Cards and Carpets

I WAS going to be busy all day. I even had a list of things to do:

* Dust the surfaces
* Hoover the carpets
* Wash the kitchen floor
* Catch up on the ironing
* Email the agenda for the next credit union meeting

A Facebook friend put me to shame by tidying her house and doing some baking - but I spent most of the day embroidering cards.

Since I am experimenting with mixed media techniques the floor is now littered with beads, buttons,ribbons, snippets of lace, clippings from material, pieces of text torn from an old dictionary, paint spatters, threads and a dollop of acrylic wax - to say nothing of the pins and needles.

I quite like sitting on a cushion on the floor, with my back against the sofa (which is also covered in my needlwork supplies, but I do seem to have spread!

The embroideries produced today have not yet been mounted, so I have included photos of some I did earlier. The yellow one at the top was stitched for a friend who has been ill, while the pink one at the bottom was for the wedding of a friend of Elder Daughter.

Each card I create is slightly different, depending on the materials I have to hand, and how inspiration strikes. Some have more more embroidery, some have less, and I like to incorporate bits of text, torn from books that are falling to pieces, then coated with acrylic wax, which can be painted on and dries soft, so you can stitch through it.

I finding stamping letters or shapes onto the fabric and combining this with embroidery is very effective, and each picece is backed with felt to give a quilted feel.

Sometimes I trim the edges with ribbon or lace, sometimes I use the machine to zig-zag round them, then I stitch the finished work to cards, using beads or buttons.

I love fiddling around with colours and textures, and trying different techniques,but I do seem to make a mess while I am working.

Still, tomorrow is another day, so I shall think about the housework then...

A Mish Mash

A MISH-MASH is probably the best way of describing today’s blog.

As you can see, there are still issues following my installation of a third column, but it does look a little better than it did yesterday. However, the header is not right, there is a peculiar little white bit which is wider than the left hand column, and it all looks too busy.

Oh well, I shall think about it tomorrow…

Today I am thinking about packing. We are off to Sheffield tomorrow prior to Younger Daughter’s graduation on Monday.

I have stitched buttons on her dress (I was customising High Street purchases long before Gok got in on the act) and she has been out hunting for shoes and a belt.

Meanwhile I am desperately trying to remember where I put the wrist bands that (allegedly) prevent travel sickness. I would have to admit that even in conjunction with tablets they have produced no noticeable improvement, but I remain optimistic that these remedies, coupled with my pre-journey rituals (nothing to eat or drink) will work this time.

Also, I must remember to buy food for Elder Daughter and The Cat, who will be looking after each other in our absence. Elder Daughter can feed herself but TC, alas cannot, which could prove a problem.

And, of course, there is a shirt to be ironed for The Man of the House, who is currently try to squeeze himself into his one and only suit in a bid to meet YD’s demand that he look presentable for her big day.

While he does that, I will take a break and catch up on last week’s edition of The Lady (July 6), which I bought (for the first time in many years) to read an article about Lynne Hatwell, the Devonshire community nurse who writes Dovegreyreader – which is just about the best book blog on the net.

Anyway, I was amazed at the transformation in the magazine, which has been dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st Century. It no longer looks like a left-over from the Victorian era. It is bright, attractive, well laid out, and easy to read.

The traditional leisure and lifestyle features are still there, but editor Rachel Johnson has ensured there is a balance with more serious issues, including an interview with John Suchet explaining his decision to send his beloved wife Bonnie (who suffers from dementia) to a care home.

Best of all the ‘situations and appointments’ pages are still there, seemingly unchanged since The Lady (A Journal for Gentlewomen) was founded more than a century ago.

The adverts for companions, cooks, housekeepers, nannies and gardeners are an echo of a bygone age and a way of life unknown to most of us.

Finally, I have now finished Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall.  More on this another day.

ALL BUTTONED UP

I HAD a glimpse of the past yesterday when I went to the doctor. While waiting for my prescription, I limped into the supermarket to buy milk and bread, when a lady said hallo and explained she recognised me from her days volunteering in the Oxfam shop. I used to go in and out quite regularly with The Daughters when they were small, hunting for treasures – for them and me.

I was amazed that she recognised me after all these years, and we had a pleasant chat, about charities, volunteering, daughters, and community life. How wonderful that she took the time and trouble to approach and greet me – it really gave me a boost.

And it brought back happy memories of The Daughters when they were small. In one charity shop Elder Daughter once discovered an old straw hat, decorated with artificial flowers and ribbons, and she wore it everywhere, on every occasion, whatever the weather – we have a photograph of her in the rain, clad in wellies (on the wrong feet – she had just learned to dress herself), dress, mac – and ‘The Hat’!

Younger Daughter was the Button Queen. Wherever we went she scoured charity shops for buttons. We amassed a collection of tins, jars and boxes which she would empty, then sort the contents according to her mood… colour, size, patterned, plain. She would count them out, devising strange games which the rest of us failed to understand.

But the buttons presented endless possibilities for play, learning and creativity.
They were used as counters, weights on scales and money in a ‘play shop’ stocked with empty cartons, unwanted toys and battered books. They were pressed into home-made playdough to create patterns; painted to produce printed designs; placed beneath paper for rubbings with wax crayons, and stuck to collages.

Additionally they were threaded on wool to make bracelets, necklaces and Christmas tree decorations, or stitched to offcuts of material, transforming the fraying remnants into colourful flower pictures which were hung in the kitchen, and brooches, which were fastened with safety pins.

However, the one thing I never did, unless absolutely unavoidable, was to replace buttons which fell off our clothes!

When I started this posting I intended to say ‘what a difference a day makes’, but ended up writing something completely different! Anyway, in just 24 hours most of the snow has gone and the temperature has risen so much I opened all the windows to let some fresh air in.

Perhaps spring is on the way after all.