Stitching for the Guild

Another four sketch/note books done for the Embroiderers' Guild stall at the Textile and Bead Fair tomorrow. Held twice a year at the John Innes Centre, Norwich, there's lots to see (and buy!) so why not come along? Doors open at 10am.

Downsizing

Mum decided to apply for a place in a sheltered housing complex now she's on her own. Places don't come up very often and are allocated on a 'points' system so we weren't expecting her to be offered anything anytime soon. How wrong can you be! After only a couple of weeks on the waiting list, she was offered, and accepted, a lovely little flat in a complex right in the centre of town.

Next step was to put her bungalow up for sale. Lo and behold, it was snapped up by a cash buyer before the ink was dry on the sale particulars! So, it was then all systems go on sorting out what she wanted to keep and what had to go. I spent a few days helping her to sort out the contents of her loft and came home with a car full of her craft supplies and it's taken me about three weeks to marry her stash with mine.

One of the things she's passed on to me is this (sorry about the poor photo):-

Together with all these:-

And this book:-

With the passing comment, "It would be nice if you could finish this in my lifetime". She's 75 (bless her) so no pressure there then!

Ally Pally Day 2

The second day at the Knitting & Stitching show was spent doing workshops with Jan Beaney in the morning, when we made a small handstitched sample based on a photograph of a garden. Here’s mine:-

In the afternoon, Jean Littlejohn ran a workshop with a difference. We each had to pick a number from 1 to 6, then, based on the number we chose, we were allocated a stitch (mine was Roumanian Couching). Using different types and weights of thread/wool etc, we made a grid using our allocated stitch and then filled in the spaces of the grid, again ONLY using our allocated stitch. It really made us stretch our skills, take a closer look at how stitches can be used and we ended up with a useful stitch sample to refer to in future - at least, that was the idea but I’ve turned my workroom upside down and I can’t find my sample!

Stunning views

Rather than travel home and back again between the two days I spent at the Knitting and Stitching Show, I begged a bed for the night from my niece and her fiance. I’d never visited their lovely little flat in London’s Docklands and was completely unprepared for the stunning views. The photos were taken at night (obviously!) and the balcony at the front looks out over St Katherine’s Dock towards Tower Bridge:-

While the view from the kitchen window is of the tall buildings at Canary Wharf.

Better late than never

My first day at the Knitting & Stitching Show was spent in admiring the exhibits, chatting to friends and, of course, shopping.

I didn't have enough hands to take photos but I particularly enjoyed the Julia Caprara retrospective amongst the wealth of stunning work on display. Ally Pally is definitely the best show of the whole year for me.

So, what did I buy? Mainly books this year - the new one from Jan Beaney & Jean Littlejohn called 'Stitchscapes' (and the accompanying CD too), 'Drawn to Stitch' by Gwen Hedley and 'Art Cloth' by Jane Dunnewold. Some lovely wool from the Colinette stand came home with me too, along with numerous threads and other bits and pieces that I just couldn't resist. And I finally bought a screen from Thermofax:-

I intend putting this to good use as I continue with the Waterscapes themed work started in Jean's workshop that I took earlier this year at Broadland Arts Centre.