Aaahh.......

We only ever see long tailed tits about once a year, usually around this time. They often flock together in small groups, but today I was working in my office upstairs and noticed two of them flying around the garden. Despite my best efforts they eluded me and my camera all afternoon unless you wanted to see lots of pictures of their rear ends or catch them just flying out of shot! Finally, I saw this one outside of the conservatory and it stayed still just long enough. There's something very endearing about them isn't there? They've definitely got the 'aaahh' factor for me.

Another beautiful day here. Hope it's the same wherever you are. Enjoy the weekend everyone!

Swallow Alert

There was a small piece in our local paper a couple of weeks ago saying that a swallow had been seen flying over the beach in Tenby. Since we've had nothing but rain ever since I wonder if the poor thing has survived. Other sources in the county have also reported sightings but we do not expect the pairs that breed in our little pig cott to return until later in the month - fingers crossed! I love these amazing birds. They are my favourites so I got to wondering if anyone else had seen them around the country yet? If you have, or have heard about any sightings, please leave a comment. Although it is still quite early it will help me get a feel for whether this is going to be a good breeding season or not. Thanks.

PS: You don't have to give your location away - a general hint will do.

Mixed bag(s)

I am confined to barracks as we have Jim, the heating engineer here fitting our woodburning stove. I am turning a blind eye to the chaos and the mess and getting on with things. Normally I get out of doing the vacuuming because I have bad tinnitus which is aggravated by the thing (seriously!) but I think I shall be close friends with it by the time Jim finishes today's workload. Roll on tomorrow... but first I finished this bag for tonight. I have finally used up every scrap of this green stuff. I bought one metre of each pattern and have made three bags from it which I'm very pleased with.

This pattern is one I bought from an Etsy seller last year and every time I make it I have to remember to tweak it as it is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. Still, I like the shape and I hope the recipient tonight will be pleased with it. I also made another big bag over the weekend which I might keep for myself.

This was made using a tablecloth I bought in the charity shop for 50p and some material I was given by a curtain making shop just to get it off their hands. I have a little bit of it left and I'm going to combine it with some lovely chintzy curtain fabric. Might do that tomorrow in between giving Jim endless cups of tea....

Just wanted to share one of my treasures from the antique fair at the weekend where I got carried away looking at postcards on a stand selling vintage buttons and handbags. I was so wrapped up in the messages on the back I didn't realise until I got home that I'd bought two sent to the same person by her mother. They both depicted French actress and music hall star Gaby Deslys. Wasn't she beautiful? Look at the that fabulous hat made with moire silk! Of course I then had to find out about her and I read that J M Barrie (of Peter Pan fame) was very keen on her, trying to write something for her to appear in, in a silent film. It never came about but I'm not surprised she took his fancy.

The postcards to Lily from her mother are so precious. They start with 'Have you forgotten my address?.... obviously Lily was not as devoted as she could have been... but I decided to scan them in and use them in a card making idea. I'd also bought a set of cigarette cards and scanned those in too, combining the two things like this. They might be a bit twee for me but I like them at the moment and may make a few more. After all, until Jim has the fire in I'm going nowhere!

Time marches backwards.....

I'm not that great at keeping calendars and marking time but I'm taken with this idea by German industrial designer Patrick Frey. 'Gregor' is a knitted wall calendar which counts down the year by unwinding stitch by stitch. I understand the 2011 version is currently available so I might be tempted as I'm not that great at knitting either so definitely couldn't make one myself! Mind you, I might then think my life is unravelling before my very eyes and that too might not be such a sound idea ....

Easter Parade

I've been feeling very nostalgic this Easter . I'm reminded of Easter holidays when I was a child. It invariably rained and 'Easter Parade' was always shown on the BBC on a wet Sunday afternoon. Well, today is a sunny Sunday and we're off to walk on the beach and take in an antiques fair but I couldn't resist a trip down memory lane first with two of the best. You can't get more class than Fred and Judy.

Couldn't find one without subtitles. Try to ignore the French subtitles in the first one but, even if you can't understand it, the second is perfect 'en francais' I think. Happy Easter to all.

The Honey Bee and the Hive Exhibition

I am trying to get up to London to see so many things and cannot find a date to fit it all in. Alongside trying to get to the major Quilts event at the V&A I'd love to visit this exhibition at the Contemporary Applied Arts gallery. The work of 28 artists, craftsmen and craftswomen is on display all united by their wonder of the bee and their shared concern for the diminishing bee population. Natasha Kerr is attracting a lot of interest at present as her work showcases the publicity material for the V&A exhibition so I picked her textile piece to head my post but there are so many other talented artists to choose from :

the quirky wire sculpture of Cathy Miles

beautiful jewellery pieces from Grainne Morton

wonderful brooches by Laura Baxter

ceramics by Joanna Veevers and John Ward (below)

Go here to have a look at the work of all the artists and read their rationale for the pieces they have created. It is fascinating to read how each of them has such a different take on the same subject. The exhibition is on until May 1st so I have to get my skates on if I'm going to see it!

Cassandra C Jones

If you're interested in seeing and hearing how an artist thinks go to this video link. It's worth watching all of it to see how Cassandra Jones selects online images and manipulates them using Photoshop into wallpapers and video installations. (It is also interesting to read the comments on this link about what is copyright and what is not.)

I am fascinated by the creative process and always inspired by someone else's technical skills. I say this with feeling as I tried to post a 'you tube' video for this and only mangaged to display half the screen! This is my second attempt at trying to post this today and I hope the link above will work. I suppose, given the date, I should have expected no less......