My 2nd Blogaversary

Yes, two years ago today I started this blog. It began as a record of textile makes a friend and I were preparing for craft fairs. As it happens, that particular venture didn't come to fruition, but I found I was enjoying taking photographs and writing a bit about this and that. So although the blog changed in content over time, I'm still enjoying putting my posts together and keeping in touch with other bloggers, and those of you who so kindly and regularly leave a comment.

With better techno skills I might have made a better job of organising this post into a nice chronological story, but I'm afraid despite spending hours trying upload from various sources the photographs are all higgledy-piggledy. But I hope you get the drift. Here then are some high-spots in the last two years of Textile Treasury. First up, some photos, including the one above, taken in June 2012 when our son Kit and his family came home from New Zealand for a long holiday. We all squeezed into our cottage, and the weather was dreadful most of the time, but we had some fun. You can find the relevant posts in the archive.

Krissie's 40th birthday party held at our local because there were so many of us! Dylan and Fraser.

                                               Beccie, Krissie and Kit THe Birthday.

January February 2013 - Jim and I flew out of a snow-bound Britain to sun-soaked New Zealand. This was our trip to Hobbiton, a scorcher of a day with some wonderful photographs to remember it by.

JIm and I on a day out with Kit and Krissie to a wonderful winery. Great scenery and lovely meal.

The day we all went ot the Sky Tower in Auckland. Standing on the glass floor was a challenge!

While we were there I made some small repairs to the Bible Quilt I had made for Dylan about five years earlier. Well loved and well worn!

Back home again, finishing off the quilt I made for Krissie.

One of the cushions I made with the vintage Sufolk Puffs purchased from A Mermaid's Tale.

A seaside cushion made, and sold. The craft fairs didn't work out but somehow things manage to get themselves sold!

Another cushion, made with vintage and re-purposed fabrics. I'm rather pleased with this one.

And who can forget the ongoing story of the Wild Garlic! I picked it, I wrote about it, I cooked with it, I froze it, and by gum we certainly ate a lot of it! Again, stories in the archive if you like.

 The Ouse Washes Molly Dancers - Musical Branch! This was taken up at Ely Cathedral just before the massed sides Processional through the City .

Stopping to dance in Ely. It was a very hot day and there was much more to come!

Very late one night at the Burwell Bash, just managing to keep up with the session. This is my annual music fix. More stories and incriminating pictures archived!

 On our way out to dinner for Jane's birthday, during the Burwell Bash 2013

Oh! Back to Ely, this is the Ouse Washes up at the Ely Festival site. In the middle of a field in temperatures of around 34 centigrade!

 A well deserved breather at Ely.

Ouse Washes at Welbourne Festival. Much cooler and wetter than Ely!

This was Folk at The Forge, hosted by the Harmonious Blacksmith Nigel - a great time was had by all!

My first forays into lino- printing, following a workshop by Amanda Colville. You can read about it - yes, you guessed it, in the ARCHIVE!

OH! Slipped back twelve months to a collection of items I made for the craft fair.

Here is the original "One Bird upon a Hill beneath a Star. I've now made and sold three of these, but this is my favourite still.

A spate of furniture painting! I painted them OUTSIDE, by the way, just photographed them here as it began to rain. Eventually I will finish the other chairs!

There was much bread making over the past two years, plain strong bread flour, spelt and rye, sour-dough, wholemeal, you name it, I baked it!

This spice corner of my kitchen references the Great Clear Out and Re-Organisation which took place in 2012. This extended to freezer sorting and recording, and menu planning posts and frugal food posts ....... habits which astoundingly have lasted into 2014!

Wild Garlic Pesto!

Wild Garlic Oil. I still have wild garlic butter in the freezer! It won't be too long before I start picking fresh supplies!

Lots of music making, dancing, festival going, family gathering, garden-photographing, textile viewing, caravanning, quilt making, bangle making, felt loving, friends gathering, food enjoying, and of course - BLOGGING! Sorry the photos aren't in order, and are woefully short of the whole story, but I hope you've enjoyed the memories. Two years isn't all that long in blogging circles, but it's been long enough to find some really good blogs which I enjoy regularly keeping in touch with, and some super bloggers, some of whom I have made friends with. Sorry, blogging does not confer upon you the inability to end a sentence with a preposition!

So however this blog evolves, I do hope those of you who have stuck it out so far will stick around for what's to come - I couldn't do it without you!

Journalling Supplies

Now first of all I must do something which I ought to have done a few posts back, but events overtook me - as so often happens! A couple of weeks ago Ada Bea from Vintage Sheet Addict blog, awarded me the 'Lovely Blog Award' which was so kind of her. Ada has only been blogging a short while and has already got right into the swing of it...pop across and visit! So........

Big thank you, Ada, and I nominate....gosh this is hard.......and you kind of forget who's got which award so hope I don't duplicate anyone here........

Christine at A Mermaid's TaleA mermaid's tale...........Els at Fiberrainbowfiberrainbow........Wendz at 15 Coast Road15 coast road
Sue at  crafts@homecrafts@home and Penelope at L is for LoveLisforLove. I will try and do the linky thing but if it doesn't work, take some time out to visit these lovely sites, if you don't already know them.

Oh and.....a few things you don't know about me...that you don't already know....that I don't mind you knowing! Even more difficult!

1. I love horses and riding but have quite recently lost my nerve, which is hugely sad, but there you are.

2. I have wasted 6 months of a gymn subscription; partly due to a family bereavement and partly to the trouble I had with The Toe, but mostly because of sheer apathy. Smack wrist!

3. I am having difficulty getting back into my textile mode - this is not a Good Thing!

4. And because the other 3 have been mostly confessional and a bit negative I am going to blow my own trumpet and tell you that my usually non-commenting melodeon tutor made some ridiculously lovely comments about my playing the other night, I was beaming widely all the way home, 50 miles in the car! I have to say he is not a grumpy tutor - far from it, just doesn't make a fuss about progress etc. So such comments are highly prized, believe me!

That's your lot about me.  I was asked about the pens and markers I use for my journals so I thought it would make a good - and colourful - post. Bear in mind that I am not the fount of all - or even very much- knowledge on this topic, I am very much a beginner and it is kind of a side-line with me. If you want to know more there are LOADS of bloggers out there who really know what they are talking about, and some brilliant tutorials on youtbube.

So, starting back-to-front, really, the markers which I use for my favourite bit of journalling, the last bit, the writing and detailing. I do sometimes use them in the earlier stages, but mostly not.

These are Letraset PROMARKER permanent twin tip inks. They blend beautifully and the wedge and bullet tips are really useful. Yes, you can store them like this!

Ah, my lovely twin-tipped ink markers, various brands. Great for both coverage with the brush tips and fine detail with....the other end! I have  Marvy LePlume,  Tombow ABT, Zig Art & Graphic Twin, Zig Calligraphy, Berol, Stabilo `Write-all.I have a pack of Staeddtler triplus fineliners which are nice for detail, and can be found in supermarkets for much less than the full price. I think that's it, I will never turn down a new brand, and would LOVE to be able to afford COPIC markers which everyone raves about, but as a messer-abouter I am not going to take on a mortgage to buy markers which are definitely in the professional league.

I also have a collection of the most important BLACK MARKERS which I forgot to take a piccie of, sorry. Journallers will atest to the fact that a good black lettering marker is a special find and you choose carefully. I have various tip-sizes of Sharpies, a bog standard Multi Purpose Marker Pen, Faber-Castell Pitt markers are brill, various tips with them, Uni-pin fineline by Mitsubishi do a great pen, and I pick up anything I think will do the job.

WHITE MARKERS are less common and I use mine up quickly. I have a new uni POSCA white marker, also mitsubishi I just note. Pilot do a variety of tips but are a bit  over-emotional at times! Sakura do a BRILLIANT gelly roll white, I love it, and also I have a Hybrid Gel by Pentel. They use up at varying rates.

 Ooooops, I notice I also have some metallic markers which I use for small details - too much is....too much!

The surfaces these markers write best on also varies, some will cover almost any surface, others are a little more temperamental. As long as they are permanent you can varnish over them, but to be on the safe side I varnish (if I'm going to at all) before I add the lettering and final details.

I've also got some Derwent Inktense water-colour ink pencils which give a lovely saturated colour when you paint over them with water, and some Aquapastels which do a great finishing job, or as an all-over background which I then knock-back with a thin layer of white acrylic or white gesso, scraped down with an old credit card - a brilliant and simple technique.

I also buy large tubes of acrylic from discount stores which come in great for backgrounds, I love scraping a layer of in onto the page as well.

..............and I wouldn't be me if I didn't have a book or two on the subject!

These are my own journals....the top smaller one is one I am prepping the pages to take to Ireland with me.  Each page is ready with a background, some colour, maybe some collage, some barely-seen background stamping....so all I have to do is the lettering and final detail, which means I don't have to take a load of stuff with me.

 (Besides which I shall be stitching, playing and listening to some music, shopping, sight-seeing maybe..and just generally chillin'!)

Here are some detail shots of the page I made in response to the way I was feeling about the 'count -down' to the Olympics. I was quite angry with all the shennanigins, but I am now enjoying the stuff that REALLY MATTERS - sponsors take note YOU ARE NOT IMPORTANT.  I do not want to eat your disgusting beefburgers or drink your toxic brown liquid.  You do not 'own' the logo or the name or anything else. Stop spreading your noxious influence round the world and do something honest with your billions. There. I promised myself I would not rant on my blog and I just did. Get over it.

Phew, well, it's just between you and me, isn't it? Actually I felt we should have orchestrated mass civil disobedience and everyone worn 'illicit' tee-shirts or hats to the torch journeys through each town...let them try and sue everyone - hah! Anyway, the superb efforts by the real heroes of the events have pushed all of that to the background and there is true Olympic spirit being shown every day. Well done to them!

well, I think it's all I've got to say about my journalling 'stuff'. I have re-organised my space to better accommodate things near to hand. But I'm now feeling the tug of the textiles urging me to get my mitts on some fabric and commence stitching again. Thank goodness! I wish I could be an evenly balanced person....after all, I am a Libran...but I am a bit all or nothing...there, that's another thing about me! It's amazing, really, that I get anything finished at all, but I muddle through, somehow.

Hope you are enjoying your Olympic  weekend, and that some of you, at least, are having some continuous sunshine! Catch you next time.

Photographs and Osteopaths



View from the back door

Well, there's certainly been a bit of weather since my last post, hasn't there?  Here in West Norfolk we've been reasonably lucky - very cold, minus 15 at one point, and a fair bit of snow.  However that seems to have cleared from most areas now and I do believe it's warming up a little.  I know the children have had a marvellous time playing in the cold white stuff - but to be honest, I like to see it in the morning, nod, say 'very nice', and then have it gone the next day.  And yet....and yet.....if you don't have to go out in it, and have food and warmth and company indoors, there IS something rather pleasant about feeling snowed in for a day or two, time seems to stand still, routine goes by the board, and it all feels rather special for a while.  Then, of course you start experiencing 'cabin fever' and get desperate for things to be back to normal.  The photo above 'view from the back door' is one my other half J took to send to Number 2 son and his family in New Zealand.  Smallest Grandson was amazed when we showed him a huge snowball on a tin plate when we Skyped them last weekend.

My photography is a poor thing, I need to have a session with Sue who really knows what she is doing with cameras and computers; I will FORCE myself to become, if not proficient, then at least able to take a reasonable 'snap' and upload it to this blog without the mega-drama it is at present. Ooooh this blogging really is a steep learning curve!

Sue has been forging ahead tinkering with the website and facebook account, and she's also designed and organised our business cards.  The logo is the same as our design now heading our blog; a lovely little oval of bunting surrounding free-machine stitched text.  Once we'd agreed colour schemes it was trial and error getting the words centred and evenly stitched - not an easy task when you have such a very small area to work with.  We think it's pretty good, don't you?  She's also been stitching up some more designs to add to her own....er.....portfolio, I guess you'd call it.

Meanwhile I have been whipping up a blue and white quilt top which I will hand quilt very simply. However, whilst chain-piecing the top, I have over-swivelled on my ergonomically designed office chair, and done something to my right sacro-iliac joint, which has left me pretty immobile for the last week.  Soooo painful, my most comfortable stance was bent over at 90 degrees, looking and feeling for all the world like Julie Walter's aged waitress in the Acorn Antiques sketch.  As I stumbled up the kitchen steps, my breakfast tray wobbling wildly the other morning, I greeted a bemused J with the iconic words:  'Two Soupssss?'  (Find it on YouTube, you'll see what I mean.)  So I'm afraid there has been none of this:

very little of this:

And CERTAINLY none of this:

Although a trip to a very able osteopath yesterday morning has improved the sutuation a lot, and I'm very hopeful things will continue improving. What a dangerous sport this stitchery business is, to be sure!  Don't ask me about the sewing machine needle through my finger, the week before..... no!  I said don't ask......or I might have to tell you!  Catch up with us again in our next  -less traumatic I hope - post!

Hello World!

This is the Brand New Blog about Textile Treasury, a Brand New Venture for Sue and Lynne, textile loving friends who decided just before Christmas, that they might like to do a couple of craft fairs together at some point.

Enter 2012 and WOW! Suddenly, we are booked for a really good craft fair (more about which later), have a face book presence,  a twitter account (don't ask me) and embryonic web and blog-sites! How did that happen???

 

Well, I'll tell you how it happened. Sue waved her magic wand, uttered an incantation (she does that a lot......) and lo, it was so. Or that's how it seemed to me. It will rapidly become clear to you, Dear Reader, that I am NOT the techie one. However I'd hate you to think my sole contribution is a hastily penned blog post. Not at all. Just not the techie stuff. I suspect though, that some of Sue's expertise will rub off on me somewhere along the line. I'm really hoping so.

Sue and I are old friends from quite different backgrounds - administration for Sue and the Health Service for me. We have both experimented with a variety of arts and crafts, but eventually settled comfortably with stitch - whether with yarn, thread or fibre, using paper, fabric and other interesting substrata. Along the line we've both taught, exhibited and sold our work, supported the Quilters Guild and local quilting groups, and we now belong to a six strong group of like-minded women called Stitch 'n Bitch. I promise you there is more of one than the other goes on at our monthly meeting!

So, that's a little about us, next post I'll include a little more background, some more pics, and more news about Textile Treasury. I hope you will bear with us through the first faltering steps of blogging, come back and see us again, and trust me to get it right next time. Or the time after that.......