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

Busy Busy but so much FUN!

I've had the lovliest weekend - pottering and pootling about - visiting places, spring time projects with the little one, helping at the first annual Craft Candy spring fair...let me start at the beginning, which was friday evening and I decided on a whim to make myself a long yearned for pin cushion! A tiny scrap of lovely vintage fabric, pretty cotton ribbon and a shiny shell button and hurrah! Pin cushion lovliness all ready to be covered in the silvery things!

On saturday afternoon I helped out at the Craft Candy first annual Spring Fling event. I am lucky enough to belong to this wonderful group but as I wasn't having a stall this time, I didnt want to miss out on any of the action (or lovely things for sale) so spent a rather delicious afternoon down at the Workstation in Sheffield city centre. It was a grand turnout and I didnt come away empty handed either...I had spied these precious beauties on Yvonnes gorgeous folksy shop and vowed to myself if they were on her table at the fair, they would be birthday money well spent and coming home with me.

Well, as you can see I was very, very lucky to find them on her table and I swiftly took them off her hands! You can find more of her lovely things here, at Mymiyel.com, she's a very talented lady :)

It was hard work not spending alot of money at all the lovely stalls, there was so much talent there and too much temptation, but I really couldnt resist this little purse for my daughter to keep her pennies in and this unusual and very unique owl hanging (which has found its way into my kitchen and looks quite at home hanging from one of the cupboard door knobs!). These were made by Lucia, of Betty Joy and you really ought to go see her stuff, shes brilliant!

The day ended in style, my other half ringing up to say we were off to the pub for a tasty meal! Hurrah again!! A nice meal and a good glass of wine was just the ticket after a splendid afternoon at the fair!

Sunday, was a rather more laid back affair...

I decided we ought to be getting around to the business of planting some seeds...

We are planning to give over some of our flowery garden space to vegetables this year, and so on Sunday morning me and the tot got busy with compost and trays, planting peas, echinacea flowers, sunflowers and plum tomatoes. A great start to things we thought! In the next couple of weeks I am hoping to lay my hands on a little grow house to accomodate more seedlings as the weather turns warmer - we will need the space as we don't have much in the way of sunny windowledges in our little house.

So here they are, trays of dark compost with hidden delights emerging under the soil...fingers crossed!!

Later in the day, we went over to Wentworth village and enjoyed a gentle stroll around the garden centre before walking back down the avenue that leads to the village church, either side of the little path was covered in bright yellow drifts of daffodils that stretched on as far as the eye could see! The little one was delighted to be let loose and it took us at least 40 minutes to walk up the path, acknowledging each daffodil and pup that happened to pass us on the way.

We popped out in the George and Dragon pub garden - a delightful looking place for a summers eve we thought and made a mental note to return when the weather was a tad warmer, even though British Summertime officially began this weekend, the breeze had an arctic chill in it and fingers were in need of the gloves we'd all left back in the house.

Back home, little one bathed and put to bed we finally sat down and I got to relaxing with some therapeutic crochet. Ive blocked three squares and it looks, so far, like this! Im immensley pleased and proud of it, Ive never attempted anything so big before. I worked out that I need 40 of these blocks if Im making it as big as I want it...but theres no hurry to finish it!

So that was that!! And today, I did my first workshop at the Sheffield Childrens Hospital. I had a really lovely time there, and the children that I spent time with making Easter pictures were an absolute delight. Im looking forward to going back again soon.

Hope you all had lovely weekends, sending love, sunny corners, chamomile tea and a comfy chair to you...oh and a good book - enjoy your week, see you soon!

Love J xxx