More Venture Group

One of the newer members of The Running Stitchers (Venture 2) brought along some pieces of work done by her grandmother and mother which had been undiscovered for years.  Her grandmother lived in Glasgow and the design used on this embroidered tablecloth must have been influenced by the Glasgow School of Art.  Unfortunately nothing was known about any of the work she brought to the meeting.

House Rendering

Towards the end of last week lots of progress seemed to be being made on the house.  It has got its first coat of render on the rebuilt extension and the kitchen floor had got well on the way to being levelled up.  The kitchen units were on order and the en suite bathroom whilst not finished was useable - the reason for the odd waste pipe and drainpipe in the photograph.

These things cannot last can they?  Monday morning arrived and we discovered a major problem with the main bathroom wall.  It was not only built of some strange, large, and we now know heavy, breeze blocks but was only resting on floorboards rather than the joists, with no supporting wall beneath it.

The result is that we have had to have the wall completely removed and a stud wall put up to replace it.  A nightmare to say the least.

As a distraction from all the problems and to cheer myself up I took some photos of the pansies in the garden I had planted in an old chimney pot taken off the roof of the house.

Sometimes life seems just to be too much and you need something to keep you smiling.

It was also DH's 60th birthday this week and he was in no mood for celebrating.  At least the builders and I got to enjoy the cake I bought!!

Child's Bernina

The May meeting of The Running Stitchers (Venture 2) was meant to be a sewing session, but I had forgotten we were supposed to take a 'Treasure' to show everyone.  One member had bought this miniature Bernina and case in a charity shop for £5.  The lady in the shop had never heard of the name and thought it must be rubbish.  It did chain stitch and came complete with its original leaflet.  It was wonderful.

Brown Trout

Having been told by several people that there were brown trout in the stream which runs through our garden I was quite surprised last weekend to discover some of them in the pool shown here.  They were actually quite big and there are at least 2 or 3 of them.

Think they must have got there after all the rain when the water was a lot higher.

Bookbinding Challenge

Because I had done Japanese stab bound books several times before our tutor decided she would give me a challenge.  She gave me some pictures of alternative bindings she had obtained from the internet and asked me to work out how to do them.  I managed these two and there are still at least another four for me to try my hand (or needle) at.  Then it was suggested I should invent my own.  Thought about looking at blackwork stitches as they are always the same on the back as the front so may provide some ideas.

We were also given a pattern to make a box to store the little book in which is apparently a traditional Japanese thing.  The package is then wrapped in various layers including felt and silk and presented as a gift to people.

No News is ??? News

Bet everyone is wondering what has happened to me.

No kitchen still .... yet another swarm of bees - Mr C is so embarrassed about them .... upside is we now have a functioning toilet, washbasin, shower and, finally, lights in the new en suite bathroom.  Had to have a shower by candlelight one night as I had got myself so dirty cleaning up after the workers!

The breakfast room has now got lighting but still none in the kitchen end.  Floor coming up on Monday to try to find out what is under the vinyl and board.  Guess it is a mixture of floorboards, brick, concrete and quarry tiles all at different levels.  Chosen kitchen fittings but not yet ordered.

Today we have to move out of the main bedroom into Bedroom 2 - which is a lot of work - so they can get on with renovating the walls and pinning them if necessary.

Weather is rubbish and STILL NO STITCHING GOING ON!!!  Very frustrating.

Camp Kitchen

Apart from another swarm of bees yesterday ....  since last Thursday I have had no kitchen!!  This photo shows you the empty space looking out to the main road with just a cooker and fridge.

I have got a temporary sink through the door on the left in the pantry.

Below is the view to the back of the house showing the new/rebuilt/modified part of the house which will become a breakfast room.

This is the lovely Belling cooker which Mr C kindly left us to use.  Alas on Tuesday evening it would not work as the electric socket was full of mortar and muck off the wall so I had to clean it all out before I could cook dinner.

NEVER A DULL MOMENT HERE!!!!

Today we are having a new plasterboard ceiling attached to this part of the kitchen.

It is rather worrying as I am getting rather attached to my temporary kitchen space in the pantry.  It is very cosy.

Swarming Bees

This week has had its highs and lows.  At the beginning of the week next door's bees decided to swarm and landed on two huge bags of sand on our front lawn.  It was all very interesting - after flying around madly they settled down and eventually formed this huge mass.

Mr C came and collected them in a cardboard box and they went off to a new home.

Then we had the surprise of a dead badger on the road outside our house.  It was not fully grown, and although there are lots of badgers around the area it is not something you expect to find where we live.

The latter end of the week has been TOOooo traumatic.  Workmen everywhere and I now have no kitchen (I lie - I have a temporary kitchen in the pantry).

I really wanted to leave home on Thursday ... it was all just too much.  Having to miss my bookbinding class today too.  Did catch squirrel No 22 this morning though!!