tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52063482012-02-16T20:05:09.076ZNewly resurrected as a place to record my tentative beginner's steps in needlepoint...Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.comBlogger641100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-21941871969602513572011-11-22T14:39:00.012Z2011-11-23T12:44:24.295Z

I'm thrilled with our two new sets of storage drawers, which were bought with some money kindly given to me for my birthday.Not only are they wonderfully cheerful, but they are also extremely practical and useful.They are made by Really Useful Company, who also make the well-named Really Useful Boxes. They are from Hobbycraft and, with discount vouchers, ended up costing about £33 and £20. I

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-22496982301931789292011-09-23T11:36:00.004Z2011-09-25T18:13:29.567Z

Good news from the PACT animal sanctuary - they've told us that all is OK so far with the hedgehoglet we rescued on Monday. He's eating OK and is comfortable, which we were delighted to hear. We'll keep putting plenty of cat food out for his mother and hope that she decides to hibernate in our garden in the so-far-unused lovely wooden hedgehog house that the Technomage built last year.

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-82773223534997494112011-09-23T10:27:00.019Z2011-09-23T11:15:13.958Z

We’d had a very successful and busy day in London to celebrate the Technomage’s 50th in July so decided to do the same-but-different for mine on Tuesday. We’ve been in London off and on for more than 25 years but there are still countless interesting places we’ve never been to and things we’ve never done, so these two days have been a good opportunity to tick a few off the list.After

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-91532979989475799222011-09-19T15:09:00.010Z2011-09-23T09:38:00.916Z

Today hasn't quite panned out as expected, as we ended up making a 50 mile round trip to take an ailing baby hedgehog to the excellent PACT Animal Sanctuary in Norfolk.We'd seen a hedgehog wandering round the garden yesterday, but then later found various bits of hedgehog, clearly savaged by something. Perhaps a bird of prey? By this morning, we hadn't quite screwed up the courage to clear them

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-16435689530555981052011-09-04T17:06:00.010Z2011-09-04T18:07:36.960Z

Saturday evening was spent at Catton Hall's wonderful Festival of Fireworks - it's now going to be a regular fixture in our diaries. There were four breathtaking displays - each lasting about 10 minutes - by top-class businesses of the kind that win international competitions. Sometimes the whole sky was filled with fireworks and I can't begin to imagine how they created some of the patterns.

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-13049494058523783042011-08-22T11:00:00.008Z2011-08-26T22:28:06.087Z

Aldi is out of my good books at present thanks to its new parking policy at my local branch. You are now only allowed to park there for 1.5 hours and 'only whilst shopping in store'. Taken literally, it seems you can't even park there while using the bottle bank, let alone popping up the high street to the post office, charity shops, bank, excellent Portuguese deli etc. The Technomage has written

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-40717514554309310562011-08-16T19:06:00.009Z2011-08-16T19:28:02.554Z

I sowed dozens of sunflower seeds this year and not a single one came up. Granted, I didn't really expect great success as: a) our soil is pure sand; b) muntjac deer find sunflower leaves really juicy and tasty; c) the seeds were mostly from ancient half-used packets (I have a vast stash of all kinds of old seeds and keep intending to strew them randomly round the garden to see what happens).

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-47862043716800679762011-08-01T13:55:00.007Z2011-08-01T14:50:10.800Z

I've used a mid-year diary for my journal since 1973, when my cousins started sending me a school year diary that they published. Theirs is no longer available, but I've kept up the mid-year tradition, even in years when I use a Paperchase notebook that somehow always lasts me exactly a year too. My current preferred books are both A5 page-a-day diaries - a WH Smith one in silver for my journal

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-11304723838295361842011-05-22T13:03:00.018Z2011-05-22T15:41:20.042Z

My absolute favourite shrub is Californian Lilac, with its mass of beautiful blue thimbles (much loved by bees) at this time of year. I particularly love the variety Concha, which becomes absolutely smothered in blue - some years you can scarcely see the leaves. However, I never seem to get it right with them - mine tend to grow too little or - as below - too much.Here in Suffolk, they've failed

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-32258485418450170942011-05-10T08:13:00.018Z2011-05-10T08:35:04.300Z

We kept our calculators to hand as we wandered the aisles of Tesco and Sainsbury's looking for five days' worth of food for two for £10 as part of our experiment in living below the line. We much prefer Sainsbury's normally, but were passing both so took advantage of the slight differences in their ranges - when you're watching every penny, you notice when one has a slightly bigger pack, pushing

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-60059816420805646572011-05-09T12:07:00.010Z2011-05-09T12:19:11.808Z

Well, more precisely like my little savings tin:I've always liked to know which money is allocated for what task - I can never quite get the hang of having everything in one place and remembering or listing what's what. With my main bank, I get round this by having three current accounts, but savings have always been trickier, particularly for little sums that I want to tuck away for special

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-88584676416212415512011-05-06T12:54:00.008Z2011-05-06T15:09:00.857Z

In fact, this lilac-flowered Phlox has really been my favourite plant of the last few weeks. Its reliable supply of pretty flowers starts early in the season and lasts for weeks on end.I've had it several years and it's remained in a standard pot of 9" or so. I've become rather fond of it for its trouble-free nature. It doesn't get watered or fed very often and is one of the first plants to

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-37452883771360239182011-04-29T07:54:00.006Z2011-05-01T13:16:09.654Z

The Technomage and I have been scouring Sainsbury's basics section after reading yesterday of a Guardian journalist's rather unsuccessful attempt at meeting the Live Below the Line challenge of eating for five days on less than £1 a day. The basics prices mean that we have each managed to come up with five days of food for the two of us for £10 (£9.99 in my case) - assuming everything is in stock

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-12627380265415082942011-02-25T10:47:00.003Z2011-02-25T10:49:57.935Z

...is not too small and not too big but somewhere in between.I'm a big fan of hot water bottles, particularly now that central heating oil is 58p/litre. They're so much hotter than those wheat-filled bags (and are less prone to being seen as food source for any visiting mice). I was pleased last year to find a smart cream-coloured one as a change from traditional bright ones (strangely, unbeknown

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-81759711519117941852011-02-11T14:57:00.006Z2011-02-11T15:25:51.542Z

I've accumulated quite a few nice jugs over the years from craft stalls, car boot sales and charity shops. Most get very little use, mainly coming out when guests are staying and we want to be posh and avoid serving milk straight from the bottle.So I've been very pleased to find that there are lots of little tasks for jugs when using a shiny new espresso machine. The machine was a Christmas

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-74533977526525769302011-02-01T16:27:00.008Z2011-02-01T17:12:55.164Z

Our new pasta machine - kindly chosen by parents as a raffle prize as they knew I was looking for one - has at last had an outing. Making the pasta dough was very easy - 300g of Tesco pasta flour (which proved to be a lovely yellowey, grainy flour), mixed with three eggs. We then ran a lump of it several times through the adjustable roller and used the slicey attachment to turn some of it into

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-43102669752255325942011-01-02T12:36:00.018Z2011-01-02T13:54:01.974Z

The trouble with needlepoint is that completing the canvas doesn't mark completion of the project. After a year or so of sewing away, I've got various things that await the final tiresome steps with a pointy needle to turn them into a cushion, specs case or whatever. I really dislike that stage - and am not very good at it - and they will no doubt linger folded up in a box for many months to

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-84366981994051676082010-11-29T16:46:00.005Z2010-11-29T17:35:57.244Z

I didn't quite believe it when I first did the sum - brushing your teeth for two minutes twice a day equates to about 2 hours a month or 24 hours a year. Thought of another way, that's three whole working days every single year.I really can't quite get my head round this. I know that cleaning my teeth thoroughly is something very worthwhile and that it saves pain and bills in the long term, etc

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-39698034173366760622010-11-15T17:56:00.003Z2010-11-15T18:25:58.646Z

I'm enjoying plodding on with time-consuming needlepoint projects including the Ehrman Spring cushion cover, but fancied getting sidetracked by something that would:a) let me try out painting a bit of a design on some canvas;b) allow for decision-making as I go along;c) not take long to finish.I duly splashed some splodges of Tesco's acryllic paint onto a piece of scrap canvas......and have been

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-74666011107884325562010-11-09T09:49:00.019Z2010-11-09T14:31:07.470Z

I'm always pleased when I can find an excuse to buy from Cult Pens. I've used dozens of online shops - hundreds if you count every ebay seller - but this is my favourite, even though I don't have reason to buy from it very often. When I do come up with something to order, I always spend ages pouring over the site to decide what else I can treat myself to.They do one thing and they do it

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-81077166415673568752010-10-17T08:44:00.019Z2010-10-17T18:02:18.518Z

We spent a very enjoyable morning yesterday on a fungal foray run by mycologist Jonathan Revett in Thetford Forest. Together with our friends Ursula, Dave and Helen... we found a lovely basketful.......which Jonathan then checked so that we took home only edible ones (plus a rare earthstar for Helen to take to school). This year seems to be particularly good - the group as a whole found more than

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-3955300936479667852010-10-04T17:18:00.019Z2010-10-17T08:44:32.188Z

I really loved this beautiful little flower-smothered hibiscus tree we came across in Spain. The Technomage has quite a few shirts featuring hibiscus flowers and when on holiday I'm always on the look-out for suitable bushes that he can be photographed blending in with (to the amusement of passers-by!). Our own bush at home this wet English summer only managed five flowers:and most of the ones we

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-56362955573713453522010-10-04T16:14:00.014Z2010-10-04T16:55:28.885Z

I've always loved taking photos but have been struggling since the onset of digital with which, if any, to print. I tend to get some printed whenever I need a selection to show people, eg at my school reunion last week, with the result that I have a random pile of prints while most photos only ever get viewed on screen. I would like to have a more coherent set of prints to leaf through, but don't

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-32137850561170120612010-09-19T16:51:00.002Z2010-09-19T16:58:21.535Z

I've had a bad track record sewing in Spain - after all, the kit I started there in 1983 only got framed this year...So this time I thought I'd tackle something easy and took an Ehrman kit that I'd picked up at a car boot the other week. It proved ideal - I normally prefer to do something where I can make decisions as I go along, but I am enjoying having a project where you simply sew where the

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-13815452337654506872010-09-19T16:50:00.006Z2010-09-19T19:55:45.338Z

I'd intended devoting some attention to this while on holiday in Nerja in Spain, but unlike previous years we couldn't pick up any free wifi on the apartment's balcony. So I'll have to catch up now.There were plenty of internet cafes - and indeed bars - with cheap or free wifi, but I found that was always eager to switch the laptop off the moment I'd finished work-related tasks, checked my email

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-81260127662134617732010-08-10T10:38:00.008Z2010-08-13T13:43:05.350Z

As I'm interested in both games and civil engineering, I couldn't resist buying a game called Viaduct at a recent car boot.It looked quite easy - you throw a dice and then place or remove pieces accordingly, to create a continuous viaduct running across the board. Having tried it for the first time yesterday we found that it's surprisingly difficult to achieve the aim. The pieces always seem to

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-24472939344530732532010-08-10T09:40:00.013Z2010-08-10T16:26:24.754Z

We've had some good days out recently, including two relatively local trips last week to meet up with various friends holidaying in the area.One day involved a trip to Ely to meet a friend who was house-hunting in Cambridge. We visited the cathedral and then some antique shops as well as a pub and an award-winning tea shop. To my surprise I found a box of new miniature knitted clothes for dolls

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-48395606392777111522010-07-05T15:35:00.005Z2010-07-09T13:57:55.403Z

I've been neglecting sewing of late but am feeling re-inspired after my purchases at a car boot sale in Kennet on Sunday.The latest project of many projects that I'm neglecting involves 25 squares, the idea being that 13 will have a flower and 12 have a plain colour in a textured stitch. But this is requiring quite a bit of concentration in copying designs to graph/squared paper in addition to

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-35707926795034746092010-07-05T15:34:00.000Z2010-07-05T11:28:07.692Z

The Mouse Incident led to us unearthing all sorts of jars and packets lurking at the back of the pantry - mostly unappealing soups and sauces, odd ounces left in the bottom of bags of pasta and a surprising number of packets of brown rice. (I periodically fancy brown rice salad, hoping to recreate one I used to buy from a health food shop. I never get round to making it, continue eating Basmati

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-70999415309472930672010-06-20T16:36:00.017Z2010-06-20T17:24:03.835Z

I thought that my beautiful new rug was just for me, positioned as it is on my side of the bed.......but my dozens of miniature Little Gem bears seem to have other plans...They apparently think that instead of one 6' by 4' rug for me, I've bought them 117 little individual colour co-ordinated ones...And have all staked a claim......though one multicoloured bear didn't know quite where to sit ...

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-11615720750921407772010-06-19T16:39:00.005Z2010-06-19T21:50:07.630Z

I'm distraught at the idea that I can only repeat my daily mantra "the days are getting longer" for a couple more days. June always seems far too early in the "summer" for the run-in to autumn to begin.I think the days getting shorter would be a lot more bearable if it continued to stay light in the evening - it seems such a waste that it's light at 4-something when I for one don't take advantage

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-350026406835019932010-05-27T10:38:00.009Z2010-05-28T12:06:13.182Z

The Technomage's old Canon digital camera has just stopped taking pictures - or more precisely it's started taking psychadelic shots like this.This prompted us to run through all the problems we've had with the various models we've owned over the dozen or so years since we started moving away from 35mm. All but one still remain in use and have given years of service - but virtually all had a trip

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-35578533179060704322010-05-20T11:42:00.009Z2010-05-20T12:00:48.137Z

We'd been delighted in the last week or two to see a greater spotted woodpecker coming regularly into the garden and feeding from the fat balls. And we've been equally delighted that blue tits have returned once again to the nest box outside our kitchen door.But we've just come back from a couple of nights away and to our bewilderment noticed that the opening to the nest box has grown

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-81583359335896002712010-05-17T16:29:00.011Z2010-05-17T18:09:53.555Z

Heston Blumenthal's Feasts series on Channel 4 makes very entertaining viewing even if 99.9999% of his astonishingly imaginative ideas are beyond the reach of us mere mortals. As I'm not up to edible wallpaper and food that hovers, I was delighted that one of the items in his 80s Feast could be replicated in seconds. All we had to do was put some wine into our Sodastream, press the gas button a

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-38059935743334248082010-05-09T06:23:00.009Z2010-05-09T15:30:49.033Z

We don't seem to get to the cinema very often these days. About 15 miles away, there's a multiplex and a much nicer smaller cinema (recently taken over by Picture House and refurbished) and we make occasional visits further afield to an IMAX for spectaculars like Avatar in 3D or Star Trek, but we often lament the fact that there's nothing closer to hand.Or at least there wasn't. But we're now

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-38500454056280029212010-05-02T14:43:00.011Z2010-05-02T16:11:25.912Z

I've just started a new cushion cover - one that I can design as I go along, to suit my whims and avoid the boredom of having a project where everything is predetermined. There will be 25 identically sized squares (with narrow black borders) and the idea is that half will have a flower, with the rest each being just one or two colours done using the textured stitches that I tried out on samplers

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-41212622287877849652010-05-02T13:51:00.008Z2010-05-02T16:07:12.272Z

I've been very negligent about this of late, in part because of spending the week before last in Germany at a very big exhibition about construction and mining plant...As well as being a very big plant exhibition it had some very big items of plant...I then came back stuffed full of a cold, so vegged out last weekend and didn't at first notice that I had a very big plant of my own here. An old

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-44066570209490759502010-04-06T13:14:00.011Z2010-04-06T14:44:14.619Z

Our Easter weekend was somewhat disrupted by the discovery that, after a gap of a few years, we had a wood mouse visiting once again. This time, it wasn't content with setting up a maisonette in my bedside diary cupboard - shredded notebook on the top shelf as a nest, with a larder down below containing lots of the wheat from one of those heated pad things you warm in the microwave (must have

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-61051627176655696482010-03-28T18:16:00.003Z2010-03-28T18:31:52.371Z

My second attempt was OK (made with flour, butter, Tesco's value soft cheese and a few bits of olive) but the consistency was more like pastry than biscuit.The Technomage-cum-Chilimage therefore decided that it was his turn, and he, naturally, picked a spicy recipe. This is the one he used - Cheese Thins, from Chocolate & Zuccini. He used cheddar and made zillions. We topped a third with a few

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-2285101607864574782010-03-24T12:14:00.005Z2010-03-24T12:39:33.362Z

All four of our neighbouring Jacobs ewes have now had their lambs and it's clear why the one we called Chocolate looked so large when she was expecting - she's had triplets! However one is very tiny and a bit wobbly...so we're hoping that it is able to thrive despite having to compete for milk with two bigger siblings.But it does at least seem to be getting the hang of gambolling!The twin lambs

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-41928015356487566822010-03-17T11:05:00.007Z2010-03-21T17:47:38.165Z

You'd think that with this many cookbooks......it would be easy to find a recipe to satisfy my sudden hankering for cheese biscuits.I looked through loads in vain - including a book devoted to cheese recipes - but eventually two old favourites came up trumps with three recipes between them.I can't remember when I last made biscuits, so opted for the simple Cheese Biscuits from Sainsbury's Best of

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-92204315399800321072010-03-14T12:08:00.006Z2010-03-14T12:31:30.753Z

Another welcome sign of spring - the first lambs born to our local and now rather small flocklet of Jacobs sheep (just four ewes and the ram instead of the 20 or so put there some years). The brown ewe looks very large and we're betting that her offspring will be there on our next walk.These first twin lambs - a boy and a girl - have very similar markings. They seem so very tiny that they must

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-33798120954951365362010-03-08T14:29:00.017Z2010-03-08T16:57:26.479Z

I've been a big fan of talking books for probably about 20 years and listen to far more books than I read. Mostly I get them from the library but also get a lot of other drama and readings eg from Radio 4/Radio 7, groups like like Darker Projects or from 1950s Old Time Radio collections.But it's always nice to find new things to listen to and so I was very pleased on Saturday to come across this

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-56397644548751420212010-02-27T16:13:00.009Z2010-02-27T16:50:26.669Z

We've had almost three inches of rain here so far this dreary month with more due tomorrow and summer still seems far too far off (despite my optimistic daily remark that "the days are getting longer"). But our walk in a gap between today's rain did at least offer some hope of spring. The birds were singing loudly flirtly with one another and the snowdrops are now at last in full flower.The next

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-16104115965112649202010-02-20T12:23:00.013Z2010-02-21T13:55:10.434Z

In parallel with needing to wear reading glasses more and more, I'm also finding that I need brighter lights to read, write my diary or sew. But our lounge can be quite dark, so I've decided to bring together two of my best-ever bargains and now have a very comfy bright area for when I feel the need to be productive.The chair represents the best £10 I've ever spent at a car boot sale. I fell in

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-31241601010853355292010-02-15T13:06:00.007Z2010-02-16T12:31:00.928Z

As today is the 33rd anniversary of me starting the brown and green cushion cover, I forced myself to spend a bit of time yesterday doing some while watching telly(and drinking Margaritas made using Sunday's leftover mixer that we had we bought as part of our now-annual Valentine's Day treat, when we spend £50 on food and drink in the upmarket supermarket Waitrose. The idea came about 18 months

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-22498366181627105102010-02-15T12:41:00.005Z2010-02-15T13:45:25.504Z

I picked a few more stitches from the Stitch Dictionary to complete the second of the little test pieces. As with the earlier ones, some were fiddly and irritating while others were easy and pleasing.From the bottom left:Jade and grey - "Chevron" - easy and one that would be versatile as it would look very different depending on the single or mixture of colours used;Yellowy - "Encroaching

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-37690104242449644792010-02-10T09:29:00.014Z2010-02-10T10:57:31.026Z

Camera is temporarily back in service, thanks to a paperclip!I've been picking some of the stitches from the (very good) Stitch Dictionary book by Lucinda Ganderton that I bought recently for a bargain £3.99 from the Book People and trying them out on small areas.It's made me realise that even some easy stitches are very irritating to do so I'll make a note as a reminder about which I should

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-79216958100678725832010-02-04T10:52:00.004Z2010-02-04T11:14:45.815Z

I've neglected this and the needlepoint, along with lots of other things during a busy January but am now starting to catch my breath and am back again (helped by the fact that I'm looking for displacement activities as I'm not enthusiastic about the main work ahead of me today). I couldn't quite face getting back into finishing the 1977 cushion straightaway so am making a specs case using a

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-42341554794244099162010-01-03T11:32:00.008Z2010-01-03T12:08:03.980Z

In my quest to work out which Anchor colours to use for a rainbow, I've found a few different opinions online of what colours are actually in a rainbow. For instance:The seven colours of the rainbowRed (#FF0000) (RGB: 255,0,0)Orange (#FF7F00) (RGB: 255,127,0)Yellow (#FFFF00) (RGB: 255,255,0)Green (#00FF00) (RGB:0,255,0)Blue (#0000FF) (RGB: 0,0,255)Indigo (#6600FF0 (RGB: 102,0,255)Violet (#8B00FF)

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-16180009976762567462009-12-28T12:40:00.006Z2009-12-28T13:17:16.312Z

...is that it introduces a whole new realm of Christmas surprises.The resident TechnoMage normally moans about my sewing (mainly because of the "tails" of bits of wool that he keeps finding round the house) so I was surprised to find two very good needlework-related pressies from him on Christmas Day. The ruler is designed to be filled with something like a picture or a piece of embroidery. And

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-25599030428964954792009-12-16T10:32:00.008Z2009-12-16T11:02:50.795Z

My next cushion (in parallel with finishing the 32-year-old abandoned one) is probably going to be based on the stepped pattern from the 1970s pattern book...in colours from my favourite 'sludge' colour of Kaffe Fassett's paperweight fabric....But first I have to work out suitable dimensions of the step. I decided on the number of stitches for the steps with the idea of boxes a little bigger than

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-56845473170053007832009-12-11T10:25:00.010Z2009-12-11T11:01:47.358Z

I've always loved rainbows and had dozens of pictures of them on my wall as a student. But I've never given much thought to their colours. I can chant the Richard Of York Gained Battle In Vain thing to get the red-orange-yellow-green-blue-indigo-violet sequence right, but have always been a bit vague about exactly how blue differs from indigo and how close that is to violet - they all seem a bit

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-7873947134507644742009-12-08T16:22:00.007Z2009-12-08T16:36:43.528Z

Think I've sussed why I originally abandoned my brown and green cushion cover. I'd miscounted and so a green square was a stitch out - I suspect that I couldn't be bothered at the time working out what was wrong and gave up in a huff.But filled with new enthusiasm, the mistake has been remedied with the removal of the (now very wavy) piece of wool and I'm now taking much more care. It's not as

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-495865264429242572009-12-06T09:11:00.012Z2009-12-06T10:35:21.826Z

On a whim last night I dug out my 1976-1977 school year diary to see if I'd recorded the start of the cushion I've now resumed. Not only did I write about starting it (and doing three more squares that week), but it turns out I also bought the materials and pattern book that same day, spending £3.90. I was amused to see that I remarked then about the original 24p price tag for the pattern book -

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-54661924345561739552009-12-03T10:02:00.008Z2009-12-04T11:36:11.922Z

As requested by Knit Nurse, here are some pics from inside the 1970s pattern booklet (plus the rear cover). As well as patterns it gives a few ideas on how to use them. Here are a few of the 28 patterns. (I find it quite hard to decide which I like best, as I'm always swayed by whether I like the colours they used!)I may in time do this one but for now I've enough brown and green to be going on

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-8365257912766065422009-12-01T16:53:00.007Z2009-12-02T16:17:39.089Z

I've been having a go at sewing this sunflower as an experiment to get a feel for what it's like to work a simple picture. I hasten to add that the design isn't mine, as explained below.I've made some mistakes, so some areas are a bit thick where I had to go over them with another colour - particularly on the leaves and stem, which I couldn't get right. And the back has ended up very messy as I

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-5338599992309840102009-11-30T18:40:00.009Z2009-12-02T16:21:03.248Z

I think it's about time that I tried to finish the cushion cover begun on 16 February 1977. It would be nice to put an end date to it, ideally before 16 February 2010.But it's going to be so boring - these days I favour a far wider range of colours. And the holes are very tiny (18 per inch - I find 14 is bad enough). Perhaps I should make myself do say two squares a week? Or maybe I'll scrap the

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-42753965298967710102009-11-29T22:06:00.015Z2009-12-02T16:20:45.374Z

As well as buying lots of tapestry wool, I've been getting a bit carried away with buying fabric too, to use as backs for cushions or specs case and the like. Trouble is, I didn't really need any - I have this whole laundry basket of material - bought, or salvaged from old clothes etc with the idea of making a quilt one day.But there are so many lovely patchworking fabrics available that I can't

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-32820495396293563542009-11-28T18:05:00.008Z2009-12-02T16:20:29.194Z

I began this Dimensions crewel kit (Charming alphabet) when on holiday in Spain in 1983 and finished it just 22 years later...and at last, today, it's framed. I'm particularly fond of the cat - the one on the kit's packet wasn't nearly as friendly as mine. I seem to recall making a mistake with the line of the neck and having to adapt it to hide the error but it worked out for the best, as I far

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-27474872232910889932009-11-27T17:09:00.007Z2009-12-02T16:20:12.390Z

I'm about to order some more canvas but have some more research to do...I'm waiting to hear back from Zweigart about what the difference is between white Magic Canvas (9414/100), 14 count Mono Canvas (604) and 14 count Royal Canvas (9281) - all of which superficially look the same but presumably feel different. I really liked the black Magic Canvas (at least I think that's what it was) that I

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-57979034603415601892009-11-26T19:03:00.006Z2009-12-02T16:19:42.746Z

I've been enjoying building up a collection of as many different colours of tapestry wool as possible.I'm someone who does tend to like collecting things whether it's Magic the Gathering cards, mini ornaments for my printers' trays or pieces of dichroic glass jewellery, so it was perhaps inevitable that I'd be a bit obsessive about it....I realised from the outset that I needed to keep a record

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-62817080982171068202009-11-25T10:32:00.013Z2009-12-02T16:19:15.923Z

I had every intention of the colours in the cushion being in a random order but found myself always wanting to pick the next batch to add some interest to a repetitive task. The result is groups of about 5-10 colours, chosen on various whims - the colours of my favourite duvet cover, a muted rainbow, a splash of garish colours after a beigey patch etc. The other thing that made the project more

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5206348.post-79962499969546222342009-11-24T13:11:00.001Z2009-12-02T16:18:37.130Z

At last...I've finished my first needlepoint cushion cover. Or more precisely, I've finished the needlepoint bit and it will no doubt be months before it becomes an actual cushion cover.I started it in September and have done a few rows most days - finishing it so quickly is something of a record for me as my previous needlework project took me 22 years to finish (and four more to frame)...more

Leezzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12949605293383494443noreply@blogger.com0