Project Updates

I started this blanket on February 13th and have been working on it during the evenings on and off. It is getting quite weighty now and I really want to hurry up and finish it as I have so many more projects that I want to start.

When I started to make this blanket I had no real purpose for it other than to create it for creations sake! I have a home full of incomplete projects so I do want to see this one through to completion.

Now on to the pond. The hole that I dug has now been filled in! After digging it I realised that the pond shelves were not quite wide enough, so I dug some more. The 'small nature pond' ending up getting bigger and bigger. I hadn't taken into consideration that I had been digging on a slope or what kind of edging I was going to use to hold down the liner, the amount of people traffic that would be passing by the pond etc etc. So I have learned a valuable lesson. In the future I will plan ahead and prepare before getting stuck in! I will still have a pond but at a different spot in the garden. For now I have a blanket to be completed before the summer sets in and many more creative projects in the 'planning' stage.

Petals......

..................pointed...................

.............layered..................

....................velvety....................

.....................softly rounded. What's your kind of petal?

Happy Being Me

If you want to read more then take a look at my blog update over at Mutant Trees.

The First Day of Spring

Today is a glorious first day of spring. The sky is cornflower blue and the air is fresh enough to blow away the cobwebs. Once a week I am giving myself an 'artists day'. This is a day where I go off on my own and do something I enjoy in order to get a bit of creative inspiration. Today I decided to have a walk to the other end of town (the pretty part) and take some photo's and soak up some creativity. The tree blossom is so pretty but short lasting.

This is a lovely walk by the river with some lovely little cottages.

This church spire seemed to go on for ever. I think I will go back there and have a closer look at the architecture and get some close up shots.

In the middle of this photo and slightly to the left is a little wooden gate. Oh how I would love to know what lies at the other side. The house on the right is one of a row of houses that back on to the river. If the residents go out of their back gates there is a couple of feet of land and then the river immediately in front of them. I stood and listened for a while. Not many people passed me by. I listened to the birds, watched the Canada geese drinking the river water and took in the moment.

Here are more beautiful blossom trees. Beautiful, really beautiful.

*I have just updated my other blog at Mutant Trees if you want to take a look.

A Fair Spring Fair

Today I went off on my annual jaunt to the Country Living Spring Fair in Islington, London. I thought that the £15.00 entry fee was a bit steep but I did get a goody bag including the above items.

I also got a couple of good catalogues.........................

...............a free cotton bag and two wonderful catalogues from a company I haven't heard of before. One was ethical clothing and the other was home wares.

I love this painting on the front cover.

Lots of lovely, colourful cushions inside.

Inspirational, outdoor scenes.

Fresh cool colours.

More lovely pictures to look at.

I didn't buy much at the fair. I was drawn to these printed cards by Sharon Blackman though. She makes lovely textile pictures from recycled fabrics.

I also bought these teeny weeny cookie cutter beads.

Here's a rather blurry shot to show just how small they are.

I thought these 100% cotton tea towels were a bargain at £10.00 for 3 packs of three.

They are generous in size as you can see here.

I may make an apron with one or two of them!

You can even use the webbing tape that is part of the packaging to make the apron 'strings' with!

Look! They are even big enough to make a full length apron!

Another apron shot taken artistically by my son (who I made quit his computer game in order to take the photos.)

Here the tea towel is folded over in half with the webbing tape placed between. I think there are loads of possibilities with these tea towels. They definitely were my bargain of the day.

New Blog on the Block

Today, out of nowhere, I decided to start up a new blog. It will be more focused on the arts/crafts/creative side of my life. I will however keep blogging here too. If you want to go and have a peek then my new blog is called Mutant Trees and if you click on the name up in the right hand corner it will take you there.

Gratitude

For many years I have read/collected self help/improvement and creative lifestyle books. Each time I get a new book I think - this is it. This book will change my life. They don't. In order to change my life I have to be willing to change myself and so far I have been reluctant to do so for reasons that evade me. Maybe I quite like me and don't see any reason to change after all these years! One very good piece of advice that I did pick up though was from a website that I discovered last year http://simpleabundance.com/gratitude_journal.html that recommends keeping a gratitude journal. Each night before lights go out I write 5 good things about my day. 5 things to be grateful for. I have been doing this now since October last year and I find so much in my day to be grateful for. Sometimes the things are mundane such as 'I am grateful for finishing the pile of ironing' or it might be about receiving nice comments from bloggers. I have found that by focusing my attention on the good things in my life the good things get bigger and the not so good things seem to diminish. It is also a good thing to do just before bed as you go to sleep on a positive note. I am still on a quest for the ultimate book on self improvement/discovery though! Can you recommend any to me?

First Birthday!

My first blog post was on March 1st 2008, so today I have been blogging for a year. The first post was about memories of Sunday tea-time as a child and included a recipe for Victoria Sponge Cake. I must make one this week! As I didn't have a Birthday cake to show I thought you might like to see the plant above. It is a fancy flowered primrose and rather cheery to look at on this overcast and dreary day. This is going to be a very busy month in the garden as there is much to be sown, grown on, planted, cut back and re-organised so I best get to it!