For The Rhythm Of Life Is A Powerful Beat

Helloooooo and welcome to a new week.

Today started off frosty but sunny and quickly turned to cloudy with fog around the place.

Certainly had me fooled into thinking we were in for a lovely day,

I cranked up the wood stove and put a ham hock and split peas on to cook away.

Pea and ham soup is a favourite in this household and the last few years my hubby has made it but I've done the job today.

Fingers crossed it tastes just as good as his does otherwise..........

The washing is hanging on the clothes horse in front of the heater and the towels are on the line. Sometimes the excitement of my day to day life is overwhelming, hehehe.......

The sewing machine is back in action and as you can see by the photo I have been busy cutting out circles (some more 'circly' than others.....) from felted woollen jumpers.

They look like gambling chips from a casino in their little stacks.........

Pin them together and start sewing............

Believe it or not they make lovely, warm scarves as they are made from wool.

Wrap it around your neck a couple of times, loop it, tie it in a knot.

The options are almost endless.

The colours in the pic are almost spot on.

They remind me of beautiful little Blue Wrens.

I have to say this is not my clever idea but if I remember correctly I saw this in a Better Homes and Garden magazine some time ago and without doubt there are other crafty types who also make them.

I have one in a different colour way that I made about 3 years ago.

I love it and wear it often in Winter.

I did think perhaps it was time to retire it but after wearing it out on Saturday morning and receiving 2 compliments within an hour, I have decided it's not quite ready to go into mothballs.

The above scarf isn't finished just yet, needs a few more circles sewn on, so no final pic.

I'm preparing for a market this coming Saturday and I think scarves and fingerless gloves/wrist warmers may be a good seller.

So guess what I shall be doing this week?

Cutting out things from felted woollen jumpers can leave you with a lot of teeny, tiny scraps. I hate throwing them away, so pop them in a plastic bag to be used on other projects.

Sometimes I just need a small piece to add to a soft toy .

But the size of the scrap bag is growing and I have ideas swirling round as to how to use some of them up.

I like the idea of a scrappy, patchwork type of project, so shall keep thinking about it.

Hopefully something wonderful will spring to mind before my work space is taken over by my scrap pile...........

Alot of time was spent by the heater over the weekend as it was very chilly.

No. 1, has taken it on himself to keep the heater glass clean, no arguments from me.

So today he was sitting on the little stool with newspaper and a water spray bottle scrubbing the glass.

Easy peasy, scrunch up a piece of newspaper, spray the glass with water and wet the paper. Dip the scrunched paper into the cold ash in the heater and use it to clean the glass. The ash acts as an abrasive which doesn't damage the glass but help remove the build up of black film .

Mind you if it's baked on over a long period of time, more elbow grease is required and there's no guarantee that you will remove all the buildup but it's lovely sitting back looking at the logs burning.

After spending some time out and about on Saturday it was nice to get home to the warmth.

There's something I love about wintry Saturday afternoons .

The photo was taken about 5pm, it was cold out, warm inside. The football is on the radio, not that I'm a huge fan but keep my eye/ear on it just to see who is winning.

There are clothes drying by the heater, cat purring on the couch, the boys are out No. 1 is playing at a food and wine festival nearby.

It's quiet, it reminds me of Saturday afternoons in Winter when I was a child.

Back then I found them cold, boring and downright dreary I guess, but I love this time on my own now.

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Now, I have a favour to ask all you lovely ladies.........

I have a mystery that needs to be solved before it does my head in........

So grab your Deerstalker and pipe and read on.

You see, I found the website of a lovely artist in the UK, she makes beautiful jewellery using silver and beads.

From what I can remember, she doesn't have a blog or an etsy shop, you commission a piece.

Anyway, viewing some of her lovely necklaces , I spied one that had a Badger engraved onto it, she also engraves Hares and other creatures in her work.

She was having an exhibition somewhere, but I can't remember where and her website doesn't show up in my history for some reason and believe me I have looked until I went cross eyed.

So I haven't been able to track her down yet, but I am working on it. I thought some of you super sleuth Sherlock Holmes types might be able to help me out.

If you come across someone who does this type of thing, would you mind emailing me a link or commenting, I would certainly appreciate it.

Thankyou

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Well, blogger certainly gave us the run around recently, but all seems to be back in order now. Wasn't it frustrating not being able to post comments etc?

So to those who commented on my previous post and then were deleted by Blogger thanks for the comment I managed to read them all before they disappeared and to those recent commenter's thank you as well, always lovely to have you stop by and say 'hi'.

Well, I better finish off the soup and see how it tastes, throw another log on the fire and check the washing. There are windfall apples to be cooked up and the last of the tomatoes too.

Can I stand the excitement?

I hope your week has some excitement in store for you.

Whatever it brings I hope you have a good week and thankyou so much for stopping by.

Till next time, take care,

Claire X