Birds, Flowers and Zombies

At last something creative, it's been a while.....

I'm still struggling to get myself out of the doldrums but have been trying to get back to some of the things that I have always enjoyed, some of the things that have distracted my from difficult times in the past.

So for the last few weeks I have been working on a cross stitch post card that I owed for a swap which ended back in January. Thankfully my swap partner has been very patient with me.I picked a pattern from a magazine that I bought a while back. I didn't have the colours required to follow the chart exactly so I just used some left overs from a couple of my Mum's projects that I finished up last year. I don't know why but the colours and the background reminded me of twilight so I finished the card off with a piece of blue dotty ribbon which I thought could be representative of a starry sky.

I have enjoyed getting back to stitching but I don't have the same passion for it as I had before, but that can be said for pretty much everything in my life at the moment. I'm hoping it will come back in time and meanwhile I am determined to keep using needle and thread. So I have started on a small kit I bought on Ebay a while back.I do a lot of driving round for my work and at the moment there are lots of wonderful wild poppies all over the place growing magnificent red by the roadsides. I'm so out of practise with my stitching I don't think I will be quite able to do justice to their wild beauty but I will carry on regardless and hopefully my enjoyment of the process will shine through enough to redeem the finished picture.

I couldn't leave today without changing the subject wildly. I just had to tell you about this fabulous, funny book I am reading at the moment. Well worth buying for the cover alone, never mind the imagery of the Bennet sisters being commanded to form a 'pentagram of death' by Mr Bennet in the pursuit of a bit of zombie slaying, love it!

Brean

I know two posts in as many weeks, nothing short of a miracle at the rate I have been posting recently!!

We had a beautiful day today with lots of sunshine, the perfect excuse to seek out some sea air. So I took myself to the downs and the sand at Brean today. I started nice and early and had a lovely walk over the downs with barely another soul in sight.
The steps which take you to the downs are certainly a good way to get the heart going at the start of the walk, but once at the top it's reasonably level with just a couple of small summits which are easily conquered. Bluebells and buttercups cover the down at this time of year. There are plenty of other wildflowers, butterflies and birds to be seen too. You might remember the picture of my snow covered boots from a few posts ago. Well I couldn't resist snapping another when I saw these buttercups glowing at my feet. Look at my poor worn out walking boots, I think it will be time for a new pair soon. There is a view out to the little isle of Steep Holm from the top of one of those summits I was telling you about. This is the highest point of the downs, only 97m which is pretty tiny in the scheme of things.

At the very tip of the downs are the remains of a fort which was first built in the 1870s, the defences were re-armed during the two world wars. I love how nature is reasserting itself here now.

The Officers Mess now appears to have found some new residents.

After my tramp over the downs I ambled along the beach for a few hours enjoying the blue skies and sunshine.... ...no boots required.

Whatever you are up to this weekend, I hope you have a good one!

Talking Trash

Well another few weeks have passed by and I still haven't managed to get back to anything creative. I'm sure it will come, I'm starting to get a few ideas but just not the confidence or motivation to get started on anything yet.

Instead, for the sake of having something to post, I thought I'd share a couple of things that I did at the very beginning of the year but in all the upheaval never got round to posting.

2008 was a difficult year in my personal life for a reason that I won't share here, but suffice to say I was left very shook up by one event, for most of the year I wandered round in a daze but didn't realise it until I finally 'woke up' in the weeks before Christmas. I had begun to feel like the old me again, full of dreams and plans for adventure, I was so convinced that 2009 was going to be one of the best that I planned to commemorate it in the best way I know how, stitch.

This was going to be the centre-piece.

I also made this from a mini kit which I thought would be perfect to symbolise the dawn of the new year and the start of my journey to really find myself and happiness again.

I planned to make more patches like the cockerel to add to this to commemorate all of the good things that happened this year. It seemed like a good idea at the time, already I had a trip to Cornwall to celebrate, a surprise trip to Rome that I'd booked, plans for Marrakesh and of course summer camping trips to look forward to. As well as the prospect of every day joys to record, maybe a beautiful sunset or the blooming of beautiful spring flowers.......

In just a few short days that all came crashing down around me, part of me feels like an idiot even sharing this with you now, I feel foolish for having dreamed so high and now to have been bought so low.

I'm sure the cockerel will be recycled in to a different project sometime in the future, as for 2009, well it's certainly not a year to be celebrated so that piece will be shredded and added to the trash.

Swanage

I just wanted to quickly check in and say hi and let you guys know that I'm still alive and kicking. I want to say a huge thank you for all of the comments of support on my last couple of posts, they really do mean a lot to me.

Things are still difficult but I'm slowly getting more used to my new life on my own, can't say I like it much but hopefully that will come in time. So many things just don't feel the same to me anymore. I haven't picked up a needle or sat at my sewing machine in four months, I guess I've lost the urge to be creative for a while .....

In the meantime here are a few snaps from a weekend trip that I took to the coast a few weeks ago, I was blessed with wonderful weather and spent a couple of happy days walking and enjoying the sunshine.

A couple of shots of Old Harry Rocks

Agglestone - a huge 400 Tonne sandstone rock which legend says the devil threw from the Isle of Wight.

Is there anything better after a hard days walking than the sight of the sun sparkling off the sea while enjoying those well earned fish and chips? :)

Snowy Days

I just want to say thank you to everyone who posted such lovely comments of support on my last entry. My life is still Topsy-Turvy but things are getting better. Basically after 14 years together Mark and I are going our separate ways and I'm struggling to deal with it but will get there I'm sure.

Anyhow I just wanted to check in and let you know I'm ok. While I'm here I thought I'd share a few pics I took while out walking in the snow yesterday.

I may be gone sometime ...

... my world has been turned upside down. I'm trying to work through things but I may be gone a while, in the meantime I will miss my blogging friends ..........

I have been diligently working away on a few things over the last few days but nothing finished yet. I have the day to myself today so after a quick trip to town I plan on getting creative so hopefully today will to the day of finishes.

In the meantime I have recently been tagged by Melinda, Tracey and Leah to share 8 random things about me.

1. I love walking in the rain

2. I really detest doing the ironing.

3. My favourite TV program is the Ghost Whisperer.

4. I try as stay in bed as late as possible on a weekday, so rarely have time for breakfast.

5. My eyes are a funny grey colour, sometimes they look more blue and other green.

6. I really don't like my nose

7. I love Pizza!!

8. Even though it's been three years since she died, I still religiously watch my Mum's favourite TV show, I figure if she is anywhere watching me then the least I can do is make sue she keeps up with the show :)

And just because I don't like to post without a picture here is a snap of some lovely silk threads I purchased in a bargain bundle off Ebay recently.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Beret-licious

My first finish of the year. The new hat is done.

I just love it, it's so nice and cosy, the perfect way to keep me warm during this cold snap we're having.I couldn't quite get the hang of trying to get a photo of me but you get the idea. If I remember I'll get Mark to snap a proper shot later ......

Even though I found the knitting tough going on my hands for some reason I'm tempted to get some more yarn to make the funky wrist warmers from the same book shown in this picture

Resolutions Unresolved.

Well here we are already on the 6th day of the new year and I haven't mentioned anything about resolutions and goals yet. Mostly because I don't really have anything concrete in my mind yet!

I do have a few ideas brewing though. Toward the end of last year I was becoming a bit disillusioned with the creative things that I was doing, but now I realise there wasn't really anything wrong with what I was doing it was just where my head was at, I know now that I was stuck in a bit of a rut so I think I need to challenge myself to tackle some new things this year.

However, that doesn't mean I will be totally throwing out the old, the one thing I do know is that I will be carrying on with Mum's cross stitch UFOs and will also get back to tackling my own pile of miscellaneous UFOs. Starting with Janet's cat which I had promised myself month's ago I would work on.

I will also be cutting back on the postcard swaps. I have lots of books and magazines that I have bought over the years and never got round to playing with the ideas and techniques in them so I will spending time with my books instead of postcard making :) I really want to improve my stitching skills and hopefully this will be the way to do it. I'll be starting by spending a couple of weeks with this book.

I have a few other ideas rumbling round in my head and a couple of challenges that I hope to take part in but I've taken up enough of your time today with my ramblings so I'll chat about those another time.

A new knit

Check this out, I woke up this morning to an almost winter wonderland.

This must be the most snow we've had for a few years. It had already melted quite a lot so the only thing I could think to take a picture of was my car, looks like paw prints on the bonnet!

Thought I'd just share the new knitting project I'm working on. Way back last summer I bought this lovely chart book and the wool to make the stripey beret. Well I finally got it started while we were away at the weekend.
I don't know if it just the cold weather but I'm finding it difficult to knit up more than a few rows at a time as my hands soon start to get really stiff. Oh well despite this and the fact that I'm a slow knitter I'm hopeful that this will come together pretty quickly and I'll have a new hat to wear before the cold snap disappears.

Cornish Charm

I'm back from a wonderful break in Cornwall lots of reading and walking, and a new knitting project started. I hope you have all had a wonderful start to the new year too.

I have lots of emails and blog reading to catch up on but first I thought I'd share a few photos from my trip. On Saturday in spite of the grey skies and sea breeze we went for a walk along the coast path.

We ambled from Carne to Portloe and back almost 8 miles all told.My mushroom risotto back at the Inn where we stayed tasted delicious after all that fresh air!

In contrast to the grey skies of Friday Saturday was a beautiful blue sky day. We drove around for a bit coming across old mine buildings and 'The Nine Maidens' stones. Local legend has it that the maidens were turned to stone for dancing on a Sunday.
At midday we found ourselves at the pretty fishing village of Padstow and of course it would have been plain rude not to partake in a traditional fish and chip lunch (grin).

Our final stop of the day involved some more coast path walking as we went to Bedruthan Steps I had lots of time to partake in one of my favourite pastimes 'Photographing the photographer' Before watching the beautiful sunsetEven the drive home today revealed some surprises as we came across this beautiful derelict church at Bolventor.I have to admit that I couldn't resist risking capture for trespass to photograph this beautiful door and some amazing grave stones.

I wonder who Susanna was?
There is a planning notice up which says that the building will likely soon be converted into residential accommodation, wouldn't it be amazing to have a garden of the dead? .... such a beautiful thought.

I hope you enjoyed just a taste of my new year getaway.......................

Yellow

In the spirit of tying up all loose ends and getting ready to move on into the new year. I thought I'd share the final set of postcards I made in 2008. This time for the Artsnthemail Something Beginning with Y swap.

As I'm sure is pretty obvious Y is for yellow! I used the same technique for the green stripes card a few posts ago.

So far I'm signed up for 2 postcard swaps in January adding up to just 4 postcards to make. The branch of the embroidery guild that I belong to is also doing a postcard challenge this year which I would like to participate in but I really am going to try and keep the postcards to a minimum and explore other things this year.

Welcome 2009

Happy New Year to you all

I was hoping to write a super interesting post (grin) about all my fabulous plans and goals for the coming year, but dh is whisking me away to Cornwall for a few days for a wonderful New Year get away, so plans and resolutions will have to wait a few more days.

I have scheduled a quick post for tomorrow so things won't be totally quiet here.

Goodbye 2008

WARNING: You might want to skip this post it's long and full of self centred reflection, lol!

I can hardly believe that the last day of 2008 has arrived, where did it go? The last few years have been a roller coaster for me and this one has been no different. I think my own health problems earlier in the year left me in a state of lethargy and I never really recovered. The year has passed me by without me really having the time, energy or inclination to really take part in it.

But here we are on the cusp of the new year and I can feel myself waking up again inside, opening up to the potential of new beginnings. I'm always optimistic and full of excitement for the things that the new year might bring, although I have to admit that my excitement these days is tinged with caution as for the last few years life has put some big pot holes in the road for me to contend with. I guess we can only plunge head long into it and see what life will bring over the next 12 months.

For the last year I have been keeping a list of some of the things that I've done in my sidebar.
As I will need to wipe the slate clean and start afresh tomorrow I thought I'd transfer all the details into a post so as not to lose the information entirely.

Projects I've completed in 2008

• Four Bags
• Two Art Dolls
• One Hundred and Twenty Nine Postcards
• One Fabric Page
• One Padfolio
• One ATC
• Four Cross stitch kits
• One mini wall hanging
• Two Cushions
• Three CD samplers
• Seventeen 12 inch quilt blocks
• Twelve 8 inch quilt blocks
• One Long Stitch kit
• One embroidery kit
• One double bed quilt top

Movies I've watched at the cinema in 2008

• Charlie Wilson's War
• The Kite Runner
• Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
• In the Valley of Elah
• Alien Vs Predator: Requiem
• Cloverfield
• Juno
• Vantage Point
• 10,000BC
• The Cottage
• Nosferatu
• Indiana Jones
• In Bruges
• Wanted
• Incredible Hulk
• Hancock
• Wall-e
• Journey to the centre of the earth 3D
• Batman: The Dark Knight
• The Mummy 3
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars
• Hellboy 2
• Saw V
• Quantum of Solace
• Body of Lies
• The day the Earth stood still
• Twilight

Books I've read in 2008

• The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
• The Jester by James Paterson & Andrew Gross
• The Book of Lost Things by John Connelly
• The Memory Keepers Daughter by Kim Edwards
• The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters by G.W. Dahlquist
• Chasing the Dime by Michael Connelly
• The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara Trilogy by Terry Books
• Gladiatrix by Russell Whitfield
• Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
• New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
• Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

I guess that list is not bad considering I feel like I've been asleep for a lot of the year, now it's time to wake up ............................