rain, rain, go away....

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...

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...

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...

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..

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

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...

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..

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!

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!