Gorgeous freebies, SAL update,& Grannys' Album

Hello, lovely people, what a strange week we have had.Searing heat up in the high 80's, and then turning to extremely heavy bouts of rain the next.

Here is something I thought you may like whilst I was having a surf around the stitchery sites. I found this gorgeous little rabbit block as a freebie at http://zuill.us/andreablog/category/embroidery/free-patterns/ I just couldn't resist. Thank you Andrea. I have stitched it with 2 strands DMC on Calico. Andrea has quite a few cute little patterns which are intended for patchwork, but could be used in many other ways.

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The picture below is of my sewing efforts so far, of the free Stitch A Week SAL that I am participating in on the Yahoo Friendly Stitchers Group. ( The link is at the top on the left). I am a bit behind, but am catching up gradually.

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I must tell you of another stitchery site that I have found which has some delightful little embroideries/stitcheries which are supposed to be used to make a small quilt. The lady who is offering the blocks called 'Verandah Views' is Cheryl, and the Freebies can be found here at Willowberry Stitchery:http://willowberrydesigns.typepad.com/willowberry_designs/verandah-views-free-stitchery-patterns.html

As yet I haven't started stitching, but no doubt I will start stitching them shortly. They are in my list of to do's.

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Granny's Visitors Album.........

As I don't have a lot of stitching to show you this week I though you may like to see a few things from my Grannys' Visitors album. I inherited this album before she passed away back along in the 1960's, as she said she wanted me to have it, especially as I was interested in Victorian times and history, and also art. I don't think that it was actually her visitors book, but more so the ladys' whom she worked as a Companion for, back at the turn of the century. The lady was quite elderly, and Alice, Emily Garrett, my Granny, I believe was given it for some reason unbeknown to me.

The earliest date in the album is 1834, and it seems has been added to gradually over the years. There are many lovely little drawings, and poems in it, in the most beautifully elegant writing. Quite a few of the written pieces are in French. As I do not speak French and have to use translator tools to read it, I find it most frustrating that I don't know what these pieces of literature say.

If I have any French readers of my blog I would dearly love to know if you are able to decipher this beautiful French text. I think that if you click on the pic it will go large hopefully.

This is some of the art that is in the album, I have tried to look up the artist, of the Turkish style man but to no avail. If anyone reading this blog has heard of W.Warman...... could you please let me know what you know of this artist.
This next picture is a pencil drawing of an African scene, back in the 1800's



Christmas card from the 19th Century

Early Victorian Christmas Card

Next time I blog I will try and decipher some of the poetry, I don't know who the poems are by, but some are very beautiful.

SAL Progress, Patchwork Blocks,Lavender Make....

This is my Alla Turca SAL progress, all up to date with part 6 finished, and part 7 eagerly awaited any day now. I just love ding this SAL it is to relaxing, and easy going.

Its been a funny sort of a week, starting very peculiarly on Saturday evening, when a sort of semi connected person in our family telephoned us to say that my Daughter and her family are stuck in Goa with no money as her income from an Internet business had ceased. I haven't heard from her or from any of the grandchildren in 9 months. I have tried to get hold of them but to no avail. I would have thought that if she was in such a predicament she would have gone to the British Embassy out there, and we would have heard something.But no! We spent quite a lot of time on Saturday evening until midnight trying to find out what had happened to them, via the Foreign Office, but to no avail, as they said if they didn't want to be found, or had not requested assistance there was nothing we could do. They did suggest other agencies such as the Police, but they were unable to help, as they said unless they were wanted for something they couldn't help. Apparently too they have moved house from where we knew they were living too, so that doesn't help matters.

All I have been able to think of is awful thoughts, and worrying about the grandchildren... ages 14,12 & 7. I really can't keep my mind from wandering, so please forgive me if my blog is a bit disjointed.

If there is a likelihood of Joanna reading my blog......please get in touch to let us know you are all OK.

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On a happier note......Lavender Room & Drawer Fresheners

I have discovered on another blog which I can't seem to find the name of I found this wonderful idea of making these gorgeous little Lavender room and drawer fresheners. I thought they are ideal for someone who is allergic to the commercial type of freshener products. As my lavender is just about ready for picking now, I thought I would have a go. This is the pic of the end result

How to make them is quite easy. You cut about 10 stems from the plant as about 12" or more. Get all the heads together evenly, and just under the heads, wind some thread around about 6 times and tie off( I used crochet thread). Then about 6 inches down the stem wind the thread around again 6 times and tie off tightly. Then bring the cut end of the stems back up towards the heads one at a time,(it doesn't matter if they crack slightly). Then push the end of some 1/4" to 1/2" ribbon into the centre of the bunch to hold the end of the ribbon whilst you weave it in and out of the stems on the outside. When you have woven all the way up the stems, tie off ribbon and add a loop through the tied off ribbon for hanging the completed piece. Trim off the end of the stalks of the lavender at that end to make it neat. Add a bow to the bottom.

And there you have it sweet scented lavender pretties for decorating about your house. It keeps flies away too and soothes the mood, and aids sleep.

Two Finished embroidered Patchwork blocks.

These two blocks stitched up really quickly, and I thought they were just lovely, so I am going to make them into large cushions for my lounge like I did with the peacocks that I showed last posting.

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This is a pic of one of my paintings that I did some time ago. I usually use watercolours, and gouache, I think that this one was done in watercolour.

This one I painted whilst sitting by the river Dart at Dartmeet.

Eyelashes the Giraffe Ornament

I was so chuffed the other evening when my husband came home. Look what he brought me. I just love giraffes. Only on Sunday we were watching a programme on TV about Paignton Zoo, and how the zookeeper was having trouble trying to hand rear this baby giraffe when it was born, as its mother had rejected it and kept kicking it, and at the end of it all the baby giraffe died. I was so saddened, as the baby giraffe was so cute you just wanted to reach out and help it.



Animal Prints and Fabric and Crossstitchers.

I have a passion for animal prints in particular, zebra, and leopard imitations. However they have to be not garish, for me anyway. I really don't like these faux fur fabrics you see and the prints that the manufacturers put onto throws.

As I am in the theme of animal prints I though you may care to have a look at the link I have given, as there is a very nice scissors case, biscornu, scissors fob, and needle case, all stitched in cross-stitch. The pattern is by Sharon Manspeaker, and she is offering it as a freebie for personal use only. The link is:-
http://www.xstitchhappy.com/2008/10/cheetahleopard-needlework-set-scissors.html



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My Eldest Son Justins' Design & Finished Piece

Through the winter when the weather was bad, and when my son was feeling a bit poorly he decided that he was going to do his own design rather than using a chart made by someone else. He is a very fast stitcher, and completed it in about three days, I was amazed. This is the result.



He has always been artistic, mostly nudes, but he has recently started a new style of art, modern, clean curving lines that would fit in with the minimalistic style that a lot of people like today.

This is one of them painted in acrylic on canvas .