A visit to Radstock museum.

Last weekend we were away in Somerset and on the Saturday we had planned to follow a circular walk of about 6 miles around the town of Radstock. As we parked the car it started to rain and so we decided to visit the local museum which was just across the road. The museum tells the story of coal mining in Somerset. Many people who live in the UK are aware that there was a lot of coal mining in Wales and also in the north of England but very few people are aware that Somerset had coal mines as well. Whilst the museum had a lot of information of coalmining in the area it also had exhibits of every day life for the people of the area. 

We turned left as we entered the main area and the first exhibits were about the shoe trade in Somerset.

In the cabinet next to the shoes was a Singer sewing machine. Singer machines really do get every where. This one was for sewing leather in the shoe making process.

The machine was made by the Singer Manufacturing company at the factory in Kilbowie, Glasgow, Scotland in 1928. There was a note identifying that these machines are still very popular with amateur leather workers in the United states. 

Next there was an area set up as a shop.

It was fun to see the boxes and tins neatly arranged and to recognise the companies names from when I was a child.

Being the child I am I had to take a photo of the toilet paper. When we visited the toilet at my grandparents house they had Izal paper. I remember it was stiff and scratchy! I also remember the blue laundry whitener at the front of the shelf. Everyone seemed to use it when I was young, except my mother, who didn't like it. It is still available.

To one side there were the large biscuit tins. I can remember the Woolworth's selling biscuits from these tins. You bought the amount that you wanted. There was always a tin with broken biscuits in and these were my favourite as you got pieces from a range of biscuits.

By the door of the shop was the delivery byclyle, no piling it into the back of a van for delivery.

Further along the 'Street' was the main room of a cottage. Again I remember the type of range

that was in the cottage. I was always fascinated when we visited my maternal grandfather as the range was still in use. My mother shared her stories from her teenage years of blackleading the range and also cooking bread in the ovens.

On the floor there were several home made rugs, made using strips of old fabric from worn out clothes.

On the table in front of the window there was a Singer sewing machine. I learnt to sew on an old Singer but not as old as this one. My mother gave me her Singer machine when she bought an electric machine.  Several years later I gave the machine to my niece when I bought my first electric machine. I'm not sure how old the Singer was but it still worked really well and maintained excellent tension.  

I took several more photos but they are very dark. There were textiles that needed to be kept out of bright light and no flash was allowed. We planned to go back as we only viewed the ground floor of the exhibition and next time I'll take my main camera which copes much better with low light. Having looked around the ground floor including going into the mock up of a mine, which was dark, smelly and noisy we decided to visit the cafe for a cup of tea and a cake. The lady who was serving was very friendly and knew the neighbourhood well. 

She told us about the Chew Valley lake and asked if we were interested in bird watching. The lake is an artifical lake created by damming the River Chew. Cconstruction began in 1950 and it was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II on April 17, 1956.  The lake supplies essential drinking water to Bristol and the surrounding area. Because of the drought, water has been taken out of the lake to ensure a water supply to Bristol. Because of this the lake had shrunk and the wading birds were enjoying a bigger area of shallow water.

Once we had finished our tea and cake we headed to the lake. It was raining on and off but we had a good walk and stopped to watch some birds. By the time we left the rain was heavier and we headed back to our hotel. 

I have some fabrics to share and a present I recieved bu I'll write about that in my next post. I want to get some sewing time in today. As we were away last weekend I missed out on my sewing time and I have projects I want to move forward.

Take care

Lyndsey

Catching up

Last week was very busy and by the time I got home each evening I was worn out. The result... very little sewing or knitting got done. As it was busy I decided I needed to make sure I had a proper lunch break. I decided to take my lunch over to the park each day and I also took my carry along stitching. This has been living in my handbag for a while. When I was collecting youngest daughter from work I would often have a while to wait. The problem with nursing is that you can't just stop work as the shift ends. You need to finish whatever you are doing for the patient and the handover also has to happen. I'd put this cross stitch bookmark in my bag, it's small and easy to pick up where I'd left off, and on the evenings she was late finishing I'd have something to fill the time. Over lunchtimes last week I got quite a bit done. Here's how it looked at the beginning of last week.

I'm pleased with my progress, all done over lunch.

This bookmark has been around for ages so it will be great to finish it. This week I was also working on the Star Trek cross stitch during the evenings. Unfortunately I didn't have a lot of spare time in the evenings so I didn't get much done. Here's the before photo...

and after. I did some more of the yellow boxes but I also wanted to complte the blue banner but I didn't quite get it done. This will now be put away until next Monday. I have to admit I'm enjoying alternating the slow stitching projects. I should have thought of doing this earlier.

This week I'm back to working on the embroidered table cloth. I want to move the hoop this week. This is my starting point.

Yesterday John and I went to a Macmillan coffee morning organised by John's sister. We've gone to it the last two years. It was quiet when we arrived but it got very busy later. I took a couple of photos of embroidery completed by Sue Monk. This cat piece was supposed to be done on white aida and the baclground all done with black cross stitch. She decided to stitch on black aida. Her solution made the cat stand out much better.

I liked this delicate piece and all the patterns on it. It's rather small so remember you can blow up the photo.

Whilst at the coffee morning I bought some fabric and so did John. Here are my two pieces of fabric. They are both width of fabric with repeat of the pattern.

I have a plan for these two pieces but it won't happen until next year. These are John's fabrics. He also has a plan but won't tell me what it is.

These fabric are Shweshwe African fabrics. When you buy them they are very stiff, so the fabrics have to be pre-rinsed. This can be done in a machine using the shortest, coolest rinse cycle. Once rinsed and dried the fabrics are very soft.

I also won a bottle of white Malbec on the tombola stall. We'll enjoy that later in the week.

This last weekend we were away and we visited a very interesting museum about that area of Somerset. I'll write about it in my next post.

take care

Lyndsey

Playing catchup... and a finish.

This last week has been fun in places but a nightmare in others. This time of year is very busy preparing for an influx of new students but my final year students don't finish until the beginning of October. It will all settle down into a comfortable routine again somewhere in mid to late October. Meanwhile trying to fit in sewing and other crafts can be difficult.  However I have managed to fit some stitching in this week.

I decided to work on my embroidered table cloth and the Star Trek cross stitch alternate weeks. This last week was the table cloth. I didn't get as far as I wanted but there is progress. This is how it was at the begiinning of the week ....

and now. Not alot of difference but I have filled in some bits. I'll pick this up again next Sunday.

I've got the Star Trek cross stitch in the living room ready for any free moments to stitch. This is it as I start the week.

I have also done a little work on the celtic knot book mark. I have been carrying this in my handbag so I can stitch on it in odd moments.

Yesterday was a sewing day. John had gone on a walk with friends and I'd opted to stay home as I wanted to finish my red blouse. It took most of the day as I unpicked the sleeves from the body as they were not sitting properly. Once reinserted they were fine but I still needed to work on the collar, make button holes, make the sleeve cuffs and sew on buttons. Getting the sleeve right was a pain but I'm now very happy with them. I didn't have anyone to take a photo of me modelling the blouse so I've taken it on my mannakin. This will be coming with me next weekend, as we are away. It fits well and I'm looking forward to wearing it. It is so good to have finished it.

I also did some work on the cat cushions. I decided to stitch round the individual panels and I'm going to quilt round the cats with embroidery thread.

This afternoonI I plan on drawing out these two patterns. I like this pattern brand. They are easy to make and look and feel really good when wearing the outfit. I like to copy the pattern rather than cut the pattern to the size I need as this makes it easier when making any alterations / adjustments and the pattern can be use by someone else.

I also want to improve my dressmaking skills as I love making my own clothes and I would love to be better at making alterations to make the fit better.

This week at work should be a little calmer so maybe I'll have more time to play with fabric. For now I'm going to find my black threads so I can stitch round the cat shapes and hopefully get the cushions finished.

Take care

Lyndsey

September already.

August seemed to whizz by and here we are in September already. August was a good month for visits and outings. My sewing machine was away for a repair for quite a bit of the month but my older Elna machine enjoyed being pressed into service. My machine is now back with a new touch screen and is stitching perfectly and I hoping this weekend will be a good sewing weekend. September is National sewing month and I plan to complete my red blouse and make a dress. The blouse is almost done, with just the sleeves to finish off.  This month shouldn't be too busy and I'm hoping to complete a couple of projects.

I've decided this month to do a little work on my hand stitching projects each day starting from today. I plan to stitch on my embroidered table cloth this week and switch to the Star Trek cross stitch next Saturday. Having had a rest from my table cloth I'm itching to get back to working on it. I have one side left to complete. Here is where I've started today. I'll be doing some more stitching this evening.

This morning I had several household jobs to do. Unfortunately I slept badly last night and so everything took longer than it should. Over the day I've been taking lots of rests and in the afternoon I decided I needed a sewing hit so I pulled out more yellow scraps. I'm sewing the scraps into 8.5 inch squares and will use them to make a scrappy quilt. I managed to make 4 squares of yellow and now I only have some very small scraps left in the yellow bag. Sticking to sewing one colour meant I didn't create as much chaos as I did last week.

Tomorrow I'll attack the green or blue scraps and if I'm feeling less tired I want to finish the cat cushions I started last week.

This week I am also planning on finishing my gold work sea horse. I've done some work on this that I haven't shared, mostly because I keep forgetting to take a photo. This is how you last saw it.

I'll take a photo when I get it out to work on, which will be later in the week. 

I need to take the dogs for an evening walk and then I need to go to bed as this last week has been exhausting. 

take care

Lyndsey