MORE FROM MY UK VISIT

 

One of the main reasons for going to England at this time of year is to be able to attend the annual Gage Halloween party thrown by Kevin and Justine every year for at least 20 now. This year the theme was games, traditional or computer.  Here's my favourite photo with Jimmy dressed as Batman.

 

Here I am with Stephanie, my middle granddaughter, dressed as Lara Croft.  Sorry I can't seem to rotate the pics, hope you don't get a cricked neck!

 

Eldest granddaughter Kirsty with boy friend Barney.

 

 

There were 2 black queens, I helped Mandy to make her crown.

 

Justine and Kirsty having a fake fight in the kitchen.

 

Young Sarah had fantastic make-up to match her green hair.

 

Jo and James came as Reverend Green and Miss Scarlet from Cluedo.

 

Justine and Kevin were characters from the arcade game they have in the pub,  Blue Valkyrie and Red Viking.

 

I made a quick sketch trying to visualise my skirt with a hula hoop to hold it in shape, sadly the hoop ordered from Amazon never arrived.

 

Drawing Justine's costume while she worked on it the day before was quite a challenge.

 

There was plenty else going too, one day Justine had a skating class and I spent a morning in Guildford shopping and drawing the famous clock that hangs over the high street.

 

Another day we went to Loseley for a picnic lunch with her friends who also volunteer to work in the gardens.

We went on some lovely walks in the countryside too but you'll have to come back next week to see where we went.

ANNUAL AUTUMN FAMILY VISIT

 

 

 I'm back from my annual visit to the family in England.

 For the first week I had a fun time with Jo, James and Jimmy my grandson.  Here he is with the book we made together after he saw my tiny suitcase padlock.  He thought it would be great to have one to lock up his 'Mission Impossible' book. We shopped for the chain and other bits and pieces to make him a belt too.  He had acquired the book fabric for free earlier in the week when after waiting patiently in the shop for his turn the shopkeeper gave it to him for being so well behaved!

 

I showed Jimmy how to fold and prepare the pages before he stitched them together with the cardboard for the cover.  I cut and hand stitched the fabric cover and made an elasticated pocket for the front to carry the key ring as per his instructions. We then attached it to the card with wundaweb hem tape and with a colourful Marvel fabric to line the inside cover.  If you look closely at the writing you can see how proud he is of our joint production.

 

We had a day alone together when Jo was at work and what fun we had walking to the beach only 20 minutes down the hill from their home at Whitstable.  Here is Jimmy pointing out where they used to live, the Isle of Sheppey away in the distance on the horizon.

 

 

We pottered along the beach collecting pebbles to paint and shells to draw, how lucky we were to have such a beautiful sunny day.

 

Here are my sketches with Jimmy's signature.

 

Halloween was coming too so we made the traditional carved pumpkin and Jimmy added some luminous teeth as ears as well in the mouth!

 

I didn't have a lot of time for sketching as we were so busy doing other things but here is a quick one I captured when he sat still for long enough!

 

Anther sewing project we designed together was a tool belt using some fabric Jimmy discovered in the sewing shop, it's got pencil holders and a key clip as well as the hanging pocket. The Darth Vader belt carrier is attached with Velcro so it can be taken off and used as a wristband.  I had to wait till I got to Justine's to make it on her sewing machine and use her eyelet tools for the belt holes.  Jimmy was thrilled with it when I presented it to him on Saturday.

 

And finally, a bit of stitchpicking I found time for in the evenings when we were relaxing in front of the TV. A portrait of my darling grandson copied from a photo taken when he was only a day old.

I'll be back next week with part two of the visit, culminating in the big fancy dress party.