I have not posted for a little while, as two weeks ago my company received notice that our contract with the Government was to be terminated on 29 April 2011.
Initially this means that around 55 people will be out of a job in London to say nothing of the various production companies to who we give work dotted all round the country, when I started to think about the ripples that casting that particular stone will make I realised that it will affect over 300 people.
We work really hard with a great product that really does make a difference to schools and I feel so proud of what we have achieved. I hope that I will find another place to work with so many likeable and creative people, so in the immortal words of Ian Drury "What a waste Mr Gove, what a waste!"
Wednesday, 27 October 2010
My guilty secret...
is every so often to indulge in a spot of Hardanger aka drawn thread work. I am afraid it started in the dim and distant past when one of the girls with whom I did my Needlecraft and Dress O level (yes it really is that long ago) made a table cloth and napkins in hardanger with contrasting blue and white threads as her orignal piece. Boy did I covet her project on a Friday afternoon when we spent all afternoon sewing! See what you started Gaye Casey - I blame it all on you.
Fast forward 30 years and I finally got to play, albeit on a smaller scale with cushions. I just love the structure and the fear of failure when you cut the threads. I think of hardanger as being like a Busby Berkley production, the stitches look like nothing on their own but put them together and they create a fabulous bigger picture. So here are a few of my old cushions:
Fast forward 30 years and I finally got to play, albeit on a smaller scale with cushions. I just love the structure and the fear of failure when you cut the threads. I think of hardanger as being like a Busby Berkley production, the stitches look like nothing on their own but put them together and they create a fabulous bigger picture. So here are a few of my old cushions:
Monday, 4 October 2010
The elephant
On Sunday I finished another cushion for the craft fair, I had intended making one with flowers but this template of an elephant leapt out at me and demanded to be appliqued immediately. I then was trying to make all nine elephants in different fabrics when I alighted upon some lovely stripey fabric and the some spotty fabric.
Once I had appliqued the elephants, I top embroidered the saddles in chain stitch and used a french knot for their eyes.
Once I had appliqued the elephants, I top embroidered the saddles in chain stitch and used a french knot for their eyes.
Centenary Reunion at St Bernards Convent High School
On Saturday my secondary school started a year of celebrating its centenary... I remember being in school for the Diamond Jubilee. Although the buildings have not changed dramatically the layout inside had with a few extra buildings added. Amazingly ten girls turned up from 5.1 and 5.2 and here are eight of them below:
In the back row, Frances Persighetti - now a GP, Marion Hill - teaching Research at Oxford, Colleen Russell - teaching Maths to A Level, Lynne Hayes - full time carer for her husband.
Front Row: Catriona Drayton - Speech therapist, Mary Swinney, Christina Lake - University Librarian and me
Sharon Blainey was behind the camera and Bern Dawson left before we took the pic.
It was so lovely to see all these women and to be remembered by the nuns who had taught us albeit 34 years later... so we really couldn't have been that bad, after all!
Front Row: Catriona Drayton - Speech therapist, Mary Swinney, Christina Lake - University Librarian and me
Sharon Blainey was behind the camera and Bern Dawson left before we took the pic.
It was so lovely to see all these women and to be remembered by the nuns who had taught us albeit 34 years later... so we really couldn't have been that bad, after all!