Look what I've done today. I went to one of Maria's Creative Bumble Bee workshops in Leicester. I now want to try to develop this technique. Continue reading

Started making new necklaces ready for the next Aldborough Creative. It's on Sunday 25th November in the Church Room, Aldborough 10am - 4pm. I'll post up some more details once we've got the advertising done. Continue reading

Of course I had to make a felt case for my new iPod nano! Continue reading

Here's the sky scarf so far. It's over five feet long. And oddly enough has more blue in it than I thought. It looks a bit curly but once it's finished and stretched I think it will be ok. I had a slight dilema over whether I should be knitting the sky here in North Norfolk where I live, or the sky that has been above my head when I went on holiday. So I plumped for the latter. Result - mainly a Norfolk sky with a bit of Kent, a bit of London, a bit of Surrey and some... Continue reading

I was listening to Norwich City play on Saturday afternoon when I made this hat. I think it influenced my colour choice! I wonder if Delia would like it? Continue reading

True to my word I have made another wet felted hat. I love the autumnal colours on this one. the style is a little different and I want to experiment some more with this shape. It's a little like a Fez but it's so cosy to pull down over the ears - the rolled up brim keeping them extra warm. I am anticipating a cold winter! I'll do a sky scarf update over the weekend. Continue reading

At last I've started felting again. I think I"ll make another tomorrow. Continue reading

I think the National Trust incident took its toll. Battlered and bruised we got no redress. Since then I've been a bit de-motivated when it comes to crafting or blogging and have just been horsing around. But... I have been to two festivals - Lounge on the Farm and Cambridge Folk - and on holiday to Yorkshire so life has not been without incident. And I may be off to another festival - JellyFest - at the weekend. And.... I promise to start blogging again. If only to tell you of my plans for my Olympic Legacy! Continue reading

Well our last two Aldborough Creative weekends were a mixed bag. On the hottest day of the year I managed to sell this lovely blue felt hat! Those are my birdhouses you can just see behind. That was when we were in the cosy confines of our home village Aldborough. Then the following weekend we went to Blickling Old School next to Blickling Hall for another two day show and what an unpleasant time we had. Both days were marred by the bullying obstructive treatment we received at the hands of the National Trust. Back home now mentally brused and... Continue reading

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. Continue reading

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... Continue reading

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... Continue reading

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... Continue reading

I love the day I look out of my bedroom window and see the advance party of house martins coming back to inspect the nests they left last year in our eaves. And today is the day. As I type I can see their shadows fluttering across my screen while they fly back and forth chattering away. This is quite early to see them. Usually it's about St George's Day that they arrive. And last year it was well into May before I saw them. Usually they go away for a few days and then all the rest of the... Continue reading

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... Continue reading

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... Continue reading

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. Continue reading

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... Continue reading

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... Continue reading

Recently I helped out at a friend's auction in Leicester and I lost my head to a heart throb of earlier times! I wish! Continue reading

Yes, it's grey, dreary and raining again today. So what better time to post up my progress with my sky scarf. I'll add links to the other knitters as soon as they post updates. The overall picture of the year is one of dullness. In fact it's been so gloomy that I may need to order some more grey wool if things don't improve soon! I was cheered about a week ago when I added some bright blue but as you can see that weather didn't last long. Never mind, Spring is around the corner I am sure. One bright... Continue reading

You may remember recently I entered the poppy headpin challenge started by Jo Tinley over on Daisychain Designs. Well - I agonised over what to make with the two copper poppy headpins Jo sent me. They were so lovely I wanted to do them justice and that thought seemed to stifle the creative process. Finally, today, the day of the deadline, I galvanlised myself into action and got going. I decided to make a simple pair of delicate earrings. And here they are ..... I made some simple copper headpins and some silver links, threaded some carnelion and turquoise chips... Continue reading

Remember the copper hares I made last year? Well I finally plucked up enough courage to make a slightly smaller one out of silver - and there is the result. It measures about 6cm from tip of back leg to tip of front leg. I've put him on a silver chain with moonstones and aquamarines. I hope you like him. I've done another which is now in the tumble polisher. I think I'll use garnets and moonstones this time. Perhaps this will get me going in silver again as I seem to have lost my muse. Continue reading

I spend a lot of time drooling over the wonderful things fellow bloggers make and every now and again there is something I just can not resist. When I saw these polymer clay and silver crow earrings over on Joan Taylor's blog I just knew I had to have them. They arrived this morning and I have to say the picture does not do them justice. There is soemthing really magical about them - something almost other-worldly. That's a rather romantic thought for me. It may be something to do with the book I'm reading at the moment. It's called... Continue reading

Continuing my ongoing avarian theme I've started making bird houses. My idea is to make quite a few to display at our next Aldborough Creative. I'm hoping people will like to buy them for their gardens. Here's the first one. I quickly needle-felted a bird to look out of it in case nobody knew what it was meant to be. Excuse the bad picture But I couldn't wait till daylight to take it outside. I'll get some more natural pictures later in the week of the three I've managed to do so far. I think they will be quite cosy... Continue reading