More from Cotehele

The picture above and the one below are of Cotehele quay. There used to be a thriving trade here but now it is just a tourist attraction.

Views down the river

This is a patchwork bedcover which is worked in very small pieces of silk in a geometric pattern.

A carved doorway which I think is quite inspirational for a piece of patchwork! I can see it with layered appliquéd roses in the centre of each square. 

One of the wonderful beds complete with hangings. The bed cover was of Jacobean design but sadly my pictures were fuzzy! 

A beautiful quilted bedcover. Must have taken hours of work!

Another bedcover done in candlewicking - white on white. Quite lovely and very intricate.

Another of the wonderful four poster beds. Again my close-ups of the hangings were fuzzy!

Fantastic ceiling in the main hall.

One of many patchwork cushions which were dotted around. They were all covered with fine net to help protect them. It was interesting to see the fabrics used. 

A lovely old archway out of the main courtyard.

The first view one has of Cotehele as one enters the main gates. 

Having a wonderful time!

It has been the most wonderful Easter. On Maundy Thursday I got married! It was very quiet and quite superb. My son (with his girlfriend Mel) came down from Scotland to give me away and my 91 year old mother was there plus my very good friend Sue and her husband. And that was it! Nice and quiet! And on the Good Friday we went off on honeymoon to Exmoor for a few days. We stayed in a lovely old hotel which dated from medieval times. Reputedly it had been the headquarters of Oliver Cromwell during the Civil War. The food was amazing and I've put on pounds so it's a strict diet for a while! But I can thoroughly recommend the Luttrell Arms at Dunster. We went for long walks and saw both the gentle side of Exmoor and the bleak moorland side. On the way home we stopped off at Cotehele, the home of the Edgecumbe family. So as pictures are better than a thousand words some more pictures!

 An old bridge by the mill in Dunster. I liked the patterns the reflections made! It was easy to imagine the pack horses bringing the wool to the yarn market in the centre of town.

Below is a typical house in the village. This one was at the gateway into the church yard. 

A pottery kiln behind the hotel. I'm not sure as to how old it is but it is probably medieval. 

Beautiful woodwork in the inner courtyard of the hotel.

Exmoor ponies!

 The yarn market in Dunster. A fabulous building dating from the middle ages when farmers would bring their wool into town to sell.

Dunster Castle which we didn't get to see  but will be an excuse to go back!

Cotehele which was fabulous.

I have more pictures from Cotehele but they will have to wait for another day. Some lovely pieces of old needlework including quilting and patchwork.

Wednesday!

I don't know where I found all these little motifs with the day of the week on but I think they are quite quaint! I have several for each day so will be able to indulge myself for a few weeks more!

As I am on holiday after Friday for two weeks until the beginning of May I thought it would be good to try and tidy up a bit in the workroom. And among the many bits and pieces I have found so far were these three pieces of machine embroidery that I digitised a few years ago. It seems a shame to leave them languishing in a drawer but I don't really know what to use them for. All suggestions will be warmly welcomed!

I had a lovely morning indulging myself in some retail therapy! I went into Redruth to the Sewing Studio where I bought loads of lovely material. Some pretty printed greens which will be good for leaves; some browns and greys for cats and dogs and some lovely pinks and flowery material for strangely enough flowers! I also bought a couple of pieces of Japanese style fabric to add to my collection. When I have enough I will design a quilt to use it up and show it off! Part of my tidy-up plan is to use up all the oddments of fabric which are cluttering up the CD tower where I keep my FQ's. I am going to make bags of shapes such as squares, rectangles and triangles with them and then sell them by the bundle. These won't be bondawebbed but will be for patchwork projects such as nine patch or flying geese. It has been necessary to start making a list of all the things I need-want to do so that I can be organised!

Time is flying by!

Another day another doughnut as they say! Where is all the time going? There is so much to do but at least we have managed to aquire a bed that works! The first one was most peculiar and wouldn't unfold into a straight line! Good if one wanted to lie with one's head at least a foot below one's feet! So in the end we decided to give it up as a bad job and went and bought a superb 1930's small sprung double. Being old it has room underneath to store stuff which modern divans don't. And it is very comfortable which is good! Plus there is still room to shut the door and get into the wardrobe. 

I even managed to get into the garden today and plant a blackcurrant bush and some herbs. Parsley, dill, coriander and fennel. Both ordinary fennel and bronze fennel. The compost bin was overflowing so it was good to be able to use some of it! Lovely stuff! 

On the sewing front I am making a pattern for a quillow using our fabrics in a crazy patchwork pattern. I was really pleased with the backing fabric I dyed. Very colourful. There will be pictures eventually but as I'm at work I can't take any! This week in class I'm going to show the students how to do shadow quilting but can I find my organdy? The answer is no! However I have some sparkle see through voile which could possibly be used instead plus I have some samples already done. It is always good to be prepared!  Not that I am very often!

Friday

Is n't it lovely to know that today is Friday and the whole weekend stretches ahead of one! Because I work I have come to really appreciate the weekends. When I was at home all week the weekends tended to blur into the week days but now they mean so much more to me. The sun is shining and it is supposed to be shining tomorrow as well. If it is a sunny day I shall try and go for my first swim of the year in the sea! Of course all conditions will have to be right! Sun, no wind and the tide at a fairly high level! This last is very important as I know if I have to wade out to get any depth of water I'll give up as my legs below the knee will freeze into immobility! So fingers crossed all things will be ideal for that first swim. I really do need the exercise! 

We have bought a new bed for the spare room and will probably spend a large proportion of the weekend, when I'm not swimming and Graeme isn't playing rugby, getting the spare room and workroom organised. Hopefully the end result will mean more space and greater storage facilities. 

Enjoy your weekend. I will also if the sun is shining be trying out my new sun lounger which my neice had a hand in making me buy!  

Black

I love the way black dyes if one doesn't use loads of the dye powder. It comes out very mottled in a grey brown colouring. In fact it looks like puddles of water in a muddy field and I was inspired by a piece last year to do a small table mat with leaves on it to look like the debris found in a muddy field! In the top picture the brown in the piece was more pronounced, while in the two lower pieces the grey was more in evidence. Probably different batches of dye!  

Gardening

My poor garden has really suffered over the past eighteen months. It has had little or no attention and yet it doesn't look too bad! I'm amazed! Graeme keeps the lawn looking good with the edges trimmed and that does help. He is also very good at cutting brambles out of the hedge. But apart from that we have done nothing. I left the forget-me-nots to self seed and I now have a beautiful blue carpet. In fact I transplanted a few into the tubs and they are looking good too! The herbs are slowly coming to life again and I was delighted to see that a small lemon verbena plant in a pot which I thought moribund has a few leaves on it. Sadly my bronze fennel has bitten the dust. The bad weather in December was just too much for it! It was wonderful for adding to mushroom soup.

Here are a few pictures which I took this morning starting from the left hand side of the kitchen door and working clockwise.

Great swathes of forget-me-nots.

Beautiful camelias

And parsley coming through the forget-me-nots! 



Picture cushions

I really enjoyed doing the picture cushions. In fact so much so that I am thinking of doing some more. It would be fun to have cushions with pictures of people and events as well as scenic views. I have just gained a new great-nephew Sam so perhaps I'll make a cushion especially for him as a birth momento! He has an unusual set of names: Samual John Auberon but I think they are good and I like the name Sam!

After a lot of searching I have found the dress for my wedding in three weeks. Well actually it is less than three weeks now! Gosh how time is flying by! I am not going to post pictures until after the day but it is quite delicious and I am going to love wearing it as it is so flattering. It has it's own little jacket and I bought a toning head 'thing'! It isn't a hat but then again it isn't a hair ornament so what to call it I don't know. It is all getting really exciting!

And to add to the excitement I actually caught a fish at the weekend!