Sunday 23 December 2012

Wednesday 19 December 2012

Screen printing update

Just a quick update from my screen printing on fabric course. We have now finished for the Xmas break, but unfortunately I didn't quite get as far as I wanted to. The plan was to print linen tea towels as xmas gifts for family and friends, but the whole process has taken longer than I imagined, or what I wanted to do was a little more complicated than my beginner ability!

I needed to order a second screen or lose the first images I had made, so that took a week. Then, when I put the photo emulsion on I couldn't have done it quite right, as when I washed the screen after adding the image, part of the image washed away - so I had to clean the whole screen and start again.

However, during the last session I did manage to print the base elephant and get the overlaying image printed onto it.... ta dah!!!! My purple elephant.



Bit of a smudge and not quite aligned, but hey, I'm pleased with my first attempts and can't wait for next term.

Monday 17 December 2012

Lovely time with a very dear friend

Before I start - my 'first year of blogging' giveaway is now winging its way to 'That Girl'. I hope you find the diary useful!

I have just had a wonderful time catching up with a dear friend I have known just about all my life. Our paths do not cross that often now as we live at opposite ends of the country, but when I am 'down south' I do try and get together with her. We lived next door to each other in our childhood and then she moved just a few doors away. We now both have grown up families of a similar age, so there was lots to catch up on, and it was so nice that she could visit us for a few days.


I couldn't be there to meet her from the station, as I was at a choral society rehearsal for an event that evening, so J was on train and looking after duty until we met for a pizza before the concert. The concert was made up of choral parts and solos from Handel's Messiah, followed by 'Gloria' from John Rutter. It all felt very Christmassy, especially as the church was decked with over 40 trees as part of the Christmas Charity Tree festival.

We did a lot of chatting, eating, drinking, walking and shopping over the five days she was with us. Such good quality time together, it was great. The weather was also kind so we could get out and about. We did local walks with the dog, and also walked in Geltsdale, which is north Cumbria and finished our walk at the 'Duke of Cumberland' in Castle Carrock for lunch.




[Unfortunately I slipped on some mud on the way round, and since my friend has gone home I have had to go to the physio for some treatment!]

The next day was glorious, blue skies but rather nippy as the temperature had dropped, and we went to Blackwell, The Arts and Crafts House close to Bowness on Windermere. Coffee first, of course, then onto the house - it is absolutely stunning now it has been fully restored, and the christmas decorations are wonderful. There were several exhibitions in the upstairs rooms and I particularly enjoyed the Arts and Craft Enamel. We couldn't take photos inside the building but here are a few from the outside.
beautiful blue sky
frosty leaf

Welcoming door
Loved this down spout
View towards the mountains from the grounds

View of Lake Windermere from the grounds
Then on to Windermere and the huge Lakeland store where we had lunch before spending time looking around at all the things we never knew that we needed! We ended up buying several stocking presents:) Outside was a huge Christmas tree - all very festive.


On the craft front, I bought some material whilst on holiday in France recently. Some beautiful linen in reds and blues from a shop in Narbonne. I have been waiting to make a little present for my friend, and as she has recently bought a Kindle - the red linens were perfect to make her a Kindle cosy. So one evening we set to and made it - which she loves :) It was great to have someone else around to take photos!
lovely linen
lining material - we used the far right
designing as I went along!


I have also finished a couple of door stops that a friend had asked if I would make for her, she has a young kitten and it keeps getting shut in rooms, so hopefully they should come in very handy. - so all in all a very busy time.

Now back to the Christmas countdown, eek! still lots to do, but at a slower pace due to my silly injury!
Hope all your preparations are going well :)

Sunday 2 December 2012

Starting the Christmas countdown

Well I managed to get the Advent Calendar up on the right day, and to send the girls a little advent card for them to open each day at Uni.

I made this one when the girls were very small and it comes out every year and really starts the countdown to Christmas - concentrating the mind on all the things we need to get done. When the the girls were little they would find a little gift in the pockets each day, but now it just looks festive on the wall and makes me realise how much I still have to organise!



So, without really checking to see if I had everything in the store cupboard I mixed up the Christmas cake (a little late, but never mind) - a slightly modified recipe this year as we didn't have any oranges to zest, so used satsumas instead and had to use a variety of nuts instead of almonds. But it looks OK. I phoned the girls to let them have a virtual wish whilst I was stirring the mix and then tipped it into the tin


Hmm, no parcel paper to tie around the tin to stop the cake burning. A little improvisation - I cut up a paper carrier bag! So now the cake is safely in the oven cooking.


Now, what's next to do? Making cards I think....

Dont forget to drop by and join in my first year of blogging giveaway, it will close on Wednesday 5th.

Monday 26 November 2012

Country Living Fair at Glasgow and a Giveaway!

I have just had a brilliant few day in Glasgow, helping my friends daughter on her stand V. N. T. G. Designs at the 'Country Living Christmas Fair'. VNTG makes quirky vintage inspired products including lovely covered notebooks and cards. It was such good fun meeting lots of lovely people who came to visit the stand, and listening to all their appreciative comments, and helping them choose their Christmas gifts. It was also hard work, and by the end of each day my feet were really in need of a good rest!

This was us on the first morning putting the finishing touches to everything before the fair started, you can still see the stock boxes in the middle. The light is not good inside the hall for taking photos - but it does give an impression of our stand and we had a great spot right next to the Country Living stand!




I have also just realised that I have just passed a blogging milestone so thought I would have a little 'giveaway' to celebrate. I started recording my crafty exploits just over a year ago now, and it has been interesting for me to look back and see what I have actually achieved during the year - I've tried new things like felting and screen printing, and picked up again on some old skills with knitting and crochet and have continued with my sewing and patchwork.
I know that quite a few people dip into my blog, some leave comments which are lovely to read, so to celebrate my first year of blogging I am offering a loose covered 2013 diary that I have made, some Xmas goodies and no doubt chocolate! I thought a diary might be good idea as I'm already getting dates that I need to record for next year!


Please join in, and tell your friends! You just need to leave a comment to go in the draw.


Just pop back on 5th December and hopefully we will have a winner. Good luck!

Thursday 8 November 2012

Sunsets and Sunshine

Just look at that silhouette of the plants against the sky at dusk, with the sun setting behind. This is the evening view from the house we are staying in.


I didn't quite manage to match it up with the daytime....


.... and this is the view from the bedroom window, so lovely to wake up to!


Lunch was in the sun today as well, we sat out on the decking and munched away.


J had been out to buy bread, and came back with a lovely surprise pud for us to share from the patisserie in the village. It was delicious, it had a crispy crunchy hazelnut flavoured base with a chocolate mousse topping - I must send J out shopping again!


We thought we had better try and walk off some of the calories so went to explore a beach not too far away at Plage de l'Escalet. We didn't stay here but walked on to the headland at Cap Tillat.


This is where we were heading for, the walk was marked and well trodden so it was not difficult. A sand spit links the mainland to the Cap which had beautiful sand and was covered with lots of water washed and sun bleached branches and twigs. We headed on to the Cap and followed the trail up so we could take in the view- you can just see my head peaking up near the rocks!


The area is well known for its rare plants many of which have adapted to this arid salt sprayed habitat. There were lots of plants that I didn't recognise, such as the shrub below, but others that I did such as prickly pear and tamarisk.





We didn't get back home for the sunset tonight from our deck, but watching the sun at the Cap just beginning to drop and leaving a shimmering silver line across the sea was just as magical.

Sunday 4 November 2012

Walking by the canal



Walk

Although the weather is quite poor for this time of year in the south of France we decided that we had to make the most of it and get out and do things. The 'Canal du Midi' is just a step away from where we are staying so we set off in a light drizzle of rain, but it was really quite pleasant strolling along looking at the beautiful plane trees and seeing all the autumn colours. The leaves are just turning here, not like at home where the colours were much more golden.





There had been quite a strong wind a couple of days ago so every so often there were drifts of leaves piled up just waiting for someone to jump into and kick around!


After a half hours stroll we reached our destination the Ecluses de Fonseranes. Here the canal has a change in height of 25 m by a series of eight staircase locks over a distance of 300 m. The photo doesn't do justice to the engineering that went on in order to build the locks - it was really impressive - but the lack of light with the rain made the photo look really flat. The canal was built in the 17th century and in 1999 the canal was added to the UNESCO list of world heritage sites.





Unfortunately we didn't see any action at the locks - there were no boats waiting to go up or down, so after reading the interpretation boards we headed back as by now the drizzle had turned to rain.


What a difference a day can make! The next day was fabulous blue skies and quite warm and we headed down to the coast to Guissen and wandered around the marina looking at the boats.



We called in at Narbonne, and the market at Les Halles. Mmmmm what a great place!





Then went into the town to the Cathederal and to window shop in the streets of the old town. I did find a lovely fabric shop and did venture in and found some lovely linen - more about that some other time.








We have also visited marinas at Martigues and at Agde, and have now moved on along the coast and are staying near La Croix Valmer.

As the weather has been poor, I have had a chance to finish some of my knitting.....


....so I have my new dog walking hat for when I get home and also a cowl type scarf to keep my neck warm.