Wheels Turning

A Sleepy Cat, to make you go 'aw!'

Well, miraculously after just two days of spring, summer is here. 

This week I have been cycling quite a bit and I just love it. My trusty two-wheeled steed has been with me for many years, and doesn't fail to make me feel good when I am zooming along.

I have spent a lot of time today achieving not very much, so just a short blog today. I am hoping the urge to make beautiful summery skirts will motivate me to get on with the jobs... I am just loving this 50's trend! 

Cloth Memories

In honour of the spring-like weather, today I dug out this unfinished project.

It is still unfinished, I have to admit, but it now just needs a quick hem whizzed round it, and some interesting buttons on the contrasting panel.

I have a favourite holiday top, or at least I did have until it died after one trip. I can tell you so much about that top: I bought it in Whistles in Covent Garden (I don't even shop there, it was just a coincidence); I took it on this holiday; I wore it on the day that funny thing happened and on the walk to that special place... It's amazing how many memories were wrapped up with just one item of clothing. So, when it died I felt compelled to re-create it.

That was two years ago, and because I haven't been anywhere really hot in that period completing the top just did not seem a priority.

Well, today big strides were taken towards having it ready to wear. Could this signify that it's time for a sunny holiday...?

Turn Again

A photo today of a gorgeous artefact which has been dwelling here in the town where I live without me  ever knowing about it. It's so surprising (not to mention pleasing) to me sometimes when things crop up when they are good and ready! This is Elizabethan, no less, and I half wonder why treasures like this don't get shouted about and advertised properly. 

I am also posting it here in honour of the sunshine we have seen this weekend- that has taken it's own sweet time to crop up too, let me tell you! But seeing as it is wonderful flowers and foliage depicted here I felt it was appropriate for Spring. Fresh laundry has been offered up to the sun at the end of my garden, ice creams have been eaten, thermals have been tentatively removed, and we have stoically ignored the nagging chilly wind. So long as the sun is shining we are uplifted!

Ebb & Flow

Sometimes when I am at a low ebb and things don't seem to be working, I look around at other people, who already appear to have a great big slice of good fortune and success, and wonder why they want more than their already considerable achievements, and how things are working so well for them... and not for me.

Fear not, this is not going to be a long, self-indulgent ramble! Because when this happens (which I assume it does to everyone at times), I check myself and evaluate what I do have and what I have achieved, and am forced to admit I am a very lucky girl. I have health, I have love, I have healthy loved ones, I am valued, I have skills, I have a home, and a cat, I live in a beautiful place, I am my own boss... I have to put a dot-dot-dot because the list is very long and I don't want to get too self-congratulatory on you.

My point is, sometimes days can be a bit crummy, but they can also turn themselves around. Yesterday was one such day: I had completely forgotten that I was destined for a rare night out at a gig, which turned into an excuse to go to Pizza Express, which turned into the chance to support somebody dear to me in visiting their sick relative with them, which all combined to chase away my introspective gloom.

The gig itself was tremendous, and if I can ever work out how to add a 'Musical Moments' tab to my blog I will share a little revue with you.

And if you're having a crummy day, here is a photo I took a couple of years ago on a trip to the coast. I find it a peaceful and calming image, hopefully you will like it too:

Love at First Sip

I took my little trip today on the bus. I haven't needed to use the bus for a while, and I had forgotten the sequence of thoughts that seem to crop up when it is passed due: have I got the time wrong? Have I missed it? Did it drive past me without me noticing? Is it cancelled? How am I going to get there if it never comes? Why is it 90 minutes until the next one...? etc, until: There it is! 

I took the opportunity to have a little look around after my class, and although I did venture into many a charity shop I told myself (as I habitually tell myself) that I was not going to buy anything. Usually I am pretty well disciplined: my house is small, my wool stash is growing, and my fabric stash is huge. This is partly because I both work with fabric and trade in it. And partly, of course, because I am hopelessly, unashamedly and gloriously hooked. 

However, in one of the first shops I went in I spied these beauties and it was love at first sight. I don't even tend to drink tea from posh cups, and I certainly don't have anywhere to keep them, and I knew all this as I took them to the till... but somehow I could not leave my set of four new folky cups in the shop! 

Love at first sight, just like in the picture!

Tuesdays I go to 'Knit & Natter'. It's turning into a really thriving group with a great diversity of women knitters. We have yet to attract a man-knitter, but I am confident that we will in time. I have started some easy knitting so that I can do it when I want to 'Natter', or for when I am tired at home and cannot face getting anything large scale out of its home.

I was also given a lovely little gift by one of our ladies. This is her shop: 

http://www.therovingyarn.co.uk

& she gave me a beautiful little set of cable needles. I can't wait to try them when I pick up my difficult knitting again.

I am looking forward to tomorrow as I am travelling to another town by bus to teach some crochet. It is a course I have taught before, so except for refreshing my memory and fine-tuning the concept to my new students it is lovely to know all the preparation is basically done. I am packing my resources and notes into my canvas bag, which is a skills-builder bag I teach on another workshop. I am pleased it is proving so useful!

Stitches old and new

This sad sight got my attention today: a sewing machine in a skip. I was half tempted to climb in and haul it out, but the skip was very deep and well sealed behind fences, and there were small children present so I didn't think it would be a great example to set. I stood, captivated, though for quite a while, wondering... what make was it? How old was it? Did it still work? What had it quietly achieved in it's useful life, what dreams and ideas had it converted to reality? I am not a very habitual picture snapper, but I did get a photo of it- after all I could do little else. But I suppose although I couldn't save the machine at least I have tried to give it a little epitaph.

And on a diametrically opposite subject, I learnt this crochet stitch today. I am following instructions to make a jumper, and I'm so happy that I started it as I just love these Art Nouveau-type loops and I can't wait to finish it and wear it. It's an unusual colour choice for me, so I hope I will like the end result! But it's made from linen, so it should be lovely in the summer or with jeans for in-between days.

Life gives you lemons...

Last week I was lucky enough to be able to visit Mallorca for just a couple of days. 

We were very naughty and scrumped these lemons (saving them from perishing unloved in the grass, we told ourselves). And managed to bring them home in our hand luggage along with some of the beautiful round courgettes they have on the continent. 

There was only one thing for it: today we made our favourite courgette, lemon and poppy-seed cake. 

The Little Jobs

This week, since returning home from a few days away, has been about trying to finish up a lot of little jobs, like sorting out the pockets on my old duffle coat- an ebay purchase which needed quite a bit of love.

I like to work on several ideas at the same time, but I had reached saturation point and felt the need to clear my head (and my workspace!).

Hence, the blog: tadah, another job busted! I have tried to blog in the past, but never been very successful. I am always caught between the desire to keep my life very private and the urge to share my thoughts.

I am going to visit a friend in her new home later. She is super-creative and also a blogger, I may have to ask advice...