Wild ' n' Windy Weather

The weather is certainly changing here in Cornwall. This is the wild sea at beautiful Poldhu Cove.

I haven't been away for a holiday for a year and a half due to being so poorly...yes..I know its lovely here and I,m very lucky to live here.....but I do love a bit of Dinosaur Hunting and one of my favourite places for this is Charmouth . Contrary to what people say, you can find fossils here in Cornwall.....I found a nice piece of fossil wood , a foot long piece of a pine tree branch, nicely preserved on our own Poldhu Beach and a big " devil's toe-nail  " on a beach down at Lands End .....poorly preserved Trilobites at a beach on the North side of the Lizard....but for prehistoric sea creatures..the place to take the children is Charmouth .

.........and at this time of the year..dogs are welcome too !

Here we are arriving in Charmouth,... little dawg recognises where we are and is practically jumping onto the dashboard of the car in excitement !

.......turn left and there is a car park right by the beach ....and loos ...Charmouth Heritage Centre and fossil shop with amazing Icthyosaur  in a glass tank at the back of the shop...and lots of gemstones and big fossils  and little fossils for you to buy ...,in case you
dont find any ......

                                          .......but you almost certainly will !

 We stayed in the lovely  ,near by village of Wootton Fitzpaine ....it seems that every where you look there are Bronze Age settlements. The sun rising through the drifting mist is just so beautiful !
My only complaint was that I would have liked to have had one fish'n'chip meal during our holiday but the Charmouth Fish'n'chip shop was shut every time we went ! : (
 I brought my crewel embroidery with me ..oh ..I take this everywhere with me and have been doing this for pretty much most of this year...but I will speak more of this over on my new journal  Cornish Piskie Stitches .

So in my large handbag I am carrying this crewel project and three bags of crewel wool and in my DMC Embroidery Travel bag I have packed another project that my clever little grandson designed .....and that I am stitching up as a little surprise Christmas gift for my daughter . I,m having so much sweet fun stitching this in perle cotton  embroidery threads , in the colours of his original picture .

             I love the way children pretty much all do these radial , big headed ,  happy  stick people !

We found a few fossils , tiny pyrites ammonites , broken belemnites , a broken piece of Ichthyosaur tooth and a bag of rocks for further investigation when we get home .

Did some more , then added lots of yellow French knots to give it a bit more sparkle .

On the way home , we drove out of our way to go and see Stonehenge....I,m glad that I took this photo as we approached it on the motorway , as when we got there they were closing and you cant see it from the new entrance . Fed up !
Then briefly rejoiced as we approached my favourite ring of trees on the hill , my heart sinking to see another bloody windmill ruining the view . How come the people here allowed this  , in such a beauty spot ? !!!

.......and then this ...so much of Bodmin Moor is now being ruined ...this is the Temple Fishery and Dozemary Pool area ...and as you are driving out of Cornwall the view of Rough Tor and all the surrounding  ancient moors will never be the same again .

 So then I took pictures of the trees.....thinking maybe to embroider a tree ....

......or thirty trees on a hill....without a windmill  : )

Aah ! ...good to get home and find my Schlumbergeras beginning to bloom . Yes , I have a thing for Gasterias too !
  Then to finish off that embroidery ....

 Yes I used a vintage arm chair cover  , flipped it over to iron on the wrong side down over a towel . Cut off the excess with the useless scissors that I bought cheap on ebay and wont make the same mistake again .

                  Press down edges over the cardboard  backing of the frame ....

                      lace up the back and neaten by stitching a scrap of fabric over.

                   
                                          another quick press with the iron......

                                                               Ta daah !
               Thats  another Christmas present done ! Very happy me !
Well tonight Storm Barney is on the way . I,ve closed up the cold frame and moved plants into their shelter zones....I hope my old greenhouse will still be there in the morning ,or else I,ll have to bring the entire cactus collection indoors !
  Hope you are cosy and warm where you are !   love Daisy Debs  : ) x

Thanks Mum !

A parcel ! A parcel for me ! : ) Oh ! lovely surprise ! As I tore off the tape and tipped out a rainbow of DMC embroidery threads !

My wonderful mum , is a very talented lady , at many handicrafts , knitting , crochet, lace-making , embroidery, cooking , cake decorating , flower arranging to name a few ,
 She has been having a sort out and wondered if I could use them .
Well I certainly can ! : ) Ooh ! They are gorgeous and as I,m sorting through I see some gorgeous silver and gold threads in amongst them !

I have been collecting old embroidery books for many years now ..these Japanese Ondori books have been waiting in the wings for quite a while . Actually they are not all that old ... 1970's or thereabouts ....vintage then . ...like me . With lots off little patterns in ....that maybe I could squeeze in before the year is out .  I am now on the look out for a special basket to keep my mum's silks in .... aah ...what a lovely , lovely surprise !
 I,m getting over a virus and have a really bad chest at the moment , been given a Ventolin inhaler to help and am trying to rest , not go out and keep warm . Difficult with so much to be done in the run up to Christmas .  I have also had to stop going to dance class for a while ....but I will be back ! : ) ( North African and Arabic ...and Bollywood )
I managed to get a lovely proper Christmas Cake made the other day ...so pleased with myself .  I just need to decorate it .
Mum if you're looking at this ...thankyou SO much ! I love you ! You're the best !

More fun !

                                I,m having such fun doing these daft birdies !

Another big storm forecast for tomorrow and it is not looking good for rest of the week either . . . more heavy rain then turning very cold . We are cancelling our trip to Charmouth till better weather .
 Bringing in logs for the wood burner , gathering fir cones and kindling .
Our new sweep , has done a superb job of laying new Cornish Slate hearth , re placing flue and refitting the wood burning stove and cleaning the chimney and climbing up onto the roof and checking it is all done thoroughly  and put a camera down it to check and show us that it is clean and safe...and fixed the new cowl on top with two strong straps  so it doesn't come off in the gales and keeps the rain and the crows out . And never was there such a clean and tidy sweep !
   Thanks Sir Sweep A lot ! You did a great job !  Sir Sweep A lot is in Helston
http://www.sirsweepalot.co.uk/index.html Helston Penzance and surrounding areas .
Thanks also to Expertrees Ltd who did such a great job on our trees ( massive pine trees) ..and their link is
http://www.expertreesltd.co.uk/ also in the Helston Mullion Lizard area . They really know and care about trees . Thanks Tom !
 So now I,m sorting through my seeds and making plans for my garden ... I have brought in a tray of pelargonium cuttings to be sure they get through this next cold snap , I ,m pleased with them ,about 9 of them have taken root .... and I still have the original one in the greenhouse.
    Cheerio for now , keep safe and warm in this cold weather and dont forget to feed the birds  xxx

Brown Paper Bag Embroidery

While storms rage , rivers burst their banks , homes flood and mountainous waves crash around our beautiful Cornish coast.....I cant  stand hearing about it any more..and creep away into my cave to sleep ....  and read my favourite old embroidery books ....and stitch......and look at all your lovely gardening and crafting and embroidery blogs .
Leeks , onions , kale , parsely , sleeping rhubarb....thats about it up in the veg garden .
We noticed the first snowdrops as we drove through Nantithet  last weekend .
I,m still worn out from flu...so not been dancing .
 So yes , just trying to keep warm ...stitching in my fingerless gloves : )
 Look at that green thread ... that has to be my favourite colour .

Here is not a very good picture of the stormy seas at Poldhu Cove , Mullion.
The reason it is not a very good picture , is because I am actually taking it from a safe distance ,through the window of our car.....cosy  ,  safe and warm ...with the car heater blowing nice and warm all around me : ) ......( and a hot  Cornish pasty on my lap )

I am really enjoying this project , those bright ,n cheerful colours making me feel better .
 I,m going fossil hunting in a couple of weeks time , Charmouth .....cant wait !  Waterproofs at the ready....I know ....keep away from those cliffs !
 I,m taking this embroidery along to work on ,back at the cottage ,cosy in front of the fire , in the evenings . I,ll let you know if we find any dinosaurs when I get back .

Thanks for visiting my journal and for your lovely comments x

Ready to stitch !

                                                 

The Brown Paper Bag Pillow

I,ve just crept out of hibernation to wish you all a very happy new year and show you what I,m up to at the moment.
The weather has been dreadful and the light is very gloomy ( how I feel too in the winter months )so apologies for the poor picture quality.
 Earlier last year my good little friend gave my husband a book in a brown paper bag ...He was very pleased with his book ....a golf book.......lets not talk about golf please.............. I was pleased with the bag !
   I knew instantly that I just had to make an embroidered pillow for my chair with it !
This is what those Perle cotton balls were waiting for !
  What you can see in the picture above is me using a transfer pencil for the first time ...ironing board covered in newspaper , my precious cream linen twill and the pattern which I,ve blown up to about double the size .

I,m told that it is a paper bag from the Usborne Books company ...what a lovely, cheeky, cheerful design ! I,d love to know who designed it or where it came from ...anyone ?

Maritime thread winders !

 Back in the summer I had a go at carving a spoon , a couple of very simple crucifixes , a few nalbinding needles and a medieval lucet .  My father and his father before him were great carpenters..I could never be that good ! ...but whilst growing up just watching in the wings so to speak , I also love wood ....the look of it ...the smell of it and am having fun with it in a more humble way....the way of whittling !  So , along with what I,ve seen my father do , I am pretty much teaching myself .
 I have a simple sort of steel pocket knife which was easy to find in Wesley's hardware shop in Helston , it has replaceable blades , and folds up safely in my pocket .
I also invested in a treasure of a knife made by Ray Iles . It is curved for carving spoons .
 In the photo above .

 I am carving myself some jolly maritime thread winders in the shape of whales !

I make a little cut for the whale's mouth.... to catch and hold the end of the thread .It must all be smoothed with sandpaper and I really need to work on smoothing them some more .

I will use navy blue permanent pen to mark the whale's eyes on both sides Scrimshaw style...and give them a coat of " Traditional Treatex Hardwax Oil " which I bought online ...it brings out the beautiful natural colour of the wood .

 My tools.... and a few precious threads waiting to be organised .

How nice he would be wound round with blue thread , like a beautiful Blue Whale !
 He looks a little hungry ! : )

I could make a "Stargazey pie" of thread winders !  Actually  I need to make quite alot more to organise all my threads !      I hope you,ll be inspired to have a go at simple whittling . Keep warm ! x

Winter Whittling Me

I dont think that the weather will be anywhere near so bad here in Cornwall , as you are having up North . I,m feeling so sorry for you all up in Scotland where thousands are waking up to find they have no electricity.
We have been bringing in more firewood for our fire and as I sit whittling...I am thinking of you and pray it will pass over soon .
 I pulled this chunk of wood from the pile of split logs in the woodshed and with my little knife whittled into three not quite equal pieces . I do everything by eye and it really does not matter to me that these are going to be all slightly different sizes .

Whittling , whittling , whittling .... any ideas of what I might be making ?  Apart from a sore thumb that is  !  : )