The new house and a stitchy fair

This Christmas lark has come round way too fast for me again!
I have finally got my furniture out of storage and the animals came to the new home 2 days ago too.

The local removals firm were a nightmare and they were so useless this is what they left in my bathroom, but didn't mention it before they left!

 

Its a king size mattress and bed base which they couldn't fit in the bedroom cos they'd left boxes and drawers spread about and not stacked more sensibly.

 

They were going at such a rate of speed I couldn't get up the stairs to see where they were putting things and I can see why they were in such a hurry to be paid and then leave!
Now it has to be said that almost all of what they called my " boxes of trinkets" is in fact, cough, craft gear!
It took me about 30 minutes to stack it all to one side enough to allow me to get the bed base and mattress in place.
( but then I used to load aircraft for a living lol and this 'crew' were dippy daft blokes!)
Now I have to admit, my de-cluttering before I left my other, larger house was pretty thorough I thought BUT - its going to have to be an on going occupation obviously lol
Im going to have to make things using what is in any box I open, rather than think what I fancy doing then look for the makings!
The chances of finding anything is frankly pretty slim!

One third of this boxed stash is now in the boarded loft and the rest is stacked in a quirky triangular 'dressing area' in that front bedroom ( oh and tucked under the bed too lol)

I have an almost fitted kitchen, got spotlights but no taps and a sink that's not connected to the drain lol but bonus! -the lounge is almost sorted!
The dining room has yet to be sorted out, where there are more boxes but they are mostly kitchen and garage bits.
The garage is full of building debris and book cases that came here but can't fit so are going elsewhere.
Oh and the animals are getting slowly used to the new place, although Hilly puss spent her first 2 hours here - under the lounge floor! 
Having wriggled through a 4" gap in the floorboards in the under stairs cupboard for whatever reason, we could hear her mewing beneath our feet - dizzy cat!!

Okay here's some bits of interest -
Evie is growing and a joy

 

Grandson Jack is still my number one boy -

 

 

here he is playing with hand puppets from the Indigo Moon Puppet Theatre group.

 

 

and here's a few things that took my fancy at the Harrogate show

 

 

 

by Mary Fisher

http://www.maryfisher.com/the-artist---her-studio.html

And I think the below are by her also

 

 

Loved these too - all very different!

 

 

by Margaret Nicholson (- many thanks Hazel !)

Stunning beadwork though.

 

     and this was taken whilst catching a little peace from builders in my house, down at Hessle Foreshore close to the Humber Bridge.
This was under water the other day as the high winds mixed with the exceptionally high tides!

Charity shop find pattern

 

I picked up this delightful pattern for 50p and its well worth it.
From 1975 no less!
It had never been opened up or used, the tissue paper pattern still folded perfectly and although I could make much the same without using the pattern anyway, what is so lovely about this is how they have used fastenings so cleverly in the design.
Credit where it's due!

I wouldn't have thought of making lions tail, plait- able for instance
or placing buttons just so on hippos ample mouth!
Aren't they fun!!

 

Elephant is on roller skates which made me chuckle, so if it pleases old biddies it must surely be fun for children!

 

So come on folks, do you remember this pattern, did you ever make it up for your bairns, have you ever seen it made up and used maybe?

: )

In a hotel - and Lucy Anne Harding The Milkman's Daughter

Well to keep myself sane I have booked into a hotel for an overnight but - wow aren't they expensive!!
But my house is a plether of dust from saws working, plumbers plumbing stuff and a painter lining walls and painting woodwork so I've escaped.
My hair is dry with dust although it keeps its shape better - go figure!

I SO need a bath or shower because neither do I have working at home. Nor do I have my ironing board or iron and I have a large bag full of ironing and few clothes to wear, so I can use the one in the hotel room - bonus!

The house is within striking distance of being sorted but I'm really struggling at living out of a suitcase in a bedroom and have had kidney and ovary pains, both on the same side, this week, which has gotten me down and I've had nowhere to simply lay down and relax - so here am I in a hotel LOL
and double bonus - I can also use my laptop with their WFI!!! yeahhh

Anyway I wanted to show you this work by a delightful young woman who talked to our embroidery group this month.
You may have seen her work in magazines, Lucy Anne Harding - is the Milkman's Daughter ...... although a Milkwoman in her own right too!

Lucy was a real breath of fresh air, since not only does she have a delightful Staffordshire accent but she's not yet one of those overly experienced, 'polished' speakers.
She was just her lovely self, modest, unassuming and really interesting because she's telling you about her family and their business, which happens to be that of delivering milk.
Something we see less and less of on the streets we live in here in Britain.

She's also telling you about the rural community in all manner of weathers and she goes on to mention a charity she supports that assists farmers who find themselves in difficulty too.

And its perfectly plain to see that she not only loved the Guernsey cows they farmed back in the hey dey of farm milk, but she loves the land and the rural community, that she now, her father before her and her grandad before that, served as rural milkmen.

Her textile illustration, because that is what she's making - and you know I adore textile illustration anyway is a representation of some of her customers and each has a story to it.

Given that not all her rural neighbours are tall and slim with no faces LOL
she has given them a unique physical form, whilst recording that she meets them as she delivers the milk.
The background fabric features a variety of drawings she has made of the doors of houses she delivers to, so its unique too.

See the text on the fabric backgrounds in some of her work?
These are original pages from the milk rounds delivery books/orders, further personalising her work.

http://www.lucyanneharding.co.uk/

Oh and I also wanted to show you this below which was sat on a table at Scrapstore and has made use of the broken bits of manikins that were donated by Next stores.
I will show you the finished model as and when its completed, because I'm sure there will be more done to it over time by one of the resident artists.
Cool eh!!

fastening jackets for work and Daisy Puffagons

I was asked to make up some waistcoats that physically disabled children could wear, then have another child unfasten things on it. 
They would then swap over the wearing and unfastening.
 Naturally I recycled as much as possible, cutting bits off scraps of old clothing I'd already gathered for much this kind of little resource.
There's a large press stud beneath the glittery pom pom on the right and on the back is a buckle, but the pictures colour has gone skew whiff I notice, how odd !

This was a prototype made with the fabric that they cover hospital chairs with, waterproof and wipe clean, but although its going to be used for purpose, I didn't much like it's rigidity. 
So the second one is made out of some trouser fabric and is much better to handle.

I have to make two more for them, each one with slightly different fastenings.

I had gotten tired of hand stitching the scrappy patchwork covers.
 All four cushion tops are made with 3 still needing to be lightly quilted, then all backed, but there's no rush for them yet.
 I want to finish them off by backing them with the machine stitch, rather than hand stitching anyway, so need to wait till I'm moved in the new place.

 I have started making crochet daisy hexis with oddments of wool. The urge came upon me to do something with wool when I saw the pattern on a wonderful blog I follow sandra-cherryheart.blogspot.com/p/tutorials.html

Sandras blog is an interesting blog to follow and there are some delightful tutorials on there which are beautifully put together for us to learn from.
Her pattern for these Daisy Puffagons is well explained in her tutorial with clear pictures and she has made a striking bag with them which is worth back tracking posts to see.

Some fun things

I am still sharing a rented flat with my daughter, her hubby and the 5 month old Evie and we are all still on speaking terms - lol but I am hoping to move into my new (old) place in a week or so.
I will however be camping in the main bedroom and simply stock piling all my belongings in the loft, other bedroom and in the back, downstairs room.
The idea being that at least I can get the animals out of cattery/kennel and stop paying for storage, live whilst I await my son having chance to fit the new ( little) kitchen and lay laminate down for me downstairs.

Anyway I took some photos which you might like to see of a Vintage only, charity shop here in Hull.
Dove House Hospice has somewhat of a monopoly on charity shops in and around Hull but they do such remarkable work I suppose we can't object to their fund raising shops.
They not long back opened a shop specifically for vintage items and I finally made a visit - so here we are, enjoy and let me know if anything strikes a chord in your memories won't you!

memories anyone? lol

I've been stripping!

Okay, wallpaper that is ... because yes, I finally have the keys to my new place - yeahhhhh!
Normality is on my horizon at last : )

However, there's a lot of wallpaper stripping, a bit of re-plastering, a kitchen and bathroom removal and refitting, painting and shifting of the boiler to be done, so not a quick fix.
But the plan is for me to camp there in a week or so whilst we do what we can, when we can.
My son is doing the harder graft for me and my daughter has so far, stripped out the major part of the kitchen bless her!

I am going to need to get my furniture out of storage sooner, rather than later so will have to get the house somewhere near enough habitable and of course my dog and 2 cats are 'on holiday' so they too need to come to the new home, its been 3+ weeks away already for them.

Anyways, I will be back on here in no time, so please don't write me off just yet lol
I've finally got internet connection back too now so at last able to cruise blogs and catch up on what your all up to : )

Happy days are coming - along with our blessed Winter!

Whitework and more scrappy patchwork

I've made three so far but only two photos here to show .... and annoyingly I have run out of the pretty pink rosebud fabric, edging the top one here ........ so my 4th cushion pad will have to have a different edging fabric. 

Ah well, different is good too : )

I may have to keep making more big blocks whilst I'm in between homes. I've plenty of scraps and hand stitching like this is very therapeutic lol

Some local removal guys are moving me out of my house on saturday afternoon and storing it all for me, until I can move into my next home.

The completion is on monday or tuesday but I thought Id jump ship ahead of time and get the house cleaned through with less stress.

Mind you if my buyer pulls out last minute ...... I will be moving back in quick smart!!

Last saturday was our East Yorkshire Embroidery Society meeting and the speaker was a delightful young woman called Katie Pirson.

She is Royal School of Needlework trained and had brought the pieces she had stitched to show us.

For those of you who are keen on whitework or follow Karen Ruanes amazing work, I took these pics to share with you.

Utterly beautiful work this one below ........ 

                                                     exquisite detail

and her Montmelick........is that how its spelt? 

 and then - so pretty - sort of ring a ring a roses - ish!

Still waiting to move so hand stitching ..

Sorry for not being around but my brain and concentration has seriously suffered in this whole selling and moving house process!
And no .......... I've still not moved and am still at home waiting for my buyer to get her act together - and mildly concerned that she's going to back out!

I've been sorting and clearing out my stuff for weeks now.
I've donated, offloaded and thinned down my belongings and have still got 30 or so boxes of just stash to move with lol

All this activity has meant the blog and my stitching has fallen by the way side and I have reaffirmed, that stitching is my therapy.
So at the latest set back, I had to DO something and of course had packed away my hexis and other works in progress - duhh

But I found a box of fabric scraps and set to hand stitching for sanity ~

The idea is that they will become cushion pad covers to lay over my dining chair seats, which both cats will lay on and cover in their hair.
These pics are the first one and I'm half way through the second 

  but only mildly de stressed!

 So this is short and sweet and I will be back later, I promise.
I hope life's treating you all well and that your warm and contented, where ever you are : )

Brain freeze ......

Apologies are in order! ......... I've been so blessed pre-occupied I've fallen short of posting : (

The fact is that someone finally decided to make an offer on my house so I've been chasing around looking at other homes with a view to buy.
I have now found a place so with fingers crossed I'm hoping that my sale and the new purchase goes through lol

And thinking positively, I've begun packing and sorting and de-cluttering, which is both exhausting and distressing! 
All those bits that I've kept to 'use one day', but haven't gotten round to using? 
- well, do I keep them or do I donate them to the local art college or the charity shop?
Decisions, decisions..........

But I'm downsizing from a 3 bed very roomy house, to a smaller 2 bed with a boarded out loft ( that had formerly had a train layout in it!)

Well now, I'm two thirds through the craft gear and yes, I've donated  a lot to the art college for the students there to sift through.
 I've donated clothes and kids toys to the charity shop, I've taken some bits to Scrapstore and I've thinned down my magazine stash too.

Mind you I can't part with my CPS or QA's - no - nor some of the Greencraft and Patchwork mags that I received in swaps with Mary Anne.

 Then there's my craft books, they all now fill a lot of Asda's wonderful plastic canvas 39p carriers bags, lots of them.
And my paperbacks, mostly bought for very little at car boot stalls or charity shops and almost all yet to be read..........they too are in Asda bags lol

Of course now I've to box up the rest of my day to day gear........... I'm still going to need a pantec vehicle to move it all! Even if the sale falls through, at least I will have thinned down my stuff I suppose!

Now I need to ask a question but it may be that I'm just being thick lol

IF Google reader is now, not there any more - right?
How come when I log onto Blogger.com ....................... all the  blogs that I follow are still there?
I'd forgotten, again, to log in to Bloglovn and yet there all the blogs I follow are still on my Blogger...........so why have we all added Bloglovn etc for folks to continue to follow us?
Am I missing something simple here or did Google Reader not die? lol

My stitching has taken a back seat somewhat and my daughter, with baby Evie and her hubby, are moving in with me and my packed boxes next week too! 
So I'm not going to be getting much done for the next 3 weeks or so either!
They are also on the move and are with me until their new house is all sorted out or until I myself move - I never do things the easy way me ... lol

Bits n bobs - and spam on Bloglovn?

Okay so my hexi cover is growing but slowly .......... but that's fine, 
there's really no rush and I will try and complete it before I die lol 
It is great to just pick it up and put it down though, as the whim takes me ...........all be it, that that means, the box with it all in, 
sits next to me on the settee............all the time! hey ho -

Jack here busy cutting out baby turtles which he had me draw..........
and he also wanted "hundreds and hundreds" ( who the hell taught him that quantity???) of turtle eggs too! But naturally I cheated and you can see them bottom left lol squiggly circles en masse phew!

I hate making these blessed tactile maps of Europe for work, but here's one not quite finished. 
(Iceland and Denmark but two countries that are missing but of course, you'd spotted that I'm sure ..) 
How on earth a child with no sight can feel and UNDERSTAND the notion, of so many countries on a slightly larger than A3 base is beyond me,
 but the teachers ask for them for each of our children that goes up to secondary school.
40 plus different textures and a key with each texture representing one country ........... a blummin nightmare lol 

LOL I did NOT teach her to pull her tongue out ........... I swear I didn't!!
She's coming on really well thankfully and so is her lovely mum.

I put another tree hanging together but used a square lampshade 'ring' this time.

and I cut out some coasters from firmly felted thick woollies and crocheted edgings for them. I've enough for gifts as well as for myself too. 

So how are you finding BlogLovn or whichever other feed you've opted for? 
I was disappointed  to find that I had umpteen unsolicited feeds from Discovery News on my BlogLovn, which I certainly hadn't signed up for. 
I have yet to log in again and see if they been removed after my leaving Feedback.

I watched the most fascinating 'Imagine' programme the other night about a childrens nannie who took photographs all her life with an old Rolaflex camera. 
They only came to life, after her death, when the contents of her storage lockers went up for sale.
 Remarkable pictures and obviously an odd, but fascinating woman.
Vivian Maier, well worth watching the Alan Yentob programme on BBCiPlayer, link below.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0366jd5/imagine..._Summer_2013_Vivian_Maier_Who_Took_Nannys_Pictures/

Wasn't it heartbreaking to hear about those firefighters who died last week. 
I can't imagine how it must be for their families, so many lost lives, such a dreadful waste. 
My heart goes out to them all. 
It puts everyday life into perspective doesn't it, when such dreadful things like that happen.
Rest in Peace guys.