Knitted Jumbos!

I thought I had loaded a picture of the baby jacket I knitted with the medium Jumbo Perle. I can't find it anywhere, so I've loaded it now.

Postcard and its destination

I promised to let you know where the postcard was heading. Well, by a very circuitous route I have finally found the link! Click here to see the Cyber Fiber Exhibition The picture above shows the one I sent and the one I received.

Have a good look around the site, if you want to take part there is another round coming up shortly. Go on, you know you want to.

A fleeting look at Etsy

This link won't last more than a couple of days, but if you haven't visited Etsy before it will open your eyes to the talented bunch of sellers. Pop over and have a look before it vanishes. It will open a whole new world. Each picture is a link to an item in a shop. You will soon find your way around.

Taking things Further

At last I can give some thought to the take it further challenge for April .

'How do you see change?'

Change is all around us, all the time. It is impossible to shut ourselves away and ignore it. From birth to death our circumstances change almost daily. Maybe these are imperceptible at the time, but in retrospect they are there. We love to watch babies grow and develop. Each tiny change is a mark of growth and a small step nearer to final independence. The seasons change, and with them the scenery and the way we face the world. How much easier it is to face a day of sunshine than a day full of grey skies and rain. Here in the UK, and I think in other parts of the world too, we have had to face a spring of strange and uncertain weather - climate change has certainly made itself felt.

I think I am going to approach this from the point of view of changing techniques. I haven't fully decided, but I am probably going to use a new technique and combine it with one from my past. Let's see what happens. I could always change my mind ...

Oh, and watch out, I think I have three posts 'coming on' today - and that certainly is a change!

PHEW!

Why is it that as soon as you agree to do something with a deadline you can guarantee circumstances will change and make it impossible without a lot of stress. The following postcard should have been in the post weeks ago, and most of it has been finished for some time, but it needed assembling. I haven't missed the deadline, but this should have been an easy quick task.



Finally it is ready to go into the post. The silly thing is that now I can't find the link to show you where it is going. I'll have to hunt for it and tell you all later. The background is made on the embellisher, from an embellisher roll. I will be loading some of these on the Etsy site shortly (it should have been today, but I've run out of time.)

If you have been following the Take it Further challenge I hope you wil be impressed by the fact that I have made this in blue!

I just have to keep running

So much to do, so little time. Does anyone else feel it too? There is still so much I want to create, but no real time to do it.

There are a few more threads to upload to Etsy, but so far I've just done one today.



The colours in the sunlight are truly stunning, and this picture really doesn't do it justice.

The quilties went into the post, and I have to say that it was a steep learning curve. Although it probably sounds simple to you I found the concept quite difficult. I couldn't be as free as I wanted to be. It was the restricted time that was the problem, and next time 'I'll do better'



Had a lovely day shopping for birthdays yesterday. Daughter and grand-daughter both had birthdays within the last week, so we had a 'girls' day out. Shopped 'til we dropped, then collapsed for the evening. Lots to do in preparation for teaching in Cornwall this weekend. I know a couple of you are coming, I'm looking forward to meeting you. The workshops are at the Roseland Mews Studios, link in the sidebar if you are interested, and a workshop in Grayshott tomorrow.

Another White Quiltie

I forgot to add this earlier.



Part of quiltie number 2, also to go in the post tomorrow. I have another 2 to finish. I'll try to post those before they leave the country!

Catching breath

Three images to add today, and blogger was very good, albeit slow. The first is a new addition to Etsy.



Next is a picture of the NEW TOOTH. Yes, happy Jack has cut his first tooth. He is just as proud of it as we are.



I babysat for him last night and he was as good as gold.

Finally a picture of part of a little quiltie that will be in the post tomorrow.



I'm not a quilter, so this is an unusual project for me.

Talent

I read the following this morning. I know many of you won't agree with the sentiments, but it is here for you to read anyway.

'We all have equal value in God's eyes, but we don't have equal giftedness. In their book Now, Discover Your Strengths, Marcus Buckingham and Donald O Clifton state that every person is capable of doing something better than the next 10,000 people. And they support that with research. They call this area your strength zone, and they encourage you to find it and make the most of it. It doesn't matter how aware you are of your abilities, how you feel about yourself, or whether you have previously achieved success. You have talent, and God requires you to develop it! But you can only develop the talent you have, not the one you want. When it comes to your character, you must never stop working on your areas of weakness. But when it comes to fulfilling your God-given assignment, you must recognise your strength zone and give yourself to it. Dr John Maxwell writes: 'It's been my observation that people can increase their ability in an area by only two points on a scale of 1-10. For example, if your natural talent in an area is four, with hard work you may raise it to a six. In other words, you can go from a little below average to a little above average. But let's say you find a place where you are a seven; you have the potential to become a nine, maybe even a ten, if it's your strength zone and you work hard! That helps you advance from 1 in 10,000 talent to 1 in 100,000 talent but only if you do the other things needed to maximise your talent.' So, find your strength zone!'

To read the original post look here, now go and use your talent.

Urchfont? I don't think so

What a disappointment.

We should have been going to Urchfont Manor in Wiltshire today. It is a regular venue, and we enjoy our visits there as it is in such a lovely part of the country. The alarm was set for 06.30 and at that time all was well. We leave at 08.00, and all was well at 07.49, but at 07.50 it began to snow and this is what greeted us as we went to the car.



There is usually a remarkable absence of radio travel broadcasts on a Sunday, so we had no idea what was waiting for us. We joined the motorway (M3) at Junction 4a and travelled slowly but surely until we reached just beyond the service area. Now we had our first radio message. Don't travel on the M3 - anywhere between junction 1 and 14, and sure enough we were soon at a standstill.



Inching forward we progressed. Having travelled less than half a mile we were overtaken by a police car and a highways vehicle travelling cautiously on the hard shoulder. The object of the first delay became obvious just around the corner as we saw the remnants of a 3 car collision. Further on, but within view were two more cars on the hard shoulder, then another two, and finally a more serious accident (or, to be more politically correct, an 'incident' as someone was possibly to blame)with an ambulance in attendence.

It took us two hours to travel from junction 4a to junction 5. We gave up at this point, and returned home. The traffic was still inching forward towards Basingstoke, but no idea of what was actually causing the problems further on.

We left the motorway and returned via the A roads. It was beautiful, but we were glad to be on our way home again. As we approached home it was lovely to see the faces of the children building snowmen. They obviously hadn't needed any encouragement to get out of bed this morning. Fathers were enjoying it too!

This is the view that greeted us when we returned after our twenty mile round trip.



Sorry, Urchfont, but I think we did the right thing, especially as you will all want to get away at lunchtime. Hope you all get home safely, although it will probably all turn to sleet and slush before very long.

A bit of bragging - but not about me

We had some lovely news the other day, so I thought I'd share it with you.

We have a fourteen year old grand-daughter. She has shown a lot of interest in my dabbles over the years, and has been stitching since she was 3. One of her options for GCSE is textiles, and her mother has just had a letter to say that she has been placed on the register of talented and gifted children. She has already produced a lovely portfolio. We are having a day together during the next two weeks to play around with some new techniques for her. I'l let you know how it goes.

Missenden Abbey update

I have just updated the Missenden Abbey link in the sidebar. Three new courses for the next academic year are listed.

Hope to see some of you there.

March Take It Further

Where did the month go? I intended to add some stitching to the February challenge, but just couldn;t seem to find the right place or technique. I'd value any input.

Further details can be found here and here



March was to take notice of the little things.

Well, my stitching probably couldn't be smaller, but I really enjoyed making this postcard sized piece.

It is surprising how we 'move on' with techniques and totally forget something that we enjoy. I have revisited something I used to do quite often, so in a way it encompasses both February and March.

Tiny scraps of precious fabric have been stitched onto a backing fabric using mostly zigzag with a metallic thread. The tiny piece is mounted on a transfer painted Evolon background. Maybe this isn't perfect, but it is quite striking in reality.

Phew! Just in time for April!

Serendipity at Etsy

Our Serendipity range of perle threads is very popular. I have been asked several times if they are available on the internet, so I have opened an Etsy shop to display some of them. I've only had time to list one so far, but over the next few days I will list more and more. Remember, these are not repeatable, they are really special, so grab them while they are there! Here is the link to the shop.

Eve's Tea Party

Well, what a lovely afternoon we had yesterday. It was lovely to see several of you in Yateley, and over £400 was raised in an hour and a half. I'll let you know the full total when I hear what it is.

Thanks everyone for making it such a good time.

Watch out for another post soon too.

Time for Tea AND a Good Cause

Here is an invitation for anyone in the area on 25th March.


Village Green Quilters invite you to an

Afternoon TEA Party


In aid of

The Eve Appeal

on Tuesday 25th March 2008 from 2pm until 3.30pm

at The Monteagle Community Hall, Monteagle Lane , Yateley GU46 6FR

Traders: Winifred Cottage & Nature’s Threads
For more information please contact:

email: hazel.ryder at ntlworld.com

It's a women's cause worth supporting. If you can't attend this tea party maybe you would like to hold one yourself. Let me know if you would like a link.

Spring isn't just yellow

It was such a beautiful morning I couldn't resist a quick trip around the garden. I had the camera in my hand, so here are a few quick pics, although the quality leaves a lot to be desired.



It isn't long since there was a race to see who had their daffodils flowering in time for St David's Day. This year it seems that everyone won! In fact, if you look closely at this shot you can see that one of the flowers is already spent.




While yellow is a refreshing site in spring it is lovely to see the other colours appearing too. This Camellia uaually flowers at the beginning of May, however, not only is it now in full flower...





.....some of the flowers are already dead.









The strength of the sun can be seen in the depth of the shadow,










These little flowers are forming a carpet under the trees, and there too are the bluebells. It won't be long before they are ready to flower too.

February Take it Further Challenge

I'm still working on this, but very nearly there. I'm wondering what is in store for March. No doubt several of you can already tell me, but I'm avoiding looking until this is finished.

No pictures today, I shouldn't really be on the computer!

I don't like chocolate

Yes, it's true. I'm not that keen on chocolate and never have been. However.....

Yesterday we were given the gift of some Belgian chocolates. DH tried one and persuaded me that I ought to have one too. I have to say they are the most delicious chocolate I have ever tasted. Rich and Flavoursome there was no hint of unpleasant aftertaste or sweetness. Here's a link to the makers. The site is in French, but you don't need to be able to read the language to appreciate the site! The gift came in a beautiful burgundy box just like those here.

This and That and Moo Too

I have spent the day restocking trays and shelves. A large order of machine embroidery threads arrived and needed sorting. We only ordered them yesterday so delivery was very prompt. The next couple of hours were spent cutting water-soluble fabrics followed by folding and packing. Hope we've got enough! I've also twisted some threads for the wholesale orders and watched some more of them 'stewing' in the pot and then hanging to dry. I also visited my mother and went to the doctors for a check up, so it has been a full day.

Oh, Moo! Yes, my new Moo cards arrived too. This lot are slightly different, there are a few of them here.