On what to do when your laptop leaves home!

'All at Sea' Acrylic & Mixed Media Illustration

Hello there.

Long time no see...! Well my little grey friend is home! After a looooonnnnng week at the computer clinic we are finally reunited and Im glad, although to be honest, a fair amount of Stuff has been achieved whilst I was on my lonesome. Yes. Its unbelieveable how much time I found myself to be spending on it - although it is infinately useful for all manner of things from supermarket shopping, blog browsing and the like, I am one of those people who Pop On for TEN MINUTES and then two hours later am still browsing and wonder where the time has gone...!

So in the absence of my laptop I found myself with huge scoops of time on my hands! When my Little Girl snoozed in the afternoon I was suddenley bereft of company and had to think up new and exciting ways to spend the afternoon. We had a fabulous time at Clumber Park the other day which is one of the most gorgeous places. It was one of those perfect autumn days, dry and warm with lots of crispy leaves to kick about in, and chestnuts. We collected a generous bag load of fairly big ones, for this time of year at least! From past experience its November before you get a decent haul so we were very happy to take them round to my parents house and let my Dad pile them all on his old metal shovel before popping them on the open fire! Scrumptious, foraged food! Nothing like it! :)

Well, the painting above is one of the other things that happened whilst my laptop was being fixed. I spent several afternoons working upon it and it was a most relaxing thing to be doing, listening to various CD's or radio 2...and when that was finished, a spot of crochet was called for. I say a 'spot of crochet'...Ive done oodles of the stuff! Work has recommenced on my Big Blanket, (which then coincided with a visit to the wool shop to replenish low stocks), a new cushion cover emerged which is now waiting for a nice charity shop jumper to come and be the back bit...and there's also something else which I'll show you in a minute, but right now Ive just remembered I must tell you about this:

If you find yourself in the Sheffield area on the weekend of 28th-29th November, I cannot think of another thing that would be better to go to than this. The artists and crafts people of Craft Candy who will be selling their work are absolutely brilliant. The quality is extremely high, you will find some unique and amazing hand made goodies which will be perfect no doubt for Christmas gifts, or a treat for yourself!! Oh, and there's going to be a very Christmassy vibe as Ive heard on the grapevine that there will be festive music playing! If you would like to find out more about the stall holders, click the Craft Candy links on the right side here, and they will take you to the website where you can look at the members page and find out a bit more about the people and what they make and do!

Anyway, back to crochet...

Last week I began working on a little ball. The little ball grew a bit fatter and began to take on the shape of a little bird, a robin to be precise! He's going to be a festive hanging for our house this Christmas, Im trying to decide if to make some more, whether it would be something people might want to buy at the craft fair as he was great fun to make! Here he is, Id love to hear what you think:

I made a little crochet bead to hang on the crocheted cord, another project is already born in my mind from making this and I will reveal all as soon as I can! Im quite excited about it but for now thats all Im saying! ;)


Its so nice to be back though. Ive enjoyed doing this post and for things like this, and for the gorgeous souls I meet through Blogland, I am eternally grateful for my little computer. Ive missed reading all your blogs and Im slowly catching up with them all. I think Im going to try and spend a bit less time browsing though, and more time actually making and doing. Life is very short, and while computers are fun and very useful, life is also very precious and was meant to be lived.

I will see you all soon, happy golden autumn days to you, hope you are all enjoying the warm spell as we are here today!

See you soon,

Julia xxx