Natural Magic

Went for a walk down the local footpath the other day. It was a beautiful, grey skies and sunshine kind of day. I was heading for.

Squirrels Rest is a little spot along the path where some kind souls have set a lovely bench and lots of bird feeders. There are a couple of really fat squirrels who hang out there snaffling all the peanuts and seeds so my aim was to take the new camera and get a few shots.

Is there anything better than blue skies and trees. I love trees.

Isn't it amazing what a difference perspective the weather casts over even the most familiar landscapes. Takes these trees from one of my snowy walks posts.

Don't they look different enclosed by green and blue instead of blanketed in white.

Well I got to squirrels rest, the birds were restless and there wasn't a squirrel in sight. I hung around for a bit in the cold but just couldn't get anything photo wise so decided to head back home. On the way back down the path some reflections caught my eye and on a whim I decided to stop for a photo or two. That's when Sol decided to reveal her magic to me.

This beautiful ray of perfect sunlight appeared. My picture is a poor imitation. It was beautiful to see this natural spotlight warming up the earth, making her ready for spring. With this kind of magic in the air I decided to try my luck again at Squirrels Rest so rather than return home back I went.

Low and behold Mr Squirrel was sitting there waiting for me. This guy isn't the fattest of the bunch but he was the only one who deigned to show his face.

The birds were also in friendlier mood, maybethey could tell I had been touched by magic.The long tailed tit is a favourite of mine. I was treated to not just one but a whole flock.Beautiful. I didn't want to out stay my welcome and determined to head home before the magic wore off I trode the path back.

The footpath is an old canal path, parts of the canal are currently being restored by volunteers. On the way home I came across a bag of rusty treasures that had escaped my notice on the way out. I had to stick my head in and take a quick shot. Love all the yummy textures and colours.

I also loved the way that the sunlight was hitting the remains of the lightening tree - one of my favourite sights on this particular walk.

For an instant I thought 'wouldn't it be great if all the sky behind this was all blue' but it's really only on the grey sunshiny days that you get this wonderful light that I love so much.I also loved how the outside of the tree was lit with the warming sunlight yet the hollowed out insides were still shrouded in darkness. This tree may not be whole anymore but the bark is still throwing its protective arms around the secrets this tree holds inside.
Did I tell you how I love the magic of these grey, blue and sunshine days? I did? Well I guess there is nothing more for me to say....

Stop the World

The little stitchery is finished. Not sure what it will become yet, but that's not unusual :) For now he'll just go in the 'waiting to be used in something' box. I love his bemused expression.

The end of Insomnia?

After several weeks of not sleeping I finally took some advice from my doctor and accepted some sleeping pills. I took one the other day and zonked out for 12 hours straight. What does the result of 12 hours snoring look like?

Well it takes the shape of a very bad hair morning, lol. I had to laugh at myself. I took this snap in the bathroom where I have a copy of my favourite painting hanging, The Birth of Venus. Why couldn't I have been reborn out of my sleep deprived state looking like this?Thankfully the birds nest effect didn't last the whole day. I managed to contain the mess under a beanie that I made a while back. Here I am ready to go out walking.

I'll share the magic of my walk another day.

Valentine

Happy Valentines to you all.

May your day be filled with love.

Blowing in the Wind

We've had all weathers this week, from snowflakes to sunshine. The greenman has a smile on his face though a sure sign that spring is on the way. I also love the aging effect that the winter with all its wind and snow has had on the pig wind chimes.I took advantage of a couple of hours of blue skies and sunshine the other day to finish the dyeing that I started the other day.
It was great to see the fabrics on the line, dancing a merry dance in the breeze. As you can probably figure out I had a play with blues and pinks this time. Then to use up the last of the cotton I tried a piece in brown. This came out pretty dark in places, but some interesting colour variations I think. I also found a box of black dye in the cupboard that hadn't even been opened so for fun had a play with this too.

When it first came out of the microwave I didn't like it, but it's growing on me. I'm really surprised at the colour variations as I didn't mix anything up this is purely from the black dye powder, there are browns, greys, blues and blacks in here. I'm starting to see stormy skies in this piece.

We're just about half way through February and I'm also just about half way through my to do list. hopefully I can keep this up :)

Playing with a Canon

I went to a concert at the end of last week which gave me some opportunity to play with the new camera. I have to admit that I'm not one for trying to get the perfect picture in this kind of setting, I'm at a gig to enjoy the music and have a good time. I get the camera out for a couple of snaps then I'm done.

The new camera has a couple of different settings for use at night time or for taking pictures in dark settings. So I had a quick play with them all. My pictures weren't brilliant but certainly a lot better than I would have gotten with my previous compact. A little more practise and I'm sure I'd be able to get some pretty good concert snaps.

Of my efforts last week, this one was my favourite. I had others that were more in focus, but there is just something about this one that speaks to me. For me it just captures something of the experience of going to a gig, I just have to take a look at this and I'm right back in there getting squashed in the crowd :)

Insomnia Rules

I'm kind of getting used to not sleeping anymore, and sometimes the extra hours in the day are nice! Last night I put them to good use.

I pulled out a bunch of CDs that I fancied listening to.... Went fishing under the sink and pulled out the long neglected dye boxes and put the microwave to good use.
It's a simple process, damp your cloth, stick it in a bowl and sprinkle over some dye. The above picture is before 'cooking. The one below is what the same piece looked like fresh out of the microwave. I gave some quilting cotton and some muslin the same treatment in the same dye bowl. Here they are hanging side by side.

As well as the greens I also mixed some some red and yellow for some orangey tones.
Got some fun results with this mix, but then again I love these colours so may be I'm a little biased.Of course as soon as the fabrics come out one or the other of the cats has to come an oversee what is happening. On this occasion Pip thought that the undyed fabrics on the table had been put there especially to make a bed for him.

Stitchery

Ok I have to admit to having some sort of problem, I think its somewhere between lack of will power and inability to stay focused, lol. I've started yet another new piece of stitching not on the February to do list.

I've been staying with family for a few days and needed something portable. Yes I know that was my excuse for starting the hexagons, but before I left for the trip I didn't have time to sort out more fabrics to continue with them. This little piece is just for fun, one small piece of fabric and two different threads. I figured I would probably get the whole thing stitched while I was away but I didn't count on how busy my nephews would keep me. Above is progress so far, another evening's effort and it'll be done.

Patchwork

The hexagons are beginning to multiply.

Hugo

I've been messing around at home with my new camera, trying to get to grips with all of the different settings and functions. Some of them are still a mystery, I must have a look at the manual sometime, I'm sure that will help :)

Today my (willing?!?) model was Hugo. He's the shyest of my four kitties, very nervous and doesn't like any kind of attention unless it's on his terms. I managed to catch him in a sleepy moment today and got some shots before he could realise what was happening and disappear in to the cupboard!

This close in shot isn't as sharp as I would have liked but before I got another chance at it he'd run away...

Siberian Gold - The Resurrection

As part of my Feb to do list I will be picking up my Mum's cross stitch again. It's been 4 years since she passed away and I miss her everyday.

I'm going to be working on the big Tiger piece again - Siberian Gold. Some of you might remember I started on this one a while back, but haven't touched it for over a year.

Just as a reminder this is how far Mum got.

And this is where it was at when I last worked on it.

I surprised myself by how far I'd come with it when looking at these pictures together. There is still one heck of a long way to go though. I'm going to try and focus on the other things on my to do list and just have this to pick up when I'm home and have time for a few stitches here and there. It will be interesting to see how far I've gotten by the end of the month.

A Day at the Natural History Museum

Due to some health issues I haven't been out of the house much in the last couple of weeks. However I'd had a day out in London planned for a while so rather than waste the money that I had already spent I made myself go.

Spent the majority of the day at the Natural History Museum. I had my new camera with me but it's a tricky place to get pictures as lots of different lighting and reflections from the glass display cases. This is a picture of the main entrance hall, just as the museum was about to close, I love how the night sky and street lights light up the windows.

There is so much to see at the museum. There are lots of stuffed animals and birds in the historical collections, I find it pretty disturbing looking at them. This poor little chap in particular stole my heart, he looks so sad. All in all I had a fabulous day, and spent a long time giggling at various incarnations of myself in the fun mirrors.

Look forward to going back again soon.

Starting to make amends

After the sad frog disaster the other week, I have set about starting to make my garden a bit more wildlife friendly. I don't have a huge garden but there is stuff you can do even in the smallest space. I've started with something quick and easy. Some bird feeders scattered around the garden.

Having cats, you might think it's folly trying to attract birds to the garden, but my cats are mainly indoor types and don't tend to venture out too often, I've certainly never known them to catch anything. I also found something a bit more fitting to mark the froggies last resting place.

Feeling Blue

My attempts to get a bit more organised have failed at the first hurdle. After deciding on a to do list for the month, what is the first thing I go ahead and do? Well start a brand new, doesn't feature on the list, project of course.

Not entirely sure where this one will head, just needed something portable to take about with me when I'm on the move. Inspired by this over flowing tub of scraps that was just sitting on my desk....

I now have a whole pile of these...where will these go next I wonder?

Hearts and Flowers

February is the month of love, and there is plenty about my life to love at the moment. I love the fact that I finally dusted off my sewing machine again, and I love the fact that I have completed one thing from my February to do list already.

My hearts and flowers postcards are done. If you have been reading my blog for a while you know that I've made hundreds of postcards in the past, but none for a while.

I started out with a scrap of felt and cut out some simple hearts.

The hearts then got needle felted, by hand, sadly I still haven't been able to afford to treat myself to an embellisher machine - it's still on my wish list though :)

The pink scraps from my 'new projects' post the other day then got put to use, and so did my sewing machine. After scraping off the thick layer of dust, I just about remembered how to thread it up! :) The finished cards look something like this.

It was great making a few of these mini creations again, like visiting an old friend :)

Listmania

Sadly my bout of insomnia is continuing, but all the extra hours in the day has meant that I have had plenty of time to wander the web, including some time spent looking at my own blog posts from the past. This has been a fun way of remembering things I've made over the years, some of which I'd totally forgotten about.

As the urge to stitch is emerging again, it's time to try and organise these random thoughts and ideas that keep popping in to my head, to try and make some order out of chaos. I used to do a weekly to do list, I don't think I'm committed enough again yet to trying to work on several projects a week, but thought I'd resurrect this idea in a monthly to do list. So here is my February list.

• Make Hearts and Flowers Postcards - after over a year without making a postcard I've signed up for a swap again.


• Work on blackbird piece - this is one of the things I started and showed in my new projects post the other day, not sure where this one is going yet, but we'll see.


• Make at least one crochet square - after declaring that I am going to try and teach myself crochet this year, a month has gone by and I haven't done a thing. As my first subscription package arrived the other day it's time to stop procrastinating!


• Siberian Gold - it's time to bring out the Tigers again. I need to get cracking on Mum's UFOs again.


• Dyeing - I'm going to dye up all those fabrics bought on my impromptu shopping trip last week.

I think that little lot should keep my busy. I guess this time next month we'll see how I got on :)