...the birthday Snork Maiden

The good thing about close friends is that they accept you as you are, with all your little quirks and foibles, and sometimes these are even the things they cherish about you. So my closest friends know all about my (work in progress) doll's house...

...and Blanche, the little needle-felted mouse, who lives in it...

...and the little 'wrought iron' bed I made for her following Ann Wood's fab instructions...

...and the little patchwork quilt I made from the tiniest left-over mask-making fabric scraps...

...and when they need a special birthday present - perhaps for a Moomin-loving older sister who likes all things tiny too - then they know just who to come to to get the job done.

As I'm still waiting (increasingly impatiently) to find out if my application for early retirement  is being accepted, I'm desperate to distract myself from the hamster-wheel worries that are constantly filling my brain. So for the past week, and most of last weekend, every spare moment has been given over to the creation of a little needle-felted Snork Maiden (about the height of my thumb) complete with a rose tucked behind her ear and her signature gold ankle bracelet, sitting up in her very own 'wrought iron' bed, propped against the pillows on a lace-trimmed patchwork quilt, busily knitting with her cocktail-stick needles. 

 

💓 So.Much.Fun.💓

...Seahouses VI

The week before last we spent four nights (and three perfect days)  at a self-catering cottage in Seahouses. Over the past couple of years this has become such a special place for me, and all through lockdown I've been dreaming of returning to the freedom of the wide open space on this beautiful mother-of-pearl beach. 

Although I knew we were simply transferring our little household "bubble" of three (me, my husband and my daughter) from one self-contained location to another, with the threat of a Tier 3 lockdown looming I hardly dared to believe it was actually happening until we were passing the Angel of the North and properly en route to Northumberland.

I was so happy to be back on Day One, standing on the wave-dappled sand, gazing across that endless expanse of blue, discovering pirouetting Matisse-cut-out seaweed ladies...

... crystal clear rockpools (with the colour saturation set to "psychedelic")...

...and prehistoric fish along the shore.

Day Two took us along the beach near Bamburgh castle. The hint of a rainbow, seashore springtails in a miniature swimming pool, landscapes within pebbles, and a truly dramatic backdrop for crab tragedy on the sand.

Day Three. We walked "there and back" along the full length of the huge crescent sweep of Beadnell beach. 

Slate grey clouds full of rain...

...passing swiftly overhead to reveal blue skies, autumn sunshine...

and finally a picture perfect rainbow.

Sheer heaven!

Au revoir Seahouses.