And In Other News...

 My portrait of Otis the greyhound reached Canada safely and the client very kindly sent me a photo of it framed and in situ.  I love it when people do this, it is always interesting to see a painting of mine framed.  This one looks great!

 My daughter had a couple of her pieces of art work displayed in a little exhibition this week.  We went along and were taken aback at how good they were.  I should mention that she has Down's Syndrome, so anything involving fine motor skills needs a bit more effort for her than anyone else.

Her self portrait was wonderful - I'm looking forward to getting this one home, I think it deserves framing.

It's No Wonder I'm Tired...

My daughter's room used to look like this - you can't see it but to the right was an old spare bed piled high with her toys and all her clothes.  It was an awful mess.  Behind was another heap of crates full of toys, a built in wardrobe with stuff spilling out and a large wooden box full of her brother's possessions, left behind when he moved out.  The bed was old and creaky, and underneath were yet more boxes of crap stuff.  I'm not proud of it, it's needed renovating for years and to be honest, I just couldn't face it.

So when a new branch of Ikea opened near us, we went along to have a look and I saw an ideal bed for her - low, with storage and the ability to pull out into a double bed if necessary.  I went home and thought about it for a couple of days, then bit the bullet and ordered the bed...and shelves...and a chair.  It arrived a couple of weeks ago (together with two chest of drawers for our room which also needed replacing) and for the past ten days I have been mucking out Stacie's room - an apt phrase indeed.

So now she has a room like this, with lots more room with all the junk gone.  It's not quite finished, the walls need painting and the pictures re-hanging, but that can wait for a couple of weeks while my body recovers. Carrying large chunks of wood up and down the stairs singlehandedly and dragging huge bin sacks full of old and broken toys takes it out of you!

I was very worried that she would create a scene with me 'touching her stuff', let alone throwing a great deal of it away - people with Down's Syndrome dislike change, and she in particular can get very funny about her possessions being moved.  However, the bed has been a roaring success, she loves having the space to sit and play her cd's, and having all her books and bits and pieces in accessible shelves has meant that she has found all sorts of things she had forgotten about, so is very happy.  Thank God for that!

Consequently, time for painting and crafting has been minimum.  I've been working on these little peeps:

Discovered if you crochet a lace snowflake in raffia it makes a great coaster:

And the garden has not been producing much (another disastrous glitch in the weather earlier this summer, combined with slug invasion) but the cucamelons are delicious!

Snow, Sun & Soreness...

I've not had an awful lot of time for crafting this week, but have been crocheting these pretty little snowflakes.  I'm glad they are small and don't cover my lap in heavy hot wool as it has been a little warm this week.

The reason I've not had much time for craft is that I have been completely refurbishing my daughter's room - it hasn't been done for years and as she is a chronic hoarder (can't think where she gets it from) it was quite a mammoth task.  I've chucked out all the ancient furniture, bought some lovely new stuff from Ikea which I have been building and arranging so that she has a proper grown-up room with plenty of space and her possessions where she can see them, but also tidy.  Having Down's Syndrome means that if something is out of sight, it generally gets forgotten, so we have had years of her clothes being in piles on the spare bed, which looked awful but meant she could choose her outfits easily.  Her new bed has three large drawers underneath in which I have been able to put her clothes in a way she can see & choose with ease.  Also because of her DS, her room is full of beloved toys and books that I have not been able to cull, despite her being 28 years old.  Hopefully with her new bookshelves I will be able to keep the ones she wants, quietly throw away the really babyish stuff, and restore order!  It's been a lot of hard work, not helped by a mini heatwave - so much sweat - and I am aching all over.  Hopefully it should all be done by the weekend and I can get back to my easel.

Stacie's Chicken & A Clanger

I don't often get to see my daughter's work that she does at the art studio, but yesterday she brought home this lovely silk painting of a chicken.  I'm planning on making it into a cushion for her so that we can see it rather than have it hidden away.  Not bad for someone who has problems with fine motor skills!

Another Clanger completed and ready to go to his new home.  These are fun to make but so fiddly.

The knitting is easy enough, it;s the final assembly that's the tricky bit.

This one is going to Texas - funny how all my Clangers emigrate to the USA!

Somewhere In The Middle...

Firstly, I hope you all enjoyed your Mothers Day yesterday - mine was pretty good, although probably not everyone's cup of tea.  My lovely daughter made this suncatcher card for me - I think it took a very long time!

I seem to have a stack of projects on the go but nothing finished as yet.  I'm knitting some very small daffodils...

...this thing that looks like a skinny octopus will eventually be a tree - honest, it will!

I'm on the home straight with the aeroplane cardigan, just finishing off the sleeves, but whenever it gets too much (it's very heavy!) I knit another few rows of this lace shawl.  A simple repeating pattern, easy to learn off by heart and I am using a laceweight mohair yarn in a soft off-white with sparkles threaded through it.  I think it will be very pretty.

And after a whole year, it would appear that we are finally free of builders.  Over the weekend we quickly walloped up an extra bit of trellis to fill in the gap the fencers left and covered the first panel with some bamboo screening.  Now I feel we are protected as much as possible from prying eyes.  I planted some clematis plants which will hopefully climb up the rest of the fence and trellis and provide a living screen.  We may get perfectly nice new neighbours, but it doesn't hurt to take precautions!

I also painted my sentry box blue last week - it's such a pretty colour that I was tempted to paint everything else blue as well, but then commonsense prevailed!

Phew, It's A Scorcher!

 

We've had what the press have been referring to as a heatwave here in the UK the past few days - yes, it's been quite hot, but I am sure those of you living in sunnier climes would laugh at us calling 32C hot.  It was rather muggy, especially after a few spectacular thunderstorms and torrential rain, but that didn't stop me getting on with things.

I finally got over a bad case of artist's block and have started this little watercolour.  It's the view down through trees to the water below, using a photo sent to me by Midge from Soggibottom blog in Devon.  I'm not sure how it will turn out or if it will be worth it, but I am very happy to be using a brush again.  

On the other hand, my daughter has been painting like a maniac the past week - we've gone back to using the 'Paint Your Own Masterpiece' book and she has churned out another version of this Cezanne.  All I do for her is make a light sketch of the main objects, the rest she does by herself. (For those of you who are new here and are thinking 'so what?', my daughter has Down's Syndrome, so this is really quite an achievement!)  I think this one might deserve framing!

As well as knitting a grizzly bear (hot work!) I have been teaching myself how to make loom band bracelets.  It was getting embarrassing at work (infant school) being shown up by six year olds who have mastered this and I hadn't the first idea.  So when I got a bag of the bands free with a magazine, I took the bull by the horns and had a go - turns out it is not that hard after all, and I can see the attraction, they are strangely addictive!  I want to try one of the very intricate designs and then I can file this under 'done it'!

Despite the heat, we have managed some lovely leisurely walks with the dog in the fields behind our house.
They are sown with a crop of beans this year but in amongst them are millions of daisies.

It is so pretty - shame they want to plough it all up and build 450 houses on it.  We are praying that this doesn't come to pass as long as we are living here.

I don't know what Clovis would do without his daily canters through the countryside - he's never been a dog for road walking, it has to be running through the grass and bushes or it just isn't a walk.

Some sunflowers have snuck into the mix as well!

Happy Birthday!

Hard to believe it's been 25 years since my world was turned upside down and took a very different path! I wouldn't change her for the world - Happy Birthday Stacie!

Things have been a bit tricky for her over the past few weeks - not her fault, down to other people.  You can read about it on my other blog if you are interested.  However, her birthday has been pretty darn good - it was up early for a lovely dog walk in the Spring sunshine, then back home for her favourite breakfast of pancakes and strawberries.

She's spent the morning happily painting some Easter eggs that we will hang from a tree branch to make a pretty decoration, while I have been tearing my hair out making this...

I do not profess to have any talent in cake decorating, I'm just glad it looks like what it is supposed to!  I tried making blue icing at home, but after pouring in over a quarter of a bottle of blue colouring and still not achieving the right  colour, I made a mercy dash to the local cake store and bought some ready-made icing.  Just as well - it's the right colour, and tastes a whole lot better!  The main thing is that Stacie loves it and is happy.  And her favourite present today?  Woolly David tennant of course!

Pair of Queens!

I love it when my daughter brings home her art work from the studio she goes to every Monday.  It's like a glimpse into her mind, some self-expression in art form that she is unable to do verbally.  I'm gathering that they were given the task of illustrating the Jubilee - I think she's done a remarkably good job of painting the Queen. This is painted on silk, which seems to be Stacie's favourite medium and possibly what she's best at.

Here is a self-portait - I'm not too sure of the significance of the massive crown - perhaps in the spirit of the Jubilee, perhaps she has delusions of grandeur!  I love the fact that for all the abstract quality of the style, she's actually caught a very good likeness of herself.

For those of you new to my blog, I would just point out that my daughter has Down's Syndrome, which makes her paintings very special in my eyes.

More of Stacie's Art.....

My daughter came home today bearing this lovely piece of work.. For those of you who don't know, Stacie has Down's Syndrome, so anything involving fine motor skills takes a great deal of effort and concentration for her.  This is a painting on silk of the Queen of Hearts that she did while at Bell's Piece, Farnham, where she goes each Monday to work in their art studio.  I'm so impressed with the quality of what she produces when she is there, and I know that it has been all her own work.  Maybe she can take over some of my commissions one day!

Look at this monster that has set up home in my front garden!  It's about 2 inches long and it's web was about 3 feet wide.  We'd better watch out...I've seen Arachnophobia, I know what can happen......

The knitted aquarium is now complete - pictures tomorrow when the sun is out and the light is good.

It Works!

It only took 2 hours last night to construct a fully working, anatomically correct, peeing doll!  This is for use as a visual aid at work for the little boy I work with as we are trying to toilet train him asap.

You can see the full post on my other blog, Ups About Downs, with all the glorious detail.  Warning, it contains a photo of a boys bits made of felt.......

I took this in to work today for a first demonstration in order to give the little boy an idea of what was required...he was not impressed!  We'll get there eventually...I hope!

Bursting With Pride!

This is a bit of a duplicate posting - the other being on my Ups About Downs Blog - but I am so proud of my daughter I am sure you will forgive me. These are pictures of her art work on display at Bells Piece in Farnham in their exhibition.


This is her clay sculpture of our dog, all her own work, no help at all. If you knew our daft saluki, you would know this is a very good likeness.


This is a silk painting which took her several weeks to complete - the colours are richer in real life.

Stacie finds fiddly work quite hard - difficulties with fine motor skills go with the territory when you have Down's Syndrome - so when I see these lovely pieces of work, I am so very proud of what she has managed to achieve.

My New Blog

After a few days trouble trying to find a suitable name for my new blog which hadn't already been taken (a big thank you to Sybille on Magpie Magic for coming up with the goods after I failed miserably!), it is finally up and running. It is called Ups About Downs and is planned to be a friendly source of information on bringing up a child with Down's Syndrome from the view of a parent. It is going to be very much a continuing WIP as there are only so many hours in the day and it takes me time to write coherently!

It's a bit scary - the more I think about it, the bigger project it seems to be. I am very committed to the idea however, and hope it will prove helpful, even if it is to just one person.

Little Grey Rabbit Purse

I've taken a short break from knitting this week and sewn the above little rabbit purse. It is based on a Japanese pattern using dark grey felt for the body. The legs are thread jointed, so can be posed. She is wearing a red polka-dot dress, with back-stitch embroidered around the edges. On the dress she has a hand-stitched felt daisy, complete with bead ladybird. She has a red satin bow under one ear - just out of sight in the photo.


From behind you can see the zippered opening to the purse, which has been lined with red and white starry cotton fabric. You can just see her little white tail poking out under the dress. The dress is designed so that it allows full access to the zip, and although it has a button at the neck, I'm afraid it has been sewn on so you can't take it off!

The whole thing has been hand-stitched - I'm basically just too lazy to get the sewing machine out when I could be sat in front of the television in comfort while sewing! She will be in my Etsy shop very shortly.

Today sees the start of the Fleet Art Society exhibition being held at the Harlington Centre in Fleet. I have four framed paintings on show as well as three in the folios. If you are in the area, come and have a look - the standard of work in these exhibitons is generally quite high and worth a visit. Various artists will be painting on site throughout the weekend (myself included on Sunday) which is always interesting.

On a more serious note, I am in the throes of planning another blog, this time about Down's Syndrome. Some of you already know that my own daughter has Downs and over the past 22 years I have had to learn a lot about dealing with the condition. I am also a learning assistant in an infant school to a small boy with Downs and have been doing this job for 6 years, with more to come as I take on a new child in September. As a result, I feel that I would like to share some of the information with other parents - most of the time you are not informed of half the things you are entitled to, both in and out of school. Also, 'experts' know the text-book side of things, but it's a whole different kettle of fish dealing with your child at home on a day-to-day basis. I would like to share tips and strategies I have learned and used successfully and give other parents a chance to share what they have learned too. It may take a while to get off the ground, being a very personal subject which will mean a bit of soul-baring along the way - it's certainly not been plain sailing, particularly the early years. But I feel compelled to get it up and running soon - wish me luck!