Thursday 24 September 2009

October came early ~ well sort of

In the post before last I declared that I was going to stop the rotation and only stitch spooky stuff for the whole of October. Well folks October came early!

I really wanted to make a start on 'Open House' but did not feel that I could start a project before finishing something else. I stitched the Boo tin lid from Just Nan.

Boo
I finished this on Sunday morning and Sundays are Mary Wigham days, so, I stitched on her until my Aunt and Uncle arrived.

In the living room are my Mum, my Aunt and me having a good old stitchy time, both of them on their UFOs and me on Mary Wigham. I have to say that I ended up frogging most of what I stitched. My Dad and my Uncle were in the garden pruning what, in recent years, has turned into a 'Whomping Willow' of a corkscrew willow tree. It was almost the size of the house (I say, was, because on Monday, whilst I was at work, the trainee tree surgeons chopped the whole thing down!). Well the tree branches and leaves started to pile up. So, stitching was suspended for the rest of the day whilst a clean up operation was mounted.

On Sunday evening, when peace and tranquillity had been restored to the garden, and the willow had less branches than before, I was able to take up stitching once more. Well that was the plan, my Aunt had taken the Mary Wigham charts home with her! What a shame! I had a legitimate excuse for starting 'Open House', so I did!

Open House
You may ask where was The Other Half whilst all this deforestation was going on. The answer in Scotland saving this for the nation.


In a previous life this half of a carriage, the only one left, looked like this.

Built in 1907 of teak, which is why it has lasted so long, this Dining Saloon must have been a spectacular sight, all varnished and shiny.

Half of this carriage was sold to a young couple in the 1950s who had it put in their back garden. They lived in it whilst their house, the cobblers shop, was made fit to live in. The carriage has remained in the garden ever since. The lady of the house is now 97 and will shortly be moving in with her daughter. The carriage became 'under threat' and had to be moved before the winter. It is now in a safe place and we will wait and see what will happen to her.

Back to the stitching.

The early arrival of October was, however, short lived. This week I have stitched on White Nights. Tonight I am hoping to finish the grid in the top left corner.


Next week I think I might just have to go back to Open House!

5 comments:

tkdquintmom said...

Just Nan looks familiar and it turned out wonderful! I hope they restore that ....how cool.

Mel said...

Ohh... I always love Just Nan. What a great little piece.
And White Nights is soo pretty. Can't wait for more of your work!

Carolyn NC said...

Great stitching! - love WH!

grannyanne said...

What a week you have had. Great progress with White Nights. Looking forward to seeing Open House.

Justflo said...

Well as October is nearly here I suppose a blind eye could be allowed. I trust your Aunt was suitably contrite about the removal of your MW chart. Must admit if it was me I wouldn't have been , I'd have thought it was highly funny knowing full well the excuse for early Halloween stitching had surreptitious been handed to you.
Your other half must have had a busy weekend moving the carriage. How long will it take to make good again?
Seems a shame he missed the indoctrination into tree felling!
Anyhow hope you have all your charts back now so you can once again put MW back on your rotation. Looking forward to your next pics. Happy stitching to you.