The Manor

I was quite productive yesterday and made 5 gardenia flowers, not bad going, but it does take a toll on my hands and wrists, so today I decided to make little bell flowers for the memory box just using the thread rather than wire.

I sit in the upper courtyard, near the kitchen as I can just nip in and out if I need any craft items, oh and water! it has been 30C in the shade in this part, much more out by the pool. It is a nice area to sit crafting, excellent light and some shade.

We have a pergola and it is covered by a spanish rose, but it has been shedding its leaves with gay abandon and is quite naked, the area now has no shade, so I have to try to move with the sun, such a pain.

As I haven´t taken any photos, I thought you might like to see what Chris has been up to with The

Manor house

In particular the staircases, which are all hand built

Next will be looking to sell it as it stands or to finish

I´ll just leave you with Thomas, sitting out the other evening enjoying the evening, Thomas came to join us, he is rather close to about a 15ft drop into the plaza!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend, take care

xcx

Shopping

I have been attending a hypnotherapy meditation class for a few weeks, very interesting, and no we don´t end up clucking like chickens as the media would have you believe. However it is extremely relaxing ie think horizontal and at the same time invigorating, allowing your own thoughts to mix with the suggestions.  It can help all sorts of ´problems´ tensions, medical problems etc.  A total chill out zone, if you get the chance to try just give it a go with an open mind and see what happens.

Rebecca and I decided on a little retail therapy

Now bear in mind I hate shopping, just can´t be asked

however its amazing how the word ´wedding´makes you think otherwise

so off we went to Valencia

First stop was Ikea

Never been, just know the hype that goes with this store

It was Huge, really huge

We decided to stick with the items we wanted to look at, ie vessels for wedding flowers

It´s very clever, they ´walk´you through various areas so you see items and stop and yes buy!

ie the babies department,

But we were very reserved and didn´t load the trolley up

A few items for the kitchen, a few for the wedding and a couple for the grandkids

Even at the checkout it was all very slick

The area is huge, with so many stores, this is the shot taken from the exit of Ikea across the ´park´

Would you believe, there was even a ´huge´store what would be the equivilent of Ann Summers, really didn´t feel the need to explore!!

Another point on the list was a visit to a dress shop looking for an outfit for the Mother of the Bride

Ok, now here they all seem to be a size 8-12

So if you are a little over that then you are in trouble

Oh my goodness, some of the dresses they gave me to try had us in stitches

No, nope, sorry no pics, horrible

Needless to say it was either, forgive me, but very grandma´ish or flemenco style and totally unsuitable, gosh, how to be made to feel very big (which I´m not) very frumpy  or totally ridiculous

so it´s back to the drawing board on that one

Today we have had some of the funny wet stuff on and off, trying to convince us it has rained

but it did interupt the beaded flower making for a bit

but still carrying on

so take care

xcx   

Fiestas

We had business in Javea yesterday, a large town about 45 minutes away from us.

We finished the first part of the meeting and were asked to return in half an hour, so we wandered along tiny streets only for pedestrians stopping for a coffee and toastada (half a toasted bagette with olive oil, grated tomato and serrano ham)

As we sat there we heard a piper and drummer approaching with people of all ages following.

Now is the time for fiestas and they were starting with San Juan

June, July and August are the main months for the celebrations

Businesses close, deliveries grind to a halt and everything is on a go slow, manana, manana

We finished our business and walked back for the car.

There was a habadashery shop tucked away and I couldn´t resist a little peek

I´m so glad I did, look what I found

5 metres each of the ribbon and one each of the sequins all for 10 euros, brilliant and spot on wedding colours.

The tradition for the fiestas in towns is to decorate the entrance of the home of festeras and those involved in that years activities.  We spotted this one, beautiful

and this

some of the side streets were decorated too

They know how to party

take care

xcx

 

Bead spinner in action

Nose to the grind stone again today, in the nicest possible way of course

Finished the gardinia and started another rose.

Fiona asked for a peek at the bead spinner in action so here it is

The main thing is to have plenty of beads in the spinner

and play with the angle of the hook, but it´s amazing how quickly they travel up the wire

I´m using 28 guage which is a little soft but ok for my hands with the fibro

There are many items on Youtube and google that show you how to make your own from a plastic container and dowl, I did make one of these until I was given my turned one. However if you just want to have a play it´s a cheap way of experimenting.

There is a difference between French beaded flowers and Victorian beaded flowers. For the first, all the beads are strung upon a continous wire and wrapped around a base line, where as for the second the beads are stranded across in individual rows, increasing or decreasing as you go. You cannot use the spinner for this

The complicated bit comes when you want to add interest beads i.e. for the centres or edges.

Years ago I found an interesting article on its history

but do you think I can find it.....No, never mind I´m sure it was some ingenius person looking for a quick way to embellish some Tudor´s costume and to incorporate flowers in unseasonal times

Something I find facinating exploring the techniques of yester year with no lighting, and limited resources yet such wonderful and beautiful garments, wall hangings and accessories etc

Still learning and playing and enjoying

but that´s what crafting is all about

take care

xcx

French beaded flowers

I mentioned that I was making French beaded flowers for Rebecca´s wedding.  They are rather time consuming and I have already got through 7 reels of wire, so have had to order more. I found some on ebay for a really good price and shipping wasn´t too much either.  I think I shall have to see just how many I can make before deciding on whether they will be just for the bouquet or some of the table decorations. They will be a nice keepsake where ever they get used.

A rose

The flowers are extremely difficult to photograph, hence the videos, these ones have another round to go yet

I will not put leaves on them just yet as it may not be necessary, need to talk to the florist

Small roses

 

The collection is growing, slowly! but now it seems achieveable rather than daunting

I am lucky enough to have a bead spinner that was turned for me by a friends husband. You make a small hook in the end of the wire put it into the beads and spin and as if by magic the beads travel up the wire. Clever huh!

I´m so glad that I don´t have to individually thread the beads on, that would take soooo long to do. Although when I want to put a different colour around the edges that is what I do.

Right, back to it, in the middle of making a gardinia flower

take care

xcx

Mixed bunch

Temps moving up to the high 20´s, time for the pool.  We just had this months delivery of water, 8000L for the house and the other 2000L goes in the pool.  We have quite a small deposito which is a bit of a pain and means we can only last between 3-4 weeks. Luckily Jose usually comes up quite quickly to refill

I try to be quite frugal, putting reasonably clean washing up water on the garden and collecting the 6L of water it takes before we get any hot for the shower, shutting taps off between rinses etc.

It was the same at the farm, we had a well which used to get quite low in the summer, so I put a bore hole in and it was much easier, especially with the visiting guests.

Chris has been drawing up plans and making another miniature house, although I´m not sure about the miniature bit as it looks more like a mansion

 Pelmets, wainscoting and sliding floors

 Sorry the photos are out of sequence and it wouldn´t let me move them!

I spotted this on the courtyard wall this morning. Now I´m not particularly fond of spiders, but this was so unusual I just had to capture it. Obviously I have seen the mother and babies but never a group of adults.

Google tells me a group of spiders is called a cluster or clutter.  As long as they stay outside I don´t care what we call them lol

Have a great weekend

Take care

xcx

My miniature garden

The furries have disgraced themselves once too often, so we have cat proofed the dolls houses by making Perspex cases (what took us so long?!)

So at long last the gardens that I made can now be displayed as intended 

The base was 22hpi canvas, which allowed me to embroider straight onto it

I used a mixture of stitches to get the different textures

The crazy paving was made using fabric covered card

I also created components separately and added them afterwards.

Threads and beads for the flowers

It took many hours, but I was very pleased with the results, then had to make a garden for the other side

A woollen, felted jumper made the lawn

The delphiniums took ages to make, using tiny circles of tissue paper

The planter started out as a well but changed my mind, a good use of a aerosol cap

then covered in clay and using a brick stamp

What I can´t believe is that I made these 5 years ago!

Have fun, take care

xcx