General catch up- London and Liberty

 This a beloved new mug for Mother's Day: a wire-haired dachshund mug!!!!!
With their proper chunky square bearded snout!LOVE ME LOVE MY DOG.

 And a note book with lovely cut out phrases by Rob Ryan, more of that below...

 March and April saw lots of visits to London for work, day-long or afternoon and evening visits...

 I don't tire of it, I just love the area around Westminster!

 The slaying of dragons....

 And some short Springtime walks at Cuttlebrook at weekends:

 Herewith the cover of the notebook.

 London on a sunnier day, near Victoria station, on my way to the strategic clinical networks.

 Back at home a banana cake baked for JJ's birthday.....

 Last of the daffodils and a start for early blue bells?

 Back in London, early evening now at LIBERTY of London on the haberdashery floor.

 They've revamped it and all the wools look even more scrumptious!

 Quilting fabrics too, lots of Kaffe Fasset books...

 And in line with the GREAT BRITISH SEWING BEE they now show aBOUT 6-7 styles of classic shirt in Liberty Tana Lawn, all with slight differences: from £95-120 or even 140. I reckon it could be made for just over £20? they've given them all names too.

 They DO look glorious and sooo inviting and comfortable, I do so LOVE a great cotton classic shirt.

 AAAAH: a DACHSHUND!

 and another one?

 And these horse and deer heads are terribly popular in all sorts of media, card, paper, needle felt etc etc.

 Bakelite vintage telephones! But they don't whizz round for dialling like they used to: SUCH FUN!

 Marbled cover notebooks, I just love a bit of marbled paper, still have marbling fabrics on my ''to do'' list and have a kit all ready , one from 2004 and one from Art in Action: July 2013?!

 Scary plates with weird faces and even worse a mug with a staring eye? WHY?

Now THESE I DO like : LUMPY jug! TEXTURE.

 Also liked this vest but it weighed a ton! Out of several layers of cotton tape sewn together.

 Looked good on the mannequin too.

 On another day I had a wee break with an apple tart?!

 And much later AFTER the meeting it was a quick trip round John Lewis.

And them I looked for sewing patterns BUT the sewing bee has meant that they were ALL SOLD OUT of the good ones and it would take WEEKS to order apparently?  GO SEW Britain!

In recovery- very slowly- Mothering Sunday not so good

 My mum passed away recently and it's all been rather difficult at the moment.
Thought about her a lot today.

 Scenes from just before the funeral, which at least was a very dignified and well attended event.

 The kneelers were designed by the late Reverend Douglas Snelgar, who confirmed and married me once, and stitched by the ladies of the Parish of Steep.

 I particularly like these swallows and foxes but in truth I like almost all of them for different reasons...

 The trout and the snowdrops, the Jay....

 The bouncy rabbit or hare ....Very Watership Down of course in these parts....

 The cute hedgehogs... All   kneeler designs were based on local flora and fauna...
I had my conformation classes at the vicarage where often he would have the drawings for the next designs on his desk... Celebrating the evidence and presence of God in the countryside he would say.

It's very lovely the countryside hereabouts and I will miss it dearly when I can no longer visit so readily...

It's all rather like this at the moment:

 BLACK. There were diaries and revelations, stories I'd never heard before and it's as if there's been a seismic shift in my  personal Universe......The shock waves are still reverberating around my brain.

 These daffodils are cheery though and as always '' life must go on''.

 JJ, the love bought 3-4 bunches and they are everywhere, but only for a week.

 found a hankerchief case which I must have embroidered in Primary school, 40-45 years ago...

 Beatifully lined in gingham and lovely tiny invisible stitching to put it together...

 And a photo of a smiling me, sweet 16 years of age? Studying at my desk, surrounded by files.

Sad News and no blogging for a while

Dear readers my elderly mother passed away very unexpectedly and there therefore will be blogging silence for a while from this neck of the woods.
I do hope to be back and as soon as possible but I can't as yet say when.
Please bear with me, I will return.