Photo a Day

Here we go and another week gone already.

March 22nd; when I got out of the car to go to work, this handsome chap was right by my car. I managed to snap him really quickly before he wandered away!

March 23rd; we have had just the most unbelievable amount of rain recently. Day after day after day of rain. My poor hens are knee deep in the stuff and today it rained....again. Mind you, many are suffering with unseasonal snow so I should be thankful.

March 24th; Sunday dinner and it was lovely to have Jess here for it for once....and Chris (the boyfriend!) came too. Rather a riotous meal as it happened!

March 25th; Ken uncovered my rhubarb and just look how big it is already! I LOVE rhubarb and I love the way it grows; almost prehistoric!

March 26th; Came home from work last night feeling so, so lousy that I had to cancel going to see Linda for her birthday at The Cabin. So today I had to take the day off work with a temperature and non-stop sneezing. I managed about 4 rows of knitting before I was too tired to do any more.

March 27th; I was ok to go back to work (although I flagged by 2pm) and it was our last day of term. I got some Easter pressies from the children which I really was not expecting.

March 28th; rather a manic day and I am still suffering from my cold so I forgot about a pic til the last minute. Luckily my eye fell upon my Lindt bunny that a colleague gave me at work....

March 29th; Bit of a long description to go with this photo. Ages ago Jes was asked to make costumes for the priests for a Passion Play to take place in Tonbridge, Kent. Today was the day of the play and she had been given a part in the crowd so we all got up bright and early to go and watch. The performance took place on the Castle Lawn and despite freezing temperatures and the odd snowflake it was fantastic! I have never been to anything like this, not being particularly religious, but it really was a great production and I was very proud to see the priests looking so great in her costumes! 

Photo a Day

March 16; I somehow managed to get rid of EVERYBODY in my house for 4 hours so I sat and crocheted. This is my next "use it up" project but I have to confess I did buy some wool to help use it up! I started by making lots of starter circles (on the left) before then adding random second rounds. Very self indulgent!

March 17; I have already told you about my vintage sewing day so that has to be today's photo too.

March 18; I went off to work and during the day Jess came home from Uni! How nice it is to see her DMs on the doormat again. Sadly she has to go back just as we all break up though.

March 19; We finally held our Red Nose Day Event at Guides after postponing it due to snow last week. Not sure how much we raised but on the evening we took £62 and we still have sponsor money to come in. 

March 20; Despite a new drug trial for her allergy to the dogs, Jess still seems to be suffering. Mind you, who ever needed an excuse to snuggle under a wooly blanket?

March 21; Another Parents Evening at school and on another Fast day. So I was extremely ready for my low calorie supper which was a sort of pizza on a tortilla wrap for a base!

A Vintage Sewing Day

A while ago Burnice e-mailed me to ask if I fancied a vintage sewing class courtesy of Groupon. I was up for that as was Linda so on Sunday we went off to Hove to Mazelino Designs. There we met the delightful Maryam who was our teacher. We were to make a 1950s style apron from a pillowcase!

The best thing was that we got to do all the sewing by hand. I found it very relaxing as lovely to just slow down. Here Burn is joining the ends of her frill.

I managed to prick myself and bleed profusely in the first five minutes of sewing! Still I was told by the lady who made my wedding dress that you should shed a drop of blood for everything you sew!

Then we spent a while carefully pleating our frills. This was when we got to enjoy a cuppa and a large selection of cakes.

Burn had chosen some rather slippy, slidey fabric....

...but we did manage to finish. Just need to machine a few bits to strengthen them and neaten the edges of the frill but Linda's looked great.

And I was chuffed with mine too. Burnice wouldn't let me photograph her wearing hers which is why you get to see lots of her sewing!
Maryam does several other classes including dressmaking and beading so why don't you pop over and have a look to see if you fancy some. She was a lovely hostess and teacher and most patient as well as being great fun! Thank you, I had a great day.

Photo a Day

I am still managing to remember to take a picture every day which is a miracle in itself! So here we are with another week.

March 8; I spent my evening running Katy to and from Lewes. She has orchestra practice and usually Ken and I share but he was working. This night the traffic was shocking.

This was Mother's Day March 10th but for some reason these two pics have swapped themselves around! Katy was leading East Sussex String Chamber Orchestra and I went to watch with my Mum and my Dad. It is the first time Dad has seen Katy play and he was very impressed!

March 9; Mum bought me these beautiful anemones. They are one of my favourite flowers but they don't normally last long as a cut flower. These are still going strong however and I love their jewel like colours.

March 11; Fast day and my breakfast was a boiled egg. Had to be a Welsummer one in my Emma Bridgewater egg cup! Just look at the colour of that shell!

March 12; We awoke to SNOW! And not just a little bit either! Enough for us to have a snow day, always a bonus but especially in MARCH!

March 13; most of the snow had gone apart from where it had been sheltered or drifted. As I went off to work I saw this poor little crocus. Having survived the hens it now had to deal with snow!

March 14; Fast day and my tea looked like this...now that is lentils and yogurt with poppadoms. It tasted a whole lot nicer than it looked!

March 15; Red Nose Day and we had a Mad March Hair day at school. Been a long time since I wore pig-tails!

Journal your Christmas

As we are having a snow day here I thought that I might do a bit more of my Christmas Photo Journal.I think you will find that most of the titles are self explanatory! They are super quick to do as I am still managing to keep them very simple.

A shot of the tree from my hall. We never use the front door so I would never view the tree from this angle but I saw a similiar shot on Linda's blog....so I pinched the idea!

Loved the pattern on the ceiling that my star made.

Now this was a new technique to try, where you cover the lens with black card and punch a hole in it. Then you take your photo and all the tree lights end up the shape of the hole you have punched! I had a snowflake shaped hole in mine.

For once Minnie was most obliging and posed beautifully. Might use this as my Christmas card next year.

Another chance to practise bokeh but this time I took a pic of this cute mouse that was a gift from a work colleague.

This beautiful star is made from Dartington crystal and is one of 6 decorations that came from my Mum. I remember as a child, going with Mum to buy these; we chose 2 stars, 2 angels and 2.....well my family call them ducks but I have always thought of them as partridge. Now Mum only has a small tree she has given them to me and they go on every, single year to provide sparkle.

This is a new decoration this year. I couldn't resist the simplicity of it and I bought 4!

Last for this batch; my freezer packed up just before Christmas so we had to eat up lots of frozen fruit. Katy made a "Gooseberry Gloop" pie, using blackcurrants. I don't know the real name for it but the recipe came from my Dad and is topped with marzipan strips. Mmmmmm!

Some more "Life"....

My life is still continuing in it's normal hectic fashion....

March 1; inputting things on the computer at work.

March 2; went to Brighton with Katy to buy her a concert dress as she is now leader of East Sussex County Chamber Orchestra and we saw this rather cool pie shop...

March 3; for my birthday in September Burnice and Linda made me this quilt and cushion which I have been saving until my room was decorated. As the weather has been much warmer this week I thought I would change from my wooly blanket to this rather sophisticated combo! Look like a hotel I think! 

March 4; today I began The Fast Diet. I will fast on Mondays and Thursdays and I aim to lose 1lb a week hopefully! I downloaded the book on my Kindle when it was on offer for just 99p.

March 5;Today I went for a run and it is the first morning that it has really been very light as I run. So I whipped out my phone, paused in my run, and snapped this atmospheric shot.

March 6; these beauties were right by my car when I got to work today.

March 7;...and when I woke up this morning the hyacinth in my bedroom came out. Oooo it smells delicious!

Photo a Day

Off we go again..

Feb 23; I woke to see a light dusting of snow from my bedroom window. It did thaw very quickly however!

Feb 24; my little tiny daffodils are just beginning to open

Feb 25; outside learning at school and we lit a fire to see how wood changed when it was burnt as part of our "Materials" topic. The children loved it!

Feb 26; I handed the camera to the children in my phonics group so that they could take pictures of me as evidence for my HLTA portfolio!

Feb 27; got a bit obsessed with these little chaps and made him tonight.

Feb 28; a very interesting discussion on stereotypes with the children at school..