An odd couple of days

Yesterday and today I was at work and that involved teaching all day. It's not as arduous as it sounds as I know the material I'm teaching so well and it was fun topics. The group yesterday was large with 40 overseas students, all with english as a second or third language. This can be very tiring but the students were very motivated and eager to join in so the day was fun. Today was a much smaller group of home students but again involved a lot of discussion and interaction.. I know I grumble about work at times but you what - I really love my job. The down side is I was too tired to do any stitching yesterday or today but that doesn't mean I wasn't trying or planning to be creative.

Yesterday in reading through the blogs I follow I came across this at Prairie Moon Quilts

Shelly likes to have a theme for the year and this year her theme is cultivating creativity. To help us achieve this she is posting a  challenge a week on a Thursday and inviting folks to join in. The challenges aren't necessarily quilty but some will involve sewing.

This week's challenge was to doodle for at least 30 minutes and see where it takes you and what you produce. Now getting out my sketchbook and doodling away has always been a favourite activity of mine  so I rushed upstairs and pulled my book and box of pens from their hiding place in the cupboard. My eyes were feeling too tired to cope with my cross stitch and this provided the perfect activity. Here's my end product.

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This evening when I got in from work I sat down with my cup of tea and did my usual read through the posts from the blogs I follow. What grabbed my attention was the title 'resistance' for Kathy's post  What was she resisting? Oh I should never have started to read that post as unlike Kathy I have no resistance for the quilt blocks being offered each month by Sentimental stitches There are 64 blocks, mostly applique being offered over the next 20 months. I've already downloaded this month's blocks. Tomorrow I need to purchase the backing fabric and I'll use my scraps and stash for the applique. Yes I know I wasn't going to start a new project yet but I'm sure I can fit it in if I plan carefully.

This weekend as well as getting on with my quilting I'm going to get to grips with the fabulous birthday present John gave me.

My birthday was back in early December but I needed a memory card  and wanted to have space to read the manual before i started to play. Due to christmas reading the manual wasn't top of my priorities but now I want to find out exactly how this camera performs.

I also haven't fully looked at my christmas present from John and Richard.



When I was a child my father made me a scale model (1/12th scale) of the house we lived in and I loved to play with it but I loved making furniture and accessories for it more. Unfortunately it was completely wrecked by two of my male cousins but I always promised myself that if I had the space I would have a period doll's house. This victorian home is currently packed in the two large boxes it was delivered in as I need to buy a table or cupboard to put it on and it has to be built. First job will be to rub the wood down and decorate it before putting it together. I'm really looking forward to making miniature quilts for the beds and other pieces of embroidery work. I have already warned my children that this will not be a house for any young grandchildren I may have in the future to play with unless they are supervised.

I've still got a little bit of evening left so I'm going to finish now so I can do some hand stitching. John and I were going to walk tomorrow but the weather forecast is very wet  so I shall be sewing instead. There may be several more sewing days as the weather is due to get a lot colder and they are predicting snow as well as rain. The best thing to do in bad weather is stay in and sew.

Lyndsey

Sketchbook time

This weekend was very different from the last one in that I didn't get my sewing machine out once, or my cutting board or any material. Instead I got out my knitting needles and also my sketchbook.


A couple of weeks ago we asked our Guide unit what charity they would like to support for the coming year. Each girl was able to write her choices down. We looked at the resulting list and the votes were to support an animal charity. Following discussion they decided the charity would be in the UK and that they wanted to do something not just raise money. The girls had really enjoyed learning sewing skills with out Linus project over the last year and thought that they would like to learn another skill this coming year. Therefore Lucy and I have spent time looking at UK animal charities and what projects they have this year so we can tell the Guides on Wednesday. The girls had already suggested Battersea Dogs and Cats home and have indicated they would also like to visit the centre. Battersea currently have Whodunnknit to make purly paw print patchwork blankets for dogs. So I set out to knit some squares.

The paw prints on the squares come in 3 different sizes, small, medium and large. The minimum size blanket is made up of 25 squares but you just add more for larger dogs. Unfortunately the paw print doesn't show up very well in the photo.

On the individual square it shows up better. If the Guides like this idea all we have to do is teach them how to knit. Luckily there are a couple who can already knit. The squares are really easy and the pattern is on the Battersea website There are also patterns for cat dogs and dog coats.

Whilst visiting other blogs I came across The sketchbook challenge. This gives a theme for the month and the challenge is to do at least one sketchbook page on that theme. So on Saturday evening whilst watching TV I pulled out my sketchbook, colouring pens, drawing ink and brushes and enjoyed a fun couple of hours playing. This months theme is circles.These are the results.

This is colouring pencils.

For this one I covered the page with charcoal and then smudged the circles in with an eraser or my fingers. I was rather messy by the time I finished.

These two were made with drawing ink and a paint brush. the first one reminds me of Mary Quants black and white dresses.  The activity was certainly a change. 

I also spent time this weekend finalising my design for a little quilt swap I am going to take part in. I am not going to show it on my blog until it is complete and I have sent the photos of it to Kate who is organising it.