Time Flies..

Time flies, particularly at the weekend, you spend all week looking forward to the weekend and then in a flash its gone. I hate not having anything in particular planned, because it makes me feel as if I am wasting time deciding what to do. So this weekend I decided to do a couple of crocheted mats. I wanted to do an oval one for my bathroom and a rectangular one for Carl's bathroom. The first step of the process is to rip up the material, that causes clouds of lint dust, so I sat with the back door open and I wore a mask. The whole of my work room is covered in a layer of dust, but I have the ripping down to a fine art now. I can tear up a whole sheet without a join!! 

I decided on pastel colours for my mat and Carl wanted blue and white to go with his bathroom.

It is really amazing how quickly it all grows. I made a mat that measures around 4 feet by three feet in around 2 hours!!, I tried a different technique for Carl's, I even managed to get 'corners' which I hadn't been able to do before. 

The great thing about these mats is that they are made out of recycled material, they are absorbent, having been washed loads of times before and they are washable, so even white ones can be kept looking pretty!!

Since last year when Mum passed away we have been trying to sort things out, the situation at the hospital is being dealt with by our solicitors, I still feel very sad about the things that happened in those last few weeks. I have been surprised at how companies have reacted after a bereavement. Some like 02 have been fantastic, they simply dealt with everything and wrote off mums bill, cancelled the account, others however have been less than great, one of those is Virgin Media. I have a lot of services through Virgin including TV, Internet and mobile phone. I set up Mums broadband through Virgin, so as dad doesn't use broad band, back in December I called up to cancel the account. They said that they could as long as we paid up the rest of the contract, which didn't expire until May 2014! I explained that only Mum used the Internet but they wouldn't have it, so I have this weekend cancelled the contract and I asked them to see how much Internet had been used in the past months? Despite no usage they refused to refund anything!! Virgin a fantastic example of lack of compassion and ability to think outside the box. They are simply money grabbers. They even had the cheek to ask for the router back, they can have it, I don't think its likely to be working by the time it arrives back with them!!!

Have a great week, roll on Bank Holiday weekend!!!

A Crafty Night on the Town!!

Last week I had an evening out with my friend Jane, (I had a good week as I had a few drinks around at Karen's as well!!!) Jane is  one of my crafty friends, so we went out for an evening of beading! We decided to make bracelets, made out of seed beads. Despite taking her glasses Jane was having 'issues' seeing as everything was so small!!! In the end I loaned her my 99p magnifying specials, they worked for her!!

To help us concentrate we had a supply of skittles and malteasers!!

By the end of the evening we had both sewn ourselves a bracelet!!It wasn't too difficult once we had got the hang of it. It was surprising how few beads we used!!

We learned a few techniques, by the end of the evening we could 'picot' like a pair of professionals!!!

A couple of weeks ago I bought something called a Kumihino Disk, a Japanese invention to make braids. Once I had looked it up on You Tube it became quite easy, the translated instructions included in the pack were useless!! I made these two out of suede thongs. I can see that I will be able to make all sorts of patterns using this disk!! 

This past weekend has been Easter, the weather has been generally nice, although on Sunday we had yet another power cut, I can't believe that it keeps happening. Luckily it was another very short one, but I wonder why it keeps happening. Its a nuisance having to reset all the alarm clocks afterwards!!

I am pleased with how the garden is coming along, lots of nice plants. I bought Tom a new clematis after he lost two of them over the winter with the fences going down. That seems to be growing six inches a day!!

Finally a shot of the Easter Eggs, its going to take a while for those to be demolished!!

Hope you all have a good week.

A Trip into London.

Last week I had a few days off of work. Its strange how quickly the time I spent recovering from my operation seems such a long time ago. I am going from strength to strength. I am just about free of my walking stick. I know it seems like I have been using my stick for a long time, but I am trying to beat the limp that I have had for a few years. I am getting there. Now I only limp if I get tired. I am trying to increase the amount of walking that I do. I have a fancy pedometer and I have managed to walk a good few miles most days. Last Friday I went to the Excel Centre in Docklands for a craft fair with my friend Barb. We started by travelling to Kings Cross, it really s a fabulous station since they have revamped it.

It was a good show, lots of stalls and lots of chances to try your hand at different things. We made a pair of earrings, a layered card., tried our hands at glitter painting on acetate. Towards the end we had a sit down and joined in with a Guinness book of records attempt at making the longest knitted or crocheted chain. Barb crocheted the blue hoop and I knitted the yellow one. Its been ages since I picked up my knitting needles and it seemed to take an age to cast on and do the first row. Barb on the other hand whizzed through it. !!

I can't remember visiting Docklands area of London before. On the way there on the train we went pass a few land marks, The Millennium Dome, now called the 02 arena. We went by the Olympic park, we could see some of the buildings and the strange looking red metal landmark thingy!! We also went by the Banking district and Canary Wharf . Once we came out of the Ex Cel we walked down by the river, the place has been regenerated but it still retained some of its Dockland heritage.

The trains on the Docklands Light Railway don't have drivers, it has the feel of being on a Disney ride as you can sit right at the front and watch where you are going!! Its an interesting experience!!

Finally we have lots of spring flowers putting in an appearance. Dad is a fantastic gardener, he spends hours in his garden and in his green house. He can grow just about anything. The one flower he has problems with is the Pansy, he just can't get them to grow in his garden.We have just found these Pansy's flowering in the smallest of cracks between the road and the kerb stone outside our house. They are self sets and look really pretty. Makes me wonder what Dad is doing to fail with them !!!!

I am pleased that it is nearly the weekend again, I have a few plans for the next few days, starting with a visit to Ikea, a trip to Ally Pally and finishing with dinner with friends on Sunday.Next week is looking fairly booked up as well, with some evenings booked with friends, Happy Days!!!

Weekend Away.

We have just returned back from a lovely weekend away in Whitby. I like Whitby where my brother and sister in law live. Its nice to see them from time to time. This was a bit of a last minute decision, mainly as I wanted to do something completely different for Mothers day. In previous years we have always spent at least part of the day with Mum, so this year was going to be particularly difficult. I think we made the right decision to go away and do something different. 

We booked a nice bed and breakfast on the top of the cliff, splashed out on a sea view but look at the photo above, it was a fog fest!!!!  We did get to see the sea, but only just!! 

The best bit about this weekend was that I was able to walk without any pain, so we walked from the cliff top right the way down to the beach and all the way along the pier!! I also walked around the town and clocked up 4 miles on my pedometer I can't remember the last time I walked that far !! I am so pleased with how far I have come.

The B and B had a lovely little sitting room looking out over the sea, but as you can tell the sea is not particularly 'seeable' in this picture!!

The Abbey is on the cliff on the other side of the harbour  I really like how this photo turned out, the fog adds and air of mystery to it!!

There were plenty of Lobster pots piled up on the harbour, The church in the background is St. Marys , just in front of the church is a church yard which has started to slide away. It was this church that featured in the Dracula books written by Bram Stoker. (previously I got my authors confused!!!)

One night we ate out at the famous Magpie Cafe, usually people queue up for ages outside, they queue down the steps and onto the pavement, its not unusual to see 40 plus people waiting to get in!! On Saturday night there was no queue, I expect March is low season even for very popular places!! We had fish and chips and it was nice, not exceptional but nice, I can now say I have been there and done that!"!!

Finally for the first time in my life I have had a Mothers Day without my dear Mum, I miss her so much its been a hard time without her.