Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all my blogland friends, thank you for keeping me company during this difficult year and sending me encouragement in your comments.
Can't wait for 2009, a new start to a new year.
With Love Rosie x

A punching we will go...

I seem to be obsessed by this craft I have found out some more about it, and it has been going for a long long time. Apparently the Ancient Egyptians had a go at it using bird bones - they were such a bunch of clever clogs, You might have known they were in on things like this. The Russians are pretty good at this too and they have been doing this for years too.

So here is the snowman button I did this morning, thats the thing I like about this craft, its really nice and quick. This little snowperson is about 4 cms wide, and I really love it. I drew the design on some calico and punched away with two strands of DMC and mounted it on a button.

I have also finished this one, which I am very pleased with too, this is an ATC and I really shouldn't be showing you, but I don't think the gal it's going to reads my blog so I think I am safe putting it on here. I love the border, it reminds me of a Strawberry Mivi ice lolly.

I have just about finished the sheep kit I got, except that when I was stranding the thread, it got into such a tangle that I couldn't use the last two pieces, so I trolled down to Cole Brothers - John Lewis - only to find that they don't sell DMC but Anchor... Thankfully someone on the PN group told me about a comparison chart between the two brands so tomorrow I can go and get the right colour.

Anybody thinking of having a go at needle punch can get them from Rainbow Silks or The Cotton Patch here in the UK.

Old craft come new.

Greetings peeps, first of all may I apologise for that ridiculous self -indulgent and pathetic post. The black dog has been sent back to his kennel without a gravy bone.

Now onto other things.

Many years ago a company called Websters brought out a silly little craft here in the UK called Punch Needle. In the US this craft was around in the 70s and there were some very odd and quite artistically offensive pieces of work being attached to denim jackets, jeans, bags etc.

It must have been in the late 80's early 90's that I bought a punch needle, at the time I was making and selling dolls houses and the things that go inside them. The punch needle was quite good for making dolls house rugs and carpets. It was a few weeks ago when I was rummaging through the attic that I found a box containing some of my crafty things, and there in the bottom was my punchneedle.

So curiosity got the better of me and I wandered through the web searching for punchneedles.

Oh my goodness, what marvellous things have happened to this craft. It works wonderfully for primitive art, and there are some really lovely things out there. Look here

I really love doing this and here is my first go at it for a long time. I just drew on a piece of calico - not very well as you can see - and punched away. It ended up as a mugrug, backed with some red and white spotted cotton. I crushed/ hammered a cinamon stick and put that inside so that when my coffee mug makes it warm you get the lovely Christmassy smell.

Next on my needle is a little sheep, so hopefully I will be able to show you that in a couple of days.
Have a great evening everyone.
Rosie

So what can I say, not blogged for over a month. All I can say is that I am crap at blogging. I have wanted to blog, but I don't think you would really enjoy my catalogue of complaints, and the black dog that has been hanging around me - and I don't mean Millie!

What is it about this time of year that makes me feel so depressed? I love Christmas, the decorations, the music, the food, the contentment of being with my family, and I know that this year part of this mood is the fact that I have no house to call my own, I can't put my wonderful 8' tree up in my lovely lounge, or the sitting room or the 30' conservatory. I miss arranging all my elves and santas on the mantlepiece. I miss setting the table with elegant candles and beautiful china. But, this is all completely rubbish, its all material things that I have managed without before and can manage without again.

What I really miss is not having a child in the house. I have noticed before as Dan got older, that Christmas was just not as enjoyable as having a bouncy, excited boy waiting for Christmas Day. When Dan's dad and I divorced, we decided that we would take it in turns having him for Christmas, and oh boy when he was younger and when he was away, it was awful!

These days however there are no gluey, glittery ornaments turning up from school, no nativity plays, where I cry my eyes out trying not to let anyone see. No silly Christmas songs to learn. Just thinking about it, is making me cry - mind you I have been known to cry at adverts on the telly, so that's not saying much, but I am sure you know what I mean.

Plus this week has been a bad one. On Tuesday I did something so incredibly stupid I am surprised you didn't hear me kicking and screaming in frustration. I ordered 2 books from Amazon, something which I haven't done for about a year, I remembered to change my address on my account and ordered these books with the One Click thingy. On Wednesday morning I opened an email from Amazon telling me that the invoice would be sent to my address in Sheffield, and the books would be sent to the house we lived in 2 years ago in Biggleswade Bedfordshire. Apparently, although I changed my address, there is another address to change under One Click. HO HUM!
There is nobody living in that house now and knowing my luck the post man will probably have left it on the doorstep. Amazon were helpful but couldn't do anything about it, you cannot cancel an order once you have One Clicked it. I can't tell you how cross I was with myself.

Also this week Dan broke a very large bauble with its own stand, that I had bought, so that we could have some sort of decoration.

This week we have been to the Memory Service with my mum, she has been having real trouble remembering things, words just seem to fail her sometimes right in the middle of a sentance. She had a CT scan a few weeks ago and today we found out the results. Her brain is fine for a 90 year old, but she is only a couple of points away from having dementia. So things are going to get worse.

And finally, the finance company have remembered that we still have a car and they want it back. So as from Monday we will have no car. Oh what joy! Could it happen at a worse time of year?

So there you have it 2 weeks to Christmas and the black dog is circling round.

Sorry for a really whingy post, and especially one with no pictures. Thank you to Mandi from Vintage kitten asking if i was ok as I had not posted, that was really kind of you to care.

Hopefully the next post will tell you that I have won the lottery or something!

Keep well
Rosie