Friday 25th September

 I have just had a look at the stats for how many people look at our blog and this month there have been 286 and 13096 since I started it.  That is really encouraging to know that people do look and it is worthwhile doing it.  

So far with our little jumper and hat knitting challenge for Africa, we have made 25 jumper and hat sets and 2 extra hats.  That is really good and I hope to be able to pass them on next week .  I will photograph them and post it then. Well done to all the ladies who made them.

I have now finished my table runner and made a little square mat with the leftover pieces and it now resides on my dining room table.

The cloth underneath is a piece of hardanger I did many years ago using a thick 'country' style cotton and No. 5 perle.

I have also finished the India piece and just need to buy a frame for it.

You can't see very well but I have used tiny white beads scattered across the background as a way of catching down the chiffons.

Busy week next week.  I've got the decorator in doing my bedroom so I will be sleeping in the bedroom in the loft which is a cold room in the winter and the weather has just changed.  Never mind, it will be worth it when it is finished.

Friday 18th September

 Trying to get back into the swing of doing some normal things and then the new restrictions come in and we can't meet as a group so we missed our first get together yesterday.  I did however, join some friends for a stitching day (just 5 of us) and we had a lovely chat together.  It's the companionship that you miss most.  

Eileen has been doing a small piece of work for a while now, her 'stitching out' piece and she has finished it into this lovely little hanging.

One member of our group challenged us to make a concertina book.  I have to admit I haven't started mine yet but Eileen has done hers and even though she isn't a member of TEG she has produced this wonderful piece with an African theme.

Sorry, I think my finger got in the way of the end of the piece (David Bailey I am not).

Maybe some of our members will be inspired by this.

Cath in the meantime has been making project bags.  Not sure how many projects you are doing but it looks good.

Cath also sent these lovely pictures of lichen that she taken.

Thursday 10th September.

 Hadn't realised how long it was since I last did the blog.  I have had my daughter staying with me for a couple of weeks and then we have had a lovely week away in a holiday cottage in Northumberland.  We were right by the sea at a place called Howick.  We were on a working farm that kept Limousin cows and a bull that was in a pen quite close to the cottages.  He was quite gentle and loved having his head brushed (not that I did it). Apparently he had come to the farm presumably to do his duty but his passport said he was a female and he can't move on anywhere else until that is changed which as you can imagine, takes months.  We did lots of walking along the beaches and the coastal path which was at the bottom of our garden.  We also saw dolphins one morning in the bay nearby.  It was sunny all week except for Wednesday afternoon when it was a bit wet but didn't spoil our day.  The wind was a bit strong - didn't do much for my hair - but as it was warm, we were ok.

The view from our patio. The coastal path was just over the wall.

This little bay was at the bottom of the cliff in the previous photo.

                                                           

This lovely pattern in the sand caught my eye.  Some of the grains of sand were black and some sparkled, I presumed this might be coal dust as they mined out to sea on Tyneside.