Friday Happies of A Pondering Nature

Oh man. What a week. It's been busy (when isn't it?), I've been under the weather, and I've been trapped in a crochet panic, which is thankfully now over, and I feel all discombobulated and unsettled. I find the longer the gaps between blog posts, the harder it is to sit down and write one. Odd, that. It's like I can feel myself drifting away form this space. The more regularly I post the more connected I feel to this blog, and to you all. 

1. Ok, the first reason for happiness (or maybe relief?) is that I finished this cushion. It very nearly killed me off. Ages ago, I agreed to make it for a dear friend - she was giving it to her sister for her birthday, and paying me, so it was a commission I suppose. I totally left it until the last minute and started it on Saturday. I finished it on Thursday about half an hour before she came to collect it. Stressful, anxiety-dream crochet. Not relaxing, oh no. I avoided facebook, instagram and ironing. It's amazing what you can achieve if you avoid those distractions.

So I learnt two lessons this week. This first is don't agree to crochet things which take 15 or 20 hours to make when you're drunk. The second is agree a price first and ask for double what you think you should. I don't regret making it though - the look on my friend's face made it all worthwhile, she properly beamed and her face lit up, and I thought "I made that!"

2. Wild flowers and coffee. 

What with all that crochet, and John's ridiculous shift pattern at work, we've spent precious little quality time together lately. On Wednesday we popped over to Saltaire for a wander and a coffee. I saw the most beautiful wild flowers growing along the edge of a footpath. 

We had a coffee (well I did, John ordered this milkshake) and talked about things we never seem to be able to talk about in the house, there are just too many distractions. It did us good.

3. Bella spotted this violet growing between two paving slabs on the drive. Her delight was delightful to me - she made us all look at it, then she put it in this egg cup. I love her.

Bella is at Brownie Camp this weekend. The cabin is in the most beautiful spot, just outside Ilkley, with incredible views across the dales, a stream and a big meadow.

I dropped her off this evening. If she doesn't cry, I wont cry, I thought, and she didn't so I didn't. I miss her. She looked happy and independent in her uniform, with her bags. I hugged her four times (for tonight, tomorrow morning, tomorrow night and Sunday morning). John is working all weekend. Angus and I were both a bit lost when we came home, but it will be lovely to have some time just with my boy.

May and June on Instagram

It's been months since I shared any Instagram images on here. It will never supersede blogging for me, but I enjoy it enormously, especially on those occasions when I don't have my "big" camera with me. People seem to use Instagram for all kinds of reasons - to promote a business, or to showcase their photography - but I like it most when people use it to make friends and share their hobbies and passions, and to capture and share the everyday in an instant way, and that's how I like to use it too.

So here are a few snippets of May:

Row one, feeling blue: 

Sunset. Bowling. The tiled floor in the Natural History Museum. A heart in the clouds.

Row two, spring greens:

Quilt drying on the line. Children in a maze. A gate on the way to school. Sandals and daisies.

Row three, everyday life:

Making jam tarts. A messy kitchen. A good day for washing. A sunny spot.

Row four, looking downwards:

Pancakes for breakfast. Sketching. Cake break. Angus turns five.

And a few from June:

Row one, out and about:

I've been into Leeds three times this month, that's unheard of! Shopping, lunch, theatre, you name it, I've been gallivanting.

Row two, looking downwards:

Map garland. Cake and a new book. Drinks in a friend's garden one evening. The makings of a Victoria sponge.

Row three, heat seeking:

The view from the school playground one hot morning. The kid's playhouse. Garden shadows. Blue skies.

Row four. family life:

Before the theatre. After the theatre. The loom band obsession begins. Father's Day tray.

I'm here if you want to come and find me. I love finding blogging friends on Instagram. Come and say hello! 

*****

Thank you so much for all your recent comments. I feel like I've neglected this space a bit lately. Well, not neglected it, but I don't feel that I'm as "present" as I usually am, if that makes sense. Life is just too hectic at the moment, but it will soon settle down again and I'll have more time to be here, to think, to craft and to visit your blogs too.

Friday happies

Oh, am I glad it's Friday. This week has been bonkers. Life is pretty hectic at the moment, but this week seemed extra rushed and I am glad it's over so I can sit here for a few minutes and look back and reflect.

1. Blue skies are my first happy. Lots of clear skies this week and warmer temperatures too. It almost felt summery! I do love it when it's warm. Wednesday was John's day off and we went for a run together first thing then, later in the morning, had coffee in the garden. Time to pause and chat, time to admire the flowers and bees. It was probably the last proper conversation we had, we seem to take turns to be in and go out, just exchanging information and kisses as we pass. We might actually have another proper conversation on Sunday night.

2. Doors wide open, curtains flapping, fresh breezes blowing through the house.

3. Plants bought for £1 in the school plant sale. It's not so much the plant (nasturtium?) that makes me happy as the school. A school that grows it's own produce, has a kitchen garden, a woodland area and chickens. That's worth more to me than any Ofsted report or league table.

4. Cloud watching. Bear with me on this one. The sky this week has sometimes looked like this: a deep blue with lots of small, scudding puffy clouds, some dazzlingly white and darker grey ones too. It's been a week of interesting skies and changeable weather.

On Tuesday afternoon is suddenly grew very dark, very quickly. We were getting ready to take Bella somewhere so I went outside to bring the washing in.

The sky in front of me made me stop. You could see the clouds actually gathering.

I did shudder a little, it felt so oppressive - spooky almost. My instinct was to get inside quickly but instead of getting the washing in, I ran back inside for the camera. Interesting clouds, like sunsets, must be photographed. It's the blogging law.

I mean, look at that sky. It's got an Old Testament feel about it, like there should be a finger pointing from the heavens.

Anyway, I got the washing inside in time you'll be relieved to know, but I was glad I saw that sky, glad I had the camera, glad I had time to take a photo and mostly glad I have a place to record and share things like this.

Spring Stitches

I have finished my spring embroidery hoop, and just in time for summer too! I'd like to tell you that I need to see, smell, touch and generally experience each season before I feel "moved" to "create"...but no. Really, it's just that they take a while to do and I've been working on lots of other things in between which is code for I'm not very organised. But these are an absolute joy to make, they really are. I love thinking about what to include in each picture and planning them. I actually sketched this one out first (I usually just draw straight on to the fabric with a fading pen) and I think that helped. The naive, folk style hides a multitude of botanical inaccuracies, and issues of scale too, for that matter. 

It all starts with the tree. I always stitch that first, with lots and lots of tiny French knots slowly built up in layers. 

The multi-coloured French knots around the sky are just there for detail, for an impression of blossomy, springtime haziness. But the tree takes the longest, and everything comes together really quickly after this. 

The satin stitch tulips and daffodils.

The French knot grape hyacinths.

 And, my favourite, the pussy willow done in French knots and back stitch.

Trust me when I tell you that this is wonderful to run your fingers across. I've tried to photograph it here to give you a sense of the 3D-ness of it, the way the stitches stand out from the surface.

Then, when it's finished, I trim the fabric to a couple of inches bigger than the hoop with pinking shears, add a running stitch all the way round the edge, then gather it together and knot it nice and tight. I love looking at the back of a piece of embroidery. It's like a crazy, abstract version of the "neat" side.

So there we have it. One springtime circle.

Of course then I had to take down the autumn and winter hoops from the wall, just to see what they look like altogether...

...which prompted more mantel faffing and rearranging.

And that just leaves summer, which I fully intend to start soon and have done before autumn rolls around. I love being able to share my creative ideas and endeavors with you. I hope you like this as much as I do.

*****

You can see my autumn hoop here and my winter one here.

The tree and ladybird are based on a pattern from an old copy of Mollie Makes, issue 22. However, the tree has been very heavily adapted and changed by me since then. Everything else is from my own head. 

Giveaway Winner

Hello there! I hope you all had a nice weekend. Just a very quick post tonight to say that the random number generator has spoken and the winner of my giveaway is:

Anne from Life In Mud Spattered Boots!

Many, MANY thanks to all who entered, and a big thank you to Vinyl Impression for supplying such lovely wares.

Anne, if you could email me your address and confirm which sticker you would like, I'll arrange for it to be sent to you.

Have a great week everyone!

Friday Happies

Hello! How has your week been? The sun came out today. Oh yes! It was good. And we ordered a new mattress too, I am already looking forward to it's arrival. No more waking up with achy hips and a stiff back. Anyway, here is my Friday night round-up of the little pockets of goodness I noticed and recorded throughout my week.

1. Waking to sun and blue skies last Sunday morning and eating breakfast in the garden. I like any meal in the garden but breakfast outside - especially at the weekend when you don't have to clock-watch - is especially lovely. Don't be fooled by the grapefruit - lots of butter and marmalade smothered toast was consumed as well.

2. Sunday was also John's birthday and I baked a Victoria sponge cake to celebrate, filling it with fresh cream, jam and strawberries. I only seem to make this cake in the summer, and it really is the perfect cake for the soft fruits season.

3. Celebrations continued in a nearby American diner-style restaurant. It was amazing. I ate barbecue ribs with sweet potato fries followed by key lime pie. So good. I took these photos while we were there. Angus is in this phase where, as soon as he sense someone might want a nice photo of him, he starts clowning around and pulling faces, or hiding. It's annoying, but funny too.

4. But then he brought this tile artwork home from school this week. Do you know the book We're Going On A Bearhunt? His class went on a bearhunt in the school woodland area, through swishy-swashy grass (the green corner) a river (the blue corner), and so on. and then they each created a tile from air-drying clay and decorated it. This one won't be going in the recycling bin.

5. While running with my friend Kate this morning, I happened to notice this Hornsea biscuit jar in the window of one of our local charity chops. I nearly tripped over, so quickly did I stop. About an hour later, showered and carrying my purse, I went back for it. £5 well spent. I love the olive green and repeating pattern, and the wooden lid goes nicely with my Orla Kiely tea caddy. 

See, I knew there was a reason I went running. 

A Map Garland

I've been re-arranging the mantelpiece again, changing the displays, celebrating the seasons. I love this time of year when you can buy peonies and stocks in the supermarkets so easily. Peonies are one of my favourite flowers, so showy and extravagant, and extra special as their season seems to be so short.

I was given this stunning Ken Eardley jug recently and filled it with cow parsley I picked on my way home from the school run yesterday morning. The flowers are past their best now - more green than white - but I picked some all the same and I love their cloudy, lacy texture. The combination of frothy white and pale pink reminds me of stawberry Crusha milkshakes.

I enjoyed putting this display together, all the different shades of green and white, the warmth of the copper vase and wood against the cool marble. The cow parsley I picked is echoed in the David Hockney postcard of a Yorkshire hedgerow in spring that I have propped up there. 

Our fire surround is quite monolithic and stark, and needs a bit of softening I always think, and I decided to change the garland. My favourite rainbow one felt too bright and I wanted something more subtle. I found an old, out of print Ordnance Survey landranger map of the Leeds and Bradford area that we've had knocking around for years and decided to make a paper map garland. I wanted circles (for the softer shape and to echo the flowers) and so I got an egg cup from the kitchen and drew 14 little circles all over the map and cut them out. I chose places with meaning, like where we live now, where our old house was, our local woods and Leeds city centre (where the children were born) and some of our favourite places. like Salt's Mill, Ilkley, Otley Chevin, Harewood House, Bolton Abbey and Harrogate.

I threaded them together with two strands of embroidery thread and a big needle (I tried a sewing machine but found it just shredded the paper) like so:

Then hung them across the fireplace.

I love maps and could look at them for hours, poring over the details. Place names fascinate me and we have some great ones in Yorkshire. I like the way this mantel display celebrates Yorkshire, the outdoors and spring. And it only took an hour to make. 

*****

Do you know, I only recently twigged that I have been spelling mantel wrong for, oooh, about the last two and a half years. Probably for ever. I always spelled it "mantle". But no, that is wrong. That is different! I honestly had no idea. You were all too polite to point it out. Do you know, some time ago, I wrote about some public gardens we'd seen somewhere, I can't remember where now, and my friend Debora texted me the next day and said err...you do realise you've typed "pubic" gardens on your blog, don't you? Ha! Spell check missed that one! I quickly changed it. I don't know if anyone noticed; if you did, I hope you had a giggle. It doesn't matter how many times I read through a blog post before pressing publish, I always seem to come across a mistake later on, every flipping time. It's annoying, because it makes me look sloppy and half arsed, which I'm not. Well, not much.

*****

Don't forget to enter my giveaway! It closes this Friday night, and I'll announce a winner over the weekend.