shouldering the burden

For over a week I have been feeling very sorry for myself. An old shoulder injury came back to haunt me and I have been fairly immobile and full of painkillers, wincing and moaning and feeling generally crappy.

It is easing away now, and just in time as over the next few weeks I have to work long hours doing 'piece' work for a rush order of plastic flags for a company in the village. It pays well but is rather sporadic. It's not what I want to be doing, but at the moment is a necessary evil. Today is my last day off for a while!

I was so glad the sun shone this morning. 

 

I have had to lay off the knitting for a while as it aggravates my shoulder, but managed to finish off the squares for a cushion cover - all laid out ready for assembly.

The Country File photographic competition is upon the nation once again. So I set out with my camera for a short stroll round the field a couple of streets away - just me, the dog and the cat. Always a strange sight!

I don't think I managed to get any winning shots - and the animals are as far from wild as you can get - but they are so cute I can't help myself. 

I suppose I am going to have to get all extreme with the weather of the time or the situation to get the shots I really want! 

Poor old Jemmy having yet another rest. 

Making it up as I go along

Sometimes it feels like all I do is moan about one thing or another, and over the past couple of weeks I seam to have had reason to moan - but probably took it to the extreme, so today is a calm Sunday. 

Well, t would have been calm, but first thing this morning I had to dash out to a muddy field to rescue Baby Fig from her flooded tent after she had been woken by a torrential cloud burst at the aptly named 'cloud spotters micro festival' - I don't know, teenagers these days have no stamina or sense of adventure! 

Last week I went to our local wool shops first birthday party, and was inspired by the speaker Veronica Shaw who writes patterns for Let's Knit Magazine to just get on with my knitting, make stuff up as I go along, mix colours and textures and basically stop pontificating over everything I do! So to this end I have been crocheting a new blanket of blues from my huge basket of double knitting 'odd balls that need using up'

I did however get a little distracted mid week after discovering King Coles new sequined yarn - I am not a sequin type person at all so I am not really sure quite why I fell for this yarn, but cautiously invested in just one ball and am now working it into a frilly edged scarf I designed myself.

Not a brilliant photo - but the whole of the Ribble Valley is currently sitting under a very grey cloud!

It is now just over 12 months since I worked for the Department of Work and Pensions. The department I worked for was the Child Support Agency. In the 6 years I worked for them I learned more about bitterness and suffering than I ever imagined was out there on our small island. I think I had been rather nieive about life! I saw a side to people I would be more than happy never to witness again, both within the workplace management, myself and the customers.  It left me wondering just how disproportionate my view of humanity was compared to reality, and it also left me feeling distrustful and suspicious - almost paranoid! I am however working very hard on seeing the country and it's people with a more balanced view, but also trying to look at myself and my part in the grand scheme of things - I am by no stretch of the imagination a model citizen - how boring would that be! but I am trying my best and have been looking at the SLOW MOVEMENT - I am not signing up to anything, joining anything or telling anyone else to - but I like the ethos behind it, it's new old fashioned ways - the sense of appreciation of your own toils and those of others. Life is too short for all the stress and worry we create for ourselves. I don't suppose I will stop moaning about things, people, situations - but I am determined to to make an effort not to let the same things wind me up like they have in the past.

So - here is a 'big up' to life, lessons and living - next time I am about to have a rant, I will count to 10, look at it from all angles, fight the fights that need fighting and take the most from small pleasures in life like a sparkly sequinned scarf - and spot happiness in everything around me. 

Finally, a moment captured last Friday at Warrington Walking Day - My Grandma who is 96, attending her 96th walking day - She loves everything about it, especially when the pipe bands play as they pass us all standing in the same spot we have stood in for over 100 years!

 Grandma with a bag she asked me to crochet for carrying her handkerchief!

 Sis-in-law Elpetha with her youngest Daughter Gracie

 Our now dwindling group of family and friends in the usual spot!

 My baby brother on the right and uncle on the left

 Gracie running out to give her Daddy his walking day money

 My wonderful mum giving her Brother his walking day money

Friend of the family who walk every year

that was the week that was...busy!

 I have had an incredibly busy week! I have finally finished this baby quilt that was my first commission - I chose the colours etc, so I just hope they like it! It has been finished in a record 2 weeks, this is mainly due to my Daughter's statement when I started..."I bet you don't finish it, it will end up with all the other blankets you have started" - I am now wondering if my client paid her to say this, as they both know me so well! so - 90 squares, and 4 balls of wool later - it is done. I hope Baby Oliver (when he is born) appreciates all these  colours!

Last Wednesday Baby Fig and myself went to the first of 6 FREE printing workshops at Blackburn Museum.

It was a fantastic afternoon, the teacher was so lovely and very talented - however, the only people there were baby fig and myself - what a shame! So, if you are in the area and have a Wednesday afternoon free, get down to the museum and have a go - we can't wait for this weeks workshop!

I have been busy tweeting...the internet conspires to keep me at my computer far too long! but if you are a tweeter - come and say hello!

Very exciting for me, I was asked to write a GUEST BLOG by a fellow twitter-er, so I did! I was quite pleased with it - which is unusual for me! These girls have a lovely site about thriftiness and good money management, do pop over and say hello to PennyWisePenny

So - in the next few days I will be posting up a couple of Bread making recipe's to tie in with the blog, my basic-can't go wrong-daily loaf recipe, and my Grandma's 70 year old woman's hour recipe! 

All we need now is more sunshine - what happened to it?

Tuesday - the new Monday...

Since baby Fig moved back home less than 2 weeks ago, the house and my head have been in turmoil! 

Currently she works Tuesday to Saturday, so very quickly her 'weekend' has become ours - meaning my so called working week also starts on a Tuesday when peace and quiet return to the household and I can actually get on with my life! 

I am in the middle of some sort if Identity crisis as well - trying to figure out what my own particular style is when it comes to crafts, decorating etc...

You see, I love mad crazy vibrant colours - but - I also love calm peaceful colours, I love clutter, and order, new and vintage...you get the idea.

Consequently I find what I am putting into my folksy shop is not quite one thing or another - it all seams a bit dis-jointed somehow.

on the other hand does it really matter? Do I need a clear cut image? or will one that hasn't quite made it's mind up ok? 

I have been like this all my life! what is a girl to do? oh well, just enjoy it all I suppose.

so - happy Autumn - and here is a pretty bad photo of my new crocheted shopping bag made from cotton bought at last Novembers knitting and stitching show at Harrogate.

Egghead!

In the JuicyFig household we have a new routine developing. At 6pm EVERYTHING stops for Eggheads.

This is the only programme of mine on our TV planner, I need my quiz fix! 

It would seam, however, that Hubby and baby fig (who since she moved out 3 weeks ago has spent more time here than she did before!) also both have a routine that occurs at 6pm every weeknight - it is the art of getting casual comments to coincide with Dermot the quiz master asking a question - consequently I am getting very good at guessing the correct answer to a question I didn't even hear!

hmmmm, I wonder if we could get a crafty blog quiz team together??? what would your speciality be? Sport? cookery? arts and literature? science? 

I have actually just returned from The Sanctuary in Langho - Mum treated me to a Reiki treatment to help with my anxiety - I have been looking forward to it all week, and it was fabulous! only wish they could have pored me off the treatment couch straight into my own bed at the end!

This afternoon I am trying to finish off my half of the Boudoir Swap - and hopefully post it tomorrow morning!

Here is a little sneaky peaky of what it might..or might not look like...

hmmmmm.....

oooh, and some little flowers - from an Irish Rose pattern teacher gave us at this weeks crochet class. 

If only I could get self patterning wool that changed when I wanted it to!

Waiting for...

I tend to be writing my blog in my head a lot - then when it comes to actually writing it, all those pearls of wisdom, all those neat phrases, the perfect sentence, the interesting subject - it all disappears. Mind you, if I could write a blog with an interface directly from my brain, it would ramble on and on, twist and turn, and never get to any point!

This week I have spent a lot of time in the sewing room trying to remember the inspirational ideas I came up with for my future income - I don't know, I suppose it will all fall into place eventually but right now the future is as much terrifying as exciting!

I have put a few more items in my Folksy shop after selling my very first item this week, reviving some kind of faith in myself

These are "Quit-tin Quilt-tins" 

Everything needed to make a traditional English patchwork pincushion in a tobacco tin - especially for anyone trying to quit smoking or for 'waiting' - something you tend to do a lot of from the moment you have kids - and for the rest of your life! from sitting by the pool while they have lessons to sitting in the doctors waiting room as more and more of you stops working! 

And a little bit of crochet - my latest obsession.

but I really NEEDED more wool!

Please! ban me from wool shops and their sales!

Four of us went over to the Black Sheep Wool sale yesterday - they sell luxury yarns at HUGE discounts, and yesterday there was and extra 25% off - so what chance did I stand?

Actually, I was very very restrained - not by ropes and chains, just the overdraft! and like a true thrifty person NOT - convinced myself that I needed to buy one of every colour of this gorgeous cotton/linen mix for my wavy crochet blanket, still, they were only 75p a ball so.....

My niece who came with us almost had to blind fold me and frog march me away from the place - and my mother ended up buying a mountain of some Japanese Merino/cashmere yarn with no bands on them because they had been reduced from £8 per 25g to 75p - she has no idea what she is going to make, but what a bargain! - I love how us women can pretty much justify all our spending!

I also treated myself to some more natural colours for my first granny squares - to say I only learned to crochet last Monday I am quite pleased with these, they are a bit baggy, slightly wonky, and 3 different sizes - but it kept me entertained while Mr Fig was off on a boy's own camping adventure with his friends, and baby Fig was stopping at the "we're not going out together" boyfriends (?)

I have been meaning to stop and take a photo of this tree for YEARS now - finally as I was driving past the other day there was a parking spot nearby, no people, the sun was shining, no one was with me, and I had my camera!

If you look closely the tree has both pink blossom and white - half and half! It is probably the result of a graft many years ago, but I think it is still pretty cool!