It seems a late Spring here and last bank holiday weekend was so chilly that I went back to my thermals I'd recently stored away and had to warm up with vest and long johns again. Don't you find the chillyness always seems to happen when the central heating has been turned off!
Gladys the Great Tit has been visiting me and landing on my hand sometimes 3 or 4 times daily for a bird treat. Sometimes she stays on my hand for more than a second and looks at me and tweets, it really is quite sweet. From previous years of having bird best friends, this will usually last until they have their final brood and then they disappear rather sheepishly so I enjoy her friendship whilst I can.
The blossom on the cherry tree was looking lovely on one fine day the previous week but it has been so windy and wet this week it has virtually all blown off now.
The Daffs peaked but have been battered this week too.
As some of you know, I find this is a pretty grim place to rent with all it's problems but this time of year it looks a little better with a splash of colour and with the thought of longer warm days.
The cool bank holiday weekend was an excuse to stay in and watch the Tour de Yorkshire cycle race in our area. Nice to see them whizzing through Brid, Scarborough & York but shame there wasn't more TV coverage for the villages nearer to us.
I had designed a beer label for this event for the Malton / Norton area the race was passing through.
The weekend also brought about yet more summer scarf making. I have used the crochet moss stitch I like to make this pastel coloured scarf.
With a new ball of soft alpacha wool I've had a go at a lacy shell stitch scarf. It doesn't look too good here but it's a lovely duck egg blue & speckle.
I've also been doing some teeny tiny embroideries which I've tried to show the scale with a 5p. These will turn up in some textile brooches at some point.
And finally, a delicious little thing to share with any embroidery enthusiasts out there.
A lovely parcel arrived this morning.
Beneath the intriguing wrap was this.
This is a box of vintage embroidery threads made in Sweden in the 1960s.
This beautiful yarn is made from flax and has been hidden away for decades after the factory closed down in Sweden. It has been recently rediscovered (I don't know all the story but will link to the site) and is now for sale. The colours and quality are wonderful and having such amazing vintage thread will make a project truly unique.
Check out the site to find out more and if you'd like to buy some, I can thoroughly recommend it.
http://linladan.com/
October is nearly done, it started quite positive but tailed off when I got a horrible cold last week and so I'm just trying to get back to normal this week. It was one of the worst colds I'd had for a few years because for 2 days my temperature was hot and cold within minutes and I couldn't regulate a steady comfort level in this house so being in bed was the best place.
Not like me at all, I couldn't even be bothered to pick up a crochet hook, all the coughing was giving me a constant headache so I was good for nothing.
What made this so annoying was the week before I'd had a binge of juicing to combat signs of feeling generally run down. We had a full day of no solid food just veggie juices which I planned into a Saturday so that we could stay in and if we felt weak or a bit rough with the lack of sugar etc we could just sweat it out.
I had a wonderful mix of veggie juice 'meals' with the odd bit of fruit in too and I found these milk bottles in Lakeland which were perfect for making a big batch and storing it in for the 24hrs. I survived the day albeit a bit weak and a bit peckish by the evening but hopefully it boosted me with vitamins.
During the cold I made a more citrus and spinach based juice (below).
Early in the month I did this little embroidery for a birthday card.
Still beseiged by huge spiders which I hate so I bought this from Lakeland, not sure if it has made any effect as the house seems to be beyond warding spiders away from cracks and crevices but it's worth a try.
And talking pests, we are having a bad year with mice here and it's just adding to the feelings of miserableness I have. I know on the scale of it life could be worse but it gets me down at this time of year and now the days are short I'm feeling pretty much can't be bothered with most things.
I bought this light bulb to add much needed good light for working and hoped it might cheer me up a bit to get back to crafting.
It's a fabulous eco bulb and gives me equivalent of 150w and not a bad price at £5.99.
Anyway, still with a cough and sniffling I've done a few gentle crafty things, I found some things lying around and fabric printed them, shells and doilly.
Ah, the stress free joy of something simple! Of course all the time I've not been doing anything my mind has been racing away coming up with new ideas of things I want to make and getting myself frustrated at my lack of energy for it.
Sorry anyone reading for having a moan, hope to have some nice new crafty pics soon.
It's always great to receive positive feedback for something you've designed or made, almost as good as making it.
Today was such a day, a lovely Spoonflower customer had bought some of my green vintage camping fabric and she sent me a link to her Etsy shop to see what she'd made.
Isn't this fun, it's an overnight bag and it's so beautifully made. Thanks Theresa for sharing that with us.
The camping fabric has proved quite popular recently and I have released it in 2 new options, a smaller design of the brown colour and a retro pale blue colour. I think more colours may follow too.
I've been busy making things for galleries, I took a small delivery to Gallery 49 in Bridlington on Friday. One of my new makes was this fabric roll up pencil pouch. I created the base fabric by fibre felting onto an old woolly jumper and I built up layers of wool, tweed and machine stitching.
I was amazed to get a note from G49 to say they had sold it within 2 hours of me dropping it off, really delighted by that.
I also took a few of these brooches and I'm hoping to do a few more to show the Art & Rose Gallery in Pocklington.
Plus, these recycled wraps for tins to use as pencil pots went to G49 also.
It's October already and the blogging has slowed up recently due to workload.
Once October arrives I am often reminded of that Haircut 100 song, October is Orange. It seems to sum things up nicely, the leaves are turning, the pumpkins & toffee apples are appearing in the shops, and there's a desire to see the warming glow of a fire on an evening, although not in this house!
I've been busy making more iPhone / gadget cases, here is the pile of finished ones with a few favourites below. I will take some of these to the Attic in York and see if they want some and then the rest will go in my Folksy shop.
Also got a batch of brooches which are nearing completion, I just have to embellish some small glass beads on these and then some will go to the Art & Rose Gallery in Pocklington.
Here's something cute my sister sent me, a small pair of knitted mittens which is a brooch from Bratislava, she thought it might give me an idea to make something similar. I only wish I could knit something so small & lovely! Maybe it might spark off you knitters out there! I might try some felt ones, much easier!
I bought the Lakeland Pie Maker recently, I thought it would come in handy for those many times when the cooker is not hot enough for pies. Actually it's pretty good for making small pies for pack-up and should be good for festive mince pies.
Even managed to slip in the first and only BBQ of the year last weekend whilst it was still relatively fine. As you can see no expense spared on this disposable jobby!
The jkt spuds and Quorn fillets didn't get enough heat so ended up in the oven, halloumi skewers were fab.
And one final project whilst I'm catching up. I've entered this weeks Spoonflower contest, it's quite a weird spec, to design a 1980's embroidery pattern and produce it in reverse so it can be stitched from the rear. Here's mine.
Phew, that's a long post, it's the end of September all rolled into one!...thank you for sticking to the end if I haven't bored you.
