2020 Stash & Grab (our virtual pub)

[Serinde]

Mabel, Prettige Koningsdag!

[Mabel Figworthy]

Thank you Serinde! As you can see I celebrated in style (the stitching is the Delft tile with a tulip on it which I got recently).

By the way, the Dutch are now celebrating Woningsdag (a pun on Koningsdag, King's day, and the word for home because we are all meant to celebrate at home) or Balkoningsdag (Koningsdag on you balcony) - none of the usual funfairs and flea markets, alas.

[Serinde]

[rcperryls]

Mabel, Prettige Koningsdag!

Enjoy your day! Love the picture! You look very happy and content. Do you have special food for the holiday?

Carole

[Mabel Figworthy]

I would have back home - "oranje tompouce", a sort of cream slice or millefeuille filled with pastry cream instead of whipped cream, and with orange icing on top. One day I will try and make them myself! (Which I tell myself every year...)

[Podolyanka]

Mabel, when you make those, bring them here and I can help you to cope with them. Funny enough, what you call all those names I cant remember, is known in Russian /Ukrainian as "Napoleon". My favourite. My kids still remember how at some point I was baking it every Saturday for a couple of months. That "heroic deed" has never been repeated since. It is very time consuming, isnt it? Here, in Kyiv, our best confectionery factory offers them both, with custard(classical or correct Napoleon) and with whipped cream which I hate ( irregular or wrong Napoleon).

[Serinde]

I'm having a while I study the shelves with all my craft books crammed into it. Definitely needs a tidy.

[wendywombat]

Trouble with deciding to Tidy those craft books is that you take one out, start to read it and Hey Ho an hour has passed! Then you realise that it's time to walk the dog/ make lunch/ dinner or even more important

[Serinde]

Well, I did tidy the bookshelf. It's much better, although not perfect yet (I need to leave room for expansion of Inspirations magazines). I'll be able to take some magazines I'll no longer use to Embroiderers' Guild next September -- or perhaps make them available here? We'll see.

So I need to get on and finish the rest of the room. Some old material I'd been storing to make this mythical rag rug I've been contemplating for several years has now been given to a local group making masks and wash bags for the NHS. (Just found another bag of material, so I'll do the same with that.)

The new secretary of the EG branch will inherit the boxes and bags of minutes and other branch paraphernalia ... (although what I'll use for a foot stool under the desk remains to be seen).

Anyone interested in about 10 pairs of old denim jeans?

[Mabel Figworthy]

Denim makes quite a nice embroidery ground...

Very impressed with your ruthless attitude to tidying! We'll be calling you Marie Kondo (Mind you, her method down't work for me because so much of my clutter "sparks joy" )

[Serinde]

Serinde Kondo, please! I'm with you: if it didn't "spark joy" I'd not have it to begin with! Actually, I dislike minimalism partly because it doesn't give you any clue at all to the personality of the person living in the space.

The only thing I was fierce about was a collection of stiff cardboard (from shirts and stuff), which I'd kept "just in case". Now, I generally don't use that sort of thing to back embroideries, so why I had it at all is a mystery. Anyway, it's all been recycled! I also grouped some stuff together which had been separated (all the calligraphy items are now together and suddenly useful again, for example). But the real difference was boxing up some unused board games and jigsaw puzzles that no one has touched in 20 years. Cleared an entire shelf! Those will go into the attic to be found 20 years hence.

I did find a treasure, though. A letter written by my mother in 1993. Priceless.

[Mabel Figworthy]

Hurray for finding the letter!

[Serinde]

Indeed. I'll pack it away with the others I managed to keep over the years. She kept all mine... but I was young, foolish and moved house 14 times in 12 years in the early stages, so there was only so much I could accumulate, alas. Still, it was lovely to "hear" her voice again (and she was in good form).

And more good news: my Schacht "Arras" loom has been shipped! I honestly didn't expect to get it for many months, given that the US company is shuttered at the moment.

So drinks are on me. I think I will indulge in a hot choc

[Mabel Figworthy]

looking ofrward to pictures when it arrives!

[mysterystitcher]

Just 1 hot chocolate for me. And maybe some eggless cake. That buttermilk one. The nurses of the hospital know that cake. I love it.
My back hurts. I've rested all day. A painkiller has helped some. I wonder if I should take another for the night. I just sit next to that window of which you can see the garden.

[Serinde]

Barkeep, Lyudmila might be coming in, and she's to have exactly whatever she fancies, right? Good.

I'll prop up the bar for a bit seeing as the Weaver's AGM documents have gone out and I've already had more replies than I anticipated. Now I might just begin to catch up with the laid and couch work online course... (I'm soooo behind it's embarrassing).

Oh, and the Arras loom has arrived, but I've not had a chance to put it together yet... and another loom has also come my way: a tiny 8" Sampleit loom made by Ashford. The 8" refers to the weaving width, so it is petite. A lady from the Guild can't use it anymore (arthritis; such a pity as she's a very fine weaver), so I have acquired it. And now I might have some time to play with it.

[Mabel Figworthy]

Such a shame for the lady who can't use it anymore but how lovely for you! Small is beautiful, looking forward to seeing what you'll make with it.

[Serinde]

Angel has 10,000 posts!!

[Mabel Figworthy]

Congratulations Angel on becoming a super-poster

[mysterystitcher]

I am happy for Angel. Congrats!
I must say congrats to that other person too. To the one who got that weaving thing (the previous owner had some arthritis or something, and she had to let it go).
I could take 1 hot chocolate and 1 slice of buttermilk to celebrate both of those events.