Still Jet Lagged!

I'm in the San Jose area at the moment..been here since Thursday last week and I'm still jet-lagged! I'm not a good sleeper at the best of times but this is getting ridiculous. Its 5.40 in the morning and I've been awake for ages. So far I have managed to listen to almost all of Annie Smiths Quilting Podcasts - these are a great listen btw  (if you manage to stay awake through them ... this is no slur on your podcasts Annie ...I love them really ! .....but I do find that when I am actually ready to sleep they are a very effective sleep-inducing narcotic) and I've checked out her website. I didn't realise until today that Annie is actually a resident of San Jose !  I'm here visiting until Saturday .. just enough to shop, spend, shop, spend ,shop and decide we have no more to spend!  Well I'll counter that a bit ....we are sight-seeing too. Yesterday we went to Gilroy Gardens. This once horticultural site is now a theme park for little ones  up to around 12 I would say. Mind you my hubby didn't take too kindly to the diminutive roller coaster so maybe I should up that age slightly! My sons and daughter thought it was ace though - particularly as dad turned greener by the moment - we are so wicked!  Today  we are going to see the Butterfly Migration at Natural Bridges in Santa Cruz ....if I stay awake!

Autumn Fruit

It was cold and wet today here in Catherington ...ideal weather for walking to and from school!  Its only a mile away but on cold wet days it seems like 10. I have been trying to walk as often as I can and I'm slowly getting to grips with the steep lane we have to navigate. I say navigate because we criss-cross from one side of the road to the other to avoid being killed by the traffic. There is no pedestrian pavement and with a couple of nasty blind bends you really have to be careful. Its a great walk back home though - all downhill. Cant wait until we have snow! 

The view is amazing too. I really do live in a nice part of the world. Apples are still on the trees and the last blackberries are still hanging on.  We have crab apples in the garden this year too. I only planted this tree a few months ago and its full of tiny golden red globes. I hope the birds like them cos they aren't good to eat - unless you make jam or pickle or something.  Maybe I should try?

Serendipity!

Another day of not accomplishing as much as I wanted and another day of things going wrong! Well wrong depends on your point of view I suppose! I should have been working on my judging course but as usual I found something else I thought would be more interesting (writing reports is not pleasurable!)  - Transferring photos to fabric .... and of course I needed to do this didn't I ... not!   Well I discovered some Ami Simms Photo Transfer Paper that I had brought in 2000.... (make a note of the year ....this is going to give you a clue what happened).  My daughter has recently completed a self-portrait for her school exams and I thought it would be great to transfer a photo of  it and make a book cover or something. I followed the instructions - loaded the paper right - choose the printer setting and printed. What came out was a very wet mess that had smudged for 2" into the print (and yes I did load it the right way). It was dripping so I laid it face down in my journal and wow I got a mono print.... twice. The second was faded but I just love this look of this for a journal page and better yet I can still use the transfer onto fabric. I think this is called Serendipity - something good out of something bad? 

Now I just need to get this module report written! I have just 3 days left  - will I do it?

To Blog or not to Blog - maybe to spam?

Well I haven't been able to blog at all these last few days because the little robots inside blogger decided I was a spammer ... uhm! Of course everything has flaws and for the greater good one or two innocents will be caught. Its annoying but I do understand why they do it. I am sick and tired of the vast quantities of unsolicited emails I get - mainly for things I dont want to know about either!  Where do they get your email?  Anyway I am now unblocked and can blog again. Not that they told me I was unblocked - that was up to me to discover. So I'm slightly peeved but not overly so. 

Since my last posting I have been making cards. I can see why paper-crafters get hit by the bug! Some of the papers are amazing and beautiful. I really like Amy Butler and Tina Givens designs. I'm not into heavy traditional looking christmas cards. I like the more contemporary retro looking cards. Well if you would like to look at my efforts you can do so here. I would like to think I can sell them but I'm not bothered if I don't. I enjoyed making them and with 6 people needing cards this christmas I'm sure we can use them - assuming the kids like them but then if they are free they won't care I suppose!

First Post and Hand Made Gifts

Well hello everyone - this is my first post on this blog site.  I'm not new to blogging .....I have a blog site on my mac website but since I have told very few people about it I shouldn't be surprised that no one reads it  ...should I?  Truthfully I am quite pleased really as I still feel very shy when I do post. Not sure why mind you as I really enjoy reading lots of other blogs.  Anyway I hope you enjoy mine.  

I am a forty something mother of 4 - 3 boys and 1 girl with an age span of 17 years. My youngest is 5 at the end of this month and my eldest is 22 after christmas. They are all great kids and with the young one at school now I have more time than I know what to do with .... wrong...... I still don't have enough time to everything I want.  I really enjoy sewing but I have a love of all things crafty. At the moment I have knitting, quilting, felting and card making on the go. I do have the attention span of a gnat so it good to have lots of things to do. I'll try and post a few pics of what I've been working on over the next few posts.

Yesterday I made this bag and card as a party gift. It came together really well and I'm very happy with the result. I put a feather boa, a Hawaiian dress up set and a couple of pre-cut felt dolls in the baggy. I hope the little girl likes it. Her birthday is Monday.  I am always dubious about home made gifts as I am not always sure if they are appreciated. I think this bag is cute though so hopefully this one will be.