do you mind if i knit

Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone....................

In the bleak mid-winter

Frosty wind make moan,

Earth stood hard as iron

Water like a stone;

Snow had fallen, snow on snow,

Snow on snow,

In the bleak mid winter,

Long ago

Hello dearest readers, these words are the first verse of "In the Bleak Mid-winter" written by Christina Rossetti. I scribbled down this verse on a till receipt I found at the bottom of my bag, from The New English Hymnal, hymn 28.

Hugo and I went to a carol service on Christmas eve. We slipped and scrunched through the deep snow to get to church, along with a sizeable number of other people, considering the snowed-in sort of weather.

Squeezed in, at the bottom of the said till receipt is the last verse, verse five of the hymn, which I think is very touching, and I want to share with you.........

What can I give him

Poor as I am?

If I were a shepherd

I would bring a lamb;

If I were a wise man

I would do my part;

Yet what can I give him -

Give him my heart.

  I heard the Unthank sisters sing this hymn the other day, they sang it very, very slowly, and it was beautiful.

Merry Christmas! I hope you had a good Christmas?

We had a lovely meal on Christmas day, with Hugo's family, and have been dodging out and about all over the place, when we should probably have been resting at home, doing precisely nothing.

This cold weather makes you tired don't you think? And the long dark nights too?

I've been de-frosting the bird bath, so the birds have water to drink. The other day, a bird was pecking at the frozen water in the bird bath, and I felt very guilty, it was obviously desperate for something to drink. We've decided that the entire neighborhood of birds is visiting our garden at the moment, it's busy out there in our garden. One thing we both find amazing is this, the birds are fussy eaters!

I'm going to slip away now, and say cheerio till the New Year. Take care, and see you in 2011! Cheerio! Love Vanessa xxx

Who's the boss then? Me or Ellie? ME!

Hello! It's sooo nice to be back! Ridiculous to say this really, I only missed one post, my Wednesday post, but when I don't do a blog post, I really miss dropping by. I really and truly do. And my excuse? Well, tiredness, plain and simple. And not feeling 100%. These days do happen to all of us don't they, and it was just one of those days, nothing to worry about.

Anyway, I'm bouncing back like a little 5 foot 2 kangaroo (I am five foot two, so I am little).

I've been painting today, rather than papier macheing, after a fun visit to the florist. (My idea of fun, visiting the florist). And actually, my local florist, Julie, is one of those people that's a joy to be around, she's always cheery, chatty and delighted to see people. So not only do I get a lovely cheersome chat, I always come out of there that little bit uplifted from being around the flowers, and buying some too, (my second favourite pursuit, after buying yarn).

When it came round to the time to take the doggies for their afternoon walk, they were still cosied up. Ellie pretended not to hear the word most dogs love to hear. "Walkies!" Douglas looked at me as though to say "ahem, I am, as you can see, stuck. Positively wedged in by her royal highness, Queen Ellie. Couldn't move, even if I wanted to."

Ellie reminds me of an uncommunicative teenager. "WOT! Naaahhhh. Boriiing." That's what Ellie is saying.

It was two against one, and they won. Well, they think they won, there will have to be a walk later on. It is ridiculous isn't it? Whoever heard of a dog not wanting a walk, most dogs don't get enough walks. I think it's dachshunds, they must be lazy as a breed. I know Penny from blog Planet Penny has similar walkies trials with Higgins (who is SPLENDID, and adorable, and very, very handsome).

These pictures of Ellie and Douglas, squeezed into one bed in my studio, are very unusual, and to us as dog owners, a bit like gold dust. It must be what parents feel like when they see their children playing together nicely, or watching them as they sleep, cuddled together on the sofa, it's melt the heart stuff.

You see Ellie has boundaries (that's Ellie on the right), that's why these photos are so unusual. She's very vocal, and will tell us in no uncertain terms when she doesn't want to do something, which is most of the time. Of course, if food is involved, it's a different matter, she becomes quite nicely spoken. People often think we neglect Ellie in favour of the placid Douglas, but it's so much less of a battle to give Douglas affection, and our noses stay intact when we're cuddling Douglas. Ellie will stand in a deserted street and bark her head off. She'll bark at someone she wants to be friendly to (she'll be wagging her tail at the same time). She's complicated.

Dog trainers would say we need to be more firm with Ellie, and I try, but she puts up an almighty fight!

Though after all is said and done, we love Ellie a lot. She's our dear little crocodile.

Here are a few photos of Ellie, on one of the last days we could sit on the promenade and have a coffee.

And one of the last days children could comfortably play on the beach.

One of the last days we could eat ice cream without feeling completely perverse and English eccentric for eating ice cream on a freezing cold day type thing.

Ellie you're so cute! I could just risk my nose for a little cuddle with you.

Just incase you're wondering, aggressive behavior from Ellie is told off, but the telling off ruins the intended cuddle, so cuddles are then abandoned.

"What! ME! AGGRESSIVE?! That's OUTRAGEOUS, a PREPOSTOROUS accusation!"

"It's all POPPYCOCK, I am now HIGHLY offended."

We'll be seeing my sister at Christmas, and she'll make lots of fuss of Ellie, as the poor neglected doggy she obviously is. I just hope Ellie remembers her manners.

Well, dear readers, I'm going to put another log on the fire, and get on with a bit of the papier macheing. Hugo's making fish cakes and homemade coleslaw for supper, should be yummy. Have a good weekend, hope it doesn't whizz by too fast! Love Vanessa xxx

 

Dachshund Meets Bird.

Hello! It's a new week again! Don't they come round quickly? It's true isn't it? As you get older, life speeds up. I'd really like the days not to get any faster please, they go by in too much of a flash as it is.

I was watching a gardening programme on the television the other night, and it had been filmed in the summer. The longing for the return of those balmy days felt really strong. I have some Open Garden photos I haven't shown you yet, from the summer of this year, so if things get really desperate, I'll bring them out to cheer us all up. (Well, cheer me up). Actually, if you can't wait till then, and need a bit of summer right now, here are all my Open Garden blog posts.

So as usual, the weekend whizzed by. They should be called whizzends, much more descriptive.

I thought I'd start my blogging week by showing you this painting I recently finished, called "Dachshund Meets Bird". It's got some of my favourite subject matter in it. An Auricula (the last Auricula of the season from my garden), berries (I love painting berries, their colours and structures), a simple bit of greenery, and a little bird tweeting nervously to a Dachshund. This painting is all about the shapes of the things I'm painting, enjoying the forms, with the added interest of the narrative going on in the background (the dog and the bird).

The painting is framed, and I thought I'd put it in my etsy shop framed, which saves the hassle of taking it to the framer if someone wants to buy it. I must get a photo of it framed. That's another thing for the to-do list then.

And as a loose link to the mention of the dachshund in my painting, here's the splendid shadow of Ellie:

One of the many things I love about our doggies, is their shadows. On bright sunny days, when the suns rays are at a certain angle, Ellie and Douglas' shadows are just wonderful. Infact I find them funny.

Their shadows look like hairy monsters walking beside them, I love it.

But then I love their walking styles too, and it's not uncommon for me to walk behind them, admiring Ellie's jaunty little trot, and Douglas' tank like ploughing forth, and have a good giggle.

Little treasures they are.

Little treasures.

These are all photos of Ellie only, I think Douglas was on the lead for being naughty, and I didn't want the lead in the photos.

I took these photos before the snow descended on us, and we couldn't get the car out to go to the beach.

What a glorious day it was, one of those happy sunny days.

Just one more photo of her royal highness's shadow.

I'm going to get back to the papier mache now. Back to glueing my fingers together. Righty-ho, that's me. Cheerio! Love Vanessa xxx

 

Le Bib Dress.

Hello! The snow is melting! Drip drip drip, with the odd slide and crash as huge chunks of snow fall off roofs. Fortunately I haven't been hit by any of these avalanches yet. When it's melting like this, I just want the snow to be gone. I slipped and fell over twice in the snow yesterday, I was so glad no one saw me, because it must have looked like I was practising for a job as a clown, my feet literally swept out from under me, no control over them at all. I'm fine, but can still feel my legs and feet going whooop and out!

I thought I'd have a bit of knitting content today, as it feels like a while since I've talked about my knitting.

When you last saw this dress I'm working on, it was at this stage, above.

I've put aside the cable dress I was working on. I mis-calculated how many stitches to cast on for my latest idea on the cable dress design. I thought it was 384 stitches, when actually it was 584 stitches, so felt a bit annoyed when I came to the cable row and found I needed a couple hundred more stitches. My latest idea of having cables all the way round, instead of three panels at the front, and three at the back with stockinette at the sides, is going to use a lot of yarn. So much yarn, that if I use the Rowan yarn, the project will become ridiculously expensive, so I need to re-think. There's a pattern for a very plain cardigan knitted in this Rowan Renew yarn, and I'm thinking that might do the job, and I need a cardigan. Hmmm, maybe, a plain stocking stitch dress instead, that idea does seem more alluring. Shall think about it some more.

In the meantime, I'm working on this dress:

It's my own pattern, and I have high hopes for it. Of course high hopes are one thing, a successful result is another thing entirely isn't it?!

That strange line of orange yarn running across the pattern is to mark the row, so it won't be staying.

I've been trying to think of a name for this dress, and the only thing that sticks is "Bib Dress". I just can't think of anything else. Bibs are what babies wear, so it's not very glamorous as names go, but it is descriptive of this design don't you think? If I call it "Le Bib Dress", it sounds a bit French and immediately more elegant, better than "The Bib Dress" which sounds very, well, bibby, baby, food catcher type of thing.

The bib area does look a bit like smocking, so maybe it could be "The knitted smock Dress", not very snappy that. I need a cup of tea.

I'm definitely open to suggestion (as long as it's nice and clean of course) as to a name for this dress.

Righty-ho I'll be off to start my weekend then. I hope you have a good weekend yourself, and the weather is nice to you. Cheerio! Love Vanessa xxx

 

 

Birdy on a boat.

Hello! I've just got back from Hugo's Nephew's, (Rory), little Birthday gathering, with the family. He's six years old today. Aaaahhhh. He's very sweet too, and loved all his gifts. Aaaahhhhhh!

And having had a warming Sherry, I'm all ready to go!

It's so cold outside it's painful. I thought it couldn't get colder, but the weather managed it. Last night I slept with my usual pyjamas, plus bedsocks, hot water bottle, extra blanket and HAT. Yes, hat. It became very clear as to why, when central heating was yet to be invented, hats or frilly cotton bonnets which tied under the chin, were worn by ladies to sleep in at night. I could have done with one of those, because my hat came off in the night. Maybe tonight I'll wear my deepest winter weather fluffy lining, ear flapped hat, which has a clasp so I can clip it under my chin. The added bonus of the ear flaps is the muffling of noise. For example, noise like snoring.

I wasn't here on Monday was I? What was I up to? Well, apart from enjoying all your fab comments from Friday's post (thank you soooo much, a big, big thank you soooo much), I was working on my papier mache. It's all papier mache, painting, papier mache these days, and it's really hard to unstick myself from all of that to come and be sociable with you. I think I might be starting to have glue and thread running through my veins, rather than blood, I am that involved and obsessed with what I'm doing. I don't finish working till 10:30 at the earliest each night these days, usually eleven. I'd forgotten how long it takes to create these papier mache figures. Good thing I'm enjoying myself isn't it?

Anyway, I recall I promised to show you my first papier mache creation, the one I did on the Julie Arkell course, so here we go, here's the little fellow brought to life over that weekend.

I'm very fond of this tiny Dachshund I named "Biscuits" (because one biscuit is never enough in doggy minds). He's my little sweetie, and I love his jolly little lollop.

It took hours and hours to do every aspect of this little chap, because doing papier mache was new to me, along with the embroidery side, which was excrutiatingly slow, as I recall.

Dearest Biscuits, I'm so glad I'm his owner, he makes me feel happy when I catch a glimpse of him going about my daily life.

I'm making another Dachshund at the moment, but unfortunately his head is out of proportion to his body (I couldn't understand what it was that botherd me about him, then it dawned on me in a flash, his head is too big!). So he is going to have to be decapitated, and given a new head. I don't know why that makes me feel uncomfortable, he is after all just papier mache. (I invest all my little animals with personalities, it must stem from doing the children's books).

After that course with Julie Arkell, I went to stay with my sister, and no sooner had I walked in the door, I was pounced upon by my sister and niece, to create a zebra. I wonder if that zebra is still in existence.

It's been a case of fits and starts with the papier mache. I've kept my hand in, doing some here and there, and becoming more and more enthralled with the whole process, especially the possibilites for little details, which I'm a sucker for. Creating a character, seeing it come to life as I work on it, feels magical.

A couple of weeks ago, Hugo suggested I do a boat, and make it my own, and I thought, "why not, I'll do my version of a boat".

And that's how this "birdy on a boat" came about. My version of a boat!

"Birdy on a boat" will be for sale in my etsy shop soon, when I can unstick myself from my papier mache goings on to put him in my etsy shop. Evangeline, the mouse from my previous post will also be for sale.

And now, how about a little snow report, in pictures, from our garden?

Dramatic hey?! It's sooo cold out there. The poor birds must be having a tough time. We are putting food out for them, which gets wolfed down by lots of birds almost as soon as it's put out.

And I'm making sure I defrost the water in their bird bath with boiling water, each day. Apparently birds really need to drink water, just like us humans, they can't drink the snow.

This cold weather is playing havoc with the skin on my hands, the cracked skin is painful, so what I've started doing is slathering on moisturiser and then putting washing-up gloves on before I tackle the dishes, it helps a lot, if you're suffering the same thing.

And my knitting? Well, it's sadly being neglected, so progressing very slowly, must show it to you some time!

Well I must be off now. Lovely to see you, take care, and cheerio! Love Vanessa xxx

Let's dance!

Hello! How are you?! I do hope you're not suffering in this snow, or any other extreme weather temperatures? Extreme is just miserable isn't it? Well let me say, all my sympathy goes out to you if you're having a miserable old time of it.

Hugo's just got home from work and he's exclaimed "it's snowing again!!!!" in a very jumpy up and down hooray, yippee kind of way.

Maybe he should go out and dance in the snow, wearing nothing but his underpants, we'll see how happy skippy he is about the snow then, shan't we? I always think it's very easy to be happy about the weather if you're not adversely affected by it, like myself and Hugo, we experience it mostly as a view, from the warmth of our house. When Hugo reads this, and if he takes up the dancing in the snow challenge seriously (in underpants only),  I will be sure to take photos for you. Such a shame I know it's not going to happen.

Well, let's see, what do I have for you today? More of my papier mache, and today it's a mouse!

A little dancing mouse! Well, not so little, she's quite a big mouse really.

She's called Evangeline.

And she's having a break from the dusting. She's heard an old favourite tune, and it makes her want to dance.

Let's dance!

I was going to show you my first papier mache piece today, but I didn't place it directly in my line of sight, and so I forgot.

I am so forgetful that I regularly forget to phone my family on their Birthdays. I find the solution is to leave a paper trail of reminders around the house. It starts with a reminder of who's Birthday it is beside my bed, and a note to call them. The same note is left on the floor beside the bed, next to my slippers, so as I swing my legs out of the bed, and plop my feet into the waiting slippers, I will be reminded again. Normally I would fly down stairs to the phone and call the family member immediately, but sometimes I think "I'll just have a shower first, then call", which has happened in the past, and I've ended up forgetting, so notes are left on the stairs where I will be able to see them as I bounce down to breakfast.

That is how forgetful I can be. It's a pain in the you-know-what, because it's led to lots of hurt feelings on my family's part, which I don't like to be the cause of. The telephone has rung at midday in the past, with a small whispered, slightly tense voice coming down the line, saying something like "it's your Mother's Birthday today". Where upon I immediately feel like I'm having a heart attack, and have to phone back, pretending I haven't forgotten, sounding ever so jolly and singing happy birthday, when all I feel is rubbish and guilty, and very annoyed at myself.

That is also why all my bits and pieces have to be out, visible around the house, or I will quite simply forget about them, and that is why all my stuff has taken over the house, and is everywhere. Still, it makes for great 'discoveries'.

I'm showing you this photo above, because when I've shown it before, some of you have been curious as to why I would have a fabric stash, and I haven't been able to reveal why. So now you know, it's fabric I use for my papier mache figures.

This isn't my whole fabric stash, I have to admit. You know how it goes with stash's of anything don't you? Fabric, yarn, whatever, there is always something more that has to be added, it's all quite non-sensical to people like husbands or partners, but makes complete sense to us stash-a-holics.

Still, I could say that Hugo's collection of wood off-cuts, and such-like is totally incomprehensible. It's ever so slightly annoying when he finds a use for a tiny block of wood out of his messy pile of bits, because it justifies him having that messy pile. So it works both ways doesn't it?!

So there we have it, Evangeline, having a little break from her mousely chores. And Emily and her prize winning piggy. And a close-up of the cup with a little seedling in it.

I must admit, all your amazing comments on my last post, saying the nicest possible things has me dizzy with excitement! There are so many, I haven't read them all yet. I like to read each one carefully. When you leave me an avalanche of wonderful comments, the effect is tremendously encouraging. It's just so fantastic to get approval for something I've been working on secretly, and on showing it to you, you give me a roar of approval, thank you, so, so much, I'm enormously, tremendously and truly grateful, thank you.

Well I must be off now, we're going to Hugo's mum and dad's for a bite to eat which is nice. Have a good weekend, take care and see you on Monday! Cheerio! Love Vanessa xxx

Papier mache!

Helloooooooh! I'm speaking to you from the snow encrusted wilds of the north of England.

Boy we're encrusted, ensconced, buried. Hugo spent about an hour moving the car a few hundred yards last night, blocking our lane in the process, resorting to buying cat litter to allow the car tyres to get some purchase, then driving and slipping all over the place and into a car park at the end of our lane, where the car is now nestled in snow. Hugo's like an excited squirrel in this snow. Douglas, our dog, is the same, prancing about, hopping, rolling and generally being joyous.

Meanwhile I've been sunk in a chair, the wood burning stove lit, busily working on my papier mache, listening to the radio, and hearing about the poor people unable to go anywhere because of the deep snow.

Yes, papier mache, my little surprise for you here today, something I've been keeping to myself for a long time. Now seems to be the right time to show you some of what I've been up to.

It all started a few years ago when I went on a weekend course with Julie Arkell. I love her work, LOVE it. I'm the fortunate owner of one of her pieces, which I wrote about in a long ago post here.

The course was based on creating papier mache figures like Julie's, but even though I tried to create a Julie Arkell figure, I wasn't happy with the results, because I really wanted to go in my own direction with the papier mache. I forgot to photograph what I made on that course in the end, I'll have to show him to you in my Friday post.

So for the last few years I've been trying my hand at the papier mache every now and then, but not with real intent or direction, until recently. I suddenly decided to take advantage of the lull in work, (where I'm waiting for my next project to flap it's wings and fly), and go for it with the papier mache.

I thought I'd show you my little seedling tea cup first, as it links quite nicely to the painting I'm working on.............

This painting above. It's moved on since I took this photograph, a few more cups have been added, I'll show you when it's finished.

So yes, I thought the tea cup with little seedling was a good fit.

I'm getting a bit ahead of myself showing you this cup first, because I should have shown you what came before.

Like this:

But before I go any further, I have, have, have to show you the snow we're having, some piccies of snow!

Steam rising from the sea! Pretty dramatic hey? And it was cooooooold, painfully cold.

It's snowing as I write this, great big fat flakes, beautiful, but for a lot of people, very hard work and causing hardship.

Would you like to see some more of the little girl and her prize winning piggy? Yes? Oh goody, here we go then.

The little girl is called Emily, and her piggy has won Best in Show at a country fair. They were both awarded rosettes.

I would never part with these two characters, they're one of the first figures I made and I'm very attached to them.

But I am making things to sell, more figures, and little seedlings in tea cups.

Infact, I must get back to the papier maching, I'm doing some teacups with seedlings, and the cups will have saucers, and there are some figures I'm working on too. I'll be able to show you on Friday. No knitting group meeting tonight, because of the snow, so it will be papier maching instead, it's taken over my life recently.

So cheerio and take care. Love Vanessa xxx