Silk Ribbon flower vase - class sample which will become a small sachet. Done on hand-dyed silk noil.  

I'm still alive...just!

Oh I have been such a bad blogger. It is over a month since I last wrote anything here but there are mitigating circumstances. Since the summer I have had one blow after another culminating in a notice to quit from our landlords. This has been quite devestating as I thought we were here for life or as much life as we wanted but this isn't to be. So I have been clearing out as if my life depends upon it. Well I suppose in a way it does! We have been here nearly 14 years and it is amazing how much stuff one can collect in that time. I have had to make some very big decisions as to where I am going in the future and what I need and want to keep and what I will never ever use and must get rid of. Books have been the first things to be pruned. I have over 2000 books; well I did before I started moving them on. I have so much fabric that I could start a shop so that is being sold, given away or chucked. It is hard but I am being ruthless as I don't know where we will be or what room I will have. We are just so glad that we didn't start the major overhaul and re-decorating that we had planned. I would have been so cross if I'd spent masses and then had to go! Oh life is hard for those of gentle birth! (Big grin!)
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But I have not yet succumbed to despondency and have even been doing some patchwork (for class samples) and some ribbon work (ditto). Although nothing world shattering this has been very therapeutic. One of the biggest problems has been that a large box of fabric is sitting in my living room and since doing the silk ribbon work I've been sneaking pieces out as I've ideas as to what to use them for....immediately! Well as I'm going to use them up now I reckon I can do that! (grin)
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I have a pleater and a four shaft table loom with warping mill to get rid of. If anyone in the UK has any ideas as to what I should ask for these I'd be truly grateful as I haven't a clue. Also if anyone in the UK wants a list of what craft-art-embroidery-quilting books I'm getting rid of, do ask.
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Nothing much else to add. I spend the majority of my time emptying two boxes into one and grovelling under tables and benches to access things I haven't seen in years. The amount of dust I'm finding isn't as much as I feared which is one reason to be cheerful. I'm now going back to convincing myself that I really don't need as much embroidery thread as I have. At least I've given all the wool away and I don't even knit!