Following On ..

Saturday last week saw me a football widow as Rich & his friends headed for London for an away match - so a complete day to myself. With the rain lashing down as usual in Wales, I spent a happy day camped in the conservatory - where the light is great despite the rain !- covered in paint & working on a number of projects at once as I waited for paint to dry !

At one point I got a bit dispirited that I had bitten off more than I could chew & nothing would come out right - but with time to dedicate to it & getting into a groove - suddenly they all seemed to come together !

Great fun & the day whizzed past even though I didn't venture further than the back garden & the shed all day !

Finally Some Crafting Action !

At last I have had a weekend post our Summer family visits, post catching up on washing bedding & ironing - and raining so no guilt about "should be working in the garden". So finally I got to spend a couple of hours in the conservatory - with the rain beating down on the glass - get painty & starting some crafty projects !

I have been scrapping in the meanwhile - with a lot of our moving in Spain scrapped but still with Jersey, family visits and other summer goings on still waiting in the pile !

And now I have started the 2011 Learn Something New Everyday class with Shimelle ... so more to squeeze into each day !

WOYWW - Chaos on the desk

Oh boy am I well over due a huge clear out on my desk - chaos & clutter reign supreme ! I have my laptop taking up most of the desk - hence the stuff piled on top ! To the left are some photo frames waiting to be altered, on top a Jersey £1 note waiting to be scrapped with our pictures from last weekend's rip to Jersey with Mum & Dad. And a couple of Home signs I have gesso-ed up to start altering - one for me & one as a gift !

Centre stage is my folder of printed out prompts from the new Shimelle EXPLORE class - signed up late & beavering to keep caught up ! So have made my Play-Book, taken my "me in the mirror" self portrait & have to find a post card to post back to myself about my "adventures" - such as they are for Mrs Risk Adverse here ! To the right is a Pringles tin which I have painted black & cut an aperture as part of a packaging mock-up for work! I really must make time to have a massive de-clutter at the weekend !!! Have a great crafty week !

Off Exploring !

Just found a new class from Shimelle starting yesterday & signed up for a 4 week project on the theme "Explore" - just been reading everyone's introductions on the forum & I love the feeling that girls are joining in from all over the world - all parts of the US & Canada, Australia & NZ, Singapore, Holland, Germany, Switzerland & Sweden - and even the Middle East & South Africa - big world becomes small village !!

We had been given a challenge to create a "no Scrap Club over the Summer" personal mini book - so this will keep me on track to do mine !

The Five Year Quilt - finally in Situe

Just to prove that the Five Year Quilt (vintage 2006 to 2011 !!) finally got made & found a bed to lie on - here it is in place on our spare bed in Spain ! It's strange how given that I love the colours SO much & am really happy how it turned out that it should have taken me 5 years to finish !!

I think I had just moved on or away from quilting as our life changed & we moved to Wales & I

became more engrossed in scrapbooking, altered art & papercrafting - making a quilt seemed such a huge project !

And it is time consuming but I was surprised how much I did enjoy it once I got going again (and somewhere deep in my brain remembered what to do !!) - so maybe there is hope for all the fabric still in my stash to one day get made into something !

Anyway - finding the time for any projects seems hard at the moment but whilst time in the garden is possible I don't intend to fret about it !

Who's On My Workdesk Today !

Hi - it's a "Who" not a "What" that's on my work desk this Wednesday !

My Mid-Summer Angel !

I made her to a "Good Night Angel" pattern from Tilda's lovely Christmas Crafting book - but she doesn't know she's supposed to be a Christmas Angel & as she was finished last night on Mid-Summer's Eve - a Mid-Summer Angle she is !

She is destined to be heading out to Spain to our new house at the end of the week & will sit on my new quilt propped up against my new Evening Angel/ Rising Star patchwork cushion !!

Hope everyone has a good crafty week ahead - at least all this torrential summer rain means we can craft without a guilt conscience we should be gardening !!

10 on the 10th !

What could my subject be for Shimelle's first - 10 on the 10th Blog Challenge than to say ten of the reasons it has been over a month since I last blogged - so here is my ode to my poor neglected blog !!!

Reasons or excuses - I'll leave you to decide !

1. I've spent many hours at the sewing machine making the 1st Quilt I've made in years ! In fact the centre panel of this was started in 2006 - the next border added in 2009 & now I have made a mad effort to finish it for our new house in Spain - just the binding to stitch & the label to create & add (and a big cushion with Angel applique planned to accompany it !!)

2. Artsy Crafty Weekend - a fun weekend covered in the new Paperartsy Fresco paints learning lots of paint techniques - really pleased with the

shabby chic & shading on my project - been hankering after this look but didn't know how to achieve it - so a good lesson learnt !

3. Journalling - may not have been blogging but have been having some fun in my Art Journal - as always more "journal" than "art" - but it's for my eyes only & I'm happy with the way it pans out - so it doesn't matter a jot !

4. The garden is at it's most verdant & rampant at the moment - so everyday is a constant battle with weeds !!

5. GYO - growing my own veggies is proving good fun & I have been more organised & disciplined about pricking out & planting & checking everything - so a better crop than in previous years - but all means no blogging time !

6. Ironing - I am trying to save our pennies by saving the ironing lady for dire emergencies only & tackling the weekly heaps of ironing myself - that's another non-blogging evening a week !

7. Reading stuff ! Sometimes after a day at the computer at work I really don't fancy logging on at home - so reading one of my magazines or my Kindle gets priority !

8. Work - just all those 10 & 12 hour days stuck in the office don't leave much time or energy for blogging once I finally get home !!

9. Travelling - a crazy couple of months for travelling - Spain on holiday - then Cologne then Dublin, then Cork - then back to Dusseldorf next week & back to Spain the week after that !! Poor old passport is just on permanent standby !!

10. Time together - with all the office hours & then travelling just spending time with Rich is the biggest priority - from trying to snatch meals in the garden on the occasional warm sunny day - to our afternoon on Pendine Sands last Saturday - weather being what it is - we need to make the most of any sunshine !

So my 10 reasons - or excuses - for my poor sad neglected blog - and full of good intentions to be more attentive & active in the coming weeks !!