Attic finds continued

Attic Finds

Yesterday my son went into the attic to remove some suitcases and boxes that were up there behind the water tank. We are hoping to have some insulation put up there sometime, so new it would have to come out. We did not know who it belonged to or what it was. There were two suitcases one was full of rubbish - empty chocolate boxes bits of tinsel. It had made a nice nest for the mice which had lived up there. When I opened the next one it looked more interesting. A collection of items which were probably used in pantomimes but the items had a lot of work in them and looked very old and interesting. There were several jig saws and an Alfa Romeo car which my grandson Alfie decided he was keeping. It was still in its original box. Then there was an old carrier bag which looked like the contents of a drawer. It had pens and pennies,smelling salts all sorts of rubbish then I opened a little box and out came the beautiful watch. I also found a ring and some chains. I was really enjoying this now. Another box was full of dress patterns from possibly the 40's and 50's and yet another box full of fabric but it was all nylon and crimpline.
I did not recognise the name of the person who owned all this but we are the third family to live here since them. They are sadly no longer around. Next time my son comes over I might send him up there again to see what else he finds.

Cornwall

Tin mine


View through an arch at the derelict tin mine


The remains of lunch


View through the resturant window


A posing seagull

Well we are back from our creative travels. The weather was on the whole kind most of the time. Sarah's converted dairy is fantastic and I can thoroughly recommend it. There are some pictures here
On the first day we visited a couple of local churches, a tin mine and a tropical garden centre then the other three walked up a Tor/hill to admire the view. I stayed in the car as I have a dodgy knee. They tell me that you can see both coast lines from there. We then spent the afternoon working on various projects. In the evening we prepared some screens and fabric with flour.
The next day we spent in St Ives visiting the shops, the Barbara Hepworth Gallery and The Tate Gallery. We even managed to have lunch outside overlooking the beach. In the evening after our meal we did a bit of felt making, some sketch book work and some printing using the previously prepared screen.
On the final day we stayed in and did projects including photoshop, sketckbooks, fabric transfer crayons and paint and embellishing on the Pfaff embellisher. We rounded the trip of by going out for a lovely meal in St Ives. It was absolutely pouring down but thanks to Sarah's daughter Helen we were dropped of and collected from the door.
I was not as productive as the others because I was in constant pain. I will post some pictures of the work I did when I have taken pictures of it. Until then here are some pictures that I had taken

Family History

For some time now I have been interested in my family history. I started wanting to know what made me, me. Why was I good at doing things with my hands and not my brain! My parents were both craft teachers so that was a good reason for me being like I am but what about them. The computer has made searching records a fantastic hobby but it is rather addictive. The more you find the more you want to find. The tree can become huge. I have over 1000 on mine now. I am finding things like - on my paternal side I come from a dynasty of Quaker clog makers. That's a very hands on occupation. I am from the North of England my mothers side from Lancashire and Scotland, my fathers side Yorkshire. Some of the information I thought I knew, which had been handed down I could not follow up. It looked like the history of two great men had been combined. The one I am related to owned a mill and a coal mine and was a Mayor. The other founded a children's home and is related to Queen Victoria's physician. All this information I have found on the Internet but it is two people born in the same year with the same name. Most of my ancestors worked in the mills. On my maternal side cotton on my paternal side wool. The jobs I have seen are calico printers, weavers, cotton doffer,cotton drawer,cotton spinner, cotton winder and a salesman of turkey red cotton. there are also a few farmers, stone masons and joiners.I have now traced some branches right back to the early 1500's
I have posted a picture of a needle point made by my Great Great grandmother Lucy Cockshutt in 1855 when she was 16. It is quite large about 3ft by 4ft, so there was also a love of sewing.
The other picture is of Mary Collins born 13 June 1830 and died 5 Feb 1904. She was my other maternal Great Great Grandmother.

Arch from Pam

This was the arch that I received from Pam.It is part of the Textile challenge Groups on going challenge The photo doesn't really do it justice. It looks like all the lights are on in the windows of the castle. It is all very neatly done too.

August Arch for Judy

I can't believe that this year is going so quickly and how long ago since I last blogged!
I have just finished this arch for Judy. I had made most of it by the first week in August. I thought I was doing really well but then suffered mental block. It is when you know what you would like to do but just can't think how to do it. I made the back that made me feel like I was progressing even if I wasn't. The ideas gradually trickled back and I hope Judy will like it.
I made it on my Pfaff embellisher. The first problem was keeping the shape. I had to trim a lot of so apologise for the lack of walls. Judy said she liked trees, leaves, oceans, ancients relics, castle and doorways. So, I did a window, well it is nearly like a door! The background is the ocean (and land which would have trees and leaves) The window is in castle which used to be an ancient relic before it was extensively modernised. In the for ground on the window sill is a vase of flowers( and leaves) and a shell a souvenir I brought back from Cape Cod.

I have not been very productive lately. I have done some gardening and tidying and been out and about so I thought I would post some inspirational pictures for you while I think about what to do next. My head is full of ideas I just need to get a few of them on paper. These are a couple of pictures taken at Lee Bay in North Devon