Tat's Heaven

Today marks 126 years since the Eiffel Tower in Paris was opened to the public for the first time. There is a lovely 'google doodle' and you can read all about the Tower's history and see the doodle here. In England it is a really blustery and dull day but I went outside to take this photo of Jane's heart buttons on some Darjeeling Tea before making a pot of this very special brew.  And now a little peep at one of the pop-a-bobbin shuttles in the process of being made, it is rather bare without its bobbin but has  a lovely colouration. It is made from spalted beech. The spalting is purely mild rot working its way through parts of the graining. It does not affect the durability of the wood.    

I n 1662 Charles II's Portuguese Queen, Catherine of Braganza is said to have introduced the act of drinking tea into Britain. This quickly spread throughout court and country and to the English bourgeoisie.  Today  it is our favourite beverage and it is the first thing that is offered when you go into a English house, a cup or mug of tea! This is a pattern that I have been wanting to tat ever since Martha put it on her blog. It us her 'Anything Teapot' and can be found  here. Martha gives many ideas of how to complete the middle of the teapot but this is mine, of course it had to include a button. Another King of England in the news at the moment is Richard III and the remarkable story of finding his bones in a Leicester car park in 2013.  He was killed in the Battle of Bosworth Field on 22nd August 1485.  Tomorrow he will be re-buried in Leicester Cathedral.   The most remarkable part of the story for me is the way they identified his remains by using DN...

What you probably don't know is that 'im in the garage' is interested in windmills and watermills.  Over 20 years ago he helped restore Burseldon Windmill which you can read about here.     So I made a request to Jane for a tatted windmill and she came up with this pattern.  It was really fun to tat and I can see me making many more, perhaps for some of those who belong to 'Hampshire Mills Group' of which 'im in the garage' is a member. The restoration work he carried out was not on the outside but making some mill furniture. What you see in this picture is a hopper and chute.    All this was made in the garage, it was his first big project since moving to our current house, since then of course the garage has never had room for a car! Six more pop-a-bobbin shuttles have been delivered to Jane and she will be putting them into her shop soon. 

Today is Mothering Sunday in England, also known as Refreshment Sunday, it is always on the 4th Sunday in Lent, therefore the day varies depending when Easter falls.                        The Industrial Revolution in the eighteenth century led to people increasingly working and living a significant distance from home and family, and the Refreshment Sunday tradition was kept by many as a day to return to worship in their home community.   In the nineteenth century those who were working in domestic service, who would be working through Easter, were allowed to return to their own communities on Mothering Sunday.  The tradition was to pick flowers on their way home to give to their mother. Sadly today is cold, damp and miserable, but I have spoken to my son and daughter-in-law in Singapore, my other son was too ill to make the journey from London to see me and 'Im in the garage' is with his mother, so I am 'home alone'...

There was great excitement in this part of the world today as the Queen came to Southampton to name the latest P&O cruise liner - Britannia. You can read more about it here I gave this piece of tatting away on Friday it is is Mary Konior's Rockingham cross, didn't particularly like the design, it probably would have looked better in a plain colour. We needed a practical way of storing all the wood which has come our way lately, instead of piling it up behind the garden shed!  So 'im in the garage' came out from the garage and made a little house for it all.  Having such large pieces means that not only shuttles can be made but other interesting wooden items. And here is the table that Anne asked me to show you, the one that held the Advent Wreath  it was made over 30 years ago when we lived in Germany............ But still very much admired