Tah dah . . .

 Of course, only at the end did I notice the error, but never mind, Gabby will just have to live with it, and it certainly doesn't make it any less warm!

Considering I only had a black and white design which I printed from t'internet, I did better than I expected! Light and dark were my only clues to how it was meant to look.  Haven't a clue what to call it - only a basic name like "Stepping up" comes to mind.

Of course, I had help whilst doing the binding . . . with yowls every time I tried to move the quilt to get on to the next bit.  The machine quilting was done by our Patchwork teacher Alex, so MANY thanks to her (something is going to be baked as a thank you . . .)

I couldn't even put it down on a chair back without Pippi deciding I had done this for her benefit . . .

Well, the car has gone down the road for an oil change and to have the glow plugs checked - I said as it had started every time since that little blip, perhaps they could just check the plugs as I didn't think it needed them . . .  Legs aching now after the several hills walked home - walking back in is a bit less of a grind, just one big hill.  

More of Tam's washing done - big stuff dry, so now it's Rosie's clothes.  She has found some lovely little things in the Aberystwyth charity shops.

Gabby popped in yesterday on her way back from a night away in an Air BnB in Church Stretton, and if I thought my legs tired today, they did a 10 mile walk climbing the Long Mynd, and Gabby's legs still felt like chewed string!  It was good to see her and I took advantage and got her to lug my Fair boxes away for me.

Today I am just having a tidy up - books and magazines everywhere - and an easy day.  Sewing this evening is back to Peter Rabbit again.  

Tea tonight is another helping of the tasteless Chilli I made last night, so I will have to liven it up a bit I think.  I cooked up two portions of brown rice, so just need to do green beans and broccoli to go with it.

A Jane Austen season

 Evening tv has been Jane Austen orientated this week.  iPlayer came up with a listing for a four part costume drama, "Miss Austen", which I thoroughly enjoyed. Then of course, I had to follow it up with dramatisations of Jane Austen's novels, so am enjoying Sense and Sensibility now.

With all the driving I've done recently, I have finally got through the 50 or so hours of Written in My Own Heart's Blood (Diana Gabaldon) and yesterday greatly enjoyed Poirot's Finest Cases yesterday, including Murder on the Orient Express and most of The Mysterious Affair at Styles when driving to Tam's and back.

The weather stayed mostly dry but cold and it was foggy through the mountains, so not much in the way of views.  I was glad to be of use - more washing up of course, sweeping the kitchen floor, keeping Rosie entertained, and tidying up the front garden which was littered with cut branches from when the scaffolding was put up for the roof repairs.  I came home laden with big bags of washing to do for Tam - they find it difficult to dry bedding on their small airer.

I popped into Charlies on the way home, as I needed a new incinerator for burning paper.  My last one was in two pieces, so I will need to get that moved today.  I had a tip, to put the incinerator under cover in between uses, as it won't rust through so readily then.  I was very good and walked by the display of deep red Hellebores as they were £14.99 each.  I will be able to get them cheaper from the garden centre near Crossgates.

I have been working steadily on blind-hemming the binding on Gabby's (huge) quilt. I will be glad when this has been done and I can get back to the Peter Rabbit x-stitch, which isn't so enveloping.  I was trying to sew the other night with Pippi in the middle of the quilt where it reached the floor!

It's the middle of the night and I need to try and get back to sleep now.

St Idloes Parish Church

 

This is a rare-as-hens'-teefs dedication, an in fact, this is the ONLY church which is dedicated to St Idloes, who lived in the early 7th C, and indeed gave the town its name of Llan-Idloes.  Idloes was a Confessor,  and son of Gwyddnabi ab Llawfrodedd Farfog and his Feast Day was 6th September.  Apparently he wasn't celibate as he had a daughter, Meddvyth, who was also sainted.  Lewis Glyn Cothi, the bardic poet who used to visit the Lloyds at our old home, back in the late 1400s, mentioned him when writing of another individual, "He was an aged knight, of good morals, like Sadwrn or Idloes".  His grandfather, Llawfrodded Farfog, was known in Welsh legend, and was "one of the three Tribe-Herdsmen of the Isle of Britain"  and tended the kine (cattle) of Nudd Hael, in whose herd were 21,000 milch cows!  His own cow, named Cornillo, was one of the "Three Chief Cows" of the island, and indeed, even his own knife was celebrated, being one of "the Thirteen Treasures of the Island" as it would "serve four and twenty men at meat all at once."  OK, your eyes have probably glazed over by now but I like to keep such writings alive, and they interest me. (I shall pursue the rabbit hole which is Nudd Hael later!!)

Apologies for it being so dark and gloomy, but if there was a light switch, I couldn't find it!  You can just see the wonderful columns on the left which form the Early English Arcade.  These came from the monastery of Abbeycwmhir, about 10 miles to the East.  Thank heavens they were saved.  They date from the 13th C and apparently made by craftsmen who worked at Worcester Cathedral, and also at Llandaff and St David's.

Such wonderful craftsmanship - the guidebook states that the foliage on the capitals is "equal in workmanship to those of Lincoln Cathedral".  

The roof is "perhaps the greatest glory of the church" and also came from Abbeycwmhir - a shame it was so dark I couldn't get a decent photo.  Best I can do is the glorious angels, which are later than the hammer-beamed roof, and were probably put in position when the main timbers of the roof were moved to Llanidloes and re-erected in 1542.

The beautiful font with its quatrafoils, dates from the first half of the 14th C, although the base it stands on is modern.

This was an unexpected  bonus - our local family, the Woosnams, were all remembered here.  Bowen Pottinger Woosnam was the chap who bred smart ride and drive ponies, and also colliers, for mine work.  I live in his stables!  

This is the Millennium Window, and represents order from Chaos.  I imagine visiting children would love to spot all the different animals and plants in the stained glass.  I will have to go back and take photos of what I missed, but I was running out of time.

Anyway, the first church post for months and months.  There will be more.  Billy Blue-Eyes - you'll have to go and be more thorough than me and take lots of good photos.

I am off to Tam's now.  Hoping it doesn't snow more as there is a little on the hills but the forecast is for 3 deg or so even in the mountains.

A day out in Llanidloes

 I had a lovely day out today.  The sun was shining, and the hills were so beautiful as I drove up to Rhayader and then beyond to Llanurig, and then Llanidloes, to meet my friend Nia.  We were due to meet for lunch at 12.30, so I set off early to find St Idloes Church, which I wanted to visit.  I shall do a proper post on it tomorrow - when my camera battery has recharged.  It was a beautiful church with the original arcade of  carved stone pillars from Abbeycwmhir (about 10 miles to the South East). Measurements were taken to prove that these truly were from the Abbey. They were brought here in the middle 1500s.  But more of that tomorrow. It was good to go into a church again.  I have had a break as church visiting was so associated with Keith's final illness - my little breaks away from caring for him - and which in retrospect I wish I hadn't done, but had spent all that time with him instead.  That guilt sits heavy with me.

The beautiful old Market Hall in Llanidloes is the only one in the country which is still in its original situation.  It was built between 1612 and 1622, although there are some timbers which are earlier (mid-16th C).  It was also known as the Booth Hall in the past, from the stalls or booths under and inside the hall.  It was occasionally used as a Courthouse too.

At one end of the Market Hall is this boulder, upon which John Wesley used to stand to preach.  He was a prolific open air preacher, and was well known in our parish too, where he would jump upon a fallen gravestone to cast his words to the parishioners, and indeed, his brother Charles married a young lady from nearby Garth.  John Wesley married celibacy, believing that marriage would distract his mind from the Methodist work he did.   

Llanidloes was the centre for Welsh flannel making in the 18th and 19th  C and famed for its wool in the centuries before.  With the decline of the Flannel industry, the Chartist movement had a stronghold in the area an there was a riot that overthrew the control of the town's officials in 1839, for 5 days, until troops were brought in to restore order.  More than 100 people were imprisoned or transported over this matter, and Llanidloes was an occupied town for a year following this.  

Imagine doing your banking here as it was formerly a bank.

In the 19th C it became a smelting town, due to the lead mining in the surrounding hills and the population doubled, leading to the building of 5 chapels of differing denominations.  A Temperance Hotel was opened to try to combat the drunkenness in the town!

With Minerva Arts (they have a wonderful collection of Welsh quilts, and I volunteered there for a little while) at my back, this is looking down towards the Market Hall.

Anyway, I feel much refreshed this evening. Lunch was so filling, I only needed a small tea of cheese salad and a small piece of crusty bread,  then yoghurt.   I went into the little Health Food shop in search of good multivitamins as my supply is nearly out, and bought Floradix, which has iron and vitamins. I am hoping that will help give me some more energy again, and calm my emotions and anxiety (plenty of B-vitamins in it).

The car started first thing again today, despite the minus 3 overnight and hard frost.  I think I will go and have a word with them tomorrow as I don't want to spend £100 plus when there isn't an ongoing regular problem.  I will spend at least the morning working on the binding for Gabby's quilt and hope to get it to the hand-sewing on the back stage, which I can do of an evening whilst watching something good on tv.

A lovely day with friends

 Yesterday was busy.  I was out of the house by 9 a.m. and heading for Carmarthen (yet again).  I stopped at Abergwili and bought two x 2 kilo bags of Russet apples (£1 each bag), a hefty cucumber (£1) - we get through a lot of cucumber here, Rosie and I; a big bag of Tangerines (£1) and some lovely vine tomatoes (£1).  I do miss have Chris Thomas' shop to buy my fruit and veg.  

Then I went on to The Range, but drew a blank at finding the gilt cream I needed for the frame.  They have reduced their stock of art supplies it would seem.  Then to Matalan where I bought some lightweight pyjamas with a t-shirt top, and a lovely deep coral knitted top for my holiday.

Then to my friend N's for tea and home-made choc chip biscuits. It was so good to see her again and we caught up to date with each other's news.  Then it was along the narrow lanes to my quilting group, where there was more chat and I hand quilted one of the borders for an old WIP.  Alex had machine quilted Gabby's quilt, so I have to crack on with the binding now as Gabby's visiting next week.  

Quarry view this morning

It was a lovely drive home in sunshine for a change.  I was more tired than I gave myself credit for though and after my evening meal, I crashed out on the sofa and slept for 90 minutes!  I have come to the conclusion that I am emotionally exhausted.  I just feel wrung out.  That awful woman at the weekend seems to have been the final straw.  

I am seeing another good friend today, who is taking me out to lunch in return for giving some valuations on the contents of her mum's bungalow (she's gone into a care home).  We expect to talk the hind legs off several donkeys!

Then tomorrow the car goes in for that relatively minor repair.  It's been starting ok again, even yesterday morning when it was very frosty.  

Now, will I sleep? I have been downstairs for an hour as I had been awake for an hour in bed.

Update: I was dreaming, when Alfie miowed in my ear, demanding breakfast.  Then I dozed off again, only to have the girls stampeding over the bed, and then Pippi yowling in my ear and bouncing all over me . . .  Message understood . . .

Thank God for Friends and Family

 On a slightly more even keel today, as all your kind comments an support and phone calls from friends who I have known all my life, and popping out to see my friend Pam t'other side of town and having a good offload there have made me feel a bit brighter.  My family have been wonderful, as always.

I am still tired, but have washed up, washed my hair and am about to sit down and see if I can find Long Lost Family on ITV.

Car is booked in to have new wotsits on Friday.  I can only think of flame throwers which is NOT what I ordered at the garage today!  The diesel version of spark plugs anyway.  We are going to try those first before the steeper step of leaving it down there to have the starter motor taken out to be bench tested . . .  Fingers crossed the flame throwers work anyway!

No baking for my quilting group tomorrow - I just couldn't face it.  I am hoping to pick up Gabby's quilt which I know was being machine quilted over the weekend.  I am just going to take in some hand quilting, as my brain not up to anything more complicated.  I am going in early to Carmarthen to get some darker gold cream gilding to use on the horse picture frame, and a nightie for my holiday, then seeing my dear friend Nikki again, before going on to quilting.  Looking forward to it.

Tam has just sent me a link to a textiles group (spinning, weaving, dyeing etc) in Crickhowell, so I am going to get in touch and see what's what - looks good on line.

Right, tv time now.  Thank you ALL so much for your kind words and help.  I haven't been this low since losing Keith.

Not at my best

 Extreme tiredness is a horrid thing.  It usually takes me 3 days to get over a long working weekend Fair like this.  Having been browbeaten by that awful woman seems to have put a factor of "times ten" on this . . .  Being so tired means that I cannot harness the power of logical thought to deal with the situation, or to put it behind me.  I was in bed 11 hours last night, but awake for an hour or so in the middle of the night.  I have done the chores that had to be done here, and also been grocery shopping as the car has to go and be checked tomorrow, and don/t now how long I will lose it for.  I may well not be able to go to my quilting group on Wednesday, nor see my friend Nia on Thursday.  Here's some photos anyway.

Not my best layout, as no space.

As you can see, a double stand (and a bit at one end) just wasn't enough room.  I have 7 tables full at Builth!  House rule is no stock out in the aisle, as it gets in the way of  people with wheelchairs or mobility scooters, or pushchairs.  So I had to sit out there instead, in all the germs, because cowbag next door had taken my sitting space.

I've been offered this stand next time, as it has more room, but judging by the cover he's got up, it suffers a lot with condensation from the glasshouse roof . . .  At the moment, I never want to do another Fair again . . .

As you can see, it's a lovely setting.  Below: a few more stalls.

Right, I am off for my holiday jab in an hour.  Last week I had the jitters about it, and this week I would definitely rather jump off a cliff than go on holiday, which is not a good thought to have.

Thank you for all your kind comments.  This weekend has pushed the grieving progress back months.