Blocking

There's something about blocking which is final. It gives some kind of pleasure which is linked to a project being finished. It signals the end of something, yet at the same time, the begining of another. The end of the crafting cycle, but the start of the actual life of the project. The moment it starts being lived in, it starts serving its purpose. Blocking is time consuming, yet soothing at the same time. I feel like I'm putting myself through this process right now, at this very moment. I'm ready for a change, I'm in the drying process. The pins have been put in place. I'm ready for something new.

Landmark birthdays

Not mine, but two people in Boyfriend's family. Two ladies reaching an amazing birthday. Both are turning 90 this week. How brilliant is that?! So I made a couple of birthday cards... I had to put this secret project of mine I'm working on at the moment to the side and pick up my scissors and glue...

I've made cards using beads in the past and I love it. Although it does take a bit of time and effort, I think it's worth it, they make it look so much nicer. And this one below, well I guess I got a little glitter happy, but who can blame me?! The foam makes it fun too, I was pleased with this one as well. What do you reckon?

Happy February to you all, I hope you're still on track with your New Year's resolutions and have enjoyed 2010 so far! xx

Ta-dah!!!! It's finally finished!

Although was it worth the effort? I guess it was, I think (and I hope you agree with me!) it looks quite beautiful. But boy did it take forever to make.

When I see it, I think of all those evenings spent watching tv with a needle in my hand and Boyfriend (rightly so) complaining that this tray with threads was always in the way...

Then there was the incident when the needle went missing overnight, only to reappear stuck in the front of my slipper the following morning... honestly, what was that all about?!

But hey, 'tis all done now. And I'm so proud. I finished it off the other day, I was on a cross stitching marathon I tell you, I just wanted it to be fi-ni-shed.

As you can see, it's a book marker and the cross stitching depicts lavender flowers.

So I stuffed some hand picked lavender from last summer inside and it smells divine!!! Can't wait to start a new book so I actually have a reason to use it!

Happy Friday all xx

Heavenly sky

I actually ran out the house when I saw what was going on outside the other evening... Have a look...

I ran to the top of a hill and clicked away...

It took my breath away (quite literally actually - running to the top of a hill made for quite ghastly weezing!)

Happy Thursday all - hey, it's nearly the weekend! xx

Sunshine Award

If you've been here before, you'll know that I love going over to certain blogs, to which I occasionally link to. One of my all time favourites is The Girl and she has just given me an award!!! Thank you very much, it makes me feel very special!!! If you've never been over to The Girl, seriously you're missing out. Think amazing writting skills and excrutiatingly funny. And quite oddly very similar to me in many ways!! ;-)

So the rules are to pass this on to 12 people. I'm going to cop out of this like The Girl and award it to however many people I want. So here goes... I love love love all these blogs, so I'll just try and summarize why I always go back to them in a few words.

The Praire Girl: simply and truly inspiring

Swirly Thoughts: cute, cheerful and full of ideas

Quilt While You're Ahead: great photos, funny, simply lovely

Fancy Elastic: always chooses really cool knitting pattern which I can't help but copy!

Tollipop: another world, stunning photos, amazing artist

Do you mind if I knit: go and get your explosive daily dose of colour!

I had others to add, but they'd already been given this award! Happy Wednesday to all of you! xx

ps: Hope you've enjoyed these photos, I thought I'd dig through some I took last year in July to fit in with this sunshine award... oh summer I await you with open arms!!!

pps: Oops forgot to post the rules! Here they are:

• The Sunshine Award is awarded to bloggers whose positivity & creativity inspires others in the blog world
• If you are awarded this award, put the logo on your blog or within your post
• Pass the award onto 12 bloggers
• Link the nominees within your post
• Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.- Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.

London Town

Last year, Boyfriend's sister got married. Because she likes me and she had this humongous amount of trust in me, she asked me to make her wedding cake. Yep, you read correctly, her wedding cake!!! Anyway, to cut a long story short, it all went well and both the groom and the bride were extremely pleased. So much so that they gave me a really cool present to say thank you: a champagne afternoon tea for two at a swanky hotel in Covent Garden. How cool is that?! I really didn't expect anything, because they paid for everything, all the ingredients and stuff, and I was more than happy to give some of my time. Since we had no plans for the weekend, I booked us in for Saturday afternoon. So off we went, dressed up a little and went down to London to enjoy a spot of tea and cakes. And you know what, it was lush!!!

We started the day by walking down to the British Museum. I love seeing random things, and this one Boyfriend spotted. Felt like a paparazzi taking photos of them, but it just looked so cool...

Being members of the BM, we get free access to special exhibitions, so made the most of it and went to see one about the Aztecs that was on for a final couple of days. I love just walking around museums, and the BM never fails to amaze me.

We then made our way down to the hotel, walking past an amazing flower stool. Possibly one of the most expensive I've seen recently. Honestly, London prices!!

Followed the afternoon tea. One word: indulgence. Now, forget I'm meant to be watching what I'm eating. Sometimes, you just have to let it go. Live a little. Well I certainly had no problem doing that!!

Think scones, clotted cream, jams, chocolate brownie, finger sandwiches, cupcakes, fresh strawberries... YUM!!!

After having filled up our not-so-small bellies, we went down for a walk around Covent Garden. I went in this lovely shop for the first time ever, and didn't stay very long, it was just so busy!!

Had fun in another shop, reminiscing about past (think teenage years) shoe ownerships... They were dead cool back then!! F., see those with the union jack?!! Boyfriend couldn't believe it when I told him you had a pair like that!!

And we finished up in one of my favourite places, Covent Garden market.

Hope you enjoyed this little post as much I did writing it up and going through all the photos I took! xx

You make me happy

Thank you!! Honestly, I don't know how many times I've said this before, but I'd like to say it again, THANK YOU!!!!! I guess I'm always so amazed at how kind you people are. Thank you to all of you who took the time to leave comments recently, you won't believe how happy they've made me. And more importantly, they were all interesting, and inspiring. You shared some of your experiences, and I thank you for that. Sometimes, in the crazy environment that we live in, it's easy to forget that other people go through similar troubles, that people have similar issues and uncertainties. Everything seems to go so fast, people appear so focused and determined, it's easy to feel like you're falling behind. But reading your comments has given me energy and drive to sort things out! So once again (and I promise it's the last time, well at least in this post) thank you!

Right, moving on. I'm very proud to say that I managed to tick off quite a few things off my to-do list this weekend. Listen to this (can you hear the drum roll...?) I went to my gym class on Saturday AND went for a jog yesterday!!! Hip hip, hooray!!!! No but honestly, I feel very proud, even if a little stiff today...! Didn't get round to looking at my CV though, so I'm going to do that before the end of the week. That's my goal for the next few days.

And regarding the healthy snacks, well I got plenty of fruit and low fat yogurts for the moment. But that just sounds a little boring compared to the snack ideas that Felix has give me. Thank you so much (doh! I've done it again!). Well I don't care, you deserve a massive thank you Felix!!! Thanks for taking the time to give me all that advice, goodness knows I need it!

So, what else was I up to this weekend? It feels like I had quite a relaxing time, which is a really nice feeling. I feel content and it's Monday morning, what's going on?! Well I guess all the cross stitching might have helped. The end is near so that fills me with joy!! I have to admit, I don't think cross stitching is for me, it's just so slow moving... It just doesn't give me the excitement I get from other crafts, maybe I'm just too impatient!! If you want to have a look at a hilarious example of cross stitching though, go and check out The Girl, it's hilarious!!

Another thing which made me really really REALLY happy this weekend is this (and you're now going to understand what the first three photos have been about!):

Reggie I love you!!!!! Reggie the cat has sent me this wonderful super cute pinny. I love it!!! Blogland is such a wonderful place, full of immensely generous people. Thank you Ali!!

Right, I've got more to tell you about, but I need to get on with things so it'll be for another day! Hope you all had a lovely weekend and that you've got a happy Monday in sight xxx

Thanks and threads

Ladies, I feel overwhelmed by your messages!!!! Thank you so much for your kind words, your much needed advice and encouragement. I feel so much more positive about things. You're really brilliant. What I mean is that, sometimes, it's difficult to mention certain things to even your closest of friends, due to various circumstances. Here, I know that I'll get honest opinions, and I value that very much. So thanks again for taking the time to read this little blog of mine and sharing your views with me, I'm really grateful.

Felix, I'd love to receive some tips on snacking etc, please please send them over!! I'd considered joining WW at the end of last year, but counting just isn't for me! It would drive me insane! I need to change my entire behaviour, and more importantly need to enforce some serious portion control!

So, actions for this weekend include:

1. go to my Saturday gym class tomorrow morning - first time back since way before Christmas, I know I'll be panting like a horse at the end, it's not going to be pretty!
2. update my CV so it's all ready to send out to potential employers
3. fill the fridge and cupboards with healthy snacks
4. go for (what should become) my regular Sunday run

Bring it on!!! Hahaha!! Right, before I go mental and collapse in front of this mountain of self expectations, I'm going to show you what I've been doing on the crafty side of things the last few evenings. I've put my big knitting needles aside and picked a somewhat smaller one... Yes, I've been doing some cross stitching! To Boyfriend, it's all "knitting" but you know better! What happened was, a while back, I'd picked up these two kits from a shop. One I completed a little while ago, but the other has been taking up floor space. I actually started it last year, around November time I guess. It even nearly made it as my nan's Christmas present, but that obviously didn't happen! (It's ok though, she loved the shawl!!).

So there, I'm determined to see this all done fairly soon! Only because I'm organised like that, and I'm itching to start something else that I've actually designed myself!! I'm so excited to tell you about it, but I'll have to keep it secret for a little longer! Oh, and apologies for the rubbish photos, I haven't quite mastered my new camera yet, hence the funky mid-field focus...!

Have a lovely Friday xx

Inspired

That's how I'm feeling. Well, vaguely. Thank you so very much to those of you who left me such kind and above all interesting messages to yesterday's post. Seeing how hard I'm finding the controlling what I eat/ doing some exercice thing, I think I'm going to go with Swirlyarts and try and focus primarily on getting fit. Hopefully the eating with get itself into check automatically without it feeling like too much of a chore. Thanks for the advice!

And onto the work front. I found what you all said really interesting. Jane's story in particular was very thought provoking. I need to find something that makes me happy. And hopefully I can earn enough when doing whatever it is I end up doing so that I can live comfortably. I think this has made me realise I really need to start applying to new jobs. Looking quickly yesterday made me realise that there are a lot of January application deadlines out there, so I better get a move on! And thinking more seriously about possible business ideas...

In the meantime, I better crack on with what I'm meant to be doing, ie what pays the bills at the end of the month! Hope you all have a nice Thursday x

ps Sorry for the random photos, I was having fun with my new camera last night! More on that soon!!

Funny times and knitty times

Good morning all! I meant to write a little post yesterday, but couldn't quite find the right words. Things are fine really, but there's one thing bugging me and it's work. It's making me have a little rethink about what it is that I do and if that's really what I want to be doing in 10 years time. I'm doing a job that I trained for for quite a significant period of time (about 5 years of university), but now I find it quite boring and the pay's not great. So what should I do? There's lots of jobs out there, but you need specific qualifications for them, so that's a no-no. And there's others that seem ok, but would involve taking a significant pay cut. A pay cut from a not so big pay to start with leaves you with not very much... There's things that I wouldn't mind doing, like setting up my own business, but you need quite a lot of cash to get things like that sorted. And unfortunately, I don't have that kind of money! So what do people do? What do you do? Survive on very little so that you can do something you enjoy, or swallow your ambition and desires and stick with something because it pays well?

While I leave you to ponder this existential question that I'm sure you didn't quite expect so early on a Wednesday morning (sorry!), I'll leave you with this. My last knitted project. It's beautifully soft, made with Debbie Bliss Alpaca and Silk. Honestly, does it get any better than that? Alpaca AND silk?

I made up the design and I'm really quite chuffed. If you haven't guessed, it's a neck warmer. I managed to get a (let's face it, quite rubbish) photo the other day, but man is it hard to take a photo of yourself! As you can see, I didn't do so well at conveying the true colour, which is shown properly on the above images. But for an action shot, here you go...

I love the chunky buttons, I like the way it finishes it in (what I hope is) a stylish way.

ps after Sunday's run, things aren't going so well. I put my hands up, I feel quite ashamed. The whole work thing you see... You're probably going to think I'm a right old pig. Last night I had a whole pack of Doritos and dip. And no, not the small size. Anyone else comfort eat??!