Almost done with January....

With the FETAC Textiles in full swing and another Irish class, I seem to be busy all the time. We did sketching for our notebooks last class and worked on some collage concepts for design. This last class we dyed fabrics and practiced knotting, tying, and stitching fabric before it went into the dye to experiment with design. I liked folding and then stitching. The pieces all turned out pretty well, but the dye in the one silk piece I did bled all over the other four lovely pieces and so all looked kinda poorly when I took them out when I got home. That's life. But I was happy enough with what we learned.

I did have time during the week to make these two lovely alien creatures with my son. He needed two new heavyweight bookends to support the new books he got for Christmas. If you sneeze in his bedroom, they all wobble and most often go cascading off the shelf. So, I bought a load of New Clay from Cork Art Supplies and we got to work. We knew we wanted aliens and I let Fionn just go to town. Mine is the mother and child alien, which I ended up doing because I needed her to hold something because I am bad at hands! But I like her with the child. Fionn's has a pet beside it. We did them Tuesday night and they are still drying because they are so big and thick. Hopefully we can paint them during the week. I got some lovely Jacquard Lumiere paints at Christmas and so we will paint a base coat and touch them up with the Lumiere's.

Today I spend most of the day trying to organize the house and laundry. I made coconut macaroons, chilli jam, risotto verdi, and a lovely orange jello/jelly. So, tomorrow I must get felting for the entire afternoon.

I am determined to update my blog more often, so I hope to get felting pics up tomorrow night!

Flying through January...

Why did I ever think January was a slow month? I have changed jobs back to work at Aiseanna na hOige creche, started Irish and textile FETAC courses, and have a two friends having babies so must get going on blankets. I had one pram blanket started in red and pink and she had a boy! So back to ground zero on that one. Hopefully it will do for the second baby due in March.

I did get a Magic Book done for a friend's son. He is four year old and I figure still ripe for all the magic of possibilities. I got him his OWN scissors and glue stick, washable markers, and watercolour paints. He can draw and write to his heart's content and cut out pictures from magazines etc. There are lots of O's all over the front because that is his special letter. I am hoping this also helps while away the time on the bad winter weather days. I think he will get it when I show it to him. Gotta encourage that creativity in kids because I notice that school doesn't seem to do it much.

I got Fionn and myself a big, somewhat heavy (12.5 kilos) bag of clay and we are going to make bookends to start. If someone sneezes loudly in his bedroom, all the books fall over and start cascading off the shelf, so I am hoping that his is fun and practical. We are either doing a pair of robots or monsters and I have some Jacquard Lumiere paints to pretty the whole thing up when its finished.

I got a commission to do a series of butterflies for a little girls bedroom. This is the second commission on the butterflies, so maybe I need to get ahead and try to get some ready for sale. I need to do an order with Fibrecrafts and stock up on fibres since I did use a lot for Christmas. I was thinking of doing some Valentines Day broaches and hats, but time is getting on for that. I need to get busy....

The textile course is underway! Hooray that we finally got enough people to get it going again. We did straight embroidery for the first class, trying out new stitches. Not sure what we are doing the second class, but we need to bring in a kitchen utensil, which is intriguing..... I think Una ni She will let us do a lot of experimental stuff, too, which is good to muck about and find out what works and what doesn't. We are also working quite a lot at developing a sketchbook for design purposes. I ordered a big one and some pastels for doing colour in the small one that I have.

One of my resolutions is to post this blog more often. My new digital camera is one the way, so I will have better images to post soon. Until we blog again....xxoo

Time to gather the thoughts together....

If they aren't frozen! It's a cold beginning to the New Year, but this much I know is true: onward and upward! 2009 was a bit of a bear and so I am *hoping* for a bit more improvement in 2010! My FETAC Textiles course is looking good to go in January and even if the silly job goes, I will manage somehow. I am just hoping to stockpile craft supplies as that will be the extra expense that I will have a hard time fitting in.

I am not a resolution type of person, but I do make lists of things to do and goals to strive for all the time, so here goes:

1. Quit smoking (again, but for good this time).
2. Keep developing craft skills and product samples.
3. Get the upstairs painted. Lord knows it needs it!!
4. Get a bit more fit. Quitting smoking will help with that.
5. Find a bit more joy in my life.

The last one is a bit vague, but its also the hardest one on the list. And what gives you joy can change from moment to moment. Sometimes those impromptu things in life that just land on your doorstep can be the most fun. I have two friends having babies soon and that will give me some joy. Fionn's birthday is a bit of work, but that will give me joy. Friends give me joy and socializing throughout the cold winter will bring both Fionn and I some much-needed joy. I am ogling the West Cork Textile Networks workshop in March, but somehow I just don't think I will have the money to go. I have plenty of things to keep me busy, but I want stimulating, intellectually invigorating contact. When I lived near Harvard, there was such an eclectic and eccentric mix of people all around me that it was wonderful. It just isn't the same around here. I need a book club or a card playing night to get out of the house and head off to.....

I find Cork and Dublin more invigorating, but travel costs money. Cork does so much with textiles.....

Holidays end tomorrow and I head back to the job for at least two more weeks and see where we end up. Besides tidying my bombsite of a house and trying to stay warm, there has to be more to life????

Happy Holidays/Merry Christmas/Serene Solstice....

I am so tired. I have spent the month of December catching up on projects that got backed up from getting sick for three weeks. I got everything in the post and got most of my stuff done. Then I headed straight into Christmas baking. Fionn and I did make a lovely tree for our house, a group project. I managed to get a pic of it. My digital camera has been on the fritz and so I had *hoped* that Santa would bring me another one, but NO. So I will have to hunt for a good deal in the January sales because it will just not do the job much longer.

We had a lovely Christmas Eve at a friend's house and then Christmas Day at our house. St Stephen's Day is the Wren's Day here and we did get out to enjoy the mayhem. I missed going out with Sraid Eoin on the Wren, but Fionn is having a shy patch and would not think of going this year. But we had a great time watching and meeting friends. I got pictures on my phone, but will have to upload later as my phone acting up. I seem to have poor luck with electronics.

Goals for the New Year are: finishing my new coat that did not get finished for Christmas; finishing up lots of hand-stitching experiments that are waiting in my office; start my FETAC Textiles course in January; start using acid dyes on fibre to experiment with colour; try and keep the house clutter down!! :) And the usual weight loss and quit smoking. Sigh...

I did get my Winter Swap from the lovely Jody Pearl in Australia and her handbag is so lovely....many thanks to Clasheen/Nicola Brown for organizing it. It's so fun to open up a box and have no idea what it could be!

I am organizing a fibre order to Fibrecrafts to stock up on dyed Merino and I am going to break down and get the silver clay kit that I have been ogling. Santa didn't bring it and I have the feeling that it is going to be a rather quiet winter and so lots of time for projects and experimenting. There is a strong chance that I will not being working and so I need to line up some projects to keep me from cracking up.

More soon, darlings, as I now have time to gather my thoughts a bit more. All I seem to want to do is read books and cook, and really, how bad is that??? I have another week of holidays before I find out if I am employed or not and so I am determined to relax and not worry about 2010 too much. Some might say it's denial, but it works for me!!!!

What a week....

I have been run-down lately, fighting off some bug or another. It has made getting organized for craft fairs very hard and I was behind schedule. And then I noticed a lump like a cyst on my neck. Strange, but the kind that just goes away on its own, so no panic. And then the cold that I thought was gone CAME BACK and I was flat out again. And two days later the lump got big and I mean BIG!

I went to the doctor and he said that I was fighting a virus and it was just a lymph node that was enlarged and that it would go away in a week on its own. Great! So I went home. Over the weekend it got bigger and red and hot to the touch. So Monday I went back to the same doctor and he gave me antibiotics and told me it was an abscess. After taking six strong antibiotics and it getting slightly worse, I was worried. I went after hours to another doctor and she said "You aren't going to like this, but you have to go to the hospital right away and get that seen to." Damn.

I organized small boy and myself and got to hospital. The doctor was kind but he collapsed the vein in my right hand trying to put an IV in, which did nothing for my nerves whatsoever. He inserted a needle into the abscess three times (I did not kick, run, or scream) to drain it, but couldn't get anything out. He got me a bed and I settled in on IV antibiotics.

I spent three days in hospital crocheting nervously. The lump was the size of my fist. They finally said that the antibiotics weren't working because the fluid needed to be drained. The infection had graduated to cellulitis. They sprayed something on me to numb the site, but it didn't work and they cut a small hole and drained it. I was shaking so hard I though the bed would start drifting. But in the morning anyone could see that there was good improvement. I was discharged with a scrip for more antibiotics and sent home to small boy who was missing me (and I him).

Soooo, I cancelled the craft fairs as I am just plain exhausted. As much as I was looking forward to it, I was relieved to let it go as I had not got nearly enough finished for sale. It will give me time for the Christmas presents that need to be completed. It's a bit boring, but I don't want this virus back again (I have a sneaking suspicion that its not totally gone yet) at Christmas. It's eating well, sleeping plenty, and keeping stress at a minimum!

Quiet Saturdays...

Another wild weather day and I am home crocheting. I seem to have some sort of virus and my glands are all swollen and I am tired. I have a rather disturbing lump on my throat that the doctor tells me is enlarged lymph nodes and so I must take all activities down a notch. So crocheting fits into that category quite nicely.

I have a blanket that must get done in the next few weeks and I am going to start a new coat for myself (yes, ME!) I have so many craft projects to get at that it makes me dizzy to think of them, but I have to ignore them at the moment and get well or there will be no craft fair. The blanket is red wool from Donegal Wools and is for my son for Christmas. He wanted red and I am going to felt alien creatures and baste in so when I machine felt it, they will be in the surface design. He is all monsters, aliens, robots these days at age six.

For myself, I was watching the live-action 102 Dalmatians and admiring Glenn Close's amazing costumes that she got to wear as Cruella de Ville. I am going to make myself a black and cream Cruella de Ville coat--long and sweeping with vertical stripes (since I haven't Cruella's sharp edges!) and perhaps a hint of red along the collar.

I have a new nephew and I must start a pram blanket for him, but that might have to wait for another time. I did get some lovely alpaca and merino wool at the Knit and Stitch Show in Dublin. If I get that done in the next couple of weeks, it will be fine.

All the ornaments and jewelry that need to be done are talking to me, but just don't see it happening unless I am in flying form tomorrow. I am hoping I will get more done during the week in the afternoons. I have beading and embroidery work to do, and that is fairly low energy stuff. Being sick at this time of year is a bugger as this is always a busy time of year for me.

Think healthy thoughts for me!

Yes, I am alive....

I meant to get a good few blogs in last week and then I came down with a cold and Small Boy came down with a stomach bug. That's was our week shot. I thought I was well when I went up to Dublin for the Knitting and Stitching Show, but obviously wasn't as I relapsed as soon as I got back. I am on the mend again and determined to stay healthy!!

Even at less than 100% energy, the Knitting and Stitching Show was fab, Fab, FAB!! I took an embroidery/beading class with the Dublin Embroidery Guild and a surface decoration class from Colourcrafts (Markal paint sticks, Procion dyes, angelina fibres). Both were great although too much was crammed into the Colourcraft class. And there was gorgeous stuff to buy and see as far as the eye could wander. I got oodles of beads from Totally Beads (http://www.totallybeads.co.uk/) at great prices and met the lovely girls at This is Knit and The Yarn Room, where I have ordered wool previously. I am in complete awe of Oliver's Twists with her gorgeous hand-dyed silks, scrim, embroidery threads, and velvet. I bought a natural sampler pack of silks so I can practice with my acid dyes, but I could have bought as much as money (and Ryanair) would permit. The colours are/were stunning. You can buy her things through http://www.rainbowsilks.co.uk/ but the camera doesn't do her lovely jewel-tones justice. Buy and know the real thing in your hand will be even more beautiful!!

I had a quick bite and then went back out for another foray down the booths. As is always the way, I ran out of money before I could finish up buying. There were several excellent booths of craft books (www.sewgoodbooks.co.uk), but I knew it would make my bag too heavy for my 10 kilo limit on Ryanair. I noted a lovely series on surface decoration that was excellent AND inexpensive for my FETAC Textiles course from Double Trouble Enterprises (Jean Littlejohn and Jan Beaney) and several books by Maggie Grey (magstitch.blogspot.com) that Santy might have to bring me. The Double Trouble books are like a FETAC course in itself! You can get an overview on http://www.doubletrouble-ent.com/.

I would have bought lots of heavenly Manos de Uruguay yarn and more Noro, but I did get some nice, soft Artesano merino/alpaca for my new nephew's baby blanket. I was sorry that I didn't buy Woolfish's great deal on Manos de Uruguay since I have been coveting that yarn for a long time. But I did manage to find everything that I needed, so there is probably a lesson there if I look at it closely enough.

Must go light fire before the rainy day seeps into the house!