House-Elf Doings 

Here are the promised dragonfly jug pics Hanne.

Let me tell you about yesterday. We had a picnic 

With a view

 and a Panopticon called Atom

was nearby.

Click to read.

There were traces of old walls and hedgerows now trees.

 The stones cut naturally into slabs so these were part buried into the ground in rows to make walls.

No one built a plug for the Panopticon

so we couldn’t go inside properly.

View of the moors so beloved of the Brontes.

The reservoir wasn’t there in their time.

Neither was this wing of the parsonage in Haworth where the Brontes lived. 

 I wasn’t allowed to take photos but there is a virtual tour here. The father had the rooms to the right of the photo and the children had the rooms to the left. The dining room (bottom left windows) is where most of the books were written. The sofa where Emily is said to have died is in this room. The window in the centre was a small child’s room/study. 

At the back of the house on the left was a store room which became Charlotte’s husband’s study (he was a curate at the church which her father was the vicar), above it was the servant’s room. At the back on the right was the kitchen with a now demolished scullery. Above it was Branwell (the brother’s) room. These rooms are laid out like they would’ve been for the Brontes. The new wing is now a gallery of their writing and things belonging to them.

There is a lovely written description here with small pics.

The chuch just the other side of the graveyard from the front of the house. (Yep charming view but at least the Bronte’s water supply was uphill of the graveyard unlike the villagers.)

Little church door. I wondered if this is the one Patrick Bronte used when alone.

Did the Brontes or their servant go down this narrow allwyway alongside the church to go into the village?

Beautiful ironwork.

 The village end of the church

is next to a market place at the top of a steep hill.

This place smelled of coal tar soap and mustard bath powder. I lingered. 🙂 They had lots of gorgeous 1940s style clothing in a back room. I was tempted by the tea dresses. 

Down the hill were more shops.

This one made a real effort to attract people in.

Avoca Mill woollen cushions. Avoca is the real name place of where Ballykissangel was filmed. I was there years ago feeling a bit surreal with familiar buildings which weren’t what they quite were in the series. 

We sat down tired by late afternoon

for tea and cakes. Delicious!

The children stopped off at this traditional sweet shop

as we walked back to the car

and made our way home over the moors towards Colne.

A wonderful place which we had stopped in at on our way was now closed. Oh I am such a glutten for fabric at the moment. It has been months and months though. These last few weeks are very exceptional.

So let me share my final offerings for the Tour de Fibre. 

“Sophie Mae the Spider Fairy”.

I was going colonial nuts with so many Colonial Knots!

And lastly “Brienna meets a Butterfly”.

I am so relieved that all 7 fairy stitcheries are complete. It is now a quick job to join a lot of squares and make a quilt. I NEED machine time now. 

I will share Dorchester on Thames, Oxfordshire next before whisking you down to Hampshire and then over to Dorset. Hopefully I will have a lot more crafting to share too.

 This is a sculpture which has been on the go for a while now with Daughter and I. I took these photos at the various stages. Remember the storms a while back? Town had some broken twisted umbrella spokes just laying in the pedestrian area at dog eye height. Saying things about tidying up the area I grabbed them. Lovely husband gave me a few weird looks. When I had them all in my bag I explained that they would be suitable for a project Daughter and I had in mind. He rolled his eyes. LOL Anyway together with newspaper masking taped into place, we created this shape.

Modroc was then layered over the newspaper. You buy the Modroc in sheets, add  a bit of PVA glue to warm water, cut off strips of the Modroc, dip it in the water which awakens the plaster of paris in the Modroc. You hen apply in layers like papier mache.

It dried to a solid but lightweight state.

You can make the Modroc smooth but we left it rough like tree bark.

When thoroughly dried, layers of paint were applied.

Gold flecks in one paint.

Bronze brown.

 The final layer was a pale green which was polished in with a cloth and the excess removed so the underlying layers were highlighted.

 Then the tree was decorated in felt and wool leaves

 in Autumnal shades.

Leaves decorated the base.

Some branch ends had jewellery which tinkled when moved.

Others had glass leaves which jangled.

 “Fallen” leaves glued into position.

Lampwork beads at a branch end.

 The centre of the tree can be used to put things.

Daughter and I are pleased with our totem Willow Tree.

Let me share the last of the arrivals while I’ve been away. Stephanie of Loft Creations was having a clear out of stash on her blog, so I bought these 2 wonderfully bright linen blend fabrics. I once wanted a tropical themed bathroom in those colours with green lush plants and yellow walls. I think I would have to wear sunglasses in such a room. What a giggle though especially with coconut candles when you have a bath.

 Thank you so much Stephanie for the fabric and for the free pattern.  If you have never made a bag then her patterns are a great place to start. Have a look here. She puts a lot of the big published designers to shame with the amount of testing she does with her team of friends.

Lastly my 1st Spoonflower order arrived- Greyhound fabrics to make GRWE bandanas (I emailed the designer) and whatever else I can think of. They are by Jane Walker. She was selling samples in packs from her website so I ordered one of those too. I will make all I can for GRWE from them but I  think I might keep the pink Greyhound Toile for us. Aren’t they fabulous. She has an Etsy shop now too.

Now that really is all the new fabric arrivals. Honest!