Charity Auction

Had a really enjoyable time at the Charity Auction and dinner last night for the MS Trust. We bid on a few things and I did win 2 books donated by Laurence Llewellyn Bowen. He lives locally, and supports the MS Trust. The books are very good. I also won a wonderful patchwork shoppping bag, but I have already gifted it to a good friend, and as she is off on her travels today, the bag has gone with her, to Scotland. So no photo of the bag -sorry.




However talking about Bags, I finished the April bag for the BQL list I belong to. This one is very large. Took me a long time to work out the measurements and the sums. It was then quite quick to make.



Gill... do you recognise the fabric. We were together in Cirencester when I bought it? It was very pleasant to stitch.

Off to read some more of Laurence's book.

Dodger friends

This morning the postman bought a lovely card from my dodger friends. They were lucky enough to have a playday with the gocco machine. Liz is quite an expert at this form of printing. So sorry I was not able to join you in your fun. Looking forward to the next playday. So here is the Gocco postcard of Gill, Liz and Sue. Thanks girls for thinking of me.

The pleasures of watching your weight!

( enlarge this image by clicking on it ) Enjoy your chocolate!

Missed me?

Mmmmm.... feel as if I have been caged in for a while too!
Its been a busy time, but I will not bore you with the details.... thanks for your good wishes Maggie.. suffice to say this illness lasted too long.

I have been to a couple of Exhibitions... wonderful cakes and tea at both.

One of the groups I belong to, the Great Western Embroiderers Have been very busy in preparation for the exhibition in September. We had a wonderful workshop on Sketchbooks and then had a second visit to the Steam Museum. I enjoyed this particular visit even more, as I am making headway with my ideas, so the visit had a better sense of purpose.

Have you ever been underneath Caerphilly Castle?

Well here is proof that I did.. really scary underneath, met a lovely bloke just before I took this photo( as you do) and during our conversation it came to light, that he was a school teacher from Holland with a party of schoolchildren. Funny how you meet up with the most interesting people when you are underneath a train... and scared out of your wits!

I had a hard time finding evidence of the women's work that went on at the old railway works... I know for example that there were a lot of sewing machines... but not one on display. Its a very "blokey" ( is there such a word?) environment in the Museum.

Besides the mention of women working during the war years, the office typist and the tea lady.. this is the only mention for women.

with this photo beside it.

Its probably a sign of the times, but does not seem to be very correct for the 21st Century. What do you think?

Stitching

Here are the Marlborough Downs on Monday, still a few remnants of snow. It was a bitterly cold day, but I wanted to go to the Embroiderers Guild meeting at the Marlborough Branch. I was not well enough to drive , so hubby kindly offered to take me. We also saw a number of deer grazing in the fields, such a wonderful sight.

The meeting was very worthwhile, the Speaker was Clare Hanham who was an apprentice at the Royal School of Needlework, and gave us a fascinating account of her 3 years as an apprentice. Have a look at the RSN website .....here. Made me realise though that I am an artist as the repetition required for this sort of work would drive me mad! I also prefer to design my own work.

On the way home we have to drive through Marlborough Market place... and I thought the following beautiful building was somewhat marred by the pavement furniture.

Needless to say I was very tired on Monday evening.

Tuesday I had further stitching delights with the Great Western Embroiderers meeting. We had our first outside speaker, Louise Watson, a local textile artist. We are working towards our exhibition at Steam and Louise shared her wonderful sketchbooks with us, which really inspired us.

We have another sketching session at Steam next week,looking forward to that, and I am really excited about Saturday, when we will be having an all day sketchbook workshop with Louise. I have been doing some more work in my sketchbook, trying to get my ideas organised for Saturday. Still feeling tired... but am sure that will pass as soon as I finish taking the penicillin.

I promised to let you know details about our next Exhibiton taking place at Wantage Museum, so thought I had better keep to the promise.... here is the poster that the Musuem have created for us. The quality of the reproduction is excellent. we are very pleased. We are orgainsing a meet the artist day. I will give you details of that nearer the time. Think it is a great idea.

Thanks you for all your good wishes, I am starting to feel a bit better..... still have a way to go though, so I will keep taking my tablets. Still not managing any stitiching due ot the headache!

Dear hubby bought me a fantastic photograph of the Millenium babys' birthday party, which I had to miss. How times flies, 8 already, and we always get a lovely smile now she has her new teeth!

We will celebrate her special day later - we will go out for a treat.

Poorly blogger

I have been poorly for a few days, and according to the doctor may be for a few more. My doctor does not see me very often, so it is a bit of a surprise for both of us. Let's face it -- you go to the doctors feeling off colour and poorly but when you leave the surgery you are confirmed ill. Strange that!

At the moment the meds he prescribed are making me feel awful, the good news is I will get better, the bad news is I must not kiss anyone. That's one of the downsides of having tonsillitis as an illness. Its a family birthday get together as well this evening, but I am too wobbly to go.

Thought it would be great to share some of the work I have been beavering away with, so I thought I would take a few photos for you.... I did ... they are not ideal and certainly not as I planned. Sure you can guess why. These photos were taken in sequence.. here is photo number 1

Can you see my work? No? This is the second attempt, shame you cannot hear the purring and see the headbutting of the camera.

Here is the third attempt... clearer picture of the work.... but still too much fur.

The fourth attempt, sorry the best I can do.