Some images and thoughts right now.

Spring has arrived on the common, and the dance of the wildflowers has begun. One of the first stars of the show is the lovely Cowslip, waving gently in the breeze. This is the reason I carry my camera everywhere. It's a light camera and I have a special camera bag, which looks like a normal shoulder bag, it's padded and keeps my camera safe. It has room for my phone and purse too. So I am never without it!

The more I learn about editing, the more I realize I have to learn. Now a days, I only brighten the photo a little and increase the contrast a touch. Sometimes I use a filter, and sometimes, as in this picture, it's just fine as it is. The light and the moment I wanted to capture are all there. The camera I use for blogging is a Canon EOS 100D. Now this is not a sponsored post in anyway, but it's a great simple little camera and I just wanted to tell you...  

When you walk somewhere almost everyday, you get to see the subtle changes and feel the joy at new happenings in your familiar territory. A emerging wildflower is happy sight. Blossoms, spring leaves, meadow grasses, the colours of the sky. The moody greys and the bright blues. And the views...It's all so lovely. Clean air, friendly dog-walkers, good vibes, it's truly kind of addictive...and the dogs...it's just the nicest place for them.

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Sometimes I find a sunny spot on the slopes, to sit, out of the wind and take in the view. I try not to sit on thistles.... Occasionally enthusiastic dogs will come hurtling down the slopes chasing a ball, before it's lost down the hill.... But a sunny, quiet moment, lying on the ground in the spring sunshine, is magic.

At home, I caught this shot, as the sun went down and shone it's pinky light across the valley, onto the trees. The cabin is there. The other day I saw my sweet cabin lady wondering around putting little twigs in the ground around the Cowslips, so the guys who mow the grass will see them, and mow around them.

The cabins were already here when I arrived. Probably about fifteen years old now, they are not well insulated, but they have woodburners and character. First I thought I would run them as a B & B....that was 10 years ago, and since then they have had permanent dwellers in them the whole time!

If one becomes available, I might list it as a Airbnb. I watched the tedx talk of Joe Gebbia, the founder of Airbnb recently. I had a look through the 200 or so in my local area, which was slightly voyeristic,... but interesting to see what's out there.

Crafty and creative updates:

I have had to do some more visible mending on my jeans...the other leg decided to tear too. I thought I would catch it quick before it ripped all the way across. It's got a patch underneath now as well so it should hold up.

Talking of clothes, I recently got out my two bags of summer clothes. Seeing them in their see-through bags, all squashed together and old, leaves me feeling as though I might want to give the whole lot away and start again. I can see things which never really fitted right, or that never got worn for whatever reason. So I have decided to not open them yet and think about it.

Am I really brave enough to just let them go, without opening them.... And how will I find the new fresh feeling I am looking for? how do I want to shop and where do I want to spend my money?

Foodwise: I have discovered Papaya, and that it's very photogenic, and I love it. It's great for making smoothies, with banana, and almond milk, and for breakfast. Yum. I find myself just still wanting to eat warming, comforting food, like baked potatoes, every night... I need to feel full and fed. I've been reading about raw food and vegan food. But I'm not quite ready to take it on yet.

I've been walking by the canal. I feel drawn here now to have my dose of boats and water. It's very relaxing to watch the canal boats chugging up and down.

There has been some pink sunsets.

Some cloud wings appeared.

Some pink daises on the lawn.

I enjoyed the sunlight in my messy kitchen:-) haha...not so pretty, but look at the light coming through the curtain...The paintwork is a bit tired but it's homely in here and I like it..

 And new makes: a pile of wristwarmers, just ready for the.... summer!

I am working with a new kind of wool. They were just gorgeous to make.The pattern is a closed shell stitch, which I had to work out how to crochet into a round. It worked. I'm happy with them. I used the gorgeous hand dyed wool made by the Indie wool company Fyberspates. Each ball made two sets of wristwarmers, I'm pleased to say, and thankful because, oh the price...! The colours are incredible and you can read more about them in my Etsy shop, if you would like.

So I have to say that as I have written this blog post....stopped to walk the dog, eat breakfast, make tea, open and close windows, that I have felt everything opening up in my mind that I wanted to talk about. As though it were a concertina of things which were originally squashed down and now have opened up, drawn in some air and made a tune.

I feel better for having brought them here and shared them with you. Such is the mystery and wonder of blogging....have a good week :-)

♥   

Spring (almost) making and cleaning

Pink and yellow tulips

Blue lagoon wristwarmers

I moved my desk to a new angle, so I can see out the window and in the room.

Crocus wool and new tiny bunting

 I like my new eco cloth.

A quick and easy lunch, mozzarella my new favourite

Tulips

Crocus wristwarmers. This wool is so lovely. I'm dreaming about it:-)

So nice to have a clean window screen

I took the car for a clean. That feels good.
Blogger has decided in it's ultimate wisdom to not to let me add any more text into this post, only captions!...so I will leave it just with  photos today and save the text for another day. I'm not going to stew about it being  screwy with me, I'm just going to move on. Hope your week is going well :-) ♥  

photo diary

Hello, hello....I thought I would make it back here before I did. The time slipped away. January slipped away, and here we are in Febuary already. But I have been using my camera, hurrah! In fact it's all I've been using. So the blogger that I aspire to be, I must bring the photos here and tell you a little of life around here.

little blooms in my yard

This photo takes me back to my last post on instagram. At least several weeks ago now. Something happened for me around that time. My phone was threatening to combust if I took another photo. It was full and I found I just wasn't using my old camera, and I had begun to feel as though I had just lost a year on instagram, as wonderful as it is.

very strange gluten free muffins

I had just made these blueberry muffins. I was really excited because after several months of gluten free eating, I was finally baking. On the first day of eating the taste was lost in a frenzy of coconut cream and jam and photo opportunities. The next day I realized just how awful they were and how much lovely ingredients I had wasted making them, and after eating them I didn't feel good either.

What has this to do with instagram you might ask?....I can't tell you exactly, but I wondered just how many more awful moments, crappy makings, dire recipes, were disguised on there! How easy it was to hide the truth, in just a photo. And I wondered why I want to lose time from my life, reading about them, and if I might have had enough for a while. I know it can be an inspiring and entertaining place, and I still think about the people I met there. So I won't say never.

But I was definitely addicted to my phone. I think most of us these days are struggling with an on-line addiction of some kind. Something else I realized was that I don't think it would matter if you had a million follows or 10. The addiction is the same. It's like you either smoke or you don't smoke. It's what you do to relax. Before you do that thing, after you do that thing, instead of doing that thing. Once you start using, it seeps into everything you do, every free moment. Instagram is shaping your life, you are not.

Really I just don't think I'm supposed to be there. I think I'm supposed to be doing something else. I'm not missing anything either, It's just that simple.

I just want to tell you that those first few days, I felt liberated. Like I had finally taken my day and my power back. That wears off of course, as you create the new norm. But I have been so much more productive. My thinking feels different. I occasionally just sit and think, allow thoughts to reach me in a way they couldn't before. I craft, I still take photos on my camera. I read the blogs I still follow, mainly through email now.

Things like instagram and facebook are used a lot, by people in business to drive traffic to their website or shop. It is the social media buttons for something else, their real work. That's how I see it. To just get stuck there, is not what I want. I know a few are there to just spread a little happiness around in that corner of the web, and that's fine too. I just want to do my real work. I'm still working on that ;-) and then maybe I will fling out a few ig posts, just to celebrate that. So I have planted a few flowers there and left them to grow a while.

frost on the common

Well okay, that was definitely a rant. Should I stop there, or just keep going?!..... I will lighten things up. So January, well it was cold! We had some frosty days, a little snow, some mist and fog. A cough which kept me of the common and walking in the warmer bottom of the valley. A whole load of soups, warmth and self-care has been the order of the day.

a gift of socks

I was bowled over by a gift of hand made socks from an on-line friend on flickr. They are so comfy and special, and I must, must learn, how to make them!

drippy trees

There's been some lovely photo opportunities. I carry my camera everywhere, so I don't miss them!

handmade hats

Two hats have been made. I loved working with the pinks, and it's a fun hat. But I think 'slouchy beanie' is not quite the right look for me! I treated myself to some luxury yarn for my next hat, and oh my, what a difference, and I love it. I will show you soon.

blue sky and seed pods

Oh yes, spotted blueskies. Always noteworthy in Jan. So pretty against last years seed pods.

At home. Landlady duties here ramped up this month. A couple left and one was away for 6 weeks, so I found myself constantly checking heating and worrying about frozen pipes. But all was well and some changes are definitely afoot. I don't blog about everything of course, and there are perhaps some missing parts to the picture you see here. But I share what feels right. I often used to blog about how a situation made me feel, even if not all the details. Looking back some of my posts felt a little heavy I guess. And life is still not perfect, but looking up I think.

It feels good to be here. I hope your still here too. Give me wave. Onwards and upwards as they say!

♥ 

Keeping on rolling...

sweet smelling hawthorne blossom on the common

I think I began my blog just after my birthday four years, although I have been quiet of late. I recently tried to get the process moving again, in a slightly awkward and different kind of way. It would be fair to say that my blog is probably going through some kind of personality crisis. Am I a crochet blog? will I be a creative maker? or a de-cluttering/simple living writer. Will I let go of most of my possessions, build a tiny house on wheels and roll of into the sunset, or to the sea? Will I go off on a midlife wildwoman adventure and live in my car or a van, crocheting wonderful shawls and breathing in the air at that awesome place where the land meets the sea?  And what will I do about the teenager?

the wildflowers are dancing

Or is it about me and my soul searching, and how much am I prepared to talk about it?  And if you had read my last posts you would see there was also a whole lot of blaming going on there too. One of my least admirable traits. Not pretty. I know. I also know that whatever we can see in someone else is a pretty clear indication of what's going on in us, so I humbly say that, yes indeed I have felt pretty stuck myself recently.

the common is in it's sweet meadow place right now

But I think I might be about to turn a corner. Just quietly you know. In a kind of no one else will probably notice kind of way. I tend to roam this green and lovely planet mostly on my own these days, with my little dog at my heels. In fact only this morning I thought to myself, I only want to be up on this common, or at home doing my things, or else down there on our lovely south west coast line touring around. Oh and if this is a wishlist of  kinds then a few little European adventures, wouldn't go amiss, one day. And what would I do on this journey you might ask? well that is a good question and I can't answer that right now. Perhaps I would find some wares to make along the way. I would run my little etsy shop on route. Perhaps it would just be a spring to autumn time adventure. Or maybe the teenager, would need me around more than I think. So perhaps I will become a weekend adventurer!... Well a girl can dream can't she.

my little dog on the common

You can see my blog roll has changed now. It speaks to me more of the need to free up my life, reduce my possessions, live life a little differently. Open up the possibility for adventure. Let it out.

I'm very inspired by what Amanda Sandlin atwildwomen is doing, with her creative adventures, even though she is so much younger. So here I am at 47 and I still feel like it's all ahead of me, but in a different way.

frothy cowparsley

So until I work it out I will continue to wander and scheme about it all, and really that is the fun bit! So I won't be giving up this space any time soon. I need it to contain all my dreams and makings and some tough bits too. And yes there have been makings, I have a few things to show you soon.

butterfly wrap - my little red suitcase

I imagine myself wrapping this shawl around me with it's soft chunky yarn to keep me warm while the sunsets and the waves lap at the shore....while I breathe in the fresh air and clear space that I am making in my life, and feel held there. Looking after my life in a way that works for me and for my son too.

♥ 

Quick update on where I am around the web:-

My blog - here to stay! (see my first little red suitcase post!)

Instagram - yes,yes!..but also no, no! in the way that it sucks life out of any other time to do anything else creative, needs mindfulness.

Flickr - I still love the photos here.

My shop - Just updated and plan on trying to make it happen.

Pinterest - Surprisingly inspiring and useful, used with intention. 

♥

etsy an overnight sale!

I thought it would be nice to share what happened this morning.

Yesterday after filling in my policies and listing an item on etsy I decided that before I went to bed I would open my shop. Even though I had only one listing so far. Imagine my surprise this morning when I had a look at my shop and realise it wasn't showing any items. I was a bit panicked as I thought my listing hadn't been saved! and I would have to do it again.....well it gradually dawned on me that someone had brought it!!

and there it was in the sold items!..... and yes a very happy and encouraging surprise for me!

So exciting! so I bounced of happily to the post office ready to tell all and sundry, and to send it off on it's journey across the Atlantic!

I just love the combination of colours in this cushion cover and really enjoyed making this. I loved it so much that I actually made another identical one straight after! I still need to make the cover for it and sew the pieces together. So I may re-list this again as a custom order.

Setting up etsy was fairly straight forward, with a paypal account already set up. I was slightly out on the postage, I forgot to add the weight of the packaging! but I think I've done everything I said I would. So hurray for etsy, I'm so pleased! 

I have enthusiastically begun another! but I really need to get down to sewing and attaching covers......it's the not quite so much fun bit, although it's very satisfying to see the finished item.

Here is a picture of my next finished cushion, ready to list on etsy. It's a very colourful holly hobby style patchwork cushion.

Likely to add a bust of colour to any corner, I think it would probably be quite good fun in a caravan or children's bedroom. What do you think?.... we are going to need some colourful makes in our lives soon for sure. I have been dodging the rain all day! and now must prise the dog from her blanket again, I hope you all have a good start to the week!                                                                        

lots of colour changes!

You may have noticed some changes around this blog of mine! Isn't it fun changing things around. I've always liked moving things around and I've always been a fan of multi-coloured things so I expect I will eventually work my way through all the colours! I am remembering to back-up my template and blog, so if it all goes pear shaped I will be able to recover it! There is a great tutorial over at carina's craftblog which shows you how to back up your blog and your template on blogger, so thank you Carina! I will try and do it every week.

The seventies flower pattern that I've added to the header is from a plastic ring binder folder that used to belong to my mum, there's also a matching pen case to go with it, I'm so glad we kept it. I've had a lot of fun with pic monkey, a photo editing site. Just drag a photo from your computer into the edit photo box and off you go! Sometimes I think a good honest photo looks best though......

I would love to have a better camera. This just isn't possible at the moment, so I'm trying to make the best of what I've got, which is really a fujifilm happy snapper! I have had a good read of the instructions and now know how to bring more light in and use it for close up shots, and that it's best to turn the flash off. But it would be lovely to take really defined close up shots that I see around. So I'm practising with this one first.

It would be nice to get a really good close up shot of the wild flowers on the common at the moment. I realize that I love these wild flowers best. All the delicate flowers which have been grown by having their seeds scattered around in the wind. The cowparsley, the harebells and the pink clover and all the lovely wild grasses and meadow flowers, so pretty.....the purple flowers against the green grass, remind me of the curtains I had when I was young. Chosen by my mum, I think a lot of the fabric I love comes from my mum, who had flowers on everything!! .....and who also loved to sew, using the singer sewing machine, which belonged to her mum and that I use now.  

It's nice to have my feet back down the ground again after the whirl of London..... You may also have noticed I added solo mum to my profile. It might answer some questions and I think I like this term best, especially as it not one that seems to obviously refer to status, if that makes sense. This certainly isn't going to be a blog about that. It's not a big deal. Although sometimes it is.....! This is more a blog about making and being creative as well as the things that inspire and delight me! I have lots of ideas cooking and I hope to be able to bring them here somehow.....

I realise that I never showed you a picture of my sunshine pillows, made during that really hot weather we had in May? I can't remember now, it may even of been April.....very simple, envelope style. I made them after reading Homespun Style, the lovely book by Selina Lake. I challenge anyone not to read this book and not have to immediately go and make flowery cushions!!..... I'd like to make some more using lots of different fabrics, if I could just put down my crochet hook for a moment!

In the meantime I have an exciting craft project coming up soon, just one more layer of paint to go......

                                                                Catch you soon

                                                                       Heather