My Crochet Photography

I have had  a good week at work so I am going to be positive about this.

Above is a photograph that I took of my crochet, in my garden of a blanket that I was ( and still is ) making.

I contribute to a Crochet blog and I pop the odd post here and there (not regularyly as I am not fast at crocheting) and I think this picture was taken last Easter /Early summer.   I was in the process of adding my stool cover when I spotted this.................took a while to work out the plastic wallet - day job, our weather patio table, then it dawned on me.

My  (cropped) photo in the blog banner.

Bit of a surprise...........I keep telling collagues at work that my photography is not bad.  I teach Art/Design/Textiles/  and............. Photography.

Quite flattered.

xx

Brisk Walk and Photographs

Sophie had a Geography test before half term and there was a question about what was the Seven Sisters.  Sophie  was the only person in her group who knew what it was.

So one of the To Do's during our visit was to go and visit the Seven Sister's in a position where we could take some photographs.

A very cold but sunny day and we stood on the cliffs and waited for the clouds to move and the sun to peek out.

It has been raining really heavily over the past few days and we managed to pick one of the muddiest paths.  Should have known considering there was no one else about!

The one we walked along was much worse than this but it is on my camera and as promised I am using my Samsung to blog with.

Sophie took lots of pictures from which she can select some to take into school on Monday.

A lovely day and this was topped off with a trip to Lewes on the way back.

Travelling back tomorrow but we have provisionally been pencilled in to visit in the Summer.

Something to look forward to.

xx

Autumn Sun

The last day of the half term holiday turned out to be full of bright blue skies, sun and a little photo taking in the garden for my next evening class project.  This is not one of them but I liked the look of this plant none the less.

The day was full of busy back to school jobs, taking Sophie to a birthday party, doing the weekly shop which is usually on a Thursday, going to the tip and finally finishing the living room in time to see the last part of Downton Abbey.

What am I going to do every Sunday evening until Christmas Day when there will be special episode broadcast!!

Been a bit of an up and down week really.  I have had problems with my lower back and left hip area for about 18 months and tried physiotherapy which eased it and chemist painkillers, but now I am getting to the point where living with the pain and sleepless nights are not an option.  So, last Tuesday I had an appointment with a Osteopath not really knowing what to expect.  Went fine then had a couple of movements which were quite forceful and was warned that I might feel worse in a day or two.  Well that was true as on Thursday and Friday I could hardly walk!  On the Wednesday I went to pick up my new (second hand) car as getting in and out of my current one was getting too difficult and definitely not helping the situation.  Luckily I was ok to drive but I was not able to drive it again until today.

So my week has been a little slower than normal.  I have staggered up the stairs and had little sleep (no change there then).  However, today it has improved greatly and the lovely Autumn sun was like a sign to get out in that car and make sure that I know where the lights are (darker evenings now that the clocks have changed) , checked the manual and know where everything is plus a drive round.  So I am nearly back to normal...... Yippeee........just in time to go back to work tomorrow!!   Typical.

Then this coming Tuesday I get to do it all again with my second appointment......I can see a painful pattern developing here but I do have to say that my hip and lower back area does feel and work better now that the pain of being pulled and pushed around has gone.  So hopefully there is light at the end of the tunnel.

What sort of week have you had?

xx

Texture - In search of....

I have been so busy this past week  (or month even)  that I have been very neglectful of my poor blog.  Weekend before last we all went off in search of texture for my Art Textiles evening class in the form of photographs.  here are some of my favourites.....................

Peeling bark.  Love this one!

Lichen absolutely everywhere!!!

Even more tree bark with lovely texture just waiting to be stitched.  Can you tell that i enjoyed this little trip.  I took over 50 pictures and had to really slim down my choices.

The leaves are starting to turn colour and I love Autumn colours.

Felt and machine embroidery perhaps?

Plenty of rain equals plenty of fresh, bright green moss.  Lots of hand stitching for this one I think.

I have printed off what i consider to be the best and I shall be adding them to my sketchbook which at the moment is with the course tutor for a bit of assessing.  I had my written piece of work marked last week and I got an A+!!   Did not think that after these years something as simple as getting a good grade for a bit of writing could feel so good!

Tonight I have printed it out properly on some nice cream card and with then present it on my sketchbook this coming evening class.

So it is back to the work table as i now need to start another sample by painting and then stitching into it. I have one that I completed yesterday but I now need to take some pictures so that I can post it here.  That will have to wait until another time.

Take care all and I hope to post more this week.....hopefully.

xx



Holiday Snaps

Nearly half of the day had gone by before I realised that it was Friday 13th!  

It all started with an email finally deciding on the website name which was partly inspired by a comment left on my web naming post back in January so a prize will be issued soon to that person.  They have not commented since so I hope that I can track then down.

This was then followed by an Etsy order which I was able to pack and take to the Post office before the lunch time collection.

I then spent some time sorting out my supplies and handmade items for a craft fair that I have signed up for in May, only three weeks away plus a website opening, I hope I have enough items to go around!

Next came the sorting out and up loading of the last batch of Holiday Snaps at Seaford.  Thought you might like to see them.

My sister in law and her partner have an allotment in Seaford and grow some of the most fantastic home grown veg and fruit I have ever tasted.  I wish I had more time and better luck with this.  The first year of our vg patch was good but then I think that every slug in the neighbourhood heard about it and decided to take up residence in our garden!!

We are seriously looking at converting it to cut flowers (the bees and butterflies will love it) and try some veg in containers and stick to just a few bits and pieces.

It was a glorious sunny day when we visited it to collect some veg for dinner.

A walk along the beach at Seaford is always a must.  Even in bad weather it is enjoyable.  Here is where the Kittiwakes birds live, on the cliff face where they build their nests.

I have never seen the tide out so far before and many hidden items from the past could be seen.

I have always been able to get a good sunset picture in Seaford too and this only a couple of minutes after the first photo shown was taken.

Lobster pots and fishing boats are moored on the pebble beach and on this walk we saw a small boat go out and place some lobster pots and haul the boat back up the beach using a special  winch.  Sophie was fascinated by this.  It even managed to stop her looking for "special stones" on the beach.

Hubby is not feeling very well and has gone to work only to come home and literally collapse because he is so tired.  Not like him at all.  

We always finding visiting Seaford very relaxing and at a time when my life is still upside down and has been since last September  that it was a break that I really did not want to come home from.

However, it will still be there to go back to.

xx

Polaroid Pogo Printer

Whilst blog hopping a few weeks ago I visited The SometimesCrafter and the author was discussing about finding a small printer to take on holiday so that snaps could be printed on the go and that a journal or diary could be created at the time rather than waiting until you get home.  I read on....

I googled some of the items that were discussed and the Polaroid Pogo really took my eye.  It was released in 2008 so yet again I am several years behind but never mind!

I spent the rest of the evening finding reviews, feedback, specifications and outlets.  

It comes in black and pink!!! Yes! Pink.

You can also get a Polaroid Pogo combi camera but seeing as I have a perfectly good digital camera I decided to just go for the Pogo Printer itself.

 I took it away on holiday and used it several times but my real reason for buying one was to be able to put pictures in my smallest of sketchbooks and to make up my own labels and business cards.  The Poppy Seeds above feature in my Sketchbook Delight online classs I am doing but I shall say more on that another time.

Anyway, the Pogo does not need any print cartridges and the prints are self adhesive so I made a few up a few labels to use when I did my last craft fair.

The prints measure 3inches by 2 inches and even though this may not sound very big they are ideal for what I want and would be great for scrap booking and card making as well.

The front lifts up and you put a whole pack of 10 sheets in.  There is a blue bar code card at the bottom and this has to be fed through before any printing can be done, the Pogo does this automatically.  There is actually several You tube videos on this, just type in Polaroid Pogo.  They are worth watching to see the Pogo on action.  

My camera is then attached to the USB on the side of the Pogo and I then follow the instructions on my camera and clicking print out comes a picture of the poppy seeds.

You can get quite addicted to using it.  It can be used via bluetooth with a mobile phone and I have got it to print from my netbbok via bluetooth too.  Not bad considering most techie things seem to work against me!

Please do not consider this as a product review it is just how I have been using it and to pass on how pleased I am with it.  For once something that actually does what it says it will. 

I was lucky enough to have a hubby who visited a company where the owner had a Pogo and was happy for my hubby to try it with my camera because the write up does say that it needs Pictbridge to work.  My camera is just under two years old and it works fine with the Pogo and as far as I am aware it does not have Pictbridge.  This was my main concern and something that you would also need to check.

 If the original picture you took is good then I have found the quality of these minature pics to be good as well.  In fact one of a flower taken last summer is a perfect match in colour etc.

I bought this one from Amazon plus a promotion pack of 100 sheets and when printed they work out at abut 10pence each or less.   But no printer cartridge is needed.  It uses Zink photo paper and is done with heat transfer, Amazon explains it better!

All in all a nifty little gadget which Sophie has also had fun using and has been worth the £40  it cost!  It will also add a new dimension to my sketchbooks without having to trim off most of the picture to fit in my book.  It will also be a holiday must and a new case will now need to be made, so even more fun to be had.

Has anyone else tried one of these.

xx

Still Here...

Hi, still here but lots happening and not all good either, in fact some very bad news indeed.

The pictures above were taken at Lanhydrock in June this year, using my little Canon.  I and really pleased with the first two pictures on the left.  I have been practicing my close up picture taking and with different shaped flowers. Strong colours are working best and with flowers that have strong shapes as well.  Some of these will also be made into cards to take to work.  The last batch using pictures taken at school to encourage a photography student have been very popular.

Last week I started making some knitted cakes for Gina over at Fan my Flame for charity and I shall post them as soon as they are finished.  At the moment they are still in bits!

Have a good week.............

x

A summer Holiday begins

We arrived in Seaford in time for tea and then decided to walk off dinner along the sea front.  This was the sunset that greeted us.  Lovely start to the holiday.

Hubby is working the next day so Sophie and I will wander round Seaford.

So the following day hubby drove of to Portsmouth and Sophie and I visited Toytown toy shop which is literally 50 yards away from where we are staying.  She found this cute felt kit and apart from putting a knot in the thread, Sophie made this herself, following the instructions as she went.

The felt flowers are pre-cut and the blue centre needed to be stitched with gold thread.

The other pieces are then stacked up.  Now Sophie, really is my daughter because just like my Mollie Makes kit, she wanted to change part of it.  Rather than having the red petals lined up she moved them to increase the petals that you could see.  A jewel needed to be stitched on and the thread went through the whole felt flower so that all of the layers were tight and secure.

The kit also had some elastic hair loops and the flower was attached to it using double thread and knotted off carefully.

There was enough in the kit to make two of these and Sophie was thrilled with them, she even went to bed with them still in her hair!  Ironic really, as she had got up that morning saying that she wished she had bought some hair ties with her.

Today (Tuesday) we decided to go the Lewes and visit some places that we really enjoy seeing once a year.  Firstly, we went to the Needlemakers in the hope of finding the vintage shop which usually has

boxes of buttons.  Sadly the shop had gone but I did stumble on a fabric shop that had these lovely old sewing machines on display.

I apologise if the pictures are not brilliant as I had to stand on tippy toe on a stool with the zoom full in to get these into shot as the display shelf was right up high by the ceiling!  There were one or tow that i had only seen in books.  Brilliant.

I struggled to get makers names, but the above machine name was very clear.  As for dates, I could research into this.  I want to show these pictures to my students in September so some background work will be carried out.  There were about 10 machines, I have not seen that many together all at the same time.

I would have loved to have had a closer look at these.  Aren't the ones shown above adorable!

The shop is called The Patchwork Dog and Basket in Lewes.  Worth a visit.  I bought some lovely fabric to finish off a quilt that I have been working on for some time.  I shall post about it once I get home.

 The weather here has been scorching.  I took a picture of the temperature gauge in the car!  I bit warm.  So off home for lunch.  Once the temp reduced a bit we then took Sophie to Eastbourne to Aqua Splash which is a play area with water involved.  She was on the go for over two hours and is now completely worn out!

We are not sure where we are going tomorrow, Brighton is looking high on the list at the moment.

xx

Anyone got Giveaway ideas?

picture by Indigo Blue

Now that the workshop week is over I want to get back to my 700th post giveaway. I have been thinking what to do and I saw on another blog that the owner asked what people might be interested in.

So, is there something that you have seen on this blog that you liked, would find useful, could give as a gift to someone else. Is there a theme that I could go with such as bags, purses, a stash of cards etc.

I want to offer a little treat to my followers and visitors for sticking with me for 700 posts but somehting that will appeal or inspire.

This is a genuine question so please do not be shy pop some ideas in the comment section (you can do this even if you do not have blog, just click on comments then annonymous.

I look forward to what you suggest.

Every post needs a picture with some colour and I still really like this one that I took at the end of May in my school grounds. A perfect day.

xx

*Gadget case pictures up tomorrow once I have finished uploading.

Up close and colourful......

Being half term I have quite a lot of things to do around the house that may otherwise get left during term time, so not much crafting so far. So I thought that you might like to see some pictures that I took last week. The above plant was growing in the school veg garden. Not entirely sure what it is though. No label either. Any ideas?
Twice a week I work either one to one or with a small group in another part of the school. Last Friday I was due to help a student with their photography work. Last time I did not have my camera and thought that next time I could have a go with mine to show encouragement.
The topic this time was to take 12 pictures close up using colour and then 12 close ups using black and white. We did not have long so we decided to tackle the colour close ups first. These are some of the ones that I took using my little Canon which has 4X optical zoom and 10.0 mega pixels. Does that make any sense to anyone? Hubby bought it for me for Christmas and has been constantly used.

I put the setting to close up which happens to be a picture of a flower and we then wandered around school looking for flowers as that was the theme that he wanted his close ups to be on. It was a very very sunny day and digital cameras are not easy to use on bright days, but we clicked away with our cameras and crossed our fingers. Some of the best pictures could be found in the school veg garden. I love the one above and it is fairly close to the colour of the flower. Often I find that purple turns out blue.

I had to get on my hands and knees by the maths department for this one! We think that most of the rooms were empty at the time. Exams on you see. I was really pleased with this one as there was quite a wind blowing and I had to keep still and click when there was a break in the breeze.

Lovely bright colours and the pollen really shows up in this picture. There were a lot of bees flying around this plant.

This was really good fun and the quickest hour I have spent in ages. I did take some more but I am going to use them for a little project I have in mind. I am going to take some more after half term and ask if I can borrow a black and white camera as you can not switch mine, unlike you can the school cameras. I have not yet seen how the student's pictures turned out but hopefully he will be pleased with his pictures too.

Another great day of weather today and Sophie and I plan to go to the park tomorrow.

xx