NEWS FROM THE SHIRES

Pastel drawing - look closely project

Hi from a strangely warm November England, even the washing is drying!!

After a couple of frustrating days with the puter playing silly devils I think I have it back on track!
I watched Kirstys Homemade Home last night. Well some of it. The stained glass window was lovely. As a curtain maker I thought the part on 'how to make your own curtains' was really quite silly. Making such a huge pair of lined curtains requires a huge space, like the maker had, most homes dont have that amount of space. So for those of you who want to 'have a go' Here is a tip.


What is the biggest space that you have in your home? What is at least 6 foot long & 3 foot wide? Yep, your bed.
When I first started my soft furnishing business, I used to strip the bed by throwing the duvet & pillows around the edge of the bed
I had a concertina cardboard cutting out mat, that was spread over the bed (you didnt think I would cut on the mattress did you????)
I used to count out my pins - 24 - I remember & used ones with bright yellow heads.
Then I would kneel on the pillows & use the bed as my table. 3 widths of hand stitched interlined curtains, no problem.
So when I arrived at my quiltmaking days, before I became obsessed with 505 spray temporary adhesive. I used to hand tack the layers together on my trusty board & the bed. Even now if I want to observe a piece laying down as opposed to on the design door (yep a door 3 foot by 6 foot, is mostly enough for me now-a-days) got lots of doors!! I strip the bed & go back to the pillow kneeling. Only problem now is I am not as nimble on my knees as I used to be.
It would have been so funny to see Kirsty on hr knees around a bed wouldnt it.
Another of the crafts explored was crochet, just make a chain & chain into it...... oh have a go..
Story 2 - I learnt to crochet when I was a teenager. It was popular then (1960's) to wear crochet dresses, made with the shell pattern & I wanted one. Bit big to start with, altho I was painfully thin like a beanpole then. So I bought a pattern for a bikini. I had a part time job & in the lunch hour I used to practise the crochet techniques. I found a lovely older lady who helped with tension etc.
Anyway I stuck at it, even making a fancy edge around the top & bottoms. It was a sort of golden brown colour, very fashionable. All through the winter, hoop in, hoop out!!! I love swimming.....oh yeah....come the spring, the outdoor swimming pool (unheated) opened at Easter & I was there, whoosh like a shot. Parading in my little bikini of double chain & fancy edges.
Trotting to the 7 foot depth I dived in - I was quite a good diver - & yep - lost the bottoms to my ankles, what made it worse was it was 7 feet, I was desperately trying to hang onto the bottoms, completely forgetting about the halter top!!. I gathered up the bottoms restored my modesty & doggy paddled to the other side, thinking ha! no-one noticed that - yipee. Waddled to the 5 foot steps & climbed out still clutching my bottoms & strutted off to the very draughty changing rooms to find to my complete horror that the top had sagged to my waist!!! ahhhhhhhhh
Now what prompted this saucy admission, was getting out of the shower this morning & putting on my bra, that incident came back when I noticed that the crochet bikini soaking wet would now fit really quite well!!!!! You work it out. :-)

Angelina Log Cabin Bag