...fairy fingerprints

A few months ago, not long after I retired, a friend asked me if I could do something to brighten up some special wall-mounted plant frames she had bought, second-hand. Although they were rather expensive (even second-hand) she didn't like the shiny white plastic finish. She wondered if I could think of way to make them "not shiny, maybe even with a pattern or some colour". I said I'd be happy to have a look, so she brought one round and we discussed ideas over a couple of weeks. At first I wondered if it might be possible to sew fabric covers for the frames (like a sofa slip cover), but I wasn't sure I could tailor them to be 'off-and-on-able" without being too loose. Then we discussed using wall-paper, but I wasn't sure if wall-paper paste would adhere well to the plastic surface, and I was quite keen to come up with something potentially reversible, given the cost of the frames. Eventually, after some tentative experimentation, I suggested painting them with acrylic paint. This would be water resistant and tough enough to withstand dusting/gentle wiping with a damp cloth, but could be removed (if needed) by soaking in hot water.

The next decision was what colour to paint the frames. When we were considering fabric slip-covers my friend had seen this fabric she quite liked... 

...but the only design brief I had to go on for painting the frames was "duck egg blue, maybe with some darker blue bits, not just a flat colour".

This was just enough information to cause me to procrastinate for weeks, as I really didn't know where to begin! Eventually I decided to "pick up a brush and see what happens", and over the ensuing weeks months a kind of visual 'language' developed. I had to work in short bursts of an hour or so at a time because I was mostly standing/leaning slightly forward over the frames while painting and my hip/back really didn't enjoy prolonged periods in this position. So I would give myself a little blob of cadmium yellow/pithalo blue/titanium white (and after a while, permanent rose) each time, and then paint until I'd used it all up. I'd stick mainly to shades of greeny/blue, venturing slightly into creamy yellow, mauve territory from time to time, and then allow the "darker blue  bits" to scatter across at will. For some reason these ended up with an accompanying dash of bright cadmium yellow - as I was painting I couldn't decide if they reminded me of petals or leaves or flames, but afterwards my friend's 5 year old daughter said that they were "fairy fingerprints" and that seemed like a perfectly reasonable idea to me!

I'm not sure I'd have ever reached a point where I could have declared them "finished", had it not been for my friend putting her foot down and saying that she loved them as they were and wanted to get them home and up on the wall! She sent me the pictures below once they were back in situ. Some of the plants have perished during their long months of framelessness, but new plants (some with red leaves, apparently) will be coming soon to fill the gaps. Watch this space...

...liberation

It was my good friend C's 50th birthday last Sunday. When I met her for lunch the week before she told me she was hoping her kids might get her a Steven Brown print - of a pair of rainbow-coloured giraffes, or a jolly Highland cow, perhaps - "And maybe one day you'll do me a painting too!" 

I know the sound of a gauntlet hitting the ground when I hear it, and funnily enough I'd already been pondering the idea of doing a birthday painting for her - I'd just felt uncertain as to what she might like. So this conversation gave me a bit of a steer (if not a McCoo, if you'll pardon the pun) in the right direction: rainbow bright colours (see also Elmer the Elephant), simple/bold design, cheerful subject-matter. 

Since painting animals isn't really my forte I decided to go for her favourite flowers instead - after all, there's nothing cheerier than a sunflower in full bloom! At this stage I'd normally start fretting about getting things "right" - searching for reference material and generally tying myself in knots before even starting - but the 100 Day Project really seems to have lessened my anxiety about simply putting brush to canvas and seeing what happens. So I put brush to canvas and this is what happened:

I'm not claiming it's a masterpiece (the market in sunflower-based masterpieces was cornered over 130 years ago) but there was something so liberating about just using my imagination and making things up as I went along. I liked the jolly little still life I ended up with, and so did its intended recipient, which really was the icing on the (birthday) cake.

In the past, the harsh voice of my inner (perfectionist) critic and the judgements of others have often reduced me to a state of creative near-paralysis. Now I think I'm starting to edge a little closer to a mindset where I worry less about the opinions of others, and where I'm free to be my imperfect self and feel that that is "good enough" - in a "feel the fear and do it anyway" kind of way. 

I'm applying the same principles in other areas of my life too - this week I went to the hairdressers and had eight inches of hair cut off, leaving me with little more than an inch or so all over. I basically "went the full Judi", as I've been wanting (but too scared) to do for years, and the unexpected bonus (suggested by the hairdresser) was that the off-cuts were long enough to send to the Little Princess Trust to be used to make wigs for children with cancer! (I'm assured that they can be dyed to more-age-appropriate colours than greyish-brown!)

Three days later, after the initial shock of seeing my face, neck and ears emerging from the wilderness,  I am loving the fuss-free lightness and freedom of having next-to-no hair. I am also realising that it is co-o-o-ld and draughty without it... which is where all those knitted hats and scarves have finally come into their own! It's almost like 'Past Me' knew what she was doing after all... 

...playing catch-up

• Here is the completed Lintilla shawlette. I'm so happy with how it turned out. I used all but 28g of two skeins of Schoppel-Wolle Wunderkleckse yarn so it's quite a substantial shawlette - long enough to go twice around the neck and tie in a twirly knot, or to drape around the shoulders in all its ruffled glory! I think the yarn complements the pattern beautifully, as it really highlights the short row construction of the borders.

• An afternoon mooch around the garden with my camera, capturing the latest summer blooms......provided the inspiration for a little wedding gift for Lucy and Sam. A friend gave me a set of acrylic gouache paints as a retirement present and I tried them for the first time in this painting - they have a chalkier, more matt finish than ordinary acrylics, but are just as easy to use. 

• I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself this week after rescuing a knitted cowl that was destined for the bin (I've started another de-cluttering cycle, and it hadn't been worn for ages). I originally bought it in the 'Accessorize' Winter Sale many years ago - it had been love at first sight when I originally spotted it on the scarf rack in the shop, but I'd been unable to afford/justify the hefty full-price tag, so I just kept going back, and coveting it, and kept my fingers crossed that I might eventually find it with an end-of-season discount applied. I was thrilled to bits when I did.

Sadly, it didn't really live up to my expectations. It was so big and floppy, and so loosely knitted that it was constantly getting snagged on things. The chenille stripes (olive green/turquoise) kept developing big untidy loops and it was even starting to unravel. So it ended up languishing at the bottom of the scarf pile, sparking guilt and regret rather than joy every time I unearthed it. I was on the verge of finally letting it go (let's face it, I already have enough stripey scarves to keep several Hydra warm in Winter) when my hoarding 'make do and mend' instinct kicked in. I decided to see if I could unpick and re-knit it instead, using the same stitch pattern/colour sequence and a tighter gauge.

The picture below shows 'before' on the left and 'after' on the right - an absolute triumph, I think we can all agree? As good as new - only better! 

...a midsummer wedding

My (middle-born) son Sam got married at the weekend. He and his (now) wife Lucy live on her family's small-holding/farm in a little oak-beamed house they built themselves, right next door to her parents. They were married at the village church and the reception was held at the farm. It was lovely to finally be able to celebrate such a happy occasion with close friends and family after all the long months of seperation.

The planning and effort that went into the wedding was phenomenal. 

An avenue of wildflowers and sweet peas planted well in advance...

...provided a perfect floral backdrop for photos.

Sam spent hours jet-washing and cleaning the (working) cow-barn* so that it could be transformed into a light, airy reception space, decked with hessian, muslin, foliage, flowers and fairy lights. Blanket-covered hay bales and wooden pallets were used to create informal seating areas and tables in the farm yard and at the back of the barn. 

It was simply beautiful.

 *The usual residents could only look on in amazement from afar - kept at a safe distance behind a locked gate in an adjoining field!

This is one of my favourite photos from the day - out of focus and blurry as it is, it still captures the look of tenderness on my boy's face and the happiness radiating from his beautiful bride.

What a special, magical day!

...self-discipline

The wedding pebbles are finished! All remaining 81 of them, completed in a '10 pebbles per day' marathon over the course of a week or so, and safely delivered with a fortnight to spare. For someone who could easily be a gold medallist in the Procrastination Olympics this was quite an achievement, and I've been basking in the unfamiliar glow of being anxiety-free in the face of an impending deadline ever since...

 ...I mean, it's even given me guilt-free time to work on another unnecessary-but-irresistable knitting project - the Lintilla shawlette by the wonderful Martina Behm. I'm a sucker for self-striping yarns, and this particular one (Wunder-klecks by Schoppel, which I bought in a sale) is an absolute joy to work with. It's hand-painted, so the colour changes are completely random, and I love the combination of olive-green and cream with plums and pinks and indigo blues in this colourway. It's a 75% wool/25% biodegradeable nylon yarn, with a smooth, almost cotton-like texture, so I think it will be very comfortable to wear (not scratchy)...

...perfect for wandering past the wild-flower meadow...

...looking up at the sky through rain-spattered leaves...

...and spotting bears in the trees!

...repetitions

Walking the same routes:

I'm trying to get more exercise now that I'm retired - focussing on moving more, sitting less, and making sure I get out for at least one 30 mins walk every day. I know this doesn't sound like very much, but I'm coming from a very low baseline, having been so sedentary whilst working from home/trapped at my desk for over a year during the pandemic. So every weekend my husband and I do a long (60 mins) circuit of the park on Saturday and Sunday morning, and then during the week my daughter and I follow a shorter (30 mins) route as part of her lunch break. 

The longer walk is mostly through the woods, so it's cool and green and shady even in hot weather. 

The path meanders downhill for the first half of the walk...

...and then climbs back up in the second half, where the road runs perfectly straight ahead for half a mile, with just a little dot of sunlight at the top where it emerges from the tunnel of trees. When I first started walking this route I used to plod along with my head down, focussing on just putting one foot in front of the other until I reached the top, but lately my pace has started to quicken, and it's less disheartening when I round the bend and see that long uphill stretch in front of me. I'm still hot and breathless by the end of it, but that's a good thing, right?!

The route I take with my daughter is through the former golf course in the middle of the woods. The fairways are now mostly meadowland, seeded with wildflowers and left to grow untamed, apart from a network of paths mown into the long grass (currently teeming with grasshoppers, butterflies and bees). I feel lucky to live so close to this beautiful place, and never get bored by walking the same routes over and over again as the seasons come and go. 

Sewing the same bag:

This is the latest edition of my Extra Pocket Bag - the 'Forgetful Mum' version, which has integral loops inside the bag and in the outside pocket for securing keys, bus-passes and wallets (using retractable key rings). Made for my Mum after she discovered she'd left her bag (containing all the above items) on the bus. Hopefully, when worn as a cross-body bag, it will be harder to lose - and one less thing for her (and us) to worry about.

It's the 7th Extra Pocket Bag I've made since the end of March, and I really haven't grown tired of making them yet - perhaps because they have all been variations on the theme, made to reflect the individual needs and personalities of their owners.

Knitting the same scarf:

This is my 'Joyful Colour' version of the Mini Mania scarf.  After I finished the blue 'Jeans' version a few weeks ago I really missed having something easy and 'mindless' on my needles. I went through the bag where I keep my assorted left-overs (some of them just a metre or so in length) and pulled out all the 4-ply and DK yarn. I set myself the challenge of using it all up, with each row consisting of either a single length of DK or two lengths of 4-ply held together. I wasn't sure how well the (very) random colours would combine, so I decided that rather than trying for anything 'tasteful' I would deliberately go for complementary colour juxtapositions  - yellows followed by purples, reds by greens and blues by oranges - interspersed with paler, neutral shades of grey or off-white. I was really surprised by how much I loved these colour combinations, and how much pleasure it gave me to knit them together. It's a little shorter than I would like - it's more a muffler than a scarf because I just picked up one of the smaller balls, cast on until I ran out, and that dictated the length - but it's still perfectly wearable.*

*I know this because I actually wore it several times before the heatwave hit...a knitted woolly muffler...in July. Simply couldn't resist.

It's the 5th Mini Mania scarf I've made to date - top left below was the first, made in greys and primary colours for my eldest son. This was followed in quick succession by the pastels and cream version, middle right below, made for my Mum. I honestly think this pattern should come with a health warning because it is seriously addictive. I know it's only a matter of time before I cast on another one - if only to try and discover if there is any possible combination of colours that doesn't look absolutely fabulous in linen stitch!

Knitting the same hat:

This is the 'Circle and Square' hat by Martina Behm - yet another genius design which starts with a circle and ends (seamlessly) with a square. It's the first one I've made, but it is 100% guaranteed not to be the last. 

...pebbles

My Dad found this book in a charity shop and for some reason it made him think of me...

...maybe it's because there are pebbles everywhere in my house. In jars and bowls, in carefully balanced stacks, in pride of place on the mantlepiece, and even on the windowsill outside...

...there are bucketfuls of 'blank' pebbles in the garage, bought for making little keepsakes to give to friends and family at my wedding five years ago (bottom right) and for place settings at my daughter's best friend's wedding (bottom left)... 

... so every so often I paint a few more - either to give as presents, or just to please myself!

You could be forgiven for thinking that someone as pebble-rich as me wouldn't need to go pebble-hunting ever again, but when it's your younger son's wedding and his bride-to-be wants pebble place settings, and she's letting you do them instead of out-sourcing them to a professional pebble-painter...suffice it to say you are going to hit the garden centres and DIY shops hard - or as hard as lockdown rules permit you to - in search of the perfect pebbles. 

The initial request was for plain grey, but everywhere we looked the cobble-style pebbles were out of stock, or the wrong colour or size, and slate just wasn't giving off that nice, rounded pebbly vibe. So when I came across some pretty "Silver Mist Plant Toppers" (top right below) in the pouring rain on a Sunday morning, at the only remaining garden centre left to try in our local area, there was only one thing for it. Reader, I purchased them.

Last week I channelled my inner Goldilocks and sorted them into 'Too Big', 'Too Small' and "Maybe' piles, chose eighty-six 'Just Right' pebbles from the one hundred and fifty-four 'Maybes'...

...and then put them to soak in a bucket. All that remained was to paint a few, to get the seal of approval from the bride-to-be.

Because white ink was quite difficult to see against the speckled stones I hit upon the idea of putting a wash of acrylic paint in the area where the writing would go. Payne's Grey, with its slightly bluish tinge was perfect - you can still see the speckles through the paint, but the writing is much more legible. I know the calligraphy leaves a little to be desired, but I think they look quite pretty, and more importantly my soon-to-be daughter-in-law loved them. Five down, eighty-one to go!

On my beach there are many pebbles...