First B-b-q of the year!

Had a barbie outside ...typical British barbie. Cold, sun gone in and all the wrong stuff. Reminded me of my childhood and picnics at our hut on the beach. Smoky little fire or primus stove, soggy sandwiches, stewed tea out of a thermos flask because the fire was never hot enough to heat the water, and yet at the time I thought I was having a great time! Oh the joys of youth. I can remember that my grandmother who actually was the one renting the hut used to make bags out of American oil cloth to carry the milk bottle and the flask and they were the oddest bags out. My sister and I had to carry one each on the way back to the house and we hated it! We felt so stupid carrying these black monstrosities that looked like gas mask cases. In fact I wouldn't be surprised it that wasn't where my grandmother got her inspiration from! But at least my memories of summers then was that they were warm, nay even hot, and the sun shone virtually all day! I am still huddling up in a warm cardigan! How summery is that!

The dyeing was a whizz. I was so pleased with some of the pieces that I'm going to have a hard job parting with them. One of them in particular I can see edging its way towards my own stash! These were a darker lot than last week and I used some warm brown and charcoal and got some amazing effects. I'm too tired to take pictures now but I'll try and put some up tomorrow. After I've done this show I must make over my web site and put up some of the fabric for sale. I haven't done so yet as it seemed silly to get it up there and then sell it at the show. That's the trouble with one of a kind pieces they arn't repeatable so when they've gone, they've gone.

Tried looking up spiders to see if I could find out what type was climbing in my rose flower. Loads of pictures of spiders but couldn't find mine. Well a couple that could have been but would need to make an in depth study to be sure. But some fascinating sites and loads of inspiration for embroidery or collage work. Have bookmarked them for future reference.