A touch of flow...

Ipswich Waterfront Craft Fair- October 2010

2011-02-22T12:40:00.001-08:00

Hello again...it's been a while..

2011-02-21T15:04:00.000-08:00

It's been so long since I last wrote in this blog..a lot has happened over that time..and in some ways not so much! I realise now that you need time and commitment to persevere with a blog when you are working. You need to set time aside...for taking pictures...writing and thinking..

I've just finished this baby quilt for my soon to be(hopefully!)born neice. She was due on Saturday, so at the moment we are all waiting and wondering what each phone message might bring! My sister has mixed feelings, she seems so worried about what life holds after the birth, I'm sure this is natural, it is so scary. But I know she'll be ok, but she seems to need a lot of convincing right now!

Mum and me are hoping to drive to her on Wednesday if baby hasn't arrived as Stu goes down to Frome that day for work.

I really enjoyed my first expereince of making a quilt, once I'd actually made the effort to start it, the process went quickly and strangely loved the sewing of tiny stitches for the bias binding around the edge. It took me 2 nights of sewing into the early hours watching telly, but was quite relaxing...

Mum's semi-surprise 60th birthday tea party..

2009-01-22T08:17:00.000-08:00

After a fair few months of preparation, worry, boot sales and charity shops, the culmination of all our planning finally came to fruitition on January 3rd , the date of Mum's 60th tea party, her actual birthday being boxing day. The week leading up to it was carefully planned with mass baking between my shifts at work and I had to relent from our plan to not let mum get involved by asking if she'd mind doing the scones! Jo did some baking up in London, fab brownies and macaroons and even Dad baked a fantastic lemon drizzle cake. On the day, Jo and Stu hired a car and drove down and started setting up the Village Hall we'd hired, while Gwen and myself and Joan got down to making sandwiches.. then it was all hands on deck at the hall..the two lovely ladies above Gwen and Jill, were invaluable in being very practical while I ran around like a headless chicken worrying about the time and not knowing what job to start on next! They also became our 'tealadies' later on..The best bit was seeing all the tables set, all the tea sets we'd collected, tablecloths, cake stands, candlesticks, and all the other little bits..it just looked so lovely..and Jo and Stu had copied photos of mum when she was younger and found some old photo frames which were put on each table...

When people started arriving, it was a bit scary, but it all came together. Jo and Stu, Gwen and Jill, Sue, Joan, Hannah and Rosie all helped brilliantly...the idea of having tea seemed to go down really well, something we hadn't expected..and the consensus as people came in and out of the kitchen to fetch more supplies was that people seemed to be really enjoying it..which was the main thing...Stu had put together a great compilation of songs on his ipod which we played through speakers..and later on we all had a little boogie to some of mum's favourites...'I love it when you call' by The Feeling, 'Suspicious Minds' by Elvis...'Lost in France' by Bonnie Tyler (??!!!!) All in all a very enjoyable night... Happy Birthday Mother...

2008-12-06T07:25:00.001-08:00

Lewis..

2008-08-04T15:53:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the world Lewis and well done Liv...this little chap arrived 3 days early about 5 hours after I'd left Liv and Myles, spending a nice afternoon in the garden with them. He's gorgeous...

Loving Latitude....

2008-07-26T09:50:00.001-07:00

A few pictures from a great weekend at Henham Hall in Southwold, the 3rd year of the Latitude Festival. The picture above is Sigur Ros, probably my highlight of the weekend..as were Elbow, Go-Team, Amadou and Mariam and Grinderman..These pictures were taken by Mr Passey, a housemate and friend of sister Jo..I forgot my camera..I'd never met Jo and Stu's friends from London, but they were lovely and it's the best I've felt in a long while..much needed music and mingling..other highlights were Simon Armitage who was as down to earth as imagined and very funny, Stewart Lee and the milkshakes/smoothies, literally chocolate snacks like jaffa cakes, hob nobs, chocolate orange , strawberry cheesecake blended up with milk and ice cream..superb!..roll on next year...

She laid a good egg...

2008-07-12T15:48:00.000-07:00

R.I.P. Meave ...

It's been a while...

2008-07-12T15:25:00.000-07:00

hello again, it's really been ages since I last wrote. Time flies and I was just about to start the new job...now its been nearly 3 months..

What can I say? I'm lucky to be somewhere where colleagues have been supportive and friendly from day one , also to feel that I've built up a good rapport with our tenants who have learning disabilities. On the downside..well..just being who you are, forever being 'down' or 'low', getting stuck in a rut, not believing in what's possible..or that your'e just not making enough effort.. these are the things that are a constant...and make me want to escape life right now ...totally or maybe just Japan..start somewhere new..where nobody knows you..but i guess you dont escape, not really..

we saw Julie Myerson, the author this week at a newly refurbished church in town, which is now a cafe, meeting place and a venue for an enterprise called Genesis which provides opportunities for people with learning disbilities to take part in all manner of creative activities ,and in this case sell them at the church. There is some fantastic stuff to purchase. Julie was talking to my old tutor on the access course I did at college some years ago, so it was a doubly interesting night. Julie was a great character, really engaging, someone who obviously loves books and wanted to be a writer from childhood. Her new book, focuses entirely on a group of children, but is aimed at adults. I'm looking forward to reading it.

Lots of cupcakes have been made recently!

Sadly, Maeve the hen went downhill rapidly..she hadn't been herself but had seemed content and eating hungrily out of our hands. The last few days was awful, for us to look at and no doubt awful for her..well, I hope she wasn't suffering too much. She was put to sleep.. a relief for everyone and her..she was a strong old girl and a sweet natured chicken, bless her.

Finished 'flowers for algernon' , a fantastic book and recommend to anyone, as also the new cd by 'Santogold', a real gem.

take care and hope to resume normal blogging!

Cranberry Cupcakes...

2008-04-18T06:29:00.000-07:00

We've just finished this batch and they were rather tasty. I've noticed that like a good wine (she says tongue in cheek) they seem to taste even better a few days after they're out of the oven and have 'matured and settled' !!

Had an unexpected but welcome phone call last night and will now be starting my job as of Monday. This is good news..I'm not feeling as nervous as I thought I might, especially compared to the terror I used to feel at the prospect of an occupational therapy work placement which was part of my course. This used to involve weeks of worry prior to finding out where you were going, then weeks of worry after finding out and then slightly less worry while actually there! Some of this calmness is probably due to helping out at the Oxfam shop and getting back into a work routine and meeting fellow volunteers and customers..it has definately improved my confidence in relation to starting work again and I'd recommend it highly.

Speaking of the volunteers at the shop, one of the ladies, Sue, I have been on the shopfloor with on Tuesday afternoons left this week after over a year at the shop to start work in a store in town. She is really going to be missed I think. I used to really look forward to these afternoons as it was so good chatting to her and we had similar taste in films, televison and books so there was always plenty to talk about and she was just generally a very sweet person. This was also apparent on Tuesday, when a new volunteer started with us and Sue was able to put the new volunteer at ease straight away and she seemed genuinely sad that she wouldn't be working with Sue again. I'll be sad to stop working there also but it has been left open to see if it will work out when my shift pattern starts at the end of the month but somehow I don't think it will..

An afternoon in mid-April....

2008-04-12T08:17:00.001-07:00

and some finished projects..

Baby tank-top in Rowan cotton

Beanie hat in Sirdar Blur mohair

Gardening Mitts in Louisa Harding Kimono angora

A knitting needle wrap for mother's day from a pattern by Tania Howell in the 'Crafter's Companion' book

And meet Maeve, our sole remaining hen, thriving since the untimely demise of her soul sister Siobhan (RIP...) she now has designated garden roaming time and doesn't seem to wreck the garden as they tended to do when they were let out as a pair. She is one fine figure of a hen!

Which means this chap, Nas, has to share his garden domain!

Crazy hair!

2008-04-11T07:16:00.000-07:00

Hi, just thought I'd share this with you! The weather has been so strange today, beautiful and sunny this morning although a touch windy, and then suddenly overcast ahead and hail and rain, but I must take Nas out in a minute as he hasn't been out today yet and he'll start giving me dirty looks soon!

Went into town for a wander with Mum. We found a newly reopened cafe with an Italian vibe, an Italian radio station was playing. Nearby is a lovely shop that we just can't bring ourselves to go into unless we have serious intent to buy something! It's the Scandinavian shop with Moomin cups, which we just coveted through the window for about 10 minutes!

We popped into the 'will it ...won't it close down...no it'll be open for a while longer, we've just got new stock in!' woolshop for a crochet needle as neighbour Sue kindly taught me to crochet yesterday while she's recovering from back pain and orders from the doctor to take it easy. She was a very good (and patient!) teacher, I've created a small square and hope to be able to remember what to do when I pick it up again. We saw some lovely soya wool made by Sirdar I think, very reasonable price and the Baby Bamboo range also has some lovely mix and match colours.

Nearly finished a baby tank top for a special baby, having a bit of trouble with the neck dividing and understanding the pattern, Mum has been very patient in getting me out of several mistakes.

Also bought some Cranberries on the market to possibly go in some weekend cupcakes!

I'm hoping to hear some good news soon about a starting date for my job, as time goes on I'm starting to get a bit down about it all ...but not to dwell on it..

Dad is going up to London on Sunday night to help his mates Willy and Tony to bring the 'Ardwina' Sailing barge from St. Catherine's Dock back to moor at Malden. Hopefully it'll be a rather more enjoyable trip than last weekend helping bring the 'Victor' back to Mistley from Malden in the horizontal sleet and snow!...he loves it really!

Hope you have a lovely weekend wherever you are and whatever your'e doing.

April Fool's Day..

2008-04-06T06:13:00.000-07:00

It was my birthday last Tuesday. April Fool's Day. I've always felt this is pretty appropriate as one way or another I tend to feel foolish most of the time.. As the years go by, birthdays don't seem to take on the same significance as they did when we are children and you tend to want to forget that you are a year older! ...now that's something you didn't regret when you were a kid!!

But birthdays are always a reminder that I have some good friends out there, even if they are across the country or the other side of the world and this I appreciate very much. Thankyou, obrigada, arigato to those above and to others whose photos I don't have readily to post.

cupcakes and sweet things...

2008-04-04T04:01:00.001-07:00

Hey there folks! It's been a while....I've been spurred on to write by the news that my friends Ikue and Nei have had a little baby boy called Kaito on March 28th. She sent me some photos yesterday and he is truly a beautiful little boy, you just know that he's going to make them both so happy...so congratulations to you both..Just one more reason to start saving again for a Japanese visit!

The weathers been lovely the last week and I've been forced to make a detour on the usual morning walks with Nas due to the farmer ploughing his fields. This is probably a good thing as it's meant we've seen a different route and daft as it sounds I'm often wondering if Nas is 'bovvered or bored' by the same old walk every day..I'd like to venture further afield on the routes that Dad uses, he seems to know all the public footpaths round here, but when I'm on my own I guess I'm more cautious..

These tulips were my donation to Mother's day although that seems a long time ago now, but they looked bright and cheerful for a while. Tulips may well be my favourite flower.

Since last posting, I've made a few batches of cupcakes from Nigella's recipe. They seem to have turned out quite well and taste quite light. For Easter I'd made some pretty rich chocolate butter cream and put mini eggs on...yum! Yesterday, there was a lime that needed using so the juice of this and some poppyseeds went into the mixture and then royal icing on top, after photographing these I couldn't resist one!

It's been an odd few weeks, lots of things seemed to have happened or not happened. I've still not been able to start the job due to a reference not being received yet...but have been in Oxfam twice a week and enjoying that...mum came down with a nasty D & V bug which laid her up in bed for a while...Dad's been aching all over the place and sold his beloved AJS motorbike as he doesn't have the strength to kick start it anymore. My sister Jo came down for a couple of days last week, and a lovely cardy for my birthday, and I met up with Liv after a long while and we saw a film and caught up with life, the universe, and everything... She's about 6 months pregnant now and finding it tiring to walk , bless her.

On my birthday we saw the film 'The Diving Bell and the Butterfly' adapted from the book dictated through blinking after the author had a massive stroke and lived with 'locked-in syndrome'. Set in a rehab hospital on the coast of Calais, it really showed his perspective and the frustrations he felt, and the extraordinary task he took on of writing the book through his only form of communication, blinking with one eye. After a while he found some kind of consolation within him that he could now do anything with his imagination and could live through this if not through his body. It was a really inventive and beautifully shot film, and nearly had me on the verge several times. Sadly, the author died several days after the book was published. I'm just reading it now and is very readable.

Saturday at Shipp's..

2008-03-11T07:11:00.000-07:00

Keep meaning to post these photos from Shipp's Tea room on the edge of Borough Market, where we met for a pre-mother's day get-together. Above are sister Jo and partner Stu enjoying some tea, think we'd consumed the sarnies, scones and cakes by this time!

I'd read about the shop on another blog and mum thought it sounded like a place we MUST check out! We probably reached it by the most convoluted route and not expecting it to be practically in the market, luckily, Jo and Stu had already found a table and we were able to park ourselves just before it started to get really busy. There was a cosy ambience, lots of vintage teacups hanging from the ceiling, chanderliers, big mirrors, embroidered tablecloths and old teapots and the cakes, scones, sarnies and tea were all very tasty. I tried the green jasmine tea (always partial to a bit of Jasmine) and a vanilla cupcake.

We then had a wander through Portobello Market and through to the Regent's canal starting off near the Trellick Tower. Stu had picked a walk for us from a London walks book and the plan was to walk to Primrose Hill via the canal, unfortunately, we left it a bit too late in the day and made it as far as St Johns Wood all a tad tired, but it was a nice walk and we saw some London we hadn't seen before.

Started volunteering at our local Oxfam shop yesterday which was really enjoyable. Despite the pretty horrendous weather a few customers ventured in, more than I'd expected. It was a high to start the week and have rapidly hit a low...

Luckily have a new project on the go, or several. Started a dusky pink beret from the Sarah Dallas book. This just uses one ball of Rowan 4-ply soft, a 100% merino wool. It's really nice to use and although I'm not much of a one for hats, believing I look like a fool in any hat atire, I'm secretly hoping that this might look half decent! If not, it'll be another present.

My other project is the wall hanging with pockets for Liv, to go in Myles' bedroom. Last week, I started the embroidering of the days of the week on each pocket..and have been putting off the more difficult prospect of sewing or felting animals on, can't quite work out the best way to do this. Mum seemed to like the needle wrap, I'm pleased to have managed something mediumish on the sewing machine..it's been a personal challenge fulfilled..

made some scones this morning...the weather keeps changing, but at least the wind has died down.. take care ...

What's new pussycats?

2008-03-04T05:26:00.000-08:00

Hello again, it's been a while...I keep meaning to take photos of finished projects (Parisienne shawl..yes,finally finished!) and the tulips for Mother's Day but in the words of Austin Power's, have lost my 'mojo' somewhere! Anyway, this may be a somewhat rambling, disjointed post.

Don't you love this guy's pink hair? It reminds me of one of my favourite books 'Fruits', a book of photos taken in the Harajuku area of Tokyo, where young people break out of the conservatism of Japan and go totally creative and crazy with fashion and individuality. Ironically, Britain is far more conservative in the way we dress and conduct ourselves. There is something truly refreshing about the individual way people dress over there..and I often miss the sense of freedom I felt to be myself and not constrained by what is and isn't appropriate to wear etc in England , solely due, I guess to the limitations I give myself and which society does also. I guess I'm just not that brave...

Speaking of Japan, Monty Don was there for his last programme in his '80 great gardens of the world' series. We have been glued to this, not only for the beautiful and innovative gardens and use of space but for Monty himself, who appears really enthusiastic, visiting countries for the first time. Saw the book of the series this morning and it's gorgeous..something to go on my eternal wishlist for a while!

We took part in filling a few shoeboxes for a Romanian charity 'Link Romania' based in Worthing, this Christmas, a friend who lives nearby organises the distribution of leaflets and is our drop off point for boxes. These are then sent to the depot in Sussex and a trip was made to distribute them in December. Some photos of the trip have just reached us via our friend and were extremely sobering stuff to say the least. The main area they concentrate on is a place called Iasi. There is a large shanty town there with a majority of Roma residents and the living conditions for these people are truly terrible..but somehow they get on with their lives and try to make the best of it as they can. There was also photos of the local soup kitchen where children have two sittings followed by adults. Another showed the homeless young men who live under the broken pavements in the city, but on a brighter note also at the farm which the charity has helped to fund where young adults learn farming skills in a supportive and caring environment. You can really appreciate the significance for them to receive these boxes from England. These were 3 purses I made for the boxes..maybe they helped a tiny bit to brighten up someone's day. It's a great charity.

Meet my lovely, crazy friend...

2008-02-23T06:29:00.001-08:00

Ikue! and the first person to leave a comment on the blog, so those gloves will be on the way to Japan very soon! I hope she'll forgive me posting these pictures! Shirlei (her mother in law) was very concerned that Ikue should have some colour on her lips before we left for the city!

Ikue is pregnant at the moment and is expecting Boo's arrival towards the end of March..very exciting! I'm pretty glad that she will have had Boo before the weather turns really hot over there. I received a lovely email from her today with lots of news and it made me feel very close to her, she always has wise advice to give. Thankyou Iku...

Mum is on a 'knitting bags' workshop today at Purl & Co in town, I'll look forward to seeing her efforts later. It's been a fairly domestic morning for me, making poppyseed bread and leek and potato soup...and trying to stop myself from nibbling on the carrot cake made the other day from the Rose bakery book 'Breakfast, Lunch, Tea'. This book comes much recommended, not only for the fantastic photography which makes you want to nip over to Paris straight away but also for the pretty simple and straightforward recipes. We've had some success so far with date scones, shortbread biscuits, orange and choc ricotta tart and now the carrot cake. It is really moist and the icing not too sweet..yum.

A special day with friends..

2008-02-20T05:26:00.000-08:00

Hello again..it's lovely and bright outside although pretty nippy when the hound and myself took our daily constitutional! I was taking more notice of Nas and his sniffing habits this morning due to being in the middle of reading Paul Auster's Timbuktu. The story concerns a dog, Mr Bones and his owner Willy G. Christmas who is preparing for his death and trying to find an old friend to leave Mr Bones with. Mum bought the book primarily because the dog on the cover is the spit of Nas, but it's also turned out to be a really good read. The section I'm reading right now is about Willy being fascinated by the dog's sense of smell and how important it is to a dog. Nas is a great sniffer too....

Well, the shawl was finally finished last night...phew. I'll post a picture soon. Currently knitting more mittens again with Louisa Harding's Kimono Angora in a mixture of pinks, purples and grey, very nice.. Also attempting to make a long, fabric wall hanging with pockets..a commission from Liv! She had seen it in a catalogue and wondered if I could do something similar. The next task is to find some coloured calico type fabric for the pockets..definately not a chore in my book!

These pictures are from a day in the summer of 2006 in Fukuoka city in Japan. It was an incredibly hot day..after a while in Japan, you tend to get used slightly to the humidity, but you never get over feeling like a drowned sweaty rat amongst lightly perspiring Japanese people! I have learnt the hard way that the only thing to wear is cotton shirts, even t shirts are too heat inducing!

My company on this day were Marli and Shirlei from Porto Alegre in Brazil. We were all in Japan to attend the wedding of my good friend Ikue and her fiancee Nei, who's mum is Shirlei. Marli is Shirlei's good friend. For nearly 2 weeks we lived together in the apartment that Nei and Ikue would live in after their marriage, while they stayed with her family. This was a fantastic time, these two ladies were so friendly and loving and we quickly became friends and helped each other to get by. For them, the country was quite a culture shock and I loved seeing Japan again through fresh eyes. I also found that my grasp of the language improved greatly through attempting to ask things for them. So today, I just want to say hello to those two special ladies and let them know that I miss them and am remembering them...

Glove giveaway!

2008-02-15T05:59:00.000-08:00

I'd like to give these gloves away to the first person who leaves a comment on the blog. They are made from Rowan Kidsilk Aura (Mohair and silk) and feel really soft! The pattern is the old faithful Louisa Harding's gardening mitts.

So please feel free to write anything and I'll pop these in the post to you.

Nearly finished the Parisienne shawl! Quite exciting, just have one more round to go and then the edging. Have borrowed 2 Debbie Bliss books from the library, 'Home' has the 'jellybean' cushions pattern beloved by Jane Brocket of the Yarnstorm blog and the other has some baby and tiddler knits. This book has taken on much more significance since I had some fantastic news sprung on me the other night!

Liv casually passed me a picture when I was visiting on Tuesday, 'Here, have a look at this'. It looked suspiciously like a scan picture from the picture of the stork on the front! and yes, she's 4 months pregnant and actually has quite a bump although I hadn't noticed..doh! I'm so happy for her and Trev as they have been trying for a while. She said it's been so difficult keeping it a secret, especially at Christmas when she was feeling very sick. So, a July baby, plenty of time for knitting something then!

A gift of gloves...

2008-02-14T07:17:00.000-08:00

Oh, tomorrow I'll post a picture of the finished fingerless gloves and thought I'd give then away to the first person who would like to leave a comment on the blog...

Sunny Southwold..

2008-02-14T07:01:00.000-08:00

Hello!

We met mum's sister in Southwold on Monday for breakfast at the cafe near the pier, a special 2-4-1 offer. They both had the full works which looked 'proper' nice and I went for eggs on toast.

The sun was out and shining like a gud'un at 10 am and after a stroll along the pier we walked along the front (wish I owned some sunglasses at times like that!) and saw these great beach huts in candy colours. A lot were having renovations and many were still in the car park after the inclement weather we had in Suffolk not so long ago. Wouldn't it be lovely to own a 'hut'? Wonder what the going rate is these days?! Then we headed into town walking past some beautiful looking houses and holiday apartments.

It's got a nice feel about it has Southwold, expect that's why it's so popular (and expensive) as a place to live. Never mind...you can dream...or stay in a B&B!

Siobhan, one of the hens died on Tuesday morning, she'd not been herself for a few days and we brought her inside but alas.... Maeve doesn't appear to be pining, but is always looking about perhaps for her old friend. It's quite sad...RIP Siobhan...

Buttons galore!

2008-02-10T03:34:00.001-08:00

Hello again, I seem to have been lagging behind with this blogging lark the last week..still feeling a bit out of sorts but that's life..

Well, I've had to curb my ebay time after going a bit overboard on bids for mother of pearl buttons, but came away with 2 lovely packets of buttons and some found in Diss Oxfam last week, so a nice little stash to be going on with. My main use for them has been for the middle of these felt brooches. I came across some fantastic cards of vintage MOP buttons that Sue (propieter of Purl & Co) had been collecting to sell in our yarn shop in town, but think they've all gone now...so needed to find some more!

It's been beautiful weather here the last few days and have enjoyed some nice meandering walks with the dog. This time last year it was snowing up in Sheffield, as we made our way through it to get our dissertations bound before the shop closed. Did a bit of sorting out yesterday of 'leaving uni' boxes and bags that have still been hanging around in case of moves back up north. Sadly, in some respects, it looks like I'll be settling here for a while and so tried to put things away and make a bit more space. Brought back a few memories. It's silly that even looking at clothes can remind you of things and looking at my occupational therapy uniforms of white tunics and bottle green trousers inevitably made me remember my final work placement which would have started soon this time last year for 3 months. Things just feel very unsettled in my head just now, when you have to make lots of decisions and you're never sure if theyr'e the right ones...usually in my case they never are..

Doing the clear up yesterday also made me remember that it's a year on Wednesday that Nellie and me first got in touch, all because of a 'Po', a tiny little creature made out of polymer clay that Tomoko makes. These are incredibly tiny, you can't quite believe that it's possible to create something so detailed and small with your fingers, but then she is very talented.

Dad has actually had a spring in his step this week which has been lacking for a while. His new job 'doing his hobby', fixing motorbikes at his friend's garage is obviously much better suited to him than the school run driving job which he was not enjoying to say the least.

Mum attended an Intarsia workshop at Purl & Co yesterday, her Christmas present from Dad. Was very impressed by the results, a heart design. She said it wasn't as complicated as she had anticipated.

Am still quite perplexed about the complexities of blogging, I'd like to be able to add links in the text, for example to Tomoko's site and also to write between adding pictures but am baffled as to how to go about this. If anyone has any tips please let me know!

Out of sorts....

2008-02-05T09:38:00.000-08:00

Yes, these bags have been on my mind since yesterday afternoon. Something momentous occurred! Davey at the craft group patiently showed me how to use a sewing machine. It feels like a whole new world of possibilities has opened up. Of course, it is going to take much practice to conjure up something like the above but maybe someday! Thanks Davey...

It's been a funny few days... hopefully the gloom will lift soon.

Tea cosy!...cosy tea...

2008-02-02T02:52:00.000-08:00

As promised, the finished, felted tea cosy made at Gill's workshop! I hadn't realised that the inside would be visible also so it was nice to put some spots inside too.

We've found some Japanese leather bag handles on Kitty-Craft for mum's bag which should go well with the orange and brown colours of her bag.

Mum joined gwen for her dentist's appointment today to have her troublesome tooth removed, she's now back here recovering, bless her.

yay...

2008-02-01T11:27:00.000-08:00

It's my future brother in law's birthday tomorrow (hopefully!) and this is the picture I used to make him a card. It's a seriously beautiful bike seen in Osaka, Japan.

guess what?..I've been offered the support worker job. It was after 5pm when I received the call so was expecting the worst after being used to late in the day 'sorry but..' calls. So, very pleased and relieved and have a good feeling about this one. Unfortunately, will be waiting several weeks for crb to come through before starting.

Nellie said it was upsetting but also moving and he was surprised at the amount of people who came.

Saw on the news about the cuts to arts council funding for arts projects today, seems really unfair that some are losing total funding while others double, why can't it just continue as before? Similarly, the news showed how brass bands will potentially lose out while the opera gets considerably more in comparison. I'm all for variety but where's the support shown for grassroots, small, community projects? Who goes to the opera? sorry, have had a few too many glasses of wine and on a downer.

On a better note, saw a brilliant dvd last night, 'Tell no one' , but please tell everyone about this film as you won't be disappointed! It's french, a murder mystery, a doctor whose wife was murdered suddenly receives an e-mail from her 8 years later. Fantastique!

Have a great weekend folks.

rain, rain, go away....

2008-01-31T06:09:00.000-08:00

What a miserable day it's turned out to be. Nas and me went on a very blustery walk this morning and nearly got blown away, I gave up trying to peel back the hair from out of my eyes!

Nas usually enjoys being out in all the elements but wind is not his thing..he tends to assume a mournful face throughout a windy walk but it also helps to exacerbate his crazy running off in zig-zags all over the meadow, ripping up clumps of grass phases...which are pretty hilarious.

Here he is in a butter-wouldn't-melt pose, and on a much nicer day than today.

It's stitch 'n' bitch tonight although I'm not sure if I'll go along yet..in one of those stay at home moods after looking forward to it all week. In preparation, I'd started on another pair of Louisa Harding's gardening mittens in Kidsilk aura (lovely, it's got a bit of a sheen to it) as my main wip at the moment is a 'parisienne shawl', the pattern of which was kindly emailed to me by the lovely owner of 'Norfolk Yarns' in Norwich after I saw it in the window on a visit. It's coming along well and am using a cone of light blue mohair found at a charity shop. The only problem is it needs my full attention with the stitches and I'm always fearful of forgetting where I am with it...so, not the best project for a group night!

The gardening mitts are addictive, and came in really handy for Christmas presents. I found some lovely velvet ribbon in a shop at Covent Garden and used this to go through the eyelets of the glove at the wrist.

Spoke to Nellie last night while he was preparing to iron his shirt for today, he was wondering if he could just get away with ironing the bit of shirt that would be on show! We agreed that was probably okay, and it is cold inside churches so he shouldn't need to take his jacket off..men and ironing eh?! It's going to be a hard day for him...

elephants never forget...

2008-01-30T11:09:00.000-08:00

hello again...haven't posted for a couple of days. We collected our plates from the pottery cafe on Monday and I'm pleased how clear the picture has come out, wasn't sure if I'd put enough layers of paint on!

I keep seeing this lovely fabric for sale on different etsy sites but can never justify buying it at that particular moment. There was an occasion when I tried to purchase some from Kitty-Craft but there was a problem at check-out...maybe this was a good thing, it stopped me spending money I'm sure I didn't have!

The interview on Monday seemed to go okay and probably is the most relaxed I've felt in an interview since leaving uni, maybe it's all the practice I've experienced, or maybe it's just that I'm not filled with any hopefulness any more so don't expect anything from it.. I really liked the sound of the project, supported living for people with learning difficulties and the managers at the interview seemed friendly and approachable. So, will probably hear tomorrow either way...

Third screenprinting class last night and first layer of paint on the linocut, there's a great old bit of machinery which basically squeezes the linocut against the paint and paper. A fair amount of heft is needed to pull the handle towards you a few times. Also linocutting were Gerry (a newbie, like myself) and Rachel who seems quite experienced and has been really helpful in offering advice. Some of the regulars are churning out some fantastic screenprints, I just walk past on my way to wash my hands (now blue!) with a look of awe on my face each time.

Decided to make some scones from Jane's book 'The Gentle Art of Domesticity' today. They use a bit more butter than our old tried and tested recipe, but came out lovely, if i do say so myself. Took some pictures but they dont seem to want to load tonight so will try another time.

It's Nellie's mums funeral tomorrow...will be thinking of him.

Time for tea...

2008-01-27T10:02:00.000-08:00

It's been an achey day for mum so plenty pots of tea have been called for. Mum finished this fab teacosy a couple of weeks ago knitting with two strands of purple at the same time.

This is my latest moomin mug, a christmas present, showing the character 'the groke'. I've always thought the groke was rather misunderstood, always feared by the moomins but deep down probably just quite lonely and looking for friendship. So, she's one of my favourite characters. My first moomin mug was bought in Copenhagen and since then the collection has added year by year. We've now got about 5, and we're very lucky to have a Scandinavian shop, Karlsson, in town (a precious place where you hope it can keep going for as long as possible). Unfortunately, it's a tad pricy, but to be expected for the lovely stuff, they also sell marimekko fabric. The owner is really friendly and I once had quite a lengthy discussion about moomins with her and then felt very guilty for not having bought anything!

Nellie went on a suit buying mission today, his mum's funeral is on Thursday..

All about Eve...

2008-01-26T03:47:00.001-08:00

Let me introduce Eve to you. She is our friend Yuri's 11 year old daughter and she stayed with us for Christmas along with her dad and her brother Max who's 5.

We first met Yuri in Tomsk (yes , there is a womble named Tomsk!) in Siberia back in 1992 as part of an exchange trip with the British youth organisation Woodcraft Folk and a youth 'Hobbi' centre in Tomsk. Since then he moved to Missouri with his wife Olga to work for a charity. We were thinking it was going to be a quiet Christmas with my sister spending it with her potential in-laws, when Yuri confirmed that they could come to the U.K.

It turned out to be a great Christmas and all the better for having children around. Max is brilliant, always chatting to you, 24/7! Eve has a very soft, gentle face and this is very much like her character. She seems wise beyond her years. One of my presents for her was a small skein of boucle yarn from 'The Natural Dye Studio' purchased at their pre-Christmas open day, and some needles. I found it really hard to demonstrate how to cast on, but she picked it up very quickly and had a small square by early evening!

This picture was taken by Felixstowe beach walking along the front, the day after Boxing Day. It was a chilly,windy day but there were plenty of people about taking a post-Christmas stroll. The walk was finished off by some very tasty chips and an ice-cream.

Felixstowe is where mum, Gwen and me went to last Saturday after a tip-off of a great remnant shop there. Compared to today, which is gorgeous and sunny, last week was miserable, non-stop rain. We found a lovely little tea-shop on the corner near the library and indulged in a scone before exploring the shop. It's a fantastic place, packed with fabric, ribbon, buttons, wool and friendly staff and also pretty bargainous. As you can see from the picture, I picked up some great trimmings, the fabric has lavender sprigs on and I'm itching to make something with it but not sure what yet! The velvet ribbon has come in handy with finishing off some purses made from linen remnants found cheap on etsy.

Cushions..

2008-01-25T13:51:00.000-08:00

To make up for not being able to show the end results of our felting just yet (they're still drying out!) this is a cushion cover I made recently from a ball of yarn I was given for Christmas. It was lovely to knit up as the yarn kept changing. Mum knitted her ball up into a scarf which was very effective. The other cushion is screenprinted and was 'created' by Liv and me when we were about 11, Liv's was a brown version. Looking back, it slightly amazes me that we managed to make something that actually resembles the image we had in our minds of the finished product..but although it could do with a bit of a wash, I'm quite fond of it!

A great day was had by all at the felting workshop, run by Gillian Harris in her studio in the back garden of her cottage in Capel, Surrey. Gill herself is very warm and explained and demonstrated the felting process very clearly to all us (mainly) novices. By the end of the afternoon we had made 2 teapot cosies and 3 bags, both using the same technique. 3 layers of felt are used over a plastic template and at the end, this is cut out and removed for the opening. Its a fairly strenuous process (despite jaffa cakes and mini lemon meringues to fortify us!) and triggered off some pain in mum's hands unfortunately, but the end results were worth it (Photos soon!) Gill has a 5 month old pup called Doris! a cross between a King Charles Cavalier and a poodle, very much like my friend's cockerpoo although a bit smaller. Doris kept us all amused. Gill's studio is full of her own designs, beautiful to look at, and everywhere you look there are some lovely little touches, like the mosaic surrounds at the sinks, complete with plastic pigs! and the felted light pull and curtains. All in all, it was very much worth a slightly nightmarish drive home on the M25 in rush hour traffic.

Nellie seems ok, he says its starting to sink in a bit more now. Wish it was possible to be nearer to him now at this difficult time.

Oh, an interview has come up on Tuesday, must summon up all my remaining positivity and smiles and hope for the best.

A sad day

2008-01-23T05:00:00.000-08:00

Nellie's mum passed away yesterday evening sadly. At least she doesn't have to be in pain anymore, but she was too young.

A friend indeed...

2008-01-22T14:49:00.000-08:00

This morning I woke up with a strong desire to be waking up with a job to go to. This isn't unusual, but today more so, I'm not sure why...I've applied for 5 occupational therapy jobs in the last couple of weeks and several support work jobs and hoping, everything crossed, that something positive happens with one of them. A job offer before Christmas, which turned out to be not so firm has ended my plans for a 'new start' back oop north and with it chances of spending more time with Nellie. His mum is very poorly right now.

It's been quite a creative day today. In the morning my friend Liv and me met at 'All fired up', a pottery cafe which is always a great place to visit...and they do the best hot chocolates! We took advantage of a 2-4-1 offer and both painted a plate, Liv designed a 1st anniversary plate for her in-laws and after seeing teapots and cupcakes that were available to paint, I tried to draw these on my plate. It was great to catch up and we both found the painting very relaxing and the time flew. Liv was glad of a bit of a breather from the hectic daily life of having a 2 year old boy! She's my oldest friend, meeting on our first day of high school sitting opposite each other in the form room. I can honestly say that without that quirk of fate, school would have been a much more lonely experience.

Then in the evening, it was week 2 of an evening course in screenprinting and other print techniques. This is another 'New year challenge' I've set myself, to get out from in front of t'telly and learn something new and meet people. It's not entirely new to me as mum previously being a community arts and crafts worker meant that we often joined her at youth clubs for craft days, and hence got the chance to try out a lot of crafty stuff, screen printing being one of them. I've already met some really friendly girls, one of them (the only female plumber on her course!) said something brilliant last week, that she does her plumbing course and another 'academic' course and her choosing to do this was like her 'yoga'! She's a bit of a star.

So tonight was starting a linocut, using some jansdotter vases stencils as inspiration. It'll be interesting to see how it turns out as you slowly build up 3 colours in 3 stages. I couldn't quite work out, how it would all fit together, but Bill the tutor does..and thats ok!

And..yes, the creativity floweth more! tomorrow , mum, Gwen and myself will be heading for deepest , darkest Dorking to stay in a B&B and on Thursday we're attending a one-day felting workshop. This has been planned since the summer and is kind of my way of making up for the poor show I gave to mum's birthday the previous year. Her birthday is on Boxing Day and despite our earnest attempts it sometimes gets a bit overshadowed by Christmas. We have the option of felting a bag, tea cosy or wall hanging and am veering towards a tea cosy. This is largely down to a memory of sitting down with my friend Fumiyo in a wonderful cafe in Kobe, and being served chai tea in a teapot with a felted cosy on. Doesn't take much to please me does it!

If I ever manage to return to Kobe, I'd like to revisit this cafe and another fantastic one with Fumiyo. Over there, there are magazines dedicated to cafes you can find in a particular city and we have spent several hours choosing which ones to go to by the photos of the sweets on offer. Actually finding the cafes is another matter entirely!

Mum's making marmalade..

2008-01-21T08:52:00.000-08:00

Mum got down to the serious business of marmalade making yesterday. Sugar and the little plastic things to go on top had been bought. Jam jars had been washed and heated in the oven. Seville oranges were chopped up and 'pithed' and left to soak for a day or so...

I've been told it tastes very nice and I'll take her word for it, as one thing I can safely say is that unlike bananas, cabbage, sprouts, mince pies and christmas cake, I won't be developing a taste for marmalade in the future!

While the marmalade was busy getting down to business on the stove, I got down to the business of making bread which I'm really starting to enjoy after our neighbour Sue gave me a recipe. Once you've got the routine and ingredients in your mind it takes no time and the kneading process gets the joints active! You can't beat some fresh bread, especially with some squash and carrot soup, lovely..

Before dropping off to sleep I've been reading Nigel Slater's new book on British food which Nellie bought me for Christmas, bless him. We'd both read the extracts from it in the Observer last year and shared memories of tunnock's teacakes, club biscuits and custard tarts (must put them on the list!) Nigel has a great way of remembering and praising good old British grub and there's a very amusing memory involving cabbage and elderly ladies pushing zimmer frames!

Today, there was the Co-op craft session at the Education Centre. Mum and our good friend Gwen (who's been involved in the Co-op for years) had the idea of starting a regular craft group after a few successful one-off sessions had gone ahead. It's very informal, friendly and relaxing and always a variety of different crafts going on, crochet, knitting, quilting, embroidery, felting, beading. Next time, a sewing machine is being brought along as one of the ladies has been hand sewing a skirt as she doesn't have a machine. I'm also hoping to pick up a few tips. My sewing machine experience at school was a disaster, I eventually managed to machine embroider a cushion which took me all term and then I had a nose bleed over it...great.

Hello!

2008-01-20T04:52:00.000-08:00

Hello folks! After many months of reading many inspiring blogs and meeting some lovely talented, friendly people out in blog-land, I've been spurred to create a little one of my own..

I don't feel very confident in my online capabilities, but it's a new year and a new challenge.

After excitedly picking up "The gentle art of domesticity" yesterday from the library and having a quick flick through at all the eye-candy, something that Jane Brocket wrote also inspired me to start a blog. She mentioned how just the fact of keeping a blog helped her to look out for something positive each day, maybe taking a photo, looking at nature, seeing something good in our interactions with others. I like that idea and hope that by keeping this blog, I'll be able to see something positive each day too, which is not always so easy!