Tuesday 18 February 2014

I know it's late .......



I know! I've done it again.... so sorry, 'stuff' just gets in the way, and believe me, you non-bloggers, once you get out of the daily habit of checking out the blogs and thinking about your own, the days pass amazingly quickly with nothing written, no photos taken, and people saying 'where is your latest blog post??' Which is very nice in one respect, but then it's a mad dash to put something together if you haven't got something planned. Which I do, sometimes, honest!

So......   right, here are some tiny blooms in the pot next to the back door; and here are some larger ones neath the beech tree .....


NOT my favourite flowers AT ALL, those awful massive great leaves floppin' about all over the place, but Jim likes them so, hey, he does the gardening.

And on the subject of flowers, here are the lovely daffs - I don't know why but I want to call them Jonquils - but then I know nothing about flowers really. They just look beautiful in my Siennese jug, and they come as usual, from Victoria: many thanks Victoria.


Not a great day to be taking photographs but the splash of colour is welcome, isn't it? (Oooops, have just noticed the bedraggled basil plant dying gracefully on the right there .... sorry about that!)

What else have I been doing? Quite a bit of music playing as it happens. I am in a frenzy of learning a new and somewhat difficult tune, so lots of teeth gritting and a few mild expletives when it doesn't sound right, also getting some tunes together to send to Stephen who organises the Burwell Bash each year . HURRAH!!! Have just booked my place and this year I will be in the new MELODEON class so it is bye-bye to the fiddle group and 'HELLO ANDY CUTTING!' Yessssss! There is a smidgeon of mild hysteria going about at the moment on that score but I'm sure we will all settle down soon and start behaving like adults. We need some tunes which melodeon players like to play, so the fiddles and guitars will be ok with them, the flutes and whistles might find some of them a bit awkward. But it is give and take - a lot of whistle tunes will be impossible for the DG melodeons, wrong key.But this is just in the evening sessions, and they are always a bit of a free-for-all. So I am having a bit of a re-cap on tunes I should really already know, but have slipped off the playing agenda of late.

I have been kept up to the mark in the stitching department, as I need to have more completed items for May's Open Studios and time passes quickly. Here is what I've been working on the last couple of weeks.



The wool throw is becoming more appliqué- filled, though it has a long way to go yet.

And this cushion cover is nearly there .....


Apart from pincushions and bangles, I don't enjoy making more than one or two of anything, but this cushion "One Bird Upon a Hill Beneath a Star" is quite popular, I have sold three, and funnily enough I do love stitching it. I make tiny changes each time I make it so actually they are not identical.

I promise to have a one or maybe two posts at the end of the weekend, very textile related, so I hope to get back in your good books!

And speaking of books, how are you getting on with your A Year in Books book? I have read two and need another to get me to the end of the month when I can begin March's book. I must say, it is never a hardship finding time to read. I hope the week is going right for you all and the weather is as kind as we can expect it to be in Winter.

16 comments:

  1. Well it's lovely to see you again Lynne! I know what you mean about getting out of the habit - it's been feast or famine a few times over here - but it looks like you've been kept fantastically busy elsewhere! Love the Jonquils ! Jane x

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    1. Hi Jane, yes, so easy to get out of the blogging habit isn't it? Then I will be doing two at once at the end of the week! Ah well. Yes, where have I got jonquils from? Is it a species of daffodil? I don't know. Any way, have a good week.Lxx

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  2. Gosh your bergenia's are in flower! Mine are just leaves at the moment with lots of blackened stems:) We are not too keen on them because of their leaves but like the flowers when they open. Love the cushion.

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    1. Hi Dc, yes, and amazing that anything flowers early because we are in a little bit of a frost-spot, always the last place for the snow/ice to thaw. I rally do dislike those leaves - nothing to commend them at all.

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  3. Its lovely to see a few spring flowers dotted about, i pass a derelect farmhouse on my way to Thimbles and the gound is covered with the most amazing snowdrops, they look so pretty.. Glad to hear you are enjoying your music, we went to see Steve Knightley on Friday he was brilliant,, it was a solo gig called Grow your own gig! Beautiful sewing as always. Xx

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    1. Hi Karen, yes, some flowers around and I just hope they don't get frost bite when it happens! We are big fans of Show of Hands - individually and severally, I'd love to see that gig. My OH is going through his song books like wild-fire - not sure I could manage them on the melodeon though! Lx

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  4. well as you know i don't have a blog - i'm kept busy enough reading other people's - where on earth do you find the time to read and compose!!! seriously though it is always nice to see a new entry BUT you are only human and must pace yourself - what lovely sewing AGAIN and not being musical (although i love to listen to music) i got a but lost at the melodeon bit - sounds good though i think - enjoy yourself!!! love the colour in the garden and on your window sill - i treated myself to some daffs from marks and spencer's the other week and they lasted for 2 weeks!!!! is that a record i wonder? have a great week xx

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    1. Haha! Lynne - I obviously DON'T find time to do everything, but reading is like breathing to me, and I panic slightly if I don't have a book to hand. Blogging is really thinking aloud - as it were - but it does take a little bit of thought and obviously some photographs. And sometimes....we time just gets away from me. Yes, the daffs are still going strong after one week so will see how they last. Lx

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  5. Hi Lynne, You can tell Jim that I don't like those flowers (don't know their name) either - but they are just about ok in moderation like that, so long as there's no great swathes of them, he has my permission! The wool throw looks lovely and I just think your folky bird motif shapes are the best. Got daffs all over the house too! xCathy

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    1. Thing is, Cathy, for those four flowers there is a totally disproportionate amount of foliage! he throw is a slow burner...I keep at it but t never seems to get any nearer to finishing!

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  6. Nice to see you Lynne. Gosh I know what you mean about not having time to blog sometimes. I've been sitting at my laptop for three hours this afternoon just catching up on reading and commenting on blogs that were posted only four days ago! As much as I love reading - I don't seem to have time to do my own posts. But hey ho - it keeps me off the streets!! Love all your recent makes by the way. I've just finished my book for February and about to make a start on another one which wasn't planned but is a nice bonus.
    Patricia x

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    1. How on earth do some folks manage to post every day? I just about manage once a week when I am really at my best but I couldn't manage more than that on a regular basis. I MUST remember to get the book post written up in good time though, I promised myself I would make that the first post at the beginning of each month....let's see how long I can keep THAT up!! Lx

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  7. Enjoying the daffs, loving the stitching - did you see Lola Nova's Stitched Journal project, there's still time to join in - but mostly green with envy re. Andy Cutting. I need to learn to play the melodeon!

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    1. Hi Annie, yes, I did, I am so attracted to them. However time doesn't allow any other commitments at the moment, and in fact I have done a fabric journal round robin with the exhibiting textile group I belonged to Anglia Textile Works, we did this about 8 years ago and I wrote it up in two articles for The Quilter magazine . You DO need t play melodeon, my friend Matt is in Conwy, I think I told you about the Morris side he plays for - Clerical Error. I wish I had started 10 years ago instead of faffing around with my fiddle. (Though I do like playing that in sessions) I go to bed with tunes in my head and wake up with them on my lips. Wonderful! Try it! Lxx

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  8. Oh I do love your stitching, one day, maybe I will get to see it in an exhibition.... The flowers are beginning to pop up in the garden up here too, such a welcome sight :)
    Sue xxx

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    1. Come along to Open Studios, if you can make it, Sue. Two weeks the end of May first few days of June I think, open every day....I THINK, but will post more details nearer the time. Be lovely to meet up!

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