Thursday 27 February 2014

Scavenger Hunt February

It's time for this months scavenger Hunt run
by Green Thumb at Made with Love

We start with
3PM

This is part of my garden taken at 3pm .


CLOUDS
I have taken 2 for this one
the first with blue sky



and then more rain on the way.


F is for….
Fallen .
 This tree had to be negotiated on my long walk last week.



Grain
 I had a few ideas for this  then I saw this
sawn log in the woods and decided to go for Wood grain.



CLOCK
This one is on a church in Great Yarmouth and
yes it was taken during the last month
although that lovely blue sky didn't last long.


REPURPOSE
These curing works have been turned into
a town museum and cafe.


HONEY
I saw this lovely honeypot in a local antiques market
although I don't think it is that old.


FOUNTAIN
I had to go into my archives for this one as
Norfolk doesn't seem to have any fountains about,
none that I could find anyway.
This one is in Brunei.



LAMP
On the old railway station at Weybourne.



ROUND
This is one of the things I inherited from my Grandmother.
The flowers are embroidered over the painting 
and is one of my most treasured possessions.


SHADOW
Another one taken in my garden.



and lastly
GROUP
This is my walking group on our walk last week.


So that's my contribution for this month,
time to go and find out next months list.

Hope you enjoyed them and I'll speak again soon.

Gillx

Thursday 20 February 2014

Kelling Heath Wander

I went for a long walk with the W.I. 
walking group this week.
We started at Sheringham Park, which is a National Trust
Property, doing a loop through Kelling Heath and back
to where we started. It worked out to just under 10 miles.




The North Norfolk steam railways runs through the middle of the heath
but we missed the train by a couple of minutes.



 It is  a lovely area but unfortunately the weather was 
very grey with the inevitable rain at times so some of my
photos were too grey and dark to use. 

The old reading rooms at Kelling is a  great place to dry out a bit
and of course it would be rude not to have some  
coffee and cake while we were we there.


Then it was down to the coastal path 
past some temporary lakes.


The footpath then starts to go uphill
 through one of the stations
on the old railway


which is full of vintage cases and trunks all
looking as though they are
ready for the train.


They also do the restoration of the old trains here.





Then it's up the hill with the wonderful view across
to the coast


past the old Manor house, which isn't National Trust



 and through the park where we saw
 this fabulous hollow Oak which looks 
as though it is 
 actually still alive much to our amazement.


Sheringham Park is full of Rhododendrons 
which are stunning when they are all in flower but theoretically
we are too early for Rhoddies.


Doesn't appear as though anyone told the plants that
as there were a few of them in full flower already,
and very pretty they looked as well



Then, of course, as Sod's law states,
the sun came out just as we were finishing.
Made the view from this lookout point well worth
a stop for a couple of minutes though.



Gillx

Saturday 15 February 2014

Swaps and Giveaways


I have taken part in the Swap run by 
for Valentines day and for the first time
I decided to say I would post abroad.


So a couple of days ago this parcel covered in stamps
arrived from Lee-ann in South Africa.


Inside I found this lovely heart shaped tin


Full of heart shaped goodies


and a fabulous card.


I love this origami heart garland which now hangs in my workroom.


As for this lolly( which is no longer with us I'm afraid)
to see the name Woolworths on something again
was very nostalgic.


 Thank you Lee-anne.

I ,as usual, forgot to take photos of what I sent her but
I tried to make sure it was all british bits and pieces.



Now it's time for the WINNER of my little giveaway
for Grow your own Blog.

I got my wonderful Husband to draw the name last night
but the photos I took were awfully dark 
so your just going to have to take my word for it I'm afraid.

Anyway the name he picked out is 

SARAH AND DAN


Congratulations and I will get that in the post ASAP.

Hope you all have a great weekend and keep safe in this
horrible weather.

Gillx

Sunday 9 February 2014

A UFO No Longer


I stitched this lovely whimsical girl a few months ago.
It was to be used as part of a folder
cover to commemorate the naming ceremony for my Great Niece.
It was done onto a vintage linen napkin with her name 
at the side.  The Pattern is one by Lilipopo
who does some really pretty bits.
  When it came to actually
making the cover I decided that it didn't really suit
so made it with just her name cross-stitched on the front.



That of course meant I had this just hanging around 
waiting for me to make something out of it,
 as, lets face it,  it was a waste not to use it.


So finally this week I have made it into a cushion
to take down with me next time I go West.







I have to say I'm really pleased with it,
 I hope her Mum and Dad feel the same.

Have a good day.

Gillxx

Wednesday 5 February 2014

Frayed

There is so much I want to talk to you about at the moment
but I decided that this had to go to the top of the list.

The wonderful Mr T (my other half) and I went along the coast
 to Great Yarmouth
yesterday to the Time and Tide museum where there is an
exhibition being put on by the Norfolk Museum service. 
It's called Frayed and looks at work done by people who
have used Textiles as a form of  Occupational Therapy.

As this is something I have done I was really interested.



As you arrive the first thing you see is this four poster bed
completely covered in patchwork, not only the counterpane 
but the hangings as well are all hand stitched.


They were made by a lady called Anna Margaretta Brereton between 1801-1805.
This lady had 10 children, 4 of which died as infants but it was when 
her eldest son died suddenly, aged 14, that she immersed herself in her
stitching and created this beautiful work which survives to this day.



Next to it is a collection of samplers sewn by quite young girls.
They have the tiniest stitches I have ever seen. 


This looks like me in the mornings.


They also had a couple of pieces from the Fine Cell Works group.
These are men who have been taught to sew in prison
and then make pieces like the one below which 
are sold to the public so they can make more. 


There were a lot of other pieces there, even one by Tracey Emin
but the highlight of the exhibition for me was the
"letters" by Lorina Bulwer.


Watchers of the Antiques Roadshow would have seen one 
of these on there last year but this is the first time
both letters have been exhibited together.


They are about 3 metres long and I personally would call them journals
as they are the ramblings of a lady who was in a lunatic asylum
and stitched everything that went on around her and the names of everyone 
involved. Very little of it makes much sense but the care she has taken is incredible.
The colour of the thread changes so that it shows up on the different fabrics all of which
are the same width and bound down the sides.
They have been able to trace some of the named people 
through historical documents as well which I think is wonderful.


She even made pot holders and other items with
wonderful figures appliqued on them.
She was in the asylum for a number of years so 
there is quite possibly more of her work out there somewhere.
If you live within travelling distance then I throughly recommend it.


If you want to find out more then here is the link to the blog.


The rest of the museum is also really worth a visit as it 
one of the most child friendly museums I have ever been to.





with a mock up of an old street where you can go into each shop or house
to see what it was really like.


I love these wonderful stencils for the boxes.


The history of the fishing industry in the area
and how they smoked all the herring that was caught.
 The whole museum is
set up in an old smoke house


The women used to put about 8,000 fish a day
onto wooden sticks ready to be hung like this 
in the smoke rooms.


They even have a film of a fishing boat on a stormy sea
with a commentary of the captain in the headphones.
This was Mr T favourite part.




There is a lot more to see and it took us 2/3 hours to wander around
before having a very nice lunch in the cafe which
strangely enough was full of women talking about quilting.

Gillxx