Blog award from Paula.....

I have received this blog award from my blogging friend Paula. We met via WOYWW so it's very much thanks to the wonderful Julia for starting up the now worldwide group of crafters who link up every Wednesday to show and tell what they are up to each week. So many friendships have started because of her and I know Twiglet and I owe her a lot.
Thanks Paula for thinking that I'm going places....not sure where yet but I promise I will let you know when I find out :-)

What I have to do is say where I will be in 10 years....If I think back to what I was doing 10 years ago it makes me realise I have absolutely no idea what I will doing in 10 years time :-) I guess just to be still alive, happy and still crafting would be quite an achievement :-)

I am now supposed to pass this on to 10 more folk but as most of the bloggers I know have already got it this will be very difficult. Saying that I do know one I would like to pass it on to...

I would like to pass is on to Suz for passing the crocheting bug on to me. It has given me something to do while my eye has been healing. She is a very clever designer with her crochet and is defiantly going places.

Slow but sure....

The swelling is now settling down on my eye and I could actually see through it first thing this morning....it's not so good now cos it has ointment in it :-( The soreness has nearly all gone now thankfully so I guess the antibiotics are doing their job. Doubt I could still see well enough to do my sewing but it's not stopped me crocheting :-) I normally say to Twiglet...."I can shorten trousers with my eyes closed"....well, I actually nearly can :-) :-) The bit I struggled with is the unpicking first so that's why I've needed Twiglet [We make a brilliant team]. Crocheting and Knitting is what I normally do while watching telly so I don't need both eyes for that normally. :-)

Thanks again to all you caring bloggers. I'm certain all your positive vibes has helped the healing process.


I have just found the most gorgeous little bear give away and thought I would share it with you. You will find Sammy at http://www.binglebears.com/2010/05/my-anniversary-giveaway.html

So far so good.....

I'm being a really good girl and am putting my ointment in 4 times a day even though it stings and blurs my vision for about an hour after. I've had my wonderful assistant here this morning helping me to clear the urgent work and now have no plans to sew until after the weekend so that my eye gets a proper rest. 4 days off wahooooooooooo :-)

I would just like to say a really special thank you to my wonderful sister and to all of you thoughtful, caring bloggers for all your kind thoughts and prayers for my speedy recovery.....I'm not sure it's wishful thinking on my behalf but it actually does feel a little less sore this afternoon so your magic is working. Thank you to you all. Big hugs from me.

Back from hospital......

Just back from hospital and I deserve an award for bravery :-)
I have huge scratch on the front of my right eye and had a flap hanging down from it. I had to have anaesthetic drops put in it and have the flap removed plus the nurse also removed a cyst from my lower lid. I'm really not aware of an incident when I have done the damage to my eye but now have to put antibiotic ointment in my eye 4 times a day for a week and then use gel tears for several months to be sure it has healed properly. The anaesthetic is wearing off now so please excuse me if I don't get to do my usual rounds of every one's blogs this week. Hope you all have a really super week and I hope to catch up with you all for the WOYWWAC next week.

Eye update :-(

I have been to see the optician this morning because my eye was so very sore and my vision was really blurred. He has put dye in it and checked it out well with a slit lamp. He says the front of my cornea is scratched and may be ulcerated and he has referred me to the acute referral clinic at the A & E at our local hospital. My eye is light sensitive, really sore and very watery now so I'm feeling really sorry for myself. Please keep everything crossed for me cos I am such a baby when it comes to someone looking at and doing anything with my eyes. My appointment is at 3 o'clock and I really hope they can wave a magic wand because I now can't see to sew :-(

WOYWW....

I'm struggling to see the computer let alone type this morning :-( For those that didn't see my post yesterday then you might be wondering why? I have a sore eye :-( It's a little better this morning but I have just put my ointment in it and it's stinging like hell at the mo.

Fingers crossed it improves very soon cos I need to clear some of my sewing today. As you can see my 'to do' rail is full!

I've finished the wedding dress alterations [for those that left comments on my blog last week....I don't make the dresses I just alter them to make them fit properly]. I'm hoping today is rather quieter than last Wednesday because I had about a dozen customers last Wednesday and one of those was yet another Wedding dress that the Bride couldn't get in. We did a fitting and decided the only way I could alter it was to put a panel in it. When I asked when she needed it for she said Saturday! Yes, I had just 2 days in which to get it done.....Actually this meant I had to get it done for another fitting on Thursday cos if it still needed tweaking I would have to redo it by Friday :-) Needless to say it was all done and fitted to perfection by lunchtime on Thursday :-).....it's what I do.
Waking as I did yesterday morning with an eye that was painful, streaming and only gave me blurred vision I really struggled to do anything. My 'to do' rail was heaving plus I still had a commissioned waistcoat to design and make. Wondering how I would ever get any of it done I was sent an angel to help me :-) Twiglet had come down to have her hair cut at a local hairdressers and she popped in offering help/ Phew what a huge relief. We work so well together.
I was able to instruct her as to the very special requirements the waistcoat needed [some of you may remember I made a very special waistcoat for an elderly gent once before...this one is for the same man but is a very different job to the last one]. We planned, made patterns and then worked together to pin, sew and press. I just have a little more to do this morning and it will be finished :-) [if only my eye will stop stinging!]




I had a bridesmaids dress fitting yesterday morning so thought I'd add a pic of that for you.....

....... and this is the stage my latest picture has got to....I've been too busy with work in the day to do more and in the evenings I've been crocheting my African flower....up to 24 now so about half way to my baby blanket :-)
Hope you all have a great day. Please pop over to Julia's blog and join in the WOYWW fun.

Sore eye anyone?...

My eye felt a little gritty yesterday and by last night it felt like I had a rock in it! I've had this before...my Dr said it was like a stye up under the eye lid and gave me chloramphenicol eye ointment. My darling hubby ran me to the nearest chemist at 10 o'clock to see the pharmacist and to pick up a new tube of ointment. I'm being a good girl and putting the ointment in regularly but this morning my eye looks like this! How am I supposed to do the mountain of sewing when I cant see through the tears? It's a real pain. Please keep everything crossed for me that it improves very soon because I have to sew....full 'to do' rail calling me!!

Prostar footballers?....

My darling hubby and my hunk of a son, for their third time, got together for some male bonding to play football at the Shrewsbury town football Prostar Stadium yesterday. They are season ticket holders so this is a real thrill for them. After the end of the football season they are given the chance to raise money for the club and they pay for the pleasure to play on the hallowed ground! My son organised the team which included dads and sons and the occasional guy who can really play :-)



It all looks very professional doesn't it?

It was a beautiful day but when they started it was 22 degrees and only got hotter. It was a brilliant hour's entertainment of men and boys all encouraging each other and playing to their best abilities. The play was really very even between the two teams but the score said otherwise....our team lost 5 0 :-( :-( Of course there was disappointment but I have a feeling this has only driven them on to play again next year....to win of course! [it's a man thing :-) ].



There is nothing nicer than seeing a football kit hanging on the line in the sun after a fab day,

What a gorgeous day for a garden club sale....

This morning saw us rising early to set up our front garden with tables, chairs and sun parasols. The garage was made ready for the cake stall and coffee making. 4 large trestle tables were set up on the drive for the plant sale and the black board was put up to advertise the event. This is something we have done twice a year since moving into this house in 1989 when my Dad died. He was one of the founder members of the Church garden club and as our house is in the middle of the village and opposite the church gates the twice yearly sales were always held on our drive. When Dad died we bought the family home off Mum and she lived out her remaining 9 years with us so really enjoyed us keeping the tradition going [and of course Dad will still be looking down on us with pride for doing it].

Between 9.00 and 10.00 there was the hustle and bustle from the club members filling the tables with home grown garden plants and cakes and from 10.00 to around midday the front garden was filled with folk all chatting, buying and coffee drinking and what a gorgeous day we had for it.

By about 12.30 all the tables and chairs were cleared away and all was returned to normal. I'm sure a good time was had by all. Twiglet and I decided we had earned a treat so today we were ladies that lunched :-) We nipped up to the Lowfield Arms at a nearby village of Marton and Twiglet treated me to a cold drink and a really scrummy prawn sandwich [on what seemed like half a loaf of granary bread :-) ].


We timed this to tie in with a book launch held at the new Marton Village Hall. Wow what an impressive new hall they have too. The book is called 'Marton... The story of a Shropshire village' and was written by one of our blogging friends Felicity Bevan [Mountainear] and Doreen Bowen and I'm proud to say Twiglet and I now both have signed copies. It includes some really fab photos of local history and I'm sure will make good reading because if you follow Mountainear's blog you will know what a fab blog she writes.

Bun update :-) .....

They now look like this.....

Do help yourselves :-)

It's been another really fab day. Twiglet has been here :-) She weeded some of our shared vegetable plot and then helped me with yet more curtains :-)

Hoping you all have a really fab weekend.

What a week!!....

It has been a manic week for me. Wednesday's plans to spend time blog hopping went out the window for me so please forgive me if I din't manage to get round to your blog. I must have had at least a dozen customers throughout the day. One of them was a bride who called in with her dress. She said she had just tried it on and she couldn't get in it! Oh and the Wedding is THIS SATURDAY!!!! Now this one needed a little thinking time [who am I kidding? my brain went into overload!!!]. She tried it on and her friend and I just about managed to heave ho and get the zip done up. What didn't fit in bulged over the top and breathing was totally out of the question. We released her and I decided that by the side zip was the only place I could add a little more fabric. Luckily I had some fabric that wasn't a million miles from her dress colour so I told her to come back lunch time yesterday and I would work some miracles for her.

Now what you have to bear in mind is if I couldn't have done it by yesterday I wouldn't have time to adjust it if I didn't get it right first time [and no one leaves here unless things are perfect :-) ]. Also while I have customers coming and going I am not sewing. My 'to do' rail was full first thing Wednesday. I emptied it and it refilled to overflowing during the day....my table, ironing board, and every other surface was covered with garments at one time. I had 5 customers at one time...as one left the next arrived! Madness madness madness.

Needless to say I put a panel in the Wedding dress and did a few other little jobs on it that it also needed and it was ready by lunchtime yesterday.....I am also thrilled to say it fitted to perfection and the Bride left here with a huge sigh of relief and a big smile on her face :-)

My 'to do' rail is also now empty and today I am either going to do the other Wedding dress you saw in the bag on Wednesday or make a waistcoat I have now been commissioned to make. I have already baked 2 dozen buns and a chocolate cake ready for the church garden club sale that is to be held on our front drive in the morning.



Never a dull moment here. :-) :-) :-)

WOYWW...

The simple answer would be nothing because yesterday evening I had to put everything away and hoover and tidy through to do a Wedding dress fitting. [Let's face it you wouldn't want to get threads and wool rovings on a dress you've paid hundreds for would you?]

My room is spotless and the dress is under wraps. I'm not sharing that with you...sorry [but if you're really wanting to see I will snap it when its finished and do a show and tell after the special day]. I will say that it is a simple but very elegant dress and the bride [who went to school with my youngest daughter] looks stunning in it. I have to take in the boned bodice, shorten the skirt at the front and sew ribbons in under the skirt at the back to tie the train at up so the bride can dance in the evening. I love working on special dresses.







My 'to do' rail is pretty full too so I will be head down today getting it all done and out of the way today so I can then work miracles on the Wedding dress. I like to have a clear 'to do' rail so I can concentrate on special dresses.







I thought you might also like to see how I'm getting on with my African flower crocheting too. I am totally hooked on making them but as yet haven't worked out what I will do with them all. I just like the different effects you can get from changing the colour combinations.







This is a quick update of how my latest picture is coming along. It needs more leaves and then it will have the beautiful crab apple blossoms dumfed on in those gorgeous pink fabrics. I have also finished my WOYWW challenge for week 52 but thats well hidden.








And of course for you garden lovers this is my latest inspiration for my dumfing creations. We planted two new miniature apple trees last year and they are both out in full bloom. They smell really lovely now and I really hope we are rewarded with some fruit in the autumn.




Now if you have enjoyed reading my show and tell pop over to Julia's blog and join in the fun.

Proud Mummy moments.....

Hi all. I just wanted to share a proud Mummy moment with you all. Our eldest daughter and our son have completed their first sponsored run today. They did the Manchester 10K run and completed it in 1 hour 4 minutes. They have done it to raise money for Cancer Research in memory of their cousin and one of their good friends who both died of cancer in their 20s. It was a very moving day to see so many people running to raise money for such good causes.



This photo was taken as they were getting ready on this very cold windy day........



........ and here they are smiling and showing their medals at the end of the race.....both looking as though they have only been on a Sunday stroll in the park! I'm so proud of their efforts.

If you would like to help raise the funds you can donate via this link....
www.runningsponsorme.org/markpowis

Many thanks to any who are willing to support them in raising money for Cancer research.
Their next run is already booked for September....Lake Vyrnwy half marathon!

Crocheting for a change...

Suz over at http://shropshirescrappersuz.blogspot.com/ has been blogging some African flowers that she is chocheting and, you know me, I love a challenge. They look so pretty on Suz's blog and it fascinated me how using different colours changed the effect you get.



I sat last night with a few balls of left over wool and made my first. I sent a pic of this one to Twiglet to see what she thought of it and her reply came back....Lovely. What are you gonna make with your hex?

Well of course there was only one answer to that.........






Make another one to go with it :-)

The hexagons are about 4" across when made in double knitting wool so would take a lot to make a blanket but Suz is right when she says you become hooked.

I'm really not sure what colours I like best but I'm certainly not short of spare balls of wool here so you may see more popping up in my blogs in the future. Now all I need is ideas as to what to do with them all....answers on a post card please :-)
If you fancy a go then Suz has put a link to where you can find the pattern on her blog so pop over and check out the fab ones she has made.

WOYWW.....

Good morning to one and all. I really hope you are all having a really good week. What's on my work desk today?

Trousers ! Trousers ! Trousers ! Trousers ! I had a new customer ring me yesterday morning asking if she could bring some trousers for me to shorten....what she didn't add was there were 10 pairs of them! So, guess what I'm doing today? To be honest they are already half done.






Yesterday was catch up Tuesday after another really fab fun day Monday. This is my 'finished' rail and you can see....I finished major alterations on a gorgeous turquoise jacket, put a button and buttonhole on the top of a pair of shorts, shortened 2 pair of jeans, took the hood off a hooded jacket and made a little stand up collar for it, shortened the sleeves on a coat, repaired a school jumper.....and half did the 10 pair of trousers! Oh and I stopped work at 3.30 to have my coffee with my friend who always calls on a Tuesday :-) [a girl's just got to have some fun too!]






This is what I would really like to get to play with later today. I have dyed some fabric pale blue to work a picture of crab apple blossom onto. I have 4 little pics of branches off my tree for inspiration and reference and have sorted some gorgeous fabrics in the colours I want to use. You can also see the latest poppy picture and little Candy clown insisted on getting in the picture. [You can see him in detail in the last blog.]





For the garden lovers amongst you this is the crab apple tree in all it's glory that is just outside my kitchen window. Isn't nature wonderful? I am surrounded by inspiration for my pictures.









Thanks for dropping in and leaving all your lovely comments. Please pop over to Julia the queen on snoop's and join in the fun by showing us your work desk.

Candy the clown.....

What a really fab day we had yesterday. Twiglet came down as usual for our fun day Monday. There were no curtains to cut so we could spend our time together having fun and planning new projects.

We finished my poppy picture and have blogged about it with some new feltie characters over in our shop news letter. The weekly news letter is something we thought you would all appreciate to give you updates of new ideas and new items made for the shop so if you would like to become a follower over there you can watch out for the [hopefully] weekly news and keep up to date with developments.

Twiglet spent her afternoon dumfing and snapping pics as she worked through her next project so she can do a show and tell for those interested in how she does her bird pics. I won't give any secrets away but her latest is really gorgeous and her blog is well worth watching closely for the show and tell ....so, as they say, watch this space. :-)

Our good friend T joined us after lunch and she sat making a most gorgeous little dumfed picture. She doesn't [yet] have an embellishing machine at home so works with a hand needle at home and shares our machines when she joins us. We have such fun together.

I spent my afternoon hand dumfing a new little feltie character. I chose some really exciting wool roving and my little charater grew and developed whilst chatting, giggling, drinking coffee and eating the occasional little chocolate bar :-) I know you will all want to see what I made so I would like to introduce you to Candy the clown......




















I love the mixed colours of this wool roving and feel sure it just lent itself beautifully to the character of this little bear. What else could he be but a bright cheerful little clown? I just love the result and will be uploading him in the shop some time soon.

The gorgeous wool rovings were bought at Sara's stand at Woolfest, Builthwells but if you would like some you can buy it at her shop. Do click on the links and go and have a good browse because she has some really exciting coloured wool products for sale.

The baby blanket...

For those of you who dropped in on Wednesday and asked to see updates on the baby blanket I was making here is the latest news.




This is what you saw on Wednesday. Just 7 more squares to knit.










I finished these last 7 and laid them all out on my table to plan the pattern of colours.









Last night, whilst watching the telly, I sat and stitched them all together. First in rows then I stitched all the rows together carefully keeping the pattern correct. [Sorry about the dark photo].






And then I crocheted 3 rows of white around to edge it. Hey presto it's finished. It's for a very special little friend [actually not so little at the mo!] who's baby is due in August so hope she likes it.





p.s. Pop over to Julie's for the chance to win her fab blog candy.

Also do pop over to Helen's blog to check out her Blog Candy, the Opening of her New Shop/Challenge blog/CFS/ME awareness day 12th May here.

A hot, steamy WOYWW...

Bet you're all wondering what you will see today :-)

Well, it's what I call a sauna day for me. I have 2 bridesmaids dresses to steam today. Things get rather hot here on days when I have to steam because it's a fairly small room I work in. I'm hoping it warms up a bit outside so I can open windows and doors to air the dresses afterwards.









Because I know you all like to see the mess we make here this is my sewing room table yesterday while we were having fun yesterday. We fill the table and floor with gorgeousness and sit each side of the table with our embellishing machines and dumf to our heart's content. We are so lucky.







For those wondering what the desk looks like this morning this is what I've been doing so far. I sit knitting while watching the telly in an evening and I've been doing a count up to see how many more squares I have to knit to make my baby blanket. Wahoo........ only 7 more to go then it's sewing up time and just the border to crochet then.






This picture is for all you garden lovers out there. This is the crab apple that I look out onto from my kitchen window. I can see a new dumfed picture in these colours can't you?






Thanks for dropping in on my blog and for all your lovely comments. If you would like to join in the WOYWW fun then please drop over to Julia the Queen of snoop's blog and show and tell all you've been up to lately. The group grows every week and getting round to you all takes me a couple of days now but I will do my best to drop in to you all to see what you're up to this week. Hope it's a good one for you all.

Poppy update and a busy weekend...

I was asked to show and tell my latest poppy picture as it progressed so here are some of the stages my pictures go through.


This is what you saw on Wednesday. At this stage I had just coloured the background fabric with Crayola dye crayons.








This is the next stage when I have dumfed the background with wool rovings.









I have now dumfed yummy threads and yarns on for the stems and greenery and gorgeous silks and fabrics in red for the poppy flowers. I will sew black beads in the centres to make the flowers come alive.






I have finished and mounted this poppy pic on a flat artist's board and it is lay on a piece of black fabric that I am considering covering a backing board to frame the picture with. I like the black border....what do you think?






Oh and just in case you think I have had a restful weekend here is the job I did yesterday. This settee was orange up til yesterday morning[and I mean ORANGE!]. It was one my son had been given and surprisingly enough the colour didn't go with the room he is wanting to put it in [let's face it orange probably wouldn't go with most colour schemes.] He and his girlfriend have gone for neutral shades and aubergine so I spent yesterday covering this to match his room and they were really thrilled with the result. [Yes, it is aubergine but colour looks more purple in the photo.]

So, that was my weekend. Hope you had a good one too. Do let me know what you got up to.