Restoration for the soul

I spent time at the beach this morning. I always love being near water and it’s been ages since I last went to the beach.

The sun was shining and, even though it was extremely windy, I could actually feel the warmth of the sun on my face. This was such a delight after weeks of seemingly unstopping rain.

I walked along the seafront…

…stopped for a cuppa and some colourful planning…

…then wandered through the gardens.

I loved just having some time to slow down. Time to actually think about things for a change.

I really wish I could do this more often, but until the next time at least I have the photos (and my journal) to remind me.

A sunny Saturday afternoon

After checking my email another hundred times or so, and twiddling my thumbs for a while I decided that I’d get on with a half finished project that’s been waiting for attention for a few weeks.

I had felt ‘in between’ projects, but my fingers were itching to make something, so I did what I often do at those times and turn to Lucy’s blog. She has so many beautiful patterns that I want to try out, so I was sure I could find something to keep me occupied for a while. I chose to make her Happy Flower Decoration, and had the main flower part and stem with leaves already finished.

I dug them out from under a pile of paper (I have no idea how my desk gets so cluttered!) and stitched them together. I also took a few minutes to whip up a tiny heart to go on the bottom, then took them out into the garden.

Lucy recommends ‘painting’ the back with PVA glue so it will hold it’s shape. I figured that since it was such a sunny day the glue would dry better outside than in.

I pinned the flower and heart to an old blanket with a pillowcase over the top. This is what I use to iron on when I can’t be bothered to get the ironing board out! It’s also very useful for blocking small projects.

While I was waiting for it to dry, I thought I’d take my friend up on her offer of a walk and a coffee. We strolled through a couple of fields (carefully avoiding the nettles) and made our way to a garden centre at Cuttifords Door which has just opened a coffee shop. We had a (very) brief look at the plants – neither of us are particularly in to gardening – before making a beeline for the café. I did stop for a few seconds on the way to take some photos of some pretty flowers…

…but my main aim was coffee!

It was beautiful sitting out in the sun with a warm breeze blowing through the trees. Bliss!

On our way home we dropped in to see a friend who’s just moved house and chatted for a while before making our way home. It was a great way to spend a sunny Saturday afternoon.

The glue was dry on my flower by the time I got home, but you’ll have to wait to see the finished article!

Another tassel

I thought that my next post would probably be about the next few rows of my CAL blanket. But even though I’ve been clicking the refresh button on my email every few minutes this morning there is still no notification telling me that the next rows have been posted! So I thought that rather than sit around impatiently I would do something to occupy my mind instead.

My first step was to go out to the garden and take photos of a couple of things I’ve done/made over the last 16 hours.

The first is another tassel! Almost as soon as I’d posted about my bead tassel I felt the need to make one entirely with buttons. So I got out my colourful threads and button box and got to work.

I made this in a slightly different way to the beaded tassel. I used a different colour thread for each strand, weaving it through the buttons all the way down and back to the top again. When I had 4 strands I simply knotted them all together (I’d made sure to leave the ends fairly long) then picked the two longest threads to be the loop at the top. I threaded these through a larger button, then stitched them to the knot to secure. It’s not particularly neat, but my eye is drawn to the buttons rather than the knot, so I think it’ll be ok!

Here’s the other one as well (I felt it needed to be photographed in the sunlight!)…

On Thursday evenings I meet with a small group of people from church. We spend time praying together and looking at what the Bible says and how we can apply it to our lives. This week we were discussing the importance of the Bible itself. Reading the Bible is something that a lot of Christians (myself included!) find hard at times, so one of the things we discussed was how to get the most from the times we read it. I often find (just in life in general) that if I write something down I remember it better. So I decided that I should use my journal more often to jot down things that jump out at me as I read the Bible.

This morning I read Isaiah 40. It’s filled with amazing imagery, so I thought I’d get my colours out and write it in a jumbled up kinda way.

I’m not a great artist (as much as I’d like to be!) but I had a go at adding small pictures to the text anyway. I like the way it all looks on the page and it was a great way of getting me to focus for a much longer time than usual! It’s definitely something I’ll be doing again.

Anyway, I must just go and check my emails again…

 

A morning by the sea

I know I’ve posted about visits to the beach before, but every time I go I just can’t resist taking more photos! It was cold and very breezy this morning, with thick grey clouds at times followed by blue sky and bright sunshine! I do love our British weather, it’s just so changeable. Here are some of the things I saw and did this morning…

…a solitary daffodil waiting for the others to catch up.

  

…bright blue skies over the cliff.

…listened to the lovely soft scrunch and crunch of walking over pebbles.

…caught up on some reading and journalling.

…enjoyed watching the sea and sky changing.

These photos were taken over about half an hour. I sat in the same place and took them every couple of minutes. It amazes me just how steadfast and changeable the sea and sky are. Just beautiful.

 

Enjoying the little things

Hanging the washing outside for the first time this year.

Bright cyclamen in the sunshine.

New blades of green pushing through the soil.

A delicious cup of hot chai latte in a pretty mug.

A bowl of crochet balls in seaside colours.

A lovely June afternoon

Now this is how June should be…

…beautiful blue skies, fluffy white clouds and the sun shining on my back. Bliss! I made the most of the sun this afternoon (you never know how long it’s going to hang around) by taking a long planned project into the garden.

Now I don’t know about you, but I often have ideas flitting around in my mind. Some of them are just passing thoughts – they fly in one ear and out the other barely leaving an impression. Others burst in out of nowhere and demand to be dealt with straight away. And some come quietly and nestle on the edges of my mind, growing and developing over time. This was one of those ideas.

I’ve had some bare pin boards and small tester tubs of paint for a while now. I had plans for them, and decided that as soon as it was sunny I’d work on them in the garden (I’m much less likely to make a mess of things if I’m outside and have a little more space!) However, I had this thought just as the rain set in. And even though there have been a couple of sunny spells they have never been at the right times.

And all the time I was waiting for sun the initial Idea grew and changed. It’s now got to the point where it’s quite different to how it started. My pin boards (originally intended to be covered in book pages and fabric) will now be display boards.

You see, I’ve been thinking about this upcoming fair where I’ll be selling my wares (as long as I get my act together and make some wares to sell!) and thinking particularly about how to display said wares. And these boards popped into my mind – with a little work they will become a pretty, self standing unit.

Now the edges are painted I’m going to cover the cork with pretty paper. Then I’m going to attach some tiny hinges – the boards will open and close like a book! I’ll be able to close them up when transporting them around, then open them ready to display…well, I’m sure I’ll think of something to display on them.

Let me tell you now about one of those Make Me NOW ideas.

Last night I decided to get out my crochet hook. I’ve not really done any all week and wanted a quick start-and-finish-in-an-evening project. I started googling around for inspiration and came across some beautiful crochet garlands. This caught my imagination, and I looked at hearts, flowers, stars, circles, snowflakes and all sorts of other variations and combinations. But the fact is, there is just too much choice. I couldn’t decide what to make! But after a little more scrolling through I found something brilliant…

Crochet ‘paper’ chains!

I love paper chains. They’re one of my favourite things to make with kids as they are easy to do and can be decorated and adapted for just about any occasion you can think of. And crochet chains just seemed like a brilliant idea!

There were no patterns (that I could find, but I didn’t look very hard) but they were super easy to make – I just whipped up 26 rows of 6 htr. Easy peasy!

I sewed each of the ends together making sure that each loop was attached to the previous one before I did so. The loops on the end are a little different though – I added a button hole and button so it can be undone and hooked around a curtain rail, or banisters, or anything else you can think of!

Each loop only took 5 – 10 mins to complete. I’ve really got the bug for it now, and have started on a skinny chain – will show you progress tomorrow 🙂