For the curious!    Things on the hall table.

Papier mache boxes from Kashmir

Chapati rollers, thread bobbins and spoons from Kutch

Lacquerware - detail

See you next year

Stitching

The muse is back.    Must make a note in next year's 

diary - to avoid disappointment do not even attempt to design

or stitch until the sun returns to shine through window.

A little preview

The indigo fabric seems to relate to the frosty weather

outside, but holds memories of the few good 'indigo

days' of the summer.   Far and few between this year.

Now for a coffee, then to sort out backing and wadding

ready to spend the day quilting.

A warm corner under the stairs

A cold morning in Poole Park

Afternoon in the kitchen - the sun has returned

Winter Blues

I should be really busy, deadlines, Christmas et al.  I find I have gone into hibernation!   I have also lost two pairs of reading glasses in the last couple of days, and had to have a long loved ring cut of my finger - so that was why my fingers were feeling strangely painful!

Before the gloom set in I gave a talk to the local Embroiderers' Guild on Indian travels/textiles.   Big adventure, projector and laptop, no more 20th century slide shows.  The way to go.

The view of the evening sun set is no longer visible from my kitchen window, but the shortest day is soon upon us, and on the 28th December the sun will come peeping through the window again.

I have found displacement activities, instead of getting on with a couple of hangings due to be completed the first week in January. Keith has decorated the hall, red wallpaper.  It's gorgeous, warm and cozy. Pictures and textiles slowly being added to the walls. 

A positive attitude

Taking time out

Still stitching, deadlines looming, but the Christmas cards must be 

posted very soon.

So best wishes to you all, thanks for visiting my blog in 2008.

Not quite the first anniversary yet, but I have enjoyed blogging.

I've made contact with some amazing people, and found equally

amazing blogs.   All very enriching.   Thanks for comments made,

I really appreciated them.    Peace and love for 2009.

Tiggy

Suddenly it's December

This last week has fairly whizzed by.   So what have I been doing?

Preparation for Shibori Workshop on Saturday, which went very well.

Tidying up and putting away after workshop.   Housework catch up.

On Sunday it was very cold - hibernation time.   I 'found' an

unfinished quilt made way back in the mist of time.

Log cabin format, with plain blue and blue/white Japanese

fabric, boringly quilted in blue thread.  (I hadn't  broken out then).

A good opportunity to sit with a quilt over my lap and re-stitch.

The threads are varigated and very bright, the colours don't 

show up here, but it's looking better already.   The quilting pattern

 is taken from a sashiko design, based on the Japanese fabrics 

I recall.   Could I find the template?  Of course not, although 

I have a vague memory of throwing it away during the 

Spring clear out!   A back to basics thing, with a little head 

scratching drafting a new template.

Radio 4 was particularly good listening - Desert Island Discs, 

Gardeners' Question Time, and a new  classic serial

The Hunchback Of Notre Dame.   Not one for poetry I enjoyed

the programme on the poem "Ithaca" by C.P.Cavafy.  I came

across passages from the poem in a book I read when in

India.   It's about travelling to Ithaca, but not being a hurry,

to enjoy the journey, and on arrival not to be disappointed

with your destination, but to rejoice in what you have learnt

and seen on the way.

This delightful wooden piece was found on our travels.   

The Maharaja, Mahout and Elephant are all in a

'distressed' state.    Where is the Maharani?

Has she gone shopping? Have they been looking

for her, on an eternal quest?