Tuesday 2 March 2021

January and February 2021 Edit

🌸🌸🌸🌸 Time for a catch up🌸🌸🌸🌸


Hello and welcome to the start of my 2021 posting. Here I am with my 'no hair cut for a year, just been for my first vaccination' look! I am relieved that I was allowed to have an injection as I have quite an anaphylactic allergic reaction to aspirin but it has not been triggered by the vaccine (but you must check with your own health advisors) and I have been happy to do my bit to help others in the fight against this awful virus. 

So today I am going to share a few things from my crafting life which has been the main occupation during lockdown here in the UK. I have been walking, reading, and crafting with the odd jog added in.

We had some snow in January and I wanted to record it by stitching a snow themed piece and I chose this one called 'Moments in Nature - First Snow' from Brambles & Me. It is beautiful to work on as the linen and silk threads are so soft and it is going to be a lovely project over the next few months.

I also started this stunning Ann Morison sampler in December with Traditional Stitches who are celebrating twenty years in business and created this sew along for us to join in with. I am using a 45 count linen with Au Ver A Soie 100.3 silk thread both of which are new to me and something I wanted to add to my needlework skills this year.

Every day I have been joining in with the Dean of Canterbury, Robert Willis's Garden Congregation on YouTube for morning prayer. It is absolutely delightful feeding both the soul and the eyes with good things. The Dean sits in the garden and is often joined by Cathedral animals which include Clemmie and Winston the pigs, Leo and Tiger the cats as well as hens and ducks. He has such a calming, gentle way of sharing both spiritual gifts, information about life events and music. It has been a highlight for me during these difficult times.

We have not left the village during this lockdown and regularly walk four miles from our home along the road, through the country park and down on to the beach and back home. There are always new and exciting things to spot and one day I was delighted to find these Goose Barnacles which I am told are edible (we weren't tempted to try) and people once thought it was how geese were born.

Over the Christmas period last year (2020) I joined in The Sheep and Cheerful podcast's read along for Dickens' A Christmas Carol and I stitched on this little piece which I need to finish and make into a cushion - watch this space. The discussion on Ravelry was so interesting and full of brilliant facts surrounding the writing, political history and social situation at the time Dickens wrote this wonderful story.

Now we are moving into Spring I wanted to have a project which would record the start of the cherry blossom and this yarn from Mr & Mrs Rabbit called 'cherry blossom' is going to be knitted up into a cowl called 'Spring Buds'.



January also saw the start of the Rainbow Chronicles being hosted by Jooles of Sew Sweet Violet podcast and shop and Kelly of Lay Family Yarn shop and podcast. We are given a colour from the rainbow and a pattern from Jooles which we can use if we want. My January pair were pink and used the Winter Birds pattern by Jooles and were knitted in Hedgerow Yarns Blossom Pink yarn.


This gorgeous book came out at the end of last year 'Quilting with Liberty Fabrics Book' by Jenni Smith and I have a signed copy which took so long to arrive because it was stuck in various ports because of Brexit and pandemic - poor Jenni was almost distraught at the delay but it was definitely worth the wait.


Another sew along I started in January this year was the Martha Dawson sampler also by Hands Across The Sea (as was the Ann Morison above) and this time I am challenging myself to use 56 count linen with another au ver a soie silk but not the 100.3 so it is a little thicker and it makes a different texture (which I love) and, apart from the one over one crosses for the text, has not been too difficult to work on.


Another great project during lockdown was the installation of new bookshelves. A room became spare when my darling daughter moved out to live with her fiancé at the start of the first lockdown (she was worried that working in London and travelling home to us would be a danger to us). I miss her so much but there is salve in a book and I love the way a new shelving system allows you to re-order and discover books you had forgotten about. 


February for the Sock Chronicles was dark pink and I knit these Sweet Vanilla toe down socks by Jooles in Moel View Yarn in the Protea colour way which was part of the Flower Power Sock Fund in 2019 and I thought this the perfect project for this yarn.



 

I took part in Dena of Half Stitch Cross Stitch's #FebruaryFestivals2021 stitch along. The first half of February was for Valentine's ornaments and the second for Easter ornaments. I had a lot of fun with it. I stitched three Valentine's pieces first: a small drum pin keep, a cushion and a small picture. Then  I finished an old piece of Easter stitching with three 'eggs' and then stitched a small sampler cushion, and finally three sweet rabbits which was a free pattern by WhilstIrisNaps.



I have loved the chance to read lots and my Goodreads goal of 50 books this year is going well so far. I had this book 'Cluny Brown' by Marjory Sharp (misspelt on the front of the book above) on my wish list but was put off by the high price for a re-issued edition. Then co-incidentally, whilst I was looking for something else in my late Mum's things, I found her copy from the 1940s and was absolutely delighted at such wonderful serendipity.

On that joyful note I will leave you for now and look forward to catching up again, hopefully, with less of a gap next time. 

💜Teresa🌸

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