Fibrenubie

In the news

2011-11-15T07:49:00.000-08:00

An editor of a German magazine called Spotlight rang me up to ask about my lavender stall last week and asked about how I started and all the highlights and pitfalls I had encountered. Its aimed at helping German people with their English as there are so many words that can mean different things in each country. I find the magazine very helpful to my English too and it really grabs my attention.

I came to a full stop last week, I felt so tired that I spent days just sitting and reading - not like me at all, but thankfully my mood is over and I'm now back on track with my stock making. I have come up with a few new ideas having ditched a couple of items that are not selling. Plus my workshop has gained a ceiling, floor and end wall thanks to my new man friend. As soon as I have more cash flow I'll get him to finish the outer and inner walls too. This would mean I'll have a lovely warm room to work in instead of freezing during the winter and a bonus of saving on my heating bills.

Christmas is round the corner so I'm working next Sunday as well as all the Sundays leading up to Xmas in December. This will be a first for me and I'm wondering if it will be too much to do two days together...we'll see.

The new ideas I've come up with are dryer sachets - to put in the dryer with your wet washing, small pyramids in quilting fabric, lacy pin cushions, beaded socks, hand-dyed hoover-oids (for putting in the hoover bag), headache sachets, eye masks, armoires (with printed and painted art deco moths on them) and lastly keyrings.

These little beaded socks are knitted in purple, lilac or white crochet cotton on no.14 sock needles and I've had many lovely comments on them as I sit there in the market knitting them.

I'm now working on a bath soak, a combination of lavender and epsom salts and think I will put them into an organza pyramid sachet to make them more interesting. But that's for Xmas.

I am also giving out a brochure to visitors to Barnstaple market to launch a mail order scheme. I have not had much luck with this in the past but hopefully it may take off. The saying is 'nothing ventured nothing gained' so here goes...

You may have spotted the mention of a man in my life, Joe, he live about 1.5 hours away but makes the journey each week to visit me and takes an interest in my work. He has shown me all round North Devon, Exmoor and the coast and I've seen more of North Devon in the last six months than I have in the past 5 years. It is very beautiful in a wild and craggy way and the more I see the more I want to explore other parts.

Folks are enigmatic

2011-07-16T04:03:00.000-07:00

Such a long time since I blogged that I smacked my hand...Oww! Won't try that again.

I started my market stall at the beginning of June and it was quite a rush as I had thought of started on June 23rd. However I seemed to be a success and was encouraged to try another day - Monday - as well. Not such a good day but still profitable.

I set up an excel list of each item I sell and put in the sales of each day hoping to get some idea of trends. But folks are enigmatic! What sells out on one day sometimes doesn't sell again for ages, and what had been passed by suddenly is popular...go figure!

This means I have to trundle ALL my stock to the market and back, in a suitcase with wheels, so that I can please most of my customers. However, only one item does not please and that is the Baby Sleep hearts, so I've taken the words off the centre and substituted little velvet flowers, which seems to get their attention.

Some customers have time to stop and chat and I've been regaled with some very funny stories. I also got quite a few compliments on the layout of my stall and the fact that I have such a wide variety of choice within the lavender theme.

I have to get down on my knees and pray for bad weather now, so that customers come to the market instead of the beach...naughtly of me, I know, but I have to help my business grow, don't I, and it's only for two days.

Well, back to work making stock...

Back at the market

2011-06-13T07:34:00.000-07:00

It has been a long time since I had a stall at the market. Last Thursday I set up my new Lavender stall with all the stock I had made over the past two months. The display is not quite right yet and I invested in some crystal organza to replace the cream muslin.

I have a centre aisle stall with 7 tables which have to be covered so I chose a lilac velvet to give the lavender theme. I also spread some loose lavender over an oilcloth and set about bagging it up into little sachets for customers to buy. The smell seemed to draw them to my stall and get them looking at the various items on display. I have been working on some shoe stuffers for next week. Gingham fabric filled with lavender and a ribbon pull at the back. They look quite cute. My doll Doris was almost bought by an enthusiastic customer so I had to remove her as I don't want to sell her - she brings customers to the stall and adds a certain charm to the sleep pillows. Well, if anyone has any ideas of what I can make that can be stuffed with lavender, please let me know - I'll be most interested.

More grist to the mill

2011-05-12T03:04:00.000-07:00

As you can see I have added to my stock of goodies for the market in July. I didn't like the cream sleep pillows I made first and have ditched them and made organza pillows instead. I've filled little organza bags with lavender to fill the hatbox, plus large bags of lavender for customers to fill their own. The lace on the medium bag is taken from a table runner and glued onto the front of the bags once filled, then a little baby's breath glued on top. Very fiddly. I have also filled little bottles with lavender essential oil and sealed them ready for labels and pricing tags. Also, not pictured here, I filled tiny organza bags and placed 9 into a circular tub, tied purple ribbon round them and glued a couple of flowers on top. I'll put up a picture next time I blog.

I never realised how much time it takes to tag every item, but customers won't pick items up unless they have a price and a 'Made in Devon' label to take home with them, so it's worth it in the end. I also have to put large notices with each item on the stall like the "4 for £2.00" for the hatbox and descriptive notes on lavender for customer queries.

This week has been especially busy because my washing machine broke down, then the tap connection under the sink started dripping like mad so I had to turn the water off and this meant waiting in for repair men to come and charge me the earth to rectify everything. Isn't it strange that electrical goods always break down together as if they have a union - one out, all out?

Well, back to work...

Stock and stuff

2011-05-08T02:52:00.000-07:00

I'm so busy making stock for my new venture that blogging has taken last place. From 1st July I shall be selling lavender and lavender products at the local market on Thursdays and need to fill the tables; so I've taken a leaf out of my friend's book and made all the items she made before she sold her business plus a few of my own invention.
Take a look at my pictures to see what I've been up to the past 6 weeks:

The pomander was really easy to make but the other stuff was more time consuming. In the picture above right there is a sleep pillow at the back, a lavender sack to the right, and at the front, a pomander, gingham lavender filled heart and a domino car freshener for the gents.

I still have to make 5 clear cartons with 9 small organza bags inside each, a ribbon round and a flower on top, also various organza bags filled with lavender to sell separately. Then there are lavender scented clay drawer fresheners, clay hearts (same) to order, little bottles of essential oils to fill and cap etc, etc. I have never worked so hard since I gave up making waistcoats.

I did find time to go to my Devon History group and listen to a talk about Queen Anne's Walk in Barnstaple, by the architect who restored the monument. He showed us pictures of his research back to 1850's to make sure all the detail of the monument, friezes and wall sculptures were authentic. It was a fascinating talk and lasted well over the hour scheduled for it.

Apart from all that, my washing machine broke down last Monday so I'm back to hand washing...those were the days, remember?

Calmer

2011-03-28T02:33:00.000-07:00

Things have calmed down chez moi, because I gave up one of the clubs I was attending, they had come to the end of their programme anyway, so it seemed appropriate. I can now concentrate on the U3A and my Devon History. I have also started at the market again, helping Sue on a Saturday to give John a break. She is moving towards doing milinary and fascinators and she is very good.

I have also started cutting out all the deadwood in the garden - shrubs I lost to the frost. It has taken 3 wheelie bins to move just one lot of cuttings from the buddlias that grow rampant in Devon. Everywhere else they are sold in the gardening nurseries, but here you can find them growing wild almost everywhere.

Still no-one has moved in next door to me, and I have grown used to being on my own, it will be quite a culture shock when a family does move in. I just hope they are reasonably quiet, because I'm too old for family squabbles.

I have also been in my loft looking out patterns and fabric stored there for summer clothes. I'm slowly working my way through my stash that I brought with me from Cheshire. That seems such a long time ago, and I hardly remember my life there any more. My patterns come mostly from the US and a lovely lady called Lois Ericson used to make the most innovative patterns up to size UK30 and even suggested how they could be altered and made more interesting. I was sad to learn she had given up selling them and will have to guard my copies like gold to make sure they last me.

new website

2011-03-07T02:28:00.000-08:00

I have been working on a new website for the U3A group I joined last month. Today I finally got it published and just have to wait for the committee to let me have any changes they feel it needs.

I had to use a software package I'm not familiar with called WebPlus X4. As I'm a visual designer I found this package very good and only had three problems whilst setting it up. The Webplus forum was excellent for solving these problems and it has only taken a week for all the pages to come together. I feel quite proud of this 'child'.

I have also had to increase my output of the Bridal wallets I designed as they are going like mad. I managed to get 28 made last week but it took all my time up and my dogs were beginning to get stir crazy and demanding to be taken out.

So today I'm back to mundane tasks like washing clothes and cleaning round. What will I do next? Hmmmmm.

Me and my big mouth

2011-02-16T01:58:00.000-08:00

I attended my first U3A lunch yesterday. I was met by the luncheon secretary and hosted at the top table, which was out of sight of the screen and talk, so I had to move my chair to be able to see the presentation. This put me in sight of all 100 members much to my dismay. The talk was on 'Myths and Legends of Baggy Point' which is a local finger of rock that goes about 1.5 miles out into the sea on the coastline near where I live. The one item that struck me as the talk finished was the many ships that had come to grief along that coastline. We were also told that the reason we had a coastal path was due to the need of the excise officers trying contain the smuggling that was rife in those days.

The luncheon finished with the Chairman, Ken, reading out notices amongst which was a call for a new webmaster as the lady who was doing it would not be continuing. Afterwards I asked Ken what was entailed and before I knew it I had become the new Webmaster!

The downside is that the host site is closing down due to local council cutbacks and all the information will have to be transferred, but the upside is that I can start from scratch with a new host site and that has to be good.

So my new life has begun, I'm out at meetings twice a week and have doubled my trips out with my dogs. I have also started using my Wii excercises again to combat the weight I put on whilst taking some terrible tablets. On top of that is my work with Sue where we have come up with Bridal Wallets - a pouch in waste damask with a beaded edging on the flap for putting money, cheques or vouchers in - for giving to wedding couples.

Talking of dogs wanting their walk...

Coastwise club

2011-02-12T03:26:00.000-08:00

I went to the library for my weekly club outing and attended a fabulous talk on 'The Frozen Planet'. This talk was given by a BBC photographer who had been contracted to film for a proposed series starting in September. He showed us his arrival in McMerdo bay in Antartica, hosted by the US, the equipment they had to use to drill the hole down through the ice so that they could dive under it. Then followed a series of photos showing what lived under the ice and the brine tunnels that formed down from the icecap. Masses of star fish live off the plancton etc brought down by these brine tunnels until they hit the ocean floor and skid away.

Then he went on to show pictures of the Killer Whales that hunted in Weddell bay, in particular the class B killer whale - identified by its long white eye patch. They only seemed to go after the Weddell seals and had a distinctive way of washing the seals off the ice flows - the pod would swim a distance away and line up, then all charge towards the iceflow and stop dead just before it, causing a huge wave to upend the flow and topple the seal into the water where a designated catcher was waiting. This has only been seen about 5 times in the world but in Weddell Bay it happened quite frequently.

He also showed us a female Humpback whale actually rescuing a seal from the pod by surfacing upside down under the seal as it was toppled, and catching it on her belly then swimming away with it. The photos were truly awesome!

The photographer is now filming in Africa which must have been a huge culture change for him, ice to heat.

New links

2011-02-03T03:57:00.000-08:00

I was just trolling through some information from Cloth Paper Scissors when I came across a new website - just set up - with wonderful mixed media journalling techniques and articles.

http://www.createmixedmedia.com/

I've not read the free ebook yet but from the front cover it looks exciting and there is so much to delve into that it will take a while to assimilate it all. However I thought it worth posting so that anyone else who is interested in mixed media can have a look.

Finally finished

2011-01-28T01:34:00.000-08:00

My daughter send me a calendar she had made where she had cut out the faces of family and superimposed them on various other photos. I wanted to be able to use this calendar but it was not in the right format. So over the past weeks I have been collecting stuff to turn it into a calendar book. I had a cardboard sleeve used to package a sheet, a piece of fabric paper I had painted and stamped and Hated! some grungeboard letters etc. I covered the sleeve with the fabric paper, machined the letters on top and coloured them; then felted some wool rovings to make a cover for the spine. Next I made a concertina of folded card to use as an support for the pages and added the calendar papers but opposite each month I put another piece of plain card to add all the achievements for that month.

Here I am as the Statue of Liberty (Bert always called me Libby or Liberty when he was making a point) on the September page.

Although I hated the fabric paper, once I had added all the other elements it looked much better and it gives me hope for the other pieces I have done and ditched in my 'hopeless' box. It just shows that you should never throw anything away because it can always be reclaimed.

Busy, busy, busy

2011-01-26T03:19:00.000-08:00

All of a sudden life has taken off here chez moi. I was contacted by a dear friend who lives in the US, we'd worked together for years and are now both retired. We skyped last week and caught up with all that was going on, past and present - a wonderful time.

Next I saw an advert in the freebee newspaper by a local group called Coastwise who were giving talks in the local library and during the summer they visit the local beaches for cleanups etc. I thought to give it a go so I went along on the Thursday and listened to a talk about the Atlantic Array that is proposed for the Bristol channel in a couple of years. I never dreamed that so much work had to be done before even starting the project. I know my eldest son is interested in working within the Windfarm community so I took the time to talk to the presenter and asked for a copy of his presentation.

Whilst there, the lady sitting next to me and I got chatting and she gave me information about another group called 'The University of the Third Age'. Basically U3A is a community of retired people that meets once a month and is subdivided into study groups which each member can join separately. When a group gets too big, another is formed with a slightly different name. I got a copy of their newspaper and found lots of groups listed and decided that I was interested in the 'Gardens Group' who travel round the south visiting gardens, and the 'Devon History' group. Unfortunately the Gardens group is fully booked but there may be chance to start a second group if someone has the courage to lead it.

All this is so exciting and new and could lead to inspiration for my art attempts, perhaps giving it new perspective.

Tomorrow's talk by Coastwise is about sea shells and their impact on the environment. Again I'm looking forward to the talk and maybe a few sketches whilst sitting in a dark corner.

Window cleaner

2011-01-11T02:45:00.000-08:00

Why am I so excited about finally finding a window cleaner???

Ever since I moved to Devon I noticed that window cleaners are as elusive as the tin that was once mined here. Today as I took the dogs for their walk round the block, there he was, finishing cleaning the house up the road. I pounced on him immediately, dogs in a tangle of leads and asked, very politely, "do you do domestic houses?" The foolish man said "Yes". Another pounce got him to admit he could have a word with his boss, come round almost immediately and assess my windows.

I don't know why I should be so happy, but if I can finally see out of the top windows that must be the bonus for this year! Extra plus was that he was so reasonable, much less than my mother pays in Cheshire but I'm keeping that to myself.

So one happy teddy meets the New Year with a smile!

sweater heaven

2010-12-22T06:53:00.000-08:00

I knitted Digger a sweater to match Peggy's, just different colours. Trouble is they both love them and when I put them on my dogs they go out into the snow and won't come back indoors. They have had great fun romping around the garden and the green outside the house, pushing the snow up in the air with their noses. Digger whinges all morning until he puts his sweater on for his trip outside; drives me mad!

Here the roads are driveable, but the icy paths are certainly a health hazard. I tried to get to my friend's house this morning but only got as far as the garage then had to turn back. I dug my car out of the frost and drove to the nearest carpark, and walked very gingerly round to her house for a short stay - cup of tea and a chat - exchanged presents and left to do the reverse journey. I almost wished I was impaired enough to warrant a walking stick, but I mustn't tempt fate.

I must thank the post office this year because their job at the moment must be so demanding due to the weather. However, I got presents delivered to me for my friends only 1 day late and the presents I arranged for my sons were delivered on the morning stated in the website. How's that for organisation and customer satisfaction. Well done!

When the snow fell last week my telephone cable came away from the house and left me stranded, no landline, no broadband, it was like losing an arm and I felt very cut off. Thankfully my trusty mobile allowed me to get in touch with Sky who arranged for an engineer to come and reconnect me yesterday. Thus I can now update my blog, read my facebook, collect the books from Amazon bought for my kindle and read all my emails. Whew...life is always throwing up problems to be solved.

more bird houses

2010-12-14T02:49:00.000-08:00

Here is the latest bird house; I made it for my dog walker and will fill it with little sachets of pot pouri and a post it note pad and small pencil, as a Christmas 'thank you' for taking my dogs out every week, rain, hail and snow, bless her. She is a lovely girl but how she goes out in all weathers is beyond me.

These shapes started with a wedding box made from white lace coasters, but I got bored with the same square and started exploring other shapes to see if they would be popular with our tourist trade. A couple i.e. the tower and the bonbon box were failures but the rest seemed to appeal. I'll have to see if I can make enough to sell on a regular basis, but at the moment I'm not sure I want to start selling again...maybe next Spring?

Happiness is a son who asked if he could come for Christmas and that's a big 'Yes'. I'll get to try out my new culinary skills on him, poor soul, and he'll have to smile and say 'its gorgeous'. The one big problem I have is what to do with the waste peelings and left over bits that come from cooking raw food. Devon has issued us with a kitchen caddy to fill, but we can't put any plastic in it, and have to use kitchen roll to line it, then it goes into the green recycling wheelybin which is only collected every two weeks. Boy, does it whiff in the summer! Unfortunately I don't have a compost bin - nowhere to put it and no use for it after as my garden consists of gravel and slate to make it dog friendly. Hey Ho....

Weather...or not

2010-12-09T03:03:00.000-08:00

With it being so cold I was 'forced' into finishing off my Christmas presents ready for sending out. I used up all my Christmas paper and that's when I saw Digger taking off with the inner cardboard tube in his mouth. This tube was at least 3 times longer than him and it posed lots of hazards like getting between my desk and chair, through the kitchen door etc. and then Peggy spotted him with it and decided she wanted some, so that meant a tug of war game and lots of growling. They had lots of fun with a simple cardboard tube and I had to laugh along with them.

Our neighbour 3 doors away has put some blinking lights up along his guttering and we can see these from the hall window. This has caused Digger some confusion and he has been growling at them for several days. Here the dogs are at the window trying to decide if they are a threat or not...

You can't see the lights properly but the picture gives some idea of what the dogs can see and it took a while for Digger to settle down and ignore them.

I also had a little time to make Peggy a new sweater. I had tried the one I made for Vicky (who died) but poor Peggy is a lot bigger and was having difficulty walking in it. So off I went to the wool shop and got some chunky wool and huge needles and a pattern off the internet and made a custom sweater for her. Doesn't she look cute?

I had to bribe her with a doggie toffee to get her to sit so that I could take a picture of her. I also bought some wool off the internet which is still awaiting arrival. I will be making Digger a sweater as soon as it arrives and maybe one for next door's Archie too because Parson's Jack Russells seem to fall between the cracks when it comes to shop bought sweaters. They are either too small or too large whereas this pattern can be altered to suit the pet. I got the pattern from here and do thank whoever was kind enough to put it on the net.

MMM 'Boxes' challenge

2010-10-31T08:10:00.000-07:00

November's Mixed Media Monday challenge was 'Boxes' and I had an idea I had been playing with for a while - in my mind - so now was the time to bring it into being. I have been experimenting with shapes for some time now and a bird box had taken my eye when I visited a friend's garden where she had loads of them nailed to her house wall. They were all colours but the same basic shape. I think the one I came up with has too large a hole in the front and next time I'll make it smaller. It could not have a roof either because there would be no way of using it to carry anything or add a little present. So I added a ribbon on the inside of the front appex and tied it through an eyelet hole on the back to keep it together. The bluebirds are made from some pieces of fabric paper, painted and stamped with writing and the flowers are glued onto ribbon bases.

Apart from that I'm busy making Christmas presents and little things for Sue's stall, such as bookmarks, glasses cases and lavender sleep pillows.

My cooking is taking a life of it's own and I'm looking out previous cook books for recipes and inspiration. It is difficult cooking for one because the food becomes boring after the second helping, so I think I'll have to invest in some freezer bags or boxes to carry the meals over into another week.

Has anyone seen the Cloth Paper Scissors mag for this month - it has some very interesting ideas in it and I'm going to try out the Christmas card workshop on page 30 but not in wax, I can get in quite a mess without that, but I do have ideas of how to apply the principle to create some cards. I'll post an example soon.

Winter is upon us

2010-10-20T07:35:00.000-07:00

I just had to take this picture of my sycamore tree which I keep in a plastic pot. It has changed to the most amazine colours but sadly all the leaves have fallen off now and all I have is bare branches. Also my clematis has been flowering since March, most unusual, and still keeps going. I have fruit on my passion flower vine and not a clue as to what to do with them. The birds will have a treat instead.

Since I last blogged I had a full on very nasty shingles virus that started across my left eyebrow and up to my hair line plus one really nasty blister at the corner of my eye. This has left me almost blind as the swelling in my face completely covered my eye. I dashed to the hospital and was diagnosed as having insect bites but after a further visit to my doctor, who diagnosed the shingles, this meant that I had missed 3 days treatment and the virus had a complete hold. Still, this is probably more information than you want to know and now I'm on the mend. Unfortunately this has left me with a dilated eye where I had to add ointment and drops. Also anyone who has had it will know that the horsepills they give you 5 times a day for 7 days are very difficult to get down a swollen throat. I tried cutting them in half then quarters and finally crushed them on a spoon. It was the only way they would go down. Do you need this when you're so ill?

But, on to more interesting things. I started my Christmas presents, as you do at this time of the year, and made the little brooch pin below, it's designed by Jill Oxley in Australia:

Not bad for a one eyed monster, and I have ideas for other flowers to replace the rose. The pin head unscrews from the pin and allows the beading to be slipped on - very neat - and it can be attached to anything, like a jacket, handbag, rucksack etc. I wonder what my mother will attach hers to? Don't go there...

Well, now I can see - mostly - I must catch up on my blogs and see what next week's challenges are, and whether I can think up an unusual response.

A thought...Amazon are pushing this new Kindle, an ebook thingy that you can download books to, change the font and store them forever!! I really needed something like this to take the boredom away from sitting, feeling sorry for myself, so I must see about getting one for my next disaster.

Happy Birthday to Me...

2010-09-29T05:09:00.000-07:00

What a long time since I last blogged, but I have been busy, honest. Here are some pictures of my newly painted house (before and after). It was done over several weeks and I painted the dark red bottom myself. Then had to go through pain and suffering as my back objected very strenuously. However, it was one of the projects Bert and I had put down for this year and I'm so glad to have it off my list.

In between doing this, I have been making small items for my friend at Devon Petals and also some 'shapes' in silk and velvet as experiments. You'll be able to see what she does with the bridal horseshoes I wrap with ribbon. She also makes hearts in a similar way.

Another thing on my list was to get back to my challenges. I wanted to be creative again and this week's Mixed Media Monday was 'Buttons'. I looked through my buttons and came acrosss some gorgeous twinkling flower buttons and I would never use, so I wired them up and put them onto a neck choker in red velvet ribbon. Hopefully this does the trick for this week and I must make sure I leave time for further challenges after next week.

Today is my birthday too, and I'm looking forward to travelling to Plymouth to see two of my sons and spend the weekend with them. I have been given a lovely Pandora bracelet and asked my offspring to let me have beads for it to make it extra special. The beads they have chosen are really lovely and somehow I can see each person in them. It will be a joy to wear.

I am also thinking of Christmas and planning presents. I love to give handmade items then because they are more personal and unique, but sons are difficult to plan for and I'll have to do some searching to find appropriate presents for them.

I'm back

2010-09-13T04:29:00.000-07:00

Hi folks, I'm back in circulation again after what seems a long period of mourning. However, life is all about doors, the ones that shut and others that open. A very kind friend invited me to sit with her on her market stall, helping to sell the wonderful things she makes and from that grew my interest and I started helping her make her goodies. She has tons of vision and the ability to delegate so I soon got stuck into winding ribbon on wire horseshoes for weddings etc. and the occasional bookmark and choker.

Suddenly life has purpose again and my help is where it is needed. I've got my mojo back! I'll be showing pictures of things I'm making soon, and other stuff I'm getting into.

Looking back on the experience all I can say to those who have lost loved ones is - death is about process and patience; the process of mourning and the patience to wait for that next door to open and give life meaning again, but it takes TIME.

Utter sadness x3

2010-04-19T02:39:00.000-07:00

Well, Bert didn't manage the 3 months the doctor gave him, and died March 27th. Incredibly it doesn't seem 3 weeks ago, more like years as I miss him so much. Ed and I went to a local church last Saturday to light a candle for him. It was the first time I had been in this church and it was really lovely inside, quite a surprise as from the outside it looked just a pile of blocks. Also the windows had pictures of buildings along the bottoms which was quite appropriate as Bert was a builder. It was a comforting moment.

On a positive note, I received a couple of doll patterns that tested my abilities, especially at the moment, and after some rather harrowing mistakes, I produced my 'Berties' and 'Doris'. The Berties are made from Karen Shifton's pattern = Bouffon. The Bertie with the beard happened because I had this sily idea that I could spray the faces with hairspray to fix the colouring, but the sharpie I used for the mouth liquidised and ran down his chin so I had to rescue him.

Doris also had a traumatic time when I tried to paint her shoes on. I had finished everything else and tucked her on a wall unit to paint the shoes; I had placed the paint on the kitchen roll close by and she fell off her perch straight into the paint, all over her cap. I tried to wash it off, but the watered paint ran all over her face and I ended up having to remake her head completely.

My final 3rd traumatic happening came 2 weeks after Bert died, when my dog Digger swalled a sewing pin and had to have major surgery to remove it. The operation itself was fine, but getting his medication into him afterwards was so stressing for both of us and we ended up in tears. He was off his food for days and a visit to the vet made them rethink his medication and thankfully it was stopped altogether. He started eating again after 48 hours and was ravenous, bless him. He is fine now and bounding aroung the house in his usual noisy way.

All these happenings had made me lose my mojo and I'm finding it hard to get back into the swing of my life. I have made plans to get back slowly to the market, but not making waistcoats yet, just helping another lady with her stall. The local paper has listed a couple of groups of interest, like 'Good Companions' and 'Sip and Stitch' which I'll try and I have booked a day out on one of our local coaches, so I can see something of Devon. Hopefully this will help me develop a set of companions and a focus again.

New doll by Jill Maas

2010-03-22T06:27:00.000-07:00

Jill Mass's dolls are fun and quirky and this one has me in stitches. Her name is Maggie and she is a wannabee angel, trying out her wings for the first time. Note her stripey socks but I'm not sure where they come from, maybe you can take something with you for future use?

She is just what I need to bring me out of the doldrums (no pun intended) because the last two weeks have been rubbish. With Bert in hospital and only two months to live, I became mega stressed and then I fell in the street outside my house, banging my face on the edge of the kerb and pushing my two front upper teeth into my mouth. I pushed them back but I have to wait now for 4 weeks to see if I have severed the nerves and they go black. It has been quite painful, and stressful finding things to eat that did not involve teeth - like soup - I'm really bored with that; and jelly - up a tree with that.

So, as I can't go to the market, I'm taking time to be creative and hence Maggie, my saviour.

Zentangles

2010-03-04T01:33:00.000-08:00

Here are some of the zentangles I have been working on since Christmas. Although I didn't start out with a definite theme in mind they all seem to evolve into sea forms. The one on the left reminds me of a ship being tossed by waves onto the beach below, the others look like moluscs and a sea horse. The only one I cannot identify is the one on the right which is a free form; I was trying out new fillings and quite like the flow of this one. I have also done heart shaped flowers and leaves that lend themselves to wierd and wonderful fillings.

I started out filling in every inch of space on the pages with fillings, but over the months, my preferences have developed into separating these out and using white space more. I think this enhances the beauty of the different fillings.

Whilst I have favourites, I try to incorporate at least one new filling with each picture, that way I can develop, but there are one or two fillings I just cannot get to grips with. I need more tuition for these.

If you want to know more go to the Zentangle website and look at the newsletters for instructions on the fillings. It seems to be a growing interest in the USA and I've noted it growing slowly in the UK too.

Enchanted

2010-03-02T06:57:00.000-08:00

This week's challenge was Enchanted. I had puzzled over this one for a while thinking 'fairies' but having no stamps or pictures nothing came to mind. However when I did a search on microsoft clipart I saw this picture and decided that was it. Then the question - how to use it?

So I made a book bag for my granddaughter's birthday. She loves to write and draw and be able to keep her journals away from prying eyes, so a book bag is the ideal present. It is printed onto cotton and quilted (sort of) then beaded. A wide tape was used to enclose the raw edges and make the strap.

Now all I have to do is make the journal and for that I shall have to update my stamps to include fairies. I hope she will be as 'enchanted' with this bookbag as I was making it.

Nothing to show

2010-03-01T01:21:00.000-08:00

Today I have nothing to show you because I spent last weekend with my mother in Cheshire to celebrate her 88th birthday. I hope I'm as active and in charge of all my faculties when I'm that age (always supposing I reach it!) as she is. My sister Madeleine and BILs met up and we took Mum to the local restaurant for a meal which unfortunately turned out to be a disaster. Our food was almost inedible, cold and at least one of us was served late at each course. How can you spoil an omelette? well, we found out the hard way.

However, not a total loss as we headed home and spent the afternoon and evening playing Monopoly and Tom lost bigtime. As he always wins, it was hard for him to take as we all laughed and commiserated with him.

It was a very poor market on Thursday, no orders for me, but the lady who makes cards in the next bay to me, did well for the first time this year. So I took the opportunity to move my workshop from the outhouse (where it is so cold I ended up ill twice) to the small bedroom upstairs. I managed to give the furniture away and get my neighbour to help me move the work surface up and balance it on a small tressle table. Then I used my pasting table for a cutting out area. I didn't realise that this room was bigger than I had originally envisaged and I managed to move all I needed into it. I just need shelves, lots of shelves everywhere to house all the bits and pieces.

Then the outhouse can be fitted out with new walls, ceiling and door and made into a study - hopefully - and I can move my PC into there, leaving the dining area of the kitchen just for dining.

My week of art

2010-02-09T03:02:00.000-08:00

This is another journal I made for Mixed Media Monday's chalenge, Romance. It has an Edwardian look in oldfashioned lavender and lace. I had an ombre scarf in silk in shades of lilac and peach which went together with the sparkles on the trim.

I also made some more pages for my art journal. It was hard to come up with ideas that left places for journalling but I did get to try out some really nice products like the Glimmer Mists over a Tim Holtz grunge flourish, and pasting pieces of serviettes over a colour box background. Just some of the better ideas I came up with.

Bert went for the results of his scan yesterday and unfortunately his cancer has spread to his liver and lungs, and I think it is just a matter of time. We'll have to make some nice memories together.

Apart from that nothing has really happened this week; it has been quiet so I tracked down my friend Sue at the market today and spent some time with her.

A quiet week

2010-02-02T07:25:00.000-08:00

There has not been much going on this week and I've been quite lazy. I had Thursday at the market, and boy, was it cold! even with my little heater my nose, fingers and toes did not feel as if they belonged to me and I felt that frostbite was a real danger. The number of traders was so small that only half of the market was open and I had to move to the top end which I don't like. I never sell anything at that end and people who were calling for orders had a job to find me. Again this was true and I came away early with no orders, just some interest. On Friday I had a dental appointment, which meant a sleepless night because I have trouble with them. They seem to think I am being paranoid about injections but as I'm allergic to adrenalin I think I have a right to be. Six months ago I was told that my usual dentist had left and I was now with another so I agreed to try her and see if I liked her; however, she put me through some awful stress and start my panic disorder up and I was so glad to get out of there. This time I insisted on another dentist and was transferred to a very nice Romanian person who took time to talk through my fears and, after an examination, said there was nothing wrong with my teeth...whew!!!

These two stressful days as meant it took another couple of days to find my feet again and, yes, made me lazy and not wanting to do the housework, I wonder why?

Still I did get my latest copy of my stamping magazine with the second part of the art journal workshop - painting the pages. I've had a great time with this, and thanks to Natalea Kanderfer's article in the latest Art Journaling (stampington company) I made some very nice pages. I have only managed to do one page each day and had no idea it would take so long, but it is the drying of the paint etc. that takes the time up, and coming up with ideas and colour schemes for each page. I had decided on birds as the theme but it is amazing that in all the craft shops I went to there was nothing in them bird related. I have had to go online and source places like ebay and out of the way mail order sites.

I seem to have found my feet, so to speak, in that I started out making journals in various forms and sizes but only adding plain sketching paper to them. But this article on making the whole thing has really got me hooked and involved in making the whole book into something really creative but functional too.

P.S. I'm still making my 52Q cards each week and some of the questions are really thought provoking.

Stress, so early in the year

2010-01-19T05:58:00.000-08:00

Are other people experiencing stress too? I do wonder. Last week I received an email with a UPS tracker number listed and a winzip file. I downloaded it to print off and suffered a total lockup of my PC! It was a scam and contained a virus so people out there BEWARE! but the good news is that PC World cleaned up my PC, put in a new antivirus software and made the whole thing mega fast again. They did it all in a day which was most excellent of them. However, being without my PC for 4 days was very stressful.

On another note, a very nice thing about Monday was that the refuse collectors were out and about and not only did they empty the green wheelybin but came back a few hours later for the black one. I hadn't put this one out and dashed to the door so I didn't miss them, and the young lad waved his arm, dashed up the drive and took the bin to the wagon to empty it and then put it back up the drive...I can't thank him enough.

Well, as I had no PC I got to work on some journals. The dragon fly one is for the Mixed Media Monday challenge...Wings. The dragon flies are made with a top layer of painted fine lutrador, then a stamped and painted cotton layer, then green felt and lastly a dryer sheet so it moved nicely under the needle. Then I free motioned variagated thread around all the outlines before cutting each fly out. I made these up a while ago as an experiment but had no idea what to do with them.

I made up the journal with stone coloured suede and couched the dragon flies over it.

The inside is a piece of japanese kimono silk that complemented the outside.

I also made a black velvet journal with gold panels which I have done before. This journal looked so good I had to make another to match. I revampted another gold tissue paper one too, adding that bobble wool that's the latest fashion wool to knit around the edge and redoing the inside papers in a more modern twist.

There was a second good thing from yesterday, I looked in at "The Works" shop in town and found all I needed at half price in the sale. The 3rd good thing (my luck just managed to make it!) was that when I did finally get my PC going I had my online bills for gas and electric to view. Both services showed that I had overpaid by quite a bit and they owed me money and I was able to cut my monthly payments down. I went to bed feeling really good about 2010.

Serendipity

2010-01-13T03:56:00.000-08:00

One of those 'what if' ideas...I had a Zentangle starter kit bought for me for Christmas along with a jigsaw cutter for my Big Shot. I had this idea to cut the jigsaw pieces out of card, fling them up in the air, and tangle them, then put them back together and see what happened...et voila!

As a first try it will do, but as the only pieces I could recognise were the corners it was mainly pot luck and some of the pieces were heavy and together, but then it wouldn't be serendipity, would it? I think I could be more creative in how I apply the doodles too.

Another project from Craft Stamper magazine is an art journal by Kate Crane, in 3 parts, and I have completed part 1, just have to wait for the other two parts to complete it then personalise it.

Weather-wise it is very confusing. If I watch the weather on BBC it says we are under several feet of snow, however when I look out of my window there is very little snow left and what there is is thawing fast. I was able to drive to the supermarket today and stock up on food etc. I keep waiting for the forcasted snow to arrive but so far it has missed us altogether.

Bored, bored...

2010-01-11T03:03:00.000-08:00

I am so bored, with the snow and ice taking away my freedom, I have been unable to go to the market and collect waistcoat orders so time has hung heavily on my hands. I did manage to get my car off the drive last Saturday and fetch some food for me and the dogs, but was unable to get it back there as the drive is quite steep and the road icy, so it had to be parked on the road until I can get it back safely. My dogs, Peggy Sue and Digger have really enjoyed the snow and are in an out of their door hatch all day.

But I have not been idle, I made another of Jan Maas's Violet dolls, cleaned out my drawers and back bedroom when I returned the Christmas decorations to the loft. Sorted out my family photos to fill the space left by the decorations.

Then I went through all the blogs I like to keep in touch with, and came upon this inspiration from Taylor's Textile Trials (see blog list) - a postcard book and 52Qs - a kickstart to my muse for 2010. I made the book to fit the shipping tags I intend to use for the 52Qs, I should have used a thinner paper for folding such a small book, but it does hold the tags better. I also made the first two tags but I'm not showing what the answers are, that's for me.

I also had a go at the challenge from GPPS (see under blogs) but my snowflakes were too big and didn't give the look I wanted so I'll be trying that again.

The snow has kept the postman away for over a week and all the things I'm waiting for are still in transit, much frustration! I'm still waiting for the fruits of my voucher presents to play with and hopefully gender more ideas. I wonder if the refuse collectors will come today? They also have had a hard time getting to houses locked up by the snow and the bins are rather full now.

I'm off to see if I can rescue my car, maybe...

Tired Dogs

2009-12-26T04:40:00.000-08:00

My mother asked me to put up photos of my dogs, Peggy Sue and Digger for a neighbour's daughter to see. We have just been to the local park and had a long walk round and up the estuary and they came back absolutely black with mud etc. I washed them down and they are now sitting in the sun drying off.

Christmas Day was great with phone/skype calls from all my children, Mother and Bert. I was very lucky to get vouchers for Rainbow Silks and an online stamp company, so when they arrive (snow permitting) I'll be able to indulge my passion for buying creative goodies.

I made quilted book bags for my 3 granddaughters and they seem to be quite a success, Edith filled hers with a bananmilk bottle and other goodies and put it under her new pram. However, they were derived from a reference in a medievel novel when in the 1100's monks and clerics were the only ones taught to read and write and books were copied, bound and kept in leather satchels and hung on pegs in a librarium. I put a matching journal in Lucy's and little books in Edith and Nancy's bags to start them off.

It seems really strange that here in Devon the sun is shining and it is lovely and warm, when other counties further north are having cold and wintry weather and my Mother has been practically snowbound; not that I'm complaining, mind.

Surpise!

2009-12-20T05:06:00.000-08:00

This past 4 weeks have been so busy, getting ready for Christmas, doing a doll course to make a present for my daughter's birthday and making sure I had all my presents together for my trips north and south.

and here she is, my interpretation of Cindee Moyer's The Fairy Catcher. Stephanie was most annoyed when I chose the Raven for the course she bought me for my birthday in September, little knowing I had booked both courses to make a surprise for her. She now has the doll and seems very pleased with it. It is not an easy doll to make and I had trouble with the face and extended arm. When I pushed a dowel rod through the arm to go into the body the sleeve split so I had to make the whole dress and arms again as I had used up all that particular fabric. Also the face ended up with two black eyes because I didn't spray it with hair spray to stop the ink leaking into the face fabric. However, it came together eventually and I got it into the post in time.

Bert was with me that week, but he was so anaemic and fragile he had to stay an extra 3 days before attempting the journey home (as if I minded!) and he spent another week recovering from the journey back too. However, he seems to be OK now and is more active. He gets very frustrated with himself when he feels so down and weak - just like all men - and it is hard to keep his spirits up.

I spent 10 days overall going to Plymouth to deliver Gareth and Ed's presents and then back 1 day then up to Cheshire to deliver Mother's presents. It has taken 2 days to recover myself and get going again at home. Now I have (hopefully) time to play with all the paints and papers that have been waiting for me to get to them and dive into the ideas I have been storing up in my brain. I wonder if other crafters find the same problem, time to concentrate just on the goodies piled on their worksurface?

Dormant

2009-11-20T05:07:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately I learned this week that my Stitched Textile Group is going dormant for a while and as I had already done my piece for this month - MOTHS AND THE MOON - I thought it best to lodge it here so I don't lose it. This is the Lunar Moth and the background is made from painted ludrador, cut and shaped with a soldering iron to look like tree bark. The lutrador is painted with quink ink and lumier textile paints. The moth is made from pale green organza with trapped angelina between the layers. I made the body from a piece of cocoon stripping, stuffed and attached to the 5" wings (actual moth size).

This week I had a backlog of 6 waistcoats so I had to really go for it and achieved 5 of them, and I had two more orders yesterday so that will keep me busy next week.

Bert has finished his radium treatment but it has left him very tired and anaemic, so our plans for him to come down today had to be postponed until next week. He has to wait 6 weeks to clear the radium from his system then have a scan and see if the surgeon can operate on the tumours.

Doodling

2009-11-16T01:23:00.000-08:00

This zentangling is quite addictive, here is my take on TREE for Inspire Me Thursday. I had to draw back and find out when enough is enough because I could have added and added and then it would have looked a mess. I also wanted to put colour on it, but I'm too new at this to attempt it...maybe next time.

Anyway, it is based on tree striations (is that how it is spelled?).

What a busy weekend

2009-11-15T06:27:00.000-08:00

Now you can see what I've been up to this weekend whilst NOT making waistcoats! This pattern arrived last Thursday and I just had to make her, it's Coleen Babcock's latest pattern called 'Give us a kiss' and her mouth is all puckered up ready. I made it for a friend in the USA so I'm hoping she doesn't catch my blog before it arrives at her place. However I have been good today and made up a waistcoat and cut another before finishing the doll, so I'm on track, so to speak.

I would like to thank everyone for their really kind comments on my challenges, these are so welcome and appreciated.

Another challenge

2009-11-14T07:04:00.000-08:00

Here is my latest challenge piece - a zentangle! The challenge word was FASHION and whilst doing a search I came across the title in the Times newspaper and I just had to use it! Then my copy of Cloth Paper Scissors came through the door with an article on Zentangles and my vision came together. So instead of cutting out waistcoats which I should have done, I watched TV and zentangled instead. I could get used to this type of art because there is no limit and no guidelines as such. I just watched a utube video for 7 minutes and away I went. I had no idea this was out there and that so many people were doing it. There is even challenges set up and some really beautiful artwork done. Next time I'll try it with a pen instead of a pencil (I thought I'd need to use a rubber but amazingly that was not needed).

Inspire Me Thursday challenge

2009-11-11T07:21:00.000-08:00

I really started this challenge too late i.e. Wednesday afternoon (how late can you get???) so it's not quite what I wished to portray, but hey ho, must go with the muse.

As the inspiration was SPAIN, which to me means Salvador Dali, I based this picture loosely (how loose can you get) on his painting of 'Persistence of Memory' or the Melting Clocks. My picture has a runner racing the clock trying to catch a memory that has eluded him and hopefully a spanish looking background. I feel very much in tune with this runner as I'm always trying to remember what I should be doing next.

Woe, woe, thrice woe...

2009-11-10T02:37:00.000-08:00

Woe is me, I've had so many orders since I last posted that there has been no time at all to do any challenges. However, today I have time and no excuse, so I'm getting down to it. I went through a really low time recently which did not help but that seems to have passed, plus a couple of visits from my sons were greatly appreciated.

I did complete this month's Stitched Textile challenge - Moths and the Moon - but I'm not showing it until end of the month. We also decided to pick up on the Cloth Paper Scissors challenge for an Earth Mother Art Doll, so I'm thinking about that too. My scrap club was cancelled yet again, so nothing there, in fact a rather boring month all told.

Watch this space...

Challenge

2009-10-19T05:08:00.000-07:00

Funny how these things happen, but I now have completed both challenges this week which is something I have been unable to do for a long time. A chance remark by one of my family stopped me short and made me wonder why I take these challenges? Then I decided that it didn't matter what they thought; I got enjoyment from using the challenges to stimulate my creativity. So although the above is not as exciting as I would like it to be, I'm on the right track and will do better next time.

Ravena

2009-10-19T03:03:00.000-07:00

Here is the finished article, and I've named her Ravena. She now has a nest to sit on and read her book. I was sorry when this course finished, it was a lot of fun and the processes were quite easy to master.

Bert is out of hospital now but still has his chemo to go through, and hopefully he'll be home soon.

My Christmas presents are coming along, and I have found loads of inspiration from websites, there are a lot of good ideas about for those little stocking presents.

Catchup

2009-10-12T07:48:00.000-07:00

This last two months have been very difficult for me to get going. I am feeling very out of it and have lapsed on so many things...must be getting old!

However, I have been making Christmas presents which I cannot show, and taking part in a doll course from http://www.joggles.com/ making Cindee Moyer's Raven doll. Here is the penultimate product:

She still needs her nest which we will be making in tomorrow's lesson. This is a lovely doll and so unusual and I have brain meanderings about a Swan or Egret to complement her.

The Scrapclub was cancelled this month so I didn't get to use my new papers and will have to wait until next month - shame. And apart from making waistcoats I am doing a lot of decorating. Bert started painting my bedroom for something to do, and I made use of the bedding from the guest room as it matched the colours, which meant getting new for that room and then I spotted some lovely cushions so that meant decorating the Livingroom too, so I just have to bring the Kitchen up to date to have a clean and bright house again. I think that's where all my energy has gone these last few weeks.

I'll be blogging in earnest again now...honest!

A call to blog

2009-09-16T07:36:00.000-07:00

My daughter is missing my missives! Well, beloved, here is what I've been up to since the last blog... In the last week of August I called in to my local scrap warehouse to see what we were doing at the monthly scrap club. I was shown the Wysteria papers (which I had just bought) and a layout for that night. However, when I arrived the teacher had been so organised that she had put away several packs for the coming months and we had been shown the wrong ones. Instead of a muted blue we had olive green and rose red, which did not go with my photos at all. But I set too and made up the layout, just laying my photos in the right places so I could add the right ones later. When I got home I printed out photos of my mother and father and another of their wedding as these were just the right scenes for the antique layout.

I started back at the local market last Thursday too, and as several people had been waiting for my return (lucky me!) I picked up 4 orders and sold a couple of items off the stall.

This month's Stitched Textile group challenge was a poem from Walter de la Mare, "When the Rose is Faded"...this gave me some problems as I'm no good at doing roses, but something in one of today's emails made me think that roses didn't need to come into it, just the reference to them. So I have started a piece that should answer the call. I do seem to be having trouble getting back into my challenges, and I've missed several months of the Mixed Media Monday and Inspire Me Thursday which I enjoyed previously. I must settle down to thinking about these again as I miss doing them.

I have started several presents for Christmas, as I love to make more personal presents for then. Several ideas have popped up in my magazines and some quite unusual too. Hopefully my recipients will think the same, but maybe not...

I am using my wrist as much as possible, but there is still trouble under the surface, a bone is loose and keeps pinching a nerve which makes my little finger go dead, but I see the surgeon in two weeks so hopefully they can sort it out for me.

Apart from that, I am sitting in my garden in the sun, using the new patio, and reading a lot at the moment because you never know when it will end and we get the dreaded wind and rain etc.

2009-08-25T05:07:00.000-07:00

This month has been a wonderful time with family visits and outings. Early August meant that my daughter, who lives in Germany, visited with her husband and daughter Lucy. We had a couple of days of catching up and a day at the seaside. My dogs were thrilled to see the sea again and learned a new game, that of jumping the waves as they came in. Digger has such short legs that he spent most of the time in the shallows where he could keep his head above the water, but he is a great swimmer so I didn't have any concerns for his safety.

I had booked a short coach holiday to York to see my middle son and his family - another two granddaughters - the youngest I hadn't seen. I spent the first day with them and we took a trip to Helmsley, a small market town outside York. I had also wanted to see Whitby Abbey and Harrowgate, both places I hadn't seen yet, but the first trip was taken up with a detour to Pickering and travel on a steam train which meant we only had 2 hours to see Whitby; and I decided to skip Harrowgate because of all the walking I'd done had made me exhausted. I found out it was the best decision because it was very cold in Harrowgate and most of the shops were closed, it being Sunday. What I did do, was to take the time to see Phil, Wendy and the poppets and visit a local craft warehouse - much fun - and have lunch in York.

Unfortunately for some, the coach wouldn't start for our trip home, so we had an extra morning in York whilst it was being mended, I spent it with Phil and Edith in the local park, then a leisurely stroll back to the hotel. We started out at 13:00 and it took me til 22:00 to get home, very tired of travelling. I wonder if I will ever go on holiday again?

This week I have Bert here, and we did say we would have a week's holiday and not do anything to the house...but...Bert is a person who cannot stay still for long, and after a couple of days, he talked me into preparing the walls in my workshop for boarding and skimming. This has meant scraping off old plaster and painting the bricks with a damp proofing paint much like bitumen, horrible stuff that sticks to anything it comes into contact. After two coats we are waiting for it to dry so we can put my tables back; hopefully before he goes on Friday.

Tomorrow I see the surgeon at the hospital to see whether my wrist has healed. I hope so because I have had so many people phone up and request waistcoats, that I really need it to be fully functional.

New doll

2009-08-06T02:29:00.000-07:00

Here is my new doll and it is MINE. It is the result of all my learning whilst making other dolls and I do thank the tutors for their time and patience. Topsy grew from an idea I had but she is not what I imagined at the beginning which is why I called her Topsy - she evolved, due to the fabric and embellishments I had at the time. Funny but I had more trouble with the maraccas than the dress, the trims would not stick to the painted baubles without loads of glue. As this is a prototype I hope the next Topsy will be even better. I have hopes for a bride and maybe a Japanese lady (much research needed for that one!)

This next piece was made at my scrap club and shows a picture taken by my friend Patty in the USA. She was holidaying in the south and found this stagecoach apparently abandoned. It makes a wonderful focal point for the papers we were given at the club. Unfortunately I won't be able to go this month because my wrist is still in a splint and I can't drive, not that I would be ableto keep up with everyone once there, so I'll have to wait until next month.

Next Monday my daughter and family arrive and I have much to do to make them confortable. On Thursday I head for York and my middle son and his family. I'm going on a coach trip so I'll be seeing Whitby and Harrowgate too, and that is something I've wanted to do for a long time. So, lots of fun next week, I just hope the weather keeps sunny so that I can take lots of lovely photos.

fun on a rainy day

2009-07-27T01:43:00.000-07:00

I had some more fun with my More Journalling class and made the last of the journals - a piano hinge book. Needless to say that when I found out we were doing this type of book last week, I went out and bought a proper piano hinge. BUT, of course I didn't need it. Does anyone know what I should do with it...don't answer that!

Here is the book, by the way, more for display than practical use, but the hinge could work on other journals such as a pocket book or scaled down and using painted cuticle sticks, or a wedding book with pockets and pages - lots of ideas to explore.

I have also had a go at making hobgoblins for my granddaughters in York. I went through my loft stash again and found bits and pieces and with a little experimenting, made these little fun guys. Bert is here this week, creating mayhem because of the rain and he can't get out to do stuff. It keeps showering on him whilst he tries to work.

We spent a sunny Saturday in Plymouth taking Ed out for a birthday bash. The train journey down was eventful because at Exeter 50 spanish students got on the train along with two cyclists and their cycles and as the train only had two carriages and no guard's van they clogged up the aisle so that no-one could get by. At the next station 50 french students crammed onto the train, then a troop of scouts were squeezed in at one end. We spent the next hour amidst this mass of bodies all shouting in their different languages. All of us got off at Plymouth and soon disappeared into the town and Ed was there on the station platform ready to take us home to meet the family and then out to enjoy ourselves...and we did. We got home at 20:00 very tired but extremely happy.

A quick blog

2009-07-23T08:11:00.000-07:00

Bert is here tomorrow so a quick blog is in order before I get sidetracked. I made some journals using techniques from various articles I had come across in my books and magazines.

The first two photos are a journal using cotton batting as the main fabric. I stencilled leaves onto it, quilted it and made up the journal, but found the batting very delicate and had to cover it with an organza to give it more durability. I intend to use this on my holiday in August when I go to York, so I've spritzed the pages in readiness and added all the pockets and paraphanaelia needed for the trip.

The second two photos are of a crazy quilting technique using some pieces of fabric I had stashed in my loft. I just love the sunflowers on the paper covers inside. This was fun to do and gave me ideas for more of the same.

The last two are of a brag book I made for my granddaughter's arrival. My daughter, SIL and GD are arriving in August and I wanted a little present that would keep Lucy occupied. This brag book has 6 plastic pockets for photos of her holiday and two little booklets to write in and collect ephemera in the envelopes and pockets attached inside. I also added a map so that she could see where she was staying. I just hope she likes penquins...

multicoloured

2009-07-18T03:02:00.000-07:00

Well, this week did not start well, because whilst taking out the dogs for their walk on Sunday last, I managed to fall and injure my left wrist and hand, smack my face on the pavement and graze my knee. A visit to the hospital A&E put me in a temporary caste and allowed me to use my bus pass for the first time to get back home. However I learned you can't use them before 09:30 so I had to pay up, to my disgust! A follow up visit to the surgeon the following day meant that my caste was substituted for a splint and I was able to move my hand somewhat.

I was really impressed by the speed of the A&E and was in and out within the hour which is a miracle when judged by the length of time I've spent in the hospital in Cheshire waiting for attention.

So, I had to learn how to get about using one hand, no easy task, and as I was unable to carry anything, I joined the online delivery service of our local supermarket. This service is not as expensive as I had imagined and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is housebound. It also concentrates the mind on what is actually needed and not on the 'would like to have' items that you fill your trolleys with whilst browsing round the aisles; so I have also saved money too.

Yesterday, after a hairy week, I had some pain free time so I set to and made my Friday's lesson from Sue Bleiweiss, learning how to make a hand bound notebook and a 3 fold journal with pockets. Very taxing and I'd had enough by the time the dogs came back from social club. However, they were very wet as it had rained heavily during their outing and extremely muddy. I then had to get them both in the shower and wash them off so by the end of this I was in deep pain and could only sit whilst the painkillers started to work...very sorry for myself...

Well, enough of this, today I'm back on track with a multicoloured hand that is now useable, and looking for things to do; I can feel another doll coming on and as I have been trawling my books (like you do when limited), I am thinking of new ways of making journals too.

At last, some time to myself!

2009-07-11T05:57:00.000-07:00

I have been working like a demented dervish for the past two weeks, trying to finish all the work from the market and keep up with my new course. Yesterday I actually could say I am now on holiday and can take things easier, however the weather is not good so I can't sit out, my house needs cleaning for when my daughter and family arrive soon, and I have the added worry of Bert's latest xray showing a tumour on his liver!

Am I downhearted...not a chance.

Here are pictures from my lessons from More Journalling:

The pink book is made of board and exposed signatures that have been attached with thick thread, as is the larger black book, but this one is made with fabric around the signatures and much more fiddly. I used openweave floppy linen and won't do that again! It was quite an art getting the fabric to line up with the pages and to remain stable, maybe they should have been sprayed with a starch beforehand. The horse book is a great little envelope book - 6 envelopes attached to separate spines within the folder and six mini journals in each envelope. This was the most fun one to do up to now, and didn't take all that long to make and brings me up to date with my course lessons.

Today I made a present for my 7 year old granddaughter, a pocket monster, in which she could hide little things from everyone once she has found the pocket herself...I must make two more for my other granddaughters, but I want to design something a bit different.

Not a happy teddy!

2009-07-03T05:22:00.000-07:00

I'm supposed to be on holiday, but it seems to be rather elusive. I just spent the past week working like crazy to get all my orders done, but I forgot about my phone being on my literature and I'm being pursued in supermarkets, whilst driving, and beating a path to my door. Still as the weather is going crazy too, maybe it's not such a bad thing. I'm also taking Sue Bleiweiss's follow on course 'More journal making for the fibre artist' and only just caught up today with lesson 1 - two trifold journals. I had been ferreting around in my attic for some lace and came across loads of lovely quilting fabrics which would be great for this course. The first I called Serengetti and I cut out African animals and used them as masks for the inside pages, spritzing over them with moonshadow mists in teal and silver. The little button closure is supposed to be a lion's head and the tie is plaited raffia.

The second is a series of pictures of Egyptian gods which I used for my Luxor journal - I printed out a picture of the pyramids at Luxor and fused it to the front so that when you opened the journal up you saw the gods as you would when entering one of their tombs. The signatures were cut to shape the inside too.

Bert was here last week too, and he finished the block paving across the kitchen and up the side of the workshop. He also put up a wall mounted washing line for me which has made life easier as well as saving electricity for the dryer. Now I'm about to sit in my lounger and read two books that have just arrived 1) Maggie Grey's Stitches, straps and layers; 2) Lynda Monk and Carol McFee's Stitching the textured surface. Just a wonderful feast for the eyes and imagination.

Summer weather - lovely

2009-06-16T08:34:00.000-07:00

All this past week we have had some gorgeous weather. I've been able to top up my tan and snooze in the garden in the afternoon. Although I'm still at the market till the end of June, the waistcoats are not selling and it was the same last year; so I'm taking July and August off as a reward to myself and I'll get some stock up and running for September and Christmas.

My latest doll is Dot the Pocket Angel from Jill Maas. I just love Jill's patterns they are so quirky. Dot has no hands or feet so she can be made in a few hours, unlike Violet who takes two days to complete. I have a contact who sells sheepskins and I get the offcuts from him to make the hair on my dolls. It certainly makes a difference when you use the real thing, plus the offcuts come in all sorts of colours even pink and purple.

Dot also has a waistcoat which I thought very significant as I'm 'The Waistcoat Lady' at the market and these little fronts (no backs) are much quicker to make, I wish all my waistcoats could be so quick!

Well, I'm off now to make some more pocket angels.

More challenges

2009-06-08T07:40:00.000-07:00

This is for the challenge from Inspire Me Thursday - "The lost art of letter writing" - I had some A4 stretched canvasses that were just asking for paint and an article by Julie Fei-fan Balzer gave me a new technique to try. I wrote the little letter to my grandchildren (all girls) whilst watching "The Mummy Returns" which appealed to my sense of humour, and transferred their photos onto the canvass over the writing. Then a little oil pastels, spray paints and a few dots and hearts finished it off. The transfer wasn't too clever and I need to experiment more to get it more definite. Still that's what it's all about.

Last Friday I went to my monthly scrapping club and the teacher there gave us this rather tricky layout to copy. Weaving circles and strips whilst sticking them down was rather a challenge and I also had to get the strips at right angles to each other whilst doing this. The picture is a bit off, but the lines are straight - honest.

We were given two lengths of silk to do the cross stitch round the thin circles and I just about made it last. When I got home I put a few more embellishments onto it, to make it mine, so to speak, as I felt the flowers were too small to give a proper impact.

This week's challenges

2009-06-07T07:28:00.000-07:00

This small picture is printed on cork and has a lady holding a bunch of lavender in her hand. I found it whilst looking for something to answer the Mixed Media Monday challenge - Lace - and as I'm doing journals at the moment, I incorporated it into a collage for the cover. I layered it onto stone coloured cotton suede then brown linen, added the music and pieces of lace, then the flap was edged with gathered two-toned organza ribbon and the same lace. My daughter had sent me the crocheted flowers and they made a lovely addition to the flap when beaded into place.

By contrast, the next journal was made in black velvet. I had been on a course where we made the yellow fabric (see Februrary) and I cut it into an oblong and 3 squares and couched them down, then added the stuffed silk edging. I stuffed this knitted silk edging with string, but it is not quite right for the ties, it is too stiff, but OK for edging the journal. The silver you can see on the fabric is actually a crisp packet that has been heat blasted.

Both journals have hand dyed and stamped insides and one signature of 10 papers. Well, that's my weekend play and now I have to tidy up my workshop for the week ahead, when I hope to go through some interesting techniques.

Watch this space...

back at last

2009-06-05T02:13:00.000-07:00

These past two weeks have been so busy making waistcoats, as I had so many orders that I had to work weekends to make them in time. However, this week I had no orders at all, so it has evened out somewhat. This will give me time to catch up with what has been going on challenge-wise and blog-wise. I did manage to finish a few projects and to download my magazine from http://www.workshopontheweb.com/ and found so many new techniques I want to try them all. Also my online http://quiltingarts.com/ magazine has inspired me to try out their workshops too. I hope to transfer all this learning into making journals as a reference library. Here are two I made earlier:

This one was made using aquarelle paint sticks on the background and then stencilled and stamped before adding papers to the inside and a few embellishments to the flap. I got the pocket in the wrong place and had to improvise but at least it is now unique.

This one was more stitch based as I had received a copy of Victoria MacLeod's DIY embroidery booklet. I raided the nearest DIY store and used some of the findings in an embroidery collage then cut and stitched it to the front of some hand-dyed fabric. This time I got the pocket in the right place!

I also finished Lily, my fifth doll and she is more ladylike in her dress and attitude. I'm waiting for a pattern I found, quite by accident, from the USA where the doll is made from scrunchies and a drinks can - all about recycling - and I'm quite excited about it.

Apart from all this that has been going on, Bert was here for a week and he is bouncing now. He seems to have got over his operations and the subsequent chemotherapy and taking more interest in life. He insisted on buying paving blocks and starting to lay them up the side of the workshop and will finish on his next visit by laying them on the path outside the kitchen. Once we have laid flags on the lower patio the garden will be finished and we can rest from our labours. I say 'we' because he lays the grounding and I lay the blocks on top; we have always worked well together except when I query what he is doing - he's not used to explaining why he does things, but he is getting there.

And there's more...

2009-05-19T04:24:00.001-07:00

This is for the Stitched Textile Design group where this month's challenge was a journal page based on Klimt. I chose his painting Hope II to base this page on loosely. A lot of techniques have gone into making it and I'm reasonably happy with the way it turned out, not knowing what a textile journal page looks like.

Mixed Media Monday challenge

2009-05-19T00:23:00.000-07:00

How strange is that, with all the work I have to complete by end of tomorrow I still had time to answer the challenge this week and it has been ages since I was able to do this. I bought the sizzix dye cut for this bird two weeks ago and have been looking for a reason to cut one and there it was! Now I have to get back to work or I'll miss the deadlines for that too.

OOPs! just checked and this should be next week, now I'm ahead of myself...what a wally!

Petals

2009-05-15T03:32:00.000-07:00

Inspire Me Thursday's challenge is Petals and I had this little piece in my kitchen waiting for somewhere to go. I had made a background of lengths of wool, sandwiched between two layers of soluble film and a grid stitched over it. Then the petals were FME'd again on soluble film along with some leaves and added to the background. The centres are strips of organza gathered up and snipped to form stamens. I used a delicate background paper so that the clematis would stand out.

Yesterday, at the market, was really busy and I collected 4 orders much to my surprise. I have not seen it so busy for quite a while and one customer said he had come all the way from Crediton to see me, bless him. This means that I'll have no spare time for playing next week so I'm trying to finish my challenges today.

Happy to be back home

2009-05-11T00:55:00.001-07:00

Last week I must have driven 700 miles in 3 days, as I agreed to take Bert back to Cheshire and visit my mother. We started out by putting the dogs into a local kennel at 09:00 then headed for the M5, the M6 and points north. The weather was glorious until we reached Stoke and then deteriorated quickly into heavy rain. I dropped Bert off in town and headed for my mother's house, getting there about 14:30 and unloaded all my presents for her, and after an evening meal we watched 'Taken', a DVD my sister had left for us - quite a powerful film. The next day we went shopping and found her a lovely coat for the summer in a curious shade of yellow/green; it fitted her beautifully. We had lunch at the local Beefeater and that night watched a film called Australia which was not really my cup of tea, but quite entertaining.

The next day I headed home at 06:20, getting to Birmingham and the usual stop/start conjestion at about 07:30, but once on the M5 I was away and steaming towards home. I cannot describe the feeling of passing that DEVON boundary sign on the way, it is like everything drops off my shoulders and leaves me feeling happy.

I was unable to concentrate much on the Friday, and although I had many project ideas they would not gel into anything useful, so I gave up and read my book, watched TV and had a good night's sleep. However, Saturday was different, I had some zing in me and managed to get going again. I looked at the IMT challenge which was FAMILY and looked for pictures of everyone, trying to decide whether to use my immediate family or my children and decided to go with mine. I found some plant sticks in the local supermarket and printed and cut pictures of everyone and stuck them to the page using brads. I put red brads for Dad and Vivienne as they were no longer with us, and the forget-me-nots for rememberance. The house that surrounds us was made using gesso, moulding paste and acrylics.

Lastly, I had this idea of making a Hug Angel for my friend who is feeling a bit down at the moment. I find this with people who garden, the winters are long and they cannot get out into their garden and weed etc. There is no planning to be done or plants to nurture, so they spend the time indoors, not good - Mum is like this. I wish she had more contact with people, but she is very hesitant and the initial effort is great, so she doesn't bother. Hopefully this will give Jean a lift when she feels that way again. I also made her a laughter booklet for her birthday.

Well, I have to get back to making waistcoats as I have 3 orders to fill and only 3 days to do them in. The sun beckons but is still cold in the morning so that is a great time to work and to sit in the garden in the afternoon, finishing off.

On the Beach challenge

2009-05-04T04:50:00.000-07:00

I know I'm too late to add this to the Mixed Media challenge for last week, which was 'On the Beach' but I remembered this page I had done for my sampler book which seemed to answer the call. I used aquarelle paint sticks for the background and some xpandaprint both at the bottom and top to represent sand. A beach picture was printed onto inkjet acetate and cut into 3 then stitched onto the page; a pocket of fine lutrador and a shell completed the picture. I also made a postcard from vilene, painted and stamped plus a picture of my grandfather on his bike and the words 'wish you were here' added in little baloon alphabet stickies.

This week has been decidedly busy as Bert and I got stuck into the garden, taking rubble to the recycling centre (once I had reccied it) and chopping down dead trees and clipping bushes. We now have a neat and tidy garden to sit in the sun and dream. Bert has also bought me a Big Shot and Xyron for my scrapping so I'll be so busy when he has to return to Macclesfield for more tests. He surprised me this visit as he looks wonderfully well and is acting stronger and more positive. I can't get over the change in him and he is tackling more jobs around the house, bless him.

Tomorrow I head north to see my mother and spend a few days with her, taking Bert back at the same time, and I'll return on Thursday, ready for more challenges.

Additional art piece

2009-04-25T09:07:00.000-07:00

This is the Inspire Me Thursday challenge's latest word = PUSH. I had these photos of my grandparents for a long time just waiting for an inspirational moment to add them to my scrapbook.

Every weekend during the summer months, granddad took his family to the beach at Brighton on their push bikes. It was some 30 miles away but that didn't deter them and they had sandwiches on the beach and headed home during the evening sun. I think it was a ploy to tire them out and have a peaceful Sunday lie in.

This is the second piece of work I've done for my Tree Spirits diptich. I can't add a third because the fabric has run out - pity, but there it is. Maybe I'll extend by doing something entirely different, who knows.

Also finished Amber who is looking thoughtfully at the pewter twig and wondering what to do with it, will it grow or should it be thrown away? I really love the face on these dolls and have had another go as well as mixing up my patterns to make a new doll. Watch this space...

Bert arrives on Monday so I'll not have much time to play, and then I'm heading north to see my mother for a few days the following week, but hopefully I'll be back after that.

Tree Spirit

2009-04-19T09:34:00.001-07:00

This week's Inspire Me Thursday challenge was the word GREEN. I had an idea banging around my brain for some time and had started it by painting a piece of 18" x 24" white cotton with alcohol inks at one end, then wetting the remaining two thirds and hung it up so that it allowed the paint to morph down the piece of cotton - I forget where I got this idea from but it would either be Cloth Paper Scissors or Quilting Arts magazines.

Then I used markel paint sticks and some rubbing plates to add extra colour to the piece. The painting suggested trees to me so I cut the cotton in half and sized it up for stretching onto an 18 x 24 cm artists canvass I'd bought. I made some air dried clay faces which I painted brown to represent the spirits, then added one to this canvass. (I intend to add a couple more trees to this series).

I also bought 3 different types of string: sisal, jute and normal (thinner) and couched this string into a tree like shape and around the spirit face. The ends were couched to look like boughs and twigs whilst at the bottom I unravelled the string to represent roots.

Research into tree spirits shows that the Oak spirit portrays strength, endurance, courage, inner nourishment. A doorway to other dimensions, to higher realms of truth, to the wisdom of elemental power. The oak is high king, guardian of the fertility of the land and its people.

How much greener could I get?

Fights and flights of fancy

2009-04-17T04:01:00.000-07:00

Last week was great as my son, Gareth, arrived for 4 days and helped put a few problems right around the house. The dogs loved him, as you can see him fighting with them here. I also got to go out to my favourite pub with him for a Mother's Day lunch and it was he who bought me the Rome game - sadly I am no general and have failed miserably to appease the senate or to conquer any foreign places.

Monday was worrying as Digger had made his paw raw and bleeding again but it was Easter Monday and a visit to the vet would have cost a fortune. After a sleepless night I managed to get him into the Vets that morning and he was bandaged up and an elizabethan collar applied. We had to make it extra big because he managed to get to the bandage with the first collar and ripped a piece off and swallowed it, much to the vet's consternation. I had to hold his front end under my arm and the vet had to hold his back end under his arm just to get a bandage on the foot, and all of this set my condition off. By the time I had left the surgery, put Digger into the car, I was a nervous wreck and decided to get some Rescue Remedy from the nearest chemist. However, wouldn't you know it, I chose the smallest size that had label underneath of £3.10 but when I went to the counter to pay I was asked for £5.25! I queried the price and then we went through the rigmaroll of checking the shelf, moving the price to the proper place and checking the computer to see which price it should be and all this time I'm dancing up and down metaphorically, wanting to get out of the shop and down the dose.

That set the tone for the week as we had a newcomer to the market who was put in the next bay to me. He set up his area completely to the edge and moved his bench into my bay to sit and used a gap between my stalls and his to talk to customers. I sat stewing but I knew if I got into an argument I would not be able to compose myself, so I mentioned it to a friend who had a quiet word with him. He apologised and we left it amicably, and I gave him a few tips to show I was friends again but it added to my stress levels.

Today I took Digger back to the vet for a checkup and his toe is healing nicely, plus the bonus of a new nail growing from the root (maybe this is catching and causing the bleeding). The bad news is he has to keep the collar on for another week, poor soul. I decided to go shopping straight from the vets but had forgotten my shopping bags, so I had to ask for bags at the checkout. The checkout lady was most offhand and made me feel dreadfully guilty for asking for them as she grudgingly gave me 3 and when I asked for another 2 was quite put out with me. Is it so bad to ask for bags? My stress levels are getting a hammering this week, just when I thought I was cured.

Finally, here is Violet, my goth doll, I made a concentrated effort to finish her this week. She has little lacy pants and a skirt of leaves and a top to match. Her hands and fingers are wired so that she can be posed or hold items.

in fact I had a sewing bee in my bonnet and also made 3 waistcoats, 3 bow ties, and 3 cravats. I wanted to put a green waistcoat on my dummy and made a green bow tie to match but murphy's law came along as a customer wanted that bow tie, not the waistcoat; so now I'll have to make another for Thursday. I also want to make a ladies waistcoat to show a different style/design. Several women have been asking for them but I don't do darts or fashion seams so inventing a style that allowed for the bust but not the shaping was quite a challenge. I made one this week for a lady who bowled and had to wear all white; thankfully she was thrilled with it.

Cheating

2009-04-11T02:22:00.000-07:00

As it is Easter, time is very short and I have to concentrate on what needs to be done and what can be done - don't we all??? So I couldn't resist putting up my picture of my art doll, Wild Ginger (which I made a couple of months ago) for the Inspire Me Thursday challenge which is Spice. I'm quite proud of this doll as it was my first and based on the ginger plant from North Sumatra and has inspired me to try more complicated dolls.

This past week has been quite busy as my eldest son, Gareth, arrived and stayed for the week! I managed to get him to do some small jobs around the house for me, and was rewarded with a copy of a video game called "Rome - Total War". This game quite takes over your life, as you plot and scheme how to build armies, and towns and go forth to conquer the world. You also have to appease the senate who make unreasonable demands and sort out financial dealings by trading and bullying. I spent the whole of Wednesday doing this much to my amazement; I don't know where the time went, so I have to ration myself or I'll go blind and stiff as a board as I crouch over my PC.

I must also play some more with Violet, I made up her arms and legs only to find I should have added a seam allowance, don't you just hate that, and made them long and spindly, so today I'll get some better fabric and do them again.

Scrapping

2009-04-04T03:09:00.000-07:00

I went scrapping last night and had a wonderful time with likeminded ladies. The theme was snow and I had a couple of photos of my dogs' first snow experience which has made a nice piece.

It was someone's birthday so chocolate cakes were set out with cups of tea, but unfortunately I don't like chocolate and felt quite ill after an hour of smelling this cake beside me; must be something wrong with me, but I much prefer cheese and savory items.

We had access to a couple of machines that allowed us to cut snowflakes and words from our cards, but time ran out for me as I was anxious to get back to Digger and see if he had recovered from the anaesthetic. So I packed up and came home to finish my piece with what I had in my drawers.

Today Digger is up and about bounding around and making the usual noise for attention, and I never thought I'd be glad of it, but I am.

A tip : I came across this quite by accident - as you do - as I had a piece of curly clear plastic (as seen in the IMT challenge picture) I wanted to add it to a piece so I painted it with black acrylic paint, but it didn't look right, so I went over it with glitter glue. Much to my surprise the glitter glue, when dried, detatched itself from the plastic but still held together so I was able to attach it to the Key piece. I think you need to paint it with the acrylic paint first as a separator, but you could turn the curls over and do a reverse image - so many possibilities!

Improving

2009-04-03T04:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's Inspire Me Thursday's challenge was KEY which suggested to me a musical key and I looked out pictures of clarinets because that was what my daughter used to play, and very well I might add. But clarinets don't have much impact as a photo so I had to choose something else - like the guitar. I'm hoping the musical score is actually CMajor, so forgive me if it isn't, I'm hopeless at reading music. At least this piece is on time, not like the last one - Ghost, that was done in such a hurry.

Digger is at the Vets at the moment, as his toenail hasn't come off and needs to be taken away instead. I felt so awful leaving him there as it's the first time he has been separated from us since he came to live with us and tonight is my scrapbook club. Still I can make it up to him tomorrow. It is so quiet at home without him, I didn't realise he was so noisy and Peggy keeps looking for him out of the livingroom window.

Must play a bit more with Violet and take my mind off him.

Another challenge completed

2009-03-30T06:57:00.000-07:00

I was talking to my mother about the challenge for Inspire Me Thursday being Ghost and she said she always associated ghosts with horses. It put me in mind of that Clint Eastwood film Pale Rider and how he was a ghost come to exact retribution on a town - very scary! So that became my theme for this challenge.

Another doll

2009-03-30T03:45:00.001-07:00

Here is my second Cindee Moyer doll, she is an upside down heart but I may have made the face too tight and she looks like she has a headache. I had to be very creative in stuffing her as the hole I'd left was filled with a 3/16" dowl rod so I had to put a funnel over the rod and into the hole and stuff the fibrefill down between them. I now feel more capable of attempting a more complicated doll pattern called Violet by Jill Mass; she is a goth doll and very cute. After her I think I'll get going on a Patty Culea pattern but we'll have to see how I get on.

Last month I had a waistcoat returned because the fashion fabric had broken down, so I'd arranged a swap. However, after taken it apart and ditching the fronts, I decided to add new fronts to the back. I made up two fronts and attached them at the shoulders only to find the sides were 2" too short! Woe was me...I had to take it apart again, make more two new fronts and today I finally had my new waistcoat. Now I have to make a new back for the two fronts I cut short...maybe next week.

Digger had an accident with the dog flap last month, he caught his toe in the corner and on Saturday when I took him for his daily walk, he suddenly stopped and started licking his toe. When I had a look it was bleeding quite badly, so I phoned the vet and got an appointment for him, and the vet found that half his claw had come away but we would have to wait and see if it would all come away naturally or if he would need surgery. Now he has to have pain killers and antibiotics every day wrapped up in slices of beef - what will he do when the tablets run out??

Work is done and lunch to get, then to play again with Violet...

Getting better

2009-03-27T05:50:00.001-07:00

Here is my new art doll, from a pattern by Cindee Moyer. I made a special effort to stay away from PINK. I found this pattern much better to construct than the last one, but some of the instructions were a bit vague and assumed I was a doll maker...well, I'm trying! I've called her Bluebell and she is weighted with pigeon feed, would you believe? The pattern called for plastic pellets, but our art shop didn't stock them and I was sent to the pet shop across the road. They had the polystyrene blown pellets used for stuffing beds but they were too light for my doll, so the shop assistant, bless her, suggested the pigeon feed and having hoisted the bag I realised it was just the right weight.

Unfortunately my Spanish cruise in the first week of May has been cancelled...Boo Hoo...I was really looking forward to it, but as the dogs are booked into kennels I'm going to see my mother in Cheshire for a few days instead. I transferred my deposit to another trip, this time to York so I can see Phil, Wendyand my grandchildren, and as a trip to Harrowgate is included that will be a special treat.

I have another of Cindee's patterns to try and as I don't have any waistcoat orders this week, I'll have time to play.

Think Pink

2009-03-24T07:36:00.000-07:00

Why is that all my work seems to be pink these days? There is no reason for it, but somehow I see everything in pink tones. This is a piece for Mixed Media Monday and this week's theme is 'Oriental'. I wanted to show a different slant on the orient and went to my local scrapping warehouse. But they said oriental art had died about a year ago and had nothing I could use. However, after searching around I suddenly had a lightbulb moment and remembered I had photos of moths at home. I bought papers, buttons and chipwords and rushed home to choose this beautiful Japanese oak silk moth - Antheraea Yamamai. I love these moths they are so colourful and have beautiful markings and we get the lovely silk cloth from their cocoons. I printed the moth out as is and in reverse then cut and glued the two sides together so I could curve the wings then researched Princess Xi Ling Shi who first discovered silk threads when a cocoon fell into her teacup in about 2640BC.

That is as far as I have got up to now with my challenges, as Bert was here all last week and we enjoyed the sunshine together, pottering round the house doing little jobs and going down to the pub for evening meals - it was like being on holiday. But now I'm back on Terra Firma and clearing up all the jobs men cause like washing, cleaning and tidying up after him. He has several surgical specialist appointments to attend in the next few weeks and hopefully he will be back soon.

I off now to do some more of my Stitched Textile challenge but more of that later.

Another Challenge

2009-03-10T05:51:00.000-07:00

I'm really getting into these challenges now, and enjoying every minute. I am so thankful to the people who take the time to organise and host these websites because they open up life for the housebound and give meaning to their days.

This challenge is from Mixed Media Monday and was called 'The Written Word' but I somehow immediately thought of Omah Khayyam's 'Moving finger' poem, so I researched it and this is what the lightbulb said to me.

I tried several new techniques and paints (to me) with this; I made the letters from freezer paper and ironed them onto 140lb watercolour paper. I then brushed alcohol inks over the whole page with a overlay of a writing stamp and when I removed the letters after outlining them, I saw that the inks had filtered under the paper causing a lovely capilliary action. I added the poem strips and toned everything down with a dry brush of yellow ochre then added a frayed square of extravorganza with a picture of a pointing figure printed on it and a pen. I just glued the organza across the top so that the finger moved when flapped. Lastly I added a couple of trims and buttons to finish it off.

I also made a lovely pink journal, it had to be one colour but several hues and 3 techniques which were felting, colouring the white cotton fabric with Aquarell sticks and stamping with a stamp made from foam shapes from the children's corner of our local Ryan's shop. Even the pencil is pink!

Now I'm off for some lunch and more play...

Challenges

2009-03-07T00:22:00.001-08:00

This week's I.M.T. challenge is Bamboo and my light bulb said Haiku! A haiku is "an unrhymed Japanese poetic form. It consists of 17 syllables arranged in three lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables, respectively", so I thought "I can do that" and here is my take on Bamboo. The art is to keep everything simple and ascthetically pleasing so that nothing detracts from the words.

Also I finished my course Sampler Book. It was very intense and very interesting and I can thorougly recommend the course. The pages consist of pictures on fabric, extravorganza and transparency and I went for pictures of my parents and grandparents that were in black and white (or sepia) and seemed to lend themselves to this book. So it is a Memory book as well as a reference book.

Bert is back at his sister's house now and I've been able to talk to him every day. His speech is improving and he seems more positive about things even planning to come to Devon next week, although the Stroke specialist said she would be visiting him but as yet has not kept the appointment she made so maybe next week will be a bit premature.

Well must get back to my waistcoats of which I have to make 5 this week with 2 pending arrival of fabric for the following week. This is always a busy time for me, the summer being not the weather for waistcoats so I get to take a few months off...Hurrah!

Meet my woodland nymph

2009-03-03T07:53:00.000-08:00

This is that doll I was blogging about last time, the one with the awful face, but there was nothing I could do about it once I'd painted it on unfortunately. Still, first attempt and on the way up, as they say.

The wings are made from craft wire, angelina fantasy film and glue. I heated the film after the glue set and burned some holes at strategic points (and not so strategic) and the main problem as getting both sides to match. I used glitter glue and alcohol inks on the film to give it a little bling. I have to thank Deb Wood http://www.debwood.com/tutorials.htm for the tutorial on the web and she also does a great tut on more complicated wings which I'm hoping to try next.

I waited in all day to receive my new mobile phone - the E71 - because my other one is acting up big time and I'm missing a lot of calls. Also the battery seems to be giving up life as we know it so I don't know where I am with it at any given time. However, the new one has arrived and is charging up nicely and I hope to get to grips with it this evening.

Bert is still in hospital but I'm told his brain is OK, and although his eyes are a bit hazy he hasn't suffered much damage from the stroke. He is in a room on his own at the moment and bored out of his tree but his sister won't let him have his mobile yet - I wonder what she thinks he'll get up to?

I finished all the pages for my sampler book course and sent them to the web for comments and tomorrow is the last week when we get to put everything together. It was an intensive course and used up lots of stash, and each page used a different technique which was marvellous - I really enjoyed the course and you can see it at www.joggles.com. I'll post the book after I've put the pages together.

Also I've made my adult and two children's waistcoats ready for Thursday, just have to make two bow ties for the boys and I'm ready to go.

Well, I have a new Crusade to go through with GPP Street and Maggie Grey's workshop on the web zine so I'm having some me time tonight! You can see Maggie's zine on www.workshopontheweb.com and buy a subscription there, it's well worth it.

mega busy week

2009-02-28T08:12:00.000-08:00

This week started badly...again. I was hoping it was just a 2008 thingy but it seems to be leaning over into 2009. Sunday saw Bert back in hospital with a stroke which sent me a bit dizzy and then he had another on the Wednesday when he thought he would be going home. I have not heard from him all week, not his fault, his speech is impaired and his arms/hands are numb. I have to tik-tak with his sister to get news and I don't feel I should bother her too much.

Wednesday was lesson 3 of my sampler course but I'm struggling to concentrate on that and only did one page. Thursday was market day and I collected orders for 1 adult and 4 children's waistcoats.

Friday night I went to scrapbooking evening and made a page called 'My Hero' mainly because that was the challenge from Mixed Media Monday - too late to upload but never mind, I did it.

Today I spent most of the day at a local quilt shop that also does day courses and this one was Mixed Media where we stuck, sewed, blasted with a heat gun and doodled over several pieces of silk and organza with all sorts of bits caught up inside. I had a great time and got to show off my super, mega Husqvana machine. The lady next to me was so new to sewing with a machine she had to be shown how to thread and snapped the needle after two stitches! bless her. She was a lovely person and so prone to mishaps, but she did manage to get two pieces done even so. The gold piece has a crisp packet stitched on and zapped with the heat gun.

Also this week, I managed to make a fairy, she's got an awful face, but it is the first one I've done so maybe I'll improve. I'm in the process of making wings for her with wire, angelina film and alcohol inks; I'll post pictures when she is finished but I'm having trouble with her hair at the moment and no girl should go out without her hair being immaculate.

One good thing this week is that the weather is a lot warmer and the mornings are getting lighter earlier - like when I get up instead of me having to trip around in the dark.

Inspire Me Thursday's challenge was 'the moon' so that will set me thinking again and possibly doing something zany, who knows?

Saturday...again!

2009-02-21T06:31:00.000-08:00

This week has been taken up with family and friends so I've had no time for art or challenges unfortunately. I missed some really interesting ones too, like hearts and/or wings and I'd found a really good tutorial on making wings. Also Lace which is my speciality and I could have really gone to town on that one.

However, I did manage to catch up on I.M.T's 'Silver' and because I'm in the middle of a Sampler book course I decided to make one of the pages into a sort of stained glass window like you see in stately homes. I researched silver hallmarks and one caught my eye - Davis & Galt registered a fleu d'lys on a black shield as their trademark c1888-1896. I used this as the basis for the shield in black felt and stamped a fleu d'lys with paint and then embossed it with silver powder. Then I covered a vylene window shape with black organza, then an open net to convey a leaded lights and outlined the shield on it with silver and black cord and an edging of silver/black ribbon. I'm not too happy with it because although it looks OK it is too new and I think it needs distressing but the felt shield is not the right type to react to a heat gun. I'll have another go when I have time to play.

My Sample Book course started on Wednesday of last week, but I had not time to even read the first lesson until Wednesday this week. Bert was here last week and went back to Manchester on Tuesday morning and Ed and family arrived Tuesday afternoon and stayed until Thursday lunchtime. Gareth popped in for an afternoon too. I did have some time on the Wednesderay when they went off to the Big Sheep (a great place for children) and an afternoon at the Atlantic Village adventure park. I made a couple of pages then and completed lesson 1 this Friday but lesson 2 arrived on Wednesday and I've been working my way through 28 pages of instructions since then. I'm happy with most of it, but a couple of pages have not quite come out as they should but it's all a learning curve and I'm using up lots of supplies I had in drawers and never knew how to use. This course is great for that and some of the techniques can be used in my scrap booking.

I also had a mental abberation when I washed my keyboard before Ed came, thinking he would be updating my PC and this caused the keyboard to crash, with half of the keys not working. My new keyboard is causing my PC to crash too somehow, although the installation did seem to be idiotproof...Ha! I've been invited to join a mafia group on Facebook and had to stop before I killed half the town off, that could be quite therapeutic and I can understand people getting hooked.

Well, back to my pages...

Meet Ngozi

2009-02-14T00:31:00.000-08:00

Here is a little art doll I made for the February challenge from Stitched Textiles. The theme was hearts and red, so I made a little African doll with an african symbol on her red blanket which means 'learn from the past', something we should all do. She also has hearts on her earrrings and etched into one of her hands. I based her loosely on a picture of a young maasi girl and gave her the name of a lady who did much for Africa.

Unfortunately I don't have much time for challenges this week as I'm full of waistcoat orders that have to be done by the beginning of the next week. I also have to start a course on Sample Books with Janet Clark, and there is Harts +/or wings for the Monday Mixed Media challenge - I'd love to make a fairy art doll for that one, but time is against me.

Bert is here this week and he has been busy getting the garden tidied up and a few problems solved in the house, bless him, he is very much better in himself and we have gelled together again. He goes back for chemo next Tuesday and then Ed and family will arrive, so I must crack on and clear the decks asap.

Folding

2009-02-08T03:21:00.000-08:00

This week's challenge from 'Inspire me Thursday' was folding. I had just received a book CD from Maggie Grey called 'Paper and Beyond' and it had a section on concertina books, so I used the template to fold the little book here. As the book suggested, I washed the paper with water and dripped paint randomly over it, then when it had dried, I stamped it. Once I had folded the pages it seemed to suggest birds to me, like they were all round a birdbath twittering and having fun, so I cut out some birds from some paper I had previously painted and used these to make the covers. A bit of ribbon to close the book and hey presto! a mini bird book. I hope you like it. My red/heart art doll is progressing but I have a lot of beading to do before it is finished, thank goodness it is a monthly challenge.

Also I have been busy learning about shape and position thanks to GPP Street Team. I'm not ready to show my work on this yet, I'm still very much a newbie and have lots to learn before I have the confidence to show what I've done. I love the way Michelle has set up the challenges and done a mini workshop so that I can follow it without making too many mistakes. However, she says they are not mistakes just artistic interpretation (smile). It also gives me the chance to use all those tools and paints I have horded over the years and enjoy myself.

Carding, sort of

2009-02-05T01:13:00.000-08:00

Yesterday saw the first of the card workshops at the local card supplies factory for 2009. I was shown how to dry emboss and made two cards whilst there. It made a change to get out of the house and meet like minded people and I really enjoyed learning a new technique. You'll note the well tied bow on the left of the green one. I make and tie bow ties to match my waistcoats and ended up showing all the other ladies how to tie a bow in a similar fashion. My contribution to the workshop.

The stitched textile group challenge for February seems to be hearts or maybe RED, not sure yet, but I have a great idea for another art doll - Africa. When making a book cover for another course I took last year I came across several african symbols and remembered one that looked like a heart. So, using that and the colour red I think I'll have a starting point whichever way the challenge goes. Just have to find a way of making a tiny african mask to finish her off.

Blizzard in Devon? Unheard of..

2009-02-03T02:58:00.000-08:00

When I moved to Devon, I asked the local people whether it snowed much here, and was assured that they had never seen snow for nearly 30 years! Huh! Well, we have just had one massive blizzard with the snow topping at least 4" on the pots in the garden. I had to post a picture of my dogs playing in the snow as I think it is the first time they have seen/smelled/tasted snow. They keep going through the dog flap and running round the garden, kicking up flurries and dashing in to the warm again.

You can see the difference from the first two photos where the snow was just a smattering yesterday to the 3rd photo where it came down quite fierce today. And now at 11am we have brilliant sunshine...how did that happen?

I decided that I'll not go to the market this week, as Bert is coming next Tuesday and I'd rather spend the time with him. He said he would be giving me two orders for waistcoats so that will keep me going until I next get to the market.

I'm having a struggle with my embroidery software, as it wouldn't connect with the USB stick, so I phoned the shop and found out it was the software connections. I went onto the Husqvana site and lo, and behold, there was the drivers (a patch) for the new software they had issued last last year. I'd had the notice but never had time to follow it up. So, now no excuse not to get going with the embroidery on Miss Young's trousers - my next task.

Soup

2009-01-31T04:49:00.000-08:00

What's this 'soup' you might ask...well, I've just joined a group called 'Inspire me Thursday' and this week's challenge was to interpret 'SOUP'! I was watching TV last night with half my brain taking in the show and the other half mulling over this 'soup' like a dog with a bone. Suddenly, eureka! the light bulb went on, as it does, and I had my slogan. This morning I took a photo of my right eye (using a mirror and not that easy) and used it to interpret 'A fly in my soup, soup in my eye' - yes, I know it's corny but what can I say - light bulbs!! I can only hope that the other members forgive my sense of humour and let me live to fight another day.

The photo seemed to lend itself to a scrap book layout and I used my stash of bits and pieces to liven it up. I think I'll have to start a 'Challenges' scrapbook as there are several site I think are really cool and giving me lots to think about.

Last Thursday on the market, I was given an order for a waistcoat for a man with a colostomy bag, which I was really keen to make. I floated the idea with Bert and he loved it, having to wear one himself. He said that he felt embarrassed wearing just a shirt and trousers with braces and in the hot weather jackets are out. A waistcoat was just the thing to cover the bag and braces. This gentleman was going to the Carribean where it would be really hot, bless him. I also was asked to do some embroidery on the legs of some jeans that another customer had bought, the only problem is how much to charge?

This week has been busy but gratifying inspite of the problems and with February just round the corner bringing with it all the new challenges and workshops, it will be a month to look forward to.

A great week, finally

2009-01-28T02:54:00.000-08:00

This week started badly but got a lot better as the days progressed. I do my banking on a Sunday and noted that I'd been charged with a huge sum of money by Capital One bank and I know I did not authorise this, so I had to phone Abbey and freeze my account and bank card. What a mega deal that was, and now I have to wait 7-10 days to get the new account number and card which had me diving into the village to arrange different bank accesses. Fortunately I had another bank account that I could transfer money into to keep me going until all was safely restored. Whilst in the bank the customer before me was reporting a similar problem and I really felt for him and both of us are hoping Abbey can get our money back.

Tuesday was better and I started my 'Be good to yourself' challenge that had to be finished by end January...Huh! I started a project based on an article in last year's Workshopontheweb with a pagan theme, but somehow it morphed into something else (don't you hate it when that happens?) however, I cracked on and made a pocket book for holiday mementos, almost finishing it on Tuesday and I got up early Wednesday to complete it, photograph and send it to the group website just in time. I really enjoyed this challenge which is what it's all about.

I think that is all my challenges for this month completed and now feel bereft, with nothing to do. However, February brings its own challenges and course work so I think I'll give myself a little holiday until then.

Today Wednesday, I got a huge water bill (I think I'm being targetted!) which will have to be sorted out - that's my next task. Also I need to make more leaflets for the market tomorrow, they all get taken but don't seem to gender any orders...go figure!

Well, it's a lovely day today, sunny and warm'ish, but just a little damp. This should be good for tomorrow and encourage people to come out and shop, hopefully.

Lots of fun

2009-01-21T05:53:00.000-08:00

I have been racing away with my challenges this month, and finished a couple of them. The first was a little book made from a chipboard book from Maya Road and an article from the January edition of Crafts Beautiful. I did all the pages but it became too much for the covers to close so I've had to take some pages out and make little book covers from them.

I took up the challenge of making an art doll and got inspiration from a wild ginger plant called Red Torch grown in Indonesia...my doll morphed several times before this light bulb went on but as soon as I saw the picture I knew I could "make it work" to quote Tim Gunn. Well, I finished it today and it's ready to be swapped with another member of our group...I hope she likes it (heartfelt prayer). But...this has set off an addiction in me and I want to make more dolls and maybe progress to arms and legs, who knows? I have seen such wonderful dolls on the internet whilst researching and have to admire the work put into them.

Apart from that, I have been busy making waistcoats for my customers and looking after the dogs...little tykes...had a fall and hurt my knee which upset Digger mightily, he didn't stop shivering for at least an hour so it must have taken him back to when his previous owner fell and died in her kitchen. But if he will pee on the lino where I can't see it and slip what can he expect? Now I know why they call them 'slippers' and have taken to wearing shoes instead whilst hobbling round the house.

Bert is progressing well and feeling much better in himself, he seems to be coming out of the doldrums and looking for things to do which must be good. His doctors are impressed with his recovery which unfortunately gives him nothing to complain about.

Mother is having her bathroom sorted out this week, she is having a shower tray and a new toilet put in by the local plumber. We have been talking about this for over a year as Madeleine and I would love her to have a completely new bathroom suite, but she has gone for least disruption instead, and as she is 87 in a couple of weeks, I can't blame her. I'll be talking to her tomorrow and find out how she went on and if it is all she wanted/needed.

Sanctuary, sanctuary....please!

2009-01-10T03:58:00.000-08:00

Bert arrived New Year's Eve so I was able to celebrate in style by going out for dinner and a few bevvies, but I was home and in bed for 9pm, so there!

We spent a few days really dossing and enjoying life until the electrician I had found appeared on the doorstep wanting to see what my job in the workshop was. Well, after my previous experience with local workmen I didn't expect him to appear especially so soon after New Year. He was horrified at the state of my electrics to the workshop. I had an extension from the upstairs bedroom socket down through the ceiling of the kitchen to another extension that went into the lobby and then another extension to the workshop and then another over the ceiling joists to the otherside of the room. Each 4 gang extension had all 4 sockets used and he wondered why it hadn't blown up yet.

He came back on the Monday and put me a circuit breaker in the lobby and fed all the sockets I wanted off that. He made such a good job I would not hesitate to recommend him to anyone else. He also does property maintenance and grass cutting - a real find.

However we had to spend Sunday taking everything out of where he would be working and Tuesday putting everything back and now I can't find a thing! I took Bert back to the station very early on Wednesday and went to the market on Thursday where I picked up an order for a waistcoat for a wedding. It was wanted for Friday lunchtime and meant I had to get up early yet again, try to find space and worktools in the workshop and make a special sized waistcoat plus go to the dentist at 10am. I managed somehow and had it ready for 12:40 - just in time. Talking of dentists, I have found this really ace dentist at a surgery next to Tesco's so I can use their carpark, whom I call 'speedy gonzales' because despite what work he has to do I am never there more than 5 minutes in and out! Yesterday he capped my front tooth, drilled and filled and upper tooth, all without an injection (no pain whatever) and wished me Happy New Year - amazing!

Today I am wending my way through a huge pile of washing and making a little book from an article I found in a scrapping magazine. I also have two purse books to create too besides all my course work.

I had a mental abberation two days ago and put my name down for an art doll swap and now I'm scared to death as this is my first swap. I want to do an egyptian doll because my sister and son have both just recently been there, so I've done some research and gathered some ideas and sketches but actually making the doll is going to stretch me as I have to do all the dying of fibres and fabrics myself.

What was that I said about stress and time management???

Catch Up Notes

2008-12-28T05:57:00.000-08:00

Not posted since December 13th! Smacked hands...Boo Hoo, must do better.

Thinking back the week started with a series of mishaps (like it does when you're already stressed) starting with BT; does anyone else have trouble with BT? I got yet another bill for BT Vision which I had returned after only one night's viewing. I thought it was total rubbish and vastly preferred my Sky+. Anyway they have been billing me since September and each month I have to ring and tell them to sort it out which is not easy when they are in India and I'm in the UK. Anyway I lost my rag and told the operator to sort it out himself as I was not being transferred yet again to another department and I was not paying any bills. Whether that has happened we'll see. Then the boiler pressure was showing zero and I didn't know how to alter it so that was another 15 minutes whilst I went through a, b, c, then 1, 2, 3 etc. only to find that I had to phone Baxi direct...and another a, b, c, then 1, 2, 3 blah, blah...and when someone answered it took him 2 seconds to tell me what to do. I had two waistcoats to make to send out for Wednesday but I don't know if they got there in time. Then the light bulbs started popping and I bought some spares and found they were bayonet and not screw-in and had to be taken back and exchanged...and all before Christmas!

However, Christmas was great, Ed came up on Xmas day and we had Xmas dinner, watched the Queen's speech, then I had a surprise as Ed started up Skype and connected with Stephanie and her family in Munich. We had a very enjoyable half hour with them then jumped into the car with dogs and went to the beach. I have never done that before and it was also Digger's first taste of beaches and sea water. It was lovely seeing them bound round the dunes and beach racing for the twigs Ed threw for them. We spent an hour there then came back and dossed in the living room and watched a DVD then some telly before going to bed.

Boxing Day was taken up with getting Ed up for his breakfast, sorting out my computer, having lunch from Xmas day left-overs and seeing him on his way home before he took off for Slovakia.

After that I could not get going again, so I decided to sit in the living room and watch one of the DVD's I had been given, so totally decadent.

The last few days I have been adding shelves to my lobby and bought a stack of drawers to house all my scrap booking papers and bits so I am now very tidy and have unearthed a set of course notes for a course I couldn't take part in before Christmas. I have worked through 3 lessons and just have the 4th to complete and that will add another skill to my CV...Ha, like I need one now! Anyway here are some pictures of the work so far.

I have also cut out two more waistcoats but don't have any calico to make the interlining so they will have to wait until tomorrow before I can buy some more and start sewing them up before Bert comes on Wednesday...well, back to stress and time management, why should 2009 be any different?

Almost Christmas

2008-12-13T04:44:00.000-08:00

Bert arrived as expected and as I had cancelled my Thursday market I was able to concentrate on enjoying his visit. Bert met Digger for the first time and Digger fell in LOVE...but Bert was not impressed, and hated being licked all the time and he soon got his marching orders.

We went shopping and lazed around watched TV. We went to the local Atlantic Village to get a suitcase for him and I found a wonderful outfit for my son's ball - quite by chance! On the Tuesday we took the dogs to the kennels for their mini holiday and drove up to Macclesfield leaving behind the sun and heading into terrible weather - torrential rain, sleet and snow - making it hard to see where the lines were on the roads. I dropped Bert off at his sister's house and drove on to my Mother's house where I delivered my Xmas presents and had a great two days with her. We shopped and ate out and did girly things. Then I drove back to sunny Devon for an overnight stop before travelling to Salisbury and Gareth's home. He met me outside the station and took me home and made me a sandwich to last me until we had our meal at the do. Maureen arrived later on with Michelle and Charmion and we caught up with the news whilst waiting for the minibus to arrive.

The ball was held in the barracks in a huge marquee with about 32 tables and a large dance floor. The meal was traditional Christmas and very tasty but towards the end the lack of heating made it very hard to sit still and everyone began shivering, so the tables were re-organised to warmer places. I left about 10 minutes to 12 with Fiona and dived under the dovet as soon as I could to warm up and sleep. Several hours later I was woken by the others banging on the front door to be let in - they had lost the door key!

The next day everywhere was covered in frost and the cars had to be de-iced before being used, then Gareth, Charmion and I headed into Salisbury for a trip round the shops and a visit to the cathedral. It had been updated with a spectacular water feature that entranced Gareth and he soon set a trend and had everyone taking pictures of reflections in the water.

The afternoon was taken up with a hospital visit for Fiona, who had landed there in the night with bad stomach ache, Gareth also drove me past Stonehenge and got a lovely picture of the evening sun behind the stones and then home for a chinese meal and Strictly Come Dancing on the TV.

I left on Sunday on the train and got home about 13:30, slowly put my things away and made a cup of tea and sat on the settee watching TV until I came round and was able to do a bit more.

Thursday brought a few more waistcoat orders and a heavy cold which I am now in the throes of shrugging off. I have reached the coughing stage but lemsip is doing it's upmost to combat the bug and I feel fine in myself. Tomorrow I'll start the waistcoats...promise!

How to slow down, that is the question!

2008-11-27T07:33:00.001-08:00

This week, Bert threw me a curve. He has to have chemotherapy and decided against tablets because they cause a lot of nasty side effects, and he opted for the drip - a one day course - but the date was bang in the middle of the week he was supposed to be in Devon. I was a bit (very) upset so he compromised and said he would come down this Friday and travel back with me when I visited my mother next Tuesday. That was OK with me until I realised what a lot of work I had to squeeze into 4 days less than I had before. I threw a wobbly, like you do, and ended up talking to my wonderful daughter who soon put me right. So I cancelled my Thursday at the market (I didn't want any orders anyway) and finished my project for her without the lessons I had booked (but I can now join in the class with no pressure to finish). I finished the project for Phil too, so today I am cleaning and clearing in readiness for Bert's arrival tomorrow. I can also relax and enjoy the weekend with him.

I was also going to make an outfit for a gala ball at my eldest sons' army camp next week, but I decided to see what was available in the shops - not an easy task when you are my size - and found something that fits and is almost to my ankles, but not to the floor as requested...hey..ho...I just hope they don't throw me out for the sake of 4 inches. I'll have to find some ballet shoes so it doesn't look so obvious.

I finished Fiona's ball gown for her birthday and made a stole to match, but she is not sure about the feathers, I only used a few so I'm hoping she'll relent and leave them attached. The silk is shot pink with yellow and looks lovely made up.

Well, I'm off to shop for the big man (or "slim jim" as he calls himself) and get ready to feed him up.

Harrassed!

2008-11-19T07:51:00.000-08:00

Such a lot to do, so little time, so many things dropping off the edge!

Last week I went to my first scrap booking evening at the local craft warehouse. I took all my stuff I collected from my holiday at the Isle of Wight and was given several sheets of paper to set out my first page. The paper reminded me of the trip to see Queen Victoria's house and the rich wallpapers in the rooms, so I used the pictures and brochure and a map of the island to make my display. Not bad for a first time, but I have the feeling that I will do better as I progress through my holiday and make other pages.

On the Saturday, I was back there for the full day, but only managed to make it to 1pm. My back was in two by then and I had to bring my last project back and do it at home. We were given 3 packs at the start and instructions on how to make up the projects; No.1 was a sketch book which had to be painted round the edge, papered and embellished. Then we punched holes into the pages for adding between the covers and added the ring closures and ribbon ties.

The second project was little folded card holders, such as we can buy for vouchers or gift tokens - dead easy and I made two, but having no velcro sticky dots I had to scour Barnstaple to find some to finish them off.

The third project was a photo frame, which I really wanted to do, but had to bring home with me. It was two pieces of board that were covered with good quality paper, one having an appature cut out of the middle and some acetate glued to the back of it. The cut out was used to make the stand for the back and we added two magnets between the covers so that when you put your photo between them, the magnets held everything together.

That just about finished me off strengthwise, so I spent the rest of the weekend recovering. During the week I made up my waistcoats for the market on Thursday and spent a very cold day sitting huddled over my crossword puzzles. I picked up 3 more orders so all was not lost, one being for a woman (why don't they listen?) who wanted the front to match one style but be like the other!!! Well, my designer head came up with the idea of a curved edge that should do what she wants (hopefully).

This weekend my dungeon, where I work, really did my head in, so I got going on stripping everything out, throwing away stuff I'm sure no-one wants, and hitting myself on the head with some metal bars. I now have a lovely bruise that makes it awkward to sleep at night. I rearranged everything and now have a clear cutting table to set out my fabrics on. I hoovered up all the spiders webs and spiders who got in the way and the rubbish from the floor, so it feels a lot better to work in. However, during this mega clean, the phone went - twice - but by the time I got there it went off - always the way, isn't it. Eventually I answered it and a lady asked me if I was alright - "yes, fine" I said, "well" she said "you should be here at Step2Step, you booked a book cover course today". My anguish was forcibly yelled. I had completely forgotton this course and apart from the embarrasment of not turning up, I really needed it to complete some projects. Woe is me!

Yesterday, I went to flush the loo and found there was no water, so I got onto the Waterboard, who said I should have received a letter to say they were cutting off the water between 1 and 5pm. I hadn't received any such letter, and when I asked my neighbours, neither had they, so someone's telling fibs, and my loo is decidedly unwell and making some very funny noises.

Today, Wednesday, I bought some print cartridges at the local Tesco's and the assistant took them away to have the tags taken off but when I got home they were nowhere to be found. So back I went with my receipt and complained to the Customer Services desk and after much trolling around they found an assistant who had retagged them and put them back on the shelf! Marvellous. AND tomorrow is back at the market, being frozen and wondering if I'll sell any waistcoats. I'm not a happy teddy this week.

A new addition to the family

2008-11-07T06:08:00.000-08:00

Well, welcome to tiny Nancy who arrived like a rocket on the evening of bonfire night, November 5th, an easy date to remember.

Isn't she a little sparkler?

Also on Wednesday I went to the card making group at our local card factory and learned how to wet emboss a mandala and made a Christmas dangle. I'm there again tonight and most of tomorrow to try out the Scrap booking workshops.

Also this week, I attended the local market and got orders for 4 more waistcoats which will keep me busy for the next week. My altered journal course was delayed for two weeks, so I'll have to steam ahead with that one to get my projects finished in time to post abroad. Something I could have done without as I have to learn techniques before I can make a good impression on my project. Still, as my mother said, "you don't like things easy", I just wish they were sometimes, when I'm pushed for time. How did I ever have time to go to work?

Digger has picked up an infection or caught a cold. He has a smelly running nose and needed a course of antibiotics to finish him off, I mean make him better.

I have started my project for Phil and Wendy which I hope works out or else it's down to Mothercare and a safe present for them.

Well onwards and upwards, as they say in the best circles.

A good day today

2008-11-03T08:07:00.000-08:00

I have been making crow dolls today for my youngest (at the moment) granddaughter, Edith. I started out on Sunday with no idea of how to put them together but following instructions (always hard for me) soon made it easy to get to grips with.

They are a bit punk rocker but cheeky with it.

Here are some pictures of Gareth getting to know Digger for the first time, in spite of posessiveness from Peggy, bless her.

Update on Bert

Last Tuesday I got a call from Bert to say

that the surgeon was letting him go home that afternoon. I felt sucker-punched, in a

nice way and it took all day to recover - silly me! In the evening Gareth phoned in reply to my message update and let

me know that he was not going to Iraq - second great info of the day, but I never did get the third...I wonder why?

It took a lot out of Bert to get to his sister's house and he was glad to get back to bed, I know the feeling well. During the past week he has been taking short walks, going a bit farther each time and visiting his other relatives. He seems to be improving slowly (what can you expect at his age?) but he had the last drain

out before he left and it is taking time to heal and causing a lot of pain. I'm hoping this means he is healing and not storing up infection but we just have to wait and see.

I just got a call this afternoon from a course in South Moulton (about 5 miles away) to say they had a cancellation on a book binding course and would I like to join them? Would I ever!!!! So that's 15th Nov taken up, and it seems all the good courses are starting this month. I've bought Maggie Grey's latest book which had free lessons with it and joined her group called "catalogue killers"! Basically we were asked to put a catalogue out into the weather for 3 months after scoring it with a craft knife, we are all wondering what we will be doing with it, but so far there are no hints from Maggie. She is teaching us other wonderful stuff which will go a long way to making lovely Christmas presents. Several ideas I had have gelled into one big one and I just hope I have the ability to pull it off and will post some piccies if it does. However, if it doesn't a piccy of the dustbin will be substituted.

Hind sight..

2008-10-26T07:51:00.000-07:00

With hindsight, last week was good. I didn't think so as the days went by, but looking back I think we are over the bad times again.

Bert's colostomy bag began to work on the Monday, and one of his drains came out on the Tuesday. He was given some soup on the Wednesday for the first time and said it was awful! I think his taste buds need educating again - maybe? His catheta is out now and all he has left is one drain which we are hoping will come out this next week. He is able to move about without pushing a trolley load of tubes and bags etc. and is complaining that the ward is cold and giving the nurses a hard time. He had one day when he was really down - maybe Wednesday - and wondered if he was going to make it when he saw others coming and going and he was still left there. He seems to be over that now.

I went to the market on Thursday and got 3 orders, two from women, who would not believe me when I said "I don't do women". Still, if they want to take the chance who am I to refuse? The third waistcoat was for a farmer from Gloucester who wanted several waistcoats and would order against the first if it went OK - the type of order I like to get. I spent today, Sunday, cutting out for him and one of the other ladies. Funnily enough I had already cut a small size in the fabric she chose so it was just a matter of adding the bits and pieces that no-one sees.

Last week, I also finished my daughter's present, not sure if she should have it for her birthday on 15th December or for Christmas; I'll have to ask her. I had to sign up for another course to finish it off because I wanted to do something special but, don't you know, didn't have the expertise to get it right! I now have my kitchen table back ready for the next present; for my middle son, Philip and family.

My eldest son, Gareth, called and I showed him all the jobs that I need doing, so I don't think I'll see him again any time soon! He is back from a tour in Canada and has transferred to a base about 2 miles from where he now lives. He says the work is horrendous, 18 hour shifts and little time to sleep, mainly because there are very few workmen left in England to support the troups here as most of them are posted abroad. I do wonder who makes these decisions because they take no account of personnel, just numbers on boards I imagine.

My dogs are doing well, and Digger has acquired a waist, bless him, he is so active he burns off the calaries trying to keep up with Peggy. He is doing well at social club but still nervous of larger dogs and tends to let them know he's not to be messed with. We are told this is normal behaviour and not to worry, he'll integrate when he's ready. Peggy just goes off and does her own thing; she comes when called and is quite a responsible adult now. Digger sometimes finds it difficult to come through the dog flap in the kitchen door and she is always there to show him the way, he just has to winge a bit and she picks it up wherever she is and shows him what to do. They are playing tug of war at the moment and are evenly weighted so it's anyone's guess who will win. Usually they agree to a draw, which is nice.

Tomorrow is work day and back to making waistcoats. I did sign up for a small course on making silk fusion, but I've been so agitated that I've had to ask for a pass. I have the course notes and will get to work when I find some me-time. My book binding course starts on Nov 8th and I'm signed up for card making next Wednesday and scrap booking on Friday evening and all day Saturday. It will be the first time with the scrap booking and I'm looking forward to seeing what we make and how to incorporate it into what I like to do. I also have a course starting on 1st November that came free with Maggie Grey's new book and my first task is to find a catalogue and score cuts into it and put it outside to weather for 3 months! This should be very interesting as I have no idea what we'll be making from the result.

This is getting a long blog and no pictures so I'd better sign off.

Catch up and holiday

2008-10-17T04:38:00.001-07:00

Isn't the weather great at the moment? Well, it is in Devon, so there!

A little update re Bert, he had his first operation a week ago and came through it nicely, however, the surgeon was not happy with him as something wasn't working (not sure what) so he was rushed into theatre for another op. Wednesday night and we are waiting to hear if that one has put things right. He'll be in hospital for another two weeks at least, then recooperating at his sister's house.

In the meantime, I got the dogs off to kennels for their stay and myself packed and ready for my holiday on the Isle of Wight. Disaster one was me trying to be efficient. I wanted to check if a spare camera disc had any photos on it that needed uploading and erasing but I put the disc into the camera sideways (not thinking straight) and damaged the connecting pins. I rushed down to Jessops and was told it would cost £150 to repair and take a week but as I was leaving in two days that was not acceptable. So I bit the bullet and bought a new camera, discs, and charger for my holiday.

As is predictable disaster 2 happened on the Sunday, the taxi was late because the driver was new and went to the wrong address. We then did a wheely down the roads to the coach and got there just in time - quite a start to a relaxing(!) holiday. We drove up to Taunton to pick up other passengers via several villages, twice round Wellington's column and then down to Worcester for a break and shopping in the outlet. The afternoon saw us arrive in Portsmouth for the ferry ride over the water - picture of the Spinaker Tower left.

I was so disappointed in the shortness of the trip across, barely half an hour and only time for one glass of wine before we headed back to the coach and I could still see the Spinaker Tower when we landed.

The Isle of Wight impressed me with its cleanliness and upkeep. There were no hovels or homeless dotted around, and money spoke everywhere. Surprisingly when we checked out the cost of housing, they were similar to Devon with just a few millions-costed houses available.

I won't bore you by taking you through all the tourist spots we went to over the next few days but there were a few that stood out for me. The best was Osbourne House, once owned by Queen Victoria and designed by Prince Albert. King Edward VII didn't want it so he gave it to the National Trust and as we were not allowed to use any technology whilst touring the house I could not take any photos, but outside was different and I managed to get some pictures to show the extent of the building and the photos show just one wing. The one room that stood out for me was the last we went through; a large room designed and built by an Indian Raja as a present for Queen Victoria. It was covered in ivory fretwork - the ceiling, walls and screens. All were carved beautifully and set against ruby red furnishings and mahogany stays. One can wonder how many elephants lost their tusks to furnish this room and that saddened me. Another thing I found out is that Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip are both decended from Queen Victoria and are cousins a couple of times removed.

Tomorrow I'll put some more photos up.

Happy Birthday to Me...

2008-10-01T02:45:00.000-07:00

Events have a way of dictating your week, have you noticed? Last Thursday I learned that my partner Bert had colon cancer and that sent me a bit doo-laly and I could not think straight for a few days. It wasn't until Sunday I could actually talk about it to anyone else and decided the family should know and be warned of the consequences. I usually phone my mother on Sundays so she was the first to know and then Ed arrived in the afternoon for my birthday on the Monday - he had taken the day off, bless him and he took me out for a meal. During Monday a lot happened and I got calls from Stephanie, Phil and Fiona so they all know now.

Ed linked up my new BT hub to my PC and got it working - a doddle for him! Then we tackled the BTVision; we had to dismantle the Sky+ box and set up an ethernet link to the BT box, then it had to search for the channels etc. All quite technical.

So it was about 2pm before we got to go out and find Appledore which is supposed to be a craft community and shopping centre. We had a basic map (boy, was it basic) that sent us round in a loop, adding miles to the journey. We had to reverse our road a couple of times as the signposts were in funny places but we did get there! We had lunch at a little pub close by and visited the craft shop. I asked at the shop whether they did workshops or courses but there was nothing in that line, they were just a shop, so I bought a lovely ceramic pull for the bathroom light and a tudor rose tile that I could use as a stamp; I rummaged through a book fair in a garage for 3 very old books I could use for collaging and then we came home. I saw Ed off at about 4pm and settled down to watch the new BTVision.

What a con that was! All the channels I usually watch were gone, the menus were ponderous, not having a back button, so once you got to the end of the limited menu tree you had to go out and come back in again. There were none of the films, HD channnels, or extended viewing that you get with Sky and I could have got the same viewing if I had bought a Freeview box from Tesco for £30 and no £20 per month subscription. The remote volume buttons did not work and when I rang the technical support they said I had to call another number and get some codes to get it working. The only thing I could see that was an advantage over Freeview was the ability to record the programmes and link the series. After an hour I gave up and watched one of my own DVDs.

The next day I dismantled the BTVision, re-installed my Sky+ box and rang BT to cancel. I was so glad to get back to Sky+ and will never complain about the cost again.

So my birthday was successful on the whole and I really enjoyed the day. Today, Wednesday, I have my craft club at lunchtime when I'm supposed to be making a decoupage card (see next blog) and I have cancelled my Thursday market day - I just can't concentrate on that at the moment but funnily enough, I got a call from a previous customer and another order. I explained I will be away for a week and will get to it when I come back, so that will keep me going. Fiona's ball gown is nearly finished, just some tarting up and hems to do, and I must get to do some ironing or I'll have nothing to wear next week.

Proud Mum

2008-09-26T08:35:00.001-07:00

Digger made me proud on Monday. I took both Digger and Peggy to the social club in the morning with my dog walker. Digger was a little nervous at first but as he was on a very long lead we were able to control where he went. He made friends with a couple of other Jack Russells and was soon having fun. After half an hour we let him off the lead and he continued to play and keep close - not like Peggy who legged it over to the estuary with a friend - and he ventured farther afield as his confidence grew. The club lady was impressed and only had to comment once about me petting him whilst he was barking at a dog who was too close; she said I had to walk away from him and give him room and I found he accepted that.

Wednesday the two dogs had a sleep-over at the kennels in preparation for my holiday and again they were as good as gold, so no worries about going away. Thursday I went to Exeter with Maureen to visit the Craft show. Maureen had organised seats on a local coach run by the Ilfracome WI which was quite handy and the only rub was that it was a long day, getting back about 17:00 and boy, was I tired! Although I didn't get what I went for, I managed to find some very interesting bits and pieces and several books (I can hear my offspring start to twitter in the background about my every growing library) that will prove useful.

Today has been quiet so I managed to get a haircut in and do the usual trip with the dogs.

Not much to talk about today because I can't show what I'm doing on the net, people who will benefit are watching!

Not long now...

2008-09-20T05:47:00.000-07:00

...Not long to my holiday, that is. I bought a pair of walking shoes today so I could keep up with Maureen (captive playmate) when she hikes round the Isle of Wight. Last Thursday saw me at the market again where I sold my long waistcoat - would you believe it, he wanted pockets too but my crystal ball was at the cleaners! The drawing he had given me did not have pockets but as I pointed out I can put them on the next one (ploy to get more business) then I can have the black one back and add them then - Whew!!!

Today I went to a craft demo at Atlantic Village where I expected too much. I had thought it would be more organised but there was this poor lady on a little piece of the counter trying to demonstrate different ways of making cards. Well, as you now know, I don't do cards, I scrap so I soon lost interest; plus there was mention of a goody bag, but not sign of that either! However, the trip there and back was delightful, the sun shone and the birds sang and the traffic was minimal - wonderful. I finished off with a MacDonalds chicken deli in the garden and a cup of tea.

I have so many ideas buzzing round my brain at the moment that I shall be glad to get started and have printed off pictures of the ideas and articles in case I forget anything.

Next week is going to be busy with taking both dogs to social club on Monday plus the arrival of my BT vision box and the home hub has already arrived (Ed to the rescue here). Wednesday the dogs to the kennels for a night-over and I have to rush there for them on the Thursday morning to get back in time for a trip by coach to West Point Craft fair with Maureen. On Friday I get my hair cut at last, Jodie has been on holiday for two weeks just when I wanted her expertise so I had to hack my fringe myself and she'll be most annoyed with me. Then it will be the weekend of my birthday and Ed is coming on Sunday evening and to spend most of Monday with me - bless him.

I doubt I'll see Bert as he is still quite poorly and having lots of tests at the local hospital although we think he might have Crohn's disease and once diagnosed this can be treated with drugs and diet. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for another week just in case.

My daughter, Stephanie, has just started blogging here http://shellabear.blogspot.com/ and we can keep up to date with her doings on a more regular basis.

Amazing!

2008-09-13T06:05:00.001-07:00

I had to put this picture up because I needed to record what a lovely day it was on Wednesday! Also when I look back during the winter and wonder where the summer went, I'll be able to pinpoint a week of it at least. The weather has held for 4 days now and the dogs have been able to go outside to play.

I have been busy this week, with waiting for a man to come and fix my back door because it had listed a bit and was catching at the top. I dashed out to the library and waited all day, but no man; then the next day he phoned about 10:45 and asked if he could come as the people he was supposed to see were not in. Of course I had an appointment that day, but we managed to fit the job in and he also sorted out the front door too, where that had slipped and put a beading round the edge to seal it off.

Wednesday I had an appointment with the vet to get Peggy's last postop checkup and her booster and kennel cough vaccines. Digger had to have his kennel cough too which meant he had to have a muzzle on. I'm not too sure what he might do to the poor vet if he had his teeth free. Kennel cough vaccine is squirted up their noses and not at all pleasant so they get really difficult to keep still whilst it is being done - I almost had to scrape Peggy off the wall when she saw it coming, and I was warned it would only get worse.

Here's a picture of Peggy and Digger using an old cardigan of mine as a tug-of-war rope after demolishing Peggy's sleeping basket. They can get quite rough whilst playing and Digger will insist on diving under my skirt when he's had enough and this makes it very difficult to keep my balance. He is quite proud of his new name tag which arrived this week, as finally he and we have become a family.

Thursday I went to the market and collected a jacket for alteration (I hate these) and an order for a long waistcoat. I had made a mockup for trying on before cutting into the fashion fabric and it fitted OK, so we'll go ahead this week and make it up properly.

Friday was a day of rest (after I had hoovered throughout the house) when I reclined on the settee with a dog at either end and read a book and watched Die Hart 4 and the Bank Heist with Jason Statham. I've not done that for a long time and really enjoyed myself.

Today I am preparing for another Christmas present, collecting paints and papers and sealing pages ready for working on. Again, I have lofty ideas but whether I can transfer these into a visual form is anyone's guess, but I'll have fun trying. I had a try at making Christmas cards and found it is not as easy as it looks. Anyone can stick bits and pieces onto card, but to get the colour and placement right is not easy and sometimes they can look quite dull and cheap. Well, back to the drawing board, and I'll leave cards to those who can and stick to my scrapping.

All sorts happening

2008-09-04T03:12:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I was able to blog and I'm getting withdrawal symptoms. Over the past two weeks I have been able to finish Mum's journal for Christmas and start another one. Digger (Digby) has settled in and been registered with the vet etc. so he is here to stay. Peggy had her operation on Monday and I had to sit with her for 3 days because she has to have a very large cone around her head, bless her. Apparently she has a very long nose for such a small dog - and I though it was her ears that attracted all the attention! This makes it impossible for her to see steps so she cannot get up the garden without help and forget about the dog flap - she is going nowhere through that.

Digger has been marvellous with her except when she arrived home with the cone, he objected quite strongly to it and to the smell of the hospital but that wore off after a day or two and now they are best of friends (!) at the moment. Also something is going through her like a dose of salts and she gets quite distressed during the night and my rugs in the kitchen have had quite a washing cycle. Peggy goes for a checkup this afternoon, and I'll get something to settle her stomach then.

Bert was rushed into hospital last Thursday with a blood problem, but came out during the weekend. He is still having exploratory and blood tests to find out what the problem is, so I don't think I'll see him any time soon, although he is phoning twice a day to let me know how he is progressing. He sounds a little better but also depressed because he is having to sit and be quiet, not a happy teddy.

Yesterday I attended a small workshop at a card factory nearby, with 11 other ladies, and we had a great time making an exploding box. This is my first workshop which takes place on the first Wednesday of each month and we make different things each time. Next month it will be a decoupage card (I think). However, I brought some papers home to make another with a more streamlined box. I did ask how to send these boxes through the post and was told "expensively!" - definitely a giving present rather than a sending one.

Cheeky Monkey

2008-08-23T04:55:00.000-07:00

We have all settled down now and I was able to go to the market on Thursday where I picked up 3 orders for waistcoats and 1 for a customised ring pillow. I had asked Kim next door to listen out for any fights or problems, but she said everything was quiet all day, so they must have slept until I came back.

Digger has become quite cheeky in that he will pick up one of Peggy's toys and wave it in front of her nose, then race under my skirt where he thinks he will be safe...not the brightest spark in the pack. Other times he will headbut her then race into the garden with her at his heels where they mock fight and charge round at the rate of knots before coming back to their baskets for a snooze. I tried to get him to sleep with Peggy in the kitchen at night but it is too early yet and I had to relent and let him back into the living room. I was also advised not to send him to social club but to let him have space for a couple of months. He is quite docile when out on walks round the estate, but I have no idea what he would be like in company with a lot of other dogs, so we'll take that slowly. Apart from that, the dog therapist says I am doing everything right and he should be OK. They are outside at the moment, playing with some poor bug that attracted Peggy's attention.

A night's sleep...

2008-08-19T07:08:00.000-07:00

The plan went well last night, and I got the first good night's sleep since I left home for Cheshire. There is nothing like your own bed as many people know, and my back makes it difficult to sleep elsewhere. Digby slept in the living room on the settee after I had put a child gate across the bedroom door. He could see me but his bed was on the other side and once he realised I was not going to let him in, he went downstairs and onto the settee. He barked for a while so I went down to him and shouted at him and from then on, he was as quiet as a baby.

Today he has been a really happy dog, playing with Peggy and having little sleeps, and seems to be settling in comfortably. I was able to take my car in for its MOT which, unfortunately, it failed and now I have to sort it out. Mother rang to tell me her cat Silvester had a tumour and had to be put to sleep. I was worried about her being alone and encouraged her to think of giving a home to a rescue cat. She was concerned that if she got a young cat it would have to be rehomed if she died, but as I pointed out, she doesn't have to get a kitten and there must be other cats that need rehoming because their owner has died. She'll think about it.

My third worry is Bert who has had several mini strokes and is well under the weather. He gets his scan results tomorrow and I'm hoping there is something the doctor can do for him. Again, unfortunately he has a low tolerance for the drugs they give him and stops taking them before they have chance to have any effect.

I paid for my holiday today, a week on the Isle of Wight in October with Gareth's mother-in-law, Maureen, so it isn't all bad news and hopefully will get better.

A little darling, a little horror

2008-08-18T07:02:00.000-07:00

Digby is a little darling - most of the time. During the day he will play with Peggy, have sleeps in his basket and sit beside me on the settee. However, night-time is a different matter...he is very nervous of noises, especially next door, and barks consistantly for hours. This is not acceptable to my neighbours who have to get up at 05:30 to go to work and I have to find a way to stop him. I called the rehoming centre for help and now have a plan. We'll see if tonight proves to be different because on the whole he is fitting into the family very well.

Peggy went to her social club this morning and Digby missed her quite badly. He searched all round the house then sat in his basket until she came home an hour later. I've arranged for him to join the social club and take turns at going every fortnight with Peggy going the alternate weeks. I think this will help him adjust to playing with other dogs, because it certainly did Peggy good - she is a different dog since she started going there.

At the moment he is trying to drag his large basket into the middle of the kitchen and has scattered all the contents in his wake - not sure why he is doing this, but no doubt he knows what he is doing. He goes on his own into the garden frequently and has learned to get in and out of the dogflap so he is all set for the winter.

I was able to do some more journalling for my mother today and achieved a surprise for her. A doorway that opens and shows her wedding photo (one of those I pinched during my visit). I also finished that set of pages and only have one signature left to complete. I just hope she likes it and takes it lightheartedly as is meant. The words conveyed are Caring and Nurturing. The middle page is Impatient, but I showed that picture earlier on - I think?

An additon to the family

2008-08-16T08:02:00.000-07:00

What a week I have had! I made some more pages for my mother's journal before leaving for Cheshire, about 300 miles north of Devon. I started out at 06:15 and arrived at 11:00 after a reasonable run up the M5 and onto the M6 - that was a bit hairy and needed a lot of concentration. That afternoon I chatted to my mother, got settled in and sifted through all her old photos. It seems every time I go through them I see different things about my past life and jogs to my memory. I managed to sort out a pile of wonderful photos for my mother's journal and gathered lots of ideas for presenting them. Wednesday was doing the list of jobs she had accumulated, with shopping for large items and two copies of the Argos catalogue which weighed me down plus shopping from M&S etc. Then the afternoon was taken up with my daughter Stephanie and her daughter as they had flown over from Munich to Stephanie's father for a short visit. The evening was taken up with a trip to the local pub with Bert where I enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine and a meal. It's the only time I get to be chauffered by him so I enjoy every minute of being looked after.

It was also on this day that I learned that the lady who lives 2 doors away had died and left a tiny dog stranded for 3 days beside her body. Such a sad tale and I went next door to offer a home if needed. The lady's daughter asked me to phone her and we discussed Digby's needs and I went to see her on the Thursday afternoon. Digby was delightful and full of fun and it was agreed that I take him to Devon with me the next day and see if he would gell with my other Jack Russell, Peggy. I had been looking for a companion for her for some time and this seemed a golden opportunity.

On Thursday Mum and I went to the NEC at Birmingham to see the Festival of Quilts. The displays were breathtaking and my favourite suppliers were tucked at the back so I could browse to my heart's content. However, the journey back was tiring, with several hour-long delays at J14-16 and Arclid crossroads, then when we set off for Hazel Grove there were road works along the way. Stephanie came over again that evening to chat and tell us about her own experiences before I went to my bed well tired.

On Friday I was up early, packed and boarded ready for the arrival of Digby and his 'life in a suitcase'. It was a sad and emotional farewell before I set off down to the M6 motorway and home. Digby was a total pet, he slept in his basket all the way, and we stopped for a little comfort break halfway down the M5 and he never moved much at all. There was a short delay at Birmingham but the M5 was mostly clear so I was able to make a much shorter journey than I had thought. I parked up at home and showed Digby round his new home and left him in the garden whilst I went for Peggy. I brought her through the house and into the garden so they could meet with plenty of room for sorting themselves out. The meeting went better than I had hoped, a lot of squaring off, then nose to tailling, then Peggy showed Digby round (at a gallop). We went for a walk with the double harness but as Peggy's gait is a lot faster than Digby's he was galloped round without chance of a wee or sniff at anything.

The evening was a jockeying for position at my side and I managed to get them both settled, but when I wanted to get to bed, it became a little fraught. I had been advised to put one of them into my cage in case they fought during the night, so first I tried Digby in it, but he was not used to one and kept barking, then I tried Peggy, but he still kept barking. So in the end I shut Peggy in the kitchen and let Digby sleep by my side on the bed - just this once! Even so, he heard next door's occupants going to bed and getting up and kept letting me know with soft waffles, so sleep was a long time coming.

Today was much better, they are still squaring off every now and then, but each dog is equal and not backing down so they would tussle and then have a breather then rush around the garden together. The territory is subtly being divided and each dog establishing their own routine without any acrimony. I have high hopes that they will gell in the next few days.

Amongst all this I managed to pick up my book prize, and what a prize! and do some shopping for food for the dogs and myself. I took the dogs for a walk this afternoon on separate leads and it proved to be much better. Peggy went on the expander lead and at her usual pace, and Digby was on his own lead and trotting beside me. He managed to get in a lot more sniffs and wees as we went round the estate. He was also good at picking up the commands I use with Peggy and followed her lead as to what to do.

He has proved to be very affectionate and friendly and even picked out a toy to play with this afternoon and to take trips into the garden on his own. Next he has to learn how to use the dog flap after I have made a step outside the back door for his little legs.

More course work...and fun

2008-08-08T02:08:00.000-07:00

I have almost caught up with my wii fit scores, but not quite. However I did decide to have a go at the step aerobics, a really fun exercise except I got it massively wrong the first time. Well, you would if you were a beginner! It was OK to go up, up, down, down but when they went side to side I lost the plot and my score was a miserable 83. But I persevered and the second time I got a score of 189. This morning I tried again and took that up to 230 and unlocked a Step Plus and I just had to have a go. Again up, down - no problem, side to side = OK but then they went one further - swing your leg but do not step - Huh! then again turn sideways and step onto the board and even further still - go faster!!! I think I'll give that one a miss until I master the Step Basics.

I got good marks for my latest course work. I decided to change HESITANT to LEARN because I thought it married with STRUCTURE. As I explained to Sue, I love to learn something new every day but I tend to jump in at the deep end and forget you need to know the basic structure of any technique before you can meet your aspirations - and I find my skills don't meet my aspirations frequently.

For the LEARN I created a stencil of a tree with lots of leaves and marked each leaf with a source of learning i.e. libraries, mistakes, history etc. and put it on a colourful background that I had made.

For the STRUCTURE I drew a market square with streets leading off, the streets had names like Structure Street, Routine Lane, Guideline Grove with houses in a formation to suggest strength and stability. They lead to Creativity Park where imagination could soar and where I'd like to be all the time but I have to go through the other lanes first.

Our course work was mainly about stamps and stencils that we could make ourselves so I put together some pictures of the stamps I made from carved blocks, children's fun foam and string etc.

The blue painting is showing a carved leaf stamp using gold lumiere paint and seemed to get the most mention from my fellow students. I haven't completed all the work yet and still have to get out my glue gun and heat gun to finish but some of my supplies have not yet arrived and are holding me up. Still plenty of time yet for the postman to arrive.

holidays are hard work

2008-08-05T02:25:00.000-07:00

Last week was not what I had in mind. I took Peggy to the vets and found she was having a phantom pregnancy which meant no toys, and a change of environment to snap her out of it. Fortunately I was going on holiday and she was booked into Kennels, so this was ideal.

Bert arrived on the Friday and Saturday was booked out to a wedding. My son's wife's sister was getting married to the plumber who had updated all the plumbing in my house, and we had been invited, which was nice. However, Granny died at the weekend before and the funeral was on the Thursday before the wedding which meant everyone was not quite their best. The wedding went off amazingly well with the groom getting his name wrong and causing laughter in the aisles. Sunday was a day of rest before heading off to Plymouth for a week's holiday.

Unfortunately, Bert was ill and the weather was bad, rain..rain..rain and the bed in the hotel was uncomfortable. We walked miles to find a place to rest, Ed did his best to make the week more pleasurable, and I went fish hunting for something to do. It was very interesting to find that Plymouth has fish as a symbol and you can find them in all sorts of forms throughout Plymouth; from fish mobiles in the Drake Circus to tiny silver fish buried in the walkway up to the Aquarium. I will be making an art journal with all the pictures I have taken soon, when I have recovered from the holiday (!)

This week Sue has set us some more word challenges and we get to play with stamps and paint, mostly stamps made by hand with found objects like rubber bands. We have to take two more of our words and make journal pages, then a page on a specific list (10 words describing a perfect day, a good marriage, a happy childhood). I have chosen Structure and Hesitant and have ideas for the Structure page - I'll post it as soon as I work my way through the course work of lesson 9/10.

My physio is not best pleased with my progress, and had advised me not to go to the market for the next two weeks, but to concentrate on my exercises. It was odd how a week away from the wii fit had made me slip back, not by much but enough to make a difference to my scores. After a week on an uncomfortable bed with little sleep, I ached all over and found it hard to get going again. Maybe a little gardening will help, my passion flower has taken over the trellis and is now marching down the garden and weeds have attached themselves between the gravel and slate (I don't know how they do that) and need pulling up.

On a more positive note, I also had two lovely surprises - one was winning two packets of mistyfuse for the work I am doing for my course - the other was winning a book of choice for my blue mirror work for the Fibre and Stitch ezine. I chose an art journalling book recommended by Sue and am eagerly awaiting its arrival.