2nd chair makeover, a new cat pal Willow and August hexi BOM

2nd chair started and ready for a new seat pad and recovering : )

My elderly neighbour told me friends of his were looking for a home for a 5 month old inoculated kitten. They had put a homing request out on his Facebook page and since he knew Id recently lost my old black boy Fergus, might I be interested?
I said if they got no takers by next week, I might consider it, but really hadn't thought I would have any more cats.
Its been nice for my remaining Hilly cat being on her own, well with daft dog and me for company.

 Neighbour must have construed that as, yes, Lyn will have him, because they turned up on Monday afternoon, the day after him asking!! - with kitten and bags full of his belongings!
The friends son and his wife seemed genuinely fond of the cat but reckoned their kids were too rough with him ( and had got scratched ) and they were worried he or the kids would be injured.
I wasn't altogether convinced and sussed something else was at play.
I suspected he was a climber, sprayer or generally unhappy where he was perhaps.

So I said okay I will give him a home. After they'd gone and Wilco - now Willow, pottered round, it was clear to see he was limping and had a back leg out of alignment.
In cat rescue you hear all manner of stories for why folks need to home on an animal and over the years I was actively involved, I've heard my share.

Willow isn't in pain far as I can see, so it could be a birth injury he's always had, but his former owners now say, they'd never noticed any limp before.
Oh but yes, hang on, he had jumped off the garden fence last week and limped a little then ~

There's no way you'd not notice this limp and out of kilter leg, so my guess is, it may be an injury that's partly healed itself skew whiff.
There was a lot of chat about it being expensive having ops at vets so putting 2 n 2 together, I wonder if they've not got the money to keep him. They are going on  holiday to Spain in 2 weeks too, so that would mean cattery costs I bet as well.

So meet Willow, soon to be neutered and xrayed to see what's going on in that hip n leg.
Now all I've got to do is convince one miffed Hilly cat and crazy dog that he's here to stay...........lol ......... all good fun!

And I have stitched the August Hexi BOM onto its backing -

and the July one too but have yet to photograph that one ~

Finished, my first distressed chair ~

Panic not - not loads of pictures this time! lol

I sent for several widths of ric rac off Ebay and they were all too narrow for the chair, the only one that seemed right, a 25mm width,
 was thin and naff quality.
But then whilst in Bakewell I stumbled on a little shop selling all sorts in an arcade of sorts and he had 25mm ric rac that was superb quality.
So this is it on the seat back now ~ and I'm happy enough with the result and it's a finish, so bonus !

 

Eyam the Plague Village in Derbyshire and 'well dressing'

A few more photos, this time of Eyam a village in Debyshire, which is nestled in and surrounded by the amazing moorlands of the Peak District National Park.
Eyam was struck by the plague in 1665 and persuaded by their church leader William Mompesson, the villagers holed up and kept themselves segregated from surrounding villagers, to prevent the plague from spreading beyond the villages boundaries.
Remarkable selflessness and very few people survived.

 

 

 

 

Surviving cottages, now lived in by others but with memorial signs placed to record who had lived there in the time of the plague.

 

other Eyam folk of interest ( embiggen the picky )

and nice to see a Braille translation too

 

The Parish Church of St Lawrence in Eyam with exposed murals

 

this one modern stained glass window is dedication to Willaim Mompesson and the villagers story, its colours and design are beautiful

 

Mid August sees many villages in the Derbyshire and Staffordshire Peak District area 'well dressing', a practise that harks back to pagan times, when folk gave thanks to their gods, for having pure water from their wells and in their troughs, after the terrors of the plague.

It was once known as 'well flowering' and flower petals would have been used in ornate designs

Again, take a read of the Wiki page for a resume of the activity

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Well_dressing

 

Villagers were preparing for their own village well dressing and outlines are evidently set in clay bases, with black peppers and all manner of seeds used. See below ~

 

 

 

 

oh and I spotted a potential des res on the main street,

am only surprised it isn't on the market lol

 

 

 

 

A wonderful story, request and a giveaway ~

I wonder if you'd nip across to Vicki's blog and read her latest
post please?

Vicki is the amazing lady who organises the annual Grow Your Blog meet and greet, online travel hop and she makes THE most stunningly beautiful textile and thread nests.
Those nests look utterly beautiful and often have personal trinkets and memorable items placed in them, frequently making them specifically for individuals.

Vicki has a story to tell you and a request, I hope you'll have time to read the story and maybe then feel inclined to help out some children.

http://vicki-2bagsfull.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/letters-from-africa-charitable.html

I've donated, hope you might too : )

More Chatsworth piccies

Some more of what I found interesting at Chatsworth House ~

fabric manipulation for example although also a home for spiders!

The guest bedrooms had the most wonderful hand painted wallpapers.
It came in 12' rolls that were 4' wide and any left over, they would cut out the birds or butterflies and stick them on the paper that's been hung.

hexagons again !

do you like tassels?

I thought these figures were stunning -

and this just blew my mind ~ reckon its fabric? nope -

 

Can you imagine how much skill there is in carving stone and

making works like these?