Wild Creations

The mysterious disappearing prop shaft

2012-02-16T15:15:00.003Z

Yesterday morning ‘im outdoors got into his truck, started it up and went to pull away. But the truck didn’t go anywhere and he feared the gear box was having issues again. He hopped out and had a quick look underneath to make sure everything looked ok and there he found a small pile of bolts and a space where his prop shaft should be.

Luckily he wasn’t on his way to work and so he had time to ring the police and then some garages to find a new one. Seems prop shafts for his truck are hard to come by and it is going to cost £800+ for it to be replaced. We can only assume that someone else didn’t have the £800+ to fix theirs and so has nicked one instead. But what makes them think we can afford that cost our selves? ‘im outdoors has not had any work for the last 6 weeks – part of being a landscaper that we are aware of and do plan for, but that doesn’t make it any easier. And now he has some work he can’t get to it.

At least they did not steal all his tools, as happened to friends of ours a couple of years ago, but we are both still fuming.

I hate living in a society where nicking stuff happens and where more often than not they get away with it. My boss’ bike was stolen from outside work just before Christmas. Even with his details stamped on it, it is still very unlikely he will see it again. (I’m not blaming the police, I’m sure they try their very best, and I know I wouldn’t know where to start if I had to find a stolen bike.)

It makes me want to shout – What is wrong with these people?

Storyworld

2012-02-14T15:08:00.001Z

For my birthday last month I was lucky enough to receive a StoryWorld set.

The idea is to help inspire story telling, so I thought it might be fun to take to the writers group today.

The set consist of a set of cards which cover four different worlds (The World of Everyday, the Land of Faery, The World of Magic and The Realm of the Court) and a book to help you on your way. There are many different ways you can use the set and many more cards to collect too.

Each card has so much happening on it that you could just use the image to inspire you. Then again each card has an introduction and questions on the back which you might find inspiring. Or you could pull out a group of cards (maybe at random, maybe your favourites) and see what sort of story grows from them. The possibilities are endless.

What I love is that all the cards are discreetly linked. I manage to find the links between about half the cards, but the rest eluded me.

I’ve pulled out some of my favourites in the image above. They include The Well of Memory, The Star Blanket, The Knight, and The Dog, what fun I could have with just the titles never mind the wonderful images. I might be a bit busy with fact to right fiction right now, but the rest of the group I'm sure will be busy.

Starting out - Total War and Social Change

2012-02-03T11:37:00.007Z

Tomorrow I start my 5^th (if you don’t count the small 12 week ‘start writing fiction’ course which started it all off) Open University module – AA312 Total War and Social Change. 9 months work for 60 credits towards my degree.

As always I am nervous and excited but this module is a little more daunting than normal.

Partly because it is my first History module, and as it is a Level 3 module this puts me straight in at the deep end. But I have now had a look at the study calendar and this is the really scary bit.

The OU are great in giving you a plan of what you should be reading/listen to/watching each week making it easier for you to plan your time. Normally you would ‘study’ for 4 or 5 weeks and then having a ‘reading week’ where you can catch up if you need to and work on your assignment. The AA312 calendar has no reading weeks. Studying and assignment writing have to be done at the same time.

You could speculate that this is just part of it being a level 3 course, but I have done other level 3 course (two in fact – what is wrong with me?) which had reading weeks. I think it is just that there is so much to cover in the time we have that there is no time for breaks.

With this in mind I rather fear the blog will get forgotten, so if you find that not much is happening here over the next 9 months, spare a thought for me as I cram as much information into my head as possible and work towards my first exam in 7 years.

I should point out that I am doing this off my own back and am really exciting about the subject material. It’s just the timetable and exam which are really scary. I can always drop out if it all gets too much; but I like to finish what I start.

Nowhereisland

2012-01-26T09:51:00.007Z

Today I became a citizen of Nowhereisland.

This is part of a public art project which will form part of the Cultural Olympiad this summer. There are 12 art projects running across the UK and this one is based in South West England. In fact it will be floating round the coast.

This is what the website says “Nowhereisland has already come to represent the possibilities for thinking about our values and beliefs as citizens. 52 Resident Thinkers from around the world are contributing to a year-long programme of Letters to Nowhereisland. Over 4000 people have already signed up to become citizens of Nowhereisland and will begin collectively writing the island’s constitution from January 2012 […] in a time of global crisis, it opens up an opportunity to debate and consider important global questions that affect us all.”

Two of those resident thinkers are people I really admire – Hugh Fearnley-Wittingstall and Keri Smith and they are giving the citizens the chance to write letters too.

So if you had the chance to start again from scratch what would you do?

I’d like a place of community. Somewhere where I know my neighbours. Where I can buy all my food from a farm just down the road. Where I can buy all my clothing from someone else down the road, or even make my own. Where people respect each other and their skills.

The best example I can give of this is an episode of Grand Designs that I watched last year. A stonemason was renovating an old stone pump house in Cornwall. If he needed help with plumbing he got his mate round and then paid him back by spending the equivalent time building him a shed for his tools or what ever he needed. He did this over and over again with all the trades that he couldn’t do himself. I would love to have the skills to be able to exchange in this way.

What I think we really need to work on is greed and this consumer culture that we currently exist in. Why do I need this new product of yours – phone, computer, car, etc – the one I have works fine or, even, why do I need it in the first place?

“Owning things doesn’t make me happy. Doing things makes me happy. Helping others makes me happy. Creating things makes me happy.” Mnmlist.com

Fluttering model butterfly

2012-01-14T14:36:00.001Z

With a membership to the Rob Ives paper animation website for Christmas, I couldn't resist this butterfly. You have to see it move to understand what is so special about it - check out Rob's video to see it move.

An apple pie a day...

2012-01-08T15:01:00.000Z

I really like baking. So much that I have an album of all my cakes etc on my facebook page. Recently a friend was looking at this album and said that it all looked so nice, I should write about my cooking. I thought about it a bit then created the 'An apple pie a day...' blog. I'm not sure it works as well as a screen of cake photos, but I thought it might be fun.

The above is a double cheese and chive loaf from Dan Lepard's book 'Short and Sweet' a gratefully received Christmas present. It is my first really successful bread. I look forward to trying out the rest of the book.

Junk Mail Origami

2012-01-01T14:31:00.001Z

For Christmas I received ‘Junk Mail Origami’. A little book full of projects to use up the junk mail that gets shoved through our door. Once I’d worked out how to read the instructions they were quite simple to follow. So far my favourite it the Viking’s Helmet that you can see being modelled by Bertie Badger. I shall have to try it with bigger paper. The only problem with the book is the part that says what size paper I should be using. Apparently the projects have been ‘specially formulated to work with paper in the approximate size of 6 1/8 by 2 5/8’, which I thought would be normal junk mail size but it isn’t. I had to ask ‘im outdoors to work out what that was in millimetres. So now I just need some more junk mail to work with.

Paper Animations

2011-12-28T18:48:00.001Z

A mouse hug

Agreeable Sheep

A couple of weeks ago while looking for something else completely I came across robives.com. It looked interesting. I looked further, I realised it is amazing!

Rob has designed and created loads of moving paper models, or paper animations as he calls them, and you can buy and download the designs to make for yourself.

I had been filling very uninspired on the creative front recently (as you may have noticed), but it is easy to be inspired when you’ve got such exciting projects to create.

Or Goat - one of 3 logic goats

Dog ate my homework

Wag the dog

Of course I then have the problem of what to do with them once they are made. The easy answer – give them to my work colleagues for Christmas. They are just the thing to make a work desk a happier place. So on the last day in the office, the team came in to find some little friends on their desks. They seemed to go down well. I look forward to making more.

Happy Christmas

2011-12-24T20:38:00.009Z

This year we decided to make our own Christmas cards. Last year I found a reindeer cutter in my local craft shop. In April when our runner beans had just started to put forth their first leaves I came across one of the reindeer cutouts and couldn't resist sticking it to a leaf to see what would happen. We were so chuffed with the resulting images we just has to use them.

Merry Christmas everyone and a Happy New Year.

An early Christmas present

2011-12-21T16:45:00.001Z

I received an early Christmas present yesterday.

My Open University books arrived for the next course – AA312 Total war and social change, which starts in February.

In a way it is quite scary, this large box of heavy books, but it is also rather exciting. It probably helps that we had a trip to the Imperial War Museum last week, which really got me thinking. It is easier to remember that the two World Wars were very real when you have weapons and uniforms etc in front of you rather than just a text which takes about numbers of people dying which are just too large for me to understand.

It also had a very interesting section on conflicts since 1945 which helped give me a better understanding of why we are where we are right now. This is something I am hoping will be expanded on by AA312.

I shall leave them in the box until after Christmas though.

Handmade gift tags

2011-12-19T20:36:00.000Z

This weekend I finally got all my wrapping done. To make sure everyone know's who their wonderful gifts are from I've made my own set of gift tags. I found the star cutter and reindeer cutter in my local craft shop and with the right colours I think they look pretty cool. This is the sort of project I love, where there is a proper end product.

Christmas wreath

2011-12-12T20:30:00.000Z

I love Christmas decorations, the ones with delicate lights that sparkle and push back the darkness that seems to be here forever at this time of year – it doesn’t help that the window of my office faces a brick wall and makes it feel dark all year round.

We don’t have anywhere for lights outside our flat, but a wreath will brighten any door. I’ve always bought a wreath for the door, but this year decided that I would try making my own. After all how hard can it be?

With this in mind we went for a walk into the woods near the flat on Saturday to collect suitable material for a wreath. Holly, ivy and conifer of some kind were all on my list.

With a bag full of evergreen foliage we came home and I put together my wreath. As you can see it is not the best looking wreath ever, but I collected the materials myself, put it together myself and tied the bow myself (with a little help from YouTube).
Sometimes the joy is not in making something perfect, but in the satisfaction of creating something yourself.

Flower book

2011-12-04T14:20:00.001Z

I found this lovely flower wall paper ages ago. I knew it would be perfect to make into an A4 book, the design would just get lost on anything smaller, but I've been too busy, lazy and scared to start it. Busy with all the things life normally throws at you, lazy 'cos its so much easier to sit and read or do something else, and scared because it has been so long since I last made a book I was starting to fear I had forgotten how. And under all that is the nagging wonder of what I am going to do with all these books I've made.
But as you can see I haven't forgotten how to make them, and although I didn't think I had left enough room round the spine, it fitted perfectly. Nothing to worry about after all.

After four months

2011-11-30T17:17:00.002Z

November hasn’t really been a writing month for me. In total I managed to write 3614 words in November bringing my final total up to 29,733 Not great then when the aim was 50,000 words. (my best month was October with 12,121 words)

But man have I learnt a lot. Number one, writing a book (I won’t say novel – there is no way I can compare what I wrote with a real novel) is not as easy as reading one. I already knew this, but the fact I can write a complete short story had led me to believe that maybe a full book wouldn’t be so bad. I was wrong; it is. My respect for authors, or anyone who has managed to keep going for the full 50,000 words or more, is immense.

Number two, planning really is the key. I had a pretty good idea of how to start, and a very rough idea of the direction of the end, but no real idea of how to get there. When writing a short story, this isn’t so much of a problem. Being so short we are focusing on just one or two issues. A book requires so much more.

Number three, I’m not very good at writing every day. Its ok when I have an idea or know what should happen next, but just because it requires me to write 410 words today did not work for me.

Number four, there is no way I would have written even this much in one month. Without the time to think about how my story was to move forward it would have stalled – this is where the planning comes in.

There is more I could say but those are the main points. I probably could have written more if I was happy to flesh things out with more detail or conversation etc, but part of why I like writing short stories is that you get to the point quite quickly.

It’s been an interesting project but I think I’ll concentrate on short stories for now.

Minimalist

2011-11-23T12:29:00.001Z

I’ve just started reading a very interesting blog on being a minimalist, called mnmlist.com.

It has inspired me so far to delete 8 pages of old emails that I really don’t need, and to finally empty a cardboard box which has sat there untouched since we moved into the flat more than 2 years ago.

But it is not just about not owning stuff, more about being aware of the things you do own, having less of things you just don’t need, and not just buying things for the sake of it. Reading this blog has made me more aware of the things in my life that my grandparents would count as ‘luxury’ items, stuff I could live without, like the microwave, TV and dishwasher and more aware of items which I could live without but make my life easier like my car or hairdryer.

In one post he tries to list his 10 essentials, but only gets to 8. Over the last couple of days I have tried to come up with my own 10 essentials, but have found this near impossible without knowing what activity I would be faced with. If I was making books I would need my knife, steal rule, pencil, needle, thread, etc, going to work, for a walk or run require their own essentials. Basically I have bought into the consumer society and believed the advertisers when they tell me that I need all this stuff.

I think that I am on the beginning of a long journey to reassess my life and what is important in it. The image above is of Hugh Fearnley-Wittingstall and when it says ‘I want to be like Hugh’, I mean it. I like his ideas about life and food, that our food should be sustainable, we should grow our own (we do a bit) and that our work-life balance is important. I want to take all these ideas and turn them into a life with more time to do the things I enjoy with the people I love.

Writers Group with a Difference

2011-11-15T15:53:00.003Z

Today at the writers group, rather than sharing our work like normal we were visited by two members of University staff who are also published authors.

Both were published in May this year and both have gone down the self publish route but that is where the similarities end.

Mike Riley decided on a publish on demand approach with Pegasus MacKenzie for his crime novel Reading the Streets, while Phil James, who writes under the name Peter Jackel, used Amazon for his gothic thriller The Shadow of Death.

The hour flew as we chatted with them about all aspects of their journey from writer to published authors. As the organiser I had been a little worried about the meeting. What if no one turned up? What if all they wanted to do was try and sell their book? What if their books are rubbish? Etc.

But it went really well, with both Mike and Phil coming across so well that I can’t wait to read their books.

I will have to ask the group, but maybe this is something we should do again some time.

After three months

2011-11-01T10:42:00.000Z

So 3 months in how far have I got?

Well not as far as I had hoped but a lot further than I’ve ever been before, I’ve written just over 26,000 words now - over half way, which is amazing. I was actually doing quite well at the beginning of the month until I ran out of story. Its not that I had nothing else to say, rather I was not sure what happens next to get there. It doesn’t help that I suddenly got rather busy too which cut into my time. But I think I’ve worked out what happens next, at least for the next part so I’m off again.

I’ve one month until the deadline and I’m under no illusions that I will write 24,000 words in that time, but that’s ok. I have learnt a hell of a lot from this exercise. I can’t believe people can write 50,000 words in a month! Good luck to everyone doing NaNoWrMo this month!

That’s not writing

2011-10-18T15:11:00.000+01:00

I would have gone to the Guildford book festival event – Dan Lepard with his short and sweet recipe book today, but not only was it at lunch time but it clashed with the writers group.

Although I’ve been working on my NaNoWrMo project, which is going quite well, I stopped long enough to work on a small idea what I had a good month ago for the writers group today. It’s not a full story but another scene from a bigger story, but one that I don’t know yet. I was surprised how well it turned out from the three sentences that I had as my initial idea.

The group seemed to like it, but thought that I’d put it too far in the future, apparently there are some schools in the USA who have stopped teaching handwriting already!

The girl arrives home a little earlier than she had expected.

She let herself in pressing her thumb against the scanning plate and walked though the house calling the lights on while she put her bag down, left her coat on the sofa and went into the kitchen to get some juice. She finishes the juice and puts the empty carton in the recycling box before telling the fridge that yes this product had been finished and should be reordered from the shop.

The house sounds empty and she wonders what to do next. Going up the stairs to her room she hears a noise from her brother’s room. It is not the normal noise she would associate with him, the noise of loud music and gun battles. This is a scratchy noise which makes her imagine small creatures, although she has been told that all rodents have been eradicated.

Pushing open his door she finds him sitting at his desk. But the monitor of his computer is unlit and his keyboard is pushed to one side. He is hunched over something on his desk, his face screwed up in concentration, his tongue between his lips and she wonders if he is hurt.

‘What you doing?’ He doesn’t look up.

‘Writing.’

‘That’s not writing – you’re not using your keyboard.’ He looks up now.

‘Shows what you know.’ And he shows her the page he has been working on. This is what she could hear, the rustle of the paper as he marked it. There are marks covering the page and when she looks closely she can see that some of them do look kind of like words but mostly it looks like a mess.

‘What’s wrong with typing?’

‘Nothing, but people didn’t used to always type you know.’

‘What did they do then?’

‘This, stupid.’ And he waves the paper at her again.

‘But look at it, it’s a mess. How could anyone read that?’ He looks down at his piece of paper.

‘Well I imagine if you’d been doing it all your life you’d be a bit better than me.’ Now he picks up something from his desk.

‘Is that a book? Where did you get that from?’

‘It’s fine, I’ll give it back when I’m done, but look,’ and he opened the pages to show her words she could actually read although they had not been typed.

‘But everyone knows that books were printed until they all went digital.’

‘Not this one. It’s a journal. People used to keep them in books like this instead of online.’

‘That’s ridiculous, you’d run out of space.’

‘I know, but they would just start another book. There were loads where I got this one.’

‘And whose is that?’ He flicks to the front of the book and show her the name scribed in the front.

‘But that’s our name. Who’s he?’

‘I think he was our great-great-great-grandfather, but I might be missing a great there. He was born in 1967.’ They stand in silence contemplating this great fact.

‘So what does it say?’

‘I don’t know. I haven’t read it. I’ve just been copying the shapes.’

Running a 10k

2011-10-10T10:52:00.002+01:00

Now that I’m not studying I’ve been enjoying going for a run on a Sunday morning. I’m still working on my distance so it’s quite a short run – about 2.7 miles and some of that walking. But each time I go out I seem to walk less and I hope that some time in the near future I will run the whole thing, then I can start expanding it.

Yesterday was no different but as I ran past the park, full of chaps playing rugby, I saw lots of runners too and realised it was the day of the Downland Challenge 10k race.

I wasn’t sure what route they would be taking but as I ran I went past many signs warning drivers of runners in the road, and number signs counting down the kms.

This was a little worrying, the last thing I wanted was to get caught up in a race when I wasn’t racing and would need to stop and walk pretty soon.

Luckily I had reached my turning point and was on my way back before they arrived. They looked like quite a formidable lot and I was glad to be on the other side of the road, but part of me wanted to be running with them and if I’d had more breathe I would have been cheering them on. Further on I saw the junior runners and wanted to cheer them on even more.

The idea of running 10k at the moment is like trying to imagine what a million pounds looks like. I can work out how long it would take me in theory, but the idea of running that far without having to stop is beyond me.

But 8 months ago running 2.7 miles (even if I walk some of it) or even a full mile was also beyond me, so maybe 10k is possible after all.

After two months

2011-09-30T15:47:00.002+01:00

I’ve not done so well with my writing this month.

Part of the point of NaNoWrMo is that as it covers only a month you don’t have time to loose interest and stop.

But here I am at the end of my second month with only 13,998 words written. Now don’t get me wrong, that is the most I have ever written towards one story and I am pleased. But I’m about 10,000 words behind. Not an encouraging thought and not helped by the cold I’ve been struggling with this last week. I find it very hard to think with my head filled with snot.

But I will keep going. I am interested to find out what happens to Kate, my main character, and how many words I will manage in the time I’ve given myself.

Sony Ericsson Fitness Experience Pack

2011-09-21T11:58:00.000+01:00

Recently I ‘won’ the Sony Ericsson Fitness Experience Pack though the Running4women website where I log all my runs. The only condition was that I write a review of the pack once I’d used it. No problem there then.

It is quite exciting to be sent something to write a review about, it’s just a shame that it was so hard to get working. I’m glad that I hadn’t spent money on it.

You can see my review on the running4women website.

Guildford Book Festival 2011

2011-09-18T14:44:00.002+01:00

I hadn’t realised quite how far through the year we were until the Guildford Book Festival programme arrived on my door mat. Held over the 13-22 October there is plenty to interest everyone whether a workshop on how to improve your writing or a talk by a favourite author. I’m looking forward to having a proper look though the programme and deciding what to attend.

AA312 Total War and Social Change: Europe 1914 – 1955

2011-09-03T15:51:00.000+01:00

AA312 Total War and Social Change: Europe 1914 – 1955. This is the title of the next Open University course I am going to take. I am registered and the set books have just arrived from Amazon.

It doesn’t start until next February but I like to be prepared. This will be my first history course and at level 3 to, so I figured that it wouldn’t hurt to have a read of the set texts before the course starts and get my head used to the idea of studying history instead of literature. As always it’s a pretty scary idea - another 9 months of studying and a brand new subject this time, but the issues this module covers are just too interesting to ignore. I hope I still feel like that this time next year when I’ll be getting ready for my first exam in a long time.

After a Month

2011-09-01T09:49:00.000+01:00

At the beginning of August I said I was going to try writing 410 words every day for 4 months as my own personal NaNoWrMo, so at the end of August I thought I’d give an update on how I’m doing so far.

Before I began I worked out the word count for every day (the beauty of excel) and set up a spreadsheet with my expected word count, my actual word count, how many words I actually wrote and what my deficit is.

I’ve found this a great motivator for when I’m struggling. I hate to see a 0 in the ‘what I wrote that day’ column. It is also pretty horrible to see the deficit numbers climbing.

I’m not managing to write every day, but when I do it is quite often over 400 words which is good. And by only having to write such a small number every day it gives me time to think about what comes next. This really is an exercise in getting words down, rather than writing a best selling novel. I can go back and make it good later, for now I’m just writing. No editing allowed. Which means anything in my head goes on the page. I’ve even got my token Ninja in. So now I just have to keep the momentum going to hit 50000 by end of November.

Running in the Rain

2011-08-26T18:49:00.001+01:00

This morning I had my first real run in the rain. I’ve run in light showers before but nothing like this. And I found it refreshing. To go out into the rain and not be bothered about getting wet was lovely. My feet might have got a bit wet, but not much worse than they get with the dew in the park sometimes, and once I got going they soon warmed up so that I couldn’t feel it and could imagine that my shoes might steam once I took them off.

I can’t remember the last time I went out in the rain and wasn’t trying to hide from it – can you? It might have been in the New Forest about 20 years ago, I look forward to making it a new habit.

Hooray, results

2011-08-20T14:12:00.007+01:00

I have finally received my marks for EA300 Children’s Literature from the Open University. Its taken them a while to get the results out and mine were a little later than everyone else’s, but I’ve worked in an Exams Office and know the effort that goes into getting marks ready. The good news is that I’ve passed and although the mark was a little lower than I’d been hoping for; the pass is the important bit. Now I really do need to decide what to do next.

This Week’s Writers Group

2011-08-18T13:51:00.000+01:00

This week’s writers group saw a good turn out considering it’s the middle of August. We actually ran late discussing ways to help improve our editing skills, something we all lack. The best suggestion – reading your work out loud so you can hear when things don’t work.

I read out a very short piece that I’ve been working on for the local libraries creative writing competition – ‘Holiday heaven or holiday hell’. It’s quite hard to get to the heart of something in only 250 words but everyone seemed to think I did ok.

The homework this week – Imagine you are the mother or father of an infamous person (real or fictional). Now write something (a monologue, story, poem) in the first person about what that person is (or was) like as a child, in a way that explains how s/he later turned out as an adult. (borrowed from Mslexia)

Wild Creations stamp

2011-08-15T21:26:00.000+01:00

I have two amazing men in my life, which I am very grateful for.
In Feb 2009 I wrote an entry about the fact that I, with a lot of help from my Dad, had created a stamp for marking my handmade books as mine. As we played with it we came up with the idea of heating the stamp and using gold foil to make the stamp even clearer. But then I had course work to do and started looking for a flat and dad had work to do and so the project got put to one side. Dad was still working on it, but only when he had time.

So imagine my excitement when he told me it was done. Created from scraps of shower units and other things from his shed, it is the ultimate recycled project. Nothing has been bought; I even managed to scrounge the springs from the workshops at work.

He dropped it off with instructions on how to use it, then ‘im outdoors bolted it to the work bench for me and with a little fine tuning I now have the tool for marking my books and I guess anything else the foil will stick to.

Without the men in my life this project would never have even been dreamed of. Thanks guys.

A New Addition

2011-07-31T12:04:00.002+01:00

We both love tree ferns and now we have our very own. Just have to make sure we protect him in the winter. It adds a lovely touch of tropical to the garden.

National Novel Writing Month

2011-07-27T12:33:00.000+01:00

Ever since I heard of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWrMo) I’ve wanted to have a go. What better incentive to write a full book than having a deadline to make. But it runs in November and normally at this time I’m just starting an Open University course of some sort.

This year the course I’m looking at taking doesn’t start until Feb 2012, so I’d be ‘free’ in November, but looking in more detail at NaNoWrMo, even without the OU course I don’t think I can commit to it. Over 30 days you need to write 50,000 words which would mean writing at least 1,667 words each day. With a full time job, and a reluctance to turn my computer on after work 1,667 words or about 3 pages (typed) seems like quite a lot. What happens if I take a day off, go Christmas shopping or something happens – I’d have to write 3334 the next day!

However if I start writing on 1 Aug but keep the 30^th Nov deadline I will only have to write 410 words a day to hit the deadline. Obviously I can’t enter NaNoWrMo as that would be cheating, but there is nothing to stop me making my own ‘Novel Writing in Four Months’ target (which doesn’t have the same ring to it, but does do as it says on the tin).

I’ve never writing anything of this size before so have no idea if I can do it or not, and I’ve no doubt that it won’t be very good, but if I don’t have a go I’ll never know.

A Story About Lasers

2011-07-20T15:59:00.003+01:00

Normally we stop the writers group for the summer, as the University gets very quiet and so many people are away. But this year everyone agreed we should keep it going, so yesterday we met as normal. With only 4 of us there it was a quiet meeting, but I did at least have something to read out this time.

Inspired by an article I’d read recently about capturing solar power in space and then using laser beams to bring the power to earth this is what I wrote:

As a race we have been in space all my life, but now we can’t even see the stars in the sky.

Today, and I’m only assuming it is day as it is light or as near as it gets these days, it is my turn to go to the power store. We are all on the rota and although I dread coming up to this place, I also enjoy the escape from small rooms and spaces that always seem to be filled with people.

The landscape looks like it has snowed, although with this heat I know it can’t be snow, but I still pretend. Kicking my feet, instead of spurts of frozen water, clouds of gray ash rise and soon my trousers are covered to the knee. But with my face mask tight against my face I don’t care. I can feel it sticking to my face as the sweat starts to roll, but there is no point in wiping it away as my hands are just as grubby.

I’m sure I can feel something watching me, but what could it be, there is nothing in the place except ash and angry clouds. But I can’t help myself and keep checking behind me, the only thing to see a long messy string of foot prints leading into the gloom.

The laser when it comes makes me jump and I very nearly turn and run. Imagine the sudden blinding glare of a laser dropping through the clouds only a mile away. Not only the glare of the laser but the sudden reflection from the ash, so that it’s like snow on a sunny day. But again I’m prepared and I pull down the ski goggles reducing the light to a pleasant blue summer glow.

I know I’ve still got a mile to go, and it will be finished before I am, but I still find it hard to walk towards it. I must be so easy to see now, I have a large black shadow who stretches away behind me, using me as a shield. And even through the blue of the goggles I can make out the red of my shirt.

I don’t know why the laser still works but we’d be dead without it.

It’s not a story but a description that may well lead to something although right now I don’t know what. I imagine it might be the sort of thing that I will come across again in years to come and be inspired by, rather than just forgetting the image and loosing it forever.

The homework – to make personal dictionaries by timing yourself for 3 minutes and writing all the words you can think of beginning with a letter of your choice. You can do this for as many letters as you want.

Once you have your list of words, choose your favourite 3 to inspire some writing.

Handmade Bread

2011-07-18T18:25:00.000+01:00

My second attempt turned out much better.

Gait Analysis and Running Shoes

2011-07-15T16:45:00.000+01:00

Finally after a long build up I’ve managed to run for 10 minutes on the treadmill. Having completed that target I’ve also finally bought some proper running shoes, in celebration, and taken my running outside.

Everyone I’ve spoken to about running has said I should get a gait analysis done, so I visited our local sports shop to get one done. Mistake – don’t go on a Saturday afternoon. The shop, which is pretty small anyway, was very very full, so I tried again on a Wednesday morning and it was empty – perfect.

I’ve not had a gait analysis done before so I’ve nothing to compare it with, but I was impressed. I don’t normally like sports shops. I feel like they are looking down on me, wondering what business I could possible have with them. But in this shop they were very friendly and explained exactly what we were going to be doing and why (basically they film you running to see what happens to your feet and legs as you run, then find shoes that support you). The guy let me try on many pairs of trainers, and filmed me running in each, then showed me the video and pointed out what happened to my ankles etc each time. Of course, as a typical woman, I ended up going with the first pair I tried on. They also helped me with some socks too.

All in all I was happy with the experience, but the real test is in the use and I had my first run in them this morning. First thing I’ve found is that running on a treadmill is very different from running outside on grass. Places that I thought were flat suddenly grow huge hills, and early morning sun suddenly feels a lot warmer than I remember. This morning I ran/walked a mile in 10 minutes. I look forward to expanding on this.

On the subject of running I’ve just come across a running blog called My Mum Runs, which struck a cord, particularly the ‘Running Scared’ entry. I totally agree – everything new is scary. But I also love this sentence – “The trick is not letting your fear prevent you from trying something you may grow to love.” Ok so Lindsay may be taking about running here, but I think it applies to many things in life. I’ve tried to live my life so far by this rule, without it me and ‘im outdoors would not be enjoying curries on a regular basis and certainly wouldn’t have visited

Egypt

in January, but it is difficult at times.

Next time you see me, maybe it will be running along the pavement with my arms out like wings…

An Island Holiday

2011-07-12T14:41:00.000+01:00

I love islands. Maybe it’s because I live on one or because of my love of the sea? Whatever it is, I recently realised that a lot of the places on my visiting wish list are islands. Cuba, Isles of Scilly, Lundy, Jersey and Guernsey, Skye, Greek Islands, New Zealand etc etc.

With our holiday in Egypt little more than a distant memory now, we decided we needed a long weekend away. But where to go? We couldn’t afford anywhere over sea’s so decided to visit the Isle of Wight. Close to home and gazed at from afar (well across the Solent) regularly it seemed like the perfect opportunity to get to know this island better.

And we had a great time even with wind and rain and fog and brilliant sunshine. You can read all about it at my travel blog – Not all who wander are lost

Amy Butler dress material problem

2011-06-23T10:33:00.000+01:00

I bought a pattern for an Amy Butler dress about a year ago but have been finding it tricky to find a material to make it from. We have a couple of material shops near by and I go in and see many things I like, but when I try to imagine them as a whole dress, rather than just a small flash of pattern I can’t do it. Which is a shame because I think the dress pattern is really nice.

It reminds me of one of the Sweet Valley High books I read as a kid. (I preferred the Hardy Boys, but I guess the library must have been out that day) In the story the twins Elizabeth and Jessica are in a magical world where they can make whatever they want just by imagining. This meant that Jessica who loved clothes had lovely soft beautiful things, while Elizabeth who was more practical was left with more cardboard cut out clothing. I don’t remember much else about the story, just the knowledge that my clothing would be more like Elizabeth’s if I was ever in this situation. I might not be imagining clothes out of nothing, but I think I’m in a similar situation. I guess I will just have to keep looking.

Bread Making

2011-06-13T10:27:00.000+01:00

After all the work I’ve put in to the last OU course I’ve been enjoying some time off. I’ve had my car MOT, had the fridge break down and found a replacement, and caught up on my adult fiction, particularly Stephen Kings, Under the Dome, which I had been saving. (definitely worth the wait!)

I’ve been finding it hard to get started on the creating again, so to kick start myself I thought I’d start with something fairly simple, bread making.

Making bread shouldn’t really be that hard should it? All it is is flour, yeast and water. But for my first attempt I think I used too much water and it was much much more sticky than I think it should have been. But that didn’t stop me and I still stuck it in the oven even though it wasn’t a perfectly formed loaf but a big sticky mess.

However, although what came out of the oven didn’t look much like a loaf of bread, it tasted like one and added to a bowl of homemade carrot soup (made from last years home grown carrots) it made the perfect lunch for a cold, wet and miserable Sunday. Hopefully practice really does make perfect and the next one will be more traditionally shaped.

EA300 Children’s Literature - Finished

2011-05-25T09:36:00.001+01:00

Last night I handed in my last assignment for EA300 Children’s Literature with the Open University. After 9 months of hard work (the worst of it seems to have been over the last 3 weeks) I’m glad it’s over and my weekends and evenings become my own again.

But I have enjoyed the course, hard work though it was. I was a little worried that studying some of my old favourite books like Swallows and Amazons or Tom’s Midnight Garden might spoil them for me but if anything they have been enhanced by the academic essays and course materials. And I’ve met some new books which will become old favourite like Philip Reeve’s Mortal Engines and Mildred D. Taylor’s Roll of Thunder Hear my Cry. I also took the opportunity to read as many children’s books as possible over the last 9 months including some I read as a child and I think this added to my understanding of some of the issues we studied.

As someone who writes fiction I’ve also found the insight into why writers have done something and how the history of children’s literature has influenced their writing over the years fascinating and I hope useful to my writing not just my essays.

I may never trust Disney again, and I remembered my hate of writing essays very quickly but the course materials were so interesting I have no regrets.

So now I await my results which should arrive sometime in the summer and try and decide if I should do another one. With only two more courses needed (or 120 credits, 60 each) to be awarded a degree it is quite tempting. It helps that I’ve seen a couple of course that interest me. I wonder what ‘im outdoors would say…

Running

2011-05-21T15:02:00.007+01:00

I recently realised quite how much weight I’ve put on in the past few years, no doubt partly my own fault for making tasty cakes every week. It was a bit of a shock really, subconsciously I knew I’d been putting it on, but to see the numbers on the scales really bought it home to me. I already attend the gym twice a week, but I decided it was time I raised my game, along with cutting down on the cake. ‘im outdoors is happy with that – more for him.

In February I started running as part of my gym routine. To many people this won’t seem that big a deal but at that point even running for 1 minute on the treadmill had me feeling like I was going to die. Over the past 4 months I’ve worked on this and can now run for 7 minutes, covering 1.14km.

This from the girl who HATED PE and running at school (probably partly because of how clumsy I was – you should see my knees, and partly due to the reluctance to shower in front of my school colleagues).

So as a reward for the last 9 months of studying and for (hopefully) hitting the 10 minute mark on the treadmill, I am going to buy myself a proper pair of running shoes. I am going to walk into one of those scary specialist shops and ask them what they recommend. Then feeling a bit more confident ‘cos I’ve already managed 10 minutes on the treadmill, and I’ve got some good comfy shoes, I’m going to venture outside. Notice all the positive words I’ve used in this paragraph!

My new favourite website – Running4women

I know this isn’t about something I’ve created, but I’ve got a feeling that this is going to become a large part of my life, along with the writing, making, and studying.

Storycubes

2011-05-17T15:18:00.000+01:00

We had a Creative Writers meeting today. Even with all the stress of trying to write my final assignment for the Children’s Literature course (due in next week and still missing 850 words) I managed to write a short one page story.

It seemed to go down well. It took its inspiration from an article on nature deficit disorder which I recently read.

Then as an activity and as homework I bought out my storycubes. These were recently given to me as a late birthday present from a friend (thank you!), and I’ve been dying to give them a go.

The set contains 9 cubes with an image on each side of each cube. The idea is to roll the cubes and then use the images to create a story. (apparently you should start with ‘Once upon a time…’)

See the above image to see a selection of images to use for this weeks homework. The aim is to use all nine images in your story. Its up to you what the image should mean – there are many different levels. For instance the sheep could be a simple farm yard animal, or a sheep skin rug, or a black sheep of the family etc.

Garden Escapes website

2011-05-12T14:16:00.000+01:00

It’s taken a while but I’m very pleased to say that the Garden Escapes website is now live. Jen and Nick who run Garden Escapes are old friends from when I was at landscaping college, where I also met ‘im outdoors. When they saw the Thrive Landscapes website I created a few years back, they asked me to design them one.

The process could have been a lot quicker but we are all very busy people and there always seemed to be months between meetings. But it is live now and I’m very pleased with the end result. It has meant learning how to use dreamweaver, but I’m all for learning new things.

Now back to the essay…

Easter book

2011-05-07T17:18:00.000+01:00

Easter seems so long ago now. I was lucky enough to have 2 weeks away from work and spent the time enjoying the sunshine and working on a large ‘to do list’. My Egyptian photos have now been printed off and put in an album, all the windows in the flat have been cleaned and my penultimate assignment has been written and set for marking, amongst other things.

I also finally had a chance to use the lovely wall paper what I found a while back. Although I only made a small book I’m very happy with the outcome. I just wish I could work out a way to photograph them that showed them at their best.

Star Stamp

2011-04-26T10:35:00.001+01:00

Ever since I saw the stamp making tutorial on Geninne’s blog I’ve been wanting to have a go myself. I bought all the stuff to do it then couldn’t think of a design to make. But then we went to Egypt and I fell in love with their star designs. Very simple but obviously stars. So for my first stamp I’ve made a simple Egyptian style star. I’d like to expand on this but that will take a little bit of practice, it’s not as easy as Geninne makes it look.

The Writer’s Idea Book

2011-04-12T20:08:00.001+01:00

We had the monthly creative writers group meeting today. A week earlier than normal due to Easter, but I still had something to read out. It’s a short piece which can stand alone but could also be worked on further and I’m pleased with it so far.

What is more pleasing is the fact that I’ve been coming up with regular ideas in the last few months which I have been able to write down as short pieces even if I still need to go back and edit them. A break at this point, before editing, normally improves things I’ve found.

But because I’ve been feeling inspired I’ve not had to use ‘The Writer’s Idea Book’ by Jack Heffron which was given to me as a birthday present at the beginning of the year. I’ve had a flick through and it looks very interesting but with my time being filled with reading and essays for the Children’s Literature course it’ll have to wait a little longer before I give it a proper read.

I did however borrow one of his prompts for today’s group homework:

Put a character in a place where he doesn’t speak the native language. Explore the problems this barrier creates.

A Tea Light Cover

2011-03-28T19:21:00.001+01:00

Quite often when I come up with ideas for either stories or things that I will create, I’m not 100% sure where the idea came from. But when I created a paper lantern to go round a tea light this weekend I knew exactly what had inspired me.

First I saw these beautiful porcelain pierced star tea light holders on Etsy. I’d seen them before Christmas and fallen in love, but I don’t normally have candles in the house so didn’t buy one.

Then a couple of weeks ago I came across a tutorial on how to make a paper hurricane cover on A Little Hut. I love this blog anyway and thought it looked like something I could make.

So I combined the two and added my own creative finger print to make my very own tea light cover. I don't expect that its something I will use, but I wanted to know what the combination of these three things would look like. And I think that's the important thing about being creative, its the having a go and playing. It doesn't matter if I don't use this right now. Maybe later it will feed into something else.

March Writers Group

2011-03-17T10:06:00.000Z

We had the March Writers Group on Tuesday.

I even had something to read out having both printed my work a couple of days ago and remembered my memory stick.

At it was a 3 page story about magic vs technology I won’t put it up, but I do love the cockney demon bunny who features. It was nice to read something out and have people laugh at the right times.

Also, one of the members who works in the library has saved the 2009 Writers & Artists Yearbook for the group as it was about to be chucked out. I would love to have a set of books as resources for the group. It’s just a shame that we don’t have a physical present anywhere to keep them.

This months homework: Margaret wasn’t her real name. It seemed safer and more sedate than the one she used in her professional life.

Wallpaper

2011-03-11T13:45:00.000Z

If you’ve been reading this for a while you will know that I quite like wallpaper. Mostly because it’s thick and great for covering my hand made books, but also because it comes in some really wicked designs.

Anyway I was in a pub about 6 months ago when I visited the loo only to find one wall covered in the most beautiful wallpaper. After a brief moment of wondering how best to remove the paper from the wall, I did the next best thing and took its photo. (Several people have been bored with this photo. Sorry)

Imagine my delight then, when I found the very same wallpaper in a DIY store down the road from the flat this week. I actually had to get my phone out and check it against the photo I had taken, and there is no doubt – it’s the same paper. Look out for a hand made book covered in this design, coming soon (Easter?).

Scarab Beetle Necklace

2011-03-04T19:03:00.006Z

While we were in Egypt I was lucky enough to win a scarab beetle bead for reading some hieroglyphics right. There is nothing special about the bead, they are made by their thousand, scarab’s are after all thought to be good luck, but I love the colour and the circumstances make it special to me, not only were we in Egypt, but it was my birthday.

I’ve now had time to turn it into a necklace. First I had to drill it – although it had ‘holes’ at each end, they didn’t meet. No problem for me and my mini drill. I then used a silver pin to hold the bead, but it was too loose and could have pulled through, so I made a tiny silver washer to hold it in place. I then made a loop with the tail of the silver pin through which the chain would run, and finished it by knotting the excess round the top.

It’s not perfect, but then neither is the bead, so I think the whole sits well together. I’m very pleased with it and it will be a grand reminder of a lovely holiday and my 30^th birthday.

My New Travel Blog

2011-02-27T18:36:00.001Z

Well I finally decided what to do about my journal of our trip to Egypt.

Rather than wasting time trying to fix a problem uploading photos onto a site that doesn’t do what I want it to, I decided to move all my travels on to a self created blog.

When I travel, I normally stay away from technology, either because there isn’t any like during my trips to the Namibian desert or the Amazonian Rainforest, or because I’d rather experience the local culture and forget day to day life for a bit.

This means that I didn’t want a site that I am expected to update as I travel across a country, rather somewhere to write up what we did afterwards as a memory of the trip. I think this gives you time to think about your trip and share the best bits with your friends and family, rather than feeling pressured to write something when all you’re really doing it chilling in a hammock.

I love travelling and love telling everyone all about my trip. I’d love to be a travel writer, always off somewhere new to find great places for people to visit. But at the same time I’m a home bod, and couldn’t leave ‘im outside behind and doubt he’d be able to leave the landscaping for long.

So I compromised, with our yearly? trips and my travel blog.

Christmas beads reused

2011-02-21T11:41:00.000Z

You may remember that last year I received a very pretty beady necklace for Christmas but I found I wasn’t wearing it very much.

Then when I was looking round etsy a couple of weeks ago I happened to find another very pretty bead and a simple leather bracelet to put it on at Meesmerel’s shop.

So now I’ve got another way to wear my beads.

These may not be beads or a bracelet that I’ve made, but they are all handmade and beautiful.

Missing: One Memory Stick (again)

2011-02-15T14:48:00.000Z

We had my first writers group of the new year today. As I was away in Egypt for the last meeting Martin chaired and it sounds like he did a fab job.

Today’s meeting was small, but it did mean that everyone got to read their work out in full which was great. A radio comedy, a short story based on the homework, the beginnings of a novella (based in the war hammer world) and the 3^rd part of a banker’s novel. All great fun.

But annoying I’ve lost (meaning probably left it at home) my memory stick again. This is more annoying than normal as I actually had worked on a short story which I could have read out at the meeting.

I know what I’ve done. I was working hard on TMA04 last night and although I would swear I took it out of my machine at home and put it in my handbag, its probably still sitting in the USB port. I really hope it is anyway.

Anyone got any bright ideas on how I can keep it with me?

It’s easily the 3^rd time in 3 months that I’ve done this.

This month’s homework – to continue from the following sentence:

There was no time to think as she felt the cold steel of the knife…

Egypt, what to do?

2011-02-01T12:53:00.002Z

Amongst the catching up of OU work and the tidying up after birthday celebrations (mostly by eating cake) I’ve finally written up my journal of our trip to Egypt. Except I can’t get my photos to load, even though I’ve done it many times before.

This kinda makes the whole thing very dull and text based and we all know that the worst web pages are the ones with no pictures.

So now I have to decide if I can be bothered to work out what the hell is wrong with my photos, or move to a different site. There are many to choose from, and quite a lot of them have a nicer interface and finished result than the site that I have been using. But said site does have all my travels on it right back to 2003 when I went on my first adventure to Namibia! Moving will mean some work. Of course the other option is to make a new blog, just for my travels, a tempting idea, but once again something that will take some time.

While I think about it, and find some time, you can look at photos from Egypt on my flickr page.

We were lucky enough to have a great holiday and to get home before all the troubles started. Our thoughts are with everyone we met while out there.

A Journal

2011-01-25T13:58:00.001Z

Normally when I post photos of my little books on here, they are new and shiny and waiting to be used. Today I post photos of a journal which I made a couple of weeks ago, but which has spent the last 12 days in my day pack being taken all over Egypt. I’m very pleased with how it has held up; it doesn’t seem to have minded the sun, sea or being sat on.

Egypt its self was amazing, and I will be posting more about it later, but now I need to catch up with my Open University course work, Swallows and Amazons here I come…

I am 30 this week

2011-01-20T14:19:00.000Z

I find this shocking! How can I be 30? I don’t feel like an adult, I’m not ready yet.

I fear that I’ve done 29 an injustice, by spending the year not thinking and saying ‘I’m 29’, but that ‘I’ll be 30 next year’. Even after spending a year saying this it is still shocking.

It depresses me slightly when I hear that this up and coming artist is only 21 or this new award winning writer is only 23. Why isn’t that me? What have I done?
But then I look at what I do have and I realise that I shouldn’t be depressed.

Who really wants fame and fortune anyway?

I have been trekking and seen elephants in Namibia. I have spent 4 weeks in the rainforest in Ecuador.

I’ve visited New York and the Guggenheim. I’ve met reindeer in Scotland (and fed them).

I’ve been to both Paris and Barcelona.

I have been up in a hot air balloon. I have donated over 30 pints of blood and am registered as a bone marrow donor volunteer. I’ve seen Green Day, Robbie Williams, Supergrass, Jamie Cullum, Turin Brakes and Blink 182 live, amongst others; and I’ve been to Reading Festival twice.

I’ve seen Bill Bailey, Eddie Izzard, Russell Howard and the 100th recording of QI live. I’ve adopted a creative writers group and a pair of aardvarks.

I have made my first piece of clothing and completed more than one short story. I have made a website from scratch.
Then look at all the things I have learnt since I’ve left school, a Certificate in Humanities, a Diploma in Creative Writing and Literature, Photoshop, book binding, XHTML and CCS, and I’ve learnt to read music and play the flute. Who knows how many books I’ve read.
And on top of all that I have the most wonderful partner and a flat and garden that I could never have imagined.

Sure there are still hundreds of things I want to see and do, learn to knit and visit Australia are just two, but without anything to aim for wouldn’t I be bored!

So this year to celebrate my birthday we have decided to go on holiday. I’ve always had a problem with my January birthday. Too close to Christmas so people don’t know what to give you as a gift as they used up all their ideas in December. Right in the depths of winter so cold and dark and depressing. You can’t go and do anything outside unless you want to freeze or be rained on. (I remember as a child having a party in September one year to celebrate and all my friends came over and played in the garden and we had a BBQ. But unless I have two birthdays like the Queen that’s not going to work.)
So we’ve gone to Egypt. In theory this is the best time to go, when it’s not too hot. We shall soon find out. I will write more about the trip when we are back.

Should I worry about 30?
Well 30 is just a number, and to be honest I think I’m too busy to really worry about this right now. Maybe when I’m 40…

Christmas Bookbinding Books

2011-01-17T11:57:00.002Z

I should have blogged about this pair of books last year, but what with essays about Peter Pan and days with the family I didn’t get the chance.
For Christmas my mum very kindly bought me Vol 1 Non-Adhesive Binding, Books without Paste or Glue by Keith Smith and Bookcraft by Heather Weston.
I’d been hoping for Smith’s book, as I’d seen some of his other volumes while doing the bookbinding evening class and was fascinated by the idea that you can bind a book without any glue (something I have tried but not very successfully).
Weston’s book I hadn’t seen before, but it’s a really nice collect of easy to follow techniques, not just for binding but folding and decorating books, and examples – perfect for getting ideas going.
I look forward to trying lots of new techniques out, although I might get my essays finished first.

Geninne’s Art Blog

2011-01-10T11:54:00.000Z

I really can’t believe that I haven’t blogged about this sooner.
Some time in the summer I got it into my head that I wanted to try hand carving my own stamps (something still sitting on my to do list).
I must have seen it on a website somewhere and one of the links took me to Geninne’s Art Blog where she gave you a step by step break down of how to do this. Very interesting and exactly what I wanted to know. So then I started looking at the rest of her website.
To be honest, I was blown away. It’s pretty simple, mostly about her wonderful bird illustrations, with photos of the place she lives and her dog Turbo, but the colour is just amazing. If I’m feeling a little down this is the place to cheer myself up. Go have a look and get a taste of Mexico.

Beady Necklaces

2011-01-03T12:29:00.001Z

As if repairing Bibles and writing essays about Peter Pan wasn’t enough I’ve also finally gotten round to making the necklace with the beads I bought at the last Bead and Gem Show. What I liked best about them was their pastel colours and the feel of them.

While I was at it, I also strung some seed beads on some elastic to make a really simple necklace. Something with a little colour but hardly any weight. It was just an experiment really, but I really like how it’s turned out, so I might try it with some other colours when I’ve some more time (and some more elastic).

Note - 4 Jan 2011
I think the seed bead necklace needs some work.
Back to work today and I thought it would go nicely with my outfit. Put on my big coat and my scarf and felt something tickle my back. Didn’t think anything of it. Picked up my handbag and there is a sudden weird noise! I thought my water bottle was leaking for a moment, then realised it was the beads escaping onto our wooden floor. Nearly had to strip to get them all out – they got caught in my vest, bra, pants….

Bible Repairs

2010-12-31T14:14:00.003Z

On Christmas Day, while we digested the huge lunch ‘im outdoor’s Nan had cooked us, we somehow got onto talking about her Bible and how the cover had come off. It looked like quite a simple repair to me, so I offered to take it home and rebind it for her.
It was only when I got home that I thought – What am I doing!?! This is her Bible – quite an important book in her eyes!
But I made up some paste, removed the tatty bits that were still attached and made a new cover.
I’m really pleased with the end result, all it needs is the title in gold on the spine, but I don’t have the means to do that at the moment. Maybe one day.
I hope she likes it, I’ll find out on Sunday when ‘im outdoors takes it over to her.

Copyright

2010-12-16T14:06:00.002Z

Anyone who has read my blog in the past couple of years will know that I make stuff and write stuff.
I read hundreds of books and blogs and design websites (just look at the list on the right!), and anyone who makes or writes stuff like me, will know that anything can give you inspiration. A story you read, an article in a paper, the way a branch of a tree sticks out and looks like a scary man. Any of these things can make a spark that gives life to a project.
Now you might be wondering why I’m telling you all this, but it seems that while the web is great for getting our stuff out in to the big wide world, it also makes it easier for people to copy what we are creating. Now when it’s something written it’s quite easy to do something about it, but what about when its your design or your blog?
Luckily I’ve had no such problems, but others have – click here and here to read more about this.
This is something I feel very strongly about. The handmade community needs to stick together and fight this. This is people’s lives they are messing with. Not all of us are big multinational companies looking to make a profit. Most of us are just trying to make a living doing something we enjoy. Where is the harm in that?

Christmas Writers Group

2010-12-14T16:46:00.001Z

The Creative Writers Group met for the last time this year, and considering we weren’t sure if it would continue this time last year, I think we’ve done quite well.
I felt strangely powerful to find that people had actually had a go at the homework I set last month, some of which was very successful.
And I even had something to read out, although it had nothing to do with the homework and isn’t finished.
I won’t post it here as it still needs a lot of work, but the Writers Group was the perfect sounding board to check I wasn’t wasting my time. We all agreed that I need to cut some of the stuff from the beginning, where it was very obvious to us all that I’d been writing my way into the story.
But that’s the joy if editing. Let the words bubble out of you head and onto the page, then give it a couple of days, or weeks and go back and cut all the mess out until you get to the good stuff.

Homework this month:
Create a character based on the connotations of their name when their first name is the name of a pet, and their second name is the name of a neighbour.
Now think about what they look like? What their occupation is? What they spend their money on? What’s their greatest fear?

Now write a story or poem about that happens when your character desperately wants something, but this desire is frustrated?
(borrowed from Mslexia)

The last bookbinding class

2010-12-10T16:23:00.003Z

Last night I had the last of the bookbinding evening classes, after last week was cancelled due to snow.
In all I’ve enjoyed the classes and think I’ve learnt lots. But I found it hard work doing these in the evening after a long day at work, and was disappointed to start with, that the classes were more focused on repairing than starting from scratch.
But I finished the two big books I was working on, and I’m very pleased with how they turned out. Hopefully my mum will be too, but anything has to be an improvement on the poor book she gave me a few weeks ago.
Hopeful I will be able to use what I learnt in the last 10 weeks to improve the books that I make.

Oh dear

2010-12-06T12:56:00.000Z

Oh dear I’ve been rather lax with the blog these past couple of weeks.
Of course I’ve been busy as normal, but the real problem is that I haven’t made anything to write about. Essays about the courage of children in late 19th century novels really doesn’t count.
Bookbinding last week was cancelled due to heavy snow but has been rescheduled for this week, so hopeful I will have 2 finished books to display at the end of the week.
And I attended the gem and bead show in Farnham last week, so have some new beads to make into a necklace at some point.
Also the website for Garden Escapes is close to being finished, so there are many projects on the go, just none ready to show to world yet.
Must try harder.

Bookbinding Evening Class wk8

2010-11-19T16:23:00.001Z

No bookbinding last week as we went to see Bill Bailey live in London. He was very good.

So with 3 weeks left of the course I find myself with 2 projects to finish. The large book I bought from the library and took apart, needs putting back together and my Mum found a book which had lost its spine and both covers have come off, which she wants me to recover.
I spent most of last night by preparing my Mum’s book, and sewing the big book together.
I also watched as Sarah showed us how to round the spine of a book – you wouldn’t believe you should use a hammer when bookbinding.
And I learnt how to make a weavers knot. Very useful. It’s very similar to the sort of knot you make when casting knitting on, and means you don’t have to have masses of thread getting all knotted up as you sew your book together. It also means if you break the thread you can carry on. I also showed her a couple of the book I made last year which she was quite impressed with

Borrowing Dogs

2010-11-17T11:02:00.002Z

Yesterday we had another Lunchtime Writers Group. Once again we had some lovely pieces read out. I’m particularly jealous of the new developer who had just joined my new team and came along. Not only is she a graphic designer and a web developer but the piece she read out was the prologue to her novel (80,000 words in already) and was really good – very polished and professional and I think we all wanted to hear more.

I had a poem I was going to read out, but I lost my memory stick with all my work on so couldn’t print it out. Luckily it was safe at home so no big disaster.

The poem is inspired by all the poems for kids that I’m reading for the OU – Children’s Literature course, and of course my love of dogs.

Borrowing Dogs

Every morning at 7.58
I walk a bouncy white husky
Past our flat.

Every Monday night
I wait outside the chip shop opposite
With a curly spaniel.

Most evenings before dinner
I walk a shiny red setter
Up the road.

On Saturday mornings
I trot with black dog and white dog
In their numbered racing jackets.

And this week I’ve played
With the small black and white builders dog
Through the kitchen window.

Bookbinding Evening Class wk6

2010-11-05T10:47:00.001Z

I was incredibly tired last night, so didn’t seem to get much done in the class myself. But that didn’t matter too much as there was so much else to watch.

First Sarah showed us how to make paste paper.
You start with a small quantity of paste, similar to the recipe here, and mix it with acrylic paint to get the desired colour.
Once it is mixed well you apply it to your paper reasonably thickly and then the fun begins. Using anything at all you can make marks in the paste. It could be as simple as folding the paper in half and getting a stippled effect when you pull it apart, or more complicated by dragging an old comb or fork through it. Looking in the books Sarah bought to the class I saw how people had added extra colours to their paste after applying it to the paper, or drew on the paper with wax crayon first.
Once your paper is dry you only need a small piece to cover your book with, so can choose the very best part of the design.

Also being tried out last night was the stylus tool and the heated letters, both used for titling books with coloured foils, normally silver or gold.
To use the stylus tool you start by making your design on tracing paper – in this case the design was copied from the original cover of the book.
You then tape the foil and tracing paper to you cover in the desired place and using the heated stylus copy out the design. We were all very impressed how well the design came out.
The other way of doing this was to use letters similar to those used in a printing press which were mounted on a piece of long thin metal with a wooden handle. These were also heated and then pressed into the foil on to the cover of the book. Any excess was rubbed off with a little sandy brick dust and again we were impressed with the end result, especially as it was much harder to get them straight and the spacing right when doing this by eye.
This will be similar to how I get my design stamped on my books, if we can get the stamp to work properly.
All in all a good evening.

No time to think

2010-10-23T17:18:00.000+01:00

This week we had our first writers group since June. Nearly everyone had bought some work with them and the variety was amazing; poems, a chapter of a children’s book, a description of an alien girl and some comedy sketches. All good work. I’ve been working on a set of 3 poems but they weren’t ready in time for the meeting. Maybe for next time.

Then on Thursday I went to my 5th bookbinding evening class. More work on taking a book apart and getting ready to put it back together again. But Sarah also bought in a couple of books about ‘exposed spine sewing’ which I have borrowed. I’m hoping this will help me to prefect my Coptic sewing and give me some new ideas too.

Then yesterday I finally left my job as an Programme Administator. It was a bit of an odd day as I said good bye to people I’ve worked with for nearly 4 years to the day, only to move to a new building, maybe 100 yards away, to join the web team.
To be honest I haven’t had time to worry about the new job, as my first TMA for the Children’s Literature course is due in next Thursday!

Diploma in Literature and Creative Writing

2010-10-18T20:02:00.001+01:00

Look what came in the post today!
It is a Diploma in Literature and Creative Writing and is the result of all the work I put into both Creative Writing courses. I’m very pleased.
If I get another one, it will be a degree certificate! I wonder if I’ll get that far?

Bookbinding Evening Class wk 4

2010-10-17T19:00:00.001+01:00

This week at the bookbinding evening class I finished putting back together the small book I’ve been working on.
It is a book about different dog breeds, and while putting together the cover, Sarah showed me how to make an indent so that a photo, in this case from the original dust jacket, could be incorporated.
I used a dark green material to cover the book, and to be honest found it very similar to the thick wall papers that I normally use. I think I managed to create a good finish. The only thing stopping this being a well finished book is the spine ended up slightly wonky, meaning it doesn’t sit flat. Disappointing.
Sarah said she would bring in books next week about interesting stitching patterns. I look forward to having a good nose.

The Guildford Book Festival

2010-10-14T11:08:00.001+01:00

The Guildford Book Festival starts today and goes on till 23rd October.
There is much going on as you can see from their website. But this year I think I will have to give it a miss as my OU course is already very full on, with a hell of a lot of reading needed and the first TMA deadline creeping closer. On top of this I start my new job on 25th and am franticly trying to get my current job ship shape for which ever poor soul takes it on. Time seems to be rushing past at a rate of knots.

Bookbinding Evening Class wk 3

2010-10-10T11:01:00.001+01:00

I’ve always been bought up to believe that books are expensive and precious. I only normally buy books if I’ve read them before from the library, or borrowed from a friend, and have fallen in love.
So the idea of deliberately taking one of these books apart, when there is nothing wrong with it seems a crime to me. As I said in my last post a trip to a charity shop got me one small book to experiment on, and a trip to my local library a bigger book to work on. Don’t worry they sell old books!
This week I started putting my first small book back together again. In this case we were to use tapes to join the signatures to the covers and had to make holes round the tapes, before sewing the whole lot back together.
The joy of having two projects on the go at one time is that I can start taking the second book to pieces while I wait for Sarah to come back to show me what to do next.
I seem to be making a right mess of the second book, so would be very reluctant of doing this to a real old book. But then I guess if it was a real book that needed repairing it wouldn’t be stuck together as well as this one is.

Bookbinding Evening Class wk 2

2010-10-03T10:54:00.001+01:00

This week I managed to finish my first book and make a start on the second. As the class it aimed more at repairing damaged books than starting from scratch the second book was found in a charity shop and I spent the last hour of the lesson taking it to bits so that I can put it back together next week. A brilliant way to see how books are made and how they work.
I also learnt this week that you can cut round the covering material of your book on the insides of the covers before sticking in your end pages to make a very neat finish, and that by using acetate (in this case the transparencies from an OHP) between your end pages and the signatures of your book when you are drying it, you stop the signatures getting wet and wrinkling. Both good things to take away with me.
But I still don’t understand why you wouldn’t cover the whole book in your base cover – in this case a green paper bag, and then put on your spine and corners. Sarah didn’t seem to know ever. A mystery I shall have to look further into.

Bookbinding Evening Class wk 1

2010-09-24T11:13:00.001+01:00

Last night I went back to basics.
I joined the first of a 10 week bookbinding course at the local Adult Ed.
As our first project, we made a single signature hard covered book. I’ll post a photo once it’s finished – next week I hope.
The tutor, Sarah, seems very knowledgeable, but I’m undecided about the class at the moment.
I know most of the students had never done anything like this before, so starting at the beginning is a good idea. Also it means that after two weeks we will have a finished project to take home. A great way of keeping people motivated. But some of the things that I think are important – like not wasting material, or measuring things and being accurate, didn’t seem important to our tutor, while things like paper grain which I didn’t know anything about was of high importance according to Sarah.
Also in 2 hours I could have made a multi signature hard covered book, so it all seemed a bit slow.
But I will stick with it. I know there is so much about book binding that I don’t know, and in 10 weeks I can’t imagine the information I could collect. I think once we’ve done the 3 set projects to give us the skills we need, we’ll be able to carry on with our own projects – who knows what I might learn.

I believe you should be open to as many things as possible. Who knows where it might take you.

Change is in the Air

2010-09-20T18:31:00.002+01:00

It’s been ages since I last posted anything and in that time things have changed a bit.
For starters I’ve just got myself a new job. Still working at the University, but moving away from the Department of Electronic Engineering and moving to the Web Team. Finally all my hard work learning about web design seems to have paid off. Not only that but it’s the next grade up. I start on 25th October and as usual I’m a mix of nerves and excitement.
Of course that means that everyone is asking me to ‘just do this before you go’, the brand new level 1 students arrive next week and the returning students the week after, and with a work load like that it doesn’t seem possible to think of making anything.
So it’s no surprise that I’ve booked myself on a book binding evening class at the local Adult Ed Centre which kicks off this week.
And on top of all that I’ve only a week or so until the start of the next OU course.
Thank heavens for a supportive partner and home delivery by Sainsbury’s.

EA300 Children's Literature

2010-09-02T10:04:00.001+01:00

A big box of OU text books was waiting on the door step when I got home last night. As always they look scary, but I’m sure they will be exciting and interesting once I get stuck in.
My only issue with the paper work is that the normal calendar, an A3 sheet which would show you what you should be doing each week and when TMA’s are due in, and the book with all the assignments in it are now only available over the web – on a site that doesn’t open until mid September. This is slightly disappointing and means I’ll be printing more things off myself this year. Viewing things on the web is all very well, but when I have things to do on a weekly basis I like a physical list that I can tick off, and when working on assignments I like something that I can doodle and make notes on.
Anyway, everything kicks off on 2nd October. I can’t wait.

Amy Butler Sun Surf Halter

2010-08-30T13:03:00.002+01:00

For my first clothing project I thought I should go with something that looked relatively simple, so I choose Amy Butler’s Sun Surf Halter.
I have to say that this was my first go at something so complicated but her pattern made it really easy and I might even go as far as to say it was fun. It was amazing to put things together and have them fit perfectly.
As we’ve run out of sunshine here I think it’ll be perfect for our trip to Egypt in the new year – to sit on the beach or boat, for instance.
Maybe I’m ready for one of the more complicated patterns now…

Set Books

2010-08-27T17:39:00.001+01:00

My set books for EA300 Children’s Literature have finally turned up. I can’t wait to get reading and if I didn’t have things to do; work, cooking dinner, washing, blogging, I’d be sitting in a pile of books, cardboard boxes and packing materials reading.

This list include:
Peter Pan DVD (2003)
Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
Northern Lights, Philip Pullman
Swallows and Amazons, Arthur Ransome
Mortal Engines, P Reeve
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, JK Rowling
Tom’s Midnight Garden, Philippa Pearce
Junk, Melvin Burgess
100 Best Poems for Children, Roger McGough (ed)
Voices in the Park, Anthony Browne
The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Beatrix Potter
Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
Coram Boy, Jamila Gavin
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Mildred Taylor
The Other Side of Truth, Beverley Naidoo

Some of these are old friends and some are brand new and I can’t wait to get acquainted.

CIW Web Design Specialist

2010-08-24T14:29:00.005+01:00

Yesterday I took the second exam toward the Master CIW Web Site Manager qualification. This was the CIW Web Design Specialist exam and consisted of questions covering Site Development Essentials, Web Design Elements, and Basic and Advanced Web Technologies.
I managed to pass with 79%, which considering I’m only doing this in my spare time, and not every day in my job, I’m quite pleased with. It means I can now call myself a CIW Professional and a CIW Web Design Specialist.

To be honest I’m not sure I will end up with the final qualification as that would mean also taking tests on JavaScript, Peal and Server administration, and as I don’t use any of these things at all, it would take a huge amount of work for me to pass all three. But I’m still happy. The CIW Web Design Specialist was the qualification I was really working towards and I’m pleased to have passed.

Results

2010-08-16T11:02:00.002+01:00

I can’t believe we’re already half way through August.
But it does mean I’ve finally got my results for A363 Advanced Creative Writing from The Open University; and they’re not as bad as I’d feared. I got 79 for my huge final assignment with comments of ‘good’ and ‘excellent ideas’ (you don’t get very detailed comments because of the amount of marking they have to do). And a mark of 72 over all. This gives me a Grade 2 pass and a Diploma in Literature and Creative Writing! Apparently I can put the letters DipLCW(Open) after my name now. Very exciting.

As always I’ve also been busy with other things. I’ve completed the first of my sewing projects with another close to completion.
‘im outdoors has a second hand office chair, which had a slightly torn seat cover. The tear soon got bigger until I couldn’t bear to look at it any more.
So on the hunt for material for a top for me, I found some perfect material on the remnants table. It only took a morning to make a cover for the chair, and I’ve got enough material to make a cover for the back as well if I ever have time.

New Blue Book

2010-08-01T16:18:00.001+01:00

Now I’ve finished my OU course (until next time) I’ve suddenly got time to do things that I didn’t have time for when I was trying to write assignments. Which means I’ve made my first book in something like a year! It’s not great and could be improved but I’ve proved to myself that I haven’t forgotten how to do it, which was my main concern. It’s not bad really, just a small A5 book.
I might make some more over the summer, but I do have some sewing patterns to work on too…

The Sketchbook Project

2010-07-23T11:35:00.001+01:00

I’ve just come across something called ‘The Sketchbook Project’. And suddenly I’m really excited.

The idea is you sign up on their website, choosing a theme (In flight, A record year for rainfall, If you lived here…, Lights in the distance, to name a few) and they send you back a bar coded sketchbook. You then fill it up with things that kinda go with your theme and send it back.
Then the exciting bit, it goes on tour in America before finding a home at The Brooklyn Art Library. And because its bar coded you can keep track of who’s had a look.
I would really really love to join in, but as the art work needs to be worked on between now and January it kinda clashes with the next OU course.
Something for next year maybe? Along with National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)? Something else I’ve been wanting to do for a while now. Oh for more hours in the day.

Counting Sheep

2010-07-20T14:18:00.001+01:00

We had the last writers group of the academic year today.
Last months homework was to write a poem about a day out, and although I find poems hard work I thought I would give it a go.

Counting Sheep

Does she know,
As he turns her on her back,
What he’s going to do to her?
Keeping her left fore leg
Bent with his knee,
She lies docile,
Dark eye’s unfocused.

Thick rusty arms hold her,
Twisting her this way and that,
Following the contours of her body,
Each curve traced,
She is reduced.

It’s about our trip to the Alton Show at the beginning of July. I had wanted to write about the whole day but can see that concentrating on a particular part of the day, in this case the man demonstrating sheep shearing, would make a better poem. The group must have liked it, they suggested I send it to Farmers Weekly!

As unofficial administrator for the group I’ve agreed to make us a facebook page. Something else to add to my summer list. Next meeting October.

Stuff thats been happening

2010-07-12T20:05:00.002+01:00

Tomorrow my Level 3 and M students will be celebrating Graduation. I’m hoping the day will be sunny but not too warm. And with graduation work finally slows down a little and I have time to breath and do some filing. Its been a busy couple of months.

Today I also signed up for my next Open University course – EA300 – Children’s Literature. I’m excited and nervous in equal measures, as always when I sign on to one of the OU courses. It sounds so interesting and I’m really looking forward to reading the set books, but will I be able to write intelligent assignments about them? I’ll have to wait and see; it doesn’t start until October.

And finally the best bit. ‘im outdoors and I bought our selves a Digital SLR camera at the weekend. We’ve been talking about it for ages and saving a little towards it and we finally did it. It’s a Canon EOS 550D and its lovely. We spent a sunny weekend walking round the garden with it taking photos of flowers, sparrows and hoverflies.

A New Lunch Bag

2010-07-08T10:06:00.001+01:00

For ages now I’ve been taking my lunch into work in a tatty old plastic bag. I keep thinking to myself I should make a bag – it can’t be hard, I’ve made bags before, but making my own design was proving tricky.
Then on the spool site I found a design for a lunch bag. It looked good, was only £5 and they would email it to me so no waiting for the post.
Of course then I had to find some material. I already had some brilliant blue cotton which would make a good lining. Then I was directed to a shop called C&H which have a remnant table and there I found a lovely cream off cut. Perfect.
It only took me two evenings to put it together and some of that was making templates that were the correct size.
It’s very pleasing when a project comes together without too much work - because I was careful with my preparation, putting the design together was simple.

And on the subject of sewing I’ve just found Amy Butler. I’m in the process of trying to decide what pattern I can make. I love one of her dresses but think it might be a little hard for a beginner like me, so maybe one of her tops or a bag?
To be honest I’m pretty jealous. I love her patterns, I love her fabric and would love to be making stuff like her! I hope she realises how lucky she is.

A Book Review

2010-07-04T16:04:00.000+01:00

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote of how I’d just won Rebecca Goldstein’s 36 Arguments for the Existence of God. I’ve now read it and here is my very first book review.

36 Arguments for the Existence of God is the story of Cass Seltzer who’s book ‘The Varieties of Religious Illusion’ has become a surprise best seller. We then meet various people from his past who have inspired his writing in some way.
The book was ok. The story was nice and the characters quirky. But it was hard work. I don’t want a book that doesn’t give me at least a little bit of a challenge, but at the same time I would like to understand more than two words in every sentence.
I enjoyed reading about the Jewish community, something I have no experience of, but felt that the flitting from current day to the past – sometimes in the same chapter made it confusing and I lost track, several times, of what was happening now and what had happened then.
I also thought that there were a lot of side plots what didn’t really go anywhere. His ex-wife wasn’t really explained and what was the point of Lucinda? I fear that these, amongst other things, are points that I missed or didn’t fully understand because of the language used.
But over all it was an interesting and sometimes funny story with a main character who you end up caring about. It was defiantly worth finishing.

Enjoying the Garden

2010-06-28T20:33:00.004+01:00

I don't know about you, but although I'm loving the sunshine, the heat makes it hard for me to concentrate on any of my projects.

The best thing? To just sit in the hammock that 'im outdoors has hung for me, and read.

But the Catalpa Bignonioides "Aurea", or Golden Indian Bean Tree seems to be loving the sunshine. I love its gold coloured leaves against a brilliant blue sky.

Curtain Bird

2010-06-19T15:19:00.002+01:00

With no assignments to write, I’ve had to keep myself busy with other projects.
While perusing the internet and following random links between sites I found the lovely Spool. Based in Philadelphia they are sadly a little far away to visit, although I’d love to if the fabric on their website is anything to go on. But they do have a few free patterns, so I downloaded myself a blue bird and had a go. I’m not a great at sewing, (yes I know I made a blind, but some of the lines are very wonky!) so this was a good starting project.
The only fabric I have is off cuts from our bedroom curtains, which I think actually worked really well.
So having had success with the bird I shall now try a slightly harder project – a lunch bag. I just need some appropriate material first – I feel a shopping trip coming on.

A House on an Island

2010-06-15T20:44:00.001+01:00

It’s the last week of semester and I am totally run off my feet with Level 3 project marks and getting ready for exam boards amongst other things. But today I made the effort to attend the writers groups – seeing as we only meet once a month.
Last months homework was to write about a house. The Chair had provided pictures of houses cut out of magazines and newspapers and we had our pick.
Having chosen a small cottage I actually managed to find some time to write about it, although I didn’t get a change to edit it before the meeting.

My rough draft:

We didn’t see the house that first night. The fog was too thick; all we could see was the path leading to the door and our feet. I’ve always thought of fog as going from the ground up, so maybe this was very low cloud.
Frank had spent most of the journey moaning about the weather, and I hoped it would get better, but I didn’t really mind. At least we were away from work and the City and not stuck in some hot sticky place full of chavs.
That first night was so welcoming. Dinner left warming in the oven, a big fireplace ready for us, the bed turned down, the water hot. No people.
But that first night that was just fine, we didn’t want to see anyone either.

I was up early the next day, eager to explore the island. Frank was still asleep and I didn’t expect him to be up before lunch, we were on holiday after all.
The fog has gone leaving behind a damp island surrounded by blue sea and blue sky. In the distance I could see the mountains of Scotland, but the mainland felt miles away. In the early morning light everything seemed beautiful.
The island was unbelievably small; at one point I could see the sea surrounding us on all sides. This I had been expecting, but the fact there were no other houses I hadn’t. I didn’t think that Frank would like that, but the cottage seemed to have everything we needed so I didn’t mind.
I took my time getting back, looking at everything and thinking about what to make for lunch.
Frank wasn’t there when I got back. He must have gone on a walk of his own, although the island is small enough that I probably would have seen him.
I didn’t worry, just started to prepare lunch. He’d be hungry when he got back.

It is starting to get dark now and Frank’s still not back. I don’t know what to do. I’ve walked round the island again but seen no sign of him. He won’t have gone swimming, he hates water. Where can he be? I want this to be some elaborate joke, but Frank’s not the type. He can’t have left without me, I’d have seen the boat and all his stuffs still here…

I was trying to see if I could change the mood of a piece of writing which I think worked. The group seemed to like it. The big question; What happened to Frank?

Homework for next month: either write a poem about somewhere you are going to visit in the next month or write a story designed for a commuters journey.

Surrey Artists Open Studios

2010-06-06T11:28:00.000+01:00

This weekend kicks off the Surrey Artist Open Studios event. This is a two week period to visit artist in Surrey - to look at their work, buy their work and in some cases see demonstrations of how they work. Some are even running workshops.
They’ve got about 440 artists across Surrey participating and all will be open on Sunday 13th June.
How amazing is that? A chance to go round and have a nose in other people’s workshops, but also to see a huge amount of art in every media possible. Just looking through the brochure I picked up at work I’m quite jealous of the work space some of these people have. Of course if I put in a few hours and cleared up the study of all the rubbish I bought back from my parents I too would have a pretty good space to work in. A task for this afternoon I fear.

QI

2010-05-31T11:08:00.002+01:00

It’s typical that with a nice long bank holiday weekend coming up and with lots to do, I end up with a head cold. But that kicked off on Saturday and Friday was the really important day.
It’s ‘im outdoors birthday this week and as a surprise I managed to get tickets for us to watch them film BBC2’s QI. This is a programme we watch a lot, to be honest one of the only programmes that I’ll bother to watch, so to see it live was amazing. Hosted by Stephen Fry and on this occasion featuring Alan Davies, Ross Noble, Jeremy Clarkson and David Mitchell.
But not only was it 3 hours of funny discussion, it was also their 100th episode, so we all got a special badge and got to sing the programme happy birthday – not strange at all.
Most importantly I managed to keep it a surprise until we got into the queue, quite an achievement as I’ve been planning this since Jan, and ‘im outdoors really enjoyed himself. Now to start planning for next year…

A363 – Done

2010-05-21T09:33:00.003+01:00

Today is the deadline for getting the final assignment for A363 – Advanced Creative Writing to the OU.
As I posted it on Monday I’m kinda hoping it’s there by now. I would cry if they sent it back unopened because it didn’t get there in time.
My story in the end was 22 pages long, double spaced, and called ‘Blast from the past’. I don’t think it is a bad story, although ask me that again in a couple of years and I might think differently.
To be honest right now I am just enjoying the freedom of no homework to be done and no deadlines to be aiming for. Of course I’ll be keeping myself busy – I’ve a large list of things I want to do, for instance making stuff, improving my book binding skills and maybe a bit of swimming on a Sunday morning.

But now I need to decide if I want to join another OU course. I’m quite tempted by EA300 – Children’s Literature, which includes some of my favourite children’s books as set texts – Tom’s Midnight Garden, Northern Lights, and Swallows and Amazons, amongst others. Would reading them in this sense spoil them for me or enhance them? Do I really want to write assignments about them? Do I really want to spend another 9 months studying? (and its not going to be just 9 months is it? If I do this one then I’ll want to do another 2 to finish my degree)
So many questions. Luckily ‘im outdoors is being his normal supportive self, so I know that whatever I decide, he’ll be right there with me, and checking my assignments if I need him too.

Ad Free Site

2010-05-17T15:56:00.002+01:00

You might have noticed over the last week that I’ve added a little red icon on the right saying ‘Art not Ads’.
By showing this icon I’m stating that I am opposed to the use of corporate advertising on blogs (and to be honest in general – surly if I need something I’ll be able to find out about it without it flashing up on every webpage I visit).

So you can be sure that if I talk about something on this blog, its because I love it or have an opinion about it, not because I’ve been given any money to advertise it there.

36 Arguments for the Existence of God

2010-05-12T13:25:00.000+01:00

This is the book the nice people at Mslexia have just sent me.
In the grand scheme of things I’m a lucky person; I have a lovely partner; we have a lovely flat plus garden; I’ve got a job that pays me well, etc etc. But when it comes to competitions etc I’m not so lucky. Not, I should hasten to add, that I’m moaning. But when I do win something it’s very unexpected and a nice treat.

Mslexia have a competition every edition of their magazine for a book of some kind. Some times it’s a work of fiction like this one, sometimes a book of poems, but I always enter as I’m always interested in writing which is new to me. Imagine my surprise when I received an email to say I’d won! To be honest I’d completely forgotten that I’d entered.
I’m looking forward to reading it, but it’s on my bedside table reading pile for now.

Fears and dreams

2010-05-08T13:20:00.002+01:00

On Thursday night I stayed late at work as I was meeting some friends in town. Taking Keri Smith’s advice I decided to try out being a guerrilla artist.
As I didn’t have any chalk, and to be honest I’m a bit worried about someone seeing me and getting in to trouble, I decided to make up flyers and post them up in the (girls) loos at work.
It’s one of my favourite quotes/sayings and in the lead up to exam time at the university I thing it is appropriate.
I just hope it inspires someone.

Only a week left before I need to post (snail mail for this one) my final assignment for A363. I’m just over the word limit with more story to go, which is amazing as normally I find that incredibly hard to get to. 4122 words so far!
I can’t wait to finish. I’ve really enjoyed the course and learnt lots, but it has been hard work and I’ll be very glad to get my Sundays and evenings back.

Canoscan Lite 200

2010-04-26T20:14:00.002+01:00

I can’t decide if my computer doesn’t like working Sundays or if it just gets so used to not working through out the week, when I get all the computer time I can stand at work so I don’t turn it on, that when I do turn it on on Sunday its forgotten what to do.

The picture above might not look like much but it’s my first scan and photoshop work that I’ve done at home (it’s a scan of one of my beady necklaces). That’s right I’ve finally bought a scanner – a tiny Canoscan Lite 200, and although I tried yesterday I couldn’t get it to work. This evening it can’t be more helpful.

I’m looking forward to playing a lot more, but it’s already cut into my A364 ECA – end of course assessment, writing time so I should probably get back to that now. The deadline is after all looming.

Coffee Table

2010-04-19T18:16:00.001+01:00

I know this blog is supposed to be about the stuff I make but I just had to share!
We’ve been needing a coffee table for our living room for a while now, xbox controllers and magazines were living on the sofa, but we couldn’t found one we liked.
Then ‘im outdoors found out about a sawmill about an hours drive away, so we went for a drive one Saturday morning. There we found a lovely huge piece of pear wood. So we took it home and I left him with it.
And now we have this beautiful one of a kind table. I’m very impressed – it’s gone from a dusty lumpy lump of wood to something that shines and has a deep pink colour to it. It goes so well with everything else in the flat! Perfect.
Thanks ‘im outdoors.

The Wish Jar

2010-04-12T16:14:00.001+01:00

Well that’s my Easter Holiday over.
I’m back at work and I’ve just come across the most brilliant blog!
What? The students and academics are off for another 2 weeks.
It’s written by Keri Smith and is called The Wish Jar.
I particularly like The Rebels Manifesto:
2# Care not for the opinions of others. They are based on their own thoughts and fears
11# Question EVERYTHING and
12# Follow your heart.
I also like her idea page, which has been printed and I shall use to inspire me this summer when the OU thing is done – last assignment date 21st May!! (TMA05 got 80%)

I have photos to show you, but my USB ports have suddenly stopped working so I can’t download my photos or use my memory stick or external hard drive! Grrrwwww!

Took Me Long Enough

2010-04-08T18:05:00.005+01:00

I don’t know if you remember, but over a year ago now I bought some beads from Linden Avenue Designs on Etsy. I loved the colours and bought them on impulse without really knowing that to do with them. Then we moved house, and I started studying A363 and so they got put to one side for a bit.
But I have been thinking about them and so with two weeks off work for Easter I’ve finally made the necklace that I wanted.
I know it looks simple – just thread them on the wire, but I actually had to drill the holes as they were really tiny, but that wasn’t a problem with my little multi tool.

What I love best about them is the fact you can change the colours, so if you’re wearing blue you could have a blue necklace, red and it’s red and so on. Or all of them for something brilliant and cheerful.

Thanks to ShortForNothing for taking the photos!

We’re all going to the zoo … yesterday…?

2010-03-23T20:02:00.001Z

You may remember that in January for my birthday ‘im outdoors adopted a pair of aardvarks for me at London Zoo. We wanted to go and visit them but it was cold and wet and really not weather to be outside.
So yesterday we finally went up to meet them.
Typical English spring weather – sunshine and showers, but that was fine.
London Zoo is surprisingly small so it was easy to walk round and see everything in a day. We saw monkeys and zebras and macaws and of course the aardvarks Kiyo and Misha. When we first got there they were asleep, after all they are nocturnal, but then they got woken up for their lunch and came outside. As the keeper said they do kinda look like they got all the left over bits from all the other animals but I have to say I think they are very cute and if I didn’t think they would destroy the garden I’d have one instead of a dog. Wonder what they are like at keeping cats out?
Thanks ‘im outdoors. A great present, I expect to be boring people with the photos for a while now.

The Artist in the Office – part 2

2010-03-21T11:24:00.002Z

It’s finally arrived – or rather I’ve finally been able to pick it up from the post office, and I have to admit I’ve read it through already.
And it was just as good as I’d hoped. I’ll be going back and reading it all again, and this time I’ll stop and do all the things she suggests.
Summer uses the word artist very broadly to cover anyone who paints, draws, writes, makes music etc.
It’s aimed at those of us who do the above but have a full time job too. I don’t know about you, but on those slow days in the office where I just pretend to be busy, I wish I could be home creating stuff or at least have photoshop on my PC so I could mess with my photos.
Summer looks at how we can use our time better. Do you commute to work? Why not try a little Commuter Bingo. Rather than sit and eat your lunch at your desk while you surf the net, why not have a lunchtime adventure?
But its not just about how to be creative in your time at work (without getting fired!). She makes some very good points about jobs/work too.
Reading this I’ve realised that I resent my job. I hate the fact I’m administrator. When I was younger I wanted to be a vet, an artist, a writer. I mean really, who dreams of being an administrator when they grow up.
So I’m going to do all of her exercises and 1. See if that helps me appreciate my job a bit more, 2. Work out what changes (if any) I need to make, to make 9 to 5 a great part of my life and 3. See if I can come up with a plan (just a little one) to take me forward in a creative way.
Exciting huh?

TMA05

2010-03-17T12:25:00.000Z

We had the writers group yesterday.
Although I’d set the homework – 'She wore a red dress… to be continued in single syllables', in the end I didn’t do it as I’ve been working instead on TMA05 – due in on Friday and TMA06 due in after Easter.
So I read the first part of my TMA and received not only some good comments but some useful comments too. Which is lucky as I need another 144 words to hit the word limit.
Not sure if I should post this before submitting it but here is the first bit anyway.

In the end the banging becomes too much and she gets out of bed.
With her dressing gowned pulled tight round her she stops at the living room door and watches Adam and two work men.
She doesn’t know what they are doing; doesn’t really care. Just wishes they would leave her in peace.
They’ve done something to the window although she can’t work out what.
‘Darling; I didn’t know you were up.’ Says Adam as he turns and spots her watching them.
‘Couldn’t really help it with all the racket you were making.’ she says.
Adam says something quickly to the work men, her Finnish isn’t good enough to work out what, then ushers her out of the room.
Seated at the breakfast bar he pours her a glass of juice.
‘What are they doing?’ she asks.
‘It’s a surprise. I thought you could do with cheering up.’
‘It would cheer me up if they went away.’
‘They’ll be going soon, they’re nearly finished. Anyway you’ll love it.’
‘So what is it?’
‘You’ll see in a minute. Do you want some breakfast?’
‘I don’t know. I can’t work out what bloody time of day it is here. It’s always dark. When can we go home?’ She plays with the condensation on her glass of juice. Adam comes over and hugs her.
‘Jenny we talked about this. I’ve got to be here for the whole nine months. You were excited then.’
‘Yes, but that was before I found out it’s always bloody dark here.’ She wiggles out of his embrace.
‘Give it another couple of months and it’ll never get dark.’
‘That’s another couple of months that I don’t think I can deal with.’ As she looks up Adam sees the tears in her eyes.
‘Well that’s why I got you a surprise.’ He takes her hand and leads her back into the living room. The work men have gone and you would never know they had been there. But there is still something odd about the window.
She can’t work it out. The potted plant is still sitting on the window sill along with a large wooden sculpture and the stripy curtains which she thinks clash with the sofa.
And then she does get it.
‘How did you do that?’ She’s gone right up to the window now to look out, and she’s grinning like a child. Adam is grinning too.
Where the window before has shown a few houses and the start of a forest all encased in darkness and snow, except for a short time round midday when the sun shows its light on the horizon, now it is full of day light and summer.
‘I knew you were powerful but that’s ridiculous’ Jenny says never taking her eyes off the houses and trees outside.
‘Is it a photo?’
‘Nope’
‘A painting?’
‘Nope’
‘Some sort of computer thingy?’
‘Nearly. It’s a video.’
‘But how does it change when I move?’ Jenny is now pacing back and forth in front of the window, watching as the houses retreat and the sky enlarges. Now the sky retreats and the houses enlarge.
‘I won’t pretend to know the details, but this is cutting edge technology. Officially we’re testing this for the company – only a few have been made. It’s pretty amazing hey?’
Jenny’s not really listening. She has her hands on the glass and can feel the warmth of summer on her palms.

p.s excitingly I’ve got a red card from the postman to say he couldn’t deliver a package for me as it was too big for our post box. Fingers crossed that it’s the 'Artist in the Office'.

Blue Tit House

2010-03-07T17:30:00.001Z

I know it’s not a great photo, but this is evidence that someone is using one of the bird boxes that ‘im outdoors made. In the depths of winter while everything was covered in a foot of snow, ‘im outdoors kept him self busy in the garage and made two bird boxes.
We’ve put them at either end of the garden, one designed for blue tits and one for great tits. (the holes are different sizes)
We’ve seen birds looking at both and this box is getting a lot of attention. Hopefully they will decide its up to scratch.