Two in a week?? Must be Easter hols...

Let the holidays begin! Or I should say, let the felting begin because I need to start doing some serious catch up now that I have the studio going full tilt. With my next week, I am hoping to camp out there and finish up lingering projects and get at the butterflies that I promised (cringe) two months ago. I used up a lot of scrap felt today and needle-felted Easter egg brooches to sell at the market on Good Friday. Dingle is moving the location of the market to Holy Ground, which is a truly promising name, and MFG, in all their glorious wisdom, is sponsoring a stall for artisan producers of food and craft. The idea is that it will rotate to various people from week to week, allowing us to test market new and improved STUFF. Since I haven't a lot of notice, I will use my back stock of hats and I am making a few brooches. Hopefully it won't look too skimpy as I will have lovely silk scarves and wall pieces and more attempts at necklaces. And hair barrettes which I must order tomorrow. I'll just get stuck in and see how I go....

This is the scarf I just finished. It's one of those things that you hate to give to someone else, it turned out so nicely! I used Kilcarra for the green in the centre and the blue border I crocheted with a lacy stitch using Noro Kureyon. I used the open stitch because its more pliable for wrapping that a full felted scarf. It's a gorgeous varigated blue and green. It felted in the washing machine beautifully and its a lovely warm, yet lightweight scarf for spring. I was thinking it might be a bit late in the season for wool, but this week's weather tells me otherwise. Telly is saying snow and hail tomorrow, turning to rain. Another beautiful day in paradise.... Either way, I will be making this scarf in many colours.

Must go and get at those brooches. I will photograph my lovely egg brooches and post them Friday morning....

Here I am....

Life has been going a million miles an hour for the last few weeks. Taking two classes, working part-time, house, Fionn, me, Fionn's birthday, and now tackling the new studio. I love my studio! I need shelving and drawers for storage, but good 'ol Argos should sort that out. The natural light is good and I have a decent-sized desk for sewing. The other table will be for messier things like clay, painting, sketching, and any wet felting I do. The only bad news is that I have access during Monday to Friday 9-5pm. It would be very handy for me to get in there on Saturdays, but I will just have to work around it for now. Perhaps a key will be made available to me in the future...

Fionn seems to be settling into the routine of meeting me there after getting off the school bus and while I am tired getting myself there after work, I am energized just being in the place. Just as well, as I have butterflies to make and projects to finish for my class. We are on break for the next two weeks and so I am hoping to have my portfolio book whipped into shape and my final projects in completion stage. One is finished (will take a pic and post tomorrow as light is too poor now) and needs to be mounted somehow for display and I am in the middle of the second piece that has to be 3-D. I sketched a dried egg pod of some kind that I found on the beach. It has rather grape-like clusters and I love the form of it. I finished the piece of felt that will be the top piece and I dyed the wool that will be the back side. I need to make small wool beads to simulate the egg pods, but it's taking shape.

I am off the fags for five weeks now! I am not looking for them really, but the real test is going out and having a drink. That's when I always crave one. Still, I am doing pretty good. All the worst withdrawal symptoms are over, so I can get on with other things like trying to shift some weight. Sigh. It sounds so easy and yet....

Certainly I should be too busy to eat. I know I will get used to going non-stop, but for now I am getting into bed very tired. I wake around 630am, up by 715am, make lunches and get Fionn organized and off to school, get me ready and work at 10am-2pm, go home and grab bits and head to studio. Fionn shows up at 3pm eats and does his homework. I work 3-5pm in the studio and then its time to head home to dinner, lighting the fire, cleaning, and getting laundry sorted. Thanks God the kids are off for the next two weeks and I won't have to worry about the normal routine.

The weather is turning warmer by night and we aren't getting dark til almost 730pm. My daffodils look great, the ones the children haven't stomped. Fionn knows better, but every visiting child seems to have a go at them. My flower beds are clogged with weeds and having the studio will not get it sorted. I am going to have to get someone to help.

But in the meantime, look at our mountains! This is the view out our back door. The foothills are slow to green this year because we had a lot of hard frost, but we are finally into real spring weather. Sparkling days and crisp nights--we should all be sleeping like babies!

Monday should be called Rush-Day...

It is widely accepted that giving up cigarettes is not an easy process, but it isn't just the cravings. I have had narcoleptic and sleepless nights, sensitivity to noise, increased hunger (I eat sugar snap peas by the packet), and now, at close to two weeks off them, I am getting chesty and coughing. Surely things should be settling a bit now in the next week! I always get a cold when I attempt to quit, and so last Friday and Saturday were a lost cause because of that. I am determined not to give in this time. At least I can say that I completed one goal that I set for the year.

The good news is that I did get a studio. I haven't seen the interior yet, but its more space than I have now and the price is good. I need to start working outside the house and this will help me concentrate more and really attack the work that needs to get done. It's not far from the house and Fionn can walk over after school and meet me there. It's heated and there is electricity for the sewing machine. Now that the days are extending a bit every day, I can see myself in my little hideaway actually getting stock built up!

Class is cracking away. This week we worked on coil wrapping with wool and fabric. I have a 3-D basket started and I must get at it tonight if I am going to make progress on it for class on Thursday. We also finally got our sketch books and I must enter all our progress to date so that all the clutter on my dining room table is GONE and things are as they should be once again.

I FINALLY got the camera and it is lovely. I haven't had time to finish stuff, but here is a preview of a freestyle crochet jumper that I am working on: lots of colour!!