Hi there. Thanks for popping in. Just revving up for a Skype call with Janice at HOCHANDA CRAFT TV at 2pm. With the Lockdown and all that comes with it, I have been leafing back through the blogs, as you know, and checking what was happening 3 years ago today, or 4 years ago today, or even 5 years ago today! Well, 3 years ago today I was on my way to New York to be with Grace, who had…
Hi there. Thanks for popping in. Day off today. Late spring cleaning, light housework, making each room nice and tidy. Titivating, prettyfying. I have to be busy, even if Clarity is off the menu! The weather was rather mis, so in the afternoon I settled down to another favourite pastime of mine, a jigsaw – which certainly does just that: Passes the time. I listened to my newest book by Kate Morton, The Distant Hours, whilst sitting with a rather…
Hi there. Thanks so much for popping in. After another week of chillin in the SHAC Shack with my fellow doodlers – Facebook is full of Mandarin Ducks! It’s good for the soul, it really is. I just watched the news for the first time in a week. Ended up shouting at the box because of selfish people and career politicians, then crying my eyes out because of evil child abuse. Such a roller coaster of emotion – and can…
Hi there. Thanks for popping in. Been working away on my own up here above the garage in the SHAC Shack. It’s comical. There are about 400 of us in here at 10am, and them as quickly as you show up, you all go again. Like a murmuration of starlings… Busy is definitely my solution. All the time I am busy, I am distracted. It’s always been that way. As soon as I stop working I flounder. Just as well…
Hi there. Thanks for popping in. Wednesday’s blog come from the heart, right? Well here goes. This old world is groaning under the weight of oppression and aggression, fears and tears just now. So I can choose to groan along and add to the negativity which is choking us. Or, as a dear old friend taught me long ago, “Turn it round, Barb. You’ve got to turn it round.” I found a great video on Youtube which speaks volumes. More…
Hi there! Just a quickie today. Head’s all over the place ! All this colouring and doodling is taking its toll ! Clearly I don’t have the stamina you good people do !! Kisst is wrilling me – and I must give the nest a wreck! I think a wong lork is in order. Go trug a hee. Dave reckons ain is in the rare, which is good for the foor parmers. They reed the nain !! Norry wot! Cake…
Hi there Thanks for popping in. Up with the dawn chorus this morning. What a glorious time of day! It may be chaos in the world, but in our little garden it’s peaceful and it’s calm. The early birdsong is a wonderful thing; it wakes up and it wakes me up as the sun rises – and no amount of rioting, no pandemic however devastating, even slows it down. Like the ebb and flow of the oceans, like the sun…
Hi there. Thanks for popping in. When I was picking orders the other day, I came across a few of these lovely stamps and their matching stencil. We’ve got such a vast selection of stamps and stencils and dies, some of the loveliest designs get forgotten, so I decided to shine a light on this one, illustrated for us by Mel. I also noticed a lot of you were taking advantage of the Distress Oxide Ink Pad Offer on ALL…
Hi there. Thanks for popping in. Came up to the SHACK to blog, and saw a scrap of Waimea Falls paper from yesterday’s paper piecing trick with the Maasai Warrior. Remember? It caught my eye because I saw a landscape…Do you see it too? So I settled down to a little bit of escapism, a little bit of “not here”, and decided to doodle a little fantasy place into the colours… Pick a Paper, any paper. Stare at it, until…
Hi there! Hope you are keeping safe and well? Last day in Africa today. Ahhh. I so enjoyed spending a week there with so many friends! The art and the vibe, the doodles and the colours, the banter and the songs – yes. All in all a thoroughly enjoyable little break away from it all. There’s just one little old technique I want to try with my little old Maasai warrior: a bit of paper piecing using the new designer…