Making good use of my time

Baby afghan

Thread angels

Halloween scarf







Fancy cotton washcloth*







Fleece cat bed

In use (by Tinkle)

Hearts Doily







Patchwork block for a swap











Small linen doily*

Venetian Doily**

Grannie Square Angel

Turkey Butts

Flat Pineapple Angel
Yep, I've been busy. Now, back to work - byeeee.

*from Leisure Arts Big Book of Little Doilies
**spot the less-than-deliberate mistake

No Saturday Sky

That's not strictly true, of course. There is a sky. I just haven't taken a picture of it.

Truth is, I'm finding I just don't have the time anymore to do all the things I want to do online - maintain this blog, read my newsgroups, check out eBay, look up information on the myriad things that occur to me in the course of a day, keep up with all my special interest groups' emails (literally hundreds a day) - and do all the things I need/want to do in the real world.

The problem is I have too many interests. I'm into crocheting (my first and deepest love), cross stitch (I have sooo many charts and kits to do it's not funny), quilting (I'm really slow so it takes me forever to finish anything), friendship bracelets, reading, walking, Tai Chi, languages, cooking, tarot, photography, gardening, stamp collecting, art & design, correspondence, sudoku, kakuro (used to be called Cross Sums way back when only nerds like me did number puzzles - still my fave), crosswords, jigsaw puzzles... I could go on. I think there's a strong Gemini influence in my chart.

But lately I've found myself spending so much time online downloading patterns, reading other peoples' blogs (don't get me wrong, I love reading 'em - you're all wonderful!), trawling through recipes, lurching from interesting website to interesting website (ooo, look, another thing to get "into", must bookmark this and check it out sometime - yeah, like when I've found a way to get by on 1 hour of sleep a night), etc, etc, etc - that I'm not actually getting anything done. I've got more patterns than I could complete in several lifetimes (needlework is definitely my biggest "into"), I've got at least a dozen projects on the go but I never seem to actually finish anything.

You know where this is leading. It's got to stop.

I've already unsubscribed from a load of my special interest groups. I've stopped my eBay search notices (I haven't got the money to spend anyway). I'm limiting myself to logging on only 5 days a week (you may laugh, but it hurts!).

And now I'm going to take a break from blogging.

You probably won't notice much difference. I've hardly posted more than the Saturday Skies for a while now anyway and even that's been a struggle. I've wanted to do more, really, but I've just not had the time and, frankly, I've not done anything to post about.

I'm honestly gonna miss you all - I feel like you're all friends and I care about what goes on in your lives. But maybe if I walk away for a while I'll get a life again and then, if I get the time, I can come back and post about it (hey, maybe I'll even have a picture of something I've finished!). And if I am ever in the neighbourhood I'll be sure to pop in and see y'all.

TTFN   xx

Saturday Sky with Telegraph Pole

Late again. I'm blaming it on my weekend guests this time. It was easy enough to nip outside and take the picture but I couldn't exactly excuse myself for an hour or so while I edited the photo and uploaded it onto (into?) my blog. Hey, I'm on dial-up still... everything takes ages!

As you can see we're still getting some smashing weather. The temperature has dropped a bit but I'm not complaining. As long as the sun is shining, I'm happy.

I'm baaaaack!

Did ya miss me?

Actually, we've been back since last Saturday. We had a lovely, restful time in Cornwall but now I'm absolutely frazzled again trying to catch up with everything.

So this Saturday Sky is a bit of a cheat. It's not the Saturday sky here in less-than-sunny Essex but a Saturday sky - in gloriously sunny Cornwall. Showing a cliff face at Porth Beach, near Newquay, two Saturdays ago to be precise. If you look closely, towards the upper left-hand corner, you can just make out the crescent moon.





Catching up with my emails is taking the longest. If you've written to me I will - eventually - reply. The biggest problem - well, it's not really a problem and it's self-inflicted anyway - is the volume of emails I get from Gathering Threads, a thread crochet Yahoo! Group. Several hundred a day! But they're all so wonderful - interesting discussions about techniques, thread suggestions, lovely pictures of everyone's creations and then, of course, all those fabulous lacey patterns that I just have to try. Assuming I live to be 943.

Anyway, I hope to be back on schedule for next Saturday's sky. And once I edit the rest of my holiday photos I'll post a few more of those as well.

TTFN

Just so's you know

After all the panic that ensued when The Crochet Dude disappeared for over a week I thought I'd better let you all know that DH and I are off to beautiful Cornwall (woohoo!) tomorrow morning, long before dawn's even thought about cracking. Wouldn't want to trigger a major search and rescue operation or anything.

We'll be back very late on the 23rd... Yes, I'm afraid that does mean you're all going to have to get along without my Saturday Sky for two whole Saturdays. I know. I feel your pain. But just think of the lovely time we'll be having.

Oh, and Dude - don't go off like that again without telling all your BlogMoms (male and female) where you're going and when we can expect you home. Now don't fuss - it's only because we love you.

Saturday Sky with Station

Dovercourt station, a ten-minute walk from our house, is the second last stop on the single-track line between Manningtree and Harwich, named the "Mayflower Line" because the captain of the Mayflower, Christopher Jones, was born in Harwich.

There used to be one further stop - the "Train Ferry" at Harwich Harbour, which carried railcars to Zeebrugge, until the service was discontinued in 1987.

Saturday Sky

Sky from my back garden, 7:30am.

Magical Mystery Garden

We only moved into this house in November last year. The garden at that time was looking pretty bare, except for one "perpetual" primrose.










The fun began when spring arrived. Every day there was something new to discover. A few early crocuses (very welcome), some hyacinths, a couple of snazzy red tulips under the cherry tree, daffodils and narcissus everywhere and, best of all, a carpet of sweet-scented violets over by the herb garden.

Things settled down come summer but it was still nice to have a succession of shrubs come into bloom.

I haven't done much with the herb garden this year - early days yet - I just tidied up the established plants and cleared out the rubbish (like the huge mound of mint that turned out to be lemon scented, ick!). If something interesting came up in the bare patches I just left it.

I was quite surprised when one such specimen, which I suspected was probably just a weed with fancy leaves, turned out to be this chrysanthemum. Well chuffed I was! The magenta flower behind it belongs to a blackcurrant sage - so named because the leaves smell of, you guessed it, blackcurrant. Actually, that was another semi-surprise. The plant itself was a housewarming gift from my friend's mother so I knew it was there (!) but I had no idea it would have such vibrant flowers. And so long-lasting - it started blooming in late May, put on a great show even through the month-long heat wave we had in July and is still going strong.

Sorry I'm late

We had company yesterday and today - friends from my old meeting in Tottenham - so no computer action. And I forgot to take an "official" Saturday Sky so here's yesterday's holiday snap with the greatest proportion of sky - DH and friend sorting out their seaweed before slinging it at each other. Nice. We're at the West End beach at Dovercourt Bay, just a 2-minute drive/20-minute walk from our house (yippee!), and that's Walton-on-the-Naze in the distance.

What Flower Are You?

I am a Petunia What Flower Are You?

You are a tried and trusted friend who will be there for your friends when they need you. But you have a tendency to be nervous about doing things that go against the norm. (That would be my norm, not normal people's norm.)

Today's sky

Today's Saturday Sky comes to you from Lavenham, Suffolk - looking down the hill in Prentice Street towards the patchwork of fields beyond. It had been raining heavily only a few minutes earlier.

Lavenham is a lovely medieval town famous for its half-timbered buildings and beautiful "wool church", built thanks to the prosperity of local wool merchants.

We enjoyed our visit, and the wonderful lunch we had at Sweetmeats Tea Room, and plan to go back (to both!) again.

Saturday Sky with Workshop

Threatening clouds and wind whipped trees - and a brooding shot of DH's new workshop (16'x10'. At last! A home for all his toys tools).















It's been a dreadful day weather-wise. To use the vernacular, it's been chucking it down and blowing a hooli all day! I do feel sorry for the two fellas who spent five hours out in it putting up the workshop. DH did cook them a lovely fry-up before they left, though (...to go do another, albeit smaller, job).

Finished something

A pair of Flip Flop Socks... and they're for meeeeeeee! That's rare - it's usually only the stuff for other people that actually gets finished. But these were small and I was determined. Especially after spending ages splitting a skein of Anchor Magic cotton from 8-ply into 2 balls of 4-ply 'coz I loved the colour but wanted thinner yarn.

Broken record

Yeah, look, I know - I keep posting links to Preacher-Boy's blog and I imagine you're beginning to think I'm getting 10% or something, but his ability to see Christ/God/Love in action and then convey the beauty of these encounters to the rest of us is extraordinary and I just have to share them with you. In fact, forget "sharing" - READ THIS! - it will do your soul good. Imagine the possibilities if we all looked with our hearts open.

Visitors

Saturday Sky from my friends' back garden, where a number of us from Clacton Friends Meeting enjoyed a lovely tea and the chance to have a good natter. Quaker worship may be based on silence but we can sure make up for it the rest of the time!

And here's a visitor to *my* garden this afternoon - a big, green dragonfly. She was about 3"/75mm* long with a 4"/100mm wingspan but still difficult to see against the leaves. I say "she" because I believe it was a female Southern Hawker (Aeshna Cyanaea).

*8/8 Amended from centimeters (thanx PB) - now that would have been a big dragonfly!

Rain at last!

It started raining yesterday morning and has been raining on and off ever since. The temperature has dropped to a much more comfortable 21°C/ 69°F and I am sooooo happy. The girls, on the other hand, keep clambering up onto my lap for warmth, glowering at me like this ice age is all my fault.

Water from the sky?

Hey, lawn - recognise this stuff? It used to be called "rain". I trust you'll remember what to do with it.

(Postscript - Ten minutes it lasted. Ten. Minutes. Never mind, lawn - as you were.)

Hot and Hazy

View from the bathroom: across the River Stour towards Shotley Marina - 29 July 2006, 11:11am.

When I took this Saturday Sky this morning it was very hot and humid, but the wind picked up this afternoon and it's a bit cooler now. We have the promise of rain from the west for tomorrow. There have been isolated downpours all around us for several days but not a drop here. I hope we do get some rain this time. We need it - for the garden and for our sanity!

Saturday Sky

After a scorcher of a week the weather turned overcast today but it's only a teeny bit cooler. And it's due to get even hotter next week. SNAKES ON A PLANE!*

(*You can blame that little outburst on Crazy Aunt Purl.)

Saturday Sky 3

A crystal clear blue sky above the Fryatt Memorial (Harwich) Hospital Fete - 15 July 2006, 3:16pm.

Not as dramatic as last week's offering but you couldn't have asked for better weather. Who told you it always rains in England?