Return of the mojo

In my last post I was lamenting the fact that the old mojo had well and truly disappeared. Not even a hexagon could tempt me. A little thought crept in saying that maybe I needed to start something completely afresh and see if that works. Trying hard not to think about the million other projects gone off the boil this is what I started. It has lots of applique, even a few hexagons, well, a lot of hexagons, even some diamonds but, it seems to be working and I am thoroughly enjoying this so far.

This is the pattern. Mosaic by Irene Blanck. It came all the way from Australia and I might add within 4 days of ordering it. Well done to the postal services both ways.

Decorating the Christmas Tree was proving a bit tricky. This is tree number 2. Tree number one was bought, unwrapped and put in its pot and then I realised that there were a lot of needles on the floor. The poor thing looked decidedly unwell. Back it went and tree number two bought. It is compact and just fits the place. I know what you are thinking but what else would I decorate it with other than pink baubles. There are lots of green baubles too and I love the sparkly snowflakes. I stand the tree in my Portmeirion bread crock which has a Christmas Rose design conveniently on the front.Now to get organised with everything else.

Kate had a very special birthday last week, one with a 0 on the end and as a treat we had a day out to Bath. We had the most fabulous day and a big thank you to Kate's husband David who drove us there with great patience, six women in the car all giving different directions, a Sat Nav that didn't work properly and a car with some fancy gizmo's that would have been enough to drive him mad.

First stop was the Costume Museum. There were some fabulous costumes and we all had our personal favourites. I didn't take many photo's as I only had my phone and it does not take good photo's in the dark. This display is from the Civil War era. The thing that stood out for us that these women were tiny. Not very tall and with the smallest of waists. Real envy going on here I can tell you.

This made me smile. This Man's Coat was exquisitely embroidered but the mannequin it was draped on had on underpants that had the words Gems Ltd printed on them. Gives a new slant on the contents of underpants being called The Crown Jewels!

The costumes are housed in The Assembly Rooms in Bath and Jane Austen most certainly would have visited here for dancing and socialising. In one of the rooms were magnificent chandeliers. These are electric but you could still get the feel for what this room would have felt like with all these chandeliers.

From there we found a gorgeous tea room for lunch and afterwards made a visit to Country Threads patchwork shop where we had to purchase one or two things. It would have been rude not to. A great one to visit if you are ever in Bath.

A few weeks ago we had a trip to Sidmouth, East Devon. It was a lovely warm day and wandering around the back streets we came across this sign pointing to a craft shop but it was the name that attracted us. Maisie and cousin Daisy could be a double act.

It finished up with the most magnificent sunset.

Hope all your festive plans are coming together and you are finding a quiet moment for some stitching or are you frantically trying to finish things. That was part of my mojo that did not kick in. Maybe I shall start in January......

Happy Stitching.

Shirley.