Still here

Leo and Monty are watching the birds and the last of the autumn leaves fluttering in the garden.
They have settled down into their own routine now and found their favourite places in the house to watch for wildlife, chase each other, sit and sleep.

Leo is here helping me make cupcakes for a friends wedding.

They are both really friendly and will have a long purr but still don't want to sit on our laps, sometimes if we're good they'll sit next to us on the sofa!

I am so out of touch with what's going on here with my friends in blog land, I'm so sorry that I have missed so much of your news. The weeks and months have rushed by in a bit of a haze, today is the first day I've felt a glimmer of light at the end of the never-ending tunnel that is clearing my mum's house.
We worked really hard on the garden and have turned it from worse than this (this was after clearing the derelict summerhouse and rubbish out of the way)

To this - taken in the summer, which I'm really pleased with.

There are still many months to go and it's all really emotionally draining and hard work, I only got to the end of the rubbish inside about a month ago and now have got to sort 2000+ books, china, furniture etc. I've got a book man coming to see me next week, someone a friend of my mum's knows and I'm so excited to think we may be able to make some more progress - the books seem to be multiplying infront of my eyes and it will be such a relief to get rid of some.

But for the first time it feels like it might be possible to do it, in the last few months I've just sunk under the weight of the task and it felt overwhelming, I've just ended up withdrawing from everything to try and get through it all.

Felting has sadly had to stop and I've only done one craft fair this year and have hardly been able to make anything, although I did manage some cobweb felt for me which I'll try and post about separately. I'm hoping the new year will bring a few chances to be creative again.
Leo and Monty thankfully don't steal felt like lovely Archie did, they steal hair elastics and shiny gift ribbon instead, but Leo has proved he is very good at helping laying out fibres evenly and pressing them into place.

A very cold Craft Fair

I'm very behind with posting about this as it was a few weekends ago when we had all that ice and snow. Now of course we have more ice and snow and I can't actually remember it getting much better in between, it seems to have been fairly seamlessly bitter and cold, at least it's pretty.

Anyway, my craft fair was in this beautiful building which is Leicester Guildhall - I was so busy I didn't get photos of all the rooms but here is where I was, the Lord Mayor's Parlour.
Behind me was very old stained glass - in some panels people had scratched their name and the date, so it was a fascinating place to be:

Last year I'd had a look round as a customer and it was supposed to be one of the best local fairs to sell at, this year someone had taken the decision to charge people a pound to come in - not a lot but that charge featured on all the publicity and I wonder if it put people off coming, that and the weather. So it wasn't as busy as previous years, but a couple of my things went to very good homes. When you've spent a couple of hours or more making a unique piece you do feel a part of yourself has gone into it, so it does make a real difference to sell to someone who actually says how much they like it.

Unfortunately there's no getting away from the fact that it was FREEZING! We had to have the door to outside completely open so people knew to come and see us, so we really were shivering - on the Sunday I brought two hot water bottles with me - one to keep and one to give to someone else. I managed to stuff mine up under my dress and put a belt and my money belt over it to hold it to my tummy - all was going well until about lunchtime when I was in the middle of talking to a customer and it slipped out and fell onto the floor with a big sloppy thud!

Craft fairs are so varied - I've really enjoyed the ones where people want to ask me about how I make felt as I like describing the procedure, but this was one of those ones where most people seemed to walk straight past me, sometimes I think it's a question of perhaps not having quite the right products for the exact customers that come through the doors - the photographer next to me was constantly busy and his pictures had such a wide-ranging appeal that he did really well. I said that I blamed him for my lack of success because as soon as people got half way along the room, level with me, I could hear them exclaiming 'What fantastic photos!' and speeeding past me to get to him! He was lovely, kept getting me cups of tea, and of course knew I was joking! His photos were indeed stunning and he deserved to be really successful.

I was initially disappointed with sales, because let's face it, it is a lot of effort to do a two-day fair - not only your time standing, but all the packing up and transport too, and you do always hope to do well. But what I remember most was what a lovely group of people there were in our room, and indeed in the other rooms, and a good friend gave up a large part of his Saturday to come and sit with me and help out, so I say it was a complete victory for Community Spirit!

Felting with silk fibres

Firstly thank you for your lovely comments of support on my last post - it does feel like a grim time but I'm trying to look for some good things in each day, and if you're actually looking for the positives I think you find them more easily.

As well as the situation with my mum's health over the last few weeks, I also had a committment to what was supposed to be a very successful craft fair, so I did push myself to make a good selection of things. I made a lot of felt incorporating dyed mulberry silk fibres and was really pleased with the way they showed up and shimmered against black or other deep colours:

I did this flat piece first to make into a notebook, and liked it so much I made a seamless bag too:


The photo at the start of this shows a shoulder bag I made - I chose the colours of silk in blues and purple to match the fairtrade ceramic button I'd bought earlier, a friend of mine was owed a bag as a present and chose this one when she saw it, so I was pleased it had gone to a good home!
I also used some more dyed silk hanky to make other notebook covers in different shades, as well as a bit more sari silk - that's always a bit difficult to felt in securely but the wispy silk fibres have been really enjoyable to work with and I'll try to think of even more ways to use them in the future.

Felt Flower Coasters

There's lots of felting going on here, I've got many things to make, which is busy but good.
A friend bought my sample set of four of these coasters in the summer - I thought they'd be a good idea to go with a teacosy I made ages and ages ago but in the end that sold before they did. Now it's coming up to Christmas she asked me to make another three sets for friends, exactly like hers.

Could I find my notes of how I'd made them, what exact colours I'd used, the size of my flower template, most importantly how far apart I'd placed the flowers, any details at all?
No, of course not, because I only ever thought I was making one set. I did manage to find an old photo eventually and the final measurements of the circles, so that was a start.
It's really important to write everything down as you make things, you just never know when you're going to need the information!

After a bit of trial and error I took the plunge doing them all at once:

I did put the flowers a tiny bit closer together than I should have done, but it all worked out ok in the end.

When I'd done the whole piece it made me think about making a table runner - not with such a regular pattern on it but just trying a longer rectangle - mind you it's hardly worth it with Archie around, I think he'd just keep hooking it off the table with his claws or just plain attack it while it was minding its own business.

And finally, since it is now feeling decidedly autumnal and slightly cooler I have selflessly tested out this £2.97 per bottle Tesco substitute Ginger Wine - and I can report back that it's definitely very good value for money. I never realised it's actually ever-so-slightly less alcoholic than some ordinary wines, which presumably means I can have more of it?

Playing with silks

There are so many things I want to post about - the autumn colours, Folksy purchases and supporting other craftspeople, the interesting world of Royal Mail Recorded Delivery (where you pay extra for the peace-of-mind that comes from knowing your item has been delivered, only in my case 75% of the time I've used this service they've not collected a signature thus leading to extra stress rather than any peace-of-mind whatsoever), Special Delivery versus FedEx ( I really will try and fill you in one day because it's all quite interesting if you need to send stuff out), but I am struggling so much with time I'm just going to stick to a bit of felt for now. I'm in the middle of many projects but recently went a bit mad with ordering silks - here are my packs of dyed silk hankies:

I must, must, must look into dyeing my own, but no way is it going to happen quite yet, so I took the plunge and paid for them ready-done. There's also a new hank of sari silk in there - they're from Fibrecrafts, which stocks a more purple sari silk than some other places, although there are always lots of lovely colours mixed up together.
I've used the plain silk hankies over cream wool tops before just to give a bit of texture and sheen but cut these ones up a bit to make a contrast with the background.

I really like the effect although would love even deeper colours - I'd hoped they'd be more jewel-like and that I could use them against black but I think they're a bit pale, but I'll enjoy experimenting, if I can find a parallel universe in which there are 40-hour days.

Here is the card my OH got me for our wedding anniversary last week - 22 years this year. Very like Archie indeed, eyeing up all the butterflies:

Archie himself has taken to watching TV while assisting with any technical computer problems I may be having - he'll be demanding a salary in salmon Whiskas Temptations soon.

Opinions on Colour

First of all thank you all so much for all your support and comments on my last post. My mum's still having yet more tests and sees the specialist again tomorrow, but seems to think they may be closer to a diagnosis, we'll see. She sounds a bit brighter, and is glad now her endoscopy is over!

Anyway, onto other things for now.

I love colour. I'm very, very fussy too, I know which combinations I like and which I don't. None of those complimentary yellows-with-purples and blue-with-oranges thank you very much, although red with green is fine at Christmas. Just about.

As a smallish girl I remember one Christmas my very favourite present of all was a big set of wax crayons - not just your normal 7 colours, I mean a really big set with 5 greens, 3 pinks, 4 purples...you get the idea. I think I must have been about seven. I looked at all the colours for ages - I didn't want to use them, I just wanted to line them all up in a lovely harmonious order - graduating the colours - no clashes. When I was a few years older I got some posh watercolour pencils in a tin - I still have them. They always had to go in the tin in the same order - again, no clashes next to each other, just the best order for adjacent colours to merge together as much as possible.
I'm still, of course, exactly the same, because I think that sort of thing is a really fundamental part of who you are. Sadly I don't have time to spend hours lining things up in beautiful harmonious colour-sequences all day, but I can at least ban bright yellow from the garden and grow single-colour flowers in my chosen colours ( magenta and orange often - I copy Sarah Raven much of the time and get my seeds from her). I don't like bright yellow, unless it's sunflowers, and even then I prefer the ruby red ones.

Aren't people strange? I plan to become more eccentric as I age.

Anyway, I absolutely love choosing and combining colours in my felting - it's one of the reasons I love the process so much, the ability to blend layers of different colours and merge them together. I have, of course, tended to use colours I'm drawn to myself - I've never made a bright yellow anything, nor grey, nor beige, I can't wear those colours and just don't feel positive about them!
But it's really good to be forced to think outside your own box. The times when friends have asked me to make particular things in colour combinations they've chosen have been good for me, and I've discovered I like the end results even though I wouldn't have chosen them myself.

Why am I rambling about this now?
Well I had a lovely lady buy some hairslides from my website last week, and she asked if I could make two more, in navy and maroon. These are some of my normal colours, bright or light, not sombre at all.

I was quite unsure about such deep colours but made a small selection of navy, plum and maroon flowers,

and found that with the beads (beautiful lustred ones that you can't see fully in the photo) and the green leaf

I did like them after all, and I was glad to be taken into slightly new colour territory. So I perhaps need to experiment with new combinations every now and again and not be too set in my ways!

Of course we should stick with what we love best and be true to our own styles and designs, but it did make me think more about experimenting a bit. Do you stay in your comfort zone of styles and colours if you craft, or in the way you dress or furnish your home, or are you always trying new things out?!

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.

How to make decisions.

Roll the dice. Definitely always time for a cup of tea. A friend gave me this years ago and I found it at the back of my cupboard recently - it would be a great idea if you could personalise it for particular people.
Sadly there is no 'cake' or 'chocolate' option, or 'stroke cat' - I'll show you the others:
No thank you, I don't really iron.

What kind of shopping? Clothes/shoes shopping?

Only if it's cake.

Perhaps later.

Perhaps tomorrow, but I think cleaning's over-rated.


There doesn't seem to be one either for 'pull hair out whilst trying to re-format website', which is what I've been doing for a few weeks now. I'd been meaning to re-do photos for ages and have had a new layout sketched out for over a year, but have been battling with website-composing software versus Internet Explorer (which most people use but we don't - we use Mozilla Firefox because I live with a man who dislikes Microsoft intensely). To cut a long story short the different browsers read some website pages differently meaning that just as I thought I'd finished and published it all I re-checked it on Internet Explorer (had to use sons' computers - they came with it) and everything was all out of line. Thankfully the man who dislikes Microsoft also won't be beaten by a computer and eventually sorted it all, but it has taken SO much longer than I thought, not perfect by any means but better than it was. Wouldn't it be great to just be able to make things and have someone else do all the computer stuff and sales - I think it's rare to find crafting people who really enjoy selling, it's usually more about the making!

And so finally I've been able to get back to felting - tea cosies this week - they are drying on top of the boiler very high up. All felt, whether wool tops in plastic bags, pre-felt, wet felt, drying felt or finished felt, has to be stored on the top of cupboards out of reach of the cat - Archie is obsessed with clawing it and running off with it in his mouth. We keep finding bits under our bed which he's stolen. Last week after I'd re-photographed some of my felt notebooks I came down the next morning to find he'd chewed his way into the box they were in and taken three out and dragged one of them off into his cardboard box to play with, where I have to say it was looking very sorry for itself with puncture marks in the pages and cover. It's not for sale now. Newton never touched the felt, he just stole food - aren't cats funny, and all different?

Elsewhere the garden is still producing, though I'm waiting for my very large Brandywine tomatoes to ripen.

I started them off really early (for me) but I don't think it's been sunny enough here. The courgettes are busily trying to secretly turn into marrows while we're not looking - this photo was taken a couple of weeks ago.

The basket's now sitting in my kitchen full to the brim with much larger ones - just managed to sneak another two into our veggie mexican dinner but there are still so many.

As well as continuing to steal felt, Archie is really growing up and skips about the garden most of the day, very happy to be able to chase so many butterfies. If he runs out of energy he sleeps on the blanket in the old rabbit hutch (can you spot the feather?)

At night he curls up and mainly sleeps on our bed - he's started getting up for a little play with his feathers (if he can't find felt) in the middle of the night. He does like his feathers a lot - would you like to see where he's left them all?

Outside the back door.

By his food bowl.

By his cat tower with his other toys.

In our bedroom.

Under the bed- this one's for playing with in the middle of the night.

Of course boxes are good to play under/in too. With or without added felt.


Despite all the trouble he is, he is still of course my most favourite black cat in the whole world.