the shock...

...of finding I hadn't blogged since July...and it is now October...OCTOBER!!!

Jeez I feel like I was dead or something. But I wasn't. Not really sure quite what was going on...oh yeah, real life (I think they call it) bloomin' 'eck it doesn't half get in the way of bloggin'n'craftin at times...

Anyway, here I am, back to some sort of bloggin'n'craftin half life at least...sorry about the hiatus...I'd promise it won't happen again (but you know what, I bet it does)...

Ms Reva had a birthday during that self-enforced silence...girl turned 7


We had a number of celebrations and I made her a cushion, well we made it together really, though she didn't know it was happening. Best sort of mum'n'dottir crafting where no-one quite knows what's going on. Happens a lot round here.

She stuck all these bits of fabric from my scrap box onto a square piece (from a sheet we had in our holiday "hut" in the 1970s - aaaah, those were the days) one day while I was busy doing something else and one night while she was busy doing something else (sleeping to be precise) I appliqued them all down exactly as she'd put them, added a back and a label (for I suffer from an acute case of labelitis) and an internal cushion and a crafty birthday pressie was born.


The look on her face on the morning of the day was priceless, and the sight of it on her bed every day better still.



Gotta do more of that sort of stuff. I love it.

Realised tonight this is my 95th, or 96th post. Now I know that's fairly pathetic over more than two years compared to all those prolific posters out there, but it does mean post no 100 is approaching (sometime in the next decade that'll be) and so I'll have to start thinking about a suitable giveaway for the traditional celebration. Unless fashions have moved on so far since I was around last of course that that is now passe. Hmmmm...watch this space... (ahem...if you have the patience of a saint that is)

Hope anyone who found their way back here again after my very impolite silence is well and enjoying life and all that Autumn (can it really be) has to offer...

21 go down to the sea...

annual summer camping trip time again...our largest group outing to date...11 adults and 10 kids all went down to Dorset for a weekend of fun, frolics and fossils...

...chesil beach in the mist...

we managed to celebrate two birthdays

with home made cake...now a pre-requisite for any camping trip for me I'm afraid

...fit in some walking...

there be a baby in that there purple scarf refashioned into a sling apparatus

we visited some rocky beaches

the girls jointly invested many weeks pocket money in an inflatable

(versatile that scarf!)

and my lovely friend Jane (one of the Birthday Girls) even made a dress over the weekend...
a rather small dress, but a dress, nonetheless

go camping...it rocks!

random photos of those pesky smallfry...

random pics of the smallfry, just because...


running through a doorway in the tudor part of Hampton Court Palace where we had a lot of fun thinking about King Henry "the Horrid" (as Esther christened him) - what a brilliant place for a day out with kids, from the palace with its kitchens and twisty turny corridors, to the maze which we had to lose ourselves in twice it was so much fun, to the formal gardens, the rose gardens (with a scent so beautiful it made us all stand still) and gorgeous wild areas in which to picnic...


had to include this shot of my wonderfully disaffected looking 6 going on 15 year old - doesn't she do sullen well? Fabulous [shivers at the thought of how well-practised she'll be by the time she actually hits 15]

it just took a bop on her trusty spacehopper to wipe that sulk from her face (how long will that grass last in the face of such bop-hopping? anyone's guess...)

ack, this one doesn't do sullen. Yet.

post sugary fudge making the old ritual of "licking the bowl". I did it with my sister (fighting over every last scrap of sweet goodness) and hopefully their kids will do it too...that old cycle of life eh? my mum would be proud to see me upholding the old traditions...

crafting? it'll be back soon, I promise...

midweek musings : smile

Breathing in, I calm my body,
Breathing out, I smile,
Dwelling in the present moment,
I know this is a wonderful moment

Thich Nhat Hanh: present moment, wonderful moment

knitters...sitting comfortably?

the last project on my needles, way back in February and still, sad to say, a UFO

first of all, a huge thank you to all of you who were so positive in reply to my last post. It meant a lot to have so many nice messages telling me not to stop. Indeed so much so that I am quite convinced to continue, and not to feel guilt about the erracticness and random nature of my posting. So here I am, almost another three weeks later...hello...

I got an email during the week from the lovely Tanya Shoop. Tanya is the sister of a very good friend of mine who I met when studying for my MA in Art Theory at Chelsea School of Art here in London. The people I met on that course were far and away the best thing about it (suffice it to say the level of theoretisation ( is this a word?) I needed to apply during the course rendered me incapable of making art since...someday this will change I am sure...but not today or tomorrow I suspect) Anyway, I digress. Tanya is a great knitter (and one day we will knit together at our local Stitch'n'Bitch in the local pub, once I resolve my reservations about mixing booze and knitting, or at least learn the wisdom of the soft drink). Anyway. Not only is Ms Shoop a wonderful knitter but also a very gifted Alexander Technique therapist/teacher. Luckily for me her email contained this article, all about knitting in a way that should ensure you can keep on doing so past your forties. You knitters should all take note. Thanks Tanya. The knitting community salute you!

By the way, Tanya's website is well worth a visit, lots of hints and tips on there even if you happen not to be a knitter...

hot on the needles...new cardi for Ms Bester (who is still struggling into the one I knit her 4 years ago, age 8 months, and plaintively asking each time when I am going to knit her another...luckily for me she is the patient kind)

I wasn't quite practising what Tanya preaches down in the park this afternoon I'm afraid, but I excuse myself on the grounds that it's the first time I've picked up my needles since February so I was a tad overexcited...Once this overexcitement wears off it'll be straight backed chairs rather than picnic rugs for me, I swear...(as long as I can get a variation on the straight backed chair I can drag along to the park that is)

me, looking grim, I wasn't grim, honestly, I think it is just old age (and bad knitting posture, obviously)

As you can see the weather here in London is stunning. Our new garden is complete, it only took 13 months hard toil (well, erraticly spaced toil I should make plain, with lots of gaps for tea) and so we really are enjoying the mini-heatwave we've been treated to over the past week. Here are some snaps for my dad, who has been badly treated in terms of regular snaps of the work (he is interested in things like this, he used to be a carpenter, and a fine one at that)

look dad, a patio! some beds! steps! a lawn!

some tired landscape gardeners taking a well deserved rest and glass of bubbly

gratuitous shot of the table outside, later that night (I'm riveting dinner company with my camera around my neck I tell you)

Hope the sun is shining wherever you are...

going and returning...

I can't quite believe it has been over a month since I last wrote here, I wonder what to do...should I stop altogether? this blog seems to be the last thing to get attention in my crammed full existence...but I love it...I love the friends I have made...I love the fact that I have somewhere to show my creative endeavours which somehow stimulates me to keep them up (although this has suffered much of late, hence the resounding silence I guess)...I love the knowledge that there is a little space out there over which I preside, where I can witter to my hearts content and no one can tell me not to...so I guess I'll keep it going for now, but as things remain crazy in my physical domain the posting is likely to be sporadic for a time...I'm sorry about that...

things are changing...I am changing...it's interesting and frightening and enlivening and liberating...but that's probably enough to say here, am not quite sure I am ready to share my soul completely...my crafts and other nonsense...absolutely, for sure!

so, not much crafting... Mr G flew away to Australia leaving me in sole charge of the smallfry...I did what any sane 40 year old mother of two would do...ran home to daddy!!! luckily I have a wonderful father who put his home and car at my disposal so we three ran amok on the highroads and byroads of the emerald isle. It was blissful.

Highlights of the trip:

spending Easter with my sister and her family in Co. Kildare...

Visiting the beautiful Japanese Gardens there and watching her two sons play Gaelic Football (not in the Japanese Gardens I hasten to add)

Walking on the gorse covered Curragh and smelling that evocative scent of coconut that magically emanates from those bushes...

visiting Fota Wildlife Park with my brother, his wife, one of my gorgeous grown up nephews, his girlfriend and her daughter...

native to Ireland? err, don't think so...

Laughing so much with my sister in law that tears were rolling down my face and I nearly had to pull the car over (dad, it's not true, really, I swear)....

Being cooked the most amazing curry by another of my gorgeous grown up nephews...

btw if you want to know more visit the company Eoin cooks for : Green Saffron. Their spices are incredible and I believe they are about to start selling into Selfridges, Harrods and on Portobello Market

visiting the beach with my old friend Lisa and spending two hours or more in a beach side playground while the smallfry hung and jumped and swung and we chatted...


driving around East Cork where the sky seems bigger than in any other place on earth and the hills do roll and the tiny men who stop you to divert you on country boithrins (roads) tell you "ye're a fine pair of women, have a great day, all fine women deserve that" which stimulates the older of the smallfry to wonder why...for quite some time...

visiting the home of my other gorgeous grown up nephew, seeing the beautiful photographs he is working on and being impressed yet again by his talent (and his kindness)...

going to Summercove with my father and the girls and sitting on my raincoat on the grass overlooking the water eating apples. Bumping into my sister there by accident and having an impromptu lunch at the pub sitting outside in the sunshine...

meeting my four oldest friends for dinner (the "big party this year girls on tour" as Siobhan calls us), getting drunk and planning further 40th birthday celebratory weekends...

coming home to find my apple tree had blossomed...


hope you have all been well too...

on growth...and development...

my baby turned 4...how this happened is beyond me...seems like only yesterday she arrived and brightened up our lives like nothing we could ever have expected...on birthdays I feel so lucky to have her and her sister in my life...apart from anything else I feel lucky that we are privileged enough to live in an affluent society...though elements of this affluent capitalist society irritate me beyond belief there is no arguing with the fact that we have plenty to eat, a roof over our heads and wonderful health care should we ever need it...


my baby turning 4 prompted me to think of the kids less fortunate...I don't do this very often as it leads me to a dark place full of wondering what sense or reason there is in this crazy world where bankers earn millions in bonuses and people starve. Instead I have a fairly innocuous amount of money come out of my bank account once a month...about the amount it would cost to buy two pretty mediocre bottles of wine or 5 super skinny vanilla frappucinno deluxes...and I sponsor a little girl in Paraguay through Plan. I've recently given up alcohol and coffee (in a temporary way!) and so have even less need for pretty mediocre bottles of wine or frappucino deluxes...which means I can now extend my sponsorship to cover two little girls ...which feels right given that I have two little girls of my own, like I am putting something back and helping in a tiny way to redress that awful imbalance...

I feel funny telling you about this, I don't think anyone outside my immediate family knows, why should they? it matters only to me really...but as I was browsing Plan's website while sorting things out for my new sponsorship this week I noticed that they actively solicit people with websites to link to them...free viral marketing I suppose you would call it in this free market economy...and so I've put a link at the side of this page...I urge you to visit their site, read a bit about the work they do, and make your own judgement...

am off to Ireland for a while over Easter...see you when I'm back

in the meantime have a very Happy Easter...hope the bunny is good to you!

a log cabin and lots of tea...what could possibly be nicer...

doesn't that look strange?

I was paired with Laura for Vonnie's Time for Tea swap. Laura is a graphic artist (currently looking for a job - GO snap her up - she won't be around for long) and jewellery maker and just look at what she sent me

gorgeous buttons...part 1

gorgeous buttons...part 2

fabulous print...part 1

fabulous print...part 2

excuse the awful photos of the prints - those dark patches are to do with my less than perfect photography skills, NOT the prints

there was also some tiptree jam (love it) and some chocolate...unfortunately one of the parcels Laura sent (yes, I had installments of wonderfulness all last week!) got damaged in the post and tea and some other bits and pieces she sent got lost, but still a wonderful swap package I thought. Thanks Laura.

I broadened my horizons for this swap and made something I have always wanted myself, a soya wax candle in a vintage china teacup ...I tell you these are making me damn happy at the moment...

I have this tutorial to thank for revealing to me how easy it could be...

I also made Laura a merino wool tea cosy from the yarn Mia gave me for my birthday, in a new variation for me, two by two rib, it may be my favourite so far...

I sent some rose quartz and green aventurine stones for Laura to play with too

Great swap. Thanks Laura and Vonnie.

so to log cabins...have wanted to make a log cabin square forever (at least it feels that way) but been too nervous...project improv forced my hand as the charity square was due last week, and had to be log cabin. I cut the strips the weekend before and happily sat down the night before the deadline, filled with false optimism, thinking maybe I'd manage two or three squares...come midnight I couldn't even see straight, managed to sew a couple of pieces on wrong side out and had a paltry one square to show for all my efforts.


It was a LOT of fun though, and now, finally, I can say I have pieced a log cabin square. I hope there will be many more where that came from as I do love the randomness of the pattern that emerges when you don't think two much about the fabric placement...I like this Improvisation business...it's just my cup of tea...

I LOVE lunch...and other people's birthdays

in a concession to our new found position as parents of a combined total of six smallfry and the incompatibility of such a situation with late night dinner parties (with smallfry in attendance) the Dinner Circle has recently mutated to Lunch Circle. Inaugural meeting today at the home of my good friends Ms. D and The Wolf. The King and Queen of the Dinner Circle, Anna (who totally stupified me by at the initial DC meeting by whipping up from scratch only the damn finest ever chocolate brownies for pudding WHILE we were sitting around the table relaxing after our main course - I tell you - that's a hard act to follow!) and Fraser were there too, along with their adorable new addition, Ms Martha. Cue gratuitous photo of me with Ms M...(cause it's always nice to have a baby photo when you can)

though she is wearing the kimono cardi I knit her so maybe not so gratuitous after all...
(aside :: the knit I am sporting is a 20 year old creation by Ms D...I am a cold body and had to snatch it while there...it's an amazing fairisle which has worn incredibly well over the years)

Ms D claims she has been suffering a dearth of home entertainment opportunities of late and so in a frenzy of making up for lost time presented us with the following ::

• Jamie Oliver's Caponata as a starter starter while the kids were tucking into their mini version of our main course (see below) - this alone would have made me thought I'd died and gone to heaven
• Fresh beetroot and mozzarella Salad as a starter proper
• Home made tagliatelle (yes, you read that right, the pasta was hanging out in the garden to dry when we arrived - I cursed when I realised I didn't have my camera to hand) with melt in the mouth Lamb Shank and ragout as a main course
• Fig and Almond tart (with thyme...very interesting, not to mention totally delicious) for pudding
• Milk and White Chocolate Easter Egg ring for the kids pudding...somehow I find myself able to vouch for its deliciousness too...hmmm

I am telling you all this as the Lunch Circle members demanded a blog entry of their own...happy now folks?!

It's Ms D's birthday on Friday (Happy Birthday my darling friend) so I rustled up a little soya candle in vintage teacup gift for her...




see that cake in the background there... that was only the bloomin' children's pudding (can you tell I am in total awe of people who can bake?)


Other other people's birthday news ::

I finally sourced the yarn for Nich's socks (which I mentioned in the last post)...

super chunky araucania, in a suitably hippyish hue

finished the dropped stitch scarf for another dear friend's 40th (we are falling like flies I tell ya) - whose name I can't mention in case she reads this blog - made from handspun handdyed yarn from Rosalinde the alpaca which I sourced here...

the yarn came with some photos of Rosalinde (which my animal mad pal will love) and wrapped in with it were two organza bags full of dried lavender...I tell you that scarf was the most relaxing, enjoyable knit I ever had...I was swooning on a cloud of heavenly lavender scent with every stitch...mmmm

Final installment (I promise!) on my own birthday news ::
Lovely, thoughtful, perfect gift from my ex-workmate Midori who I met for sushi during the week (random factoid - I managed to get out for Sushi three nights out of six last week, a record, particularly for me...)

Midori lived for six years in Japan so when she discovered my new found love for Japanese tea knew exactly what to get me...

Tea Tray with Green Tea Caddy and Genmaicha

isn't that tea caddy simply the most gorgeous ever seen?

Thanks Midori, you ROCK!

I'll be back to show what I made for the Time for Tea swap and my Project Improv log cabin square as soon as I know they are safely delivered. In the meantime enjoy yourselves, whatever you are up to...

jammin'...and yarn searchin'

so... there I was Saturday night hanging around in the kitchen at the birthday party of this really lovely man I know...drinking, chatting, getting a bit drunk (it's this thing I do at parties)...next thing Mr G introduces me to a pleasant man wearing a nice blue scarf (don't think it was handmade, unfortunately - that would have been really good)...we chatted....it emerged he was ONLY ONE OF MY ALL TIME MUSICAL HEROES...blimey, knock me over with a champagne cork.


I've loved the high llamas since I was knee high to a llama myself (and I suffer a bit from musical amnesia so only those close to me know what a miracle it is for me to even recognise a piece of music nevermind remember who is responsible for it)...believe me when I tell you this man is a genius. Anyway, we chatted somemore and then my friend whose birthday it was called us all into the living room where he had gotten his guitar out and had started a singsong. Being the natural shrinking violet that I am I didn't immediately start shaking a jingly shaker in time (NOT) to the music. Nor did I appear to be enjoying it all so much that a random (very sweet) stranger went and found me a tambourine so I could make an even bigger noise. Nor did I then decide it would be a great idea to press gang another poor soul into joining me in an official capacity as backing percussionist up next to the birthday boy who actually has musical ability. Nor were we then joined by the man himself. NOR DID I END UP JAMMING WITH SEAN O'HAGAN.

well, er...I did actually. Last Saturday night.

Enough of all that, back to the crafting. I am looking for recommendations for a good, bright, hippyish variegated chunky yarn (he wants them bright and cheery) to knit these socks for my friend Nich who so nicely requested some in exchange for the "1 Hand Knitted Item Of Your Choice" voucher I rather lamely presented him with for his birthday.

Your recommendations, please...(all the ones on ravelry seem to be done in yarns more easily available in the US)

feeling happy...and Project Improv

after all my wailing and gnashing of teeth yesterday vonnie found me a partner for the time for tea swap (many thanks m'dear) so I can breathe again...imagine if I'd been left out of that one...doesn't bear thinking about...phew!

I'm swapping with the equally tea-obsessed Laura ...looking forward to this one immensely

I've been noticing this ProjectImprov thing around blogland of late...I stumbled upon the source today and lo and behold the lovely Jacquelyn who is the brain behind the operation tells me I am not too late to join


read more about the ideas behind improv over at Jacquelyn's blog...to me it's a wonderful idea...gets me loosening up and sewing improv-y (not that much I do is non-improv-y but I do tend to hit a bit of a brick wall with patchwork) and also results in some quilts (which I am sure will be stupendous) for charity. It's a year long thing so plenty of time to improv (or even improve!) though the blocks for the charity quilts need to be done by April 1st

Jackie at CantonVillage has volunteered her services to do the actual quilting...the generousity of the blogfolk never ceases to amaze me...

you know what, it's not to late to join in...

and now, just for my sister who asked so nicely...

me'n'him doing our own projectimprov
(I don't look that much like a Romulan...do I?)