk in Barton on Humber.
'Three Routemasters' - signed by Goodman... fabulous!

Oh yes...........and did I mention the coffee and puddings....

Well now the weddings over I felt I was allowed a real puddin' !

Yeahhhh THE wedding was wonderful

The pics I have so far............
and there is this one of me.............looking fat and old lol in lilac and purple.

And no I have no idea what Tylah's Aunt Trish was saying........maybe how fat I looked lol

Tylah looked delicious and Rich smiled from start to finish, he was just so proud.
And my son gave his sister away.... and looked really smart and a cool dude in the tails...

and here his son and my grandson looking shy and butter wouldn't melt you know?

 This was taken before he got warmed up and took to crawling under and all through, the length of our top table lol