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. 

Pink Linen Roses

 Our poor computer has been poorly with evil vile viruses for over a week - and thanks to the combined efforts of brother in law, daddy fig and mr juicy it is all back up and running now.

The silence has been deafening! how strange not having the pooter fan whirring away in the background all day, and I have missed checking my twitter and e-mails every time I have passed by.

 I have been in a bit of an embroidery mood - I had picked up some sublime linen embroidery floss a few weeks ago, I saw it in a sale basket, and immediately thought of dusky roses. As the floss was linen, the fabric had to be linen too! My stitching is slowly improving!

I chopped the linen into pieces, and did a slightly difrent rose on each - then had to think of some way of using them - so here is a cushion top WIP!

DRAMA - Our little tiny black cat -Bodkin - came out for a walk with us on Monday evening, shot up a tree, then in an effort to get back down stepped onto a dead branch and fell onto a barbed wire fence, making a huge gash on his leg. He spent a night in the vets, and is back home now recuperating. Mr Juicy however has not recovered from the whole traumatic event!

 AT LAST!! I signed up for a cushion swap - ooh, AGES ago! Then - I completely forgot about it! Imagine my surprise when this absolutely gorgeous parcel arrived from Neeta at  Everything Neet

 It is so lovely, and SO ME!!! all hand sewn, finished beautifully, and with some lovely 'extra' too (she has managed to encapsulate the relative size of my underwear uncanilly accurately!)

 The cushion cover received a feather pillow to give it maximum squashiness and has resided by the fire place on a tiny stool over Christmas for my smaller nieces to sit on!

 In return (after a bit of a shock reminder!!!) I sent out my cushion cover. I hope Nita liked it, she had requested something not too old fashioned, but once I finished it, I kinda thought it was a bit old fashioned...eek! but by then it was too late to make another.....

I am going to restrict myself to only 2 swaps this year I think - or - just organise one myself...so any suggestions of what to swap would be cool!

I had a request for my Marmalade Recipe - I have added another page to my blog with the recipe! No photo's yet, but take a look if preserves are you thing - and all comments are welcome, perhaps share some of your own fail safe techniques!

Big Excitement!

I received a message on my folksy shop the other day to tell me that one of my pincushions for sale will be featured in  "Creative Crafting Online Magazine"

I am chuffed to bits as they say in these parts! 

There is a link to the site on the left of my blog - and it should be in there from 1st October! 

so - huge grins abound in the JuicyFig household :~)

I have been neglecting my 'creative space' contributions, so today set out to make a new cushion for my folksy shop

 The pile of cushions is growing and growing, poor baby Fig's bedroom that was commandeered in her absence is now full of not only her stuff, but a mountain of cushions that are for ever being re-stacked to prevent a land slide in the night!

The latest is in Heather Bailey Fabrics - I am terrible for collecting fabric then not wanting to use it because it's just too nice, it has taken a lot of will power to get the rotary cutter to them - I hope that now I have used some I have broken my obsession and can now start to plough through lots of fabric to make room for more of course!

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.