Ipswich Waterfront Craft Fair- October 2010

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

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..

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...

Lewis..

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....

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...

R.I.P. Meave ...

It's been a while...

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...

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....

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!

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..

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...

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..

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?

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.