Open Studios Two

I've been abroad with my camera again!

                                                                 Thank you Cathy.

 I have been awarded a Sunshine Blog Award by Cathy, from Potter Jotter, who really appreciated seeing my poorly toe in glorious technicolour! I now have to 'do my bit' which comprises telling you things you didn't know about me....hmmm not sure about that!!! And then nominating five other blogs which have brought sunshine into my life.

Well now. Here goes.

1) Despite now loving to stitch, as a schoolgirl I HATED anything to do with needlework. I was the Worst Girl in the Class, I really was, from the huckaback running stitch sampler we did in primary, then the shoe bag, to the apron and skirt in High School. I used to deliberately 'lose' my sewing on many occasions. 

2) I was a Girl Guide and loved it. When we came to live in Norfolk I was roped in to help with a local Brownie Pack and subsequently Guides, eventually I started the 4th Reffley Guide Company, which is still going strong, run by the daughter of a great Guiding friend of mine who reached much loftier heights than I ever did! Great fun, great memories!

3)As well as needlework, I was very very bad at maths, French, and Latin at school.Oh, and physics.

4) I was pretty good at English, Spanish, art and hockey. All other things were in between!

5) I hate getting started on housework. Especially ironing. (Unless it's quilting fabric!)


6) I have been known to appear in public dressed as a French Tart, with my face blacked up.This is often accompanied by dancing and folk music and visits to pubs.


There, I think that is more than enough! Now to whittle down my favourite logs to just five...oh dear that's a bit hard.So very difficult to whittle it down.


Claire at mynorfolklife
Gill at  dosierosie
Victoria at  tangledsweetpea
Annie at  knitsofacto
Elizabeth at welshhillsagain

There are so many more I love to read but had to pick just five, for their writing and colourful posts. I hope the links work, but you can find them in my blogroll if not.

Right, so, I have been off to visit another Open Studio, that of another Stitchin' Bitcher...oh dear that sounds awful, doesn't it? She's really not! A few clues:

                                Perhaps this will give the game away?

                                          You've seen this before....in preparation.

                                                               sign up for a great course!

Of course, it's Yvonne, you guessed when you saw Arfa, didn't you? And don't just take my word for it how talented this woman is.......her work has been included in several publications, including this one:

Not only does Yvonne make and teach rag rugs, she is also a silver smith, and makes silver rings and brooches, and bracelets and necklaces with semi-precious stones.

                                                  Love these articulated avian brooches.

Yvonne 'does' Open Studios each year, and also exhibits with West Norfolk Artists annually. Oh, and she quilts. In fact, Yvonne is an unofficial member of the 'slow cloth' sisterhood. I know for a fact she has a quilt she has been working on for over ten years...........I think she took one of my workshops to get on with it. Hmmmmm! Soon to be appearing on her own blog/website. I'll keep you posted.

Now, come on. Enough is enough. Drought? Ok, we needed the rain. But it is like bloomin' Siberia out there! I went out to do a 'from the back door' shot and was nearly blown off my feet. The plants are horizontal.

                          Sorry, could hardly get them to keep still long enough for a shot!

                                   And look, how long do you think these will survive?

My poor giant poppies, just two of them brave enough - or foolish enough - to unfurl themselves in this wind. They appear upright, but you can see from the foliage, and the sage flowers behind how the wind is tossing them about.

                 Rosemary, lovage, mint and some yet-to-blossom flowers, all windswept.

I'm now off to meditate on the wonders of nature  - not. Then a warming cuppa, I think. I hope you are all finding ways of warming and cheering yourselves up in this unseasonal weather. And you lot in warmer climes....THIS is why the British talk about the weather so much, we have so much of it to talk about! Bye for now.

Long To Rain Over Us..........

                                                                       Very Wet Lovage

No, not a spelling mistake, just a comment on the state of play,weatherwise, for the past 15 or so hours, and no let-up in sight. Not wishing to labour the point.........

                                                "Raindrops on Roses....tra la la...."

                                          Ladies' Mantle sparkling away prettily

Ok enough with the rain. Here's what we cheered ourselves up with on the supper front last night.

                                                 Chinese Fish Broth with Noodles

No, bear with me, it was great. I sauteed off a very thinly sliced red onion, red pointy pepper, 3 cloves garlic and a few button mushrooms. Threw in a handful of cherry tomatoes. Added a couple of hefty shakes of Chinese 5-spice. Laid a freshly caught and cleaned rainbow trout on top and covered with fish stock.  I chopped and added the usual garden herbs - parsley and lovage I think. At the last minute I thought to add a couple of anchovies in oil. When it was bubbling I broke up a good handful of spaghetti and bunged that in, then tore up the remains of the spinach from the salad drawer, lid on, slow oven. When ready to eat, I removed the trout, deboned and chunked the flesh, and served. Bloomin' good it was too!

So while we're enjoying the colour, here's what I found between the living room and my sewing room, all old stuff but bright and.....er....beautiful? Well, I thought so at the time!

My Caravan Blanket. No, we don't have a caravan.

                                       My version of Lucy's Granny Stripe Blanket

                                                              My Lucy Bag

I did make leaves for the flowers on the original bag I made, but unfortunately I crocheted it in acrylic wool which s..t..r..e..t..c..h..e..d until it was HUGE enough to hold my entire wool stash; it is buried at the moment under quilts so fortunately I can't show it to you! Second time round I used cotton and it held its shape, but by the time I'd made the flowers I had had enough!

Here are some crazy patchwork bags I made back in the dark ages - I used to teach a workshop on making these - Exotic Embellishment - Not for Minimalists! was the title.

                        Notice the beads at the bottom - I called this Muggers Beware!

                                            Details from a couple of smaller bags

        I was really into making machine-wrapped cords, too. I made yards and yards of them!

 

It seems I was never off my machine in those days. Now I only use it to whizz up a few seams and binding. Oh, and a little free-machine writing and scribble embroidery. But that's only recently, and for the craft fair. Nowadays I am much more into Slow Cloth, having become entranced by the work and words of Jude Hill - check out her blog Spirit Cloth, especially her archive.

Well, folks, I really hope the colour has added a little cheer to your day, and most importantly, for those of you involved in any outdoorsy happenings for the Jubilee - I do hope this rain stops for you and you have a wonderful, DRY celebration!

Open Studio and Garden Stitching

                                      Open Studios, Quilter's Cottage, Marham, Norfolk.

I was out and about yesterday, visiting an Open Studio and re-acquainting myself with a quilting buddy from way back. Jane and I were both members of Samphire Quilters, one of the earliest and largest West Norfolk quilting groups, during the 90's and early 2000's. (Founder Member is...ta dah: our very own Pam from Stitch and Bitch!) We probably haven't seen each other for more than ten years, and in that time Jane has re-invented herself as a polymath! Anyway, I drove across county and spent an hour at her log cabin studio, amazed at the colour and texture and simple.... ABUNDANCE all around me. I decided there and then to ask Jane to let me 'interview' her at a later date for the blog, and just pop a few photos up for you in this post.

The header photo is an action shot of Jane on the deck - sorry, Jane, but I liked this one so much better than the posed one we did seconds later! It was a bit difficult to get a full width picture of the cabin as it is REALLY big.

                                                             Long shot of interior.
Imagine stepping out of your house each day to come here to work! That is, when Jane isn't whizzing about the county teaching at various other venues.

                                 Some of Jane's hand-made stamps, and her litho-prints.

         In the interests of honest blogging I  reveal - the Glory Hole !(tidier than my sewing room!)

I'll have lots to show and tell you about Jane and her work in a later post. I came away buzzing with her energy and motivation - and mentally exhausted by the visual overload!

I spent a lot of the glorious weekend out in the garden, quilting - yes, quilting! As long as the quilt was spread out on the table it wasn't getting me overheated and I could just stitch away in the shade - blissful! I have 20 days to finish this.....

I'd been thinking about the Boro I wrote about the other week, and remembered this quilt I made using some of my hand-dyed indigo fabric, and others from my 'blues' collection. I hand quilted it in varying weights of yarn and threads, altering the stitch length accordingly. It quilted itself, it was so soothing to stitch. You can see a bit along the bottom hem which I haven't quite finished...how did that happen??

     Sorry, awful photo, but it's difficult to get the whole quilt in shot. Apols re orange fence - it's new!

               Ahem. (Arrrrrgggghhhh, NO PUN was intended, just pointing out the unfinished bit.)

                                            My nod to boro patching and overstitching.

I did get on the sewing machine briefly, to make a start on the Naive Baskets and Squares quilt (working title). All I managed to do was surround each appliqued block with a row of squares, but it means I have the blocks out in front of me now, and it is now a work-in-progress rather than an unfinished symphony!

              Bad light, crumpled fabric, sorry, but had to do this fast as it started to rain!

The blocks won't be put together quite like that - there will be much more 'squareage' between each block. Took this today, dull skies and showers. So to brighten things up to finish here is a shot of the 'patio herb garden' ! I can't bear to waste those lovely olive oil tins so I thought I'd pop the basil in - doesn't it look nice, nestling among the mints?

                                                                 Poshed - up basil !

So I'll leave you, hoping we haven't seen the last of the lovely weather. Are you getting geared up for the Jubilee, or, like us, will it just be taking place in the background? Catch you next time.

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A spot of Sight-Seeing

                                               Dappled shade in the Herb Garden

Just a quick post today, mostly photographs, as I've been up to my eyes writing some other stuff for Somewhere Else!The sunshine encouraged me out into the garden, where buds are unfurling, blossom is springing and the greenery is amazing.

I love these Columbines, Granny's Bonnets, or Aquilegia depending where you're coming from.

 These are a very old fashioned species; I helped myself to a handful of seeds from the overgrown garden of the dilapidated house my brother-in-law inherited about fifteen years ago. They have self seeded themselves all over our garden and are so at home here. I love the colours.

       These lovely blue, spikey flower heads of the centaura cheer me enormously every year.

Oh, and the sage flowers are JUST about to burst forth! I would grow this herb for the flowers alone, though I do use the leaves in cooking and for sore throats, with honey!

 Here are some succulents. I popped them in for Marisa - not a patch on her multi-hued varieties.

Someone else was out and about today - and not just OUT, but UP! Yes, invited by our builder to check out the chimneys, J was up the scaffolding before you could say vertigo. Or even acrophobia. With his trusty little camera in his mitt. When he re-appeared on solid ground he presented me with a load of roof-top views' for your blog'. Gotta love that man. So here they are. Well, some of them.

                                                        Up the lane to the church.

                                                                Down the lane.

                                                                        Our back garden

                                                           Looking left from the back.

                                               Looking right from the back.

                                            And finally back round to the church.

Gosh, I hadn't realised I live in such a pretty place! It's all the old stone and greenery, isn't it?

And last but not least, here is the quilt pattern I promised you in my last post.

I'm sure you'll agree it's a corker, and well suited to those gorgeous Japanese Taupe fabrics.Not the best of photos, I'm afraid the 'large' view unfortunately had the shadow of my bosoms along the bottom, so I thought I'd delete that one! There is an outer border of diamonds. I'm all fired up to start it but feel I should really keep going with the small squares that surround the Jan Patek blocks already finished and waiting. AND.......there is K's quilt.............
Enjoy the sunny sunny sunny weekend! (I'm so thrilled we're having one I had to triple it!)