Red Paisley Throw

Well, I cannot resist a nice red paisley throw! This one is in good condition, and the fabric retains much of its original colours. This throw came from Edinburgh, so I am pretty confident that the fabric came from one of the large fabric mills in the Vale of Leven near Glasgow (see the recent book "Colouring the Nation" for many more details).

Like most of these throws, it was quickly made from lengths of fabric covering a woollen filling.

Corners are not very carefully done....

Again, quickly made.....on the sewing machine...

The colours are still very vibrant, with much of the original green yellow and blue showing...these disappear as the fabric becomes more worn, but the red is very long lasting...

The paisley or boteh shape....no other provenance...size is about 135 x 166 cm.

Christmas is over - back to work!

I'm sorry that I haven't posted in over a month - things got rather busy over Christmas. It is also the tax year end for many of the companies that I do bookkeeping for....so lots to do.

In the week before Christmas, there were several company Christmas meals to enjoy - this one was at the Salthouse Harbour Hotel - the food was great here and I enjoyed my lunch with the small group of people I work with in Ipswich two days a week.

There was also a lunch  at Hintlesham Hall, a well known restaurant and hotel with another of my companies. We had party games, a contest for a bottle of champagne (no I didn't win) and small gifts at the finish. A very pleasant day.

Christmas is a busy time for bellringers, as we are much in demand, and have to hurry around to do lots of ringing for Carol Services, etc. Here is the Pettistree band ringing at St Matthews church in Ipswich, for the Christmas ringing. All the churches in Ipswich are rung for half an hour on the last Saturday before Christmas, before we all repair to St Margaret's Church for coffee and mince pies.

We were also able to help the Clopton ringers ring for a service - their first time to ring for a service, as these people have only started to learn. That's David in the centre, who is teaching the band. Susan Schurr's daughter Jenny on the right is also learning to ring. Susan was very keen about bellringing and, having started to ring at the age of 70 for the Millennium, achieved a great deal in her lifetime. I'm sure that she would be thrilled to see that Jenny is learning to ring.

Well, its back to work now.....but the good news is that Mike and I have booked our tickets to visit Sophie and Paul in Singapore in March. We are considering where else to go - Kuala Lumpur and Malacca seem an easy option. Not long to go now!

Best Wishes for 2014