Birthday Greetings

 

Here I am, celebrating my birthday in London with my husband. Also with us are our three children, my mother, his mother and two sisters. The last three are visiting us for the first time after a long and complicated fight to get them visas to come here from Iraq. The authorities could not believe that they would want to return home again.

During the previous day we visited the London Eye for a magical birds-eye view of the city after a scenic route in to take in some of the sights. We then repaired to the Comedy Theatre to see Donkey's Years, a good British farcical comedy, and had a late supper in a restaurant just across the road.

The following day saw most of us drive up to Oxford Street. While the others explored Selfridges and other stores, I spent a blissful few hours in Liberty's, ending up in their Tea café for coffee and florentines. Then back to Mum's, and a meal in a local hostelry, before driving back home and a very late bed-time.

It was a very agreeable birthday indeed! 

A moment out of a hectic life

  

We are having a very busy summer, with visitors here for three or four weeks, and so time spent on the computer is somewhat antisocial and thus limited. However, something lovely happened yesterday, which I had to share. While shopping in the village, I bumped into Ann, the membership secretary of Bristol Embroiderers' Guild, who had booked to attend the workshop I ran last month, but was unfortunately forced to miss it due to her husband's ill health. Well, she had met a friend and fellow member at a Christening the previous weekend, and this friend was one of the people who was there. I was delighted to be told that said friend had brought along three items she had made following on from the workshop, adapting the techniques to other items. As I had told the participants that they wwere not allowed to take their items home and hide them away in a cupboard, but to complete them, I was and am very delighted to hear that at least one of them had heeded me!

A Meeting of Friends: Cirencester, 20th July 2006

 

This happy trio of ladies is (left to right) Pauline, me and
Gill. We're sitting in the shade of an umbrella on Gill's scenic patio in Gloucestershire, recovering from an exciting afternoon spent having lunch at Brewery Arts, trying on clothes in the far-too-tempting shop that is named Sahara, perusing quality art supplies in the Coln Gallery, and being culture vultures inthe Wonderwall Gallery before making our way to our main objective, the the Wetpaint Gallery, to see their exhibiton of work by Bridget Riley, Terry Frost and, most importantly for Pauline, Sandra Blow (she's studying her work for her next university coursework. Very interesting work, despite it being a small exhibition. I personally fell in love with a print by Brenda Hartill, a very rich print on heavily textured paper entitled Waterlands III which I will purchase if I have a windfall.
Anyway, we retired to Gill's charming abode for refreshments and enjoyed a delicious drink she and her husband, Mark, had developed: Rock's Blackcurrant Cordial "spiced" with ouzo on the rocks - very refreshing and not at all cloying. Pauline and I would both love this wonderful bosky home, with its ginormous play room and very swish kitchen, but it was wonderful to be guests there. The kitchen was deliciously scented with this bunch of lilies on the windowsill, as well as yummy foody fragrances. It was hard to tear myself away to return to my own humble abode but I eventually did, despite Gill's protestations that I should stay for dinner (and it was a delicious home-cooked risotto I was missing out on).
It was a wonderful day. With friends like these my life is rich indeed.

  
 

Pots and Socks

Our village has its own art gallery (Church House Designs) and I called in today to look at the new exhibition. I ended up succumbing, buying a garden pot by Johhn Huggins. I've been admiring his work since it appeared in the gallery window a couple of months ago, but there were some smaller, more affordable pieces and one came home with me.



It has found a possibly temporary place in my garden but may have to move: it is a little vulnerable to football passes where it is pictured. I am so taken with the ammonites within its body. Heavy rain means both footie and repositioning are postponed, and the garden is very grateful.

Meanwhile, here is a picture of my latest knitting project.



I came across a wonderful blog by Sock Bug , which includes some new-to-me and different sock patterns - FREE! These are her Lacy Scallops Socks, which I'm making with a stash ball of Opal self-patterning sock wool. I like the picot edging. It's the first time I've cast on using waste yarn and then knitted in the stitches later to form a fold-back hem. The lace pattern is easy to remember and pleasant to knit, so I'm enjoying it so far.

I'm simmering some fabric on the stove in a dyepot as I write. Last evening saw emergency Mummy duties when DS announced he needed a navy blue scarf by tomorrow for his sailors' dance costume (he's performing in a schools group show on Friday). In a house of fabrics, no plain navy cloth was to be found. Instead, I found some calico (recycled toile from a dressmaking friend) and cut out a scarf using DS's cub scout scarf as a template. I edged it in zig-zag and then dyed it: of course, I couldn't find my navy blue dye, so used a mix of Omega Dyrect Black and Indigo. Apart from being pleased to have solved the problem of the costume scarf, I also realised that it would work rather well with the rust-dyed fabric Pictured previously. So, using some recycled cotton sheeting, I'm having another dyeing session with a view to combining the two fabrics in a textile art piece. So, watch this space!

More flowers from my garden

 

Pinker flowers are out today: the hydrangea and lily are particularly pink. The garden is very grateful for the heavy rainfall we have had this afternoon and I am appreciating the relative coolness after yesterday's torrid heat. 

Something in the air

 

My evenings, spent in the living room with windows open to the fresh air and the garden, are perfumed by the scent of flowers: most notably, by the jasmine, whose scent seems to travel well from the obelisk outside. It is heady, sweet and sensuous but not overpowering. I'm glad we planted it in such a good position. 

Deep Secrets

 

This lovely rose grows in our front garden and produces wonderfully voluptuous velvety red blooms with a delightful scent. 

Dyeing with a rusty pole

We recently obtained a trampoline for the children to play on in the garden, which meant dismantling the outgrown swing/slide/climbing frame we've had for about 13 years. We'd hoped to be able to pass it on, but in the event it turned out to have rusted so badly that it would be unsafe. I rescued a few choice bits from the pile destined for the rubbish dump, and dyed a piece of muslin by wrapping it around one of the rusty poles. Before I did this, I soaked it well in white vinegar, and wrapped the whole lot in a plastic bag, sealed with a klippit. It worked quickly, being warm, humid weather, and each day or so I rewrapped the cloth. After five days, I soaked the square in salty water, then washed it and hung it out to dry. This is the result:



I do not yet know what I am going to do with this cloth, as it was created as an experiment in learning the technique, and it is not telling me what it would like me to do with it. I wonder about adding to the dyeing, or printing on it, but it may be put away for future use instead. Any suggestions gratefully received!

Thirty Things about Me

Kerrie of Hipknits is celebrating her 30th birthday, and has issued a challenge to her readers to come up with 30 things about themselves. Well. I like challenges, so here's my attempt:-

1. I like challenges!

2. I am a collector: I collect textile techniques. I knit, crochet, embroider by hand, embroider by machine, do bobbin lacemaking, macramé, tatting, dressmaking, patchwork, feltmaking, smocking, spinning, weaving.... This means I have a lot of equipment and various stashes of materials so storage is a big issue in our house.

3. I own four sewing machines: a Husqvarna Lily; a Janome which I owned before I fell in love with the Lily but which does good buttonholes and mock-overlocking; a Brother Embroidery machine; an overlocker.

4. I love my garden and my favourite part of gardening is choosing new plants. I especially love roses, as long as they are scented, and other scented flowers such as honeysuckle and jasmine.

5. My favourite colour is blue, especially turquoise, but all shades from lavender to jade.

6. My three children were all born by induced labour because I developed high blood pressure in pregnancy. I am a little sad that I shall never know what it is to go into labour naturally.

7. I love natural fabrics and dislike wearing synthetics because they do not breathe.

8. My favourite forms of exercise are swimming, yoga, and pilates.

9. I have had M.E./C.F.S. for 18 years.

10. After a flu-like illness twelve years ago, I lost the use of my right leg and had to learn to walk again. I still use two walking sticks for walking and have hand controls on my car to help me drive.

11. I love watching the birds in my garden and have several bird feeders and bird boxes to encourage them.

12. I was forced to retire from my career as a social worker by my illness, which I found very difficult. However, it has allowed me to be at home for my children while they have been growing up, to study embroidery in City and Guilds classes and add to my collection of textile-related arts.

13. Creative activities have helped me to cope with the limitations and frustrations imposed by my health problems. It is important to me to feel I am achieving something productive, even if it is just a few stitches sewn or a row of knitting.

14. My husband is Armenian. When I first met him, I had to look this up in the atlas and discovered that it was either a town in South America or a country between Turkey, Georgia and Russia. In fact, he was born and raised in Iraq, where the rest of his family still live.

15. I think I may be addicted to knitting socks. I am currently knitting my 8th pair for me, and have also knitted a pair for my baby nephew.

16. I grew up in London (Highams Park) but am glad to live in a country village because of the peacefulness, clean air and smaller community.

17. I met my husband in a hospital ward round/through work. He is a doctor.

18. I was married to another doctor when I met my husband, but we were separated.

19. My husband is my best friend.

20. I love Cornwall and my favourite place there is Mousehole. I particularly enjoy the far west. However, we visited the Scilly Islands for the first time during our last holiday there and I would like to spend a holiday there because it is so beautiful.

21. My favourite holiday country abroad is Greece, especially Greek islands, and my favourites are Cephalonia and Crete.

22. My husband promised to take me to Paris for helping him to pass a work-related examination, and in January this year we spent a few days there. I only had to wait 21 years!

23. I would like to visit Venice and Barcelona, the latter because I would like to see the Gaudi buildings in reality.

24. I can read Greek and speak a little, thanks to learning New Testament Greek as a teenager. This comes in very handy when navigating on Greek islands.

25. When I was a child, I wanted to be a ballet dancer, and then I wanted to be a fshion designer, but was put off by my school teachers who said it was too competitive.

26. I love word games, like Scrabble and Boggle. I do the trackword in the Radio Times, and any crossword puzzles that come my way. However, I also enjoy Sudoku.

27. I love to read novels and am a frequent visitor to our library. I don't really have favourite authors but enjoy modern crime and romantic novels. I don't usually enjoy short stories because they are over too quickly.

28. I am currently very overweight, but am newly on medication to reduce my appetite. I have lost nearly half a stone in the first month and dropped a dress size already!

29. I am the eldest of three children, with a younger sister and even younger brother. I have two daughters and my son is the youngest. The girls and I have birthdays which fall on the same day of the week each year. My husband and son have the same birthday.

30. My favourite clothing store is Gudrun Sjoden and most of my clothes are bought on the internet.

Rose and the Green Man

 

This sounds like a good title for a story: in fact, it's The New Dawn, popping up her lovely head to commune with my ceramic Green Man, made by my pal, Karen Edwards.
A wren takes occasional refuge behind his face, but I've not yet seen a pair nesting there. Apparently male wrens prepare a range of suitable nest sites from which the female makes her selection: sadly the Green Man has never quite come up to scratch.

Paul's Himalayan Musk

 

In our first marital garden, one of the first roses we acquired was a Paul's Himalayan Musk, which flowers in one flush but is exquisite while it lasts, with a good perfume, so it was declared essential to any garden we might own. In our family home our first purchase of this rose transpired to have white flowers, so we bought a second, and this has the gloriously pearly pink blooms we had anticipated. Both are lovely. The pink one is in close company with a David Austen Pilgrim (yellow rose) plus a bright yellow lily

  

A Whiter Shade of Pale: Three Roses and a Paeony

  

Some of the flowers are more subtle than others in their colourings. The trio of roses are (clockwise from top right) Renaissance, Sarah and The New Dawn. I don't know the variety of white paeony I have, but it is glorious.

Garden Party

 

A lovely summery sunny afternoon, spent under the maple tree with a good book and a cool drink. The stunning flowers were something of a distraction, however, so out came the camera so I could share my welcome visitors with my blog-readers. I love the form and subtle colours of the Astrantia (Hadspen Red)(bottom left).

More creativity

While we were taking the sea air, my DH was attending a workshop in willow sculpture in Cheddar. When we arrived home, there was a cat in our garden.

  

Meanwhile, I have been making a beaded bracelet, having been introduced to this style by my pal Gill. I found these beads in Bristol's Bdelicious and thought they worked well together. Having completed it, I've had to wash it: the purple Nymo I used to work it decided to shed its colour onto my skin and clothes (but luckily washed out).

Weston super Mare: a sunny Sunday afternoon

Weston is a nearby seaside town which tends to get very crowded during the summer, so we often avoid it. However, on Sunday we needed to visit a shop there, and then my son reminded me that he had never been on the pier and that I'd promised to take him. As it seemed a good use of resources to kill two birds with one stone, I agreed as long as we could find somewhere to park within easy stumbling distance, and for once we were lucky. The pier and promenade were quite busy with trippers and the reality of the pier did not live up to Ben's fantasies. However, it gave the opportunity to see some unusual light conditions, combining strong sunlight with mist on the distant sea (there is a large tidal range here). Naturally, the camera was employed in an attempt to capture the views.



Even with the clear blue skies, the sea was a brownish shade: locals often refer to the town as Weston-super-Mud. Water on the sand reflected plenty of light.

  

The visit was completed by ice cream all round, and a ride back along the pier on the little passenger train, before a drive home along the back roads to avoid the traffic jam on the main road.

Sunny Saturday in Bristol

Sarah, my elder daughter, and I spent Saturday morning visiting the Art of the Stitch exhibition at the Royal West of England Academy, meeting up with my internet pal, Pauline, who was on a visit there from London with her branch of the Embroiderers Guild. It was a very interesting and engaging show, with much food for thought and inspiration.

 


Afterwards, we decided to make the most of the wonderful weather by having lunch at the Arnolfini,a newly refurbished modern art gallery with a good bar/café and excellent waterside location. The photos show the view towards St Mary Redcliffe, a general view south across the harbour, the cranes outside Bristol Industrial Museum and the WEEE Man, another current visitor to Bristol. With good food and excellent company (we were joined by Pauline after she had perused some of Bristol's shopping opportunities in Park Street) it was a very pleasant spot to enjoy the sunshine from under the shade of a big tree. 

Beauty in Everything

 

There, is, however, beauty in everything. As well as helping the plants and flowers to grow, the raindrops are adornment: this Alchemilla mollis is gorgeously embellished by gems of moisture after a shower. 

More Flowers from my Garden

 

There is a glorious display of flowers in the garden:what a shame the rain is stopping me from really enjoying them to the full. 

The First Roses of Summer

 

I was delighted to find these roses blooming away in my garden yesterday. Rather than leave them to spoil in the rain, I picked them and they are filling the dining room with their gorgeous scent. An especial joy they are, in this unsummery weather. 

Terrible Twins?

 

These photos were taken on the occasion of my sister and brother-in-law's silver wedding anniversary celebration weekend, when I was constantly approached by Janice's friends, saying, "You must be..... Janice's sister - are you twins?" As I'm the older sister, this rather pleased me! The candid close up of me was taken by my son, over breakfast. Also featured in the photos is our Mum.