Kumari Princess and Kathmandu!

Well, Im all of a smiley disposition today because Cyndi L of http://www.mixed-media-artist.com/ has printed my reply to her monthly question, on her webpage lol Many thanks Cyndi!

If anyone is faintly interested in knowing the harsh and slightly scary story of how the Kumari Princesses are selected, then do please Google and read some of the articles that are online.
Nepal is an amazing place with proud beliefs and it has a fascinating Buddhist and Hindu culture, but the practise of selecting a female child between the ages of 2 and 4 or so, to become the living symbol of ANY Goddess is really scary I reckon.
Then to keep her in seclusion of sorts, deny her education and not allow her to go play in the street with others her own age, not to show any form of emotion on her face, not even a smile........all very odd. Even though I can understand the history and religeous signifance behind it all, to me its wrong to stunt that child so very much.
Her family will be well looked after whilst she is the position, which she will occupy until she passes blood....after which she is considered dirty and bad luck, so shes then ousted and they search for another small child.
So obviously families push their bairns into the selection process, for presteige, for the good life it can offer themselves, for a form of fame maybe? 
The small child has to pass some 32 different tests, some of which are ridiculous and some almost child abuse for a small child like that.
Yet I see many similarities between that selection process and the practise we have in the 'west' of grooming our girl chidren into being beauty pageant entrants?
Okay that may be controversial a comment, and I dont mean to offend anyone but there are similarities, so I doubt we have  a leg to stand on, if we do take issue with the Princess practise.

Having said all that Im hoping to use Kumari Princess symbols on one of the catalogues Ive killed and am now workin  on as per Maggie Greys instructions, see http://magstitch.blogspot.com/ and search for the Catalogue Killing articles lol great fun!!
Ive got two parts of  Fortean Times magazine I was given out back right now, with Dracula across its pages........lol so come autumn it may be well and truly distressed!

Now this one, a funeral directors handwritten diary for the month of October 1921, had a light coat of gesso on it, on the sides too, and before it dried I also gave it a wash over with a diluted drawing ink brown mixture. Then liberally sprinkled sea salt over it so the inks wash went awry a little.

Next came the other one below..... which I had already painted a murky lilac shade, added gesso to it in places but which then def looked better with a wash round of a slightly stronger brown ink ink mix.

I really like this second one and its this one I will try and Hindu-ish with a Kumari Princess peering out from one of the windows...so now what to use for fretwork, (my thinking cap is on) but it needs some more distressing yet and of course some additional artwork on the page.

Must gesso the backs too of both, so its abit more firm and packaged as it were.

Now the other day I spent an hour walking round a huge plot of land, some 3 football pitches big, that is home to a car boot stall on both wednesdays and sunday mornings and also in October each year, the site of the enormous Hull Fair, the largest travelling fair in the world they reckon.

Now the plot also provides occasional parking for when foot ball or rugby matches are on in the KC Stadium alongside but there was I, beach combing I suppose you could say ( though some several miles from a beach!) specifically looking for rusty bits of metal.......I know, sad isnt it.

But I found loads! Lots and lots of rusty coat hanger hooks but also old metal perming curlers and wierd shaped watnots......and so Rusty Rita was born..... lol and yes even her hair is metal. I was going to alcohol ink her parts but in the end, I quite liked au naturelle lol Her face is self hardening clay from a mould and painted and gilded abit.

She wont win any beauty pageant but she was just abit of fun lol  - now what the hell do I do with her!

One of the interesting side effects of CL-arting with the catalogues, was that I had diluted ink left over, so I blethered it

( techical yorkshire term I think) onto the fabric backed, old wallpaper (that I paid 10p a roll for recently at a car boot) that was my backing paper cover, to prevent me making a mess in the kitchen.

( Yeah right, no chance -)

So here are pics of the resultant backing paper! Bonus!

Neat eh!

Okay next post I will show the completed paper strip collages Ive been playing with and also the revamped oil canvas I paid another 10p for way back when. It had been painted/blethered in a gaudi like series of colours by its former owner and had spoken to me but only now had I done anything with it - mainly because Id only just unearthed the black gesso that Id forgotten I'd bought........sighhhh

hey ho..

Question of the month....Cyndi L

Was just checking through blogs I follow,( feeling abit low despite having accomplished quite alot creatively this weekend ).......and Cyndi L asked as her Question of the Month......

" What would be your dream vacation this summer?"

Cyndi would like to go back to Italy if money were not an option and she had the time and opportunity she says.

Well here am I sat thinking how nice it would have been to have had a bunch of flowers, or an easter egg off either of my two offspring, both of whom I have considerably helped out financially recently, yet niether of them made time to pop over with a hug, kiss or token Easter gift, not even a Happy Easter text lol .
Yet am sure they will have given 'somethings' to their partners and probably to the partners Mum, son or sister!
So feeling sorry for myself, probably also overwhelmed by the ongoing threat of  litigation with the Insurance folk over the after flood fiasco theyve put me through, in an effort to have my insurance premiums brought back to where they should be....I read Cyndi's question and.... thankfully its made me remember..........
this was my answer to her question in her comments section ..

I flew once upon a time, with the RAF as a loadmaster and went round the world to some simply amazing, off the tourist path places.



( Midway Island for instance where primary coloured budgies flew around like sparrows do here in the Uk..and Gooney birds landed in a cartoon like, base-over-apex manner! So funny to watch, but in the sky they fly elegantly and effortlessly) ......BUT


..... if I had the choice, Id want to go back to see Kathmandu - because at every turn there was something stunning and of interest to photograph, and high above Nepal were these statuesquely magnificent diamond hewed mountains, that reflected the suns rays and were all manner of colours at all times of the day.


The streets were visually fascinating, the people were so friendly yet they had so little compared to what we surround ourselves with. The tiny shops were a feast of inspiration and there was the enigmatic 'Kumari Princess', hidden away behind fretwork shutters, only able to peer out at the city that reveers her status, yet denies her the freedom of a woman. Hers was a truly Royal and feted position but ultimately a lonely one.


I had a point and shoot camera in those days and had pictures developed in Hong Kong, where I was stationed for afew weeks at a time, flying back and forth between Nepal and HKG.


Whatever developer they used has begun to fade away and its now symbolic to me that, that part of my youth and life, is also passing out of memory.


In those days I wasnt interested in textiles, so to go back now would be sheer joy!

Ive had a great life in so many ways, though interspersed with turmoil and sadness like everyones.
It comes hard to realise youve become little more than an extremity of your own childrens lives, though you have succeeded in helping them to be independant and thats how it goes isnt it, how its supposed to be I guess.
Its part of the dreadful, inescapeable, 'invisability' as we age, this no longer needed feeling and the photographs I took in Nepal which are fading and yellowing, in line somehow, with my own fading and ageing you know?
So I remembered my wonderful trips to Nepal, when I was little more than my daughters age now, though I sent postcards back to my Mum and Dad all the time from where ever I went in the world, there were many Easters I never managed to take Mum flowers.
Now its too late to do so again, it inevitably hurts.
The circle of life goes on.... and one day, in turn, my offspring will feel this way maybe, thats sad isnt it.

On that, I apologise for this maudlin post and will go get a cupper and get stuck into some black gesso, which Id forgotten Id got but found, and have now daubed all over!
:)

Easter weekend and time off work !

This is the smallest window, certainly in Hull and supposedly in England, how have you managed to live without knowing about this eh? Its at the George Hotel and its the dark vertical strip to the right...........there, this blog is educational on occasions!

This little sunset has since been tarted up abit with additional voiles and a couple of birds, but its what I did on a mini workshop on saturday last, at the NEC. Still cant believe we managed to get places on the workshop with Wendy Dolan, but it was a fun and informative practical creative respite from buying!

Wendy is a gifted instructor and each of us came away with our own little work of machine stitched art, all credit to her. 

The joy of making small items like this, is that you stand a chance of completeing them before you pop your clogs! One less UFO, no - one less PHD to work on..........( project half done..... )

Ive just started to go through my second carrier bag of goodies from the NEC , how about that for self discipline! I made several purchases from Crafty Notions, well we kept finding ourselves back at their stand and my self discipline wasnt with me then.... so I now have 5 of their Colourful Thoughts multi surface paints...........SUCH delicious colours!

 I was forced to buy packs of the metallic synthetic sheet they sell, why? Because I think I might be able to manipulate the fabric into a ruched 'lichen' like ..... blobs, for a piece that Ive beem ruminating on for months already ( sorry Sue!)

There was a smashing stall there with a large selection of very reasonably priced braids and trims that I hadnt seen before,  Aarti J's ( http://www.aartij.com/) The lass had an incredible selection of braids with gems, with shishas, with dangly bits, with metallic bits..........all manner of striking things.

Many would cut up nicely to be incorporated in textile work and of course should you belly dance in your spare time, then there were metres enough, for hips a plenty!

Lastly, I made this patchwork blanket for use with largely pre school children. Ive made it with different textured fabrics, there's fine cord, glitzy nobbly silver, harlequin soft n smooth, furry and the cold feeling purple fabric that makes a noise as you run fingers over it.

The reverse is black so that it can have items laid on it for use with the UV light. Its tied at patchwork corners but I havent patched it perfectly, since for work, these things are considered almost, disposable, I know daft, but if things become past their best, its better that I simply make up another. 

Earlier, I painted some torn and pieced magazine strips, with liquid wax and laid a sheet of two tone voile over it, its now drying overnight. The pic above is before the voile was attached and its been 'glue sticked' lightly on a snazzy brown paper bag I got with a purchase.

I am going to quyite simply machine and hand stitch it abit, probably onto a pelmet vylene backing, and have some side and top pieces to attach later if all goes to plan.

Actually I did another 'torn and pieced' too, see below, but its waiting its turn and an appropriate textual comment! (Skinny Mares comes to mind!)

Or is that my wishful thinking............

Oh and Im starting on altering one of my Killed Cats' tomorrow too!

(Catalogues that is! as per Maggie Grey's idea )

I seem to be in the Zone at the moment lol and have all weekend to play!

Another two Killed catalogues!

These two wouldnt load up on the previous post but they are

two more to alter!

Someone gave me copies of The Fortean Times, so am going to bury them during the summer, to see what state they end up in and of course their pages are full of Alien abductions and conspiracy theories, so they might well have interesting text to play with lol

NEC Visit

Now I have to include this chair because it was simply SO stunning and I wanted to there and then chase off with it in my arms. This was being exhibited by Dr Isabel Elliott whose 3 or 4 display stalls were marked up 'A Celebration of Stitch' and by jove they were exactly that! They weren't even all her lifes work, she said she had as much again and more,

 at home!

Isabel was former Mistress of Embroidery ( now I LOVE that title!) at Gloucester Cathedral but way before that was a Geologist for the, what is now Natural History Museum.

She may be an elderly lady, but what a 'Gentlewoman' she is. A Lady from an era long gone now,she is articulate, interesting, a lively communicator and seemed to have boundless energy considering she must have been there thursday to sunday! I spoke to her both friday and saturday and she kindly allowed me to take these photos, to show friends who are Miniaturists primarily, but who also recognise fascinating stitchery too.

The chair she saw and felt sorry for, at an auction and bought it though in well worn condition for  a £1. It had been upholstered very well in its day she recognised and she hung onto it, until one day it dawned on her what to do with it.......well, it was Childs chair afterall, she said!

 

These were what I knew my friends would have found such fun, an alternative wall hung miniature house, well, shops in this case!

But she had also stitched a whole village! Her houses ranged from twelfth scale down to 24th scale and smaller. She displayed all manner of cushions, cosies, pillows and other such items but these were what took my eye especially.

Now Im starting to work my way through the treats that I bought and it must be said Im happy with what I brought home lol

I now have The Art of Felt - by Francois Tellier-Loumange but Im saving that to feast on later so it satill plastic wrapped........such self discipline eh!

And having watched Lynda Monk and her fabric altering techniques on the Art Van Go stand, I now have her Stitching the Textured Surface. And its a cracking book, laid out well and very informative with sumptious photos.

I have no idea why, but I bought The Creative Edge by Mary Todd Beam and tho it is for painters, it struck me as showing good instructional paint techniques that could well transfer to some fabrics. It has lots of mini workshops within it, so you extend your confidence with colours and mediums.

Then an absolute treat for me at only £6 on the second hand books stall.......Patty McCormick's ( as new) - Pieces of an American Quilt. Now this is about the making of the quilts used in the film

- How to Make an American Quilt.

I saw this film years and years ago and have never managed to find it again to watch! Yes it was shmaltsy but I had just become interested in patchwork back then and I loved it.

The film was from a fictional book by Whitney Otto, who is an author, not a quilter or patchworker and when Spielberg, yes HIM, set his team on to make the fim......the Props Department soon realised, they would need a person with historical, cultural, patchwork and quilting knowledge, to organise the various quilts mentioned in the story and the blocks being made by the actresses in the film.

Now Anne Bancroft had appliqued before but Dr Maya Angelou, Jean Simmons, Ellen Burnstein, Kate Nelligan, Lois Smith and Alfre Woodward all needed much help along the way!

Winona Rider was in it too but didnt stitch, in fact in one scene she runs with the Friendship Quilt of the story wrapped round her and she trailed it through all sorts of muck! She will never be forgiven for that, despite it being part of her role in the story!

I also now own several wonderful threads but more of those later lol

OH and finally, here are some of the Killed Catalogues, that Maggie Grey has inspired me to try and alter. She mentions them on her blog

www. magstitch.blogspot.com and Im trailing behind but hope to catch up!

Bear in mind, mine are not so much catalogues as Funeral Directors Diaries from about 1921 and I want to try and preserve some of the text!

It will bring a whole new twist to 'Who Do You Think You Are'

and local family history!

Normality returns but for how long?!

 This was the view from my hotel window, one delightful evening where the sky was the most amazing colours, my little point and shoot camera doesnt do it justice sadly, but it was simply wonderful. The Humber Bridge looking lost against the magnificent clouds, the river Humber to the left and the metal bar, outside my window, presumably to stop  me from jumping out!

But Im home now and am getting back to normality, still cant find things but thats nothing new....

Just had friday and saturday at the NEC and had a really great time, infact you could say Ive been overloaded with inspiration! I went with a friend and we stayed overnight at a hotel and though they were small little single rooms each, they were adequate to rest your weary feet, sleep and ready yourself for the next days allecking round the shows! I recommend doing it that way, staying overnight I mean. It was amazing how much we saw the second day, that we had walked right past or simply not seen the first day!

Now I went to the old Madeira Show when it was at Harrogate at the Showground and do love that venue. You dont feel crushed there and there was always a great atmosphere. Then they altered it to the Fashion & Embroidery Show and it managed to maintain its splendour and I have always come away, exhilarated by what I have seen.

This year and from now on Im told, the show is to be held at the NEC but you still had access to the Hobbycraft and Stitching for Pleasure show within the cost of your ticket, so good value anyway.

Now I have to say I am not a fan of the NEC for the F&E Show and it lost some of its magic for me by being in the huge hangar venue, tho the NEC is a tremendous venue dont get me wrong! But there were expanses of vacant space all round the edges, the stalls centrally situated and it lost the 'feel' that the Harrogate Showground has to it.

That said I was as stunned as ever,with what I saw there, so wasnt short changed from that point of view. I do wonder if many folk dropped out and I didnt see as many of the northern colleges exhibiting for instance. On the other hand I suppose I will have seen work from people further south, who might not have ventured up north for the F&E in Harrogate, so maybe it will all sort itself out in my head for next year.

Now Hobbycraft left me stone cold.........it was a dreadful crush and to be fair I have limited interest in card making or scrapbooking and we wasted some time looking for the Stitching for Pleasure Show, until we realised it was all a part of the F&E show! Stalls were simply labelled iether Stitching For or F&E on their top most banners.

We'd been told there was a blanket ban on taking photographs, so we didnt take any, but on saturday we noticed others doing so, so I did ask a delightful lady who had some of her lifes work displayed there, if I might take photos to show Miniaturist friends of mine. I will put her pics on the blog later but suffice to say, she had an alternative example of 'dolls houses' which was fascinating and her stitchcraft was amazing.

Now I went there proclaiming that I was not going to buy any more books or wool.............well I did manage not to buy any more wool...waheyyyyy!

However ....... books?

Well that was a very silly idea of mine anyway......how can you NOT buy books?!

Whats the point of a bookshelf without LOTS of books on?

I will list and review what I bought later, when Ive gathered it all together and taken stock of how much I spent.....sheeshhhhh.

But for now, afew pics of the tactile book I was working on before I went off to the Midlands lol

Obviously, The Gingerbread Man!

This book is for our visually impaired Yr1 and 2 children to use so a simple tactile version of the story. I have copied the origional illustrations from a particular book we own and laid them beneath the laminated pages so that any child with some degree of sight, may be able to enjoy those too. I adapt if necessary any text and a Teachers Aide will assist the child to understand what he/she is accessing. I Braille the text too and it is stuck over the printed text on the left hand pages, so children learning to use Braille, will have simple text to read. Notice the Fox's lower jaw is moveable, so its an interactive page!

Now obviously we dont sell these books and I can only adapt printed books so that our children can access them for educationbal purposes and we have alicence which allows us to do this.

I have three and a half stories that I have written myself, that I could sell adapted in this way, if I wished to...though I should really finish that half one! 

Okay time to feed the dogs and to sit with a cupper and read some of the books I bought lol thouigh I SHOULD...be making the next 'ribbon' phase of my Shelagh Folgate Challenge now Im more settled at home...... I promsie I will get stuck in this week Shelagh, watch this space..... :)

Back home!!!

Well Im home at last, but still sorting boxes and bits out, so normal crafting is stalled for a week or two yet.....
but I have taken chill time out to review some newsletters and blogs I follow and theres a smashing RIT dye giveaway on the always interesting "C&T Publishing > do take a look, but be quick it closes tommorow!

There's a hand dyed silk wrap on the RIT dye site C&T link you through to and for me it struck a chord right away! I would want to 'play' with the dyes and produce fabrics with both subtle and loud, autumnal shades that run languidly into each other.
Languidly? I wonder if that would work.........given my inability to do things by rote, rather more results achieved by spontenaity!
I would use the resultant dyed fabrics for making textual leaves, some ruched with an embellisher, others distorted with machine stitching and then laid 3D onto a background of bark-like textured upholstry fabrics maybe, all muckled up into bark like ridges.............I can 'see' it in my mind!

Tommorow I will post my killed catalogues, though they arent exactly catalogues.......more pages from an undertakers log.........they arent as mucky as Maggie's but then I have yet to damage them abit more and harrass them with a carder perhaps!
Watch this space!
http://www.ctpubblog.com/2010/03/09/rit-dye-fabric-art-collage-and-canvas-books-giveaway/ [...]
Good luck if you have a go too!

Animal welfare issues

No pictures to include today, but a couple of links for folks to maybe look at if they feel inclined.
Care2.com has an article explaining some of the animal care practises in the rearing of sheep for the wool industry and I have to admit I hadnt known about them. Using Merino for felting I feel really guilty now on reading about some of the awful conditions they are kept in.
http://www.care2.com/causes/animal-welafre/blog/think-wool-is-a-great-fur-alternative-not-quite

Cut and paste the link and read about it. The link wont be horendous to look at dont worry but it will certainly make you think. For example I didnt know that sheep would only grow enough of a fur-y coat to keep them warm, if left to themselves. We shear them to provide us with wool and given that shearers are paid per sheep they decloathe........then sheep are often cut and bleed in the process.
And breeders rear sheep to have such hugely thick wool fur coats, that in the heat of Australia, many die.
Worth thinking about folks.
Thanks to Christy on the yahoo crochet group for that link.

Now I call myself 'RecycLin' since I use second hand clothing and items, to make something else with and I found reference to 'Zakka' recently. Well now Wikipedia's explanation about it is worth reading, and I simply loved the description included therein, that says...
Zakka has been described as 'the art of seeing the savvy in the ordinary and mundane'.................... now dont you just love that comment!!!
Apparently to qualify as a Zakka, a product must be attrcative, sensitive, and laden with subtext.

My teacups and lampshade trees HAVE to be considered Zakka surely? !

I may be able to move back home next weekend and I am SO ready to do so! Things seem to be going to plan, ( fingers are crossed, have Hail-ed Mary and have thrown afew bones....)with laminate flooring all but laid, the kitchen mostly in place and a painter is painting the ground floor, stairs and landing.
Next week kitchen flooring goes down, tiling is to be done in the kitchen and loo and a couple of additional airbricks are to be placed in front and back walls.
I will use next sat and sunday to get the upstairs clean of all the plaster dust that has settled on every surface, despite bedroom and bathroom doors being closed. The furniture comes back in on Monday 16th and the animals will come home tuesday. So I will still need to sleep at the hotel sat and sunday but it should be the last weekend there! Waheyyyyyyyy
I caught sight of a catalogue that I buried a while ago, so must go out tomorrow and raise it so it can begin its drying process.
Maggie Grey has published on her blogspot about what to do with them and it tickled me so much I have buried a couple of items, so hope they might turn out to be fun to work on. ( what a clever lady and her blogs fun to follow)
One is a ledger I picked up which has lists of burials in it! From way back when I have to say, not recent and I will be sure to obliterate nay names anyway. Must take some pics of them if its another bright sunny afteroon. Okay time to go back to Colditz on Humber, the hotel lol
:)

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!

Snow Dyeing but dubious results!

We had snow, so I thought Id use up my very old fabric dyes to see if what snow dyeing was all about... but mine are not like the stunning ones Id stumbled online in others blogs!

I can tell you that very old marbling paint does not a thing to snow covered fabric ... but it does however, totally clart the patio when youve upended the container at the end of afew hours.....lol

Now, the diluted sparkly gold fabric paint........Tulip I think it was, left a cream glistening hue on a piece of cotton sheeting but it hasnt photographed at all well, so isnt here!

The dragon fly like blueish splodge was diluted Deka silk paints that must be 20 years old and I daftly folded the cotton, didnt scrunch it up, and only this creased area seems to have taken.

Its abit other wordly! It reminds me of the film with Kevin Costner, where his wife dies and she loved dragon flies? It may even have been called Dragon Fly..........will have think what to do with that one......its still speaking to me!

All be they not the stunning space dyed effects that others have achieved, I liked the white velvet pieces, the red one and the one below it, shades of pink and blue then the blue/green one, which I have added some splodgy bits on to with bubble wrap, at the bottom.

The top right piece is a bamboo cotton duster which I bought a pack of, for not alot, somewhere.....and if I could remember where, Id go get some more......to NOT dust with!

They are beautifully soft, maybe 18" square and great to stitch on!

I simply laid several of them flat, on top of the blue/green bottom one to soak up both water and fabric paint. As they soaked up the colour, each sheet of bamboo cloth, had a slightly different paint uptake, and will make a good base to further play with.

So now I can start to look for new fabric dyes, since all I have left are several bottles of Tulip that at 50p each in a sale I couldnt not buy.... and some dimensional tubs I bought off Ebay..........

Ink blots! Thats what the dragon fly looks like doesn it lol would be interesting to know what others see in it too!

:)

A picture of my Grandson at his Mums house taken after Christmas where I was sitting with him, whilst she caught up on some sleep upstairs.
I was glad of the warmth besides the opportunity to be with Jack. 10 days of no central heating over Christmas and New year has even now left its mark on me lol always feeling cold and now catargh and an ulcerated mouth. Id never have managed in Cranford, even with my home made felted jumpers, fingerless gloves lol

So if you have flour, eggs and butter..........make a cake, right?
So since there was snow, in abundance, I did some snow dyeing of fabric but good job we dont get it that often in England, because I have no natural talent for it!
I will put in some pics next time, but apart from a resounding success with white velvet......(which was a sheer fluke)...........my finished fabrics dont look like the many wonderful 'space dyed' effect, fabrics Ive seen online, done by others. So I will accept that my skills lay elsewhere............... and keep looking for them ....
Mind you I do not have wonderful procion dyes, I must be the only one not to have bought any - so used what fabric dyes I had left and many were years and years old, and mostly solidified-ish now. But Im using up what Ive got before I buy more you see, its my recycling and 'using stuff up' thing....

This cold weather and the period without heating has made my joints complain. My right hip and right ankle were always abit more stiff but the shoulders have kicked in, the backs a bother and my fingers hurt a great deal now. Arthritus I suppose creeping in, well, trundling in!
So knowing that Ive piled on the weight since all the building repairs began and during the 3 years and 2 ops on my foot.........exercise Ive reasoned is what I need.

But not for me jogging, since it would seriously injure my chin and knees to jog with my monolithic chest bouncing around and besides the knee and ankle wouldnt stand up to it.... even IF I could manage to breathe whilst doing it.

The gym? Did that 5 years ago and yes lost a great deal, felt much better, but felt embarrassingly intimidated every time I went, by those that were slimmer, thinner, younger. It took so much courage to go each time and I spent the time there, desperately trying not to be noticed in anyway, shape or form. I have lost that courage now. I might go if I could wear a full length kaftan, but it would be considered too dangerous to wear on the equipment and theyd never let me wear it in the pool. (Besides abit overdressed to swim a width which is all I can do anyway..)

I could buy cds to exercise to couldnt I? Well, the videos never worked, so cds wont be much better, you need to be disciplined enough to DO them. Owning everso many, never lost me an inch...

Pole dancing classes are all the range now arent they? But I'd have trouble getting my leg over a bike let alone above my head, hanging upside down off a pole... and where would I find a ceiling that could take my weight attached to any pole! The already svelte around me, going to improve their bedroom appeal, as much as their fitness and suppleness, would be appalled if I trolled up to learn the craft too. lol No, you have to consider other people don't you! I would hate to think anyone was traumatised by the sight of me enveloped, upside down or otherwise, in my own rolls of spare tyre...

Regular walking then? And I have 2 dogs so that serves another purpose if I go with them. BUT ... even though I go to the loo beforehand, 10 minutes into the walk I need a pee or worse, and the right ankle swells before Im half way and I end up limping home with pain from the arthritic ankle and the twisting toes... foiled again.. Besides the smaller of the two barks incessantly at any other dog he sees, so its a stressful activity all round!

I have tried trolling up and down the stairs as my own twist on step aerobics. Now this might have worked, had the ankle not complained bitterly and given out on me so often, that I very nearly broke my neck coming back down ....

So now, Ive decided to try and dance to fitness, in the kitchen, to the music of the radio or to John Denver, this morning as it happens.
I LIKE JOHN DENVER, OKAY!
The only time I ever had a waist was when I was training in both the Police Force and the RAF, so I will be swinging my arms as in marching and manouvering round the stool and ironing board, doing my own choreography of line dancing.
Star jumps and jogging on the spot are OUT, reasons as discussed previously. Windmill arm motions in time to the music, are IN.
Marching on the spot featured this morning and may become a regular spot, with gesticulations trying to simulate gentle movements, to remind the joints they are SUPPOSED to be able to move all ways round, like they once did.
Like 'Use it, or Lose it'.........though I may be too late really....

I blame that new programme on tv last night..........the new dance programme, what is it? 'So you think you can Dance'? I think its called.
I will NEVER be able to sit on a park bench again now...................without feeling the need to body pop or hip hop on my arse and will forEver now feel unfulfilled, since I am too infirm to bum swizzle, on the spot and hike my legs up and over the back of the bench like they did...............
But with my new, concerted home fitness regime, I may yet be able to go to Scarborough and well, lets face it, thats a start isnt it?

Okay off for a coffee and some Ibuprofen.......

ooh, AH, OW! limp....limp....limp.....

Vixen and dog fox are well fed again tonight

Though this is a naff photo, I like this tree the way it has turned out. The fabric was a crinkled and industrially creased ladies top and theres a smidgen of crochet flower at the bottom......mitt cat too. Must make afew cats awake and scratching at the trunks come to think of it.

I today took loads of food out into the school field to feed the vixen and dog fox that live out back there.

They were out at midday before Xmas, so obv hungry and I realised she had lost the lower portion of one of her front legs and whilst she could take flight well enough, she now uses the stump to walk on poor lass. Since foxes pounce on prey it must affect her food kills of fresh meat I thought, so the rescue bit kicked in and Ive become obsessed with leaving them food to get through the cold snap. lol

So Ive been butcher shopping for them. Theyve had cow lungs, liver, kidneys, steak pies, cooked chickens, eggs, apples, today was more steak pies and sausage rolls and tomorrow will be chicken legs and thighs and some eggs. Vixen was out at 1010am yesterday bless her, despite the school being open again, so sure sign shes still hungry.

Foxes mating time is late autumn so she may well already be pregnant

so in need of good food!

Is it too late for Folic Acid do you think ..?

Okay a brief entry..............more later...

Oh and this one too...........

Forgot to put this one in! Cherry Blossom maybe?

2010 and hoping for a better year than the last two!

New trees with different fabric manipulation and sleeping cats beneath lol

Its all snow, snow, snow and this time its real snowmen and snowball snow! Not the weeny polystyrene ball snow, which simply did not look real!

Now must buy some soda, so I can treat some fabric and do a couple of tubs of snow dyeing........may as well make the most of the blessed stuff whilst its here!

Watch this space, if it works I will give it an airing!

OH! And happy days, Sheila Folgate is doing another cybery Challenge and Im in for the larnin' curve!

Waheyyy good fun and great company in the group! Many, many thanks Sheila!

Harrogate show

"Kath" by Andrea Cryer (UK) - STUNNING!

"Grandmother" by Gintaire Pilypaite from Lithuania

How clever is that then transferred pics on balls of wool!

But "Kath" was simply stunning, this must have been her when young and there was another of her as an older woman, both stitched by hand and machine I think........not sure if the machine sticthing was done by playing with the tension but the piece was simply amazing. Click on it and enlarge it to see the fine stitching that looks like shadows on the skin.........am still awe struck by this.......

Another humorous one but with a message never the less.........was by Caroline Marcum from the USA of a fashion show............"Dia de las Models".

Am never going to get the hang of placing pics on this blog..........the Skellywear one is up at the top! Not here>>>>> godamit!

Harrogate Knitting & Stitches was worth going to, if only to see the above pieces of work, but there was alot of other amazing stitchery on display and a whole boat covered in knitting.........which was such a fun piece you had to smile at it.

Its so inspiring to see others work !