Ups and downs and being busy

It's proving to be one of those times when I feel like the days are slipping past and all muddling together, I'm sure most of us feel like that at busy times. I've sadly had much less time to post anything and I think may be entering a stage of life when that continues. Worse, I haven't been able to keep up properly with blogs I'm following, so I'm very sorry I haven't been able to comment as much as I'd like, it doesn't mean I don't care.

Lots has been happening here, not all good, but then not all bad either.

School has started again, we're back into routine, which is good, although it does bring some challenges. Son number one is now fifteen. As he is not the most organised person in the world I asked him to get EVERYTHING ready for his first day of school the night before. He said he had. At twenty past eight on the actual morning he told me he couldn't find his pencil case and that his shoe-lace had broken before the holidays. He also told me this morning he couldn't find his tie and he didn't want to use his spare one because he didn't like it any more because.......he had drawn a biro face on it last term.
I have spent half an hour today de-staining it, washing it and mending it.
Such are the joys of term-time!

Briefly, the 'downs' are that my 82 year-old mum has been undergoing tests all summer, we still don't know what's going on but there's some problem with her liver - so that's been a concern for a long time now. Her GP is one of my oldest and closest friends, and she's a thorough and excellent doctor, so she couldn't be in safer hands, but there's also a specialist involved who's still running more tests, so we're still waiting. We sadly lost my uncle, my mum's brother, last weekend too after a long illness which suddenly deteriorated, that's been distressing and more so as he lived in Canada and she couldn't go to the funeral or see him in his final days. So all in all she has needed to talk and be listened to more than normal, and is finding everything hard to take in. I'm an only child and we lost my dad a long time ago, so I need to make sure I'm available to support her even when I've got a long list of things to do. Usually she keeps busier than me with all her interests and groups - she's got a better social life than most teenagers, but right now she's not feeling well enough.

But there are 'ups' too - I've been making lots of things ready for the Wandsworth Artists' Open House event the first two weekends in October - I have an artist friend who opens her home and shows her paintings, and she shares the space with me and other artists too. Do download the leaflet and have a look through if you are anywhere nearby - it looks fantastic - so many different styles of art to see. I wish I could go myself as I want to see everybody else's work and meet all the other people involved - perhaps next year!

So I've made some more tea cosies as they were successful last year.

And lots and lots of flowers. And a few new bags.

This black one's got some sari silk incorporated into it and has come out really well. Always so hard to know what people will like but I'll send a selection.

Archie has been helping with my felt roses. First of all he helped by being beautiful and black and being a faithful companion.

But then temptation rather got the better of him:

After that he found I suggested he go out in the garden and play.

Archie scared us all to bits last Tuesday by completely disappearing from 6.30 in the morning till 8.30 at night - he's never been away for more than four hours before. I'd just printed out the first 50 'Our cat is missing please could you check your outbuildings' leaflets and had them in my hand ready to go out the door, when he trotted in calmly as if nothing had happened. And they say pets are supposed to reduce stress.

A very busy week

I know everyone's (quite rightly) posting photos of snowdrops and other spring flowers at the moment, so here are mine. I made the pot years ago at a pottery class I used to go to. It was good just to go into the garden and bring some loveliness back into the house! I was trying to test out my new camera - you know the really posh photos have the background all out-of-focus in a special way - there's even a name for it which I forget. I'm only having success using my super-macro lens and my smallest aperture number, which works for some things.

In fact this particular photo I think isn't mine at all and was probably taken by my friend Tammy at Confessions of an Artist as we were having coffee at the time and she's very good at photography and was helping me!

Anyway, I must confess to being just a bit low this week - I think my hormones may be ganging up on me! The time has definitely come for some healthier eating and more exercise - both very basic things that can make a huge difference to how I feel. I've been very busily making things and filling every minute with tasks of some description - I think that's the problem really - the days pass quickly but sometimes you can feel you've missed something you should have stopped to notice!
I have had a rest today though, and a lovely lunch cooked for me by OH and the boys - salmon en-croute with a watercress sauce inside (very green but even son no. 2 liked it, and he doesn't usually do green!), and lemon souffle pudding - so I hope now I'll feel more ready for the week ahead when I wake up tomorrow!

I've started getting ready for craft fairs coming up later in the spring - I've done a lot of these needle-cases:

which have been popular in the past, just some more pincushions to do this week, then I'll get onto some new flowers and bags.

I've got a few other things to show you:

These are the beautiful cards I bought a little while ago from Sisters Crafty Creations shop - I have a couple of friends who like the colour lilac and these will be perfect for their birthdays coming up - I love the silver embroidery and like all the things in the shop they are real works of art. Wipso was the first person to leave a comment on my blog and it's been lovely getting to know her in blog-land. She and her sister Twiglet always amaze me with their productivity!

And I have very kindly been given this sunshine award by Juliet,

so a big thank you to her. She has very recently lost her dog and of course my heart went out to her having so recently lost Newton myself. As you know by now I'm afraid I break the proper rules of awards and don't pass them on officially, but again will take the opportunity to say thank you to all of you for your friendship.

And onwards we go into another week - I do hope you all have a good one.