A Spoily Day

Today I had a day of spoilies as my hubby calls them – he has been waiting to give me a spoily day ever since I’ve felt better after the last chemo, but I’ve been too busy with my mystery projects and had no time to go out.

Our first port of call was the Ricky Grant Day Unit for my bloods (not that that was particularly spoily!). For once I wasn’t kept waiting very long at all, and a nurse I hadn’t seen before called me in, and in no time at all, she had the gripper needle in, the port flushed, and the blood out – I hardly felt a thing! It was the most painless and hassle-free ever. She was very nice (as they all are) and very friendly. I asked her for more of the cow cream and she gave me a new pot, and I handed in my MRSA swabs. Back again tomorrow for chemo session #5.

Last time I was there for my chemo, I got into conversation with a lovely nurse who told me that her husband and her daughter were in the army, in the Royal Engineers. I told her that my grandfather had been in the Royal Engineers in the First World War, and she was very interested in that. Before going today, I had a rummage in my buttons box and found the Royal Engineers uniform buttons I’d inherited from my grandfather with all his other buttons, and took out two to give to her. She was totally overwhelmed and thrilled with this, and said her daughter and husband would be thrilled too – she said I had made her day! Actually her lovely response made my day – it was so touching!

Over a year ago I started making a large album about my dad, but had to set it aside in favour of the smaller one that I wanted to make for our niece. This large album is a project I want to take up again as soon as I can. All I have done so far is the ancestry pages, one of which is about Grandpa in WWI, and I am going to take this page in for the nurse to see tomorrow. On it is one of Grandpa’s buttons!

After this we came home, and made plans about our lunch out. My hubby had suggested we went out for lunch today, and our original plan was to go to our favourite place on the sea front, and then trundle along looking at the sea – it would have been the first time I’d been out on my buggy for months! However, the weather was awful today and it was more like November than August, so we had a change of plan. I asked if he would take me to Hobbycraft in Newton Abbot so I could pick up some of their own brand polyester filling for my angels project – I’ve been recommended this as one of the best around, and it will certainly be better than the awful lumpy stuff I’ve got!

So we went to the Passage House Inn, right down on the River Teign, where we have eaten lots of times in the past. My hubby had the carvery, and I had steak and otter pie – I was a bit worried about eating otters until they reassured me that it was Otter Ale!! It was absolutely delicious. I was very good and didn’t have a pudding – I’ve put on 4 lb in the last fortnight and I’m anxious not to gain too much weight. Although I have abandoned my diet until I’m through all the surgery and chemo, I have been trying at least to maintain my weight at a constant level!

Hobbycraft was brilliant. I hadn’t been before, and there was loads of great stash there! I got my polyester filling and then had a good old rummage through the whole shop. After a while my hubby went and sat in the car to read his book, and I am afraid I succumbed to temptation despite my resolution not to spend any money on more stash this month lol! There’s no hope for me – I’m an addict.

Here is what I bought.

At the back, the polyester filling. Middle row L-R: Tim Holtz tissue tape, Twinkling H2Os (I’ve wanted these for years!), a glue stick, some clippy attaching thingies by Tim Holtz. Front row: 2 packs of fat quarters with small prints to make angel clothes. Love how they are packaged with the ribbons and labels!

I signed up for a loyalty card and got £5 off my order.

In the shop they had quite a few different embossing and die-cutting machines, and I saw the Sizzix Big Shot Plus for the first time – what a dream machine! I am soooo tempted… I have had an old-style Cuttlebug since I started and it works just fine, but it is very small, and the idea of being able to emboss up to A4 is extremely attractive! Has anybody else out there got one, and what do they think? I’m not thinking of doing anything straight away but it did look gorgeous.

Then it was time to come home. I was pretty tired by then, and had a cup of tea and a sleep.

I saw something that amused me today – while I was waiting outside the hospital for my hubby to come with the car after my appointment, I was sitting outside the Physiotherapy Department and through the open door I saw this crutch:

You can see it propped up against the wall in the corner. Anybody using a crutch like that must need physio lol lol!!

Fourth Felt-Making Class

The first of two posts today on felt. In the penultimate session of our five-week course, last night we did needle-felting. This is so different from wet felting that it could really be considered an entirely separate craft, but the principle is the same – forcing the wool fibres to lock together to form a firm fabric – only the method is different. I love how you can bring the two together to great effect.

We began with the teacher giving us a demonstration, and showing some pieces she had made, including some small 3-D animals (which she said we wouldn’t be doing at this session) – much as I admire the skill in making these, and can see their attraction, I have no desire to make them, and would prefer to use needle felting for embellishing previously made wet-felted pieces, or for making stand-alone embellishments for other purposes. She described how you can use all your little bits, off-cuts and other stuff you might be tempted to throw away – nothing need be wasted!

She also showed us some images on the computer, of various people’s work, all of which was very impressive.

Some time ago I was given a needle-felting kit, so I brought this along. Included in the kit was a tool known as a Clover tool, consisting of a holder and several fine felting needles with a retractable guard to protect one’s fingers; the teacher said this was fine for covering a wider area, but not so good for more accurate work. The teacher had some individual needles for sale on her table and I bought one – it is a lot more substantial than my tool, and I was able to achieve good detail with it. I shall be ordering more of these from the Internet.

I decided to try my hand at improving my first piece, which came out looking vaguely like a field of poppies. I added more wool where necessary to tidy up the design, and added some shading to the brown centres of the flowers. In this photo, you can see the needle sticking up. The needles are extremely sharp, and have barbs along their length to catch and snag the wool fibres and felt them together. You work on a thick piece of foam, and stab down vertically. It makes a satisfying sound! You do have to concentrate, though, or you end up stabbing yourself… Ouch! I felt that! (Sorry…)

I also added more orange wool where necessary. You can see that my poppies now have more definition, and the shading of the centres makes them look less flat.

I was just starting to add some red accents to the flowers, to separate the petals and add some detail (see the above photo), when the class came to an end, so I still have quite a bit of work to do on this piece. I am intending to add some stems and leaves in darker green, and to make some separate leaves which will then be needle-felted onto the piece, and I will also cover up one or two places along the edges where there is some white showing.

Here is the round-up at the end of the class. In the first one, the teacher is discussing one particular piece.

As you can see, there is a variety of work on the table – some people created a small picture, while others created small stand-alone items, and a couple of us resurrected our early pieces to add embellishments and definition.

These are the small pieces, together with a couple of little pictures.

This landscape picture from the second session is being embellished with daffodils. She is going to add more flowers, getting smaller into the distance. The flowers are wonderfully tactile, and give great focus to the picture.

I loved this small piece with its spiral design. You can see that it is quite thick and substantial. The teacher said you could make a set of buttons like this!

Finally, the little gingerbread man that the teacher made during the evening, and which began as her initial demonstration. He is even wearing a little scarf, and he has very bright eyes. This piece, and several other small pieces, were made using a cookie cutter as a template – you lay the wool fibres over the top, and stab through with the needle, working up to the edges of the inside of the cutter until you have sufficient felt to work without the aid of a template.

What a lot of variety in our work tonight!

I was extremely impressed with how easy needle-felting turned out to be, and how quick; it also uses remarkably little wool! Also, how much less work it was to do (as I also discovered with wet felting). I had been a bit concerned that I might not be able to manage it, and was very pleasantly surprised. I love how painterly needle-felting is; you can take the smallest wisp of wool and build up shading very gradually, or make a well-defined edge. You can be as precise as you like! – quite unlike wet felting which by its very nature is vague because things tend to move around. If you make a mistake, you simply cover it up with more wool. You can use needle-felting to add definition and emphasis to a wet-felted piece, or you can start a piece using needle felting, to attach the different elements together to prevent them moving, and then wet-felt it, which will make it shrink and become firmer. So much potential and variety, and so many ideas spring to mind!

Outing to Plymouth Barbican

Yesterday after a friend suggested she take Mum off our hands so we could have a nice day out together, my hubby and I went to Plymouth for a lovely outing to the Barbican, the oldest part of the city, down by the sea. It is a place full of atmosphere, with cobbled streets and tiny narrow winding alleyways, and a rich maritime history. Along the main streets there are plenty of gift shops and art galleries and eating places. There is a small covered arcade of shops called “The House that Jack Built” and it was in here that I discovered a shop entirely devoted to buttons! Here is a decorative tile set into the floor which took my fancy.

Buttons, buttons, buttons!

and more buttons!

We found a shop that specialised in chocolate sculptures and exotic cakes, and I couldn’t resist this glorious wedding cake with a sea theme.

Here’s one of the chocolate sculptures.

It was a bit difficult to photograph things in this shop window because of the reflections.

Here is a view of the main shopping street.

Some art glass in one of the galleries. The artist is called Richard Glass, appropriately.

This is New Street, which has to be one of the oldest streets in Plymouth – not easy to get a good photo, and apologies for the wheelie bins!!

This is the site of the old Fish Market, which now houses shops and restaurants. I remember coming down here many years ago, very early in the morning, and witnessing the fishing boats coming in, and managing to get some scraps for the cats! I also picked up a scallop shell which had been thrown aside, and which I still have.

The Dolphin Hotel, with its well-known facade.

Another street view, overlooking the harbour.

This has to be one of the oldest buildings in the city. I love the stone work, and the filled-in arches which show how the building has been changed in the past. The roof is obviously more modern, but the chimneys are old, and boast quite a lot of plant life growing out of them!

One of several snickets, known as “opes” with a view of an old warehouse in the distance. You can make out the crane with the pulley, which was used to lift things in and out through the large doors at the top.

Another ope with the Custom House in the distance.

Interesting street sign.

More art glass.

Our afternoon culminated in a tour of the Plymouth gin factory.

This has a very long and distinguished history dating back to the 1400s. It is a small concern but is still producing Plymouth gin in its distinctive bottles, in both “normal” and the stronger “navy” strength. We saw the single still that produces the gin, and in the tasting room, examined all the “botanicals” which go into the gin to give it its unique flavour – not just juniper berries, but lemon and orange peel, cardamom, angelica and other spices! We had a taste, and were then treated to a gin and tonic before we left via the shop, where I bought a bottle of their gorgeous sloe gin – quite the best commercially produced I’ve ever tasted. A lot of people make their own around here from the sloes which grow abundantly on Dartmoor (which the Plymouth Gin factory also uses) and this always tastes a lot nicer than the normal commercial stuff. It was a very interesting tour.

Years ago we had a French lady staying with us, who went on a tour of the factory, and on her return, when we asked how she’d enjoyed it, she replied, “It was bizarre…” and described how she couldn’t understand what was going on at all, with the large copper vessels and pipes and so on – she’d understood she was going on a tour of the Plymouth Jeans Factory and was mystified by the complete absence of even a shred of denim!

The weather was horrible yesterday and it poured with rain on the way over and on the way back, but we managed to escape getting wet, and were able to sit on a bench overlooking the harbour with all the boats, to eat our sandwiches. You can see from the photos how overcast it was, but we didn’t let the weather spoil our enjoyment. We used to live in Plymouth and have always loved the Barbican, and it was fun to return and be tourists for a day!