Busy, busy, busy

And not just crafts.....
I've been attempting to make my room "my room"... see, it was still P's room. Everytime I went in there I felt like I was intruding; like I shouldn't be there. Kept expecting P to be there and it wasn't good. So what to do? And on very limited funds...
I had a tin of white paint, so that was the obvious answer - paint the walls white. Then I had a brainwave - add some red acrylic paint and paint one wall pink!!! :o Pink? Yep! Always wanted to do a pink room but Z. was never a pink girl (until she got her own place I might add!!! LOL) I had fancied pink polka dot wallpaper, but the one I really wanted was £25 a roll, and I'd have needed 2 rolls, so that was quickly forgotten. :-(
Then off to the fabric shop where I found some sheer.......... Pink Polka dot fabric!! :-) Yay! I had a plan!
What do you think?

Sorry about the quality of the photos - they're off my phone because my camera has suddenly decided that it no longer wants to work; but you get the idea? The unit there is the 4x2 Ikea Expedit, and the drawers are "new" (to me) and help tidy it up a bit. The wall behind it is the pink one... I really didn't need it because the fabric just makes the whole room look pink.
This is the other side of the window - although it, too, has a curtain now but I don't have a photo of it yet.

You can see the difference in the room shading! This side looks as pink as the other now. That's the 4x4 Expedit by the way. It's not a huge room - it's the second bedroom of the house - and there is a lot packed into it, and still a way to go before I have everything tidy, and in a proper home. But it's mine! :-) Although it will have to be a guest room too; I'm thinking a sofa bed is the way to go for that; and it needs a blind of some sort, at the window, yet. 

I am now worrying that I was using lack of space as my excuse not to craft, but now I have a space, that I just won't want to craft..... :-(  Does that make sense? :-) I do wander up there.... I'm in the process of making a dressing gown - using my current, much loved, 11 year old, falling apart one, as a pattern; so maybe I'll be OK.

I have finished a sock!!! Yay!!!!! This is for a gift. Never made socks before and it's been a nightmare, but now I "get it" and have finished it... yeah! Just one, and the recipient will need two, so better get knitting... Not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I did it... and here's the proof! lol

And now? Well, the other sock obviously. But we have just heard, at work, that we've been successful for an Arts Grant bid, so in 3 weeks time we are holding an Arts Festival... yep!! My line manager has got 4 weeks to arrange something she has never done before and has had no idea about.... she's learning fast! :-) 

Myself and 3 colleagues have just started up a little crafting evening once a month and are learning felting at the moment, so thought it would be good to make something to display at the festival, so we are doing a "Fairy ring". There will be needle felted toadstools, and a fairy.... Guess who got tasked with the fairy? :-D Yep!!! So now I have less than 3 weeks to attempt something I have never done before... think I'm going to be busy? Trying to decide whether to make do with the "roving" I already have, or make an excuse to go to the shop that sells felting "stuff". It's only open today (that I can go anyway) so it's today or not at all... I could make do, but it would be a run out.... ;-)

Anyway. Regardless of what I decide, I need to get moving. It's turned 10am and I really can't have a pyjama day today. No really, I can't - I promised myself one tomorrow!!!! LOL

Thanks for reading. Speak soon.

Jude.x

This weekend we.....

.... went to the National Memorial Arboretum to see this:

Me and Hubby went to the National Memorial Arboretum this weekend.
Hubby had to go into work for an hour for some training, so I got him to drop me off at Ikea first - how awful was that? I was devastated of course. Having to spend a couple of hours just wandering round on my own. I was very good actually - only spent £30, which must be a record for me. I got some frames for "my" room, a couple of small vases, and some artificial gerberas to put in them. I wandered round the kitchen displays dreaming.. One day we'll have enough to actually finish it, although I'll need new worktops by then! :-(
Anyway. He finished at work and met me in Ikea - luckily because I suddenly realised that I should have brought my side table with me, because my payment card was sat on it! :o Good job he had his! (It's a joint account, so no - he didn't necessarily pay!)
I'd checked Googlemaps while I was having a coffee so had a rough idea of where we were headed. Then I couldn't access the map again once we were on the move. Grrrr.  Anyway, between us we found it.

I'm sorry to report that the only photos I have are the ones I took on my phone - I can't access the camera ones for some reason. I know I need new batteries, but I think I need a new memory card too. Managed a couple of photos of what (for us at least) was the reason we went: The Royal Tank Regiment Memorial.

The Royal Tank Regiment Memorial

It was very moving. Hubby says that this particular model used to be displayed outside one of the camps he was stationed at. A lot of his friends from the Regiment are no longer with us.

Hubby:

Keep telling him it's too early to be growing the beard ready for Santa, but he wants to try for the real one this year! :-) And if we don't find a hairdresser soon I'm going to have to have a go at his hair; it's got so long so quickly!

And then these are sold in the shop there.... I think we need some of these for the visitor centre at Tapton?

I just love them. Was very good and didn't buy one - although I was very tempted! :-)

Yesterday and today I've been busy painting my room. I've given up on the idea of Pink polka dot wallpaper for now - only so I could just get on and do the room. Just the area behind the desk to do now. The desk has been pulled out. We are waiting for a list from P. to tell us what he wants out of the cupboard behind it while we're there!
Almost finished and then I'll take photos and share. maybe I'll even get in there and start crafting now!

Back whenever! :-D  Thanks for coming by.
Jude.x

Crafts at last!

Hello there
If you keep calling by to see the latest - Thank you.. I'm rubbish at updating, aren't I? lol
If you've only arrived here for the first time - Welcome.

Anyway, this time I have actually been crafting... I know, right! Amazing! A few of us at work have met up a couple of times, because a colleague does "felting" and offered to show us how to do the basics. So we met up up.. and Wow! I'm loving it... This is the first thing I made:

Case for my Kobo

Yeah! And? I can hear you saying... :-D Well.... The case itself was made by Wet Felting. Gosh Zumba has nothing on wet felting.... lol It's hard work, but so satisfying as you watch that fleece being turn into a piece of fabric. Susan then showed me how to do needle felting, and I started it during the session. When I got home I carried on and completed the poppies, still unsure what I was going to do with it - it was just a piece of felting with some poppies at this stage. I sat and looked at it for 3 weeks, trying to decide if it would look good in a frame or not. And then suddenly I knew.... I made it into a pocket and it was the perfect size for my Kobo. If I had to price it up, I guess the materials cost me about 50p at the very most - probably far less than that!

By now I realised that I was loving the needle felting, and had some ideas for Christmas presents (still in the pipeline, so not giving anything away - sorry) and needed to practice. So my very first project was this:

I know... his ears of very big, but for a first project I think he's gorgeous!!! :-D I'm so pleased with him. And the "girls" that did the felting with me have been making some very rude comments about how I must be fibbing about having done this before.... I haven't, honestly! Susan was very kind and said that some people are just naturals, and I am one of those... bless her!!! :-)

And then.... Well! Hubby said "Make an Alphie"... Yes dear!!! lol. Never one to pass up a challenge - no matter how daunting it seems, I thought I could at least try.

So here is the beginnings of Alphie. I'm plucking up courage to add his outer coat - he's long haired, as (fairly) regular readers will have seen. I have the perfect coloured fleece, it's just getting going! 

I have a video of the puppy "eating" water, but I don't know if it's going to work... If it doesn't can anyone tell me how to load it onto blogger?

And then.... when I was leaving Los Angeles, Elizabeth said "Can you make me some socks"? No problems, said I... Oh! How I laughed when I tried..... not! I am now on attempt number 3... This is what it looks like..... ;-)

Although to be fair, it is bigger now... I get as far as the heel and then lose what I'm supposed to be doing! lol. I'm now trying a pattern for beginners, which really is an Idiots Guide to making a sock, so fingers crossed this works! hahaha

And finally. The canal was "de-weeded" before it got too bad this year (although the recent heatwave has ruined all the good work!) and I thought you'd like the see the "Killer teeth" that clears the water...

You see the little boat at the back? They use that to push and pull along the Killer-teeth boat, which doesn't have an engine to power it. Now see where it is on the first photo? I closed the lock gates (because once in the lock, these guys realised they weren't able to do the gates themselves because they couldn't get out of the boats... :-) I raised the paddles to let water in......... now look at the second photo and see the boat at the back now?

Yep!!! It was about to turn over in the lock... It had got caught up on some over-hanging bricks inside the lock, and the guy didn't realise at first... It was a close call. Mostly because I couldn't close the flippin' paddle because it is so stiff, but with a bit of rocking, the boat came loose. The guy at the front is the boss, and while not at all happy, he did take the time it took to bail the boat out, to have a cuppa I made, and a smoke-break!!! :-) And the canal was weed-free at last! The water colour is NOT because it's polluted as some visitors come to tell us, but because it had rained heavily and a lot of mud and silt had been washing down from the river. 

So that's what I've been up to. Thanks for calling by. Hope you are having a good summer? Enjoy the rest of it. I'll be back when I have some more to show you.

Jude.x

So what have I been doing?

I've been to Los Angeles... :-) Very photo heavy.............

My lovely boy finally got his Visa through, and he was off like a shot. Don't blame him really, but I am certainly missing him. We took him down to Heathrow and I didn't cry.... honest..... Well, maybe a little bit when he turned just as he went through to Departures and had tears in his eyes.... OK! I cried quite a bit then! But he's been my life for 26 years because of his Aspergers, and suddenly he wasn't going to be there any more.... No wonder I cried!

Anyway! That meant the wedding was all set to go..... Panic stations because DH hasn't worked since Christmas because there's been nothing around. I have 3 wonderful children (and a [then] soon-to-be-daughter in law) who clubbed together and paid for my ticket. How lucky am I? Well - I cried again when they emailed me the ticket....
So off I went to Heathrow.. Got myself on the right plane. Panicked 2 hours into the flight when I realised there was still 9 hours to go, but calmed down again, read lots, slept some, watched Skyfall and tipped orange juice down myself! :-) ... don't ask... lol.
Two photos about half an hour out from Los Angeles......

About half an hour before landing at LAX

Just to prove I was on the flight! :-) 

Wow! Security and customs at LAX are so friendly - Not!!! I felt guilty, even though I wasn't taking anything in that I shouldn't.... lol So rude.... Oh well.... I got through and there was my lovely boy and girl waiting. P. jumped under the barrier when he saw me... :-D
Drove to Elizabeth's (Steph's Mom) house where I was gong to be staying while I was there, to be greeted with a lovely hug from her. I had been a bit worried about staying there - I'd never met her but she made me feel totally at home.
Jet lag took 2 or 3 days to recover from. The heat about 5 days. But I had such a great time. P and S took me sight seeing every day. We went into Pasadena:

This is the Gamble House - built in the Arts and Crafts style (although i do think it's as much Japanese influenced) for Mr and Mrs Gamble (Proctor and Gamble) it is a beautiful house: http://www.gamblehouse.org/

My lovely boy! :-)

Apparently the family used to sleep out on the balconies in the hotter summer months.

Remember "Back to the Future"?
Presenting........Doc's garage! :-)

Pasadena Town:

Pasadena Library

Pasadena Superior Court House

Then it was off to the Huntington Library... Gardens, Galleries and Library.  http://www.huntington.org/

 

A carpet  of yellow Cosmos

Terrapins - so tame they came right up to us.

Entrance to the Chinese Garden

Then The Arboretum where they were going to be married... Beautiful gardens. There were quite a few Peacocks, Humming Birds, Bird of Paradise flowers; so much! :-)

Beautiful flowers on this tree

Bamboo Copse - apparently according to Philip, a lot of the Jurassic Park films were made here.... 

Bird of Paradise flowers - these were growing everywhere....

Dragon or Damsel? No idea, but what gorgeous colours.... took me 5 minutes to wait for it to sit still long enough to photograph it.

Peacock!!!! Flippin' noisy birds! :-)

Then The California Science Centre... http://www.californiasciencecenter.org/

I'd flown 5500 miles for this day! :-D (Thats what I told Steph and Phil and they were OK about that...)

Even Astronauts need to go to the loo!

These tyres have been into space and back.... several times! You are encouraged to touch - so I did of course!

And what I went all that way to see? When we walked into the Hall where it was exhibited I felt like I was 10 again, watching the Moon Landing with my Dad and Brother. Dad would have loved this.... I stood staring with my mouth open, jumping up and down!!!! :-D :-D :-D Oh we so need us one of these in the UK! If only...... Here she is:

Endevour. Awesome. Totally. Truly. Awesome!

And then we moved onto the Griffith Observatory. http://www.griffithobs.org/
This was my second choice of places I wanted to go. Philip and Steph got officially engaged here. We went in the early evening because Steph wanted me to see the sun setting.

And then the wedding. The ceremony took place at the Arcadia Arboretum in the Rose Garden. The weather was perfect. My lovely new girl had organised everything perfectly and everything went without a hitch - except the Flower Girl who had a right 'strop' as we were about to start the ceremony. Luckily we all laughed and took photo's and she stopped and "played" Flower Girl as quickly as her tantrum had started. A friend got himself registered as a Celebrant in order to conduct the service. I was very proud and had a lump in my throat but didn't cry as I thought I would. It was a beautiful perfect day. I'll leave you with some photos... (none of me of course - I was there on my own and it's a bit difficult taking photos of yourself! :-)

They walked down the aisle together

Photobombed by the delicious Flower girl! :-)

So that's what I was up to in May. It's still odd for him not to be here at home. His room is now my room.... ( ;-) ) but I can't help calling it "Phils room". I'm going to have to paint it, I think before it's no longer his. I should probably have done it before I moved in a room full of shelving, desk, tables, crafting stuff, sewing stuff... you get the idea! LOL!

R started a permanent job today. I saw a Kingfisher for the first time ever today. Life is finally beginning  to come together. :-D

Thanks for reading and getting this far. :-) Back whenever. :-)

xxx

Aw Heck!

Blimey! Where's the time gone? Bus, busy, busy! Sewing lots - ready for the LA wedding. Moving all my crafts into what was DS2's room. When he moved it took me a month to come to terms with it, then I got going...... ;-) Made 3 dresses to take to LA for his wedding. Promise to be back soon, with photo's of makes and weddings and holidays! :-)
Jude.x

What am I up to?

Hello there.
Here we are, into March already! Where has the year gone? I guess I've been busy. Work certainly has! We've lost our appeal, so as from next month my wage will drop by almost 10%. We have been given a "role profile" that is at least one below (but probably two) our actual job..... but it's OK because HR say it's OK to work at a Grade above ours, as part of our development.... What!!! I can "develop" into my own job? Well, that's good of them.... Needless to say, I am looking for a new job. It's not the money (although that is going to sting) is that we are now feeling totally devalued, undervalued, who gives a sh*&........ Oh well!!! Life goes on. I have been doing a lot of what I enjoy over the winter - interpretation. I'm taking the lead on developing an Audio Post that will go outside the visitor centre. And loving the research, the script writing, everything about it. Also working on three panels for one of our Nature Reserves.
Talking of the visitor centre..... this is it last week:

You could almost believe spring was on the way.... except it was so darned cold! :-) Not as cold as the middle of December though: Took this when I was leaving for work; and this wasn't the coldest morning - just forgot to get photos!!! lol

What next? Oh! Forgot to share this photo of Santa! I know Santa, you know.... Personally! He lives in the same house as me! How lucky am I? (Actually, not very because he's useless at choosing presents for his wife.... good job he loves her, and she him!) LOL

The middle of January saw a bit more snow here. This view is very close to our home; in 20 years time it could well have a High Speed train, on a viaduct, included in the view! How can anyone think it's a good idea to save 30 minutes on the trip to Sheffield by spoiling views such as this? 

It's going obliterate a mile of restored canal, and 3 miles of proposed renovation, as well as 2 miles of Greenway. It will also pass within feet of the new Canal Basin built 14 months ago, with a "maintenance depot" sat about 10 yards from the Basin.......

This lock gate, which cost £32,000 for the set, could well be the last ones to be fitted if the HS2 does go ahead! :-o

What else? Well.... my lovely kids...... We went to a 50th birthday party at the end of last year. Went to my nieces beforehand, to all meet up first. They thought it was a good idea to put rollers in Philip's   - and he didn't argue! Crazy as always. My younger niece is in the peach top, the other three are my lot!

We don't get together very often, but when we do, they are all still experts at trying to wind each other up (although, you see the Kinder Choc on the counter top? The niece - left back, bought her "arch enemy, the daughter - left front the chocolate because the daughter can't get it in any of the shops near to her home. They used to fight like cat and dog! Who'd have thunk! LOL

Well, that's it..... Oh! No! Saved the best 'til last........... :-D

The Visa has been granted! We are physically waiting for the actual paperwork now; any day! My lovely soon to be daughter in law asked if I'd make the invitations..... we think this is the final version! :-)

Will write more about it next time; suffice to say dates and venues are decided, so just have to get the paper ordered and get printing!

Thanks for calling by. Speak soon.

Jude.x