Skelly for Halloween

trying to reduce the stuff I keep...slow work because of sentiment, memories and regrets I'm not fit to work .....etc
So before 10yr old Skelly is thrown in the bin.....here he is...

made of cotton buds and sellotape ...looks better in the dark in torchlight or firelight... dancing on the end of a string. 

Fear and Photos

Someone put on Facebook ...if you want to know what someone fears losing... watch what they photograph... Well... of course you photograph your loved ones...events holidays and special occasions etc so we can share the occasion with others....but do we really fear losing them or the memory of the location or occasion?
What does it really say about us ? Wayne keeps us up to date with the scummy food his wife feeds him...Graham keeps us up to date with his bike and bike rides.....Nic keeps us up to date with her fabulous paintings... what is it they fear losing !
I photograph odd stuff...maybe because my grandchildren live away and when they are here I'm too busy enjoying playing with them to take many pictures... so odd stuff... wonder what it is that I fear losing...
The window cleaner was due so I dashed out to snap some of the huge spiders webs that would be in his way when he carried the ladder round... beautiful gossamer lace suspended in mid air..like crochet doilys  festooned around the yard...

some days they are 2ft across...made by the common striped garden spider which the children call the tiger spider...

So what do I fear losing ? 

Well I do know its not spiders ! Urgh...

Maybe its the childlike wonder in natural beauty. Dripping with sparking gem stones in the sunlight...ignoring the adult knowledge that in reality they are death traps for the spiders dinner.....

another History Wardrobe performance

I look forward to the coming of Lucy and Merrie of the History Wardrobe...a successful annual fundraiser for a church in Cottingham. This time it about Fairytale gowns.... already you'll be seeing in your minds eye the modern Disney princesses...Cinderella or Snow White or Dorothy...and the gowns they wear. The presentation was meticulously researched as usual.
Lucy brought an assortment of Ladybird Books of the Cinderella story...published at intervals over the decades...each slightly different and other favorite children's folk stories.

There are versions of Cinderella from all other the world

It is thought that the original one came from ancient Egypt or China ! It involved a slave girl and a slipper and the Chinese one tiny feet....It was a rather dark terrifying tale....much like the Brothers Grimm version which was collected by them in the early 1800s. Oral tradition passed on the stories and these were collected by Giambattistra Basile  and Charles Perrault (Tales of Mother Goose) in early 17th century and in different parts of the world.

The ugly sisters are not ugly in some versions but beautiful in looks but with ugly hearts and minds. Some are the dark terrifying versions like the ugly sisters chopping off toes to fit their feet in the slipper.....others don't have the blood and gore...

Lucy all dressed up in a costume made for the theater as opposed to the gown worn by Merrie AND painstakingly made by her...authentically by hand from an authentic pattern and is pinned into into it. The triangular stomacher was embroidered by a professional embroider.

she also made this....the pattern meticulously pieced together...She wore this over a stay with fitchu and a blue wool drawstring skirt....and red and white hooped stockings.

We were allowed to gently handle wearing white gloves this overskirt that was over250 years old...see the manipulated fabric panels and the rough stitching...Rough stitching enabled the fabric to be taken apart easily and used again or repaired...

see the original gathers at the waist...

see the blond lace

the lined hem and cobbled stitches

 shoes play a big part in fairy stories...

Wooden pattens worn over silk shoes to protect  them from the dirty streets that had human waste and everything else thrown into it !

I 'd like to say that inspite of the fact that Merril had injured herself falling off her bike and was strapped up she carried on regardless.....although in obvious discomfort she gave a great performance.

Lucy announced she had another book coming out....

charity shop lace

two little bags at 50p each.....what gems...smelly and grubby...but gems none the less..I had no idea what was going to be in the bags...just lace-y bits I could cut up and collage...

I went to Macclesfield a few years ago and visited the silk mills and was allowed to throw the shuttle on a old floor loom. I also saw the machines that made lace ...in operation...l was fascinated ...what brain conceived a machine that could step by step construct complicated lace-y patterns...its like computer code ...the cards punched with coded holes...

These are mostly collars and cuffs....?1910-1920s. Funnily enough Lyn sent me a link to collars fashion helping to date ancestors photos...

 these should enlarge when you click on them so you can see the intricate work.

 

 this is about one and a half inches wide and two and a half long....

 several crochet flower rounds stitched through to keep them together...

what do I do....I think if I try washing them....they may fall to pieces....if I try ironing them...they may fall to pieces too... any ideas what to do ...?

cloakroom ? storeroom finished

well almost finished.... need to replace the green mat...

why put up a picture of a loo ? ....well... last day of June I discussed the work I wanted doing with this lovely guy... over a year ago now... he said he would be finished on his current job by August and would start after that...fine. all the trades I needed were working on the same job...and would be available the same time...fine....they actually started in October....The utility room is done but still needs snagging...the bathroom has been finished about a month ago... the cloakroom toilet needs taking out and re-positioning ...the kitchen needs its units re-positioning and new work surfaces etc... the step outside needs remaking because we moved the door.... Fingers crossed... the work might be completed by October...a year from when they actually started... and I can reclaim the rooms that are full of stuff belonging elsewhere !

catch up

OK...long time since I posted anything.... What have I been up to ? Ever had some work done on your house.......................................................................................................................................................?
I decided that the utility room was a complete waste of space as it was a freezing cold box of a room....2 feet away from the door from the kitchen to it was bathed in warm winter sunlight and the utility room temperature drop meant it could double as a fridge.....the toilet rarely got used as it was so cold. So I asked for a half glass door to the garden to be put in and the windows on the opposite side to be blocked up. The room to be gutted and insulated. Toilet removed. New boiler put in and the old one from the garage removed. The half glazed door let in the warmth of the winter sun...much better. So I have washer, dryer and dish washer in there, storage and a sink for messy things...Like paper making, dying etc....well, you didn't think it was for ....cleaning... purposes did you??????
I intended to have new radiators later because of the upheaval....The new boiler caused the old pipes to "knock" Weird noises could be heard next door coming from the chimney breast ....like something inside wanting to get out...scaring the lovely little girl next door. The radiator was on the chimney breast wall. Then there was the racket sounding like someone was kick starting a motorbike .... Next door (the other side) has a motorbike that he doesn't get to use much...as an ex biker I appreciated the need to get it out and get it going even if you weren't going for a spin.
Eventually I realised it was coming from INSIDE my house. It frequently stopped before I could identify where it was coming from...It turned out to be the same bedroom that backed onto the lovely little girl next door... as I raced upstairs to see what was happening I could feel the whole floor vibrating...and I really do mean rattling your teeth vibrating !! I rang the plumber guy ...he lives a short distance away. He appears running...turns into my drive....the noise stops ! He hangs around for a bit...no noise...goes home to finish his meal. He must have just got his shoes off when it happened again...he comes running back....and just as he turns into the drive......it stops ! I am curled up at the bottom of the staircase in hysterics....I can't stop laughing....at my age I was in danger of disgracing myself..! So I had the upheaval of radiators renewing... some moved positions.  New radiators don't correspond size wise with the old ones.....so redecoration is required as the wallpaper is obsolete.... more work is being created....
As I had removed the toilet out of the utility room....I needed a downstairs loo.....I had a cloakroom which really was a cupboard for storing seasonal things...cooling fan...heaters...the boxes of stuff I take out to do my Rubbish Talk..etc. That got emptied, insulated, plastered and turned into the downstairs toilet. The soil pipe outside was cast iron...it had to be changed to accommodate the new loo...so the upstairs loo got changed at the same time.....this left ugly scars on the wall where the old one had been........... The bath room was the the room I really wanted altering.... I wanted a corner bath as I can't get out of an ordinary one....my legs don't bend enough due to many falls...When I've painted it I put some photos up......I also asked for the back door in the kitchen to be removed and bricking up and a window putting in and the kitchen units moved a little bit, new worktops to be fitted....still to do units and worktops...
Did I say that I spoke to the guy last day of June last year... who said he would be finished on his current job in August.....he started here in the October 2014.... Every room in the house is piled with STUFF that is waiting to go back to where it should be.....I could put it back but I bet I'd have to move it almost straight away because it my time for them to come back !!!
Add to that a couple of falls...sinus flare ups and hay fever.....as much due to the dust as pollen...
The garden has been a sea of blue and yellow.....beautiful....but back breaking  digging the dandelions buttercups and forgetmenots .....
wonder id it will all be done for the anniversary of the start date in October.....
I made a list this morning....when it is all done.... I have to move the little cupboard in the halllway....I can then move the Ercol display cabinet...then I can move the bookcase to make space for the desk. Where the desk was I can shift the big computer desk with storage underneath there and put the side board in its old place to put my sewing machines on....making the flow and space better used. Having moved the sideboard ...the little cupboard I moved first will fill that gap with two sentimental wicker chairs.....and put the cushions on I've hoarding for that purpose..........................

these eyes have been keeping an eye on things for me.....lol

 utility room

cloakroom storage room
when rooms are as they should be...I'll post pictures....

Alf's 100th birthday

Father in law, Alf, or Sir Alfred as we often called him, always said he would live to be 100yrs old....and after a very shake-y 3 months this year when the Doctor and Paramedics were called out frequently.....HE MADE IT ! He has his telegram and card from the Queen and the local news paper came to take his photo....yesterday, April 1st. He's toasting himself with a drop of larger here !
Bless him. he has no idea he has achieved it......but we do !
He was surrounded by his family who live locally, (others live abroad or quite far away) His wife and a son died some years ago.
The residential home where he has lived since 2011 put on entertainment and a lovely buffet to which most of the residents came and joined in. He was a lifelong supporter of Hull City AFC so his cake was in team colours.
As a young man he was one of a team putting electricity into the houses between the wars....the same houses would still have outside toilets for many years to come....he did his bit during the WW2 then he was an insurance agent....doing his round on foot and then on bicycle.....he had many stories about collecting the money and found a number of people who committed suicide on his round...Later he became a porter at the Infirmary and was on duty for two of the major incidents....
He put his good health down to all the walking and cycling keeping him fit....and until 2010 he looked after himself and was a dapper old man, always wore a collar and tie...
The home is very good, always striving to do more for their residents....and after chatting to them...I offered to make some dementia activity pillows etc...so watch this space, I'll post my efforts.
I still have workmen popping back to do a bit more here and there....loving the way my bathroom is shaping up......

Withernsea Hornsea Eastgate Pottery 1970 ish

We often used to have a ride on our Triumph bike to Withernsea market in the car park of the old railway station.....and visit the pottery shop. It had mostly the tree trunks with fawns type of thing that are so collectable today. One day we spotted these Knights....there was at least a third knight..."Frying Knight" one with a frying pan in hand, not sure if there were more . We bought Conquering  Knight and Watering Knight on separate visits. I have never seen another one since. No marks on bottom but a space for a mark is let into the base.
We often went to Hornsea Pottery too where we bought amongst other pieces the cobalt blue mugs with gold writing like an apothecary poison vessel, strychnine and cyanide which I still have.

Withernsea, Eastgate and Hornsea Potteries  have some links....and Hornsea to Bridlington Pottery. .. none of which I have really gone into.
I love these knights and they have been through the wars...the shields are chipped or cracked etc but I don't really want to part with them. They were actually bought as seconds, Watering Knight has a dragon between his feet...that needed gluing down....it wasn't broken it had never been assembled....and the other knight need its shield gluing on.
I have a vague thoughts/memory that they may have been bought in and not made at the Withernsea Pottery as we never saw any more...What happened to Frying Knight ? where has he been living for over 40yrs....why haven't I seen any on ebay?
Why am I thinking about this now ? well time has come for my display cabinet to go....but not the knights !!

New Years make, updated

made a pattern......cut and sewed 8 patchwork seat cushions for my kitchen chairs...took photos...photos on my external photo storage facility on phone....but not on the same facility on computer....so folks you will have to wait all agog.....until they pop up on my computer....
When I saw them laid out on the floor....I decided while I was on a roll...I'd convert the circular pattern to a square one to make a rug for the kitchen while I am at it....
Happy New Year to my followers and the many casual viewers .... I am amazed still that apparently people in far flung places have visited....wished I'd kept a list now.....
Angels and Christmas tree folded books is the most visited post now... it has sailed past the one on the frozen fountain in Hull which was last years favorite.
Have a Happy,Healthy New Year....and have FUN if you can...

I punched the shapes onto cardboard and then joined the dots....

I didnt press the fabric...or pin it...just lined up and stitched...flipped and lined up the next piece...

I liked the effect on the floor....so squared the pattern for when the work is finished in the kitchen. Then I'll get my stash of jeans and blue fabrics out.....

Not having a healthy January.... D&V...followed by a hayfever reaction to carpet cleaner solution...( I only put a tiny bit in as it smelt strongly...and I'd chosen one that didn't say "citrus" or "Orchid") and then come down with a real humdinger of a common cold...and I am booked on a trip soon...guess I wont be going !!

On the bright side son has sorted computer for me !