Says It All

The husband doesn't always agree but he knows better than to argue too much!!!!

Don't this at home ...

To explain, this is my right hand, placed on my right leg facing towards me.  Apparently not everyone can do this!  I've been able to this for as long as I can remember and never really thought anything of it.  On Monday I finally had my appointment with the Physiotherapist for a pain I've been getting in my right hand for just over 18 months and she explained that I have hypermobility.  This basically means that my ligaments aren't as strong as most people and they don't fully support my joints so I'm able to move them more than other people and, more to the point, they move past the normal range of motion, which isn't advisable.  I had to do various simple tests like see if I could place both hands, palm down, on the floor without bending my legs.  So after these tests I received a score of 9 out of 9, so I'm very hypermobile apparently.  Although I don't have hypermobility syndrome thankfully.  

So since Monday I've been having lightbulb moments all week when different things happen, like going over on my ankle and realising that this is due to having rubbish ligaments and joints!  It's also linked to poor posture and clicking joints, both of which I have the pleasure of.  I can't get rid of rid of it but if I try and strengthen the muscles it will be an attempt to support my joints.  From what I've discovered it's also common for people with hypermobility to have weak muscles strength - believe me I'm rubbish, I have no strength whatsoever. So it's been an interesting week.

I have been missing in action for nearly a month from my blog.  I've been thinking about where or not to blog about why for a little while now.  But due to the very nature of the beast, not discussing it is part of the problem.  So at the risk of overexposing myself, nearly 2 years ago I was diagnosed with depression and put on medication for a short time.  That helped me get over that phase of life (I still remember the incident when I realised I wasn't coping and needed a bit of help).  But that was a while ago and I've been back to myself for a while, until a couple of months ago when things just started to become overwhelming again.  I'm reluctant to take medication again so I've been giving myself a little TLC, eating way too much (bang goes the diet)  and I'm back on more of an even keel (I was going to say normal but that never been a word associated with me!!).

So being a more enthusiastic about most things I'm starting to think about putting my sewing machine into action.  Having had a very busy August and a September that isn't really worth dwelling on I remembered I haven't blogged about my purchases from Festival of Quilts in August.  I bought the Farmer's Wife Sample Quilt book which I've wanted for a while, some red, black and while fat quarters, some halloween fabric, a little charm pack and some bargain fat quarter bundles of blues, greens and yellows.  Not sure what I'm doing to do with it all yet but I'm sure I'll find something!

Now I had a quick look over on flickr yesterday and I've realised there is another Brit Quilt Swap about to begin.  So since I had such a good time doing the last one and I'm in need of some enjoyable distraction I'm going to go see if I can sign up before it's too late.

A Wee Test

I'm having a play with my new Android phone and being fairly useless with technology I not always convinced these things will work. So this is my first attempt.to blog straight from my phone!

I am even going to try adding in a photo of 'pirate Euan'!!

Making a List

 (picture has nothing to do with what I'm talking about, it's just a pretty picture of a white peacock)

So ....... I'm going to Festival of Quilts next month (yay!).  I've been once before (2006 I think, or it might have been 2007, my memory is rubbish!).  Anyway it was in the days before I really did any significant amount of sewing or quilting, it was really as a fact finding mission when my sister ran a quilt shop.  So I did a small amount of shopping, a couple of fat quarters, some Kaffe Fassett material and nothing else.

But now that I'm actually making things, looking at lots of inspiration on different things to create in the future, I'm starting to think about what I want to buy when I get down to Birmingham next month, I'm making that list and I'll be checking it more than twice.

Now what should I put on that list?  I don't have a great deal of stash or accessories.  I'm kinda like a blank sheet.  What would be on your "must have" list?

I'm a bit of a magazine addict.  In the last week I've come across two really good ones - mollie makes which is full of wonderful handmade goodies - how to make them and where to get them.  The other is called Craftseller, it's tag line is 'Make and sell your handmade crafts', I only bought it today so I've not had the opportunity to read it through properly but when faffing about online earlier to find out more about it I came across this article on the Folksy blog about handmade goods and people's attitude towards handmade.  It's really interesting.  I find it so sad that some people seem to see handmade as 'cheap' instead of recognising the time, effort and work that has gone into unique items being produced.  I've made things for people in the past, more papercraft items, but the general response was disappointing and people seemed to think that I'd taken the cheap option and not spent enough money on their gift.  So I've not really made anything for a lot of non-crafting people until last christmas when me and a couple of friends decided we'd only give each other something we'd made ourselves.  I always try to buy gifts that take a person's personality, likes and dislikes into consideration but it felt good to put all of that thought and effort into something I've actually made.  Well that's my tuppence on the subject.

First of many

and many firsts this weekend.  Like the first block being created for my first mystery quilt (see the wee linkie thing at the right hand side).

My first attempts both 1/2 square and 1/4 square triangles - they're not as difficult as I expected.  Who'da thunk it!!  I really enjoyed making it, only one small error where I misread the distructions but it was easily and quickly fixed.

My first time using orange (ok not a big first, but a first nonetheless!).  It actually goes surprisingly well with my couch and carpet in my livingroom which is a pleasant coincidence.  My first block sewn with my new 1/4" foot - huge difference in my precision, admittedly the block could be better but that was because I was rushing to get finished so was getting sloppy.  (I'm still contemplating unpicking one seam and redoing)

Not a new first but my first in a LONG, LONG time.  I bought a SMALL size from M&S this weekend, it's a belt, not a pair of jeans but it's still a small.  I honestly don't remember the last time I bought anything to wear that had small on it.  It's been a bit of bumpy weight loss road I've been on lately but I've still lost 1.5st and I'm back on track this week so we'll see what I've lost tomorrow.

And lastly the first of many new words from this little person, I can't keep up with everything that he's coming away with these days!  We've had everything from window, jam, milk to Judy and Darkest Peru tonight (we were reading Paddington).  I can't believe it will be his 2nd birthday in 2 weeks, it's just flown past.

Challenging myself

I have recently joined in with the Brit Quilt flickr group set up by Lynne from Lily's Quilts.  It's not something I would probably have done a year ago, maybe even 6 months ago but at the start of the year I decided I would challenge myself and do new things.

So I've joined in with the group, signed up for the Mystery Quilt and also the Quilt swap.  I really feel that I will need to step up the quality of my work for doing these things but that is part of the challenge right?

I've been reading some blogs tonight and reading about how quilting/crafting/creating makes people feel calmer and, I suppose, have more of a purpose.  It is really interesting to read how others feel about their crafting too and realise that you have a similar feeling.  I read an article about creativity a few months ago, think it was in Psychologies magazine, which said that sometimes people procrastinate about starting a creative process because they are anxious that the end product won't live up to their expectations.  I can certainly identify with that train of thought.  My challenge this year is not to let this anxiety stop me from actually being productive.

Picture doesn't actually relate to anything, just like the shot.  It was taken when we were at Killin the other week.

Still sitting

in the same pile as it was on Thursday - my fabric that is!

Thursday night was such a wonderfully warm, light night that I took the opportunity to plant up 3 hanging baskets, a trough and 3 plant pots.  Soon I will (hopefully) have pretty flowers decorating my back garden, including this just outside my back door.

It's a flowering lavender, which admittedly isn't much to look at just now, but hopefully it will give off a lovely scent when we step out of the door!

Gardening is not my strong point - I've lost count of the number of plants I've managed to kill off, so I'll be pleasantly surprised if any of the other plants actually developing lots of lovely flowers!?!?

Yesterday we headed off for a drive as the weather was so nice and ended up in Milngavie - the quilt shop I was hoping to visit was closed (again) so we visited Dobbies instead and had a lovely lunch.  But I did end up getting a quilting book in Dobbies for a complete steal of £4.95.  We got Euan a Toy Story book as he loves Woody at the moment and he's never been so quiet in the back of the car, it was really cute to see him holding this huge book and really studying it!

Today we did think about going to a local farm for special Easter open day but the miserable weather made up our minds for us.  So Pete ended up convincing me to drive to Corstorphine to visit Guitar, Guitar (otherwise known as the Sweetie shop in this house) and he came away with a new guitar pedal - I've no idea what it does but as he's gigging tonight and has it with him, I'll find out tomorrow how good a buy it was!  So after a complete soaking for me and Euan when we went for a little walk when Pete was 'having a wee shot' of the pedal, I decided I needed a 'sweetie' too.  So a drive back to Stirling and I now own a 1/4" foot for my sewing machine.  It was supposed to be my mother's day present, it's only taken me a month to get it.

So now I have no excuse for wonky seams! 

Quiet

Is how life has been the last few weeks.  Just after my last post I came down with an evil stomach bug that wiped me out for about 4 days.  It was one of the most unpleasant illnesses I've experienced, I barely ate for a week.  Partly because I just couldn't face food and partly because I was scared to eat as it knew I couldn't keep in for long.  Which is a quick way to lose weight if you are in need of it, just not a method I'd recommend very highly. 

So not much as been going on, just getting on with work (which is very busy - year end budget stuff, blah, blah, blah) and watching/listening to the dude grow up.  This was taken last Friday when we took a little drive up to Killen - rock n'roll!!!

listening - nothing at the moment, but I'm watching last night's CSI:NY

eating - nothing
drinking - nothing
wearing - red flowery shirt and black leggings
feeling - happy, it's been a lovely sunny day and we've spent it with family
weather - it's dark now but it was glorious today - warm and sunny
wanting - to have all the housework mysteriously done for me
needing - to have an early night
thinking - I'm quite tired
wondering - whether or not to make a cup of tea?

You can't beat....

Book Crack, a photo by blogrodent on Flickr.


a good book. Well actually you can't beat a book, just a good old fashioned, ordinary paperbacked book.  I love the smell and feel of a book.  I bought an e-reader a while ago and I have read some books on it but I haven't read as much as I normally would have.  I don't dislike the reader, it's just not the same as having a book in your hands.  One of the first things I do if I'm stressed is read, be it a magazine or a book.  So yesterday I caved - I bought 3 books (you gotta love Waterstone's 3 for 2 deal!). 

Now just need to find the time to read them!!!


listening - to the 7am news on Radio 2 and laughing at the report that Elizabeth Taylor funeral might start 15 minutes later than the planned time as she always wanted to be late to her own funeral - a rocking attitude right to the end!
eating - a banana
drinking - mug of tea
wearing - pjyamas (christmas ones with penguins - they're too cosy to pack away just yet!)
feeling - a little tired but just about ready to face the day
weather - a bit dull but I'm hoping for sun like yesterday
wanting - to not have to work today (Friday's are normally my non-working day)
needing - to get showered and dressed!
thinking - I probably should have taken advantage of waking so early and done the ironing
wondering - how much I'll get out of the conference I'm going to today?

Levelling Stuff

Last Friday night Pedro and me had a very rare night out together.  I mentioned it on the quick post I did last Friday.  We went off to Glasgow to possibly my favourite venue of all time, Glasgow Barrowlands, to see 2 of the best bands I've seen live (well in my opinion!)  The Wonder Stuff and The Levellers - for those unaware of them they do a mix of punky/pop-y/folk-y both different but similar at the same time. 

(it's a rubbish photo but hey - it's a photo!)

I had a great time - dancing (mainly just by myself!) and singing (along with the rest of the audience).  It was an amazing night, we expected it to be a good night but it totally exceeded our expectations.  To top it off we were staying over so we drove through late afternoon and managed to go out for dinner before heading off to the gig.  We discovered a fantastic bar/restaurant called Maggie May's it was really nice, great choice of music playing, AMAZING food, busy but not 'squish past people to get to the bar' busy.  We even stopped off for a little tipple on the way back to the hotel.  Will definitely be visiting that place again next time we're out in Glasgow (if it's still open in 5 years or so LOL!)

listening/watching - to the news (there's not a lot of good news about these days)

eating - nothing just now, trying not to snack too much
drinking - just had a mug of tea (my fave drink of the moment)

wearing - brown flowery top and black trousers (work clothes)
feeling - tired and cold
weather - wet - again!
wanting - to sleep
needing - to sleep!
thinking - please let the dude sleep through again tonight, not been a good week but fingers crossed the 1am waking, wanting to play has stopped
wondering - what will tomorrow bring?

Technical Issues!

I have been ever so slightly stoopid!!!  I was doing a little surfing last night, just faffing about with blogger and stuff, changing settings and things when I discovered I had comments!  6 of them, which needed to be moderated before being published.  I had no idea.  Still not sure how I missed them but I've found them and sorted it all out.  (well I think I have ;o)


I've also been having issues with my mobile phone.  Since Friday morning the screen has been really tempremental, going black, rolling round like old style tube televisions used to.  Not at all helpful when your phone is a touch-screen phone!!  So a short (& if truth be told, fairly unhelpful) phone call to O2 yesterday led to me taking it into my nearest O2 shop and it's being sent away to be fixed.  But they did give me a courtesy phone.  Gadget girl is not happy!  The thing I've been given is practically a mobile phone antique and having plugged it in to charge up just after lunch, as I was advised to, I can't even get the thing to switch on - it's now 9.30pm.  It's been on charge for 8.5 hours, so either it needs a year and a day to charge up as it's so old or I've been given a duff temporary phone.


I'm having withdrawal symptoms from my phone LOL  (shakes head)  I'm so sad!!!!!!

I found this little list of headings from this blog that I read every now and then, and I thought I'd play along too. Good way of recording thoughts/feelings at a specific point in time without too much effort!



listening - to the dude sleeping on the baby monitor
eating - just finished a couple of little pancakes (v nice too)
drinking - tea
wearing - red top and black jeans
feeling - tired and a bit uptight (typical Sunday night feeling)
weather - wet (but no snow)
wanting - to chill out a bit
needing - to go to bed
thinking - there is a lot of craziness going on with the planet right now, earthquakes, tsunamis. You can't mess with the power of nature.
wondering - whether to catch up on some more sky+ or have an early night



So as not to make this post feel naked, here is a shot of the dude taken last week when we were waiting for my sister and nephew. He was colouring in his mini aquadraw to find the "goo-goo's", those are trains to the rest of us.

Cleverly Crafty

It's been such a busy week that I keep forgetting what I've been up to!  Last Friday me and my sister went through to Glasgow to the Hobbycraft & Creative Stitches exhibition.  There are 2 exhibitions held every year, one in spring and one in autumn, it's generally a mix of many crafty things.  Normally papercraft, needlecraft, to woodcrafting and almost everything else in between.

I did go with a few specific things in mind, namely some scrapbooking supplies suitable for little baby boys.  For some reason, for the thousands of pictures I must have taken of our little dude in the last 21 months I haven't scrapped any of them!  Can't explain it, there is no logical reason for not having done anything with his photos and trying to record the small details of his life so far.  My mojo has been on holiday for a while!  Anyway I thought I'd go looking for something to spark my interest but I was sadly dissappointed, nothing much that spoke to me - lots for cardmakers/stampers, lots of bling/glittery paper but nothing that said little baby boy.

What there was on display though, was a fantastic display to raise money for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, you could walk through it!  The entire display was knitted - everything from the rocks and grass outside to all the fish, divers and deep sea essentials.  To say it was brilliant is a total understatement, the talents of those who made it is amazing!

Knitting is one thing I just cannot get to grips with, over the years I've tried many times to do it but it's never been successful, in fact I find it quite stressful so I don't do it.  I put it down to being left handed by that can't be it, there are bound to be many, many left handers who can knit perfectly well so I just have to face that I'm no good at it.  Although it does slightly annoy me that I've never quite figured it out yet.  I grew up with 2 grandmothers who were particularly good with their hands.  One was a seamstress for a living and carried on doing alterations for the majority of the population of the small fishing village she lived in, well into her retirement, she had her sewing table set up in her livingroom and her machine was used daily.  The other was a knitter, latterly making up sample garments for new knitting patterns for companies like Patons & Baldwin.  Every image I have of her she was either in the middle of knitting something or had a bag of knitting at her side.

When I think about it, it's only right that I do some kind of practical/creative hobby.  I've got some good heritage to live up too.

Taking note

Apart from this blog I try to write regularly in a journal.  Sometimes I write everyday, sometime I won't write for a couple of months.  I find writing things down very calming.  If I'm feeling really stressed or anxious about something once I pour it out onto a page, I feel a lot better about life.

I heard this on the way home from work tonight and it made me smile (and it's a cool video)......

Oh I nearly forgot (again) I got my mug rugs from my swap partner Karen (this is her blog here) and I keep forgetting to take a photo of them!  Doh!!!  I promise I'll take a picture tonight and post tomorrow.  They are already being well used and take pride of place in my livingroom.

I (heart) nap-time

because it gives me a window of opportunity to get various things done without a little person 'helping' me or without feeling guilty for leaving said little person playing on his own. As I'm a working mummy, I am only home during nap time for 4 days and some days nap time is about an hour or so long, so that lets me catch up on a a little bit of cleaning or maybe something I've sky+'d. Other days the little person has a LONG nap time. Like today, he decided to sleep for 3 hours!! So I made very good use of the time and did this ....

I made the blocks last week when I was on holiday and last night I put them together to make the 4 rows.  So during nap time I sewed roundabout the hearts, sewed the rows together and put on the inner and outer borders.  As I mentioned in a previous post I've had the material and pattern since about July 2006 so I'm very glad to now have a completed quilt top.  I bought some backing material last weekend so at some point this week I'll layer it up and start to quilt it.  Not sure how to quilt it, I'll probably just do a random squiggly thingy.  That the vibe I'm getting from it, higglety-pigglety-squigglety-ness.

Pedro asked me why I'd made it?  It's difficult to explain 'just because'!  I think he meant if I'd made it for someone or for a particular reason.  But no, it's just for me and will look pretty in our livingroom.

Belated Valentine

I totally forgot that it was valentine's this week.  We had a very low key affair, in fact we actually we swapped cards on Sunday night instead of Monday and I got some very, very lurvely Lush smellies.  Now I just need to find the time to soak in a lovely scented bath.  Maybe tomorrow night, in preparation for going back to work on Monday - I'm liking the sound of that actually!

But in honour of it being valentines this week , I finally started my heart log cabin quilt (the one I've had the material & pattern for since 2006).  Started and made up the blocks.  It was fairly easy to put the blocks together - I'd never done strip piecing before and it was much easier that I anticipated it to be.  I've still to applique the hearts onto the block and then put the blocks together to make up the top. 

I'm really liking the way it's looking so far, I'm getting quite excited about how it will look finished!