1 picture, 20 words x

This was inspired by my parent's Golden wedding celebrations this weekend, Agatha Christie and my sister Rachel's speech yesterday. A perfect combination and so worth a share

Storytelling Sunday....................A Royal rendevous.

Yesterday I was chatting with Sian and telling her my idea for today's post, and she said ''Go with it''. So here goes.

So 2 days a go we were all either watching or avoiding the Royal wedding and about 30 years ago I was watching the wedding of William's mother to HRH Prince Charles. It was such an amazing day and the country were so into Diana, Princess of Wales that they decided to do a tour of her gown.

 The wedding gown designed by David and Elizabeth Emmanuel.

My family, me, Rachel, the mother, the father and my mum's parents had all gone down for a holiday near Looe in Cornwall. We were staying in a pre-Centre Parcs type outdoor log cabin park with views over the lake. It was beautiful. Anyway one day we planned a trip to Truro especially to see Diana's dress. My mum, me, Rachel and my nan queued for several hours outside the exhibit. We entertained ourselves until we got in, I dont know how cos it did seem like forever. But eventually we got to the front of the queue. My poor nan didnt go in in the end cos she was so sore and uncomfy from standing, she'd only recently had hip troubles, so just me, mum and Rachel went in. All the bridesmaids and pageboy outfits were on display in glass cases along with the piece de resisdence that frock. It was amazing to actually get close enough to see all the tiny details on the dresses. The extra special bows, and embellishments which the TV and magazines couldn't show you. We oohed and arhged as we went around. We then had to go back and tell my nan all the details.

The dress, bridesmaid's dress and shoes etc.

Several years later, my girlfriends and I had the opportunity to visit Kensington Palace on my friend's hen weekend to see a similar display of the Queen's and other Royal dignitary's wedding gowns. If I remember rightly we saw the Queen Mother's, Queen Victoria's and I think Princess Margaret's dresses.

I remember we were all really impressed again by the detail and workmanship which had gone into these beautiful pieces. Evene though they were such personal dresses to the bride, they were also a mark of British work and craft history. Just like Kate Middleton's dress on Friday there were elements of national and personal significance.  To be able to see those dresses up close was n exciting opportunity to feel like a part of history. If you ever get the chance to see any of the Royal exhibition where dresses are central, give it a go, you'll be impressed I can assure you.

It was a really great way to start a hen weekend as well. We then went to see ''Mamma Mia'' which is always worth a return visit. Happy Sunday.

Happy Hooker

......................and I dont mean in The Police ''You dont have to put on the red light'' way in case you were wondering!!!!!!!!! I mean in the getting out your hooks and crocheting. Yes, we've done the knit one purl one Lizzie dripping mode and are now progressing into the working in circles and using 1 hook and hopefully not dropping stitches on the way mode!!!
My mum tried to teach me when I was little but found me a frustrating student as I'm left handed. I dont anything conventionally. Anyway I have made the odd very simple a 3 year old could do it flower etc and wanted to make something abit more adventurous. I envy people like Rachel who knit and crochet away dead quickly and also Lucy at Attic 24 who has such beautiful pieces of work on display it seems daily. I wants to do it too my precious.
So yesterday stirred by the virus infecting my brain, I raided the wool box and found my crochet hooks and began making The Lucy Bag, so called by all her fans on Ravelry where she has her own fanclub and forum..............amazing. In fact I was the 2000th member or something...............my lucky day. So everything looked simple, not many weird stitches just simple double crochet and I had lots of different coloured wools to use. Off I went and everything is going great guns, I had a nice neat circle which is growing although not as fast as Lucy suggests it should. Hello I think lets read the top of the blogpost with the pattern.................oh dear spot deliberate mistake? Well yes readers, if you happen to live in the UK double crochet means well couble crochet but if the pattern was designed with the USA crochet terms it means I should be doing treble crochet..........................oh whoops. This has happened before in American crochet books I have read, it is confusing, why cant we work together internationally and speak the same crochet language afterall we speak English in the UK and USA, why does crochet have to be different? So am I pulling my crochet to pieces? No I am not, after all that hard work I have started treble crocheting, it is growing and it will be a Jo original. Thats that!
Anyway so far it looks like this....................

.................so I said.......''..........

................so today is signing on at the Job centre day. Much excitement ensued as I have found a job but as it takes forever to do a CRB check, at the moment it takes 2 months, I can't work at my new job until then. So I still have to sign on until such time as the CRB comes back. Anyway, I had to change some details on my form. How many civil servants does it take do u think to change one thing? Six, yes 6!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All it needs is them to add 'RGN' and my registration number but it can't be done straightforwardly. Oh no I now have to go back for another appointment to change just 2 simple little things the lady had already found out today! Mad isnt it?
Anyway, it is lovely today so I wandered around Wells and as u may have noticed a new little picture has come up in my right hand piccy list for Scrap-a-mia. This is a weekend away my mum and dad bought me for my bday/xmas pressy last year and it is next month. I am in the flower group I imagine cos I'm such a shy, retiring little thing....................NOT!!! Anyway, we have all been sent a chipboard flower to decorate and I thought I'd treat myself to a pinny which I am going to applique with flowers and maybe a cupcake as Shimelle is one of the teachers. Yey for Shim. She's fab in real life and does g8 classes. Last time she brought loads of yummy homemade cupcakes.
Tonight I am also going back to my youth as a new Brownie leader with 1st Easton brownie pack. I am excited and nervous. I got out my badges yesterday from my jewellery box ready and have washed my shirt. It's navy blue with the emblem on it. I loved being a brownie leader in Southampton and hope this will as much fun. It is the 100 year anniversary of Brownies this year and there will be big celebrations in the city as we are hosts!!!!!
As a treat to my hair yesterday I bought this..........

................it's by Rachel on her new Folksy site. Anyone who has ever read her blog knows she is a knitting major. She knits really fast and all her projects look gorgeous. So I have treated my hair to something pretty for the summer. Can't wait to show u how I look when it arrives.

RACHEL'S 40TH

So my little sis was 40 the other week and I have been hard at work completing a mammoth scrapping project for her. Here are some of the pages...............I think I made over 40 in total!!!!!


This is the front of the album which is a digital layout I did and then stuck over the bare cover to personalise it for her.

At 18th birthday shot of the two of us,............ooh how I've changed!

This page is halp of a double pager which took me ages.I cut out loads of random wave shapes as I found lots of pics of Rach in her bathers and thought it would be fun to make a collage! I added a large orange sun in the right top corner which u can't actually see but I think it turned out ok for a first attempt.
This pic was taken at out grandparents diamond wedding party and although a while ago shows how beautiful my lil sis is.
This was when she was attendant to the Rose queen when we lived in Cheshire. Rachel liked the pressie so Im please I could share something so personal with her......not just a plain album of photos. That's what scrapping does for me, helps me to tell the story behind the people not just the photo alone. As a lover of history I hope that future generations will learn something about my family and what our lives were like.