A Little Trip

I'm back - sorry to be away from my blogging station for so long, especially as I'd been writing about blogs in various magazines. Not a good time to go absent without leave.

We went on an ancestor-hunting trip to the ex-dockyards of Sunderland - more on that later. Timed it so that we could catch the first day of the Embroidery, Fashion and Stitch at the NEC. What we used to call the 'Madeira' show, now combined with a several others shows covering papercraft, wood etc. So you get a lot of show for your money. It looked pretty good - much better than recent years - and we enjoyed the trip. Good to see Jane Hall - shown below with Neil. Lovely stuff on her stand.

.



.
Part of the Embroiderers' Guild stand was a small display on this chap Roy Allen who designed a lot of dresses for the late Queen Mother. Interesting stuff.
.





Some of the traders' stands were works of art in themselves - this one by 21st Century Yarns looked great with all the bright colours againt black background. Needless to say I was tempted and purchased!
.

The ancestor-hunting took place on the banks of the river Wear - Monkwearmouth to be precise. This church is where most of the line were baptised. St Peter's is very ancient (est, 647) as a monastery. We had a warm welcome and a tour of the church.

.

.

When the Vikings pillaged, they set fire to the church and the sandstone reacted with intensified colours. Just look at these stones.

.

.

I played with the photos on my iphone and achieved quite a fun design. Lovely to have good apps. I need to give the church outline a little more definition.

.

.
Good to be home, though - more blogging later in the week.

.

Comments on comments

First of all – if your name is listed as a winner, make sure I know your smail mail addy – I still have two parcels looking for homes. Email me at maggie@workshopontheweb.com

JP – the layers in this piece are achieved by laminating layers of fine paper onto fabric rather than separated layers – I shall still have to do that by stitching it to a backing but I’m putting that off until next week. I’ll show you the stitched result.

Your grand-puppy sounds lovely, Virginia. I’d love another dog but they are such a tie so perhaps I should encourage the kids to get one.

I’d swap the daffs for some orchids but not sure about the ‘othercritters’.

Carol – glad to be of service.

Artymess – my early collagraphs sure were an arty mess as I got paint everywhere. Have got a feel for it now, though so it is more under control.

I’m glad you liked the favourite things Christine. I saw editor Kathy Troup (below) and we had a giggle about all my kids wanting a copy of Stitch. Not because I’m in it but because it was ‘a lovely photo of Smudge’.

.

Thanks for the mention Paige. I’m interested in your PV panels. I wish I knew if we were staying in this house, which gets so much sun. I’d have them fitted like a shot if I thought we were going to be here for ever.

Thanks to everyone who enjoyed their goody bags – my cupboard is much tidier now!

Kim – that ‘Super’ water-soluble stuff is great for jewellery as it dries very hard. I have some samples somewhere and will search for them before the next post.