28 Drawings later

Hello...........I took part in a drawing challenge throughout February over on Facebook, the project was called '28 drawings later' the aim being to produce a piece of art each day.  It turned out to be a great way of seeing some amazing art, there are some seriously talented artists out there.

So much so the organisers have arranged a exhibition to be held (in the real world) in Scotland on the 21st March, with each artist sending in 5 pieces of work, if they want to with a view to maybe selling some of the art,  exciting stuff.

I've decided not to take part in the exhibition so instead today I thought I'd share a post with all 28 of my drawings together.   

 Happy Crafting

Clare x

Patchwork February

Hello... I hope you are all having a lovely weekend? As always I'm running a little late but here's February's mosaics, I've been trying to get around to writing this post all week.

There was lots of yarny goodness going on in Feb, Art too and trying to get things finished in time for the Craft exhibition, (more on that another day.)

Out in the garden the flowers were waking up, it's so lovely to see the Spring bulbs.

I also finished my first ever blanket, the Cosy Baby, quite a achievement for me as I have several ongoing blankets that some how never quite get finished. 

So for March it will be back to the Seaside Pebble Cosy blanket to try and get it finished. I also want to make a few additions to my Springtime Wreath before the equinox.   It a bit of a relief that the Craft Exhibition is finally all up, as it will give me a chance to focus on other things for a while.

Happy Crafting

Clare xx

28 Drawings later (week 4)

Hello......... So I made it to the end of the 28 Day Drawing Challenge, yippee

Day 22: Is a colour pencil Primrose.

With a little help from chief crafting assistant Merlin, he just loves to get involved.

Day 23: I attempted to sketch my mandolin.

Day 24: Is another blast from the past, one I made earlier, as I had a very long and busy day, six hours there and back for a hospital appointment.

Day 25: Today I wanted to sketch a Hyacinth in remembrance of my Great Uncle, with yesterdays long hospital trip I wasn't well enough to attend his funeral today.  So instead I remembered him by drawing this, he loved Hyacinths

Day 26: Is another one I made earlier, a water colour and ink, I'm still struggling with the post exertional malaise from Tuesdays appointment. Payback is just no fun,

Day 27: The last few days of this project I've just run out of steam the payback from my hospital appointment on top of a ongoing relapse was just to much so today I shared this drawing from last year.  Seeing as we saw the London skyline, including the Shard on  the way to the Hospital Tuesday.

Day 28:  (finally) for day 28 I had hoped to share a new picture but alas it was not to be, in the end I shared this water colour of our Horse Chestnut in bloom.

So I kind of made it to the end of the challenge.

Happy Crafting

Clare xx

28 Drawings Later (week three)

Hello........... I'm running a bit behind as usual as I've just realised I'm yet to post weeks three pictures from the 28 Drawings Later project, let alone weeks four which ends today.

Day 15: I attempted to draw, chief crafting assistant Merlin, I tried to capture him doing that kneading thing cat do with there paws.

Day 16: Was a quick water colour and ink of some daffodils, I'm loving that Spring is on the way at last.

Day 17: Is a water colour and ink I did of some Anemones a while ago, so it's a bit of a cheat, but there was just no energy for art today.

Day 18: I shared a mask design I've been working on, for the local Craft Club Exhibition, we have all been given a blank cardboard mask to decorate any way we choose as one of the exhibition themes. I'll share a post about the mask when it's finished, I'm nearly there which is good as the exhibition opens next week.

Day 19: I managed a quick watercolour and ink of some Crocus to add to my Snowdrops.

Day 20: Was a very quick water colour pencil drawing, I'm really struggling to keep up with everything at the moment.

Day 21: Is another old drawing from last year inspired by my favourite view from the house.

With my low energy levels I've really struggled to keep up with this project, producing a drawing each day has been impossible with my current levels of illness, so I've had to include some older pieces hopefully that's OK as it's the best I can manage at the moment.

21 down 7 more drawing to go.

Happy Crafting

Clare xx

Five on Friday (2)

Hello.......... Today I'm going to be joining in with Amy's Five on Friday. Life with a Chronic illness is pretty tough and you try to do anything that might improve symptoms.  For many years now I've been trying to eat a healthy diet in the hope, it might help me recover.

In a way it is helping, as last Summer I had a very bad brush with Diabetes, that was very rare and very odd effectively my pancreas just stopped working for about 3 months, which was a bit of a shock, but by the time all the tests came back and I was give a glucose monitor and about to start on insulin, my levels were back to normal, spontaneous recovery in Diabetes is rare (mostly unheard of)

Since then I've been baffling doctors, who say even though my levels are back to normal ' I must be a diabetic', as when I had a glucose challenge test, the result were really bad and I was brought in to the hospital again to start insulin, only for my home monitor readings to be checked and be fine.   So eating clean appears to be keeping me off insulin and long may that continue. Fingers crossed at some point they will figure out what's going on as at the moment it's not even clear what type of Diabetes I have.

So today for my five things I thought I'd post about eating clean, I mostly eat a organic diet with lots of fresh vegetables, I eat fish and chicken, no red meat, I don't eat any yeast (bread how I miss you) and I eat very limited wheat and dairy, I could do better, but life's for living so I'm the first person to admit to the occasional slip, so my first picture is a quick shot of the pantry. Lots of nuts and seeds, quinoa, almond flour and lovely raw cacao powder and some sneaky brown rice pasta on the upper shelf.

Picture two, is a soup from last Saturday, Roasted Red Pepper, Tomato and Red Onion with Cannellini beans, which was really yummy we always make a big batch and put some in the freezer for days when I don't have the energy to get out of bed let alone think about food.

As I said I don't eat much dairy, but I do occasionally have a organic natural yogurt, along with lots of probiotics as I've been taking antibiotics since 2008 for suspected Lyme disease. It's a tricky one as I have not recovered on them, but I am better while taking them and relapse further without. I think they are keeping it at bay rather than killing it. If that's even what I have, I still don't have a definitive diagnosis, It could be Lyme disease, my official diagnosis was ME/CFS (but now that doesn't fit) or it could be a yet to be discovered autoimmune condition, the doctors just don't know, any road I've got a bit off track, this was breakfast one morning in the week yogurt, cherries almonds and mixed seeds.

Another thing that is recommended for Lyme Disease is bone broth, so when we have a roast on Sundays we always make stock and soup the next day, this was chicken noodle, I've shared the recipe 'here'

I eat lots of soups and salads as they are easy and good for you this was yesterdays lunch, Salmon Salad with green beans.  I've been struggling a lot this week with this continuing relapse plus a six hour round trip for a hospital appointment, so there has been lots of soups as they are easy to eat in fact when I looked back at the photo's of the week I could have done a entire post just on soup as I've eaten it most days.

So that's my five things for this week, wishing you a wonderful week ahead.

Clare xx

Granny Flower Bunting

Hello.......... Todays the day this make gets a Ta-Dah moment at last!!

It's something that's been sitting around for a while, in fact I first blogged about it 'here' in June 2013 eek, when I made some Granny Bunting for Yarndale and decided to make some for the Summerhouse too.

I used Lucy's wonderful pattern and various seaside shades of Stylecraft Special DK to make the bunting, edging each with a row of single crochet in a complimentary colour.

I played around with a few flower patterns to add to the bunting but in the end opted for 'Emma's' wonderful flat flower pattern. I made the flowers up to match the borders of my bunting triangles and then added cute buttons.

Before stitching them onto the bunting. To hang the bunting I just made a long chain and threaded it through, catching the triangles at the corners with a few stitches to hold them in place.

Ta-Dah

My Granny Flower bunting, which I've decided will also be going into the Local Craft Exhibition at the end of the month, for the theme of Fantasia, aka 'Waltz of the Flowers Bunting'.

Here it is hanging up, I found it quite tricky to photograph with all the dull weather we've had this week.

So one old WIP completed, so far so good with the New Years Resolution to dig some of them out and finally get them finished.

 2013-2015 to make one bunting eeek !!!

Happy Crafting

Clare xx

Five on Friday (1)

Hello........ Today I thought I'd join in with 'Amy' and her Five on Friday link up, I've never joined in before so this week I though I'd share five things from my week.

This week I have been eating  Deliciously Ella Energy Bites, you can find the recipe 'here' these came in very helpful last week as my energy levels were at zero with this current relapse really flaring up.  They are so yummy and helped me resist reaching for the chocolate. Thankfully the joint pains, fever and inflammation have started to settle again now, I think it might have been a Herxheimer reaction from the Lyme treatment, being ill really is no fun.

This week I have been listening to Jason and Pharis Romero, such wonderful harmonies and playing. After spending several days in bed I was lucky enough to be able to go and enjoy some wonderful live music.

This week I have been delivering parcels

containing yarny goodness, my first ever crocheted Baby Blanket you can read more about how I made it 'here'

This week I have also been sorting out  the yarn in the Summerhouse, yes the craft supplies were getting a bit out of control.What I really wanted was to have the yarn on display on the shelves but being out in the garden the Summerhouse is prone to insects and spiders so in the end I opted for storage draws as no one want cobwebs in there yarn. So that's the first couple full, still lots more sorting to do.

Last but not least this week I have been happy to see the mini iris starting to flower in the garden hopefully Spring is on the way.

Well that's my week pretty much summed up, despite feeling pretty rotten at times I have achieved some things and I'm please to say that I've been feeling much better over the last couple of days  so things are looking up.

Happy Crafting 

Clare x