A very long post you may not want to bother reading.

Its over a week since I added a post so this is a bit of a news post. Possibly over long.
You may need a drink .
I don't expect you to stay with me for the whole thing but I must get it off my chest. In chronological order.

First: I tidied my sewing room and guess what I found under the table?
My scissors.
Regular lurkers and commenters will remember that I had to buy a new pair.
Well two pairs are better than one.

Second: We went to Flookburgh for a walk.
Its on Morecambe bay and the landscape is velvety and wet but I thought these pictures of the salt marsh were very luscious.

Little streams and puddles make strange shapes in the grass and reflect the sky like mirrors with furry frames.




Third: I am still without my laptop and as I have no intention of paying £250 to get it repaired there is no answer. I wrote to the MD of HP in Berkshire, and received a call from South Africa which told me they will log my complaint but can only offer me an out of warranty repair at £250.
I will take it to a private person (possibly one of my sons) and see what can be done. If I shine a very bright light on the screen I can just about see whats there so I've saved everything onto and external HD. Meanwhile there will be fewer posts/comments/emails from me.


Fourth: If you have been reading a while you may remember that I went to an Iris farm this time last year and spent £20 on 4 iris. Well, being the useless gardener I am I left them in their pots by the back door all year, until about two weeks ago when I noticed they had sent out some lovely new leaves and thought it was about time I planted them in earth.

I may as well have said 'laid them to rest' as in 'Dido's Lament', because a week after the planting this is the result. One is half eaten, one is completely eaten , one is chopped off at the base and the fourth has vanished. Hence the pellets. the only colour I have in my garden.

Please do not speak to me of beer traps, torches at midnight, copper strips, eggshells, hens, pet hedgehogs.......the slug and I have history.



Fifth: I received a wonderful parcel from the delightful Dot of Dots Life and Art in Australia containing the most amazing piece of embroidery. There were also beads and buttons and some gorgeous embellished fabric she has made with an incredible collection of fibres. Thank you so much Dot I love it and hope you got my e mail saying so.









Sixth: I am receiving lots of e mails from my lovely blog friends and contacts to tell me that I have had a mention in Quilting Arts Daily. Thank you all who contacted me to tell me.
I wouldn't have known.


(Are you still with me?)

Seventh: When my kiddywinks were little boys I made them one or two items to wear, one of which was Aprons. They were lovely aprons with applique cars and names and so on. I had been thinking about these and decided to blog about them sometime and perhaps make some more to sell online and resolved to search for them.

Meanwhile I went to the Post Office to get some esty stuff sent and was in the queue behind a tall young woman posting a load of parcels all over the place.
I got chatting and it turns out she has a children's clothing website .
Then she said 'How are the boys?'. I was surprised because I didn't recognise her but she is a girl I taught and her brother is a friend of my son..
She said ' I always remember those little aprons you used to make for us when we had a birthday party. I'd love one for my little boy.'

Isn't that funny? But then I came home and looked in all the places I can think of which are sooooo full of junk and just can't find the aprons, but I found a load of letters from my Mum from when I was at college. All in her lovely handwriting. It brought Cathy's post home to me.



They are so lovely because they give a glimpse into our our lives and what they and I were up to as well as my brother, who was desperate for a Ben Sherman shirt at the time! They were in their early forties then, so its a lovely picture of their lives as 'young' people with teenage children 1970-72.

My dad wrote to me once which must have been in response to my asking him to, and it was so delightful and so very him.
I wonder if I should share it with the blog world? Perhaps I will and if you don't want to read it you can pass. I just love it and set the background for you first:

I was in my second year at St Mary's College, Strawberry Hill in Twickenham, staying in 'approved lodgings' which basically meant with a family who had been vetted by the college. I shared with a friend a tiny room with two single beds a desk and two chairs. The family were very nice but we were students and didn't want to get up early for breakfast with them, or come in before midnight. We may as well have been from a different planet. It was Winter. We were cold and miserable and Northern.

Here are some excerpts from his very long letter:


'There, see , your plaintive little PS has wrung at my heart strings so I've got my quill out and the pepper, and yer I be! Mum is busy knitting an Arran sweater for P*** or me -depending on how big it is when its finished!! No actually its lovely really, all diamonds and bobbs-I think she's very clever but I will be glad when it is finished 'cos I'm fed up of being 'shushed' every time I open my mouth. she was even shushing the folks on the telly the other night!!! I suppose its a difficult pattern but I'm sure Paton and Baldwins never had this trouble.

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The college authorities are certainly sending you far afield for your TP this time. still Mitcham looks as though it is a reasonable area and the kids won't be too tough. I'm only going by the map of course but it doesn't look too bad although it might be an awkward place to get to by bus-do you have to go to Kingston and change?

Your social diary sounds very full these days and I'm glad you are getting into the outside world a bit more but (here comes the fatherly bit) do be careful love, there are some queer characters knocking about as you well know. still I have no fears in that direction but you know I have to hand out the good advice occasionally!!!!


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I'm glad to hear that you are going on an archaeological dig next week. Work hard at it and then you can go on another dig in the garden next summer.! I suspect that the building contractor on the site you are going to has set the rumour about that there are Roman remains in the area. No, don't make mock, just think of the money he'll be saving if you dig the footings and all he has to do is fill 'em with concrete. If the finished pattern of the dig looks like the shape of a house, demand time and half wages or threaten to fill it all in again!

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I've been to the town hall in Lancaster today connected with work of course and I got some bits and pieces for the car at a garage there. I know you are not interested really but I can tell you and you can't say 'so what?' or 'Big deal' like Mum and Paul. Anyway its filled a few more lines hasn't it-dead clever, what!

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I expect Mum told you about having your picture framed didn't she? The "Framer in chief at *****' said that a black frame wouldn't look pictorially right with a predominantly black picture (and he should know, after all he's been a blacksmith all his life, or nearly all of it) so we had a white frame. It looks lovely mind you and we are both so proud of it. When anyone strange (and I don't think that's quite the right word) calls, we don't say anything but we both will them to look at it. If that doesn't work we try to draw their attention to it-nothing obvious mind you but it never fails-I think its the sight of your Mum doing a hand stand on the picture rail that eventually catches the eye!!! Seriously I think its a beautiful piece of work and I could sit and look at it all night, which I frequently do.

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The social committee are holding a firework display at ******* tomorrow night and I went to Southport to collect the fireworks £22-10-0's worth. Looking at the size of some of the rockets I shouldn't be surprised if they drag half of S********** Lane into orbit. If the weather is as bad tomorrow night as it is tonight we'll never get a match to light never mind the fireworks.



He finishes off by telling me he wants to get me a new winter coat to keep me warm and will stick his neck out and send £20 so I can buy one 'down there'. (London)

I have to report I bought the most bizarre Biba coat. Long, tightly fitted, Khaki with little black velvet Fleur de Lis all over it and with Sherlock Holmes type flaps on the shoulders, a stand up collar and fly front. Totally unsuitable for warmth but incredibly fashionable at the time. It got some funny looks when I wore it in my home town, Preston, during the holidays I can tell you. I have trawled the net for an image but I just can't find it.

I hope you don't mnd my indulging myself with those excerpts. Its like hearing his voice again and was a bittersweet experience for my Mum and I . We read all her letters which were full of news and very entertaining, and she was happy to be reminded of the busy house and busy life she had, of my brother's teenage years , and his social activities and most of all of her life as a wife and not a widow.




If you have been, thanks for reading.