WOYWW..... I'm a solderin' and a sewin'

Now then People, you have got to admit that (for me) this looks almost organised... I did have to clear some space to actually get the machine on my desk (and I have to admit, I did have to clear some floor space to get to the desk) but I didn't do the - push it all back method - I put it away!

My textile mentor Katherine made me two beautiful canvases for my Birthday (which she has now blogged) and she also gave me a free stitching foot (is that what you call them?) for my machine, a very opportune gift because I had a piece of Tyvek from last months DT pack,, which I had already, painted and ironed to distort it, and had the idea of trying to stitch around the 'bubbles'  - I can still hear the Dragon of a woman, my Needlework Teacher at school, voice ringing in my ear 'Nicola try it on a piece of scrap fabric first'  well I didn't pay any attention to the woman then, and I am not paying any attention to her now, I just went in head first and stitched straight onto my precious piece of Tyvek, luckily I am really pleased with the result.

Swinging to the right, you will see I have my box of soldering supplies out, that's because I burnt the edges of the Tyvek to roughen them up a bit, I thought it was a much safer bet than using a heat gun on it, and I was right, it worked really well, so I added a couple of extra holes as well. You can also see the Morsbags I have been making and are ready to be sent off on Friday after I have drawn the blog candy draw... take a look at the post a few down and add you name if you would like to be in with a chance of winning one.

Now onto the exciting part...

This months DT pack has arrived.......

lots of scrummy stuff to play with, Watch this space!

Fiddling is in the Blood!

I haven't done anything crafty for it seems like an age, apart from a couple of hours on a Thursday at my woodcarving class which is coming on very slowly!

Life is getting busier and busier at the moment, with Christmas looming very quickly (I'm only a little excited!) and all that comes with it when you have children at school, school plays, carol concerts, school shops and a business that peaks when people are doing their present shopping, and a workshop which the group has brought a week forward to next week.. eeekk, better get organised! A good time to start redecorating as well.. and redecorating means sorting stuff out and I came across this photo of my family. It has always been a favourite photo of mine, maybe because it's the only one I have of us all together.

I am the small slightly grumpy but still very cute one on my mums lap.

It was from my mum that I inherited my love of crafting and of trying lots of new things. Here are a few bits and bobs of her work that I have. Embroidery was maybe her first love. Her is a sample of her work that she made as a firescreen for my Nanna - her mother. That is how I remember it, but my Aunt had it framed and left it to me before she died.

She also had a dabble with lace making, this piece is only about the size of a £2 coin but took her an age to do, I think it was the only bit she did !

Metal Embossing.

I used to love it when she got out her pewter.. yep pewter!  I don't think maybe there was aluminium around (or at least readily available) like we tend to use these days. I can't believe that she used to let me play with her off-cuts, I bet I made some treasure with the middle of this mirror frame. I can still remember being captivated by the way the metal could be eased into shapes, and  I still get a kick out of doing it all these years later

And finally... my favourite piece of all,

My Teddy,

as you can see he has always been very much loved

Thank you for letting me share these treasures with you. Last weekend was the 31st Anniversary of when she died, so I didn't have her for long and still miss her all these years later. But she left me with lots of lovely memories and instilled a love of crafting which can never be taken away.