Family FITS*

,*That's Fun In The Sun

bikes, balls, beaches, brothers, books...

And sipping long cool drinks through a straw

 

Would You Believe It?

Isn't it a small world? A blogfriend of mine went on holiday [abroad] and on the last night of her holiday found herself sharing a meal table with another Englishwoman. They had quite a few things in common. Then the other lady mentioned she lived in Norfolk. My friend said she knew a retired minister and his wife who lived in Norfolk - but for the moment, she just couldn't remember our village. "It's Bob...erm..." "Not Bob and Angela Almond?"  We first met the second lady in London in 1987, and since retiring here we've reconnected because she lives in a nearby town and belongs to the Baptist church there. So two of my good friends have now met each other, hundreds of miles from home.
Somebody recently said that if my readership is that wide, perhaps I ought to Monetise my blog*. I am not sure I want to do that, but anyway here are some waterlilies for you to enjoy...

*that might help pay for the kitchen!

Scotch Missed

 At school we were taught people were Scottish and things were Scotch.  This gets confusing when you discover a schottische is a dance [a slow polka, apparently] and the word scotch has many definitions. It can mean

1. To put an end to - he scotched the rumours
2. To wedge something somewhere - she scotched herself against the wall
3. To cut or score the skin - he scotched the back of the fish
4. To render useless - we have scotched the snake [Macbeth Act 3]
5. Whisky

Catriona made a lovely suggestion for my cross stitching - something to represent a good part of my eventful holiday in Scotland. Thanks C! I decided I'd do an all-over pattern of tartans. I used one based on my maiden name and one from Kirsten's family. Mine [Hall] was red, blue, green and yellow, hers [Gunn] was red, blue, green and black. But by joining along a diagonal, I could use a narrow red stripe and green wide stripe to link them.

To get the warp and weft effect, I did the under thread with 6 strands, the crossing top thread with 3 strands of thread. This gave a dense, but not stiff piece. 

Meanwhile K. has been looking at medieval stitching and illuminated manuscripts. She was stitching the piece which will finally end up with me - so did a capital A in 5 colours, surrounded by green and black lozenges [each one is a different pattern] with a lively border in blues, purples and black. It's exquisitely stitched! 

Getting back to the words - Scotch Mist can refer to

1.  a weather condition, a cold penetrating mist, verging on rain, a drizzle or mizzle
2. a cocktail made with whisky poured over crushed ice
3. In the North of England, a phrase meaning "something unlikely to happen" 

I think the July stitchings are great, as they show that yet again we've both come up with another way to interpret the idea of a cross stitch sampler. My flat gifts from Kirsten will merit their own post later. 

Do you have a family tartan?