Hello,Hello, It's Good To Be Back!

Sorry to quote a Gary Glitter song, but despite his proclivities, the music was fun!
Well, after 4 computerless days, I now have a very clean house!  It's quite shocking how much you rely on a computer  and also how much time you spend on it!
Anyway, I now have a Frankenputer which a colleague at work's husband has very kindly put together for me, retrieving all my files and photos from the old mangled hard-drive, for which I am eternally grateful. (Note to self - back things up regularly!)
I haven't yet had a chance to tinker with the thing and re-discover how to download my photos, but give me a couple of days and I'm sure I'll get there.
So it's back to business as usual - hooray!

Computer Says No........

My computer has died............RIP
If you need to get in touch with me, I will be checking in once a day until it has been resurrected.
I'm off to have a little cry......

I Got The Blues.......

Long story short, work owed me a heap of back pay, got it last week, treated myself to the above skein of blue heaven......it's yarn made from old blue jeans!  How brilliant is that?  (Big thanks to Sybille at Magpie Magic for showing it to me!)  I have a project lined up for it - I lost one of my most favourite wristwarmers last week, the ones I always wear to walk the dog, so I think a new pair in denim blue is in order.

In the meantime, I am crocheting a light lacy blue cotton triangular scarf for myself now that Spring is hopefully on it's way and we can dispense with all the heavy pullovers.....soon, please?  I am using the same yarn as I knitted this shawl with and thankfully crochet is very much quicker!

Hello Sailor!

In exchange for the sofa and dog, I received a bumper envelope of vintage knitting patterns.  The two that really took my fancy were this one (love the sailor with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, you couldn't get away with that these days) which has these beauties inside :-

Anyone fancy a balaclava helmet and some knee warmers?  If you want me to knit you some, you only have to ask!

This one is pretty cool too:

 although I don't think my waist ever looked like that!  I'd love to make this but for someone else - the pattern only goes up to a 36 bust anyway.

I've put some more paintings for sale in my Etsy shop recently, including this one:

 It was painted in situ a few years back when I used to take an art class at a local church hall.  One bright summer afternoon I sat in the graveyard outside and had great fun painting this sun-dappled headstone.  The subject matter is a trifle bleak, but I feel it is actually a very peaceful picture.  I've always liked it and it seems a shame for it to languish hidden in a porfolio.

Beam Me Up, Scottie......

Another little dog hot off the needles, a Scottish terrier this time.  Being black, he is incredibly hard to get a decent photo of, so you'll have to take my word for it that he is cute.  Bizarrely, as I was sewing him up and attaching his face while watching my daily fix of the The Dog Whisperer, the programme featured a little Scottie that didn't like being groomed, so I was able to have a good look at the real dog's facial hair and sew on a 'beard' and eyebrows correctly.

Once all the accessories have been made, he will be in my Etsy shop for sale.

The little white dog and sofa will be going to a new home shortly in exchange for some vintage knitting patterns and handmade beads. 

Tutti-Frutti

Had a little dabble with the Inktense colour blocks yesterday, a simple still life raided from the fruit bowl.  Wow, talk about being forced to work in a looser style!   There is no way you can draw in any detail with these, the colour comes off very much like a stick of pastel.  However, once you get a wet brush on it, the pigment intensifies incredibly and you can guide it as if you were painting.  It is also possible to use the colour blocks as you would watercolour pans and just lift pigment off with your brush and paint with it.  I'm still thinking of a suitable subject to try these properly on - it has to be something very colourful indeed!

After thrashing myself getting the snow leopard finished and entered in time for the 31st January deadline of the Wildlife Artist of the Year competition, I got an e-mail today saying they had extended the last date for entries by another week.  Typical!  I'm still pleased that I managed to paint it as fast as I did though - working to a tight deadline gives me the required kick up the backside I need sometimes!

Who's a Lucky Girl Then?

I came home today to find a parcel on the mat from Derwent - at first I got very excited thinking it was the pencils with my painting on the tin.  But although it wasn't them, it was something almost as good - a free sample tin of some new water-soluble Inktense colour blocks.  I can't wait to try them out - a suitable antidote to the limited palette and tight detail I have been working in for the last fortnight.