Friday 10th February - Ang's postcard

Of course, if you've been reading Ang's blog you will know all about this already. Here's my post;

Once again we started with the address but I stopped there. I added the Ukrainian stamp in a later month. Later I sewed the date of the Queen's death, in September, with the ciphers for her and King Charles. Ang added the postmark right at the end of the project. 

So starting at the top left; 

Ang made the cross stitch vegetable row, and also recorded the date of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's return to England. 

The clock is one of mine, using a piece of braid from Ang as the face. The hands are set to 8pm; this was the time of the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year, and there was an international  movement for people to take a minute at 8pm, local tine, to pray for peace. 

Ang stitched the sunflower and the Ukrainian flag, and also the blue emblem for the World Day of Prayer, held every where on the first Friday in March. She has also recorded the birth of the latest grandson.

Next row; I sewed a favourite scene looking across the valley from the lavender walk at Standen.

Ang added one of the felt birds she made for her garage sale in the autumn.  She also sent one to me!

The Postcard Project label and our signatures is under the bird, stitched by Ang.

 I did the tree for December; I was late, and added the Epiphany blessing below.

Ang did a sample of Japanese boro stitching, and I sewed an autumn leaf pile.

Bottom row; my first contribution to the project was a labyrinth, and one of my summer efforts was the teatray. When it was so hot I would take a tray to the coolest part of the garden in the shade of the apple tree.

Ang created a picture of her bicycle using Dorset buttons which she made for the wheels. And that's her picture of her washing line. I did laugh when that arrived one month!

There you have it, the complete postcards.

I find it extraordinary that Ang and I have never met, not even spoken on the phone; it has been quite an old-fashioned pen-pal style collaboration, but using text, email, whatsapp and even letters, included in the mailings. Yet we have grown from a tentative start into a warm friendship with a surprising amount in common in our lives.  

I hope you have enjoyed watching our progress.  Pictues gor the first month of our Cross Country Collaboration should be appearing in a few weeks; only 18 more stitching days to the end of the month...

Thursday 9th February - my postcard

Ang is two doing complete blog posts of the Postcard project over at Tracing Rainbows today and tomorrow; hers today and mine tomorrow. It seems a bit of a cop-out for me to leave it all to her, so here I go;

This one is mine to keep. Ang has plans to frame hers; I'm not decided yet. We started with an abbreviated form of our name and address. Ang added the stamp at the same time but I delayed mine for a month or so. That does mean mine has one fewer picture.

Top left, the kitten is mine, one of my early efforts. The tree, also mine, came much later. I was trying out blackwork patterns for the leaves. The Delft tiles, again mine, were inspired by a tiles alcove in the gardens of Standen, a National Trust property I visited several times in the Summer. Next row, still mine (you'll be wondering if Ang did any of the embroideries in a minute) is a sort of celtic pattern I took from a Gail Lawther book. Then my last embroidery, the music, which is a couple of lines from a folks song I learned way back in 1977 when I became interested in folksongs at university. 

Hurrah, here's Ang's stitchery at last! Her Ang's Epiphany cross stitch on 16 count Aida, such teeny tiny stitching, of the three wise men.

Next, my first cross stitch picture (14 count) since I was sewing on binka fabric in the infant class. I did it in November, inspired by Ang blogging about coffee and walnut cake at the beginning of the month. I suddenly wanted one, so made 2, one to eat, and one as an embroidery. 

The pictures in the bottom row are all Ang's; you'll have to zoom in to pick out the details of the patchwork memory bear. Ang added this while she was busy making real memory bears. These are bears made for friends and family where someone close died; she cuts the pieces from favourite shirts to make a Teddy bear. Lovely. Next, a little bit of knitting including tiny needles; this was for Autumn. The cross, palm leaves and risen sun were for Easter,  and the terracotta tile is a copy of oneshe was given as a present.

I stitched the 'label' down the centre seam, and we both signed it. Ang commemorated the death of the Queen and accession of King Charles.

Her final addition was the postmark.

There you have it! 

I will blog her postcard tomorrow (which she posted today)

Wednesday February 1st - The Finished Postcards

 

The eagle-eyed among you will notice that Ang's postcard, the top one, has 12 pictures and a stamp, and mine only has 11 and a stamp. That's because Ang did the same time as the address, on what became my postcard, and I did the stamp for her postcard as the picture for later on. (I have hidden our full names, which were the top line of the address, and the 3rd and 4th which were our towns etc, but left the blog names).

It has been such a great experience - it is crazy to think that we have never met each other, or even spoken on the phone, and yet this friendship has developed over the year into something quite special.

I was very nervous to begin with, as I knew Ang was an experienced needlework and my own sewing was rudimentary, not to say rough and ready. I needn't have worried; we have both been enjoying developing our skills and learning new techniques.

And, oh the joy of receiving parcels through the post every month and anticipation of wondering what new picture has appeared!

I can strongly recommend this time of collaboration. 

Some months after we started the Postcard Project I began a Notebook Swap with another like-minded friend, where we each write in a notebook over the course of a month, a sort of extended letter, and recipes, and drawings, and thoughts, and quotations. 

One of my contributions to a notebook 

We are ten months into the first year, and at the moment I don't know how long we will keep this up. I hope we will; again it is the delight in receiving the notebook and savouring the contents.

Meanwhile Ang and I are busy on our next sewing collaboration. Who knows, maybe we will even met up one day!

Tuesday 31st January - Still Busy busy busy! February Newsletter is out

It can't last - not two days of whizzing through the To Do list... but today I think I cleared it. 

It helped that I woke up and go started fairly early, thanks to the arrival of the window cleaners. Luckily it didn't matter that I was still in bed - they don't use ladders these days. No, now they have a complicated looking bush on the end of a long pole, which gently pours water while they go over every pane, the windowsills and the bit above as well.

Still, that was the signal for me for me rise from my breakfast-in-bed and get to work. First up was changing the sheets etc. That necessitated sorting out all the pillow cases, which were just jammed i the airing cupboard. They are all neatly folded either as singles or as pairs. (the rest of the stuff in the cupboard can wait for another time!)

Onwards; the bathrooms; Monday is the day for going over the bathroom (ok, I'm late, but at least it it got done). The laundry basket is now overflowing with towels and bedding.

I have finished creating the grid pattern for the next sewing project which replaces The Postcard Project; I think Ang and I are agreed on the name 'Cross Country Collaboration'. So I have sent off Ang's finished Postcard and booklet, and also the pattern for the new one. Here's my piece of fabric, and I'm already thinking about what my first picture will be. 

Here's the design traced from my 11-count Aida cloth onto tracing paper which Ang sent me, so that she can replicate it.

 

Our 'official' start date will be Candlemas Day.

While looking through my old notebooks for the pictures I wanted as source material for my design, I found my diary for September 2019 - August 2020. I was pleased to see it did have some of the pictures I was looking for (but I can't put them here because that would give the game away).

One of the last items on my 'to do' list was to finish writing the February 'Print an Post' newsletter. It is there on the pages part of the blog; the idea being it is something to share with people who might like to be part of the blog community but don't use computers or the internet. I print it and send it to one of my friends by clicking on the page and then pressing CRTL-A to select everything. Next I put the cursor on a bit of selected text, right-click and choose print. The printout is just four A4 pages long.  

Right. Just duolingo to go and I the to-do list is DONE!

Thursday 19th January - Do It Now

I have been muttering this to myself off and on since the beginning of the week. I find that my capacity for getting things done evaporates at an astonishing speed when there are too many loose ends, so finishing things off is an instant energy boost. 

For example - 

Putting a small pile of laundry away only took 5 mins

Doing the daily balletbasedmovement exercises, again just 5 mins

Filing a couple of pieces of paper which had been travelling from table to desk to piano stool to table etc

The amount of brain space these few odd jobs, and a few more like them, was occupying was ridiculous, all out of proportion to the time taken to just get them done. 

I think I  will carry on muttering 'do it now' to myself for a few more days.

When sock knitting seems too fiddly, like now I do a bit of a mitred squared patchwork blanket.

This is a sort of free form comfort knitting project I have embarked upon. I shall do a 'knitty-gritty' post on it soon. It's a low concentration knit, good for after longer harder days.

I've done a bit more on the Postcard Project- if you've missed what this is about, search for  postcard on this blog and also over at Tracing Rainbows. It is in the final stages now, so close to the finish that I am completely confused as to what the finish will be. Easily sorted with emails and WhatsApp messages. 

Someone has been murdered (at last) in Murder before Evensong, the whodunit by Richard Coles. Given the title of the book that's hardly a spoiler. Now to find out who did it. There is no butler in the cast of characters....

Sunday 15th January - Daffodils. Sock. Sewing.

I bought some pots of tete-a-tete narcussus last week. These days they just seem to wedge the bulbs into the tops of the pots, rather than burying them. I wonder if the start them off in poly tunnels or greenhouses? They arrived cleverly packaged and with just a few inches of leaf showing. 

Last night there were three buds, and today

 Well! Just look at them! Nine flowers open and at least nine more to come. I was so impressed when they arrived that I sent for an amaryllis, which has several leaves and a large bud making its upward journey.

The sock continues. I have never knitted at such a fine gauge before. 

If I didn't have yesterday's photograph to look at, I would think that it hadn't grown at all,

Today

Yesterday 

I've done some more Postcard Project sewing as well.

Saturday 14th January - The rain it raineth every day

There has been so much rain that I was regretting that we hadn't installed a water butt. Though that's probably just as well as it would have been filled ten times over this past week. We have a problem in that the only down pipe for our house is at the side, in the extremely narrow driveway. Now that we have given up all idea of parking a car alongside the house, on account of the difficulty of exiting the vehicle through the doors, we might look into getting a 'space saving'  water button. I'm sure I've seen a thinner alternative to the traditional barrel shaped ones.

Ang mentioned how much she enjoys Nigel Slater's cook books, so I have sent off for a second hand copy of one;

I like the way I can look inside a book on Amazon, or even download a sample before I decide to buy. I've chosen this more or less at random but January's recipes looked very promising.

Postcard Project; I've finished my embroidered picture but we've agreed to add some words - start and finish dates, and sign our names. Barring spelling mistakes (only one so far) and sewing mistakes (needed to pause for deep breaths before reaching for the scissors when I discovered I had sewn a corner of the fabric into the embroidery) I feel as though the end is within reach.

After spending a Whole Year knitting a pair of socks, I have bought a set of teeny 2.5mm flexible double pointed needles and cast on for the next pair. This time I am starting at the toe!

The needles are not quite what I was expecting; they have longer straight pieces - but then it clearly says LONG on the packet - and a curiously flattened knobbly texture - ah yes, now I look at the packet the picture is clear as well... my fault for not looking properly!

Friday 6th January - Light at the end of the tunnel

This morning I had four ENORMOUS tasks that were overdue. This evening I have just one left.

(A round of applause at this point is appreciated, but not vital)

Task Number 1 was sorting out a delivery of supplies before I ran out in three weeks time. I had logged onto the website at the beginning of the week and had a chat with the chatbot... but heard nothing back. I rummaged through the email folders until I found an email address. The company emails seem to be headed CS which is not entirely helpful. 

(When I was working in about twelve different schools very week, emails from the various school offices all had just plain 'office' in the email address header - I don't know what its proper name is - and quite frequently were informing me of some change to the schedule, and signed 'Mary', so it was a bit of a gamble when it came to working out which school wanted me to cancel/rearrange/supply information. But I digress).

I had an automated reply from the website to let me know that they would deal with it in three working days. Whoah! That meant it might not get looked at until Tuesday next week! I reached for the phone and spoke to someone who sorted everything out, so I can sleep soundly again.

Task Number 2; Ang's postcard project landed on the front doormat yesterday. Which meant I really, REALLY needed to complete mine and post it, especially as we plan to finish on the 28th January, a year after we first started discussing it.

This will mine to keep. I need to design and stitch a project in the next three weeks. I can do that! I just have to choose quickly and stay focused. For some reason mine seems to have fewer pictures, but I think that is my fault for taking two months to do the address and the stamp, when Ang managed the address (under the notebook) and the stamp in the same month. 

What shall I do this time? Hmm. I have an idea slowly taking form.

I've done a photograph like this of Ang's piece, but won't post until tomorrow when she might have received hers. I hope it doesn't get delayed and give her problems meeting the 28th January due date.  

Task Number 3 was the January 'Print and Post' Newsletter. It is accomplished and up on the pages section. Christmas, can I blame it on Christmas? No, not really. But I did have problems clarifying some ideas, and sourcing pictures. It is very hard to find pictures of 'things in flower in January' when you are writing in December. In then end I did my own.

Which means that I have also done some stuff in my sketch book today. Now, if I mange to do a duolingo lesson, 1000 steps on the spot to hit my daily step target of 2023, the 5 minutes 'stretch and mobilise' balletbasedmovement session for Friday, the '5 mins deep breathing' for the Zoe app habit tracker, knit a few rounds of my sock, and also play the piano for a bit, all before bedtime (it is only a quarter past 5, after all) I will have hit every target today and only have one outstanding task for tomorrow, which is to write detailed notes on a student's Scarlatti piano sonata recording that she sent me before Christmas.

Did you keep a count? That's 6 possible things to do before bedtime.

 

          

Thursday 5th January - which day is 12th night?

 No, don't answer that. There are two many choices. When are you celebrating Christmas? When do you start counting from?

I KNOW that Epiphany is tomorrow; and lookee lookee - here are the Three Wise Men stitched impossibly tiny on 16-count Aida. Just typing those words makes my eyes water.

  

You can see my sensible-count-Aida nearby. This is Ang's December contribution to the postcard project. I just have about half an hour's stitching before I need to iron the material to remove the frixion pen, and then I can post it.

The Three Wise Men stitchery is barely one and a half inches each way. There's a bit of gold thread involved in the star. Ang said she had a bit of a frazzling time sewing the picture to the cloth, but to my mind it makes the stable look really rustic.

I'm so pleased with the picture. The images of 'Star' and 'Light' are what I will be considering this year so the picture is Just Perfect. 

Our Christmas decorations are all taken down and carried upstairs except a string of lights that will stay in the window until Candlemas (2nd February) and a few decorations that we discovered after everything else had been packed. Isn't that always the way?

What is unbelievable is that this is the sum total of all our decorations now;

The tree in its box at the front, a sainsbury shopping bag of tinsel with the tree skirt dropped on top, and all the other decorations and lights boxed and bagged and zipped into those two green bags. After forty years of random unsorted bits and pieces, we did a clear out (including three Christmas trees, remember?). Now that we have a small tree we didn't need anything like the number of decorations, so we have given them away, some with the trees, some to charity shops.

What a relief, and it only took an afternoon to reach this point.

(Word to the Wise; store Advent decorations and calendars, and spare Christmas Cards somewhere more accessible than the deep dark recesses of the loft.)

  

Wednesday 4th January - Back on track (datewise)

It has been Wednesday all day in my mind. 

This may be because a regular Wednesday morning term-time piano teaching zoom has restarted. By prior agreement we didn't do much in the way of piano, but just had a lovely long chat. This zoom is alway an unequal mix of chat and piano lesson as we spend about an hour setting ourselves and the rest of the world to rights before getting round to the piano bit; no wonder lessons have always taken up most of a morning ever since we started!

I'm trying to restart a sketchbook habit. It went quite well a few years ago, but fell by the wayside last year. I've bought a Special New Notebook for the purpose (I don’t need much excuse to buy another notebook). This is the front page:

The top is a watercolor version of the inky pictures I did a few days ago, to which I added some black fountain pen lines. Then I drew some simplified ideas for trees fir me to think about, inspired by a blog post on stitchinglife.uk about a Paul Klee-inspired embroidered sketchbook cover.

Starting a New Sketchbook is always a little intimidating...

Ang and I have resumed our correspondence regarding the sequel to the Postcard Project. We are approaching the end; just a month or so to go, and we both want to continue. 

Thursday 29th December - getting through the lists

There are so many half finished things on my list that I'm having difficulty doing anything...

So I am trying to get one thing done and dusted each day.

Today I will almost certainly finish The Second Sock. I'm whittling down the number of stitches as I get closer to the toe. Then i need to have a close look at The First Sock; I'm fairly sure I  need to redo it from the heel onwards. It's a good job that I'm more of a 'process' person than a 'product' person. 

Them, I really must finish the December Postcard Project.

And finish making and sending New Year cards. I was given a Hobby craft online course as a birthday present, and I chose 'Brush lettering for left-handers'. It was an excellent course, and writing the cards is giving me plenty of practice, I've had a few lapses of concentration from time to time;

I said I would send detailed notes on the recordings a pupil sent me before Chrismas. Each set of notes takes me heading for half an hour. I've done the Debussy Arabesque and the Chopin Nocturne, just a Schubert Impromptu and Scarlatti Sonata to go. I should get on with this.

I've nearly finished the January 'print and post' newsletter. One section to write, and pictures to source.

An hour's concentration would see off most of these tasks.... what's stopping me?

Ah, but it's still Christmas;

We are lighting the candles on this tree 3very day at lunchtime.

30th November - Organising an Advent Calendar

Tomorrow's the day! For the Advent calendars, of course.

I was given this one last year as a birthday present so that I could enjoy it through Advent

A little cardboard doll's house. It came as several sheets, one had to carefully remove the floors, walls and roof pieces and build the house ready to furnish it and add the occupants day by day.

Last year it was a simple matter of looking through the sheets of cardboard to find each day's pieces. This year I just had a large envelope for the house and a smaller envelope of bits. It seemed a bad idea to have to tip everything out each day, but neither did I want too many envelopes.

I've sorted the bits into days 1-8, 9-16 and 17-24 and collected them into just three envelopes.

Tomorris also the start of the Advent cowl project.  I have scheduled the first instructions to hit the blog at 6.30. Hopefully I have understood the scheduling process.

I have finished the embroidery picture for the Postcard Project. Now to find the 'flat present' - although it is a bit buggy this time, and get everything wrapped and ready to post... probably Friday as tomorrow is a bit fraught with activity and I don't want to rush things.

Now, it is chocolate o'clock and time to open the chocolate box.

Thursday 17th November - Drawings round-up

 I find the sketch-a-day journal a great way of looking back at a month;

Wednesday 2nd November

I finally sorted out a measured walking path up and down the garden, from the back gate (behind me in the picture) to the end of our drive at the front. It is 80 steps long, and I can manage 'there and back' three and  half times in 6 minutes, around 230 metres.  The main problem is that our garden slopes gradually down to the back gate; more to the point is is UPHILL from the back gate to the front which slows me down considerably! Still, it is a benchmark. I've been getting about 1300 steps every day. More, if I have been winding wool or playing the piano...

Thursday night is church home group night - those of us who are free meet up on zoom, ostensibly to be a church group, and we do spend some time on Spiritual Business, and then the rest of the time on Any Other Business!

Fireworks started up in earnest on Friday 4th. We enjoyed watching a brilliant display which must have been several streets along from us from the comfort of our own home.

Saturday 5th - I started my first attempt at cross stitch...    

Sunday 6th - I became absorbed in planning the postcard project mark 2...

Monday 7th - I spent several hours typing and answering emails and writing stuff.

Tuesday 8th - we ere both brave at the dentist.

Wednesday 9th - I finished the snowflake and started the next cross stitch picture.

Thursday 10th November - I could stand it no longer and cleaned the window in the little front bedroom - as we leave the door open to let the light stream in through the landing every mark was always staring me in the face.

Friday 11th November....

Saturday 12th November - we went to a favourite farm cafe to meet the offspring for a second breakfast. Also for me to collect my birthday presents (which I opened then and there - several days early) and to deliver a couple of Christmas presents.

Sunday 13th November - I decanted the birthday chocolates into the chocolate o'clock box. I'm afraid with was chocolate o'clock several times a day until the moment when they were All Gone.

Saturday 5th November - Not at all cross with cross stitch...

 My parcel arrived from 'The Works' yesterday; among other bits and pieces I had ordered this cross stitch kits;

For three pounds you can't go wrong, can you? (Hollow laugh). Two dozen cut-to-size pieces of 14-count Aida fabric (I really do sound as though I know what I am talking about - but don't be fooled), little brown labels, threads, needles and complete instructions.

Everything is there, just as it says, but, the instructions are 'Follow the cross stitch patterns below'.

The patterns, and the diagrams at the top of the sheet (which measures slightly less than A5) are miniscule!

Technology to the rescue; after some technological wizardly (thank you, you know who you are!) the mini sheet was exploded to several times larger - you can see 'before' and 'after' in the picture below.

  I thought I would start with the snowflake design, as it is all one colour, and looks very like a knitting chart to me. That's as far as I got this morning. I have chucked the needle - it was far too big and too blunt to go through the holes cleanly, and I'm using one with a bit of a point. Progress improved once I got my brain in gear and paid closer attention to the counting.

I thought this would make a nice little warm-up project before embarking upon the kit that Ang sent me in the last postcard swap.

The last time I did any cross stitching was making a laundry bag from red-and-white quarter-inch checked gingham at the convent prep school I went to. We had an afternoon of needlework every week (groan). At first it was all relatively harmless tray cloths from Binka fabric and cotton perle. The laundry bag was a terrible shock; I remember it bag with loathing. We did all the main sewing by hand, using the gingham as a guide, and decorating it with a band of cross stitch, and then made a felt 'head and shoulders' with plaited wool hair and embroidered face to go in the neck of the bag. I can honestly say that blood, sweat and tears all played their part in the construction of this horror, which was only just completed in time to be hidden right at the back of the annual needlework display to parents at the end of term.

Was that the year we had to knit a dishcloth as well?

My heart goes out to poor Sister Patricia (may she rest in peace, after all this was nearly sixty years ago so I would guess she would be over 100 by now) who had the thankless task of teaching me. 

Now look at me - sewing and embroidering and knitting with enjoyment, for relaxation and for pleasure! Oh Sister, what would you say if you could see me now?

********************************

Sometimes I wonder about the people in the factories assembling these kits and packages, measuring out the different coloured threads and winding them into hanks, picking out a needle and sealing it into a little cellophane packet... How on earth can it be economically viable to make up these kits and sell them on the other side of the world for so little money? Am I complicit in exploitation, or providing them with a source of income?

   

Sunday 30th October - The last stitch is in - maybe...

 Ang's postcard project arrived yesterday morning; what a box of delights! There is a cross stitch card with a tiny weeny little postcard for me to hang on my Christmas tree, and a cross stitch kit for me to have a go at - I have never managed to do a cross stitch project before, so that will be something new.

Oh, and, of course, the real postcard;

There were two pieces of stitching for us; one to mark the the death of Queen Elizabeth in September (how low ago that seems now)   

 

and the regular picture for the month. Ang has knitted a little flag - in lovely Autumnal colours too. It has cocktail stick 'needles' to hold the the stitches. Brilliant.

  I have just heard that the Royal Mail Union has called off the strikes planned for the beginning of November, for which I am very grateful as I have spent today finishing my own picture and will be able to post to tomorrow, so at least it will be in the post box before the end of the month. Just.

My sewing box looks like this at the moment, as I have been choosing threads, sewing with them, tossing the unused length back in the bx, scrabbling for the next colour and so on all day.

 Mine is the sort of picture that has no end, so I called it a day at about 9pm. I need to iron it to lift the fixion pen markings, write up the note book, collect up the 'flat present' and wrap everything for the post. Oh, and this time, remember to take a picture first! 

I won't post pictures of what I did until it has had a chance to reach Ang.

This was my previous effort, which I forgot to photograph before I sent it off; I tried to use 'blackwork' patterns to fill in the green leafy bits of the tree; harder than I thought. I am definitely going to think up something easier for this month. (hollow laugh)

This project is nearing the end; just November and December. It has been a lot of fun; I had no idea what we were letting ourselves in for. Whatever will I do with myself next year? 

Thursday 13th October - In memory of Betty - is this a good idea?

Many years ago, I used to send a postcard every week to a lonely lady, living by herself, called Betty. I said that I really couldn't promise to visit her, but I would send a postcard every week, and I did, almost without fail, for several years. I would pause beside my car after a hectic couple of hours of teaching highly energetic drumming classes, and, using the top of the postbox as a writing surface, take out a postcard, write a short note, stick on a stamp and pop it in. Such a small action, but more important that I realized at the time. When she died, her daughters found a tin with around around 200 postcards in it....

It brought home to me the importance of a personal contact. I am naturally garrulous, and enjoy reading blogs, following other people's projects and reading about their ideas and adventures.

But suppose I didn't have the internet? There's still the postcard project with Ang, which I am HUGELY enjoying (in spite of having spent the whole morning failing to sew a numeral 2 in my current stitching effort), and I also have a monthly journal/notebook exchange with another close friends.

So, in memory of Betty, my idea is to create a couple of pages of content which people could print off and POST to someone they know who has no internet access, but is the sort of person who would enjoy being in the chatty world of blogs. I'll try and make sure that all the content is copyright free, so no worries about that, and all you would have to do is wait until it appears, print it off, and post it to someone you think would enjoy browsing through it.

Of course, if you were to add a personal note, and maybe even a 'flat present' (Ang and I try and find small and slightly useful gifts to include with the embroidery swap) then now you have the makings of a lovely surprise for someone.

So, my idea is to try and get about 4 sides of A4 paper's worth of print ready. I would welcome your comments and suggestions. I'll let you know when the page has been added to this blog.

Tuesday September 27 - Zonked

 I had a Covid vaccination on Sunday afternoon, and felt final that evening, but the next day.... suffice it to say that my step total for the day was 500. Yup. I spent the day mostly sitting on the settee with a book or the knitting and feeling below par. Although I did cheer up after I cancelled my piano teaching for the evening...

Today is another story, and although I am not exactly bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, neither am I feeling quite so stupid and slow.

The post card I sent Ang has arrived, so I can show you my design;

A first attempt at using blackstitch patterns to fill in spaces. It looks fine from a distance. but close up you can see where ll too often one mis-placed stitch has derailed the overall pattern!   

I think (1) I enjoyed it; and shall invest in some aida fabric and proper tapestry needles to give it a fair trial.

I've started knitting hats for the 'Shoe-boxes for Roumania' appeal. I'm not sure how many I will get done by the end of the month, but will be glad to use up some stash. I have a feeling I've got one or two in a bag somewhere which I will have a rummage for in due course. 

Sketch-a-day is still happening - here's a week's worth from the beginning of the month;

I must have boiled the blackberry cough remedy mixture for too long, because now that it is cooled and bottled it is nearer the consistency of jelly than syrup. But is tastes....interesting and efficacious without being either too nasty or too delicious  

The gash in my father's head is all but healed (Thursday 8th Sept) and th jasmine has recovered from being trained along the fence. 

We are trying to rethink how and where I sit to type things (lessons, blogs, other stuff) on my laptop. Sitting at the dining room table really isn't comfortable - I'm perched on top of three cushions, tipped forwards in an precarious and unbalanced position.

The weather has been so variable recently - on the 13th we postponed an outdoor meeting with family for handing over birthday presents, and it rained all day. On the following afternoon I was able to spend time standing in the warm sun chatting with a friends.   

The cat approved the new patio table, and there are a couple of roses left in the garden among other flowers.

It's not really 'news', is it - just burbling along with how life carries on. I've just finished re-reading 'The Diary of a Provincial Lady' by E M Delafield for the umpteenth time - I guess it will son be time to think about whether I want to pot up hyacinths for winter flowering. No, actually, I've thought about it, and it's more trouble than I want to go to. I've just as happy to look at pots full of spring bulbs in the garden... must soon be time to get on with planting them up. I've got my eye on the pots vacated by the tomato plants.

 

Friday 23rd September - Life on Steroids

Hooray - I'm back! The last two months have been aptly summed up by this poem

It turns out that my total lack of 'oomph' was entirely due to the reduction in the dose of steroids I take, and now that I am back at the original dose everything has changed. I'm walking faster and further, have more energy and am 'sitting up and taking an interest' as my Northern Irish relatives would say.

The one thing to take away from the whole experience is that I can be sure I am on the optimal dose for me!

So, what has been happening to me in the past fortnight?

The Queen - ah yes, the Queen. We watched the funeral on television, so moving, so beautifully done. My heart went out to the Royal Family - it has been such a strain on them. It would have been for anyone - but most of us do our grieving with friends and family, not with the whole world watching and commenting and analyzing our every move, gesture, item of clothing, angle of hat or veil... I hope they have managed to find some time and space to kick their shoes off and have some peace and quiet.

One of the families I teach went to London; they arrived at The Mall early in the morning to find that the closest they could get was already six rows back. Everyone was very pleasant, and someone let the three children go to the front. However it took them several hours afterwards to walk back to Victoria Station; the crowds were so huge that there were police and security shepherding them all, holding lines of people back to let other columns cross and so on.

 Sewing

I have at last finished the August (!) embroidery postcard. I'm not posting a picture here as I will wait until Ang has received the parcel first. It took longer than I thought (as usual) and this coupled with energy depletion made it take a lot longer than usual.

I have to admit to being unfaithful to the embroidery for a few hours;

I bought a very cheap version of a speedy weave loom

It is for mending holes in textiles - cloth or knitwear - and apparently had their heyday in the 1940s

No textiles are safe in our house at the moment - luckily we have a lot of tattered tea towels for me to practice on. 

My loom and accessories was only about £10 - and I can see why. The loom itself is tin plate, roughly finished where it was cut from the sheet of tin. But it is good enough to do the job. 

Visible mending is enjoying a resurgence at the moment. The loom method is a bit fiddly to get started, but very soothing once you've got it going.

Family

The actual day of the Queen's death, as I said in the last post, were overshadowed by our own family drama when my father had an accident and cut his head. I am glad to report that he has had the stitches out and it seems to be healing well. He is having it checked over in the next few days.

We (best beloved and I) met up with the offsprings last weekend at out favourite Farm Shop Cafe. The weather was great - bright and sunny - if a bit cold. Getting together is very weather-dependent now that we are properly into Autumn

My cousin is due over from France next weekend. She will be able to stay in the guest accommodation at my father's flats, and plans have been made for us to have supper outside on a couple of evenings. BUT, these plans were made back in August! I have a feeling that supper in the garden is NOT going to be such a good idea at the beginning of October! We shall have to think again.

Drawings

I'm keeping up with the 'sketch-a-day' book. The current photograph is a bit fuzzy, so I will post the drawings anther time.