It's hanging.

"Autumn Leaves" is hanging up and I am really pleased with the result. My first design :). This spot above the door will become seasonal.


Do you record what you have made? I take photographs. There has been the odd thing sent off in a rush that I have forgotten about. But I also keep a notebook and try to remember to record the fabrics I have used. Some times this gets forgotten, but its a good way of remembering what fabrics and trims I have used especially when the item has been given as a gift.

This is the record for autumn leaves. And this the record of the dolls I made for Libby and me last year.



It has been a strange week. officially it's half-term but because of the lack of work its been an ordinary week for me. John has been home too which was nice. Libby came to visit on Tuesday and we went to the Media Museum
The main attraction at the moment is 50 years of Blue Peter and it was interesting to follow their progress from small beginnings.

The weather has been extremely cold. Far colder than it should be in October. Yesterday's high was 2c this time last year it was about 14c. And I am sure that I saw a few flakes of snow although John wasn't convinced.

Today I have to continue with the secret things and also spend a bit of time on the 3 Kings. They need some trims.

Keeping busy

It has been a busy week. And only one day involved going to work. On Monday I had to go back to the job centre to sign on. This was quite straight forward and the woman I spoke to was friendly enough. She gave me some details which led to me phoning a new (to me) supply agency in Leeds on Tuesday and then spending a substantial amount of time updating my CV. Its not a very exciting CV as my spare time is spent doing stitchy things and I never had a gap year to go swanning off to exciting foreign places. My years between school and university were spent working and bringing up my family. :).

On Wednesday the phone hadn't rung by eight o'clock and so I was just beginning to plan what I could do for the day when it did ring and I dashed off down the road to a local school to spend the morning with year 1 and the afternoon with year 5. It was a good day.

This morning was spent in Leeds I had an appointment with the new agency, filled in forms and now I have to wait for them to get my references back. It will mean that now I have two agencies that might be able to find me some work.

In between all this I did find some time to do a bit of creating. I have stitched around the leaves on my autumnal hanging which makes them stand out a bit more.


It doesn't show up clearly in the photo
I am determined it will be hanging up by the end of the weekend. It will depend whether there is work tomorrow. I must have been quite busy with sewing because there is fabric all over the place up here


I have started other things that will remain secret at the moment. I pulled out Joy to the World to get finished so that it can be hung up this Christmas.


I ran out of Indian Summer thread with one letter to go. So I had to order some more from Sew and So

that came yesterday and so I can get that finished soon. I shall finish it as a hanging as framing will be too expensive at the moment.

I am feeling much better than last week. And although half term is meaningless this term it will be I won't be dreading the phone ringing/not ringing first thing in the morning.

its turned much colder here and windy again and although the morning was sunny its now raining.

its nearly half term

well two weeks to go. I have had one day's work in all that time. Further enquiries reveal that all the supply work has been taken over by cover supervisors. I am not going into detail here but it means that there are a whole load of unemployed teachers out there that used to reply on casual work. On Monday I had the dubious pleasure of going to the job centre to sign on.

Next week we will have lived here for 15 years. We came with high hopes and newly attained degrees I can honestly say all that hard work and the teacher training a few years later has brought us nothing, except debt and disappointment.

yes I have been feeling sorry for myself and then I felt guilty. There are so many people with bigger problems than me. Some of the blogs I follow show me just how much I have and so much that others have lost and that money is not the most important thing although it is useful for paying bills and keeping body and soul together. Tomorrow is World Food day
a billion people in the world don't have enough to eat


So enough! I didn't mean to depress you all.

I have finished a piece for an exchange


and my autumn wall hanging is coming along. I am making it up as I go along really!





I am going to do some x stitching for myself and have pulled out Joy to the World to finish for Christmas. And then get back to The Chocolate shoppe. I can't remember the last time I worked on that.

The Wise Men ( Joyce you guessed correctly) are coming along nicely. I have machined all around then and now have to attach them to the backing fabric and finish of the embellishments.

I must have too much time on my hands. I put all my blog RSS feeds in alphabetical order in my favourites the other day. But at least I know where everyone is now.

The sun has shined the washing has dried and I have hoovered.

Nearly forgot to say thank you to everyone who leaves a comment. They are appreciated.

yesterday...

...I went to work. I got call at 7 55 to a school just down the road. It was an OK day with year 4. But today it is back to normal. Well the sun is shining and the washing is out so its not all doom and gloom.
I found a wall hanging in a magazine I had from last year so I thought I would do my version of it. I haven't followed the instructions completely and have backed the figures straight on to the arches. Here they are so far




I have now got to stitch around and embellish them.
i have been looking for acorns or squirrels for my autumn one but haven't found anything I like yet.

Its probably time to make a new doll too.

In 47 years using a sewing machine...

... I had never sewn my finger ... until yesterday! I had decided to be positive and have had in my head for a few days an autumn wall hanging. I found a lovely background fabric. Collected a few leaves from outside to draw around and a selection of fabrics suitable for autumn leaves.
The problem came when I filled the bobbin on the machine and drawing the underneath thread through. As I grabbed for the thread for some reason my foot hit the pedal and the needle went into my finger.
It (the needle) broke and my first thought was where is the broken part? Luckily it was still attached to thread not embedded in my finger.

With blood dripping everywhere I went in search of plasters. It's the first finger of my left hand which is mighty inconvenient because I am left-handed.

Later I did manage to do a bit of sewing. I am not using bonda web as I had run out and the new supply has not arrived yet. Talking of bonda web I can't find it in shops anywhere except occasionally in small quantities.

There is still no sign of any work so I have signed up with another teaching agency to see if this helps at all. The shortage of works seems partly because teachers are not getting poorly yet but more worryingly the use of non teaching staff being used for cover. Having been a teaching assistant I don't think I would want the responsibility for a whole class with no support.

It has turned really cold here and has been quite wet and windy. But the sun is out today.

The nasturtiums are coming to an end but it has been nice to see the bees out and about in the sun.