Hats Outrageous!

The Leisure Centre

I know *ages* ago I mentioned that Hubby and I adapted the kids play room (aka The Garden Studio) so it's now my studio.  There's a lovely sign hanging above the entrance which says "Leisure Centre" - so the Leisure Centre it is:

 So anyway, yesterday I had a bit of a tidy up (not the floor...nobody's seeing the floor!) and I took some photos of the *inside*.  Hope you like them! Here's my desk - ooh, there's a bit of floor showing - but what you don't see is my square of Persian Carpet (other carpets are available) right behind the chair which is covered in little bits of fluff and thread...naughty me...I must get the dustpan and brush and broom out there...someday!  Anyway, there's my sewing machine, my iron (it gets more use in the Leisure Centre than it does in the house, believe you me...), and my bookcase filled with loads of supplies.  On the desk (the red thing to the left) is the Sizzix machine belonging to my friend Val.  At the back right hand corner of the desk is a box absolutely filled to the brim with Sizzix dies...we made a whole stack for the Misty Moon Easter Art and Craft Fair, bagged them into lots of 100 and I sold a couple.  The rest were sold by my daughter at her school Easter Fair, and she raised some money with them towards her Jamboree (not sure I've mentioned before that she's going to the Jamboree next year??).
A closeup of the bookcase and my fabrics and other stuff.  The mags are mostly "Country Living", but there's also a good selection of "Country Homes and Interiors" (plus a few others).  I've found that what "Country Living" feature in their "Emporium" pages turns up at Craft Fairs or on the High Street about a year after, so the trick is to beat everyone else!  There is the downside in that things don't tend to sell as well when they're not in fashion, but sometimes you can strike it lucky.  The bags hanging on the hook are made from curtains we used to have hanging in our lounge room (and in Hubby's and my bedroom), while the pictures on them are from a lovely curtain I bought for £1.00 at my favourite charity shop.  Still plenty more where those came from...it's just a matter of making them up... ...As you can see on the back of this chair!
The TV cabinet, still containing our Australian telly, VCR and DVD player...these used to be where my desk now is.  Sad to say they're pretty much destined for the dump - we don't have the room for them any more, and over Christmas we discovered that the DVD player was playing up badly.  The VCR is older than most of our children...and has been known to chew the occasional tape...none of them are compatible with UK TV signals, and there's no SCART sockets, so we can't use them for television viewing...and the TV cabinet has been...well...abused somewhat by the children...we'll see what happens.  They've been sitting there for a couple of months now waiting for Hubby to "get around" to disposing of them...on top of the TV cabinet are my "leftovers" (sorry, inventory) from Misty Moon...I have a table at the Cubs Table Sale this Saturday so hopefully I'll be able to sell some of them there.

What do you think of my sofa bed cover?  I paid £4 for it - again, from my favourite charity shop!
Ooh - what's that on the sofa bed?  Could it be, works in progress?  The basket chair next to it belonged to my great-grandfather, and when my grandmother died I inherited it from her.  It could be a Lloyd Loom, but then on the other hand, I'm not sure.  I suppose I could turn it over to see if there's a label...but it wouldn't matter to me one way or the other - I love it, and it reminds me of Nanna, so that's all that matters.

Ooh - there's a tiny glimpse of my square of Persian Carpet (other carpets are available...)!
This map of Australia I found in a skip outside the kids' school...How *dare* they throw it away!  Anyway, waste not, want not!  I remember having one of these when *I* was at school...could be why they were throwing it away, after all, I went to school in the Dark Ages...
Okay - here's some close ups of my work in progress.  I've been told that I should concentrate on one item rather than over-diversifying, and so after showing the ladies in my crochet class a bag I was working on, crocheted from cut-up t-shirts, and having them "oohing" and "ahhing" over it, I've decided to go into the making of them big time.  I'm now working my way up to the hard part, that of lining them...
No. 1 is done...see the lovely pocket!
My favourite bag - check out the size of that flower!
This too is lined, again, look at that pocket!  Skill, or what!

None of the rest are lined yet, but they shall be by Saturday...you are very privileged to be getting a sneak peek before they're properly finished!





What do you think?

Anyway, that's all from me today.  And, as it's Easter Sunday, remember - Christ is Risen!  He is Risen Indeed!!

School's Out for Easter!!

Excited, me?  Yes, a wee bit.  The kidlets are off school for 18/19 days - the youngest returns to Nursery on 20/4 wheras all the others go back to school on 19/4 - we don't have anything big planned, in fact, not much planned at all, mostly down to not having the money - but I don't mind one little bit!  Oh, we have a trip to the Dentist on the 9th, and I have a Table Sale at Cubs on the 10th, and Daughter's going off on Jamboree Training Camp, also on the 10th, returning on the 11th...Oh and No. 1 Son has a Computer Badge course for Cubs on the 7th...and I have to go visit my Little Old Man on Monday...apart from that, nothing!

I love Easter.  It's not the chocolate egg stuff, it's the promise of resurrection.  Christ's resurrection is celebrated - He is Risen!  He is Risen Indeed!  No, we don't have to remain in the grave when we die - we are not without hope when we are in Christ - for HE has gone before us, he's tested the waters and said, "Come on in!  It's lovely!"  In my life, in my husband's life, in the lives of our children, we see Christ everywhere - an answered prayer here, something "too co-incidental" there...He is there, at work in our lives at every minute of the day.  Thank you, Jesus, for not giving up when you were so sorely tempted to do so.

Amen.

Oh my!

A little bit of stress and tension in our household.  First off we have Husband working.  Okay, one day money will be coming in, but it's not happened yet, although there is a rumour that it shall be showing its face somewhere near the end of the month.  Which is soon.  Hurrah!  Secondly, Husband isn't happy where he's working, most upset last night about being away from home and hearth, as it were.  It's the weekend though, so there's a little bit of relief in sight, and we prayed about it, he mostly has to remember to take some reading material with him next week, that was half the problem.  I can see the books he intended to take...sitting on his desk!

Next we were waiting for the notice about what school our baby boy is going to go to - okay, he's 4 in May, he's not such a baby!  The notices went in the post yesterday, and I only applied for one school - the one his sister had gone to and his 2 older brothers are currently attending.  Even though the odds were fairly stacked in his favour, sibling-preference and all that, and having 2 siblings at the school would likely stack them even higher, it still didn't stop me having a heart-sickening worry that he wouldn't get a place. 

Anyway, the post's been, he's been awarded a place, as we'd hoped.  Hurrah!

Lastly, and quite possibly the most pressing one - I am selling at Misty Moon Easter Art and Craft Fair tomorrow!  I'm not quite sure how much stuff I will have, but I have a niggling feeling in the back of my mind that it's not quite enough, and I'm going to put a bit of an effort in between now and then...what am I doing on here??  Wish me well!

Bleurgh

Husband's home! Hooray!  I feel ill.  Boo!  Is it possible to be allergic to onions?  Every time I eat them I suffer all night long, belly pain.  This morning I've been suffering in other ways...no I won't go into details, but I've been able to catch up with a lot of my reading, if you know what I mean.  It's not nice.

No. 1 Son is going to make his first foray into the big wide world of public transport by himself today - and I say it's about time.  He has a book group he attends, and ordinarily his sister or I would take him, but she's away on camp, and I'm feeling under the weather, so it's off by himself.  He's very nearly 10, and I'm going to take him to the bus stop and see him onto the bus...he knows exactly where to go, there's no reason for him to not get there safely, and I'll pick him up when it's over. 

He's a bit scared (more than a bit!) and so am I, but I mustn't show it!  He has lots of mates who walk to school by themselves, which he could quite easily do too (or at least catch the bus - there's others who do that too) but he lacks the confidence.  MInd you, his sister was the same, and she goes to and from school by train these days, and pops into the shops for me if required...I guess it just takes a first time and then he'll be fine.  He's made strides in his confidence levels lately, he attends a music class at the church across the road of a Saturday afternoon, and he's able to get there and back by himself.  We can only try.

Very slack, I know!

Sorry folks!  I've not been on here for a while because it's been head down, bottom up for the past few weeks, getting ready for Misty Moon!  It's an Arts and Crafts Fair, on 20th March, so hopefully I'm going to have enough stuff.

Husband has also started work, yesterday in fact. They rang on Monday and asked if he could start on Wednesday, but Wednesday was his birthday...so no go so far as we were concerned!  Anyway, he started yesterday morning, and as I type, is (hopefully) just about home.  It's a nice, short introduction to his new working life.  Sometimes there's going to be weekend work.  Not this or next weekend though, as this weekend he doesn't have access to the building yet, and next weekend I've already planned for him to look after the kids while I do Misty Moon...It's only 3 months though, so I guess I can cope...I'll have to!).   Next week will tell though.  He's waiting very impatiently for his credit card to arrive, because we're sort of cutting it a bit fine in terms of our money situation.  Never mind though, worry is a sin and God has a plan, He keeps showing this to be true!  Yesterday morning we were up at 5.30 to get him off and running, and it completely wiped me out, so, although I had high hopes of spending 2 hours in the Studio doing some sewing (ie. after the kids had gone to bed) I was fast asleep on the lounge at 8.  Fortunately I woke up on the dot of 9 to be able to tell No. 1 Son it was time to go to bed ("Rats!" said he).

In addition to getting up at the crack of dawn yesterday, I also popped into Knitshop, a lovely shop owned by my friend Julieta.  We got to know each other when our children were in nursery together, and back then she was running things out of a small studio and online.  Knitshop is still online, but her shop in Lee Green is fantastic - I just wanted to feel everything.  I bought some gorgeous cotton ribbon yarn (think cut up t-shirts, but neater) and have nearly finished it all.  I've offered my services as a knitter, a "proof-knitter" if you like, and I go back in next week to pick up my pattern and yarn.  She's also asked if I can "proof-crochet" some patterns when she gets some together...oh, and would I like to make some patterns myself, and sell them to Knitshop?  Oooh yeah!!  It's stuff like this that really excites me and I feel like I can quite possibly make a living in the visual and creative arts.  I can't wait!

I've also been typing for Jim, my little old man up the road who's been carrying a book around in his head since 1945.  I generally go up to his place on a Friday morning when No. 3 Son is ensconced in Nursery, but this week Jim has a friend staying with him, so rather than get in their way we decided I could work from home this week (and next week, as I thought I had something on next Friday, but it turns out that's actually the following Friday - note to self:  ring Jim!).  Because I'm now taking No. 3 Son everywhere with me rather than the luxury I had before, which was leaving him with The Good Husband, I had to plot what I was going to do before I did it, and so after dropping off Nos. 1 and 2 Sons at school, I asked No. 3 to watch a DVD or play on the computer (his choice) while I did my typing for Jim.  All done by 9.30, just in time to take No. 3 to Nursery...couldn't be easier!  I came home and went straight out to the Studio, where I sewed wheat bags for 1 and 3/4 hours...before I had to pick up No. 3 again at 12, have lunch, then pick up Nos. 1 and 2 from school...

Is it any wonder I'm exhausted???

Wet wet wet...

My daughter's away on a Scout Camp this weekend.  Not just any Scout Camp, but a selection camp to choose the lucky 27 Scouts who will be reperesenting South East London next year in Skåne, Sweden (my favourite part of Sweden, primarily because of Henning Mankell and Wallander).  Now, I'm not sure if it has anything to do with her, but every time she goes on a Scout Camp...it rains.  We thought the hoodoo might have been broken, as yesterday was, not quite glorious, but compared to the weather we've been having lately, positively tropical.  True, we had a spit of rain, but nothing to write home about, and definitely nothing which would threaten the whole weekend.  But this morning...we woke to torrential rain...and it doesn't seem to be wanting to give up...still, it could be worse.  A few weeks back we looked at the long-range forecast for this weekend, and we were supposedly having HEAVY SNOW!  Glad that one went away...

To make matters worse, our car is playing up a bit, and I'm a bit worried that my husband won't be able to get to the campsite today to pick her up (what, you were thinking I was going to do it??!  Hah!)...the car's been working quite well for the past couple of months, but yesterday it had a hiccup on Hubby's return from the campsite.  Urgh.  Oh well.  We'll see what happens.  She'll be cold and wet, but I'm sure she'll have had a great time.  We'll find out by the 8th of March - I'll keep you posted.

In other news, Hubby and I spent quite a bit of time yesterday tidying up our Garden Studio (photos are here somewhere of a sign which says "Leisure Centre" - that's the Garden Studio), getting all the toys and crud out of it, so it will become a proper studio for me, and a hang-out for us girls (daughter and myself) away from the Testosterone City that is our house.  I'm quite excited about it all!

Crochet class tomorrow night - we're out of printer ink, so unlike last week, when I had take-home sheets for my class (hence there being no printer ink...) I'll be doing stuff out of my head.  I'm sure I'll be fine.

Oh - and Hubby has a phone-interview tomorrow for a 3-month contract!  Prayers please, we need this job!

Post Script

Remember my mystery object from a while back?  The one that looked like an enormous pincushion??  Well, I think my Dad has solved the puzzle.

He asked if it might be a tatting pillow.  Now, I'd never heard of a tatting pillow, but it piqued my interest, so I decided to have a little looksee by way of a search engine, ooh, one which rhymes with "frugal".

Nothing.

Another search, this time for tatting cushion, and I came up with this:

http://www.knitting-and.com/blog/tatting/

About halfway down the page is this picture:

  

What do you think?  I reckon my Dad's hit the nail on the head.  Or pin even...

Now all I have to do is learn how to tat!  Doesn't look too hard in the pic above...

Oh - and wish me luck!  Been cleaning ALL DAY and now want to have a bit of a nap before my ladies come around (and they're ALL ladies -  I couldn't interest even one man in learning to crochet - who would have thought it!) at 8pm.  Hopefully they'll be teachable, and we'll all have a lot of fun - and they'll go away tonight being able to make (at the very least) a chain of crochet!

PPS - further investigation leads me to believe it's also known as a lacemaker's pillow.

Most exciting!

Remember I put an ad in my Church newsletter advertising my crochet classes?   And I didn't think I'd get any response?  WELL...I didn't get any yesterday, but TODAY I have received a phone call and an e-mail about it!  Woot!  So that takes us up to 4 people, plus me!!  Lots more room if you're interested in coming...£25 covers 5 x 2 hour sessions, Monday evenings at my place, commencing 22 February, 8-10pm.  You get your own crochet hook and wool, and cake and other refreshments.  I think that's fairly good value, don't you?  The aim is to teach everyone how to make a granny square, and by the end I hope we'll have made enough squares for an afghan blanket, which we'll donate to Smile International, so it's for a good cause, AND you get to learn a very handy skill!

My Half-Term so Far...

Well, with my husband being out of work for the past 13 months (I hope you're still looking for work for him - IT Security, IT Infrastructure, preferably in the London or West Kent area, but he will travel for contract work), I have had to bite the bullet and sign myself up at the Jobcentre.  Why on earth didn't I do this before?  Well, when my husband signed up (later rejected, because he's an Australian citizen with no recourse to UK Government Funds), I went along with him, and I'm *certain* the "advisor" said I wasn't entitled to JSA because I was already in receipt of Child Benefit.  Looking back, I wonder if what she really said was something along the lines of, "You're probably not looking for work because you have four children to look after" (or words to that effect), but if she'd realised how much of a struggle it's been the past 6 months since my husband was rejected - I could have applied there and then and we'd have had a bit of a breathing space.  Oh well.  No matter.  I'm a dual UK/Australian national, so I'm entitled, so I've applied, and ooh, as in my former life I used to work for the Australian equivalent of the Jobcentre (OH the IRONY) I have put down that I'm looking for jobs of an administrative nature.

Not artist.  Not craftsperson.  Not creative jobs.  Because they don't pay well apparently.

I've applied for quite a few jobs, I've applied for a very exciting one, which might well come my way if my "advisor" sees fit to send my CV to the right place...I'm going to go back to the Jobcentre tomorrow just to make sure (with a spare copy of my CV).

So anyway...

Since returning home from my big adventure at the Jobcentre I've been very busy making stuff.  You wanna see?

 




I've had these kilt pins kicking around for a while, and then on Friday I saw a friend's daughter wearing one with bits of stuff hanging off it.  "Where'd you get that?"  I asked.  "Claire's", she replied.  "How much?", say I, pound signs appearing inside my head.  "Not much", says she, "I bought it for 50p in the sales".  "Oh", I reply, much deflated.  Still, if they're 50p in the sales, that would indicate that they're more expensive normally...pound signs are still floating about...

Now, the one that ISN'T a kilt pin is my new watch with its super duper watch strap.  I purchased, considering I'm going to be a high powered executive secretary shortly (NOT!) a watch from Lidl yesterday.  It was £2.99, and officially (and you can probably tell this from the picture on the watch itself) it's a child's watch.  "No problem", I think, "I have small wrists, I can fit into a child's watchband!"  Of course, that is until I take it home and try to put it on.  Yes, it fit, but it had a velcro strap, and the hooks and eyes didn't quite meet, so I sat for a little bit and had a think.

"Ooh!  Those leather thongs!"  So after a little bit of plaiting and unplaiting, and considering a bead or two might be useful, it's done and so there you go!  It's a bit hard to get it tight, but it does the job, and looks quite lovely, if I might say so myself.

So anyway, it's St Valentine's Day today, and so I wish all my regular (and not so regular) readers a very lovely day.  If you're selling things for the day, I hope that you do well!  I'm taking a few things with me to Church today (including the kilt pins and the felt flower I was commissioned to make last week) to see if I can get some sales.  I also have a notice in our Church newsletter about my crochet classes (commencing 22nd February), so hopefully I'll get some interest about that today too.  Of course, these aren't the real reason I'm going to Church, merely sidelines!

Sharing...

Overnight I had a commission for a brooch from a friend.  She liked this one:

  

But...could I make it for her in pink please?  Certainly, say I.  I'll see what I can whip up this morning, and I'll bring it with me to Church.

TWO HOURS LATER and this is what I've come up with:

 
It was torture, I tell you!  The felt wouldn't sit right, I had to unpick and resew, then unpick and resew...anyway, being the glutton for punishment that I am, I decided it wasn't enough to just make a felt one, I made a foam version too.

What do you think?

 
I prefer the felt version myself, but they both have their good points I guess!

Anyway, Husband came down from bed after all my hard work, and has decreed we're not going to Church this morning after all (we're all suffering from obnoxious head colds, so it was a bit of an ambit claim on my part anyway...).  Oh well!

Weather 2

For all my whinging about the weather yesterday, it's a gloriously crisp December day today. Thank you God!