I'm a bad BAD blogger!

Good evening followers, or at least the 18 that Blogger says are still out there somewhere.

I have indeed been a bad bad Blogger, going two years without a post. Unacceptable.

There has been a lot of change here at Chez Malarkey as last time I wrote here there were more humans in the house than cats and now we are outnumbered. Supper must be on time or the cats will start a revolution.

A month after I last wrote here J's mum was admitted to the hospital with an Alzheimer's related crisis and 6 weeks later she went into a care facility. Things were a lot quieter at home and even the cats were noticeably more relaxed. Sadly in the October 2013 his Dad had what appeared to be a minor medical problem however a chest x-ray showed he had cancer.....everywhere. With palliative care he left us three weeks later which turned out to be a sudden emotional roller coaster. This made the house quieter still and black cat Loki missing his favourite human. Exceeding expectations, MIL made it through all of 2014 and into 2015 before passing away suddenly one Saturday afternoon in February. Despite being just 3/4 miles away when the care facility called us we did not make it in time to say goodbye.  A lot of sudden change in just two years.   Summer 2013 I also had (another) major surgery which was my last scheduled and left me without the unpleasantness of an ileostomy bag. YAY!

Christmas Present Lace

Back on topic of minis and crafting in general, I have been busy learning to make bobbin lace and have made good progress, making some lace trimmed items for my grandparents last Christmas. Here it is in progress. Most of the bobbins were bought and painted in pairs but as this pattern took more than the 25 pairs of bobbins I owned I used some hardwood dowel and whittled myself some more.

There are two books on the art of miniature lace (by Roz Snowden) and I have acquired both, they do look rather intimidating even for someone who likes to work small.
 

My other creative endeavour has been something I have been looking at since I saw how lace bobbins were made, I mean I knew what a lathe was and basic idea of how it works (wood spin, insert sharp tool) there was one in the workshop at my (all girls) school though I never saw it in action.

Last October (2014) I went to the great northern lace fair in Leeds and I was slightly overwhelmed by so much lace stuff in one room. However, in another room I encountered some gentlemen with a stand representing their wood turning group, I chatted with them for a while and admired their work and whilst this club was too far for me to visit regularly I hoped there was one nearer to me.

There was..........to be continued!

This post was getting rather long so I am breaking here for tonight, but I can promise the story will continue and ends quite well......and includes and explosion!

Until next time. Kim.