oh my hat, it's been a while

Such a lot has happened and is about to happen I don't know where to begin.

Apart from an apology.  Yes, I'm sorry I have been so absent of late.


I had become very lax before, but the major foundation shaking moment would be when my Dad passed away.  He had heart failure, and he knew it was a matter of time, but kept it fairly close to his chest.  He had been particularly ill, then a short stay in hospital while they tried to sort him out as best they could.  He came home and we kept him comfortable.  His friend, from childhood had been in Australia visiting his family and flew back to be with Dad for a while.  He was hardly back to his family again in Australia when we had to phone him and let him know Dad had died.   I am still adrift, and can barely begin to understand how Mum makes it through days and weeks.

All things we do are tinged and coloured by him, what he did and what we think he might do in some situations.

None so much as this upcoming referendum.

I'm sorry to say that this is going to get a little bit political of nature and if you don't want to know the score, look away now :)

Dad was an SNP man most of his days, certainly he kept that quiet until I was about 8 or 9, the year of the previous referendum, where I had nagged incessantly that I wanted to know what it was all about.  Imagine, a child with no clue about politics, but a firm sense of its importance even then.  Then as the years after unfolded and finances became ever so tough, the scenes on tv as police clashed with miner's, people living on coal dust and fresh air... ravenscraig, the shipyards ever dwindling, car manufacturers disappearing....A bitter anger in my Dad, a banker, not someone who got his hands dirty, but a moral, ethical man, who had been described as a bastard, but a fair bastard, adrift and feeling cheated by his Government.  A banker who had a breakdown as the rich grew richer and yuppies extorted the lifeblood out of the country.  Politicians gave them pats on the back and lit another cigar and swigged brandy as their scandals ripped through the front pages, each one more sordid than the last, and the excesses of tory elite finally caught up with the nation and in stepped Blair and his Labour govt to the strains of Things Can Only Get Better.  Except they didn't.

My Dad when he died no longer supported independence, and I never got to ask him why.  I have to say though, he'd have been about my age the last time, and I am just as keen as he was then to see a democracy, just as willing to work with my countrymen to see it through, and happy to pave a future for my children.  I can only hope that this time we are successful.  That by the time my children are my age, and I may well be passed on myself, that they have a bright future.

'He who looks into the future, has a brighter future to look into'

Happy!

Well, I am!


I am no longer limited to a machine that crashes every five seconds or my phone (to which the limit is me and not it, in fairness)


For my birthday, my wonderful other half bought me a 2nd hand lappy and upgraded and refluffed it for my birthday so now I have a screen I can read and a keyboard I can (allegedly) type on! AND ...AND! He kept it all a secret!  Which is amazing in this house! :) 


My first job over the next few nights will be to update you all on the Craft Pimplets and catch up on all those I left behind :(  


I will be active on fora again and just generally much more my internet based bad self!  :)


I can take pics on my camera again too, having a card reader again!  I feel revitalised, and just in time too!  


Thanks to Lisa, I'm now doing a weekly yoga classes as well as having signed up for Roller Derby.  I'm still beading, sewing and taking burlesque classes so I'm doing much better physically as well! :)

Craft Pimping

When I say pimping the craft, I actually mean the good peoples over at CRAFTPIMP, a great little forum for the discerning crafter, whatever your medium.


A while ago there was talk of a blog ring, and it came to pass but with the advent of my lappy dying on me and using this steampowered beast as well as my smartphone to access the web, I missed its launch completely, for which I profusely apologise!


I've missed weeks one and two so will play catch up here as both ladies have awesome talents that I must Must MUST share!

Izzybeads

chookie 

First up is the incredible glass artist, Laney Mead.  Laney has a penchant for creative crittering, as well as beautiful sculptural flowers.  Her critters are cute and hilarious in equal measure, each with her own personal stamp...I say stamp, I mean bumhole :D 

hibiscus and buds

Her flowers are equally as intricate and capture the beauty of nature fabulously ... I have a rose and a matching bud which I was lucky enough to get in a swap which I take out and stroke as well as marvel at the delicate tints as well as twists of glass. How she finds time during her hectic schedule to even get the glass hot far less create such unique, characterful pieces is beyond me!


Laney and her life can be followed on her blog and her glassy goodness can be purchased from her etsy store here and bargains to be had on ebay shop

DizzyKitten

Kayleigh Sexton has an amazing talent with polymer clay and has the uncanny knack of turning that talent to many other mediums! And not just limited to beads or jewellery, take a look at these beautiful items, from wedding cake toppers to journals .. :) 

As well as this talent Kayleigh is also a dab hand with a needle as these little guys will attest! How cute and colourful is this motley crew?! 

You can find Kayleigh at her blog and you can peruse her fantastical creations for sale or commission here at her website.  I suggest a browse is in order! 

stripped

a little misleading but not by much.  I've had a couple of very glamorous weeks at burlesque class with my bosom buddies, Sigrid and Lisa.  The class is in Falkirk, and is taken by the very lovely, gorgeous and extremely funny Dr Sarah ''Gypsy Charms'' Vernon.  And it's fun and exercise in that it reminds me I have muscles somewhere, at least it does a couple of days later! 


So aside for my two and a half hours on a Thursday night, and being back at work, other things are also coming together.  Piper has started to sleep better at night more often than not, and when she does get up very rarely is she requiring me to stay with her!  Winner! :D


And I got the commission on the messenger bag completed!  So I'm feeling pretty damned happy today ... which is just as well, as I'm off the tabs! ;) 


Here's the bag 

And here's a shot of the boa I made (faux fur of course daaaaaaahrlink) and here's a shot of my practice make up! :) 

Oh ok, here's a pic of Piperdoo too ;) 

You may recall

but if you don't here's a link to remind you...


about Sigrid's overnight/weekender bags.  I finally got a photo of one, so here it is, filled with Sigrid's sewing gubbins :) 

I also made some pillows, or rather boudoir cushions today one a beautifully rich satin with a contrasting bow, and the other a black, almost hessian like fabric with it's own little faux chenille style heart motif.

I have been meaning to try faux chenille for a while and decided today was the day. I cut 7 little heart motifs from three varied pieces of cotton fabric in pink/red and a white based spotty pattern. I layered them up and then stitched them onto the backing at 1cm intervals starting at the centre and working out.  Then you snip between the lines of stitching and start to fray the strips.  I meant to tumble dry it to get it even fluffier but the red cotton started to fray far too well!  I still like the shabby chic appeal though.

I wanted to make a luxury appeal cushion too, but only had a small strip of the lovely plummy pink satin, so the idea to make a clashing bow was born.  The next time I would try and ensure that the 'bow' fabric was a good deal looser than the cushion cover itself. Live and learn eh? :)

Like A Bus

that's me and my erratic blogging, wait for long enough and a few posts run in at once!


It's been a funny old week, with the runny bum going around the house.  Luckily Piper doesn't seem to be too badly affected and it has skipped the other half and Stuart in the main, with Ewan and I taking the biggest hits ...


However, yesterday I felt like making something.  I got started with a large wheat bag for my Dad.  He's to heat up his knee before he does his physio exercises.  I made a huge piece of fabric but with a kilo of wheat in it. This meant that he can flatten it out quite evenly before strapping it around his leg.  I hope that once he's done, I can shorten it and it will become a regular sized hottie!  I didn't take photos though :(


I also made a start with the button field bag.   Nancy Dale of NEDbeads mentioned some coffee streusel cake and the idea intrigued me.  I just *had* to find a recipe and get to it.  I used this recipe I found, and it resulted in a lovely light cake contrasted by a really crispy crumble topping.  It was lovely still warm with a cuppa, but it was excellent with some custard as a dessert.  Ideal for a cold winter night. 

Today, I finished the bag, lining it with a contrasting duponi, which was left over from Sigrid's tote bags.  It made a lovely finish to the vintage cotton.  A secret surprise inside! 

I also received the ribbon I ordered earlier in the month for continuing the taggy blanket range. So I'm raring to go!

busy

Always seem to be busy.

I have made little progress on my quilt.  Sigrid has been over so much time has been spent on the bags (now complete - need pics!) and she brought over a jellyroll which she sewed up into a single quilt top.  It was fun, about half way through the roll the strips stopped alternating so there was a fair bit of scrambling to get the quilt to look balanced, but we managed it!

As a result of this visit I decided I'd need to practice my chosen quilting stitch.  Free motion quilting!  I chose some nice chintzy cotton, sandwiched it over a layer of batting and set up the machine according to instructions. The biggest hurdle my brain had was getting over not having to turn the fabric to make curves!  My tension was also out a little between top and bottom which I did eventually sort as can be seen in the final pic, but over all I'm pretty happy!

Lisa was also over last Tuesday and was working on some knitting.  I really must get to grips with cable knit for some soapy ideas I've had! :)  Sigrid made it away with one of Lisa's dies and my cuttle bug as she is doing a hexagonal (honeycomb) quilt by hand! I'd never thought of doing anything so challenging, as I don't love hand sewing, but must admit now I've seen it done the appeal of it!

I have decided that this year my crafting has to take a more diverse and serious role and as a result we've signed up for another fair in February in the town centre on Sunday 12th, just in time for Valentines!  We don't do the Valentines thing here, as we're pragmatic and homely souls, but for those of you who do, the Guide Hall behind the Howgate Centre between 12noon and 3pm will be the place to find some handcrafted indiviual items. 

Also I've put up a facebook challenge. It's a pay it forward thing, so I've promised to send out a hand made item to the first five responders on the post within this year.  I believe there might be a space left, and I'm not bothered if you aren't crafty and can't pay it forward in that way, paying it forward in kindness of another sort is always acceptable! :) 

I'm also going to take part in the craftpimp pinterest challenge, as well as their journal challenge for January though the month is nearly over! :o 

Nicola (Mrs Dawber! Not going to tire of that any time soon, sorry Nic) had this beautiful piece of button art on her pinterest board and I fell for it too.  I decided to make a little boodwahhh pillow in a similar, more simple design and I'm pleased how it turned out though I totally mismanaged the size measurements and had to fill it by hand!

I'm going to do another couple I think in the correct size now I have my blanks and mebbe even squeeze out some bags for little girls in a similar vein! :) 

Must remember to make Dad a long hottie too!