All Fingers and Thumbs

Happy September, autumn in the air. A month of change - of new starts and things coming to fruition in the northern hemisphere. The perfect month to be starting a new job. I felt all back to school-ish on Tuesday when I set off, no shiny bag, shoes or pencil tin to send me on my way but different commuting routes to explore and enjoy. My office now is based on the Cowley Road in Oxford, a bustling, busy place compared to the business park I have been on. Two days done and I'm crazy happy with that and everything about this new role. I love the freshness of this month, a chance to turn a page or start a new exercise book. Breaking from routines brings in opportunities to do more of what you love, what you want to do, what makes you sing and less of what you find yourself doing by rote, for convenience or because you think you should. My few days break gave me that feeling I often get dreaming away on holiday, thinking about all the things you could do i...

A stately old lady has come to stay with me. 120 years young if I read her number correctly (love that Singer list these on their site ). She was £3 in a local auction. £3! The first photo is how she came out of her original case, complete just a bit dirty. She's been waiting in the wings a month or so now so that I had time to read and watch some of the many resources generously shared online and learn a little of her mysteries. All I've had to do is a little cleaning and oiling this weekend, adjust the tension and now she's trundling away happily making stitches. Just forward, nothing fancy you understand but if I'm still here at 120 I doubt I'll still be making stitches! Somehow she's both baffling and simple. So many great resources online are helping me get her stitching like she should be - she's a long bobbin or vibrating shuttle or whatever the correct terminology is. The bobbin sits in a bullet shaped case. I'd never realise...

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 ...