Maytime

I had such a pretty postcard from Chrissie yesterday as part of our Postman's Knock fun. My theme is windows and Chrissie has created a perfect little Boulangerie window, complete with awning, lace curtain and a selection of breads. The card came in this lovely wrap and I must admit that my first thought at the red, white and blue tie was with Friday's goings on rather than the Tricolore.

 The lace curtain is even on a rod.

It has been a busy week where I seemed to achieved little.  Last Bank holiday Monday I did an hour or two at the local country fair promoting the Artists Network Bedfordshire's open studio event in June.

This is Jo, a very active member behind our stall which drew lots of interest. The info is not all there on the website but I will let you know details later if you are in the area.

On Wednesday, Sally  and I got together to do some planning and I have made a list of 'things to do'

On Thursday I did something completely different.  I visited a group of alpacas which are kept as 'pets' by the couple here - I realise now that I don't know their names.  I went with my U3A Natural History group - although not quite 'natural' to our local surroundings I did learn a bit about these animals which are domesticated in Peru.

The alpapcas were very friendly as demonstrated here!

They are shorn once a year and the owners usually donate the fleeces to local spinning groups.  In fact a couple of the ladies at 'Nutty Knitters' were spinning some last month.  The fleece is incredibly soft and thick and has no lanolin so does not need to be washed before spinning.

a couple of examples of  knitted yarn from the alpacas.

When down loading these photos which I took with my 'point and shoot' I found this one of Marvin taking a bit of time out on the bed, something which is not encouraged, but tolerated in dry weather. Here he is trying to prove to me that he has been keeping up with the dry cleaning. 

At the moment like most pets, he is moulting like mad and could be a rival to those alpacas!

It is also that time of the month AGAIN, and as I only seem to be managing one post a week, my calendar pages appear rather too quickly.  I hope you are not getting bored with them.

April seems to have been sunshine all the way. The lack of rain has meant a lot less snails this spring so although the young veg hasn't been eaten, it does needed a lot of watering.  However even the lawn (moss patch) is beginning to turn brown, so a bit of evening rain would be useful.  I also find it difficult to be creative this weather.  I want to be sitting stitching etc, but the outdoors is calling.  I try to ration my gardening time due to dodgy joints, but even after a spot of weeding I haven't been able to settle at my desk or sewing machine. However I did enjoy creating my calendar pages.

May is rather flamboyant.  I bought some metallic and pearlised acrylics so had to give them an outing. The squares are cut from pearly paper.

I hope you are able to enjoy this holiday weekend and I will try to put in some extra 'comment' time.

Have a good week.

Jill

Just 'do' ...

I have tried to be more active this month - not a New Year resolution as such, but when you reach a certain age you realize how important your physical well-being is and I have never been a lover of exercise.  I have some physio exercises for my back and I am getting custom made orthotics for my fallen arches, so I wonder where February will see me!  Marvin, the cat, is doing well after my panic on his diagnosis of diabetes.  He drinks a couple of pints of water a day, but he has a good appetite and doesn't appear to have lost any more weight. 

Thank you to all who ask after him.

My February pages are rather simple at the moment.  Wax resist plus washes of red and yellow for the background and green squares with a bit of white gesso stencilled on.  I was influenced by a bit of 50's fabric for the colour scheme.  I am sure the pages will  liven up by the end of the month. I do hope that those of you who have joined in are enjoying the challenge.  Kate has organized a link on her blog - I have yet to suss that one out.

For all of you who kindly comment on my journal pages, here is another one.  I have been having a paisley moment or two, I find this sort of thing quite mindless and when I am not feeling inspired to be creative I can just start with a glorified doodle.  I may add to it over several days. The internet is a wonderful font of fact, and as I have a mind like a sieve, writing down what I find out is a must.  I just sarted by writing in some paisley shapes and the patterns grew.  You may also notice from the top of the  page that I have joined the Artist Network Bedfordshire. My friend has invited me to join her in the open studio event in June so we have had to do some planning - but more about that much nearer the time.

Here is a page from my little watercolour moleskine.  I did think I would try and draw something from my garden in it every month, but I started it about 18 months ago and it has some big gaps. Perhaps I will do better this year.  Here I drew winter flowering heather, which is a bit tardy this year as it often starts to open before the new year and Christmas box which has the most heavenly sweet scent, if somewhat insignificant flowers.  I have managed to cut this back hard every summer and keep it small enough to stay by my back door. If you long some winter perfume I hightly recommend it.

Well that is January wrapped up, spring is really waiting in the wings. The sun has shone today, the birds singing and it is five o'clock and the sky is still pink! That's progress

Calendar Challenge 2011

Only two days to go - so here is a review of 2010. Kate and I are throwing down the gauntlet again and opening up the challenge for another year. It really isn't that difficult. Setting up the page could be as simple as cutting out enough squares for January and sticking them in an A4 sketch book. The background could be a plain colour wash, or as fancy as you like. As for filling in the days, as you can see sometimes I don't write anything - a picture or stamp will do, you could just do a doodle - or sometimes I cram in as much info as I can. I certainly don't fill it in every day and often have to go back a week (or more), but a couple of words about the weather can suffice. There is no obligation to record your life story!  I have been doing this for about 18 months and it is great to go back and look at what I wrote a year or more ago.

The calendars in the challenge are posted on the flickr page, so if you haven't looked there lately it is worth a peek, especially if you are looking for inspiration. Please e mail  me or Kate if you have any questions.

My January pages are in preparation so watch this space!

And if I don't get around to writing another post this year - Happy New Year to you!

Jill