Blankety Goodness

I feel like I've been in hibernation recently with not a whole lot of anything going on other than curling up by the fire and dreaming of spring. Well, the days are lengthening and slowly, slowly the weather is improving so I intend to dig out the video camera and start recording some arty stuff again. 

In the meantime though, here's what's been occupying me over winter. The blanket above was made for my daughter as a Christmas gift; lots of greys and cream with just a pop or three of neon pink. The blanket below is a present to myself, the idea being to make something bright and cheerful for my bedroom. Well it certainly is, and I love seeing it whenever I go in there! If you'd like to make something similar, I got the idea, and the colour selection, from Lucy's Blog. And I love the little edging she dreamed up for it too!

Organise This

In another of those pieces of synchronicity which sometimes happen I've been encountering all sorts of things to do with personal organisers lately and I finally went, 'ok, I get it'. I need to work on changing some stuff in my life and (the horror!) getting better organised is part of the process. 

So here's my plan: I am old school, in that I'd rather use paper and pen to keep track of things than an electronic gadget, so I found this luvverley Filofax A5 Domino in a sale and snapped it up!

This is it when I unpacked it. Nice, huh? But I wanted to make it less 'officey' and more arty so I set about tricking it out with customised bits and bobs.

The landing page had to be something which would make me want to use the planner, in fact that is the whole ethos behind what I'm doing here. If I make it a happy, fun place to keep everything in then I will be much more likely to work in it. So, the page is a gelli print I cut to fit and then decorated with washi tape, paper flowers and little letter charms.

In the front I have a few business cards, paper clips, shopping lists and a variety of notelets and stickers to decorate my diary pages like so:

This week, being Valentine's, is all about lurve. It was pure fun using stamps, tape and stickers on these pages and just playing.

In my next post I'll share some more of this work in progress, and whether it's bringing any order to the chaos, so stay tuned!

Back To Nature

It looks as though we are finally having a bit of proper summer weather here this weekend and I have all the windows open to let the scent of roses into the house. Someone asked me the other day where I get the ideas for some of the more abstract work I do and the answer has to be, more often than not, nature. In my garden, on walks I take with Sam, I can't help but be fascinated by the songs of the birds, the way grasses move in the breeze, the colours and textures of leaves, trees and the landscape in general.

All this feeds into what I make and makes life so much more enjoyable too. When did you last spend time at rest in your garden or the local park? Do it today if you can, even if only for fifteen minutes or so. Just sit in a chair, lie on the grass, or shelter under a tree if it's raining, and pay attention to the sights, sounds and scents around you. I promise you'll feel all the better for it!

Coming Up Roses

We are having a very patchy summer so far with more cold winds and dreary days than sunny ones. But despite that my beautiful Abraham Derby rose is in bloom and looking perfect with its huge pink and apricot flowers and fresh tea rose fragrance. I have a pot of pelargonium Apple Blossom nestled next to it which is the perfect complement with its pale pink and white flower heads. Lovely!

You Know What This Means!

So, here is my new video camera, just out of the box and charging up. I am very excited because I've never had a camcorder before and now that I have I can make arty crafty videos! And I got a sweet deal on it at Tesco. Coolness! 

Playing House

Since my last blog post I have become a grandmother. Little Eben couldn't wait to meet the world and was born a month early. He is a beautiful, healthy boy and I feel blessed to know him. 

One of the things which this whole experience has brought to the fore is how much has changed in the baby world in the last 30-odd years since my daughter was born, by which I mean everything from attitudes to home birth, advice on pregnancy and beyond, and the range of 'stuff' available to care for mum and baby. To me, 36 years seems quite a short time, but I feel like a stranger in a strange land when I watch how my daughter equips and acquits herself when looking after his needs, and I marvel at it a little.

Of course, much is still the same as well, the basics never change and the most important things: security, warmth, food and shelter, remain. And, of course, love. A loving family and a happy home are surely what we all wish for our children, and their children too.

The pictures above are a couple of the happy houses I made as new year's gifts this year.

Last of the Summer Wine

Autumn has arrived. Time to say goodbye to lengthy, warm days and the sun waking me too early in the morning. I gather what will probably be pretty much the last of the sweet peas as the winds begin to whip through the garden and whistle in the chimney. I have had the First Fire ritual - the lighting of my wood burning stove for the first time in nearly five months - and basked in its warmth. The flowers fill the room with a heady, summery scent; I chose particularly fragrant varieties to grow this year and will sow more soon in anticipation of starting the cycle again.

It's also new shoes season. Another pair of my favourites, would you believe those are the same shoes and were once the same colour? They have served me faithfully for two years of twice-daily, lengthy dog walks through mud, grass, gravel tracks, ice, snow, rain and sun and I have finally worn through the soles. So, into retirement they go. Or at least semi-retirement: they're so very comfortable and soft I doubt I'll be able to let them go completely! Some goodbyes are best delayed.

In The Backyard

My garden is looking quite lush now (thanks to my daughter's hard work clearing up) so I've been spending some time repotting plants and sowing seed for dwarf French beans and foxgloves. This corner is mainly herbs and bee fodder: lavender, sweet peas, apple mint, rosemary, violas, oregano and buddleia, with climbing rose Spirit of Freedom and a particularly graceful little clump forming bamboo at the back.

At the other side is the glorious Ispahan scrambling over my new garden arch. I love to go out there on a still afternoon, stand underneath it and be enveloped in its swoon-worthy scent. It is an old damask and so non-repeating but the few weeks of spectacular flowering are well worth the anticipation! Filling in the background are a Boston ivy and the instant sunshine of yellow leaved jasmine which needs a good summer to flower here but is also quite intoxicating when it does. As you may have guessed by now, scent in the garden is vital and I try to have as much of it going on as possible!

Grow

So here we are: the first rose of summer. This is Ispahan, an old Persian damask which is always the first to bloom in my garden. Every year it astonishes me with its beauty and overwhelming perfume and really kick-starts my summer garden.

And now it's being joined by more early blooming lovelies. This is a little perennial viola called Etain, purchased at my local market and adding a big shot of sunshine on those grey days we always get in summer here.

Remember the tags I was working on in the post below? Well, inspired by my wee garden I made a bunch of blooms to decorate one of them and this is what I ended up with!

Currently available here

Somewhere, Beyond The Sea

Not quite golden sands but I do love Bobby Darin so I thought I'd pair him up with Morecambe Bay! It was strange weather the day I took these photos with sudden fog banks racing across the water but on a clear day (cue for another song) you can see the beautiful hills and fells of the Lake District quite distinctly all around the sweep of the bay.

Ghost World

 

Once again I had the park to myself. This time the fog and hoar frost and a bone-chilling cold seemed to have deterred everyone from setting foot in the place. This always amazes me as it's a huge park, well two actually: Miller and Avenham, which are joined seamlessly together. So Sam and I spent a happy hour wandering around this enchanted ghost world as if it were our own private estate!

When Life Throws You Lemons .... Make Cupcakes!

Well, dear readers, my protracted absence has been due to the aforementioned lemons. Things have changed mighty quick for me and turned my life upside down, which is both terrifying and oddly exhilarating. I am now officially off the map, in totally uncharted territory, but I realised something the other day. 

I suspect that a great many of us have a secret fear. You know, those ingrained beliefs that if 'X' happened you'd never get over it/survive/be happy again. They aren't the sort of monsters we usually talk about or even acknowledge to ourselves, except in times of deep misery, but they're always there, somewhere, in the back of our minds. Sometimes they can be useful, making us try harder at things and urging us not to give up, but mostly they just lurk around providing us with random moments of happiness-squashing terror. So a few days ago I was walking home after having to deal with a fresh set of obstacles in the path of my new life when it suddenly struck me that the two things which had been my own personal life-long fears had happened to me. And the sky hadn't fallen. This was a very important discovery. Not only had I survived, but I no longer had to worry about these twin monsters and give them space in my frankly overcrowded brain. 

I'm hoping this is just the first of a whole lot of perception altering revelations but even if it isn't I'm incredibly grateful for this particular one!

Autumn Already?

There's something very screwy going on with the weather. My calendar says mid-August but the temperature is hovering around the sixty degree mark and so far this week we have had gales and torrential rain. It's looking like summer is a washout here so I picked up my knitting the other day and made these ever so Gothic cuffs in this Autumn's hot colour, olive green.

And when you come home, what could be nicer than snuggling up with your hot chocolate under this crocheted throw? I keep a selection of blankets and lap quilts permanently draped over the back of my sofa because not only are they really useful for those times when you need a little extra warmth but they look darn good too!

Studio Makeover The Upcycling Way - Part the Second

Here it is, finished at last! I can't tell you what a relief it is to have my studio finally sorted and also how much I love it, and the wonderful Vincent for finding the materials and creating it for me. If you want to makeover your work space for practically nothing it can be done. Almost everything in here was repurposed from other parts of the house - like the old G-Plan sideboard for instance, or the sewing table which came originally from my mother's house and was languishing under our stairs. Most of the wood for the shelving came from a local yard which salvages old timber and sells it on for a charitable trust. The black kitchen counter top was rescued from a skip, as was the wood for the battens holding up the shelf ends.

My room has gone from hideous, cluttered mess with virtually zero organisation to being somewhere I can't wait to get into each day and, as a fantastic bonus, I unearthed all sorts of treasures I didn't know I had whilst sorting and organising everything. I even 'discovered' this old cabinet which came from Ikea about 20 years ago and gave it a makeover too! It'll be perfect for storing sewing related bits and bobs.

I ♥ my studio!

Being Here

I admire my dog. He has many fine qualities, not the least of which is his ability to live entirely in the moment. Faster than you can click your fingers he will go from being deeply asleep to bouncing off the walls when you mention the word 'walkies'. He always exhibits total absorption in the here and now, whatever may be happening. All dogs do this naturally, indeed so do all animals, with one exception. Yes, us, of course.

I want to be more like my dog, but it takes a a lot of practice.

Studio Life and Facebook

I am still soldiering on with the reorganisation of my studio despite now being hampered with a frozen shoulder. Did I mention how fed up I am with all my physical wonkiness lately?

Anyway, as you can see, there is some small semblance of order being imposed as I now have my old G-Plan sideboard up there (still impressed with how V managed to manoeuvre this monster up our very steep and narrow dog-legged staircase!) and so more storage space.

I have not, however, managed to get any work done in all the chaos and am missing my paints and bits of paper very much. What I have done though is finally set up a Dancing-Girl page on Facebook. This will have updates on my work, general studio stuff, special offers and anything else I can think of which would be of interest. So if you'd like to, I'd be honoured to have you join me over there - just follow the link and click the 'Like' button!

Thank You, BBC!

I don't usually try to grow veggies in my garden because it's so tiny that finding somewhere suitable to plant things can be difficult. I used to have an allotment some years ago which produced loads of lovely food but for various reasons I had to give it up, and veg growing along with it. However, inspired by the BBC's Dig In, I thought I'd have another go this year, albeit on a small scale.

They're very kindly giving away free packets of seed, as you can see in the photo, so I applied for some and today, it being the warmest one we've had so far, I was outside inhaling the scent of my daffodils and sowing French beans, courgettes, basil, carrots and cut-and-come-again salad greens. I made some newspaper pots and filled them with our homemade compost, of which we have an abundant supply. This is V's baby really. He tends and turns the heap to produce the most wonderful dark loam which is like the best three course meal for the plants and fine enough to use for potting up and seed sowing. Wonderful!

Now all I have to do is wait for germination and dream of the succulent organic goodies to come!
 

Reasons To Be Cheerful

I have spent the last week being a very sick bunny and as a consequence need cheering up. So today, as I am feeling slightly more together, I started painting some sheets of watercolour paper just with random splashes of colour because I have a few half-formed ideas about a project I want to try. And also because colour has a wonderful ability to lift my spirits.

The daffs in the garden continue to bloom which inspired me (before I was laid low) to go out and photograph some of the neighbourhood cherry trees. For one glorious week or so at this time of year they are stunningly beautiful, laden with delicate white and pale pink flowers, making walking around the streets beneath them quite magical!

Small Miracles

I have been looking out my kitchen window every day for about a week now, waiting for this beauty to open. Last October I planted a large pot up with a mixed bag of scented narcissus bulbs and today the first one came into full bloom. After such a long and, for us in this neck of the woods, hard winter this little bit of sunshine is more than welcome; it feels like a miracle.
 

Gratitude

Today I had to go have some minor medical treatment and, as always, this gives me the glums because it's part of the ageing process that stuff stops working properly and I rail against it. But I am also grateful for many things which are coming with age, not least that I now have more time to spend on things which feed my soul and that I seem to notice life's details more and marvel at their simplicity and complexity both.

Being forced to slow down is not necessarily a bad thing.