Easter and beyond

Oh dear, it's been a while since my last blog - don't really know where the time goes, but I have had a busy couple of weeks. Had a lovely Easter weekend - thankfully no chocolate (horrible stuff!) but these beautiful flowers from my handsome friend instead. So much nicer, and I am still enjoying them. And, let's be honest, there isn't much chance that chocolate would still be knocking about a week later, is there?

I spent one day before Easter at a friend's house, making felt. She made sensible things like bags, and I amused myself making felt "beads" of various sizes. And yes, of course they were deliberately in different sizes! Anyway, I came home and made this ...

A tiny bit scratchy, but what's a few red weal marks around the neck when you're making a fashion statement. AND when I went shopping in St Albans, a sales assistant complimented the necklace and asked me where I'd bought it!

Then, whilst in a jewellery-making mood, I made this chain maille bracelet with coloured jump rings from a kit, I bought ages ago from Beadsisters

It looks complicated but the instructions were really easy to follow.On Wednesday I went to the V & A to see the "HATS, An Anthology by Stephen Jones" I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone who is interested in hats or fashion. Obviously, if you don't like hats, there are probably days out that you'd enjoy more! It was a beautiful day and we sat outside for coffee and watched everyone enjoying the sunshine.

Had another day in London on Friday, meeting up with a mate from Birmingham for lunch and a bit of shopping, then Leyton Orient on Saturday (they lost). Only one more game this season, then every Saturday off for a few months. How WILL I cope???

More daffodils - they're real, but the apples aren't - they are wooden and made by my Dad - woodturner to the stars!

And obviously these aren't real either - they are the knitted flowers I made at a workshop at Cottenham in February (for all those who say I never finish anything!)

And talking of finishing things, I recently bought a ball of this pink bobbly yarn .........

And I just finished making it into this scarf.....

It was fairly quick to knit - I just had to fiddle around with needle sizes until I could fit two stitches between the bobbles. It feels lovely and soft, but it's probably going to be put away until next winter - it's very warm.

I've been doing some more sitting for a couple of art classes - this is becoming a bit of a habit.

They are both brilliant, but then they ARE the work of the tutors!

Today I have spent most of the day in the garden - my back is sore, my arms are scratched, my fingernails are shot to pieces, and I've got gardener's hands - but the garden is looking lovely.

And finally - I'll end with a heart, newly repotted and lightly trimmed.Let's hope this weather continues over the Easter weekend too!

Another beautiful sunny week - had a great day at City and Guilds working with Fibre DK aka Lutrador, and sheer fabrics- AND I've been working on my homework ever since.

On Thursday I got my oven fixed, so there'll be no stopping me now. Apparently the element needed to be replaced, and the Mr Fixer who sorted it suggested that it was lack of use that was the problem. Oh really, I'll bear that in mind. If it goes again, I'll give up on the whole 'oven' business and it can become another kitchen cupboard. In the afternoon, I decided to cycle to Stapleford to my beading class. I allowed an hour, and arranged a couple of pitstops if needed, but I obviously grossly underestimated my level of fitness, as I got there in half an hour. Maybe I should put my name down for one of the cycling events in 2012??? Anyway, I whiled away the extra half hour by riding along the footpath by the river.
Friday I was pottering in the garden, and gave my lawn the first cut. Was pleasantly surprised when my lawnmower started on the first pull - previously I have had to resort to the Basil Fawlty method, by speaking to it very sternly and kicking it.
Today, we went for a lovely walk along the river, in the sunshine, and without a coat!

And to think that only a few weeks ago we were knee deep in snow. Ok, maybe not knee deep...

Sunshine and slippers

Hasn't the unexpected and unseasonal sunshine been lovely?

Maybe it'll stay like this until about September or October. What do you mean? I can't help it, I'm an optimist. Even in the face of adversity - like when my cooker blew up on Friday night just as I was going to prepare a sumptuous feast. Ok, so I was cooking frozen cheesey pancakes, but one man's meat is another man's poison, and I LIKE cheesey pancakes. I had no power, except for the lights, and at first I thought it was the television, which would have been a bit of a pain, then I thought it was the PC - which would have been a disaster, but fortunately, a foray into the meter cupboard to inspect the RCD thingy revealed that it was in fact, just the cooker, which is obviously an optional extra in my house, and not worth worrying about. So I didn't. And I still haven't. It's nearly summer and everyone knows you only eat salads in the summer, don't you. I do think, though that it should still be under guarantee - I've only had it for about four years, and in vintagerockchick years, that means it's only about 3 months old, given the number of times I've used it. My Dad reckons it's caked up with dust.

You wouldn't think I'd still be prepared to sit for another art class would you?? Well, clearly I just don't learn, so that's just what I did on Saturday. It was lovely to meet up with a group who I used to paint with - I haven't seen them for ages. I'm only going to put one rendition on here - Dave said he would make me look 20 years younger - and I think he has! Look what my friend Jane has bought me! I'm not really a slipper wearer, I think my aversion to indoor footwear dates back to when my Mum sewed black elastic across my slippers when I was a child, to stop me kicking them off - but these are the most beautiful specimens. Leopardskin ballet pumps with pink ribbons and real pink diamonds on the front. Jane says she got them because she was fed up with my indoor boots (the closest I get to slippers) leaving black marks on her kitchen floor. To be honest though, after an hour of my pirouetting around her kitchen in these little beauties, I think she would welcome the odd black mark.

Sunday was a beautiful day, and so we went for a lovely walk to the Woodman - where we had scampi and chips. Obviously, under normal circumstances I would have cooked a Sunday roast, but what with having no oven or anything .............

Finally, sorry if I'm becoming a bit of an ornithological bore, but look at the latest visitors to my bird feeder - I saw a bird I'd never seen before a couple of weeks ago, and yesterday I managed to get a photo of not one, but a pair of nuthatches. Bill Oddy, eat your heart out.

Aren't they lovely. And such an original excuse for being a bit late for work - "Sorry, but I was taking pictures of the nuthatches on my bird feeder". It worked for me.

So many jobs, so little time

Goodness, nearly two weeks - it HAS been really busy. Just a quick run through of what I've been up to - last Friday I saw "Whole Lotta Led", a great tribute band , with my two friends Tony (I described it as a Two Tone evening, but they groaned, so I won't bother mentioning that on here). Saturday I went to Flatford Mill and Dedham for a walk and lunch - recognise this?

It's the location for Constable's Haywain. Maybe I could paint my own version - and it could be ex-Constable's Haywain???

Then I became a domestic goddess for a day on Monday and did a thorough spring clean and made lemon curd. Yeah me! - made lemon curd. It's edible and everything!!!

Tuesday I sat for a local art class (fully clothed, I hasten to add!) - the students produced what can only be described as "varied" renditions of me. Some I think are very flattering, and those artists will continue to be on my Christmas card list .....

And then there were the rest; I think it's always interesting to see how others see you .....




Hmmmm. I appear to have many and varied personas, ranging from Eliza Doolittle through to an old hag from a Grimms Fairytale, via a bashed-in crab. And in one I bore more than a passing resemblance to Little Steven from Bruce Springsteen's East Street Band (and The Sopranos) Nice.
Anyway, to continue - Wednesday I worked at Art Van Go - obviously I need to earn some cash to pay for the urgently required facial surgery and then on Thursday, I braved the art class for a second time (some people never learn, and after the counselling, and then booking the facelift, and nose job, I'm actually starting to feel much better about myself).

In the afternoon I went up to town, and had a walk in the sunshine in St James Park

This is one of my favourite views - I love the contrast of the old and new architecture - The London Eye seen above the roofs at Wellington Barracks.

Then I went on to the Mall Galleries to see the work of the Prism group at the exhibition entitled "Headlines". Really beautiful and varied work, including beautiful graphic stitched pieces from Gina Ferrari - (see her photos of her exhibits at http://www.ginaferrari.blogspot.com/) and also Ruth Issett, who just happened to be coming in as I was leaving, so I went back and had a coffee with her and talked her into having her photo taken with her work - as always such great zingy colour

And, talking of colour, it's time I went down to my studio and did some work ....

I hardly spent anything ........

On Thursday, my friend Jill and I had a table at a local craft fair in aid of the Zoo Cafe Drop in Centre. Unfortunately not many visitors, so no one sold very much, but it was in a good cause and we enjoyed the day (and I've now got hundreds of hand made cards available to me!

Really enjoyed the Textiles in Focus exhibition at Cottenham this weekend. On Friday I went up as a worker, assisting Viv on the Art Van Go stand - we were really busy all day and I was glad Sally was on hand to help when Viv went off to run a workshop in the afternoon. The following day I went as a visitor (although I did end up working for a bit in the midday rush) and did a workshop in the morning called "Licenced to Frill" run by this lady who showed us how to knit flowers with ruffled edges (watch this space)

I met up with my sister for lunch and we had a good look round the show, and made one or two purchases (Can't say how much we bought or what we spent - you never know who might be reading this and we don't want to get told off!) but we had a lovely time. If you've never been to the Textiles in Focus show, and are in reasonable travelling distance of Cottenham (nr Cambridge) you really should think about going next year. See the Art Van Go blog for more information, and photos of some of the wonderful exhibitions that were there.

http://artvango.blogspot.com/

On the way home there was the most amazing sunset that seemed to last for ages with beautiful pinks reds and oranges and clouds that turned purple.

I stopped the car when I could and took these photographs, not great scenery, but I was in the car on the A10!

Spring has Sprung!

Just a quick post to celebrate the fact that at last Spring seems to be on it's way - it is much warmer outside this morning, and on wandering down to my shed, I noticed a little group of snowdrops - how did they manage to survive under all that snow?

The bird feeder that I had for Christmas has turned out to be a brilliant present. It is a constant stream of activity - birds are back and forwards all day. The fat balls have attracted birds I've never seen in the garden before - and a look in my ancient Observers' Book of Birds says they are long-tailed tits. They seem to fly around in gangs - I had four in the garden together at one time, two feeding and two waiting patiently for their turn. The robins also seem to be keen on the fat balls, whereas the Blue tits, Great tits and Coal tits seem to prefer the peanuts - I've been filling them up every two or three days (don't they know there's a credit crunch?)

As you can see from the picture, I seem to have temporarily thwarted the squirrels from nicking a complete fatball, having fashioned a kind of security system from wireform and wire. It makes it a right pain to refill though, and my Dad reckons that the squirrel will just round up his mates and they'll lift the entire caboodle out of the ground and carry it off.

I had an unexpected day out yesterday - Viv from Art Van Go rang to ask if I'd like to have a day at the Craft Hobby and Stitch Trade fair at the NEC. It meant getting up at the crack of dawn and getting to the studios for 6.30, to drive up to Birmingham with Kevin, but it was a great day. There's little or no opportunity to spend money, as its a trade show, so for once I managed to come back after a show without spending anything - and how often does THAT happen? AVG had a much smaller stand than they have at the retail fairs and it only took us about half an hour to get packed up, but they had a successful show. Here's Kevin chatting to Margaret Beal who was visiting for the day.

Ann and I tried to get into the Fashion trade show in a neighbouring hall, but they wouldn't let us in without the correct passes, and try as we might, we couldn't convince them that we were Cindy Crawford and Claudia Schiffer. Can't imagine why - surely even THEY have their off days?

Got back home at about 8pm and watched the Culture show on BBC2 to see my friend Jane (check out her blog at http://www.janeslondon.com/ ) being interviewed by Mark Kermode http://www.flickr.com/photos/janepbr/3274155965/ - I have such famous friends!