Bloggers Block Broken

I seem to have had a bit of a writer's block recently so this blog has been sadly neglected.  However, I've managed to get a few things finished and so the pressure is off for a little while.  It's so lovely to have a bit of sunshine isn't it? I'm optimistic that Spring is here at last, although we could still have a cold snap.  The fields in Mid-Wales are full of the most gorgeous lambs and I love to watch them playing together in little gangs of woolly gorgeousness.

I've finished a couple of wall hangings recently which will hopefully go into the Quilt and Stitch exhibition at The Minerva Centre in Llanidloes.  I'm just a novice - some of the work is totally stunning!! 

Some of us at Welsh Heritage Quilters have been making small quilts to go in shop windows in the town to advertise the exhibition and I have done one for a wonderful shop called Ooh La La which sells all sorts of goodies.

Funky Felters have been busy too, making items for Wonderwool Wales 2014.  Our theme this year is clothing and accessories.  Some of my fellow felters have made coats, hats and all sorts of wonderful things, but my true love is nuno felting so I have made a couple of scarves which I hope will pass muster.

 This one was a really old chiffon scarf that I must have had for twenty years, but now it's had a new lease of life!

This one I made from muslin and a mixture of merino wool fibres and mulberry silk.  It's so light, soft and warm.  Of course, I couldn't resist a bit of stitchery and I have used up some old pearl beads to prettify it.

On the reading front, I've been absorbed in a couple of Joanne Harris books.  I so enjoyed Chocolat that I also read a sequel, Peaches For M. Le Cure and another novel set in Lansquenet called Blackberry Wine.  Lovely gentle reads.  I've also enjoyed a Bernard Cornwell called Gallows Thief which is pretty old and a great read.  It was sort of a cross between his Sharpe novels and a Georgette Heyer which sounds weird but the time setting is similar and so is the 'flash' language they use.

I'm beginning to think that my days are so filled with sewing and suchlike that I don't really have time to attempt to instil the basics of the English language into teenagers' brains, but the teaching pays the bills and I have lesson planning to do.

Thanks for reading this blog post.  I'll write again once the urge is upon me!

A whole week of felting fun....

It seems like such a lot has happened since I last posted here.  Last weekend was this year's Wonderwool Wales, held at the Royal Welsh showground near Builth Wells - about 35 miles from where I live in Powys.  The felting group I belong too, Funky Felters, had an exhibition of our work there over the weekend so I was there for two days. On the Friday we set out our work which took a very tiring four and a half hours, but it was well worth the effort!

The following day I was back again (on very sore feet) to view everyone else's work and all the amazing trade stands.  Too much to see, so little time to see it - which was fortunate as I still managed to spend far too much money on gorgeous items like merino wool and mulberry silk from Adelaide Walker, beautiful buttons from The Textile Garden and all sorts of lovely stash from Oliver Twists. 

This weekend, as it was a bank holiday, we took our touring caravan further north in Wales to Dolgellau. It was only a short trip to see how our 10 month-old Border Collie, Gwennie, got on as a caravanning dog.  She was absolutely brilliant so no doubt we'll be off again on another trip soon.  We went to Dolgellau so that I could go to the Fubky Felters' monthly meeting.  I managed to make a small clutch bag (not quite finished yet) and nuno felted some lovely red organza with black merino wool to make a triangular scarf, which I am quite pleased with. 

The scarf has really got me thinking about other things I can make and I can't wait, now, for some more felting time.

Thanks for reading.  All comments really appreciated!!

Where did the Easter holidays go?

Goodness knows where the holidays went!  They disappeared in a flash.  The house in Staffordshire sold and we finally moved all the rest of our furniture to Wales on a very snowy day.  The words 'quart'and 'pint pot' spring to mind here but it is all squashed in to be sorted out at leisure.  The children, who both moved out ages ago, came and had a massive sort out of all the stuff they had never taken with them.  So now the garage is full of stuff to go to the tip.
It's been quiet on the sewing front since I last posted, but I did have a day with the Funky Felters and finally got to do some nuno felting.  I used an old, black synthetic chiffon scarf and some pink merino wool tops, along with the remains of a skein of Colinette Point5 wool.  The result is a beautifully soft, warm and lightweight stole which is pictured below and I'm very happy with it,  It was a NIGHTMARE to felt and took ages.  I felt like I'd gone several rounds with Mike Tyson to produce it, but it was worth the effort!!

I ended up taking the stole home to complete the felting process, during which I was ably assisted by our beautiful Border Collie, Gwennie!

Our daughter is getting married in October so there are only six months to the big day!! It's very exciting and  I can't avoid the diet for much longer :-(   I seen to have a lot to do over the coming months.  No details as it's Top Secret, but suffice to say I have enough sewing and decoupage to keep me occupied until the big day, added to which is the temptation to make my own Mother-of the-Bride outfit.  The ones I've looked at/tried on so far seem to be horrifically overpriced which really grieves me when I know how much the mark up is on these garments.  Just the very mention of the word Wedding seems to say to retailers "Treble the price - these idiots will pay anything!".  Well not this idiot, except as a very last resort.

Spring appears to have sprung at last.  In fact, I have to admit that today was the first day since the end of October that I wore a pair of shoes to work as opposed to boots.  Don't get overexcited though - I still had woolly tights on!  Let's hope the warmer weather continues - it was almost tropical today as we reached the dizzy heights of 14 degrees C.

Thanks for reading my ramblings!