Overdue post

Hi, although posts are sporadic on here, I can't  bring myself to abandon the blog altogether. So anyone still reading this is stuck with me, sorry X
So, what have I been up to? Well, I had a stall at a ukulele festival in May to try and sell my straps although being directly opposite an established strap seller probably didn't help but I covered my expenses and the cost of the festival tickets so all is not lost especially since I would have been there anyway.

However, prior to the festival we took a few days out to recharge our batteries and headed north to our usual bolt hole north of the border although the weather left much to desire !! but after a couple of days or rain and sleet we began to see gaps in the cloud.............we love this island so much !!!

have a great weekend xx

Early morning thoughts

Hi, I've been awake since the early hours (it's 7.20 now) because my brain seems really overactive with ideas plus my eyes are itchy which is either early hayfever or the anisthetic drops from the optician yesterday.

The urge to sort out my workroom continues, yesterday I refound 30 or so coloured and water soluble pencils and some nice gel pens so I've ordered a large pencil case to house them all together. My paintbrushes have a new home and today I will go through my paint supplies.

I think this is all part of what turned my brain on as when I re find something, I want to use it and start to think of ideas and techniques etc. I'm really not sure what will happen when I start to sort out my sketchbooks! I suspect that my brain may simply explode!

The band of ukulele ladies has grown to 17, here are some of them, I have a couple of straps to finish over the next few days as well.

I'm also still enjoying the colouring books, it's giving me practise with  colour and technique although I have a long way to go. I've not really played around with paints and pens for quite some times and I'm quite rusty and sort of lazy when it comes to drawing something for myself.

However,  I am having lots of fun !!!!

Times now for coffee, have a great Sunday, will speak soon x

Easter plans

Hi

I've been full of cold this week and I'm actually really grateful for the fact that I don't work on bank holidays! , today's challenge is to sort out the mess that we call home and to finish some weaving since the rain seems to have set in for the day.

The latest strap is nearly finished which gives me around six that need finishing off and the crowd of ukulele ladies is growing ever bigger :-)

Do any of you have etsy or folksy shops?  I could do with some sort of online sales presence but really small scale as I'm often asked if I sell on line but up to now I've not ventured down that avenue. Any advice would be welcomed. 

Anyway, it's 8 in the morning and I'm off to start tackling this....

Who knows what I may find !!!

Not much going on

Hi,

I've just been thinking about what I've achieved this week and there's nothing too exciting to report :-( the day job continues as usual, I had a count up of how many weeks until our next break (too many still) BUT I did pay off the remaining money for the cottage rental so we can start to get a little excited.

This week's crafts with young people was a last minute decision due to another activity being cancelled so I just grabbed stuff from the cupboard  which turned out to be mould able candle wax.

As you can see,beads and colouring books also made their way onto the same table, always happens, start with three round tables and everyone wants to sit round the same one.

I also treated myself to this book as an antidote to work stress, made a start on it yesterday.

Great fun!

Ooh,  and the candles....

Well thats about it for now, there a loom to warp and straps to finish as the deadline is rapidly approaching, 

I hope you all had a great weekend !

going coastal

Hi

Yesterday we took a few hours out and visited Hunstanton in Norfolk, it was windy and cold and blew away a few winter cobwebs from our minds.

Highlights...watching the kite surfers, playing the penny falls and finding the biggest Belgian buns that we have ever seen!!!

lowlights...being asked if we could vote for the best bike in a group of Goldwings, declined as absolutely nothing stood out as being original amongst the kit trikes and bikes. I suspect that we are too used to a rally field full of different and seriously well used (and loved) bikes.


We found a few minions hanging around.......

 and did an amazing job of rescuing the captive animals!!

We hope you all had a great weekend, must go, the loom is calling.......

Ukulele ladies

Hi

Thanks for your comments, I made some more ladies and ended up with a ukulele group! I will be taking these to the festival but im not sure at the moment how to price them.

,

In the meantime I have to scrub off the paint from the latest session at the youth club as I managed to get black pain up my arms!

Ukulele lady #1

Hi, sorry that the photo is a bit poor but I've had to use my tablet to take the photo. This is ukulele lady #1 ,needle felt made on my embellished with a commercial felt backing and stuffing. I even got her to stand up which is quite impressive !

I'm playing around with small items based on  the ukulele for a festival in a couple of months the times where I will be hopefully selling my ukulele straps along with uke themed earing and key rings etc.

What do you think?

It's the weekend !!

Hi,
Thank goodness it's the weekend! Sometimes working full times seems a bit too much especially when you were only there for two days in the week previous due to illness.
Today is housework,  going into to town and sorting out one or two financial issues, stocking up on bird seed and trying to find times to chill.
I may buy some black card as we have some pastels at youth club and I thought we might try using them next week.
I also have a band on the loom that needs finishing and adding to the ever growing collection.

As you can see, the strap collection is growing nicely :-)

Not really here

Hi,
Some sort of virus got me this week and laid me low, away from computer screens and the bright lights of work it gave me chance to sit and think. I've sketched out an idea for one of my old style felted dolls, I've not made anything with the embellisher for years.

My plan is to have a play on Sunday and see where it leads me.

Meanwhile housework calls and a bit of music practice which is much needed for body and soul.

Nottingham Light Night

Today I have been having a turnout of stuff (again) this time it was clothes, 4 bags full for the charity shop, two bags of utter rubbish and a determination not to buy any new clothes this year!!

I need to go through my book collection soon, as I have probably several hundred mainly about textiles/craft/design etc. Not really sure how to sell any that are really interesting, any ideas??

Anyway, I didn't get round to posting photos from Nottingham Light night so here are one or two.

as usual, the ukulele club got in on the act as well :-)

Well, back to work, we have bags of campsite guides etc from the show yesterday to go through :-)

have a great weekend x

I walked my little legs off!,

We have just got back from the camping, caravan and motohome show at the NEC. We have climbed in and out of camper vans all day, checked out the layouts, sleeping arrangements,  beds that go up and down and chairs that swivel round. A great day out in spite of the fact that we can't  afford the fancy price tags.

Maybe at some point in the future.? Although this was an interesting conversion :-)

Crafting with young people

Just over a year ago I started working with young people who attend a youth group local to where I work, mainly I do some random craft work or play favourite games such as hedgehogs where you have balance wooden hedgehogs on top of each other until they fall down.

I though I'd share one or two of the items that have been made recently.

Felt pumpkins for Halloween 

Group jigsaw colouring, just get everyone to colour a piece with random colours. 

Scary monsters

Worry dolls

And puppets 

If anyone has any ideas to add to my list, I would appreciate it :-) we have touched on knitting, spinning,making felt brooches/key rings, bobbin lace, simple books over the last few months.

Inkle loom

It's a bit damp and grey here but I've had coffee, tidied the kitchen and got the washing machine on so I have a few mins to blog before tackling the next room.

I've not been spinning much for various reasons but I rediscovered the inkle loom and have been playing around with it for that last 9 months or so. I originally bought my first loom 3/4 years ago and like any serial fibre nut, played with it constantly for a few months then got distracted back into spinning.

I made myself a banjo strap a year or so ago and have recently been making ukulele straps, slowly perfecting the leather ends that have proved a little bit awkward

The original banjo strap, I then made a narrower strap to test out on my mandolin

then I started to play :-) 

 

please excuse the mess , I have tried to tidy up since !!

 

The project on the go at the moment involves using hand spun sari yarn that I spun at a demo a couple of years ago and has just been sitting around since. Exactly what this will become I'm not sure but the texture is interesting :-)

Well, its time to tackle the bathroom, wish me luck, speak soon, Sue x

Phew !!

So people still read blogs, thank goodness for that, I didn't really want to be talking to myself for the next few months!

So, a quick recap on some of the stuff from last year, since I am still unable to travel by bike we packed up the car in September and headed back to our bolt hole...the Isle of Skye to try and unwind a bit. We always joke that one year we will stay up there and each time its more of a wrench to come back.

We had booked a cottage, made the journey in around 10/11 hours arriving in time to sit and stare at across the bay and let the island work its magic.

You can't lose with a view like this from the front door.

perfect for watching the cruise ship/yacht come in.

we spent our time revisiting familiar haunts, catching up with people we know and chilling as much as possible.

I took the opportunity to drop in and spend some time with the local spinners group where I was made very welcome and I will be heading back in a few months for another session with them.

Portree harbour looking very pretty with its boats and painted buildings

We left with some regrets, a very nice new jacket from Skye Batiks and headed down the coast to visit some of my family.

more next time...

Does anyone still read blogs?

Hi, seems ages since I  was here but 2014 turned out to be a bad year on most fronts and I ended up just sort of hibernating.

Now I'm just wondering if people still blog, still read them, is anyone reading this??

Well I suppose I'm about to find out.....?

As this is a quick post using the app on my tablet, I'm going to try and post a picture of my latest attempts at inkle weaving and will be back soon with some photos from out last trip to Scotland .