Simple Pleasures

Call me a fool but I spent an hour this morning unwrapping and wrapping up bobbins of embroider thread.  I was in my element!  I bought a box of threads from ebay that someone was clearing out and it go here in a it of a mess so I passed an hour undoing and re-wrapping the beautiful colours onto their bobbins and putting the bobbins in colour order.  I was in heaven!  This project will take a good few more hours until it is all tidy and my own threads have joined their new neighbours in the box, but sometimes you have t take pleasure in life's mundane little idiosyncrasies and see a rainbow in the middle of a mess!

Time is ticking on by.  I sit here, waiting for my hair dye to take and I realise that I have not blogged for ages.  I am still here.  I am still plugging away at the little things I love.  My reading list is 1 and 2 halves down, 10 to go.  My garden is getting gardened gradually.  My running is up and down.  My weight is up and down.  My crafting is getting ... somewhere but I have signed up for a fayre so things will have to go up a gear.  My family is gorgeous and funsome.  My hair is done.  I will return tomorrow.

I love blogger, but ...

I love love love Blogger. Even though I have not been posting for the past few months I have still been using it to follow all my fave blogs on RSS as this is a great way of reading the "headlines". I have, however decided to stop doing this as I find that there is soooo much lovely interesting stuff going on out there, that there is no time left to do important stuff like blogging myself and doing useful things like, erm Christmas shopping! I often read blogs for half an hour, an hour day whilst waiting for the boys to go to sleep or just noodling about on t'laptop until stupid o'clock at night. This is all very well and lovvely, but not ultimately useful or creative for me. Now this time will be used more creatively for doing inspiring crafty things and making some space and money for little old Gherkin.

The blogs I follow are largely crafty ones, written and photographed by some very clever and talented and INSPIRING people who make me OOOh and aaaah daily on sight of their pretty wares. They are just so amazing and make me go "I could make that!" and all to quickly I find myself with a bunch of new fabric and bits of shiny things to do to it and then no time to actually make a dent in said fabric and shiny things! I have vowed for 2011 to clear a space in my crafty boxes (and there are MANY) and make stuff with the stuff I have and then blog about it myself and maybe inspire someone else to drag a box out from under the bad and do something with the contents!

Here is a list of the things I plan to make over the next decade or so.

Voile fabric flower brooches (5 fabrics bought this week)

Vintage button rings (ring blanks awaiting toppers!)

Dust ruffle and bunting and bolster cover for Cornichon (fabric in bag awaiting wash)

Bunting for Little Pickle (ditto)

Earrings for Folksy shop (beads hanging around since summer)

Envelopes to sell (too many books in wardrobe waiting to be snipped)

Slides for birthday presents (make-your-own-button kit relatively unused)

Quilt for Mr Gherkin (need to get rind of some fabric!)

Quilt for me (fabric saved from January awaiting wash)

Quit sandwiched for Mum and Dad (WIP right now- will be done for Christmas!)

Lavender bags to sell (huge bag of lavender is residing in my wardrobe - yum but ugly)

Baby quilt for N's little girl (so much fabric to use up!)

Baby boy quilt (ditto)

Cut up old clothes for the ultimate recycling quilt (memories of old sicky babygros)

Denim quilt (nobody needs a whole box of old jeans that don't fit any more, do they?)

That is just the tip of the iceberg. Quilts take ma ages. Hopefully, I will have much more time on my hands now I cut out my inspirational reading time and turn it into inspired crafting time!

Too much information

I love the internet. It is pretty good. I have been sat at my computer now for about and hour and a half, intending to write this blog entry but managing to just have a look at this site and mooching about this one and had the obligatory squiz at Facebook and then a trawl around my blogger reading list which is so full of inspiration I often wonder why I bother to look at such beautiful crafty things from such amazing people and don't just get my box of bits out and create something, take a pic of it then sling it on my blog and amaze other people at how clever I am.

Or I could just go to bed. Before my brain melts through my tearducts. Bugger it.

Time, time, time, see what's become of me...

I love browsing round blogland and coming across new blogs to inspire me or admire. I follow many parenty/crafty ones and am always amazed at how other people manage to fit so much into their days! Here is the latest one - beautiful blog and such cute kids! I am fine at entertaining the kids for most of the day and fitting in some house chores round them but I struggle to find time to be crafty. I am stuck to fitting it into the last few hours at night which I probably should be spending with Mr G. That sounds like a silly thing to say as I am still an important person in my life and I need to spend time with myself. And here I am, alone and blogging when I should really be alone and sleeping. Did not get any crafting done today as we had a pile of stuff to watch on TV (there's a hobby I could easily give up but TV is Mr G's sanctuary and we watch stuff together as a couple. I guess it is cheaper, easier and more attainable than actually going out and being a couple! I need to speak to him about this I guess but things are slightly fraught here in the Gherkin Jar without me rocking the stressful boat any more. Often I will do crafty stuff whilst Mr G watches TV under the idea that I am watching it too but I only need to listen to get an idea of what is going on and then I don't even care that much and manage to be a bit crafty whilst in the same room as my darling beloved. I am not painting a good picture here, am I? It's not that bad really but it could be better. We need to sit down and decide what we are doing with the house and make plans for us all. It's all on The Big List Of Things We Need To Do.

Wow I did not intend for this post to be so revealing!

I was supposed to have an evening to myself tonight as Mr G was due to go out for a pint. I decided to spend it in the kitchen finishing Cornichon's quilt. I have fallen out of love with it a bit now and I just need to get rid of it from my WIP list. Cornichon is so excited about it I just want it to be finished for his sake now. Can't wait to see his face and make some room in my over-stuffed crafty space!