Out of Action for a While

Just a note to say I'm looking after a sick parent again, so will not be posting for a while. My mother is having major spine surgery on Tuesday. Life has been a whirlwind of hospital and doctors visits in preparation. Hope to be back with you again soon!

A Priest and a Bullhorn

You know something big is happening when a Cardinal is shouting into a bullhorn on the street Sunday evening.

Crowds gathered from three sides of the church trying to get in the door.

People stared from double decker buses that had to creep past to avoid hitting someone who might be accidentally pushed into the street.

Six police officers stood at the door trying to control the crowd.

"Who's here?" shouted an American lady from a taxi.

Well, it wasn't a prince and it wasn't a prime minister. It was the relics of Saint Therese.

Saint Therese was a very simple nun who believed in showing love in her simple way. She was a formidable woman who suffered a great deal during life, yet always followed her heart. That lead her to ask the Pope himself if she could join the convent at the unorthodox young age of 15.

Since this is supposed to be a craft blog, I'll let you read more of her story here. So what's the crafty angle? Well, her mother was a lace maker and her father a watch maker.

She died at the young age of 24 from TB. According to the aforementioned website, "Her dream was to spend her heaven doing good on earth, to let fall from heaven a shower of roses."

I've been lucky enough to see her on her journey at the church near where I live and at Westminster Cathedral on my way to work and you know what, I found a perfect yellow rose on the steps up from the tube this evening during rush hour.

Thank you St Therese.

Please note all blurry photos are mine and all clear good photos belong to the aforementioned England and Wales Catholic website.

I am back!

Thank you everyone for your warm wishes. It really means a lot to me. I have missed all of you too and have lots of blog reading to catch up on. (Keep reading to learn about this blouse!)
What happened was I went home to visit my parents and while at one of my mother’s doctor’s appointments, she mentioned very casually, “I think they might have found something?” “What do you mean?” I asked my mom. “With my heart.” Oh my gosh! Why didn’t she tell me before. My mother is the queen of understatement. They said she might need some of the arteries in her heart cleaning or she may need stents or maybe a bypass! I cancelled my trip back to London and called my boss to say I wouldn’t be returning.
My mother went in for a heart cathertization where the doctor feeds a camera into your vein and down into your heart. They did find a blockage, but the blood was still successfully being rerouted to another part of the heart, and the blockage wasn’t big enough to do anything to it. The fix – one extra pill a day and half a baby aspirin. Thank God.

I am now back in London, but my poor mother is seized up with back pain and spending most of the day watching TV and lying on the floor. Why can’t the nicest, kindest people on this earth have stress-free, pain-free lives?My mother does have one of the best doctors, but she can’t get an appointment until November! There’s been a lot of press in the US lately about the horrors of the English NHS, but I wonder if she’d have to wait for a November appointment in this country.

While I was at home, my mother made me three beautiful blouses from a Vogue pattern. I am wearing one of them in these Paris pictures. I stayed in the US to help my mom as long as I could and was even taking her for blood tests the day of my flight back to London. I had an overnight flight, then after work, was on a train to Paris for work. Managed to get a bit of sightseeing in, though really I just wanted to get some good shots of the blouse my mom made.
These flouncy sleeves were easy because we bought the flounce on a ribbon for 99 cents a yard and just attached it to the sleeve. Finally, I’ve managed to weasel some crafts into this crafty blog! See you again soon. x

Thank you again for all of your warm wishes and prayers.

Whereabouts

Dear Readers,

Just to let you know I am dealing with a family health issue and will be out of contact until approximately the 23rd of September. The worst is over, just getting everyone healthy again.

Best wishes,
Michele

A Quilt was Born!

I had enough of that country time fabric to make a really, really big lap quilt. Big enough for me and my big doggie at the time. Of course, nothing else in our house was navy, beige, and red, but what's the fun in matching the furniture? I lined this with soft red flannel and many, many years later. I still love having this on my bed even in the summer. I cherish so much more anything I've made.

Honestly though, I must admit that I am disappointed when I have put so much time into something and given it to a friend for it to be tossed aside. I've learned my lesson and now only make things for certain craft friendly friends. Have you found the same or are you only friends with other craft people?

It's a Lavendar Christmas

Another easy peasy lemon cheesey, nice and squeezey quilt. My mother by this time was sick of me making wall hangings and told me to make something useful like a quilt for the bed. I was on a roll, but scared to try the bed quilt. It was just so daunting. I protested. I procrastinated. I watched a lot of TV. I bit my nails until finally. . .

Stay tuned till tomorrow - Did I make the quilt or did I make another wall hanging? What's your vote?

Can there be enough Christmas prep in September?

Gingerbread men applique on gingerbread men fabric. Don't you love when the fabric combination works perfectly. Please note - some of the men are ginger girls. Note the pink.

Does anyone have a good recipe for gingerbread ice cream?

More Angels

Okay this is it for angel quilts. I've run out of pictures. This was the third one I ever made. It's been stuck in a box, but not forgotten. By this time, I was completely bored by country colors and had moved on to jewel tones. A heart again, but slightly different shape.

Obviously I am never going to have a house for Christmas that matches. All of my decorations are completely different. I have another set of light blue wall hangings with Santa and a bunch of Christmas pink and lavender fabric to make into something special. Well, one day when I grow up (I refuse to believe I'm grown up) and have a big house, I'm going to need enough rooms to have a theme in each one.

Angels, angels everywhere

Do you believe in angels? Another easy wall hanging with appliques pieces. As for chattering angels, that's not so easy. I haven't actually hear one, but perhaps I'm not listening closely enough. Have you ever heard them? What did they say?

p.s. - my grandfather saw one once cross his room when his baby was in hospital. He ran to the window and no one was there. A few hours later, two policeman came to the door and told him that his child had died at the exact time he had woken and seen the shadow. I think it was an angel. The baby's name was Catherine and we still talk about her.

Santa Claus is Coming to Town!

This Santa wall hanging is my most favorite quilted wall hanging I've ever made. Out of the Debbie Mumm book, this was the one I really wanted to make, the reason why I bought this book. When I sat down and made it in a few nights, I was so pleased. I had taken extra care to use all different green, red, and beige fabrics, as well as the buttons on the ends of his hats. Again, this was a really easy piece. Again I worked in the country color scheme. What are your favourite color schemes? Normally I like bright splashy colors, so this was a real change for me. I have a confession though, in my flat, my living room is beige. Before I had a flat, I swore I would never decorate in the dreaded plain beige, but after visiting so many other flats I had seen with bright walls and being told I could probably negotiate a couple thousand off the price because of the color scheme, I decided when I had my own flat to stick with beige. I actually like to think of mine as creamy oatmeal that shows off the white wood doors, fireplace, ceiling rose, and plaster work around the edge of the ceiling.

So are you a beige type of person or is your house an array of mismatched colors?

Quilting Memories

I've been going down memory lane and dusting off the old quilt box. This was the first quilt I ever made from a Debbie Mumm book. I practically made every quilted wall hanging in the book. For the first time in my life, I used a muted color scheme without any garish bright accents and the pieces turned out lovely. Very country, home town America.

I had bought the book at our local Plymouth quilt shop near the railway station. When a train zoomed past, hang onto your fabric as everything would start to shake. Actually, I think my mom bought the book for me and rather than be intimidated by the scary quilting, I started with this easy heart quilt and I think finished it in the night. I think it was Christmas when I made this Valentines quilt. I soon moved on to the other Christmas themes, my absolute favourite I will show you tomorrow.

What was the first piece you ever learned to quilt? Does anyone out there not know how to quilt? Would you like to learn?

My mother's handiwork for our neighbour who is a volunteer at the humane society. I've never met anyone who loves and does more for dogs than our good friend.

Around the dog's neck is the tag from one of her old dogs that might be gone, but not forgotten. This is another easy pattern. The dog and the hearts are stuffed. His little ear is a flap. His eye a button and his nose embroidered.

Do you often include animals in your work? If so, are they your pets?

Quilted placemats. Flying geese. Easy peasy. Difficult - taking photographs of them that are straight. They look straight to me in real life, but in photograps, mine always appear wonky which is why I've had to crop off the top of the geese!

Would anyonw be interested in learning to make these?

Bags & Bruises

With the trend of big bags, my mother found her forearms were often bruised because her bag was so heavy. I think she needs to dump some of her stuff. I mean what was she carrying in there? Instead she decided to make a bag with fabric handles instead of leather. I think this was made from a Vogue pattern with some Japanese fabric we had been saving.

Has anyone noticed out there that some of the pattern pieces just don't fit? It didn't happen with this bag, but some recent undergarments I made and a blouse my mother is currently working on have the wrong shaped pieces. Considering how expensive patterns are, you'd think they'd get them right or at least test them out before they sell them. Has anyone else out there had this experience?

Can one have too much glitter?

One can never be too thin, too rich, or have too much glitter.


Inspired by wonderfully chunky rhinestone rings in Harrods, I made myself a glittered flower ring. I thought I would make it on the small size. I now must go dancing so I can wear it. Not sure what they'd say at work if I showed up in this.


About favorite jewelery, I have three rings I normally wear every day. Two with blue stones and one with red. My parents bought them all for me - two for birthdays and one for graduation from university. I absolutely love them and always think of them when I wear them.

What is your most favorite piece of jewelry and is it something someone gave you or something you made?

Roar!

This patchwork bag is so easy. It's all about the positioning of the squares. One of the trickiest bits is remembering which way the lion has to face. He was upside down a few times. Why do we always have to sew things the wrong around before sew them the right way around? Might just be me, but if there's a mistake to be made, I always seem to do it. How about you?

Christmas

How many of you are making Christmas crafts already? This is a babushka ornament I made this past weekend. I would love to do a whole tree filled with these sparkling gals.

Hmm, I usually start writing Christmas cards in August too. Last year, I was waiting for my mother to have an operation and I just wrote and wrote all of the addresses. The repetitiveness took my mind off where I was and what was happening. Luckily, my mother was fine and my cards were then pushed to the back of my desk, only to be forgotten, and mailed a few days before Christmas!

This year I would like to hand make all of my own cards or at least draw the design and have a printer print some up. When do you usually start on your Christmas card list? Are you someone who mails them early every year or late?

One can never switch between crafts enough. I was fixing a hole in one of the bags I made a while ago and am not sure if I ever posted a picture of it. The rose is made out of some gorgeous hand dyed cottons brushed with an iridescent paint my mother once bought. She's very protective of them, but hasn't used them in a while, so hopefully she won't noticed I nicked some. Don't tell.

An Interior Design View of Cambridge

Cambridge - what a wonderful place! It's filled with bicycles...

...geniuses...

...and some fabulous interior design work. This room is one of Prince Charles' favorites. Mine too. Look at the wonderful detail of the ceiling.

And the complimentary stained glass entrance.
Is it too late to go back for another degree? Many years ago, I took stained glass class. I love the simple elegance of this window and the clean colored glass. It looks like rays of sunshine are always brightening up the room.

Do you have a favorite city you love to visit?

Russian Dreams

The skyline of Russia. I'm planning on going there one day. Preferably in the summer so it's not too cold. I already have a big Russian black fur hat I once found in a charity shop in the middle of a heatwave. Just couldn't pass it up. Of course, when London had all of its snow this past winter, I couldn't find the hat. I was cleaning this weekend and of course found it. Thus, I had Russia on my mind during my glitter fest.

If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go and would you dress like the locals?