It Must Have Been A Dallas Moment!!!!!!

I don’t know what happened. One minute it was 2008 and the next --- I don’t know its one year on. So just like Bobby Ewing all those years ago, it seems I got in the shower and when I got out ----- well need I say more!!!!!

So I could start to go on with all my excuses and reasons for not blogging but I will not bore you and I’m sure I’ll moan about some reasons over time.

Here is a brief run down of the last years happenings

September ‘08
Started secretary for E.G. and first group meetings for Banner.
Holiday cottages full.
October
Start stitching on banner and its living with me.
November
2 weeks in Madeira - Bliss.
December
More banner, Xmas and sheep start lambing
January ‘09
Banner, lambs, banner, lambs – get the picture
February
Banner, lambs, ****!!!!**** Banner finished mid Feb.
Start of Bridal alterations
March
March 1st St. David’s Day March you can see photos etc of the process here
Recovering from all the pressure and too sensitive to enjoy the glory.
April
Cottages fully booked.
Easter School at Missenden with Sue Rangely.
Alterations.
May, June, July, August
A combination of cleaning cottages(grrrr!), bridal alterations(ggrrrrr!!), EG sorting out (you will hear about that in later blogs), my Dad's 80th Birthday party in June, running around keeping every one/thing happy ---- while juggling balls in the air.
Need I say more, you know what it's like.

September
A year ago I promised to tell you what I had done on a day out. Well I did it again this year and it was a trip to an orchid show .........

Here at the National Botanical Gardens of Wales.

I only went to look - not buy and for a pleasant day out. For a change it did not rain although it was a bit breezy, nothing unusual there then. So after having a very tasty lunch in the restaurant we went to view the orchids, so here are a few for you to see.

I just love them. Look at this...

And look at this one...

I would love to have bought this one but it did not have a price on it, the one next to it was £150.00 pounds so I did not dare to ask the price.

I could not buy this as it was only on show. My Dad was with us but could not get his head around it at all but I loved it.

And this is the one I bought --- I just couldn't leave empty handed.

Don't mention embroidery, I have not managed to do much and hardly finished anything just a piece of canvas work. I'll try a take a photo of it but it's on black canvas and I made the mistake of framing with glass. One workshop we had was Ray Slater with her cloth dolls, it was fantastic so I will tell you about it in the next blog and introduce you to mine, which needless to say is not finished yet.

I am going to sign off now as I think I have been trying to write this blog for about 3 hrs and it is still as confusing as before, but I am going to try and persevere this time. What this will look like when I press the publish button I don't know - but here goes.

Oh! and just to prove I have gone completely mad I have signed on at Missenden Abbey to do C&G Machine Embroidery with Pam Watts. It starts in October and I am really looking forward to it and just hope I will manage to set aside time to work at home.

Thanks, Samples and AGM.

Well finally I am sitting down to blog and before I begin I have got to say a big thank-you to Margaret from Maggik Moments. She has awarded me my first award, which is so kind of her as I have not exactly kept the side up, I actually should be given a kick up the **!!@/!**. So Thanks once again Margaret I really appreciate it, I know I should do something with it which I will in the next few days.


Now back to what I promised to report on 3 weeks ago – it’s amazing that you can go away for a week and it is like you have been away for a month when you get home. Well my trip to Missenden Abbey was great and I thoroughly enjoyed the course. It was Level 1 C&G Machine Embroidery and although I have done some machine embroidery it is usually straight stitch, also I have always meant to sit down and do samples and put them mounted together, so this was a chance to start.

So this is The Abbey a lovely building and grounds

with the residential block and workshops/studios just across the drive.

Pam Watts is a fantastic tutor and such fun, which made the week even better. I am hooked and had already booked on an Easter School for ’09 but I have put my name down as interested in doing Level 3 starting Autumn 2009, as Pam is so encouraging, so hopefully life won’t get in the way and I will have time to save up. We were 14 in the group and we all got on well together and did a lot of laughing, I am so glad I went and another thing that was great – no cooking, washing up, I didn’t even have to make my bed -- Magic.

So here are a few pictures of my samples.

Hard edge applique with massed stitching.

and another sample mounted on linen.

Soft edge applique.

Drawn thread work.

Pulled thread work.

Machine embroidered lace.

Couched threads.

I now realise I have to take a bit more care taking photos. I still have a couple left but I need to take new shots but the batteries are re-charging, so I'll show them again.

We had to work at quite a steady rate to get everything ready to be assessed on the Friday, so no time for messing about or re-doing. It was all worthwhile as we all achieved our goal.

Now, I had made some dresses and earned a few pennies so rather that waste my money this is how I paid for the course. It being a residential course I thought at least I won’t spend any more money --- WRONG!!! Everyday there was someone with tables full of goodies to tempt us and you guessed it, I was tempted --- I am so weak. Books, handmade paper, machine and embroidery threads with people like Winifred Cottage, Gill Sew, Art van Go and on top of that Rainbow Silks a 5min. walk down the road --- a girl can only resist so much. Needless to say I have a lot of saving to do.

The time has flown by and I seem to have been running around in ever decreasing circles and I have not done any machine embroidery since I came back. I shall not bore you with cottages, alterations, sheep etc. But I will jump to last Saturday and Pembrokeshire Emb. Guild AGM. We had a really interesting talk by Riitta Sinkkonen Davies who weaves wonderful linen pieces with a slide show and a demonstration of turning flax into fibre ready to spin. The only down side was that we were only 10 people for the talk and by the time of the AGM we were only 6. We have been very concerned if our Guild will survive and this will certainly be the make or break year. There was no nominating and seconding for offices only volunteering, so I am now secretary and we have an uphill struggle to try to recruit new members. We only had 22 members last year and 6 of those live away; a couple have said they will not be joining this year and a few have family illnesses to cope with, so keep your fingers crossed for us.

After feeling depressed on Saturday I had a lovely day out yesterday, which is why this blog did not get posted until today but I will tell you about that tomorrow as I have more pictures. Thanks for bearing with me today.

All Packed --- Well Almost

So here we are - I'm off to Missenden Abbey tomorrow morning for a week. I am having a week doing machine embroidery with Pam Watts and I'm really looking forward to not being distracted and not thinking about meals etc.

Now have I got too much? --- Yes!
Have I forgotten what I need? --- Probably!!!


So please excuse yet another short blog but I have not packed my clothes yet -- I just don't know what to put in with this weather, one thing for certain Factor 30 won't be called for. At least I will have photos for next blog.