Bob has been to Bridlington

Sunglasses at the ready, Bob has had a little trip out to Bridlington for some lovely veggie food & coffee.

This has been one of my few trips out recently and we managed to park quite near the door so I didn't have to walk far.
Our destination was The Little Organic Bakery & Crema espresso bar at No. 12 Wellington Rd,

Here we are sat in the gallery bit looking through to the outside eating area waiting in anticipation for our food.
Wow here it is, a beautiful black olive tart, herby nut & cheese roll with some delish salads.

All washed down with a Yirgacheffe pour over, absolutely lovely and great to catch up with the wonderful Wheelwright clan who run this place.

Happy hooking!

It seems I'm not the only one who has been indulging in a bit of hooky this week, wool & hooks have been seen on the Green Rabbit blog! Where there's a lovely looking, woolly green rabbit in the making.

http://greenrabbitdesigns.wordpress.com/2012/07/27/playing-hooky/

I managed to finish the lovely Happy Flower Decoration from Lucy's blog.

http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/happy-flower-decoration.html

I started another one in different colours.

Then I whizzed up a simple phone holder to try some new colours in stripes.

And now I'm trying something a bit more fiddly on a small hook with cotton thread, a necklace which was a free download from here, the wonderful Making Spot website.

http://www.themakingspot.com/

I think I may have dropped a few stitches as I'm not sure it's going to fit so it might end up as a bracelet or a trim for a jumper.


Have fun if you're hooking this weekend too!

No proper baking for a while!

It's that time again, when the aga is on it's last legs before needing a service.

I've been struggling to cook things for about 3 months due to it's maximum temperature being only 130 degrees C. And, whilst it would seem a good time of year to turn it off as it's summer, it's always a difficult decision because our landlord has not provided any other oven facility! 


So, it went out last night because the temperature had actually dipped to 90 degrees because the wick is so sooted up and all it's good for is meringues! Because it's such an ancient, converted aga, even when it's serviced I'll be lucky if it hits 200 degrees.


Anyway I shall have to make do with this camping ring and my microwave.

Hence, no proper baking or cooking of pies for a while until I have it back on in Autumn, if I can hold out that long. I will try and cram as much salady stuff in the fridge as possible in order to try and eat a bit more healthy over this time.

Make a wallet from recycled Has Bean Coffee bags

The new red & white Has Bean coffee bag/envelopes which the weekly subscription of beans arrive in are so much more practical. It actually fits in my small post box which the jiffy bag never did and I always had to be in on a Saturday morning to take delivery. They're less packaging and less waste and they look very smart too. Here they are displayed by Bob the Bunny.

As some of my readers will know, I like to recycle and I like to stitch and create things. 
This got me thinking, as I was about to discard the last few weeks bags, could I make something useful out of them.
I know, a tiny wallet to hold the loyalty cards of some of my favourite cafes.
I chopped up the bits of bag with the HB logo on which would make the outer surface of the wallet.

I then stitched some of these bits together, overlapping and using a zigzag stitch.

I was working to create a rectangular size of about 21cm x 9cm and here it is, I also zigzagged around the edge for neatness.

Next you need another rectangle the same size for the inside, I found this coffee themed oil-skin fabric.

With wrong sides together, stitch with a zigzag all around the edge to join the 2 pieces, exposing the right sides. You can see below that inside I have stitched a little red pocket to hold my loyalty cards.

The design of the wallet will be to fold over the right hand side with a small flap and then the left hand side will fold over that and close with a snap fastener, as you can see on the picture below.

Here is the finished wallet with a little embellishment on the front.

The inside, to store those precious cards!

And finally the back view.

Plastic bags & packaging with nice designs on are very versatile to chop up and stitch to recycle into something new.

This might turn into an occasional series of "More Than One Use for a Has Bean Coffee Bag", you have been warned!

The Vulcan flies over Driffield

This post is purely to remind myself of what I saw this morning.


I was feeding Ruby the robin just after breakfast when I looked up and saw a huge, interesting looking military plane soaring up over the trees and coming right over the house. It wasn't very high so I could clearly see all the camouflage markings quite well. The shape of the plane was very distinct.
Rather annoyingly I didn't have my camera to hand, even though the plane wasn't going very fast, unlike the fighter jets, by the time me and my bad foot limped for my camera it had just gone.


I looked it up online and the shape was looking like a Vulcan. Well given that there is only one remaining flying Vulcan I thought it can't be, but like I say, the shape was distinct.
I wondered if anyone else had seen it.


It wasn't until the afternoon when I did some more internet surfing that I found these Flickr pictures and this has confirmed my siting in the Yorkshire area. Thanks to Keith for posting these and putting me out of my misery.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/akandbdl/7596460972/in/photostream/

I looked to see if there were any air shows today, could it have been attending but no I drew a blank.
Then I found this which explains the Vulcan heading north over Driffield, it was going to Sunderland to do a fly past for the Queen today as part of a delayed Jubilee celebration.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/queen-elizabeth-II/9408398/Vulcan-bomber-performs-Diamond-Jubilee-tribute-to-Queen.html

Sorry to be such an anorak but I get really excited seeing things like this in the sky!

Works in progress & new brooches

It's the Driffield Show today and I won't be able to go this year with my foot, I haven't been for 3 years, didn't realise it was that long but the weather is looking a bit dodgy today with potentially heavy showers this afternoon so I'm happy to be inside doing something creative.


I have a few projects on the go. One is my version of a vintage linen, crinoline lady. I have a couple of tablecloths which were charity shop finds with the crinoline lady designs and I was really annoyed with myself for washing one too vigorously and holes have appeared in the antique cloth. So I thought I'd have a practise and maybe make my own.


I found some designs online and bought one of those embroidery transfer pencils.

I traced the design and ironed onto my fabric, and set about stitching. I'd forgotten how therapeutic it is to do this sort of painting by numbers with embroidery silks.

Here is the finished thing and I'm quite pleased as a first attempt, I think I'll have the confidence to stitch a tablecloth when I find the right one. This test piece will probably turn into something completely different.

Next on my WIP is a bit of crochet. I found this wonderful Happy Flower Decoration tutorial on the lovely Attic 24 blog, a must visit blog if you've never been and you love crochet.

http://attic24.typepad.com/

Lucy from Attic 24 writes a tutorial in such a way that it's a pleasure to follow and even I can understand and create something quite delicious out of wool.


The flower is done and next I'm working on the stem and those pretty leaves.

Finally, here are some of my mixed media textile brooches, some of which are finished and on sale in Gallery 49, Bridlington & in my Folksy shop. I've been inspired with my vintage & antique postcard collection when making these, particularly those silk embroidered cards from the first world war.

Once I've created the 'mini postcards' and embellished with beads & silks, I then mount them on felt, cut to size, back them and finish off with a pin.

Here are a couple of my favourite ones finished.

All packaged and ready to go. I like making these but they do take a long time as I deliberate for hours which colours, beads, silks & trimmings go best together.

My latest, retro fabric designs

At the moment I'm eagerly awaiting printed swatches of my latest fabrics to arrive from Spoonflower.
I've done more of my vintage collage fabrics, below is a children's themed one using mainly old birthday cards

next we have the vintage stamp collection

then we move to a more romantic theme of antique postcards and other vintage finds

below is a fat quarter which will be available to buy soon that gives you a different design in each quadrant

I then created some different colour variations for my vintage ice cream van fabric.

Lastly, more colour variations for the 1950's chairs & bunting fabric.

Recent handmade gifts

I think it's safe to reveal a few things I've made friends recently as they have now been delivered.
Firstly a little embroidered cotton envelope for housing a small gift, hankies, etc.

Next we have some crochet, can you believe I finally finished a crochet project! Bright coloured bunting to cheer up a wet summer!

And lastly another embroidered envelope which houses one of my little handmade notebooks.

Culprits!

I've had a bad foot which I rested for most of last week and then went for a little walk yesterday but it became increasingly sore and I ended up limping back to the car. 


I tried to get a doctors appt this morning but the system is pretty useless for our surgery, you can't book in advance for the next day. You can only ring on the morning for appointments on that day. Of course when the lines open at 8am it's busy and engaged, by the time I got through at about 9 mins past 8, they were fully booked which would mean I have to try and ring again the next day, it's mad, it's another reason why I hate going to the doctors as there's always a hassle getting a slot.
Or, you can try your luck sitting and waiting for the first 2 hours for the duty doctor. I went for that option and fortunately got sorted after an hour.


It turns out I have Plantar Fasciitis, for those like me that didn't know, it's the ligament which runs along the foot to the heel which has become inflamed. It is common in the 40 - 60 yr age group, mainly in women and quite easy to do but can take some time (up to a year) to fully rectify. I've been told to rest for a fortnight and see how it is. There are exercises to do, future recommendations of heel supports and appropriate shoes.


The pain started with a twinge after wearing my new walking boots and at the time I thought the arch in the boot was a bit high. The doctor said this will have done it and stretched the ligament, quite common for footwear to do this. Apparently people who wear heels don't usually suffer this afflication, well given that I live my life in flat shoes, flat boots, flat anything, it probably explains why this high arch has done it.


It's so frustrating and inconvenient. I don't mind staying in but I hate losing my freedom more than anything and I'm not a good patient when it comes to being told to rest and relax. 
Oh well, at least I can still work and make things, and lets face it, summer is so wet and miserable that I'm not missing much being stuck in the house!


The doctor recommended Fitflops, they look quite groovy too so maybe some good will come out of this.


http://www.fitflop.co.uk

Handmade, textile ring pillow

I've had a few textile projects on the go which I will start to reveal as I've dispatched them to people.


This one is a wedding gift for a friend, it is a ring bearers pillow, or could be used afterwards for a pin cushion.


I started with another embroidered bird motif as the main design for the front.

I then gathered some bits and pieces to embellish with, lace, beads and the backing fabric is one of my own fabrics.

Here it is all stitched up and stuffed.

And finally the back.