All Fingers and Thumbs

One of my new found pleasures this summer has been Instagram , I'm late to the party but enjoying it very much. Three months in to using the app I am a BIG fan. Here is a mosaic of a few of my favourite shots from August. Happy summery month, with work trips curtailed it was all spent in the UK for the first time in I don't know how long. I love capturing ordinary little moments from the days. Something pretty, something funny, anything that makes me pause. I love the immediacy of the capture and share with Instagram. Since I began knitting and blogging I'm always reaching for the camera or the phone to help hold on to a little fragment of a memory, I talked about the window these creative hobbies give me on to my own life earlier in the year. I find though when I upload photos and think about blogging I'm picky about the subject matter, the quality of the shot and am of course reflecting back on the moment rather than being there in it. Good to be able to be more

Excuse me if I am a little melodramatic. After finishing up nearly eleven years in the same company doing the full time plus routine yesterday there is something 'first day of the rest of my life' about today! So I felt it only fitting to start as I mean to go on: no unachievable to do lists, no rushing from here to there, no busy busy. Plenty of whimsy, catching up with some mundane house matters and a date with a deck chair. A quiet day at home alone - letting things settle. A simple sock started on Monday to hand to help with the flow. Feeling good, feeling right.

  Oh many pricks have burst my bubble this week but memories made this weekend are keeping me going. There was so much time then! Time for lovely meals, to enjoy the garden, to watch the sunlight. Crafting done, including a poster made for a new craft circle I am trying to start up in our local community centre. A lesson learnt about the unsuitability of muslin for free motion embroidery on the sewing machine. Seems so obvious now! A start of a pair of slippers. New fabrics bought, silk checked pyjamas dreamt of.. Gentle, rhythmic tapestry and a flower more done than not. Just happy at home days, with little forays out in to the world for socialising and supplies. More of these to come and meanwhile trying to smile, breathe and go slowly through the week. When I harrumphed a rhetorical question from a very grumpy corner of the sofa on Monday evening - "Why is it so hard to be Zen at work?" I got a very wise answer back from the Mr - "Bec

The first thing I did after writing here was of course none of the things I was contemplating. Love that. After futzing around on the interwebs a little longer I had a thought to make a little embroidery. So I scared up a scrap of calico and spent some time with some words that are of great importance to me. I think I first found this quote from Thich Nhat Hanh via this post from a favourite blog Zen Habit s and it's been living over in my sidebar ever since. Just because it is there though doesn't mean I remember this wisdom when I need it most, it's so easy to stop seeing what is in front of us regularly. I chose a favourite thread, sat quietly on the sofa and enjoyed stitching these words mindfully so very much. I felt like I did the first time I read them. Starting that evening with a deep, slow, breath and holding these words at the forefront of my mind this weekend is really helping me to dig in to each moment just as I wished when I wrote the post on Friday. I'

is my word for the weekend. After the swirl of excitement of the last one I'm delighted that the days ahead have little shape or schedule to it, a dinner out on Sunday evening is the only fixture. No plans but plenty of ideas of how to slowly enjoy it, savour it, steep in it. Sewing perhaps? This piece of muslin has been making suggestions of what it would like to be, the fabric shop is calling for materials for a whole wardrobe suitable for a focus on lounging and my tapestry is a happy way to occupy hands and let thoughts drift. My garden would like a little attention I am sure. Maybe I'll make good on a throw away promise of making August the month to learn how to make macaroons . I'll bet on dreaming some more and following up trails from the Folksy inspiration blast . I'd love to dig in to the films online from one of the speakers, Nick Hand .  I pinned a peachy cocktail that would tantalise my tastebuds. Greenery Street is a gentle stop in my soft summer book

I spent the weekend in a marquee and feel like someone took my brain and gave it a massive jolt of inspiration, squashed in a ton of useful information and left me buzzing with excitement about all the possibilities out there for the future. Not one someone, many someones and all down to the genius idea that was  Folksy Summer School , the brilliant speakers they lined up and the lovely crowd that showed up.  They laid on so much for us to enjoy but being a swot, I stuck to the classroom. I knew I wanted to capture all I could from hearing such a range of people speak about so many aspects of setting up, running and growing the kinds of businesses I love to see flourishing all around. Go, go cottage industries! Twitter and Instagram should link to a lot more if you want to see other perspectives about a really special event - the hash tags are #folksyss and #folksysummerschool. I signed up with limited expectations really, my friend was going, I thought it sounded fun

I loved Dr K's comment on the rag rugging post about being busy trying ALL the crafts. So true. I have the biggest urge to flit from one new obsession to another. I'm littering just started projects in my wake as new crafts blow in this summer demanding attention.  I've wanted this tapestry kit designed by Anna Maria Horner for an age. I literally couldn't imagine how it could be more perfect for me: colours, shape, subject matter. Well possibly she could have thrown a bee in there but I'll call it perfect nonetheless.  I was delighted to find my not so subtle hints brought me this birthday gift as t hese kits are pretty splurgey. The sort of thing you can't quite justify buying for yourself when you already have approximately sixty or seventy thousand hours of craft supplies occupying nooks, crannies and just most of the living space in the house. Though really there's never enough is there?  I started it the day after my lovely

I've got some lovely new crafty things to show but I haven't got them and the camera to make acquaintance yet. A weekend at home coming up for the first time in a few weeks so perhaps I'll manage to take some snaps as it wouldn't do to blog about them without picchures would it now? In the meantime these are some of my favourite photos from last weekend which was spent on the south coast: Rottingdean, Hastings, Battle and Brighton. Happy memories.