Furtling November 2022

 Oh my goodness November has been a busy busy month! Where to start? OK this is my progress on the solstice sampler from Alderwood studio. Some deceptively simple looking blocks have bee quite challenging but I'm loving it. Using up quite a lot of meter age of tilda for the background.

Omg!!!! This got done 😊😊 this was on a fettle list a sticky prod along list so *phew* for this finish 😆😆 it's my temperature embroideries from 2021, mixes up with mandalas from the series Carina ran that year plus some other embroideries I made that year including some sashiko panels. I used the booklet pouch pattern from Aneela Hoey as a base for the book, also used up some left over indigo fabric I had. To say I love this is an understatement.

Oh this happened, I wrote more.about this but it was such a special day. Got to meet my old boss and get his book signed. 

I  am back on the dear Jane wagon! I found a new sewing group which meets throughout the week. I decided blossom Jane would be the project I take there. So steady progress from now on.

We miss our dear chum Jo who moved back to England last year but she is only a car drive away so we go visit!

Her modern quilt guild meet in an art gallery!

I started and finished the.mini series! Loved making these all in Lucy engels fabric.  Going to make them into a tub I think.

Another of the solstice sampler blocks.

Oooohhhh now then, this is my fabric pull for this years sewcialities sew along. I vividly remember last year looking at it and wishing I could take part but was too caught up in work. This year I can do it so let's get a wiggle on!

Close up of a solstice block.

The last two dear Jane blocks I made!

I.made a Xmas wreath! I also now have a new Xmas tradition 😊 wreath making with lovely Kim! It was a fab class must write it up. Love it !

Oh now I am so hopeful that this is a finish in the final further of the year!!! My celtic wheel of the year sampler by Carina craft blog. I have adored making this one. It has seen me.through some troubling times this past year and kept on giving me hope.

And thats it for November I think its safe to say I am really settling into retirement now 😊

Mini series SAL 2022

Ah well I was going to come back here when I had actually made something with these! but i just dont know what to do with them and I do want to publish this post! I hate having loads of draft posts, och I know I am a leetle bit OCD !!! I signed up for this Sew Along at the start of retirement When I was working I used to look wistfully  at all the sewlongs happening and dream of the day i could join in, well now I can! I used up Lucy Engles scrap bags which had been laying around, I love the look they gave. I just dont know what to do with them, they are 4.5 inches, bit too small for a quilt, I could make a linus one but this is not very linusy? I could make Emmaline bags but i have loads of those. I am really not into table runners so I think these will just mature until I know what they should become!

 

Popping to the shops, and farewell liberty docs

 

Awww farewell my lovely liberty Docs 😢 You were brilliant and I loved you so much but now you have done your service and are hurting my feet 😄 Hey ho! one of the (many many) downsides to shielding was not being able to visit shops in person, I had to rely on buying trainers etc online always a bit hit or miss. But a recent visit to podiatrist confirmed that i need new shoes and need to get them properly fitted. I got new (absolutely fabulous) Hoka trainers a few weeks back, now needed to get more formal shoes. So I "popped to the shops" there were a good few years  when I didnt know if that would be possible again but now it is.

A very patient lady helped me pick these, flat of course, I havent been able to do heels for years but I love them and they are comfy

As I was in Edinburgh (memo to self, never drive in again it is hideous!) I went down to Portobello beach for a mini adventure, it was lovely. I had scampi and chips and went for a walk along the prom. To me this is what retirement is for, mini and big adventures 😊

Temperature embroideries 2021

 2021 was a mighty strange year all round but there were high points in it and things which kept me going! One of them was marking the days by recording the temperature. I used the free pattern from Carina which used spiders web embroideries. I made a square for each month, I used her temperature chart and had a separate wee box with all the necessary DMC threads in them. The box is special to me, it was a christmas present from a very dear chum. 

Seeing this box every day reminded me of her and the fun time we had together in December 2020, we managed to get one meal together the 3 of us before the next lockdown started. Strange times.

So I decided I wanted to DO something with them and thought why dont i put them all in a book! There is only so much wall space and framing is costly. So I adapted the Aneela Hoey booklet pouch pattern. 

On the front is a sampler I think i did it this year but hey no one is going to check! 

on the inside leaves I put in some embroideries I have had for decades! I had no where to put them but now i do! 

I added a mandala for each month, again these were from a series Carina did in 2021, they did a lot for my mental health that year.

On the back are some sashiko samples I did at an online class with Yi crafts the indigo fabric was a left over chunk i had and I am so pleased it was just enough to make this!

Old friends

Old friends! When I moved to Edinburgh in 2000 I worked at the National Museum for a year as a cataloguer, I did really enjoy it but I knew I wanted to get back to working with the public again. A job came up in Edinburgh University Special Collections as the User Services Librarian. A few chums pointed it out to me but i thought I would have no chance, I had no background whatsoever in Special Collections or rare books.

Well blow me if I didnt go for the interview and get the job! The Librarian in charge at the time was Richard Ovenden. 

This week Richard came back to Edinburgh (he is now Head of Bodelian Libraries) to give a talk on his book - Burning the books, a history of knowledge under attack. I was so excited to go and he remembered me! its been 16 years since we worked together but he came up at the start to say hello. I was so pleased, he was such a lovely manager and person, his book is so pertinent today. He had to dash off but i still managed to get my book signed 😊What was even nicer was that this was a reminder that i have had a career which is more than the last 3 years, that was nice.

No, Thank you Richard for a lovely day.

 

Car park picnics

 During the really dark times of lockdown it was so hard to meet up with chums, one way round that was to have car park picnics! Well necessity is the mother of invention!

It was so good to meet up with my car park chums (we did meet in other places too!) and see lovely Jos new house and just see her again! Spending time with chums is very very necessary

We went to Hadrians wall!

And the Angel of the North, its big!

We got to visit with the North East Modern Quilt guild! they were so lovely and welcoming, they sew in an Art Gallery! how fab is that!

Jo got to show her pineapple quilt, I love this quilt so much not just because it is beautiful but there are so many happy memories in the making of it.