Says it all.....

The weather outside is frightful....

I've been laying in bed listening to the howling wind and the rain lashing against the window and decided that I wasn't going to sleep so got up for a cup of tea, and very nice it is too. Anyway I've been sitting here drinking my tea, letting my mind drift a bit, trying to let it solve a couple of conundrums that are going round in my head. That doesn't seem to be working, so I'll let my subconscious mind continue that process but in the meantime I started to think about how I wanted things to be so I have come up with a kind of draft framework to work to so I thought I'd share this with you..

Things to think about every day (or as often as I can manage!) to try to fit in to every day, week or month

1.  Love is..... for us and our relationship

2.  Make sure there's time ...... for friends and family

3.  To make a house a home .... the stuff that keeps the home running

4.  To nourish the soul .... creativity, freedom, fun, music and laughter

5.  Fit, healthy and happy .... look after our fitness, wellbeing and health

6.  Save the planet.... reduce, reuse, recycle and grow our own

7.  Pay it forward .... help others whenever we can

8.  Manage the money .... pay off debts, save, afford to do, be frugal(ish), earn differently

9.  Stretch the boundaries .... learn new stuff, extend our comfort zone, travel


I've just read these again and right now it feels like a big ask to manage all of this, but I haven't put any timescales on this, such as expecting to do all of these every day. I just wanted to put down in writing the general direction of travel, as they say in all good management speak presentations!! I keep thinking I've missed one as the logical half of my brain says there should be 10 things in a list, but the maverick side of my brain says 9's a good number, so 9 it is!

So here's to a 2014 where all 9 things on the list get equal importance....

 

Do I or don't I?

This week I've been trying to make a decision about something. Maybe you can help me?

The question I'm trying to solve is related to my hopes and desires, my fabric addiction, my Mum, my future and my present!

To me it feels complicated, but maybe someone out there can give me some suggestions or ideas or some perceptions that will help me cut through the stuff that makes it feel complicated.

Ok, here goes. I have an addiction to fabric and I have bought so much over the last 3-4 years that it is taking over my house. If I saw a bargain, either in a shop or on line, particularly on a particular on line auction site, I had to have it - for a rainy day, for when I retire or just for no reason. I used my credit card ( now paid off) and bought bulk lots as well as single pieces, everything from upholstery fabric to vintage fabric to bridal fabric, and some haberdashery lots too. Now it has got to the stage where I can no longer sew in my sewing room because it's too full of "stuff". The stuff is in lots of other places in the house too! Hubby is beginning to get cross about the amount of the "stuff" and I'm getting frustrated because I can't sew easily.

Why did I buy it you ask? Well it was for my future plans primarily. In that I'm in a position to be able to retire from the NHS in 21 months time, and although the pension won't be sufficient to live on it will go a long way towards it. I currently am beginning to struggle with my job and the stress involved in it so my dream is to take my pension at 55, and then top up my pension with some sort of textile business. So I thought that while I could afford it I should buy the fabric ready for later, but now I have so much fabric it's affecting my life now!

Anyway I've decided I need to make some decisions about what to do with it all. My husband just wants me to throw most of it away, and believe me that is not going to happen! It's not good for the environment, not frugal and not what I want to do! But I have to get the house in to a more usable and tidy state! Lol

So, what to do with the fabric? In the last week I've seen a couple of options and need some advice so help me out here...

Do I.....

Put it in storage at a cost of £12-15 a week in a wooden storage crate inside a large barn type building......

Rent a small office/workshop about 5-6 miles away from home, knowing that working full time means I will be limited with the amount of time I can spend there but at the same time giving myself the space to start building a business. The office is in a small complex with a number of other small businesses and appears to be a real community type space....

Do what hubby wants and just get rid of it all....

Suggestions on a postcard.... Or alternatively just on a comment below...

And to help here's a picture of one of the vintage dresses I have in construction. It's made using a real vintage 40's pattern made in modern material, not quite finished...

 

I've got to the stage where I've gone around this in my head time and time and time again and don't seem to be getting anywhere...

Thanks in advance for your help and suggestions
KJ xx

I said never...

Today I did something I  had vowed and declared I would never do! I had made a big thing about not doing it, it was a waste of money because you lost too much, it wasn't what "people like me" did, it was so against what I believed in. What did I do you ask?

Well today I bought a new car, yep that's right a brand new car. It had a whole 13 delivery miles on the clock when I picked it up this afternoon. And I also discovered you can pay for a new car with a bank debit card! I have never ever spent this amount in one hit before, and nor am I likely to do it ever again! My new car is thanks to my Mum and Dad as it was their money that paid for it, and the reason I bought a new one is because it made financial sense! 

But, stuff the financial sense, I really like my new car!It's a Dacia Logan MCV and looks like this......

And getting the new car also took me down memory lane to when my Mum and Dad got their first ever car. I don't remember how old I was, but I'm thinking not very. It was my Dad's works car and was a mini traveller and I even remember the number plate EVL 465E. It looked like this one below (courtesy Google..)

 

I remember going to the seaside, Mablethorpe, in it and it was quite an adventure at the time...

What was the first car you remember?

Until next time

KJ xx 

A recipe or two....

Firstly I'd like to say hi to Frugalmummy and Frugal in Bucks. Thanks for reading and I hope that occasionally I can make you smile. I've followed your good selves for a while, mostly lurking in the background to be fair. 
Now Frugalmummy asked me to give the recipes for the soups which got me thinking about cooking and my relationship with food. I love food and cooking, and watch some cookery programmes on TV. However what I am not is a fan of celebrity chefs per se. For me a chef has to be firstly and primarily a chef and only secondly a celebrity. Back to that in a minute but first a couple of recipes....

Carrot, orange and ginger soup

6 individual portions of  this soup ready to freeze!

 

This is so easy to make and the actual amounts of the constituents can be varied according to what you have in and how you prefer the balance of ingredients, so if you use this recipe feel free to amend it to suit yourself. I'm not sure where I first found the recipe so if anyone recognises it I'm more than happy to give credit for whereever it came from. It's now hand written in a cookery notebook which goes back to Domestic Science lessons at secondary school!

Melt 2 oz butter in a large pan and fry 2 medium sliced onions gently until soft. Add 1 lb diced carrots and fry gently for another couple of minutes. Stir in a pint and a half of home made chicken stock,  half a pint of orange juice, 2 tsp ground ginger and simmer covered until the carrots are very tender (about three quarters of an hour). Liquidise, add salt and pepper to taste and if you have any cream or creme fraiche in the fridge stir in some of that to serve.

Like I said, simple and yet really flavoursome.  

Cauliflower and Taleggio soup

This is my variation on a BBC Cauliflower soup recipe.

Heat a small amount of oil in a large pan, add a chopped onion and 2-3 chopped garlic cloves and fry for 2-3 minutes to soften. Add 1 tsp of both ground cumin and ground coriander and fry gently for a further couple of minutes. Add about 800gm of cauliflower and a litre of chicken stock. I guess you could use home made, bought or vegetable stock according to personal taste.  Bring to the boild and then reduce to simmer until the cauliflower is tender. When I cut the florets off I leave quite a length of stalk on it so for me it has to simmer for probably 30-40 minutes, but if only use the very top of the florets they will soften in 10-15 minutes. Let it cool slightly and then liquidise (or in my case use my stick blender - a fabulous pressie from hubby a couple of years ago for me to make smoothies with!). Then add about 150mls of creme fraiche - again you could use fresh cream but with the cheese as well it becomes a bit too rich - and bring back to full heat. Season to taste but be light handed with the salt as the Taleggio will give it more flavour. Drop cubes of taleggio cheese into the bowls of hot soup to serve and if you are feeling posh add croutons - or cubes of bread which have been dried to a crisp in the oven. 
No photos of this I'm afraid as I got it into the freezer before thinking about pictures!

Anyway back to my feelings on celebrity chefs. The chef's I respect and like are those who have truly mastered their craft, who obviously love and enjoy food and who have a full understanding of flavours and who are almost humble in their craft. I really can't stand "celebrity chefs" who rely on either bad behaviour (you can guess who I mean) or some sort of marketing ploy to become popular. My favourites are Raymond Blanc and Michel Roux junior I think. I just wish I could cook like they do!! I also love almost all Nigel Slater recipes!

So who's your favourite chef? Or what's your favourite recipe?

It's funny, but I never thought I would talk food on my blog! Next time something textile relate I think....

KJ x

A list of things to do....

It's been a long few days. The insomnia had returned, combined with a really irritating night time cough, a hubby who snores and my brain in ovedrive! I was beginning to get bogged down with the thoughts of everything I need to do over the next few days and weeks and was finding it really difficult to turn my brain off when I went to bed, so I have been surviving on 3-5 hours sleep a night. I know that when I get tired I get real cranky and decided I had to do something to try to fix it, although from experience also know that that's not necessarily going to help.

So I thought if I could get a list down on paper of all the stuff going round and round in my head it might help my brain to slow down a bit. The list got longer and longer and  included everything from making soups and meals for the freezer, to sorting out car insurance, taking the dog to the vets, sanding and varnishing the lounge window sill, and all sorts of other things. I then decided to rewrite the list dividing these things over a number of days. It's truly amazing how much I've managed to achieve over the last 4 or 5 days with this list to work on. It's also truly amazing how I've managed to do entirely "jobs" and things that are for other people, whilst at the same time managing to put all those "fun" things for me such as creativity right down to the bottom of the list. Think I need to do a reprioritisation of my list or otherwise I'll never get to do any of the fun things.

On the plus side, I've sanded down and put two coats of varnish on the lounge windowsill, touched up the wallpaper paint around the window, started to prepare a small wall at the bottom of the stair for a new coat of paint (why oh why did I choose white emulsion at the bottom of the stairs!),sorted out my car insurance for my new car which I'm collecting on Friday, sold my old car so am now without transport, made three different lots of soup (Carrot orange and ginger, Cauliflower and Taleggio, and Hunter soup with a dash of chilli) which I've frozen so hubby has them ready for lunches at work, done all the washing and ironing, looked after a poorly dog, walked a well dog, emptied, sorted and cleaned/defrosted both the fridge and freezer, cut hubby's hair, and of course all the usual daily jobs like cooking, cleaning, shopping, washing and ironing! But no, not a sewing or knitting needle, artists paintbrush or pencil has been anywhere near my hands. 

So this week I'm going to menu plan, work out the food finances for the rest of the month, and work out how to increase my exercise, and then watch out creativity here I come......

And anyway, I have a few Christmas presents to finish making, and yesterday my brother, who is getting married on April 12th, asked me if I could just knock up 6 mens waistcoats in patchwork please, oh, and he thinks the bride to be might well want a wedding dress making if she can't find exactly what she's looking for.... Eeeek - how on earth am I going to get that all done!

And tomorrow I'll tell you all about my addiction....

Don't get excited, it's a fabric addiction. I have way way way too much!!

Until next time remember....

If you can't stand the heat, don't tickle the dragon.....

KJ xx

 

Simple things...

What simple things make you happy? I've been thinking about this a lot lately, although I'm not really sure why if I'm honest. Maybe it's because Christmas is nearly upon us and these days it seems to be more about greed and consumerism than about family and things that matter. Anyway that brings me to my thoughts for today, a list of some of the simple things that make me smile...

1. Walking through fallen leaves and kicking them around, the sound is amazing
2. The first cup of tea in a morning
3. That half an hour of quiet in a morning when I'm the only one up
4. The smell of freshly cut grass
5. The sound of the sea
6. A hug from someone who loves me
7. A cuddle from my dog
8. A baby's smile
9. Home made lemon curd - well, there had to be food in here somewhere
10.  Listening to my favourite music
11. Toast - even better when served with the above mentioned lemon curd
12. Walking the dogs on a bright, sunny winter morning, all wrapped up against the cold
13. Enjoying a cup of coffee with a friend
14. Snowflakes 
15. The first snowdrops pushing through the earth 

I'm sure this list could go on for ages, but I'm going to stop there. I might revisit it in the spring to see if things have changed or what else has been added. So what simple things make you smile? I've decided to try really hard to notice these simple things when they happen so that I can appreciate them more. Why don't you join me?

KJ x

Time for a change....

Well another two months has rushed past. I'm sure the days and weeks get shorter as I get older but maybe it's more because I am always trying to pack more into a day than there is day to pack it into!

The title of this post is "Time for a change" and I'm guessing if anybody is actually reading this they may well be wondering why. I've had a stay in hospital since my last post, and although I thought I was dying at the time(well, certainly felt like I was anyway!), trust me I wasn't. Now I'm a nurse by trade and have worked in the NHS for most of my working life, so feel I have the knowledge and understanding to comment on some of the things I saw and heard while I was residing in one of our NHS "centres of excellence". To be honest I'm not sure that it would deserve that title. Now when I hear on the news about yet another incident where there has been a lack of care in a hospital somewhere I get very cross and frustrated as it is always the nursing staff who are perceived to be the responsible party for this lack of care, and as a nurse of 30+ years standing I had hoped, nay believed, that the nursing staff were being used as the scapegoats for whatever had happened. Rarely do you hear that the doctors have failed, and even more rarely do you hear that the managers were responsible for that little lady in the corner who was dehydrated and starving because she was not being helped with her meals. Now at this point I need to admit to not having worked on a hospital ward for a very long time, having specialised in other areas of the nursing profession over the years so it is fair to say that my judgements on this subject were primarily coloured by how it used to be. Well believe me it is no longer "how it used to be", but despite that I saw nurses who cared, worked damn hard, were professional at all times and desperately wanted to do not just a good job, but the best job, and went over and above their duty to ensure that patients were well cared for. However I also saw nurses who were overworked, over stretched, and stressed. These were the same nurses described above. The Hospital's answer to short staffing (due primarily in my opinion, to good nurses leaving as they were no longer being able to cope with what was being asked of them) was to use Agency nurses. It would be easy to use the agency nurses as a scapegoat and blame them for some of the things I saw and heard, and again this was not true of all the agency nurses, however what it would be fair and reasonable to say was that the lack of continuity due to it being a different agency nurse every day, did indeed impact on the care provided. The attitude of a fair proportion of the agency nurses also impacted on the care provided, as a lot of them did not appear to want to work very hard, did not appear to know what they were doing a lot of the time, and even when they were hard working and knowledgeable, were unable to fulfil parts of their role as they were not hospital staff and therefore were not allowed to undertake certain tasks. Again I need to say that I have been an agency nurse myself in the past, usually when we moved with hubby's job for short time, so again I do understand how being an agency nurse can feel, and how that can affect their work.

Now I am not using this post to expand on the things I saw and heard for a variety of reasons. Firstly I have written to the Chief Executive at the hospital asking for an appointment to see them to discuss the issues that concerned me. Secondly taken out of context of the big hospital picture this again could be seen as another dig at the nursing profession which it is not, and thirdly because I don't want to put any details in here that might allow someone to identify the hospital concerned, certainly not at this point anyway.

But don't think I'm going to sit back and do nothing, because I'm not! I might have done in the past in case it affected my job in some untoward way or other, or in case I'm seen as a trouble maker. In the past nurses who have said things have found themselves out of a job and unable to get employment in their local area, but I have decided that unless something is said nothing improves. Nothing I saw immediately put anyone's life at risk, but there were things I saw that shouldn't be happening. However I intend to go to see the Chief Exec NOT to complain, but to explain things from a patients perspective, and to make some simple suggestions that would help, but more importantly to make some observations and suggestions from a health professional's perspective to improve the care received. 

Of course I still could be out of a job after this, so if you see me begging on a street corner, be kind and give generously...... 

Well, I've been away from Blogland for an absolute age! And it seems even longer.

Life has a way of getting in the way, at least that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

Today the man and I went "foraging", as I believe that's the latest "thing to do". Actually what we did was pick brambles (blackberries to some people) and scrumped some apples from an apple tree or two on the side of a country road. Since when did that become "de rigeur"? I've done it since I was a child, way before the likes of Kirsty Allsop, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, or (I'm sorry this is going to upset a lot of people!) Frugal Queen. I grew up the 3rd of 4 children of a wonderful set of parents who had a limited income, lived in a rented house in a village in the country and who topped up the food they bought with free bounties from the hedgerows around us. Blackberries were one of the most available free bounties, and was cooked in various ways. My Dad was lucky enough to be a keen gardener and to have enough space to garden a lot. He grew everything from potatoes to salad stuff to raspberries, and we even had an apple tree at the bottom of the garden. When I was a child the apple tree was for climbing, swinging from and jumping off, but for my parents it was a way to eke out our main meal with apple pies. I know this sounds idyllic and people might read this and think we were lucky. Well, we were. We learnt about seasons and nature, about where food comes from and about the value of things. We kept chickens and had fresh eggs and it was a treat to be allowed to collect the eggs from the hen house while they were still warm. I  helped my Dad to plant things and understood exactly where my food came from. I spent time in the garden learning about worms and slugs, greenfly and ladybirds. It sounds idyllic doesn't it? The down side is we lived in a house with no central heating or modern day "wood burners" and had one open fire which it was my job to empty the ashes out and light in the morning when I got up with newspapers and sticks. I remember when Jack Frost came to visit and painted beautiful ice pictures on the window glass - the inside of the window glass that is. But I used to love getting up and looking at the beauty of those patterns after a lovely warm night tucked up under blankets and an eiderdown. As a child life was so simple then, and I appreciated everything I had, and that included the natural world around me. We ate rabbit that Dad caught with a snare, pheasants from the local shoot (Dad used to go beating with the shoot and was paid with pheasants), sausages made from a single pig that we kept in a pigsty at the bottom of the garden and was shot and butchered at home, and very occasionally we would have trout but we knew never to ask Dad where it came from.

So I hear you ask, how old am I? Well actually I'm not in my 80's, nor my 70's, and not even in my 60's. In fact I'm 2 days off being 53 years old so this wasn't actually that long ago. And I hear you ask, why am I reminiscing about these times? Well today we were out walking our dogs in a local country park, along the edge of a river and we came across a father with two children, a boy of about 4 or 5 and a girl of about 6 or 7. The Dad and the little girl were studying something the little boy had in his hand and Dad was obviously instilling excitement about the natural world and all it's wonders. What was it? A simple earthworm. The boy and girl were fascinated and giggling and interested and wanted to know more. And I thought that was absolutely brilliant! Good for you that Dad. I wonder how many other parents would have allowed their child to hold a worm in the palm of their hands without getting all "Health and Safety"!! And if I've upset anyone who is "all Health and Safety" then as far as I am concerned you have my full permission to never read my blog again!!!

And tomorrow I'll post pictures of my foraged fruit - and maybe what I've done with it too. But don't start to file me as a frugal person, because that suggests that this is a new thing. It's not, I've always made jams, chutneys, wine, soups and food from scratch, because that's what I learnt was the right thing to do. And yes I sew, knit, recycle stuff and keep things in as usable form as I am able to do - although crocheting is currently beyond my abilities!!

But again don't think that you now know who I am. Don't pigeon hole me. I own a very expensive, top of the range digital camera with a range of lenses, spent my holiday this year in New York (okay with my wonderful son and equally wonderful daughter in law and her family) and have just ordered a new car (Thanks Mum!) but I know what is important to me and you know what is important to you, so let's just leave it there shall we....

Now this blog is supposed to be about my creative development and learning to make cloth dolls. They will still crop up from time to time, but my creativity refuses to be chained down and pinned into such a small area, so you'll see much more than that, and as it's my blog I'll write about whatever catches my attention whenever it catches my attention.

Until the next time
KJ xxx

This week...

 This week's been a real mix of highs and lows.The Valentino couture exhibition at Somerset House in London was definitely a high, work was definitely mostly lows, and then today I found this saying....

So I'm going to try really hard to believe that this is true....

Thought for the day

With thanks to Frugal Queen who I have "borrowed" the quote below from...

 

Kinda says it all for today...

Am I entirely mad?

Over the last couple of weeks an idea has been going round and round in my head. Last year a friend of mine raised money for the U foundation by going on a cycle ride. Sounds easy I hear you say. Not necessarily when the ride was from London to Paris and was over 4 days - 75-80 miles a day! Well as someone of advancing years, well, over 50 anyway, and definitely very unfit (at least 4 stone overweight) I remember being very impressed with this. The U foundation supports the provision of schools for children in Zambia - see link below.

www.theufoundation.org

Anyway this idea that's been going round in my head was that I need something to aim for, something to help me lose weight, get fit and feel better about myself, and just maybe this was what I needed to get involved in. The more I thought about it the more it appealed to me, and my friend Margaret tells me that it involves eating lots of cake en route to Paris - well I was hooked good and proper! I discussed it with the other half and we talked about all the reasons I wouldn't be able to do it - raising the money, getting fit enough, having the time to train, and actually completing the challenge - but something inside me is still saying go on, you can do it if you put your mind to it! In the words of Helen Skelton - all I'll  need to do is keep going forward. Well I've decided to follow the training schedule for one week and if I still feel the same by next weekend I'm going to go for it. So if anyone wants to take odds against me completing it I'll take your money any day - at least I'm going to do the best I can anyway! Below is the link to the information about the challenge - and remember that I'm the wrong side of 50, overweight and definitely unfit!!
 
  2013 London to Paris Cycle Challenge
The U Foundation is currently raising money to build nursery schools and support education projects in remote parts of Zambia

Another project finished!

I promised myself that before I could start any new projects I had to finish 2 UFO's. Well today I finished 3 things - although I'm not sure if they really count as 1 UFO! Months ago I started to make myself new bags for work. I wanted a small handbag and tote bag, so I cut out the upholstery fabric I had chosen, layered it with cotton wadding and lining fabric and off I went. I ran into a number of problems, primarily related to the fact that this made the fabric I was working with fairly thick and sewing over seams was very difficult with my modern sewing machine - obviously not designed for utilitarian objects or fabric. Anyway after a little searching I managed to pick up a second hand refurbished machine which is much more solid and sailed through my project with no problem - at least it did once I put in a needle that wasn't blunt!! My fault entirely I hasten to add.

And here's a picture of the new workhorse!! The only problem is that it weighs an absolute ton and I struggle to pick it up and put it on the table.

And here is the completed tote bag, handbag and I added a matching little zip purse (or does that count as a new project - hope not!!)

And although I could now start a new project, having finished my January CQJP square and the bags I've decided I'm going to finish the pony next. I have a new doll whizzing around in my head that I really want to get started on but I know that once I start it I won't get anything else done as dolls tend to take up my entire attention and I do nothing else until it's finished!! As a teaser it's steampunk based....

Until next time, keep calm and carry on creating!!

 

Spaniels and finished CQJP...

Today we left the spaniels on their own for about 2 hours and although I thought I had dog proofed the house, but when we came home it was obvious I'd missed something!!

Yes, I forgot to put the cushions away! And on top of that he had managed to remove more buttons off the sofa! I do love my spaniels but sometimes.....

On the plus side I have finished my first CQJP 2013 6" crazy quilt. It was my first ever attempt at a crazy quilt square and on the whole I was really quite pleased with it. More practice required and probably more planning before I start rather than just doing it kind of ad hoc, but I already have ideas in my head for what comes next...

"Spring"

 

Community spirit and my belief in human nature restored

Yesterday we got up to lots of snow and I ended up walking the last 2 miles to work as I couldn't get up the small hill because of the snow. Today we got up to the main roads being much clearer but the compacted snow on the road in our little cul de sac had frozen overnight and was solid ice. I started the morning by clearing snow and ice in the back garden to enable us to get to the gate safely. Then I went out to the front and cleared the front path and the bit of the drive (only about 6 feet) to the road. Liz across the road was clearing the snow on her drive too. We stopped to chat and were talking about the ice on the road and how I watched a car sliding sideways towards a parked care earlier on (it didn't hit it I hasten to add but more by luck than judgement). Anyway Liz and I decided to try to break up some of the ice on the corner of the road and before long we had 9 or 10 neighbours helping and within the hour or so most of the cul de sac road was clear of road. We can now all drive safely to the main road if we want to. One of the neighbours made us all tea and coffee and we spoke to people we'd never spoken to before. All in all a real show of community spirit - and let's be honest noone else was going to clear the road were they!!!

Later on in the day more snow as hubby and I went out with the spaniels! Throwing snow balls for them was funny as they really couldn't work out where they vanished too!

 
  A good time was had by all and with all the exercise who needs the gym!!

In the sewing room I have almost finished January's  CQJP 2013 entry and for a first ever attempt at a crazy quilt square - or any quilting come to that matter I'm quite please. Tomorrow a picture of the finished object... Then I have promised to complete the pony as my next UFO to do. That is then my 2 finished UFO's to match the new project of the knitting needle roll. So then I have to finish 2 more before I can start anything else new. Frustrating as I have new doll patterns cut out...but they will have to wait a few days..

Things on the sewing table..

In my last post I said pictures of the Quilt exhibition followed by things on my sewing table. However I seem to have temporarily lost the pictures from the Quilt exhibition, so pictures from the sewing room instead!! 

This is my partially finished pony! As you can see from the sewing machine in the background, he's quite large!! Actually much larger than I anticipated. It's funny how a paper pattern doesn't always give an accurate idea of the size of the finished article - or maybe I just didn't look close enough! Anyway he still needs his tummy closing, ears, eyelids and eyelashes, not to mention saddle, bridle and rug!! Oh and a rider to go with him - that might take a little while longer!
  

This is a partly finished flamingo, started 3 months ago at the dolls club I go to. It's a present for a friend - supposed to be for Christmas, but fortunately I haven't seen her for ages so it can still be a belated Christmas present and I can claim that it was just awaiting delivery!! Unless of course she reads my blog!

This is my first months entry for CQJP 2013. That stands for Crazy Quilt Journal Project for 2013. I've never done anything like this before so it's a learning curve - and fun, mixing and matching the colours. I have done a bit more to this since I took the photo and am hopeful of getting this completed in January as per the challenge rules. If you're interested in finding out more follow this link 

 http://www.cqjp2013.blogspot.com

This is a pair of bags that I started for me to use for work. I have layered the fabrics with cotton wadding and lining fabric, using machine embroidery to join the fabrics together. The smaller one (to use as a handbag) is much nearer completion that the larger one (to use to carry papers etc to work). It just needs fasteners and a carrying strap, whereas the larger one is really just the layered fabric with nothing else done!



There's lots more unfinished projects but I thought that would give you a taster. Anyway today, despite making a promise to myself not to start anything new until I'd finished at least 2 UFO's, I had a crisis. I picked up my knitting needle roll which I had been given as a present years ago, and yet again everything fell out of it. It was badly designed to my mind, with the needles facing both ways, which meant that it didn't matter which way up you carried it things fell out!
Anyway I was finally so frustrated I went into the cupboard, dragged out an old curtain that used to hang at the back door when we moved in but which has since been replaced, and made myself a new knitting needle holder!

It also holds all my crochet hooks and a few other knitting accessories, with extra pockets, a fold over top with velcro  fastenings and two machine embroidered ribbons to tie up the roll. 
Anyway I was so pleased with myself for starting and finishing a project in one session! And then to really put the icing on the cake so's to speak I recycled the original knitting needle holder by turning the pockets round and altering it to fold over so nothing falls out so I can use if for my set of double pointed knitting needles!

So I finished the day one very happy crafter!! And I have promised myself (again) that I will finish at least one UFO this weekend - keep watching to see if I manage to keep my promise....

Spaniels and knitting wool!!

As some of you will be aware from previous posts we share our house with two wonderful black and white springer spaniels called Rocks and Diesel. Diesel hasn't lived with us for that long in the scheme of things and, probably because he had a rough start in life, he is now going through puppyhood! For that read when we go out we expect to come back to chaos! 

What I have discovered is that Diesel loves knitting and spaniels and knitting don't mix! I've been doing some knitting and 3 times now I have come home to this devastation! And worst of all I have replaced the knitting needles three times!

 It's taking me a very long time to finish this project. I have, so far, knitted 8 gloves but only 4  are actually still in one piece. When we came home today, having only been out half an hour, to say I was cross would be a major understatement. When we went out the knitting was inside a bag which was knotted at the top, on a bookshelf behind a table and still he managed to get it out and trash it!!

I just keep telling myself he'll grow out of it. I sure hope so!

Tomorrow I thought I'd look back to the quilt show at the NEC in Birmingham and just post a few pictures of my most favourite quilts, and later in the week pictures of the two latest projects on the sewing table...

A trip to London

Darling Hubby bought me V&A membership for Christmas and yesterday I took advantage of this and went to London with a friend to see the exhibitions that were on at the V&A for free. There were 3 separate exhibitions on and they were all good but for differing reasons.

Firstly we went to the Ballgowns : British glamour since the 1950's exhibition. I found this absolutely fascinating and loved all the different styles and fabrics on display. Photography wasn't allowed so I have purloined some of the pictures from the V&A website instead...

I was lucky enough to be given the book that accompanies this exhibition for Christmas from a friend and the pictures in it are equally great and will remind me of our visit.

 All of these gowns were on display along with a whole host more. We had some fun deciding which of our friends would suit which outfit! 














And after the ballgowns we had coffee and a cake in the Members room to give us a rest. Initially we headed for the normal cafe but it was so busy there was nowhere to sit and the queues for food and drink were so long that we decided to find the Members room up on the 4th floor. It was much quieter, although still pretty full, but certainly far more relaxing than the cafe down on the ground floor. If you go though and are fortunate enough to be a member be aware that the food in the members room is very limited - tea, coffee (no latte) and a snackette! As you can see from the picture the members room isn't very large...

Once rested and ready for the fray again we headed off to the Hollywood Costumes exhibition. There was lots on display, but, and it is a big but, it is so popular and so full of people you have to queue all the way round and it takes ages. It is a great exhibition though I have to say as throughout it explains the way costume designers work and how they have to fit the costumes to the character, even when it doesn't appear that much work has been done. I found all that side of it fascinating but got thoroughly fed up of the crowds and the queues. Anyway, once again no photography so once again I have purloined photos from the V&A website...

There were costumes from every era and every kind of film. Some were far better than expected, some as expected and even one or two that weren't what I expected. I suppose without the characters in them they are only clothes when all's said and done!

Dorothy's shoes from the Wizard of Oz sparkled, Captain Jack Sparrow's pirates costume was as expected not as exciting without Johnny Depp wearing them, but the most disappointing outfit for me I think was Marilyn Monroe's famous white dress. It was really nothing special at all. Aside from the outfits being famous it was fascinating to see how the outfits were developed by the costume designers.

After the Hollywood Costumes a rest was needed, feet were hurting and we were thirsty. This time we braved the main cafe and were rewarded with 2 lattes, a chelsea bun and a scone with cream and jam. Sitting at a table across from us there was a young man who had what appeared to be a sling round his neck, and yet both his arms were fine and in full working order. On watching closely it became clear that the sling wasn't for his arm, but for a tiny dog, maybe a chihuahua, that appeared to be quite young. He was obviously very attached to it, stroking it a lot, but we did wonder if a very noisy, very busy area was the best place for this young dog. 

Our final exhibition of the day was Light from the Middle East : New Photography, which was a selection of photographs, some in black and white and some colour images too. This collection of images with the information alongside them made for some serious thought about the middle east and it's people, it's image and it's culture. An exhibition worth visiting, even though it is relatively small.

A final visit to the book shop and we then wound our weary way home via the underground and Paddington station, very tired but thoroughly happy with a great day out...

UFO's...

Yesterday I talked about finished projects. Today I'm going to list and review my UFO's. I believe that all crafters, whatever their craft speciality is, have UFO's - that's UnFinished Objects to anyone who doesn't know. I guess we collect UFO's for lots of different reasons. In my case it's mostly because I have so many ideas going round in my head that I want to do, and also I guess the other reason to a degree is that I lack confidence in doing things as well as I want to, and so I stop short of finishing things in case they "aren't good enough". Not sure what that says about me, but I'm sure a psychologist would have a field day!

Anyway back to my UFO list.. I actually went up into my tiny sewing room and consciously went through all my stuff to see just how many unfinished projects I had. I was amazed and to a degree embarrassed too. So I thought if I listed them honestly on her it might give me the push to finally complete at least some of them. I have also promised myself that I won't start anything new until I've completed two unfinished projects. In theory this means that I will gradually unclutter a very cluttered workbench!

So here goes....

An African textile doll (started summer 2011!)
A feisty old lady doll (started winter 2011)
There are two other doll heads - nothing specific in mind
Willowy stump doll
Gold 50's wiggle dress
Textile art seaside picture with a difference
Three different miniature teddy bears
Felt Christmas decorations (winter 2011 - not even this christmas just gone!!)
Steampunk groom to go with the goth bride
Steampunk cuffs
White on white embroidery of a unicorn
Applique horses to an old shirt
4 or 5 cross stitch pictures
A knitted jumper
3 pairs of knitted fingerless gloves ( they all need the thumb finishing!)
Pony - complete with saddle, bridle, rug, feed bucket
Rider doll - to go with above pony
Two everlasting advent calendars (were supposed to be completed for Dec 2012 for my nephews)
Flamingo - present for a friend
Blinds for kitchen and garage windows
Handbag and matching Tote to use for work

I'm sure if I rummaged around more I could find more, but that list will do for now...
And a photo of the workspace to give you some idea of what it looks like right now!!

So as you can see there's not a lot of actual working space right now, but over the next few weeks that's going to change... And I'll post photo's of the UFO's both when I start them and when I finish them. This weekend's aim is to complete the pony, although I only have Sunday as I'm going to the V&A on Saturday to see the both the "Ballgowns" exhibition and the "Hollywood costumes" exhibition so I may be being optimistic about getting the pony completed but I'm ever the optimist.

Things I made in 2012!

Well I thought as a starting point for the new year I would look back at the things I managed to complete making last year, so here is a list (and pictures of some!)

I made dog coats (towelling inners, fleecey outers) for when we've been out walking and they're cold, wet and muddy (or sandy if on the beach) and they work really well, although the hoods don't stay up very well - mostly because they use the hoods to grab hold of each other to play!!

I made dolls....

 Meet Miserable Maud! I had fun making her when I was away on holiday in the summer!

 And then I brought her home to over see the gardening! She's away on holiday now trekking through the jungles of Madagascar (have you seen the children's film? She's the lady with the handbag!!), before coming back here to take over as Prime Minister.

 This is my Goth bride - she's a secretive one. So secretive she hasn't even told me her name. She has a spider and web over her bouquet, and she's waiting for her groom to arrive. She was fun to make and get to know. She doesn't like too much "fuss" when it comes to her outfits - but loves to show off her hair!

And just for fun I also made a rabbit....

Why you ask, well just because I could really! He's only 2" tall sitting down (not including his ears) and normally he sits and watches me sewing. I love his slightly scruffy look and his names Seaside. Don't ask me why it just is!





 What else have I done?

I've made a set of sofa covers for my sister, shortened 6 pairs of trousers for my brother, made a bag for a friend, knitted gloves (sadly the spaniels got to them before they were finished - and then they were well and truly finished!!), made a window cleaners belt pouch, embroidered 6 pillowcases for Santa and started a whole load of other projects which will be the subject of tomorrows blog - my UFO's!

Aims for 2013...

Two blogs in one day, must be a miracle! 

Today has been a beautiful sunny blue sky day. As I walked the spaniels on Salisbury Plain I had time to think about what comes next and where 2013 will take me. I had decided not to make any New Year resolutions this year as in the past I haven't managed to keep them very well. 

But I have promised myself that the one thing I will do is finish the things I start. I have any number of UFO's in the sewing room that I really need to finish. I started to play the saxophone, but I can still only play one tune. I began learning Italian, but I only managed one term at college and haven't spoken a word since. I started to train the spaniels, but only got as far as the basics. So that's my aim for 2013...

The only other thing I have promised myself is to be grateful and to say thank you more often, to appreciate what I have and the people around me...

Oh and last but not least to make more dolls!!!

An update and new year...

Well it's January 1st 2013 already. Another year over, another one just begun as the song goes. So here's wishing the happiest and healthiest of years to all. 

New Years always make you look back over the past I think. It's fair to say that 2012 wasn't the best year for me and mine, but we'll bounce back and 2013 offers all sorts of things...

First an update however after the last rather depressing blog!

My newest spaniel has recovered from whatever ailments he may or may not have been suffering from thanks to the wonders of steroids and has turned out to be one of the most loving and loyal dogs ever!

My son is now residing in New York with his wife. His visa finally came through in November and he was on the first plane out!! The photo on his facebook page of him and the daughter in law shows just how much he loves and missed her and it is fabulous to see them together again. Even better we now have somewhere exciting to go on holiday! 

And my husband earned major brownie points for taking me away to a cottage in Cornwall for Christmas as he knew I would miss the family christmas times. So Christmas day on the beach was fabulous!!

So all in all things have turned the corner. 

And 2013 is the year that I finish all those things I started, so here's to a great year ahead.