Oops...

... I didn't go for a Monday Meander today. In fact, I've barely left the flat. I received my first payment for the new job today  - hurrah!- so I've been paying bills online and buying food and generally getting things sorted in between drawing farm buildings and boats and tractors. So, instead of a nice landscape, have some legwarmers:



I knitted these because the sole came away from one of my favourite boots a couple of weeks ago and I haven't been able to get it fixed until now. So these will keep my ankles and shins warm while I'm wearing shoes! I'm SO trendy.

24 Hour View of the Sky

Isn't this photo just AMAZING? And awesome, in the proper sense of the word. It was taken by Chris Kotsiopoulos in Athens at the end of December, and includes over 500 star trails, 35 shots of the Sun and 25 landscape pictures. Fantastic stuff. Go here to read all about how he got this stunning single image together.

Thimble Genuisness

I came across a tutorial today on The Wind and the Sail blog describing how to make this fab thimble necklace. Love it!

(Photo from The Wind and the Sail blog/Laura Stantz)

A Folksy Friday

Thanks very much to Philippa of Court & Spark for including my heart-fabric badges in her Folksy Friday today. Cheers me dears!

Last of the Crafts

Well, we're nearly at the end of January, I'm on the 5th out of six stories I'm roughing out for the first part of the new job, and I need to wrap up (LOL!) the rest of the gifts I made for Christmas (which seems about 100 years ago now). So, here we are:

Purses. Along with PJs, my family also got a zip purse each with a home made lipbalm inside:

Sewing Jar Kit. Following this tutorial, I made one one these for Lovely Sam and filled it with vintage spools of thread and the like I found at the craft fair we did back in November:

Tea towels. I bought a load of plain tea towels back in the summer with the vague notion of screenprinting on them, but as I already had them and a whole load of embroidery thread knocking around, and in the spirit of making and giving without necessarily buying anything new, I embroidered a whole load of tea towels, too, mainly using Jenny Hart/Sublime Stitching patterns that I already had. Some of them have glow in the dark thread, which is just an awesome invention. Do excuse the crumples, the photos were taken before I ironed them all :

And, lastly, teacup candles. I had SO much "granny china", as my sisters call it, taking up cupboard space and shelf space and all other spaces, that I just had to DO something with it all. These took me two attempts. The first time, I ordered the wrong kind of wax and it just turned out crap. I ordered a second batch of wax from here (soy this time, which is generally kinder all round), and made these babies below, which I put together with their corresponding saucer and cake plate:

Phew! There it all is! It seems a lot all laid out like that, but it didn't seem to take that long to get it all together. You can easily make a batch of candles or lipbalms in an hour, and the teatowels I stitched over the course of a couple of weeks while watching too much iPlayer. I'm not one of those crazy people who plan months and months a head for Christmas, so I shall wait and see what strikes me as a good crafty gift idea come the autumn for this year!

Aggghhh....

....I missed posting yesterday by 21 minutes! Bah! There'll be two today to make up for it. In the meantime, have a ladybird:

Stop Telephoning Me

Now, I can't link to these pictures here as they're very well protected, so go here and have a good, old laugh at the genius-ness of it all. If you like Lady Gaga, Beyonce and retro illustration, they're made for you.

Monday Meander #3

I miss blogging a little something from a series every Monday, like I did last year with my weekly calendar pages. I realised yesterday that I posted a picture of the seafront from the past two Mondays, so maybe I could carry that on as a new project. I'm loosely calling it "Monday Meander" so it can encompass wherever I might walk on a Monday, not necessarily the seafront. Today, however, the seafront it was. I was so engrossed in my roughs and listening to "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett on audiobook that I looked up at 3.50pm and realised I'd better get a move on or there wouldn't be any light left to take a photo in.



The orange caught my eye straight away; I almost ran down to the prom to catch it. The photo doesn't do it justice, but the orange was so, well, orange, that it rendered me speechless, a feat in itself. It was taken at 4.10pm, quite early for such spectacular colour, I thought. A brisk walk along the prom later, a quick trip to Tesco for milk, and I'm back at my desk with a pot of tea and an evening's enjoyable work in front of me.

Yarn Bomb

I came across this on the seafront earlier today:





It's part of The Woolly Bus Project, an appeal organised by Cocoon Knits here in Hove to raise money for The Marlets Hospice by yarn bombing an open top double-decker bus. You can read all about it, and get involved if you like, on their Facebook page here.

Grey and Brown

Plants and Places

Back at the beginning of December, I entered a giveaway on the Home Shopping Spy blog to win a copy of Angie Lewin's first book, Plants and Places. Well, it look a little time to get to me, but it came through last week. I've not really had the chance to look through it properly yet, but I've had a quick flick and it looks just lovely. I love Angie's work so much, and this looks like such an informative and gorgeous book. Here are a few photos of a couple of the pages:

Sunset, 4.38pm, Yesterday

Red and Blue

I love looking at flaking paint, imagining all different ways something might've looked over the years and just how long it's been there. It's like history being slowly revealed in an archaeological dig.

Almost Springlike

These lovely Narcissi are the current window display at Treacle. I do love the simplicity of them, and how the condensation on the glass makes blurred shapes and colours behind. I also like how you can see the outlines of the old stickers on the window that used to belong to Manger, the previous inhabitants of the building.

Thanks to Lovely Jan who agreed to meet me there yesterday for a cuppa, a knit and a chat to stop me going stir crazy at home working on the new project! I may have something to share from it soon; the odd sketch that hasn't made it on the page.

And what's more, it does even feel like spring today! The rain seems to have disappeared (fingers crossed) leaving us with clear blue skies and a nip in the air, but with also a definite feeling of promise.

Sunset, The Beach, 4.30pm Today

Sewing Inspiration

I'm itching to get back on my sewing machine but the new job is preventing me at the moment, plus the poor, overworked thing is in need of a service first. However, there's nothing to stop me looking about for inspiration - which is always the fun part - and these are a few things I'd like to have a go at or incorporate into one of my creations:

I love these ruffles, I can imagine putting them on the front of a t-shirt or around the neckline of a dress.

Gorgeous in all possible ways.

Lush, and so easy to whip up with a cheap, plain jumper and a length of ribbon or bias binding.

I really want to take part in this Swing Dress Sew Along, but, again, I'll have to wait. Apparently, the step-by-step photos and the processes will stay up after the project is finished, so I'll have to have a go then.

Back to my drawing board with me and away from the distractions of t'internet!

Pavement Graffiti

I've been seeing a lot of this kind of pavement graffiti/advertising around at the moment. Several companies seem to be doing it; this one you sign up to a website that offers money off local services and products. But, rather than being interested in what it is that is being advertised, I'd like to know how these images are created. I'm guessing it's some sort of stencil that is then "painted" with bleach to clean the pavement underneath and leave the message behind. If so, it's a cool idea, and one that'll last for quite a while while not actually creating any kind of waste. Anyone else have any ideas how it's done?

Ahhhh, Memories

Hard to think this was only four days ago. Monday was a gorgeous day, cold and windy but bright and clear. I loved the sight of all those seagulls riding the thermals, too scared to be near the crashing waves on the beach. If only it would stop raining this week...sigh.

aily





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ap is





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wesome.

Alphabet Envy

Apologies that this image is slightly too big for my column, but I had to put it in its original size otherwise so much of the lovely detail would've been lost. I came across "The Daily Drop Cap" on Pinterest today. It's the brainchild of designer Jessica Hische and this is the blurb from her site:

Daily Drop Cap is a project by designer & illustrator Jessica Hische. Since September of 2009, an illustrative initial cap has been posted daily (or at least regularly), to prettify the internet and beautify your blog posts. Individuals are welcome to use the drop caps on personal (non-commercial) sites within blog posts by following the instructions below each letter. The project will end after the twelfth alphabet is complete, but the site will remain up for your use and inspiration. Enjoy!

How cool. I LOVE alphabets, as you know, and I'm definitely going to have a go at using the odd letter or two on here. If you take a proper look through Jessica's site, you'll see she's also produced letterpress prints of each letter that are just droolworthy. No understatement.

And a Bit O' Crochet

This was my Christmas holiday craft project:









I'm really quite chuffed as it's the most complicated crochet pattern I've followed, plus I was a good girl and used the right hook with the recommended yarn and everything. AND I got it finished in the holiday break, too. However, this baby is MAHOOSIVE. It's supposed to look like this, but it's come out a good three inches bigger on each edge than it's supposed to. Must be my tension, I reckon; too loose. Not that it matters at all, I still like it very much, especially when rocking it out and about on the seafront. It got its first outing on Sunday and its second yesterday. It's nice to wear it with the bottom two buttons undone to cover the shoulders a bit more. I do like how I feel like an elf or Little Red Riding Hood in it! I'd quite like to crochet up another one, possibly in grey and maybe even with the right tension!