Stress levels are mounting as Aldborough Creative draws near. Eeeek it's this weeekend and the next one.
I nearly went into melt down last Saturday when something I was making didn't work out right.
"I'm never doing this again," I heard myself say. Let's just say the jury is out on that one.
Here's the flyer...
We'll be doing tea and homemade cakes both Saturday and Sunday at Aldborough if you want to pop along and say hello.
Life is busy at the moment so I am I am afraid I have been neglecting my blog slightly.
Firstly I am directing (and producing - not by choice) a the Aldborough Players production of The Importance of Being Earnest which involves rehearsals twice a week, set painting, costume organising, curtain sewing etc.
Secondly we have another Aldborough Creative exhibition coming up at the end of the month and as we are also part of Norfolk Open Studios this year we are having to be open two weekends. So last Monday I decided I ought to make some more items to put on show.
I embarked on a bag using the peanut shaped resist championed by Heather over on Wool Love Functional. This is how it looked while in progress. At this point I wondered if I was obsessed with my ukulele as it looked like a big purple felt guitar!
But undeterred I continued and made another one on Wednesday afternoon. So I now have two bags laid out on the table waiting for me to finish them off today.
Hummm.....think I'll go and walk the dog!
This was a bad year to embark on the sky scarf project as the weather has been so bad. Here's how it looks going so far. It isn't really wider at the start - that's just the fault of the poor photographer!
As you can see grey is predominant colour. I can't believe how dreary it's been this year. There was a spell in March where everything turned blue and we got out the garden table and chairs. How silly were we? They've not been used since.
I now have to order more grey wool!
Over on Super Gran you can see how Jaqueline's scarf is coming on.
And on 11am Hawthorn is getting on with her scarf as well. She has decided to put in yellow for sunshine and break the yarns off at the end of each row.
I find it fascinating to see the difference in the three projects.
My blogging has been a bit sporadic lately and that is because I have discovered the ukulele!
At the end of last term my husband was asked if he'd run a ukulele class for the summer term. So naturally our house became a hive of ukulele activity. They were fetched down off the walls and we started playing them again.
I volunteered to be the guinea pig for his lessons and soon got the ukulele bug. Of course I needed my own ukulele. Luckily I was off to London to see a friend's son's art exhibition (more of that another time) so I could take a quick detour to the Duke of Uke just off Brick Lane. Very convenient for Liverpool Street Station.
Really I felt a bit of a fraud in the shop, but a very nice and long-suffering assistant helped me choose. He spent a lot of time making sure I got just what I wanted even though I was down near the bottom end of the market. And here's is is:
Now I'm practising away. I'm not a natural I have to say. It's rather galling watching my daughter pick it up far quicker than me. She wants one for her birthday in July....ooh I feel another trip to The Duke of Uke coming on!
I can heartliy recommend giving the ukulele a go. It's great fun and once I've got a bit better I may even join a group - perhaps I can get Dave to start one in the village.
I am not good at finishing things off and the tumble polisher incident didn't help. Luckily I could get a replacement lid for just £3.95 plus p & p, so I'm back in business.
The first thing I did when the lid arrived was to make the catches for these necklaces that have been waiting around for a few weeks.
And hey presto, all finished - well nearly. If you look closely you will see that I still need to trim off the ends and give them a dob of superglue.
Finally thank you for your good wishes, I feel much better now but for a few days there I was very devoid of energy.
Today was not a good day.
Firstly, I felt grim as I seem either to have some kind of chest infection, or someone is inside my body scrubbing at the lining of my lungs with a wire brush.
And secondly, the top to my tumble polisher split. I have a feeling it was entirely my own fault. Last week I couldn't be bothered to heat up the top with warm water before putting it on. It all seemed ok at the time, but when I came to use it today there was a big split in it. I tried to mend it neatly with super glue and gaffer tape - see below.
However as soon as I fitted this broken lid on to the barrel it split again. More gaffer tape was required. Water still came out but with even more tape all around the join it held - just.
I have emailed the company I got it from and hope they can get me a replacement lid.
So the warning is don't take short cuts - it isn't worth it.
Last autumn my friend Claire over on Quirky Dreaming gave me some glass beads that she brought back from a holiday in Venice. Somehow once winter set in I didn't seem to be able to do anything with them, but this week as the sun started shining I got to thinking about how they would look best.
And today I made myself this simple necklace. The colours are so bright and reminscent of Venice that I didn't feel they needed any fancy work.
Hope you approve Claire.
Yesterday I picked up my hens and settled them into their new hen house and run. And here are Bluebell, Hastings, Ginger and Moira in all their glory. I chose four different varieties a Bluebelle, a Sussex, a Babcock and an Isa Brown (for winter laying).
The Bluebell and Sussex were what the breeder called seconds because they had been pecked and their tails need to grow again. The Babcock (Ginger) reputedly had just started laying and the other three need another couple of weeks then they'll be ready apparently.
And sure enough this morning there was a lot of excited noise coming from the henhouse and Ginger had laid her first egg!
Happy days.
About a year ago I bought some coloured wool to crochet some Japanese flowers but they were never really a success, so recently I crocheted a hat for this little one.
I then did another variation for myself to wear as the weather gets warmer. But I've still got masses of the 'wool' left over and am giveing it away. It's 100% acrylic and probably 4 ply. There's plenty of the three colours - salmon pink, turquoise and lime green - to make a couple of hats.
I'm happy to post anywhere in the UK. Just comment below before Sunday 18th 6pm and I'll get back to you for an address. If more that one person is interested I'll pull the names out of a hat - appropriately enough!
PS: The wool has been taken now to make blankets for Japan. See comments.
