Love is...

I am truly blessed this Valentine's Day, I have my own wonderful Al.

 My darling son, David, is engaged to the wonderful Jessica and is in a very happy place in his life.

 My darling daughter, Saz, is in a great relationship with lovely Rick who adores both her and the scrumptious Sam.

Thank you.

Life isn't always this good, and I'm sure it will go off again at some time but at the moment I am loving it.

The Scot who shaped Japan

I stumbled upon a fascinating programme on television last night about the life of Thomas Blake Glover, known as the Scottish Samurai.  It was presented by Neil Oliver (of "Coast" fame).
I've had a Google today and found these articles:

The Scot who shaped Japan | The Japan Times Online

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Blake_Glover

and have ordered Michael Gardiner's "At the Edge of Empire: The Life of Thomas B. Glover from the local library.

The programme is on BBC iplayer here:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b018c57k/The_Last_Explorers_Thomas_Blake_Glover/

Snow Dyeing Take Two - the Results Show and Tell

Tah dah, the results of my second attempt at snow dyeing:

Today has been much milder.  It is school half term so we've been looking after older GS.  This morning we made scones and then we took a walk in the village to get rid of some bottles in the recycling bins and order some more coal in case the snow returns.  I'm exhausted now!

Frost, Freezing Fog and a Finish

I know we English are obsessed with the weather but that's because we have weather (and not climate).  Awoke to freezing fog and minus 13 this morning so you're going to be treated to another batch of photos, just to make my friends in the Southern Hemisphere feel glad about their stifling heat and humidity!

As my friend, Sal, pointed out we are very fortunate to still have a doorstep milk delivery here (although it costs us 64p a pint for the privilege) but I don't think this pint will be useable.  As well as the milk being frozen the bottle is shattered!
Last night I sat in front of the fire and stitched the binding on this quilt.

It's another version of Fat Quarter Frenzy and was made with the birthday FQs sent to me by my lovely Global Piecers friends last year.  I hope you approve ladies.  It's called "One of a Brace" in reference to the pheasants on some of the fabrics and yes, there will be a partner to make up the brace, eventually!
Have a great weekend, I'm off to make a mug of hot chocolate and then work on another quilt.

More Snow

I woke up to a sunny, snowy morning and rushed out with my camera:

My snow dyeing bundles are frozen solid but most of the dye has passed through the snow so I've brought the fabric into the lean-to to thaw slowly.

DH's toe is a lot better, stitches out on Wednesday.  He drove the car yesterday and is no longer taking pain killers, thank you for all your best wishes.
Today my lovely DD and my scrumptious Sam are coming over for lunch.  Before that I hope to get a binding on a second Fat Quarter Frenzy quilt I've made and then I can sit down this evening and do the hand stitching of it.  Have a lovely day and keep warm and safe.

Festival of Broken Needles

How quickly the years go.  It doesn't seem very long ago that I was writing a post about the Japanese tradition of hari-kuyo, the Festival of Broken Needles, and here we are on 8th February again.  You can read the post here, with all the details and there are some great photos of a ceremony here.

This year I have been putting my bent, blunt and broken needles in a little cylindrical tin and today I've thanked them, wrapped them and settled them down to rest.  The little bag is decorated with Cretan Stitch and Herringbone Stitch and is my TAST2012 piece for the past two weeks.  I've put a loop on it so that it can hang with my other TAST "baubles" (which are now on various themes, not all Christmas).  I loved doing the Herringbone, I could get quite a good rhythm going but the Cretan made me think - thread under the needle, thread over the needle, oops, try again....it needs more practice as I think it's a nice stitch.  This week the TAST stitch is......Chevron Stitch.

Australian designer, stitcher and all round textile wonder woman, Lynette Anderson, has posted about her meeting with our sensei, Bryan, take a look here.
Another great report on the Tokyo Quilt Festival is here.   Better make yourself a cup of coffee!

7th February 1812 - Charles John Huffman Dickens born

Dickens2012

The son of John and Elizabeth Dickens, Charles Dickens was born on 7th February 1812 in Portsmouth, England. His early life was a mix of good and bad with an early spell of education followed by having to work in the dreadful conditions of Warren's blacking (boot polish) factory when his father was sent to prison as a debtor. Charles later returned to school but his experiences inspired his books including "Great Expectations".
Charles' career path began with journalism and following his marriage to Catherine Hogarth in 1836 he published "Pickwick Papers". He wrote novels, plays (and acted), he edited journals and wrote travel books and autobiography. He travelled extensively and campaigned on many issues including against slavery and he fathered ten children before leaving his wife. His mistress was the actress Ellen Ternan. Not surprsingly maybe, in 1870, he died of a stroke and was buried in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey in London.
Dickens is much loved the world over and must have been an amazing man, full of enthusiasm for life. I have to confess that I have never read any of his books (waits for thunderbolt...)  I've seen films and television dramatisations of many novels but have not read any for myself.  So, I'm starting with Great Expectations, today, the bicentenary of the author's birth.

Snow Dyeing Take Two

Thank you for all the helpful comments on my last post about snow dyeing and thank you especially to Julie who posted about her own fantastic snow dyeing.
We still have plenty of snow so I thought I'd have another try and take things snowly today.  I've set the fabric on the wire rack and I've left it outside.  I'm keeping an eye on it in case the birds think I've put out a massive cup cake for them!  If a freeze is forecast tonight I think I'll bring it into the lean-to.  I've got three pieces of fabric under the snow, all folded/scrunched in different ways.

Let It Snow-Dye

Today I awoke to the pile of snow that was forecast, about 6", the poor birds must have chilly tummies from walking through the snow.

I decided to give snow-dyeing a try.  I've never done it before but have seen some interesting results.  I had a quick Google and found some tutorials, I used this straightforward one from Lucy.  I also read this more detailed one from Prochemical & Dye.
My amazing DH found some soda ash in the garage - I think he has everything one could possibly want in the garage, just not always sure where exactly.
The fabric soaked in the soda ash (1/3 cup), salt (1/2 cup) and hot water bath for half an hour.  Then I packed it in plastic boxes with snow and the fun part began.
I used Procion dyes, in powder form, and sat the concoctions on the woodburner the let the snow melt and the magic happen.

 While I was using the kitchen as a dye-house I unwrapped my steamed poinsettia:

Hmmm, another sludgy brown piece, the red that seemed to be seeping through has vanished.  Never mind, onward and upward!
As the snow melted I wondered whether I should start draining the pieces, or they would end up with everything the same colour.  I noticed from various blogs that some people dye on a grid or mesh or slope their containers so I imagine this is for that reason.

This piece was not drained and so all the dyes have mixed, quite a nice orange though!  The others were similar so I tried dyeing them again, this time on a wire cooling tray.

 When the snow had melted I rinsed my pieces of fabric and, tah-dah:

Not bad for a first attempt.  I think I should have scrunched or tied the fabric more tightly maybe and definitely the wire grid is the way to go.  I also think I could have left it outside to get the fabric and dye really cold rather than rushing the process.  More playing another day I think and I can certainly see myself using these pieces for a little project.

Frozen Webs

 These spiders could do with insulating their homes....

Even though we are very cold today and more snow is forecast there are plenty of signs that Spring is on the way...

Today I'm staying indoors and tending DH and the fire.  I've borrowed an idea from Angela and have a bowl of eco-dyeing sitting on top of the woodburner.  It's the last of the poinsettia flowers and leaves, a little remnant of Christmas infused into cloth.  It currently looks like a large fabric bruise but I'll wait and see.

Keep warm (or cool if you're in the Southern Hemisphere) and have a great weekend.