A Feeling For Spring

It's that time of year when I begin to feel heartily fed up of the cold winter weather and start seeking out simple pleasures, little bursts of colour and clues that Spring is on the way.


Finding these glorious pink tulips, and daffodils was one of those signs - getting them home and popping them in an old jar made me almost squeal out loud with delight.  Flowers are such a simple pleasure, and although I don't buy them as often as I used to, I do really like having them in the house. 

Cookies are another pleasure here!! We made some of Nigella's yesterday (from Nigella Express) and boy do they taste good!  It was bitterly cold outside with frost still shimmering on the shed roof in the middle of the afternoon, so it felt very cosy to be busying in the kitchen with the Little One, mixing and stirring chocolate cookies...

Not to mention eating them...

Ahhhh....another pleasure...freshly baked cookies, a nice cuppa and a good mag to browse!


Mind you, we are trying very hard to get that healthy balance in our little home, and cookies and Sweet Things are considered as a bit of a treat, albeit very Necessary.  However, we have recently taken to eating copious amounts of this stuff too:

See that jar there in the middle?  That's our very own blend of Trail Mix.  You can use any kind of natural nuts, seeds and dried fruit that you enjoy, and I always keep a little tub of it in my bag for snacks on the go. 


Ours has 100g each of the following, in case you'd like to make some yourself:


Sunflower Seeds
Pumpkin Seeds
Chopped Brazils
Almonds (the ones with their skins on as they're higher in nutrients)
Dried Cranberries
Dried Sultanas/Raisins


You can also throw cashews, pistachios and apriocots in, grab a handful when you're hungry - I promise it will help to keep your mitts out of the cookie jar (not that there's anything wrong with a bit of indulgence here and there though! :)  It's great at boosting energy levels and is marvellously good for your skin and little internal bits and bobs. 


A very Big Pleasure this week has been finding hooky time with the Sea Pennies Shawl.  It's progressing slowly as I've only had the evenings to work on it, but every time I take it out I can imagine sitting outside first thing in the morning come summer, sipping coffee and eating breakfast under a blue sky, wrapped up warm in it's sea foamy oceany gorgeousness...ahhh, not long til we'll be doing that again methinks!

I also decided (after a practice and a good deal of frogging) that the larger circles weren't really working.  I could then see very clearly in my minds eye what the shawl would look like made with 100's of small Sea Pennies, finished off with that wave edge - I think it's going to be pretty good!


Would anyone be interested in a Sea Penny tutorial?  I just wondered if you would like to learn how to make them, and join them as you go...that way you might be able to begin your own Sea Penny projects too.


Let me know - if you do I will try and do a photo tutorial for you in the next week or so.




At this time of year when days are still inclined to be rather short and often grey and dreary, I think it's nice to have something to look forward to.  Which is why I have exciting dates circled on the calendar that involve the Tent and Camping!!  We are off to Adam Henson's Farm (the nice chappie off Countryfile) for a few days in the countryside come April!  Oh, the very idea of getting the tent out again, my little red whistling kettle, that flowery melamine....

Remember this? (*happy sigh*)


I'd love to hear what cheers you at this time of year - will you share your thoughts with me?
Go on, you know I'd love to hear :)


Sending you warm chocolate cookies, a jug of colourful tulips, and quiet moments to appreciate the Small Stuff.


Love Julia x

Sea Pennies

The Postie brought me an exciting delivery yesterday...

New Wool!!!

I could hardly wait for my Small Person to go to bed so I could get stuck in to my newest project.  Remember, a few posts ago I had the idea for a summer shawl?  And I was mightily inspired by those ocean colours of aqua, turquoise and deep greeny blues?

Well, I went wool shopping online last week, prompted by your hearty enthusiasm for this new idea.  I thought about all the different colours you see in the ocean, from crystal clear to that lovely royal blue you get on a really bright day.  I had a great time choosing colours, and the wool that I'm using is Rico Creative Cotton.  It's only £1.50 a ball at First 4 Yarns, so it's going to be more of a thrifty make rather than a luxury one - but saying that, this wool is incredibly soft, and the colours are marvellous.

I discovered this wool thanks to Lucy (at Attic 24) - that lady is very good at sniffing out quality yarn it has to be said, so thanks to Lucy for sharing the link.

Can you see those little circles peeping out from underneath the wool?  The Summer Shawl has started in earnest, and a handful of tiny Sea Pennies have been crocheted and joined.  

I'm going beside myself just looking at it, itching to get busy with it again this evening when if all goes to plan I can grab a couple of hours hooky time with no interruptions!

As the shawl grows, the edges will become less straight - the Pennies will vary in size and the look I've got in mind is one with a wavy edge, that can be edged in aqua and white, reminiscent of foam tipped waves...can you see where I'm coming from? Does that make sense??!

It's actually been quite a creative week here in my little house, sketching, starting a new painting, writing the first E-Letter of 2011 and creating prints which are off to lovely new homes...

You may be wondering what happened to my decluttering-and-trying-to-live-in-a-tider-house malarky.

It's still going on, in between the creativity.  Didn't I just fill two bin liners full of old unworn clothes for the charity shop?  Yes I did, oh the relief to clear that stuff out!

The other thing I'm doing is putting all my files into this:

Dropbox is an online back up system for files and photographs that we normally just keep on our computers or laptops.  If you are anything like me, you will have learnt the hard way and lost tremendously special pictures and documents when your laptop crashed and broke.
Dropbox is good - you can access your documents, photoshare with friends etc from anywhere in the world. It's safe and secure and reliable, and you will heave a veritable sigh of relief if your computer ever expires with all your precious stuff on it, because you will have got a back-up on Dropbox to retrieve it all!!  That calls for a double WoOt!  

Go get yourself a Dropbox. It's free.

And on that note, I'm off - my daughter is having her booster injection shortly - you may hear the screams if you live within the vicinity of South Yorkshire...

Have a sunny, happy weekend, thanks for visiting me!

Love Julia x x x

Spring is Coming

I've started painting a new canvas...

At the moment I am trying to choose between a couple of names for it and I can't decide.  I'm going to wait until it's finished, sometimes a painting just names itself.

This work is very Spring themed, as I for one have had more than enough of winter - however, I have been inspired by tiny sightings of buds and little green shoots in the dark earth - and that is what originally inspired this particular piece - that and the odd longing to hang washing outdoors and to dry it with the fragrance of a fresh, cool breeze (or is that just me?? Ten years ago, that would never have been something to get excited about, must be a sign of heading towards 40 heehee!!).

Anyway, I can say at this stage in the proceedings that the painting isn't even half way there yet ~ I still need to add my clothes line full of billowing laundry, my wee lady hanging it out, and things happening in the garden allotment there...yes, that odd pale blue shape surrounded by those peaty brown shades will eventually be a greenhouse, perhaps with a bench, some tools and other gardening type paraphanalia.

There are plans for sheep beyond the cottage walls, maybe even some hens dotted about - it's going to be awash with snowdrops and crocus too...

Can you see it in your minds eye?

At the weekend, we had a little pootle over to Buxton.

This is St Ann's Well, where you will often see the local people filling up bottles with spring water.  The water comes from an underground spring and is geothermal - the water pouring out is very warm (which was a bit of a surprise) and a kind local chappie explained that it is heated deep down underground and forced upwards through layers of rock - or at least, something like that.  It also tastes very good, my Little Person told me this herself.

  

If you ever get a chance to visit Buxton, I can highly recommend the beautiful Pavillion Gardens and a couple of smashing little shops - The Pavillion Gift Boutique and Atticus Boo.

The drive home is pretty good too...

Mamtor - love how the land has been bleached by the cold, and that watery grey/blue sky above.

Driving through Winnat's Pass

Looking back across to Winn Hill and a beautiful sunset that suddenly appeared.

Before I go today, I would like to thank all of you for the generous and kind comments that you left me on my last post, about Home.  I've just been adding it as a print for sale in my online gallery shop, and for those of you who are signed up to my Mailing List, and may be interested in this, I will let you in on a little secret:  there is a special offer on open edition prints for my dear subscribers, so keep a look out later today for it arriving in your inbox (or junk.  I hear that sometimes the mail inadvertently ends up in junk boxes...do check yours if you haven't had it, as it will be winging it's way out to you shortly).

If you are not already signed up to receive my E-Letter and would like to be, just click the link above, or the one in the sidebar with the blue envelope.

Right - that's me done for now, thanks very much for coming by - always lovely to see you here - I'll be back soon, got something Woolly and Marvellous to share with you.

Sending love, arm~loads of narcissi and cups of sweet, chamomile tea to you

Julia x