Happy Birthday Dad!

It's my dad's birthday today, as well as being a Bank Holiday in Canada - for which he sends his thanks :o) My dad turns out to be Bob Dylan's cosmic twin - they are both 69 today!

I don't really know where to start with stories about my dad ... my parents came over yesterday, and dad was reminiscing about his school days, when he was a bit of a naughty boy, who got the cane on numerous occasions! The one for which he got the harshest punishment was when he not only let the tyres down on a hated teacher's bike, but threw away the valves, so that they couldn't be pumped up again... I think my dad's mischievious past was an asset when he joined the police force, because he knew all the tricks!

Dad's been feeling a bit low since the winter, when he had his first serious health scare. He's taking a while to adjust mentally to this, and physically to the medications he's having to take. However, now the sun is here, and he's able to get out and about a bit more, he's cheering up. And my niece works magic too - he's wrapped around her little finger, but I can't complain, because I too am a Daddy's girl still!

Happy birthday dad, here's to many more!

Family Resemblances

My mum has discovered Facebook ... which is rather nice, as she's been putting up some interesting photos from her family tree researches.

I'll spare you the be-whiskered Victorians, as I'm not entirely sure how they fit in, but this is a photo that shows four generations - and it was taken over forty years ago...

I'm the baby there, and I would have been about 5 months old. To the right is my mum, to the left is her father, and the lap I am sitting on is his mother.

This picture is Grandad with his parents - the lady that to me always seemed so old looks very pretty and vibrant here, even in the stiff studio post. My Great Gran was a very independent lady - she was one of the first women in Scotland to have a motorbike, in the 1920s and was still driving well into her eighties! She could be a bit awkward, but she was never less than kind to myself and my sister, and even when her memory was failing, she remembered a little bit about us, and my dad, even though she could no longer recognise my mum or her daughters-in-law.

The little boy in the knitted dress grew up to be this handsome chap! Grandad was in the Navy in the War, and served on the Atlantic convoys, and went not only to West Africa (where he contracted malaria) but to Russia, where he spent most of one winter. He never talked about his war experience, and never wanted his medals. I think in this picture, you can really see the resemblance to my mum the most. My Grandad died when I was eight - he was a heavy smoker, and lung cancer took him. The hair by this time was heavily Brylcreemed to tame the curl, and the smell of Brylcreem and Old Spice still brings him back ...

This picture was taken when I was about four years old. And as you can see, I got the fair curly hair too - and so did Ma, although not quite as wild a head of hair... My mummy made not only the dress she was wearing, but my bolero too - it was knitted with a crochet edging and crochet flowers on it. I thought it was the bee's knees! Ma made nearly all my clothes when my sister and I were young - the dress I'm wearing must have been a present from my godmother, because they were nearly the only times we had anything "shop bought". I think partly this was out of necessity, but partly because Ma enjoyed making things - and she always sold it to us as something exciting, because we were getting something made especially for us!

I think this picture of my mum in Sherwood Forest was taken when I was eleven or twelve, because Ben (the dog) still looks quite puppyish ... Mum lost a lot of weight after Grandad died and to me she looks very thin. Although having a very active dog who needed a lot of walking won't have helped any ...

And to bring it up to date ... this was taken a couple of summers ago. I am turning into my mother ... when I stress about this - normally when The Hermit has pointed out matching character traits - The Hermit says "but that's okay, I like your mother!" - and he doesn't always understand why this isn't terribly reassuring :o)  I think the resemblance was lost for a bit as I wore glasses and was a lot heavier than her ... now we're equalising a bit and I'm wearing contacts more ..

I think I'll stop here, because I could write the same again about how my sister resembles our maternal uncle, maternal grandmother and her mother - not to mention how much my niece looks like Sis! I hope you've enjoyed the little clamber around my family tree...  I'd be interested to hear about your family and resemblances too!

Guinea Pigs

I'd just like to pop up and say 'thank you' for all the lovely comments I've had recently - it is appreciated. I know I'm not always regular in my posting - hence the unheralded participation in NaBloPoMo - so it's great to know that people are still out there reading!

And just to make a change from the crafting pictures, here are a couple of 'the boys', my house guinea pigs:

This is Rowan. He's just over a year old now. He's very strong willed. He is also able to recognise certain words and will react to them - even wake up for them! The words kind of show his priorities: banana, grape, parsley, basil, day bed, duvet, hay ...

This is the old guy, Jasper. He's nearly six years old, but is ageing well :o) He is one of the most laid back guinea pigs I've had, and is an absolute love, nearly always up for a cuddle. Like Rowan, when one of us comes home, he comes out of his little house and he'd wag his tail if he had one, he loves people and is excited to see them. His favourite person in the whole world is The Hermit - the two of them often snuggle and nap together! This picture is unusual in that Jasper's eyes are open when he's curled up on The Hermit LOL!

Happy Thanksgiving!

No turkeys were harmed in the making of this post...

For once, The Hermit and I remembered that this weekend is Thanksgiving in Canada and so we had a Thanksgiving dinner yesterday. It was kind of Anglo-Canadian and also made concessions to my vegetarianism so it wasn't entirely traditional, but it was yummy :o) I think next year, I might invite the parents round, although it would mean serious furniture re-arranging to get them seated at the table!

Anyway, dinner was Quorn escalopes, mashed sweet potato, sweetcorn, petit pois, honey roasted parnsips, Yorkshire puddings, and onion gravy, and for dessert we had pie - apple and blackberry, as pecan or pumpkin pie would have been a bit fiddly. And we had a delicious organic beer too - Stinger - made with nettles.

I think we have a lot to be thankful for - not just each other and our families and friends, but we both have jobs, both are studying on courses that really interest us, we have the guinea pigs, our health problems are chronic but not terminal, we have a roof over our heads and food in the cupboard.

And the small things too: hot water bottles, Lush soap, a friendly postman, a new computer, Radio 4 ...

Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow bloggers, especially those in Canada!

Birthday Cards

July and August are always manic months for birthdays in my family. First of all, there's my sister, then my brother in law, then my mum, then my partner's sister and finally, my partner.

I've already posted a picture of my sister's card which I made using ribbon embroidery, but here are the others:


It's really hard to find cards for men that aren't a bit of a cliche - cars, football, fishing or sailing seem to be about the limits! This was a card from a kit to which I added peel off lettering. I can't say I recommend stitching with raffia, it's a bit of a struggle :o)

Stitching with silk organza is much more pleasant and it grows so quickly! I do get a bit tangled up with the sticky tape on the reverse, but fortunately, no one needs to see that! Again, this was a card from a kit, and I embellished it with additional lettering, which not only makes it more personal, but I think it balances the design better. I'm all for blank space in designs, but there can be too much of a good thing! The needleroll was an earlier finish which I also gave to my mum. It's all her fault I stitch anyhow LOL


This is another card from a kit - I bought the kit locally on sale, but I think the designer/maker is a Dutch company. It wasn't the best stitching experience ever. First of all, I had to prick every single hole - they weren't pre-punched, unlike the ribbon embroidery card. And then, to get the effect pictured (and which had been on the picture on the packet) I had to fudge how I folded the whole thing and incorporated the liner. I wonder if everyone else had to do that, and thta's why they were so cheap? :o) I'm pleased with the effect though, and it was nice to make something for The Hermit in his favourite colours, as I rarely stitch anything blue - it really is a colour I dislike!

Mother's Day Card - DMC

Title: Honeysuckle Mother's Day Card
Designer: DMC (kit)
Fabric: 14 count aida, antique white
Threads: DMC

I don't often stitch from kits, but I saw this on one of my charity shop trawls and had to buy it. My parent's house had - until recently - the most amazing honeysuckle growing over one wall. Last year, it got pruned back rather drastically, as it was in danger of bringing down the guttering and phone line, and it's a shadow of it's former self. So this was a little reminder.

The card was part of the kit, as you can tell by the way that the motif echoes the stitching. My mum really liked it - UK Mother's Day is always before Easter, so she's had it already.

Wedding Sampler - Angela Davison

Design: Wedding Sampler
Designer: Angela Davison - own colour scheme
Threads: DMC
Fabric: 28 count evenweave, antique white

My sister asked me to stitch a sampler for her sister-in-law's wedding, as Suzi really is "the woman who has everything". The colour scheme chosen for the wedding was pink and ivory, so that's what I chose to use in the sampler. Although I hadn't seen the bridemaid's dresses when I had to start this, I did a pretty good job at guessing the colours :o) The original colour scheme for the sampler was blue and lemon, and it took some adjustments as I stitched to make sure the colour balance was okay. At first, it looked horribly pink (and so the WIP got called The Pink Peril)but I think in the end the design looks fine. My sister was really pleased with it, and so was the recipient.

This sampler design is one I've stitched before - in fact, the first time I stitched it, I stitched it for my sister, and I chose lilacs and silver-blues. She eloped to get married, and I didn't see the dress until she emailed photos from Oz - and guess what, her dress was a silvery lavender colour ...

This design comes from a book by Angela Davison, published by Merehurst. The charting isn't great, and there are several errors in it. Fortunately, having stitched it once, I was on the look out for them, but I find it really irritating when patterns are obviously not thoroughly proofed.

My niece was a bridesmaid at the wedding, so I thought I'd post a picture of her, too :o) The lady carrying her is my sister.

And this is the cheeky side of M:

My niece and her afghan

My niece M is a very curious child - here she is investigating a squirrel, who appears to be glued to the tree...

This post is just an excuse to share this picture with you, because it makes me smile every time I see it. Even though you can't see her face, her posture is just ... her! She's not very tall, but very sturdy, and very confident :o)

As I'm posting about M, I'm going to take this opportunity to post a picture of the afghan I made for her when she was born. When I gave it to her parents, my BiL insisted it be stored away safely, as it was too good to give her- I can see his point, but I hope that she gets to use it sometime :o)