I've still been making art:)

My landscape in machine embroidery
 First take a selection of fabrics

arrange them in some kind of landscape

 start stitching them down with loose tacking stitches on to your base fabric.

not sure? then try some other colours

 But decide first lot were great so carry on stitching. Frame them with a little card to see if the effect is what you envisioned

 Yes? then it is finished.

there has also been knitting

 Another shawl:)

 and a swirl jacket, my coat of very many colours. made using all the left overs from previous knitting:) The jacket was a little tricky at the beginning . you had to cast on almost 600 stitches using long tail cast on which I hadnt done before. It got a little easier after that. It is a little big and I dont know whether to felt it  or leave as is.

 Then I did a workshop at our spinning group on Saturday. Eta ingham lawrie does the most spectacular  weavings, if you google her you will see what I mean.
I have not woven since I was a child so I was quite daunted at the thought of a workshop but was determined to give it a go. I am so glad I did:)
My piece is entitled Sulky Cat meet Ciel. Sulky cat because she introduced me to the delights of steampunk(note the wheels on the piece). Ciel in honour of a late internet friend. When she passed another friend gave us all a mini skein of purple sparkly yarn Ciels signature:)
I've had this over 12 months now waiting for the right occasion to use it. This was it.
I wanted to do a piece to represent the element Spirit, hence all the purples although it shows up blue. I've added a triple moon and at the bottom a bell.

What do you think?

Autumn is here

The days are much cooler now and much shorter. Autumn is most certainly here .I have been rather remiss on blogging, apologies.

 It seems to have been quite a busy few weeks. We have seen more of our grandsons during the summer holidays which has been lovely. Been visiting friends in Scotland also fabulous and caught up with old friends from when we lived there.

 That was really strange and more than a coincidence.

 We had called in Castle Douglas on our way to see friends. Walking past a restaurant we both said wonder if J + P still go there? Walked a little further to charity shop and a strange man was smiling at us.

 The lady from charity shop said "we were just talking about you" bear in mind it is over 6 years since we moved. The strange man was our friend J:) It was really odd because we have not seen or heard from anyone there since we moved.

 In fact we were really quite upset at the time because of Mr Mog finding out he had cancer. Apparently the other friend there had not passed on the info in fact had spun a completely different tale

 Seems none of the residents there have anything to do with her, which tells me something. Anyway enough of the negativity. J+P were so glad to see us, as were we to see them. We spent a long time catching up and then made arrangements to go and see them 2 days later.

 Had great lunch, P makes the most wonderful curries. Caught up with another pal who lives there so all in all a lovely day.

 Andy makes furniture and we may have come away with a spinning chair he made out of Ash. Picture later in the blog post.

 Mr Mog bought it me for my significant birthday:)

 Scotland was lovely and we really enjoyed our break. we were house sitting for our friends so took the opportunity to explore the area.

 It was very relaxing. I must tell you about an incident that happened while we were there though.

 they have 2 cats, lovely female calico and a stunning pure black male.

 That may have been another reason to offer to house sit of course:) I do still miss having cats around the house.

 on the last night we went to bed. After an hour or so I felt something moving I thought in the bed, I wasnt sure if it was my imagination as I don't have a lot of feeling in my joints. I mentioned it to Mr Mog, woke him to tell him. He couldn't feel anything so I put it down to imagination.

Through the rest of the night I occasionally felt something and was getting quite worried wondering if I was going mad. My own fault I should have insisted we looked. Anyway around 6am I'd had enough, woke Mr Mog again and asked him to check.
He obviously didn't appreciate being woken;) he pulled back the duvet and on top of the sheet that covered us there was a mouse. Not sure who was most surprised Mr Mog, the mouse or me. I was so relieved and ended up bursting into tears because it wasn't imagination.

 these are the cats, as you can see quite irresistible:)

this is my wonderful spinning chair. Andy does commissions if anyone is looking for a chair , he has some wonderful cherry waiting to be used. I would add that no trees were harmed in the making, these were  fallen trees

A great day:)

A most wonderful time, celebrating this auspicious day . Breakfast with good friends then a trip to Furness  with Mr Mog for a trip down memory lane to the school I boarded for 2 years from age 7-9. Sadly now owned by wealthy man and large private sign so no access:(
But the day was lovely and the Cumbrian hills stunning and the friends such good company so that's all you need isn't it?
I received 42 cards ,numerous gifts and I spent the day with the man I love.
Thanks to the Goddess for that.

Almost

On the eve of my birthday, a major one this time and would have been pension age if the government hadn't changed the goalposts. I don't think about my age or worry about it . It is just a number after all. Hadn't planned anything for it as I have been rather distracted organising a special event.
It was MrMog,s birthday last week and I decided to celebrate in a special way.
I organised a mini wool festival - Mogfest. Invited many friends and family to join us and some very special stall holders that MrMog really liked.
I also organised lunch, this was catered by Vintage Village Hall who do afternoon teas served in traditional style with bone china,cake stands and embroidered tablecloths.
I think there were nearly 80 of us all together and it was wonderful. Mr Mog didn't know util we arrived at the venue. He thought we were going to support our friends in their first craft show. True as they were having a stand.
When we arrived at the venue I explained I hadn't been quite truthful and pointed to the large Mogfest banner outside the venue:)
I told him he needed his invite and had to wear the special tshirt my friend had designed for him.

All friends were waiting to welcome him and he was very overwhelmed to say the least.

He had suspected something as w had 3 friends staying for 3 nights but thought that it was just to celebrate at home.It was a wonderful day and well worth the weeks of lack of sleep and stress, I did have fantastic help from good friends though.
The cake was wonderful, a 3d cat, mogfest and Mr Mog on it. Oh and paw prints. it took a week to recover but I am so pleased I did it.
Friends wanted to donate to a charity as the event was free and we raised £675 on the day which was incredible. Half has gone to the air ambulance and half to St Catherine's hospice, both worthy cause
There is probably a lot more to say but that will be another day.
How are you?

A belated happy Lammas

A little late but hope you all had a good Lammas. We spent it at friends in Scotland and the full moon was incredible. They have recently moved to a small holding on the way to Stranraer  and the area was new to me. What gorgeous views from their house, even the isle of man was visible. We had a meander round the area and really enjoyed it. Tomorrow is oncology day for mr Mog , always a worrying time even though his results have been good. I think it is automatic to worry, hard not to. We are getting close to a celebration for his birthday, I don't want to be more specific in case he does stumble on this post. I don't think he will but I don't want to spoil the surprise. Suffice it to say it will involve fibre,friends and fun. More after the weekend on that. I think he may wonder what is going on when friends come to stay for the weekend (3 of them) I have said they want to help celebrate his birthday which is true:)
More later

Sometimes the wild goddess calls you

 You might not be listening at that moment

so she calls a little louder

 Will you listen? Will you ignore her?

 Will your heart sing and your joy spring forth at her call?

 Does she reach the inner you? the child within?

 What will you do with the call and its message?

 The first pictures above are a half of this years lavender crop in the front border, ripe already. I left the rest for the bees:) Then this picture is some part of our tomato and pepper growing in the conservatory. We have had our first tomatoes from them.

 The back border shows some colour and is growing so well with the wet warm weather we have had.

 The lush flowers in the vases were a thank you gift from friends who are moving. We went to lend a hand packing. The flowers are now fully out and truly stunning.

 I have decided to give spindling another go and I love the trindle I got from a friends destash. The batt I am spinning is also from a destash and a change from my usual bright colours. It does however have some sparkle in it.

 Then another friend persuaded me to have a go at knitting a swirl jacket. I had lots of part balls of yarn left over from the Elsewhere jackets I knit so decided to use those. The jackets are an unusual construction, you cast on almost 600 stitches in a circle using long tail cast on. I'd never done that before and that was an exercise in patience. Also made my thumbs exceedingly sore. I knit several rounds and was sure that I'd not twisted the join but I had:(

A  friend who was staying took pity on me and when I had pulled back the many rows I'd done she cast on for me. Thanks Sam:) We did go to the Tynedale Gathering over on the north east  and while speaking to one of the other people there I heard of a great idea for joining circles. This lady pins out the circle on her ironing board, checks it is straight then joins in situ. What do you know it works much better than crossing fingers and hoping.

 The jacket is very bright as you can see and I love it. The sleeves are too long but I'm not worried. I will stitch the cuffs back on it,.

 Then I did mention my sewing ?
This is my little featherweight machine, isn't it lovely?

Did you miss me?

I hadn't realised how long it had been since my last blog post. Sorry. It has been hectic but in a good way . Mr Mog is doing really well on his drug trial and they are very pleased with him at oncology . His numbers are down and apart from a spell of horrendous hot sweats he hasn't had any side effects up to now. This is the 4th month of the trial and we are still on 4 weekly appointments . One month it is ECG ,bloods and consultant and the alternate month is bone scan, ct scan, bloods and consultant. Those months are long appointments because one of the scans has to be 2-3 hours after the injection . But a small price to pay for the results:) what else has been happening? We went to Woolfest and really enjoyed it as usual. We stayed in the Travelodge across from the venue and that helped a lot especially as it was yet another wet festival . Lots of flooding around and about but it didn't stop the fun:) we met up with lots of friends from across the country and across the world. I have unearthed my Bernina and have a fancy to do some machine embroidery and mixed media stuff. I organised a days tuition with one of my favourite tutors and really enjoyed it. We did various techniques and it was a chance to reacquaint myself with stitching. It was also an exceedingly good value day for one to one. I acquired an old singer hand crank machine which Mr Mog cleaned up and serviced and I love it. It only does straight stitch but sometimes that is all you want. But:- We saw an old featherweight singer sewing machine at woolfest on the Yarnyard stand and both fell in love with it. I said I would love one of those and decided to look for one after Woolfest. Imagine my surprise when I got home to a phone message from a local charity shop saying they had a sewing machine for me. I had asked if they ever got old machines in as I wanted a hand crank and had forgotten to get in touch to say I had got one. We went in on the Monday and they couldn't see a machine. The girl rang the manager who told her where it was. We saw a lovely old case, looked like the kind you used to carry Lps around in. When Mr Mog opened it there was a mint 221k featherweight inside. Perfect in every way :) the Goddess must have been listening I think. I found out that the 222k featherweight actually drops its feed dogs and is ideal for FME (free machine embroidery) and has the added advantage of being easy to carry around. Guess what I am looking for now? Mr Mogs birthday is coming up shortly and I am trying to organise something to celebrate. I don't want to put anything on the blog as he sometimes reads it, but if you want to know more message me via comments. There is probably lots more I haven't said but hopefully won't be as long to next post. Thank you for reading

Of this and that

Wow bet you didn't expect another post so soon did you? The sun is shining here and it doesn't half lift the spirits

Following are some pictures from our recent holiday in Wales, wet but still a lovely few days

This tree was just outside our dining room window.

views from the living room

they changed as you watched

 This was a craft centre near Builth Wells , Erwood

 As you can probably tell, a disused railway

This was the Thomas shop near Llandrindod Wells, a marvellous museum and craft centre with a tea room.

 You could actually get amongst the items and have a closer look.

Whilst there our friend picked up a couple of hand cranked sewing machines and when I got back home I thought that wasn't a bad idea for the days when I can't use my legs or feet to press the foot pedal on my Bernina.I am by no means a proper machinist, I do however like doing freeform ,no straight lines for me as I am challenged when it comes to sewing or cutting straight.

I was getting rid of some surplus furniture on one of our local boards, it isn't freegle, you can actually ask for small amounts of cash or typically chocolate wine etc. I asked for a sewing machine. I thought it was worth an ask. A lady contacted me from a local charity they had been given a machine to sell for funds. This little beauty cost me the sum of £25. No rust, well oiled and not much dirt as you can see.

It stitches beautifully and will be ideal on the days I just want to do a little slow stitching.
Well tomorrow is hospital, first checkup on Mr Mogs drug trial and I think a long appointment. He is doing well up to now with no outward side effects. Maybe a little more hungry from the steroids and a little more tired. But in the scheme of things that isn't much at all.

Who knows where the time goes?

Warning this post contains a picture of a Sheila Na Gig and is sexually explicit.

 A song I love:)

So where has the time gone? It has been a strange time to say the least but with good parts. A little like the curate's egg:)
We went to Wonderwool and it was freezing and very very cold but good to meet up with friends from around the world. Coldest ,wettest Wonderwool I've ever attended. The interactive area raised £850 for the air ambulance which was good. Lots of volunteers and also lots of people willing to donate.
We stayed in a cottage with good friends for the week and despite the constant daily rain it was good and a break. A chance to recoup our energies and our peace of mind.
My head has not been good. I thinkit has been a mix of worries , firstly over Mr Mog and then my son had problems, plus the ever constant pain just got a wee bit too much.
I went to see the doctor and just that simple act helped. It made me focus on me and what was going on.
The consensus was that I try stronger pills for the pain, try and lose a little weight to help with the joint problems and more meditation. If that didn't help then there was always the option of drugs or councillor.
To be honest just talking about it all helped and with a neutral person even more so.

I feel more myself now, yes I still have the stress and the pain but it is just a part of who and what I am.

We decided to shift the craft room around and put a new unit in with more space removing a desk I had. It puts all the yarn and fibre together where I can  see them easily instead of having stashes here there and everywhere.

Part of doing this meant I had to move my altar.. It seemed the right time to change the cards I always have there and these are what I pulled out today.

Normally I have one Attuned card and 1 Goddess oracle card there but this time 2 Attuned ones fell out.
So what do the cards tell me about where I am right now?
The first one from the Attuned deck is Windsong. This is all about finding your place of being, in harmony with the earth. Rediscovering ones true song.
The second card from the Goddess oracle is Sheila Na Gig, a disturbing card to some with the sexual aspects. She is portrayed as a hag, an aspect of the Goddess Morrigan. She guards the doorway between life and death. Her card for me reflects new beginning, leaving something behind and starting anew.Her open vulva to me means open up to a new life a new way of thinking.
The third card is from the Attuned deck and is Angel. She is glancing backwards, leaving the dark behind, moving into the light. Starting again, moving onwards .
So the message seems clear to me, just be in the moment, no worrying about what has gone on and what might happen. Just live the day as it comes.
Your thoughts as always are welcome, thank you

Mr Mog BTW is doing well, the drug trial appears to be progressing as it should and up to now no unwanted side effects. We go back to the hospital Tuesday for his first appointment since starting the trial. More tests then and a chance to see how it works or doesn't. Lets face it it isn't a cure, that really doesn't matter. It is more about enjoying his life and slowing down the inevitable.
But we could all be run over by a bus tomorrow so in the scheme of things it is good:))