Here I am again!

Well it's been quite a time since I last posted, so what have I been up to?  Not much sewing that's for sure!  I suppose I'm having a bit of a creative block?  It's never happened to me before and I am quite worried about it.  Being creative in one way or another has been a great comfort over the years and has sustained me through difficult times.  I have had short periods, usually after a bereavement, when my creative juices have been absent but they always come back, however, at the moment they are eluding me.

I am on Facebook regularly, but so many of you say that you don't do Facebook, that I switched my page from public to just for friends.  I have also just joined Instagram and find that good fun too and am enjoying taking pictures with my iPhone and posting them!  So I suppose I'm being a creative albeit in a different way?

Slowly, very slowly, I have been working on this little quilt which is using many of the patterns I drafted for my Cottage Orne quilt, which I am also struggling to quilt - it's not going well at all and I will post some pictures on its own blog as soon as I can.

I attached a much larger border because I couldn't make up my mind how wide it should be - it will be considerably narrower when finished.

 

If you follow my Cottage Orne Blog you will see that I have changed the centre of the design.  The house and border I made originally, just didn't look right, so I used this broderie perse panel instead.  Sometimes even the best laid plans simply don't work out and it was fortunate that I had this unfinished piece looking for a border?

I've named the quilt "Miss Austen's House",  as in my imagination it is just the sort of place in which Jane would have lived had she not died comparatively young?  For after the great success of her novels,  she would surely have had enough money to leave Chawton Cottage and build a house of her own surrounded by a lovely garden and of course she would have had cats?

St David's Day Greetings

St. David's Day!

It is a beautiful day here in Wales, sunny but with rather a cool breeze.  The earth is responding and I have snowdrops, crocus and the tiny Tête-á-Tête daffodils blooming in my garden and my Purple Prunus tree is in bud and read to pop!  It's a little bit late this year but when it does come it delights not only me but my neighbours too!  As it is in front of my bedroom window, for a couple of weeks I can lie in bed and look out into a mass of pale pink blossom!

I have just nipped outside to take this picture but didn't stay long as it hasn't warmed up yet!

Some of you have noticed that I having been posting for a while, all I can say is that I have just not been in the mood!  Also I was beginning to get dispirited by the lack of response! I know by my stats that lots read this blog, but so very few people leave comments, so I decided to do more on my Facebook page.  I will continue to write here and on my other blogs from time to time, but if you want to keep up with me I am on Facebook.  Do come over and take a look!

I am working on a link to my page but not having much luck so far but will keep trying!

Christmas Greetings

I have been a very dilatory blogger this past year so one of my resolutions will be to do better in the coming year!  However, you can only write when the spirit moves and I'm afraid that it hasn't lately!

I have just taken this  shot of my mantel.  It's of my Christmas Toby jug filled with rather dried out berries from the garden, but I am hanging on to them because I love the colour!  The robins I bought on Etsy and they are gorgeous.  Definite heirlooms and will come out every Christmas.

May all your Christmases be merry and bright but forget the white stuff! 

From a delightfully sunny Wales

Merry Christmas to you All

Thanksgiving Greetings

I usually try and find a beautiful American quilt to greet you on this day!  However, because I'm under the influence of my visit to Stoke on Trent, which I have yet to tell you about, I am sending you instead, a Turkey platter made in that city!

This beauty was made by Spode who manufactured in it's vast factory in Stoke from 1774 to 2008, when it finally closed.  The brand was subsequently purchased by Portmeirion, who continue to make Spode branded wares at their own factory in Stoke.

A sad and familiar tale, but at least the name continues albeit in a somewhat diminished form!

 

Greetings from Wales to all 

Across the Pond on this 

Thanksgiving Day!

Big Day for EB!

I am still preparing the next Stoke on Trent post, but in the meantime I have to share with you these pictures of Emma with the Duchess!  Better publicity you could not buy?

No prizes for guessing what the Duchess is asking in the last picture?

It's all in aid of charity of course!  Here is the link to the story if you would like to follow it?

Of course the EB potty people are very eager to get their hands on some of these, but they won't be out until next March. With Christmas coming, followed by the special sale runs, the factory will be working at full capacity now.  So everyone will have to be patient, but it really is the thrill of the chase.  Once they have them it won't be long before they will be selling them on eBay - I have seen it all before.

I love this pattern -

I would choose a six pint jug!  However, I am pretty sure that this won't be going into general production - the big teapots are probably either gifts or raffle prizes?  Indeed, the Duchess might be taking one home with her?

A little break!

I have been doing a bit of gadding about!  Sharon and I have been staying in a Facebook friend's little house in Derbyshire for a few days!

It was quite delightful and a lovely base for visiting some favourite places.

On the way we visited the Bicester shopping outlet and did some Christmas shopping and this was the hall on our arrival!

It got much fuller than this -  this was the rear view of the cab on the way home!

Well where to start?  We packed so much into those few days!  Of course as both of us are potaholics we made two visits to Stoke on Trent, but on the middle day we visited Chatsworth to take in a bit of culture!

This is the view of the Painted Hall where the staff were beginning to put up the Christmas decorations!  They were full of apologies for the disruption but it was interesting to see the process in a stately home.  We weren't that impressed with the decorations which we thought were more suitable for a department store and didn't think that they did justice to their sumptuous surroundings!

Chatsworth is a stunning house and we had a beautiful day to see it all -

The above picture is a view of the golden windows, not yellow paint but real gold leaf!  When I visited a few years ago the whole house was shrouded in plastic as it was being renewed.

Next time I will tell you all about our visit to Stoke on Trent and the pots we bought and saw!

Till then, here is a taster -

Thank you Sharon for taking the pictures!

Lucious stitching!

Sometimes you see something that is so wonderful that you simply have to share!

This is a detail of a portrait of Catherine Carey, Countess of Nottingham, who was a very close friend and confidant of Elizabeth I.

 

The detail in this portrait by Robert Peake is wonderful and you can click this link and zoom in to examine it more thoroughly.

Because the dress was so spectacular, it was thought for a while, that it was a portrait of Elizabeth herself, but apparently it isn't!  They were such good friends that Elizabeth lent her the dress for the portrait!  However, there is some doubt about Catherine's parentage.  Here is what Wikipedia says -

Catherine Carey was born in about 1524, the daughter of Sir William Carey of Aldenham in Hertfordshire, Gentleman of the Privy Chamber and Esquire of the Body to Henry VIII, and his wife Mary Boleyn, who had once been a mistress of the king. Catherine was Elizabeth I's first cousin. Some contemporaries also asserted that Catherine was an illegitimate child of Henry VIII which would make her Elizabeth's half sister. Although this was never acknowledged by the King, Catherine was given deference by the Court as she aged and came to resemble Henry.

No wonder Elizabeth lent her dresses?