A Lucky Afternoon!

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Yesterday, when walking down the street to the Library I (naturally) stopped at the window of the Secondhand Bookshop and look what was there?

Now they are living with me. And then, whilst I was humming with glee, I entered the Library and what did I spy on the display stand but....
I swear you never saw me move so fast to grab it before someone else spotted it! I've only read the first four of the Elm Creek books because I have to order them off Amazon, they've never been available here, and I love'em! So SCORE! Its new in and I'm the first to borrow it!

Isn't it just shocking how a favourite author pushes all ones good intentions to the back-burner? The next pair of wrist warmers are, as you can see, knat (past tense of knit), but since I'm not able to sew or crochet whilst reading they will have to await finishing off until I finish this great book!

Actually its quite different to the previous ones I've read; I think this one was written with more passion. It concerns a slave, Joanna, and it is engrossing. I'm also learning a lot about the 1890's South.

So I'll have to pick up some other knitting whilst I finish it to keep my hands busy!

By the way, those of you who were following the Life and Times of St Columba, (which I had set today aside to finish...hmmm...) I took a photo of the mural in the Library yesterday and have posted it on 'Our Inheritance' if you are interested.

Of gardening, teachers, saints and old bags!

I did some gardening this morning ha! ha! Of the cross stitch variety!
I just love Jeremiah Junction's designs; I subscribed to their Magazine for several years, so have plenty of back issues to draw upon when the muse hits!

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I spent a very contented few hours this morning writing a new post for my blog 'Our Inheritance'. It's about St Columba .

I realised awhile back that in primary school I was very lucky in my teachers. It was a four teacher school, two year groups per teacher, in a very old, beautiful, historic building. My teachers were old-fashioned, conscientious, disciplinarians who were firmly rooted in the community and dedicated to doing their utmost to educate the unruly bunch of rural children delivered to them each day! I doubt the school, curriculum or equipment had changed much since the 1890's, and while it didn't suit some I guess it was just grand for me.

Past and present, stories of Saints, poets, eccentrics, forebears, Vikings, local landmarks, geography, history, they came alive then, and have remained so. Our teachers spoke as though the heroes of legend lived and died last week, and were equally important as local people and their doings. They blurred the lines between past and present, life and death, reality and imagination, the seen and the unseen, saints and wicked, and it was such an amazing gift.

The school where I now teach is the same one re-located to a new building in the 1970's. The Principal is a previous classmate, and many of the parents of the children I now teach attended school with me- they know all my sins and I theirs!

Here are the items for Etsy I was working on yesterday, and this afternoon. The labels are redwork on a sort of hessian fabric I found in the scrap trunk. The lovely flowery fabric was an old sleeveless summer shirt which I never wore, beautiful cotton though.I still have to thread drawstrings through the tops, and the third one isn't cut out yet! I thought they would be useful for holidays and weekends away. My Mum uses a plastic bag for her slippers and small things so I thought these might be useful?