Sherwood Forest

Yesterday i got to spend the entire day with my gran. We only have five more days before she heads off back home to South Africa and i really wanted to share some quality time with her. So yesterday morning i was up early and heading over to my parents house to pick her up. We decided to go to Sherwood Forest - a first for both of us.
We couldn't have picked a nicer day to go. The sky was so blue and the wind was hardly blowing. We walked along the paths and came across this flying witch.

We got to walk along chatting and catching up
We sat down, shared some things that are going on in our lives at the moment
We saw some amazing things and walked along in silence simply enjoying each others company.
We got a little lost and ended up having to go through some gates to find our way back to the pathwayWe stumbled upon the Major Oak which is said to be where Robin Hood hid from his enemies inside the hollow of the Major Oak. Just a few hundred yards from the forest is the little church where legend has it that Robin Hood and Maid Marrion got married.
All in all we had a really nice day. We walked around for two and a half hours. Sat down and had some lovely lunch in a near by cafe. We made some new memories, shared some old ones and had a few very good laughs. It was such a lovely day - thank you granny for make it so special. All these photos and the stories to go along with it will be on a scrap page soon.

Welcome Feebie

Wohoo, i finally got Blogger to upload some of my photos. Ok, a LOT of photos but she really is very exciting and in order for you to get a real appreciation of just how beautiful she is I simply had to upload tons of photos.


This is Feebie. She came home with me on Saturday and ever since then we have been best of friends. She smells so nice and new, she is smooth and nippy. While driving home all the passers by were watching her and i am sure if i could have heard what they were saying it would be something along the lines of how gorgeous she is.

Welcome Feebie

Kindness is....

I wanted to share something really cool and exciting with you guys today but unfortunately Blogger would not upload my photos so it will have to wait until tonight to try again.

So instead of sharing my news, updating you on my knitting and showing some of my latest art journal work off i am just going to share this cute image with everyone. It is so true -

Kindness is a very BIG thing!

So today try and find someone who you can do something nice for. Give someone a hug or share a smile - its those small things that can really make someones day Oh so special.

Loving this song right now

A good clean

Don't you find that sometimes, when things feel on top of you, all you need to do is have a good clean and by magic you feel calmer and more in control? I have been wanting to get my craft room cleaned out and organised for some time now but i always came up with some excuse as to why i just couldn't do it.

Well, on Saturday i decided that i was going to simply do it. I wasn't sure how long i would spend on it or if i would even get it all sorted out but i just felt like i had to make a start on it. Sometimes its that first step that is the most important and in this instant it most definitely was. I should have taken some before photos but i probably would have been too embarrassed to show you them. Here are some after shots though. I did spend most of the day on it but by Saturday night i had gotten it all sorted and felt so much better for doing it.
Saturday night, while watching the World Cup Rugby game i managed to finish my first quilt. I am so pleased with how it has turned out and can not wait until it is hanging on our wall. The blue border really brightens the hole thing up nicely and i have so many leftovers from this that i cant wait to use them in something else.
I also purchased some Christmas fabric a few weeks back for a Christmas quilt. Now all that i have to do is find a pattern that i like. This fabric pack is really nice. Some of the 5 x 5 squares are actually felt and are going to add such a nice variety to the quilt.This morning i managed to catch the postman before i left for work and look what she had for me.

I bought these off of Janet and i totally love them. I think i might need one more skein but i will wait and see. Thank you Janet for such lovely yarn and such quick service.

Tomorrow is the funeral. The flowers have been ordered and my clothes all ironed and pressed. I probably wont be around until Thursday or even Friday so have a good rest of the week.

Family

The family. We were a strange little band of characters trudging through
life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together. ~Erma Bombeck

To us, family means putting your arms around each other and being there. ~Barbara Bush

I don't care how poor a man is; if he has family, he's rich. ~Dan Wilcox and Thad Mumford, "Identity Crisis," M*A*S*H

Family: A social unit where the father is concerned with parking space, the children with outer space, and the mother with closet space. ~Evan Esar

The informality of family life is a blessed condition that allows us to become our best while looking our worst. ~Marge Kennedy

Other things may change us, but we start and end with the family. ~Anthony Brandt

What greater thing is there for human souls than to feel that they are joined for life - to be with each other in silent unspeakable memories. ~George Eliot

You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them. ~Desmond Tutu

A family is a unit composed not only of children but of men, women, an occasional animal, and the common cold. ~Ogden Nash

LOVE YOU GUYS!!

VIVA BOKKE !!

Some Good News

I consider myself to be very fortunate. I have one of those friends who knows me inside and out, who means the world to me and who keeps in touch even though we are on opposite ends of the earth. If you are fortunate enough to have one of those friends then you will know just how special they are.

Last night i spoke to Rayola on MSN. It is not often that we get to really chat but last night she had some exciting news to share with me. Today, at 12pm New York time, she is getting married to her sweetie Danny. They have been together for years now but decided a few days ago that this is what they wanted to do. So at 5pm here in the UK, i will be wishing my friend all the best. I obviously wont be able to be there in body but i am so there in spirit and in friendship. Congratulations!
I had hoped to surprise you all with my first quilt all nicely finished and hanging on the wall today but, and don't you just love these little buts, it didn't happen. All that i have left to do is the binding and it is turning out to be very tricky. I started to do the top and the bottom binding but it all went horribly wrong and i before i knew it i had given up on it. I knew that i would have to unpick what i had done and was not in the mood.
I am going to finish this little beauty, it will not beat me! I got up early this morning and have unpicked everything that i did yesterday. Tonight i will call my mom and get her to run through it with me step by step and by Monday i will have some gorgeous photos to share with you.

This is my Minimalist Cardigan that i am knitting at the moment. It feels like i have been working on it for weeks and weeks but when i consider that i have only really been knitting it through my lunch break at work i guess that feeling is probably right.

As long as it is taking me i am really enjoying the yarn and the moss stitch pattern. I will soon be starting on the shaping of the armholes and before i know it the back will be complete.

Wednesday night I arrived home to a little package from Amazon. At first i thought it was something from my dear Stu as i know i haven't bought anything but then i opened it and found that is was from my Secret Pal. Thank you secret pal - it is fantastic! I cant wait to get stuck into it.

The funeral has been set for Wednesday at 11:15pm and then the cremation will take place and then we have another little burial on Friday when the ashes are buried.

I hope that everyone has a good weekend.
God Bless

The wednesday bump

How i wish that i was sitting at home right now rather than sitting here at work. The feeling to just pack up my desk and walk out is so strong that i thought i had better take a break and so i am siting here updating my blog rather instead.

This morning i was awake by 5am. I got up, saw Stu off to work and then made myself a cup of tea. Once i had put a load of laundry in and made myself some lunch for work i went upstairs and sat down with my art journal, crayons and acrylic paint. I got to spend about 45 minutes with my journal and i am really enjoying the process. I will probably not finish my drawing/painting until tomorrow but when i do i will be sure to share it with you.

Sunday morning we went to a local carboot sale and i managed to pick this up for £4. That's like $2 or something ridiculous like that. It is not often that i come across such a bargain. I have given it a new home in my hobby room and over the next few weeks i will sand it down and repaint it.
As the evenings have been getting darker earlier i have started to work on this lovely little quilt kit that Stu bought me for my birthday. At the point of the photo i had just done the top layer but as of right now i have putting the batting and back fabric together and have even done some machine quilting on it. I now just have to do the binding but that is proving to be a little more trickier and i first thought. I am just waiting for my mom to get back off of holiday so that she can help me with this and then i will be done.
Do you remember this post? Well the very following morning i received this cute kit in the post. I had totally forgotten that i had signed up to a page kit swap on UK Scrappers. How typical is that...lol.
This kit is so lovely but i have put it away for now until i find that i really want to scrap.

Tonight i hope to make some decent progress on my current knitting project as well as make a start on my first pair of socks. There are so many great patterns out there i have not yet decided which socks to knit so first things first i guess i will have to make that decision.

Well that is it from me - back to work i guess.

Toodles

The morning after

By the time my head hit the pillow i was fast asleep. A deep, much needed sleep that allowed me to wake up this morning without the headache and the sore, scratchy eyes. A good nights sleep is exactly what i needed.

Although my heart is still heavy and it still feels much like a dream i have such a strong sense that life still carries on. I still have to get up and go to work, come home and cook dinner, do the washing and just carry on breathing.

It might be a while before i feel 100% like myself but for now i will carry on learning what it means to dance in the storm.

Thank you for the comments on here and all the emails that i have gotten from everyone.

Last night I lost someone very special to me. It was fast, unexpected and traumatic. It's only been 18 hours and yet I still feel like I am sleep walking - like it cant really have happened. My head hurts from lack of sleep, my eyes hurt from the crying and my heart hurts from being broken. Last night I only got a few hours sleep and even during that I can remember waking up several times. I am tired. I am ready to have a hot bath and just curl up in bed. Perhaps when I wake up this will all be over and I wont feel as if life is just so unfair and I wont feel so empty and stunned.

Time for a change

Pencillines challenge # 53

Balance is something that I am trying to keep as a central focus throughout my day at the moment. We live in such a busy world that when I start to feel bogged down and overwhelmed I take a step back and see just what I am spending my time on and what I am dealing with. Then I ask myself some questions - How much time do I spend on each thing? How important is each thing to me and can I get rid of it, delegate it or not do it all together? I find that by asking these questions it helps me to sort out my priorities which in turn helps me to feel happier with myself and my life.

Another thing that I have found tends to make me feel bogged down and overwhelmed are expectations. Other peoples as well as my own. Lately I have been feeling a little stuck, for lack of a better word, in the inspiration/scrapbooking department. I have just been feeling like there are just so many pages that you can do about yourself, your other half, your cats and then you come to a stand still. Don’t get me wrong - I still love scrapbooking and I will still carry on when I feel like I have something worthwhile to scrap about but right now I am giving myself permission to take a break from it without feeling guilty. I haven't really done much scrapping these past few months - you know like I expect myself to have really done a lot more than what I have - but last night I realised that it is OK to take a break from it and come back to it later. Instead of feeling like I have been in a rut I am going to take my creative energy and use it in my art journal, my knitting and perhaps even my sewing. I think that I was putting too much pressure on myself to be creative in a certain way and when I felt like I was not measuring up it started to affect the other creative areas in my life.

So, this layout might be the last 12 x 12 layout that I do for a little while but don’t worry - I will still be finding ways to express my creative soul and I will still be sharing them on here with you.

Morning thoughts

These past two mornings i have been getting up at 5:45am and seeing Stu off to work. As much as i find it difficult to get up when the alarm goes off, and it does take me a few minutes to actually feel like i have woken up, i am really enjoying that extra time i now find myself with before i have to leave for work. Yesterday i spent the time finishing off a layout that i have been working on and today i sat down to a cup of tea in my new teapot, teacup and saucer that i picked up from a car boot sale this past Sunday.

Today i feel like i should document some of my thoughts that i had going through my head as i sat drinking my tea.

* I am really enjoying having my Gran over here visiting us. She flew in from South Africa, Friday gone by, and is staying for a month. I haven't seen her in four years and love that i can just jump in the car and go down to visit her

* I came across this street art yesterday on Jody's website and it has been totally amazing me.

* I am so grateful to God for finding Stu a permanent job. He is driving a 32 ton lorry for the local Quarry and is loving every minute of it. He has his own company mobile and even his very own lorry. His wages work out great for us and it is only down the road. It seems like the perfect job for him and our needs.

* Last Thursday was Rayola's birthday. Happy Birthday my friend - I miss you in so many different ways.

* I am so in the mood for baking. If i tell the truth i have been wanting to bake something for a little while now but as I am doing WW i am trying to be really good. Perhaps tonight i will find something in my WW recipe book to try.

Nothing extra-ordinary or life changing. Just what has been on my mind and whats going on in my life.

Fun Times!

I had a great weekend. Lots of resting, lots of visiting with my gran and a 30th Birthday party.

I just wanted to share this photo with everyone. It's the boys off on the motorbike for a ride around. Its the first time Rus has been on a motorbike - dont you just love his face! Priceless!

Circle Journal

This is the second circle journal that i have taken part in and this has definately been my favourite. Thank you so all the lovely ladies who have had a part in my jounral. Every page is so special and treasured.

One more page to follow but my battery ran out so this will be updated later tonight.