about Gleam and a swap

Distraction Nº 2

Here we go again another distraction!!!!

My Puff cover is still a W.I.P, it is taking a bit longer than I thought it would. Its for me of course so it would,wouldn't it!
My daughter commented on the progress of the puff cover the other day and she mentioned something I had to laugh at ......at this rate Mama you'll be filling your home with crochet!!!" to which I replied " have you looked around my home lately and how many bits of crochet can you see?" .... and she counted....... two ...... the large patchwork cushion with crochet rosettes I posted about here and the granny cushion cover I posted about here .
 I just keep making things for others and not for myself or my home!!!! tch! and tch! 

Getting back to my Distraction Nº 2 well this came about because my niece in Brisbane saw Lalia the Turtle on my facebook page and she liked it sooooo much. However in her case as she is a passionate horse lover I decided to make a pony for her and therefore here you have Gleam the pony. Gleam will be travelling to Brisbane in the very near future, he is just waiting for his future Mum to move into their new home.

Gleam was made from leftovers of DK Coats SMC Brava Yarn and I used a 3.00 hook. His rosette was made with Nº 8 crochet cottons and I used a 2.00 hook . The centre is adorned with a tiny heart face button. Eyes and nose with Anchor embroidery cotton.

The pattern comes from Janet McMahon on Yellow Pink and Sparkly. It was a pattern of a cute unicorn but I tweaked it a bit because I wanted a pony not a unicorn.

 

 What's next other than my puff cover ......   its time to catch up on the swap I am participating in!
I am taking part in the Grand Tea Swap hosted by Lucy at Lucy in the Sky. Thanks goodness Lucy mentioned the following in the Swap rules, and I quote:
  The Rules are…there are no rules.  Just choose as many recipients as you like whenever you like and send some tea.  We will all be delighted to receive tea in the post at any time.  
 I have taken to heart the bit where it says whenever you like as its several months since this swap started....... but I am a great one to abide by the rules or rather the no rules!!!
I have already started my first make to include in my swap because I am not just going to send tea but something to do with tea too.....and who to ahhhhhhhha not telling as yet.

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Hello and welcome to my new follower Daphne on Ivy,Phyllis and Me. Many thanks for visiting my blog. Do pop in again when you can :-)

and 

I feel a new weekend coming on!!!!

Amanda :-)

 

Food and china

Happy Happy times dear bloggers !!!!!

and why would that be you may ask......I don't know I just feel happy! There must be a reason I suppose but it escapes me at present....


but JUST a MINUTE.......  could it be these that make me feel so good and I picked up for a pittance in the IFA Antique fair  at the end of April.

 

I was very pleased at being able to buy something there ! I thoroughly enjoy visiting this fair and drooling over their wares but I cannot usually afford to buy anything. This is the real thing and the antique dealers certainly know what they have got and are very pricey. 

However I was lucky this time and came away with these two little Wedgewood trinket boxes:

Wedgewood JasperBlue and Wedgewood Clio trinket boxes

 

Why do I like china so much?????...sigh!!!

Many thanks to all for your interesting comments related to the recognition of other people's work  and ownership and your thoughts on the fine borderline between inspiration and copying.
Can I suggest you pop over to Sophie's blog Hettie Brown . Sophie's post is really interesting with numerous thought provoking comments on the same theme. It just goes to show that this subject is  very popular at present which I see as positive because there are obviously a lot of bloggers out there who doubt just what is ethically right and need clarification .
In the end my conclusion is at present and as I commented on Sophie's post, the following:

"After considering bloggers' comments on my post I've come to the conclusion that copying is exactly that copying and though there seems to be a fine margin between inspiration and copying, that is false. Copying is a replica of the item/pattern and then calling it your own and not acknowledging the real ownership. As for inspiration I'm inclined to think its the essence of something that inspires you to make something similar but then you add your particular essence to it and you make it your own."

and now a little about food........ just simple food; aubergines to be exact.

 Cut aubergine into thin slices (no I didn't say wafer thin just thin) and leave to soak in water for a couple of hours. 
Why?  
aubergines soak up much to much olive oil when you fry it ,if you soak it in water beforehand it reduces that effect.

Drain.

coat in seasoned flour:

fry in olive oil

and ........... there you have it a delicious accompaniment to any meal! 
You can eat them hot or cold.

High-fibre food!

Enjoy your Sunday.

Amanda :-)

 

Happy Ending

Good news! 

Harvey has been found and has been returned to his Mum.

He scared his Mum something rotten though!!!

You can read about it here on Harvey's Mum's blog

Amanda :-)

Dog Lost,Please Help!!!

PLEASE HELP HARVEY TO GET HOME

  If you live in the Wimblington, near March in Cambridgeshire (UK) area and can  help  please contact Harvey's Mum here:

PLEASE HELP- HARVEY STILL NOT HOME

I don't usually beg for help, but my lovely boy is still out there somewhere- If you have a large blog following, or even if you don't, please can you include my last blog as a guest post tonight. I would be so grateful.
I am offering a large reward to anyone who finds my lovely boy.
Please Please help- I am heartbroken
Frantic Antics Blog 

i was distracted!

I have been ....totally distracted!!!

What from?

from the granny hexagons that I am making to cover the grottiest ugliest puff in all of Alicante which actually inhabits my living room. A hand-me-down from my husband's Auntie's furniture which .... ... but thats another story dear bloggers!

I am enjoying the combination of colours I am using and I have the the design of my Puff cover firmly in my mind.  The granny hexagon patterns I have created myself with no pattern. Not that they are anything out of the ordinary and I am pretty convinced these hexies of mine are inspired by other hexagons that I've seen out there on the world wide web,so I don't think a great deal of originality has been involved in their making.     Therefore I hesitate to say I created them.

These sort of things often leave me wondering does INSPIRED mean COPIED ?
Lets see!
What am I trying to get at here.
We store things! Our memory can be a fabulous natural external disc drive ! Has it never occurred to you that your memory can make you create something subconsciously that isn't original but you think it is original?

There are occasions when I look at something I've made and I ask myself where did I get the idea from. Is it totally from an idea of my own or is it partially from the ideas of others.
How original is that?
I don't mean tweaking ,I understand tweaking as using the main pattern from another and adapting it to ones own likes but the main body of the pattern is still respected and acknowledged.

Do you think we are using the word INSPIRED as an excuse?

Ahhh these thoughts of mine...talk about tying myself in knots!!!

Right I was talking about a distraction and as much as I like my present WIP I have been well and truly distracted by these cuties . 

Here you have Laila who at present is winging her way to New Bolingbroke in Lincolnshire to live with my sister. 

I would have liked Laila to stay with me but on giving it careful consideration and as I am trying to think what would be best for a turtle, I have to send her to the Uk . Laila needs a wetter climate to survive and Alicante is not a watery place at all. The long summer gets super dry. Laila would not be happy here.

She'll be happier with my sister and she'll have company;Misty the poodle

 and Billie the Retriever ......  they'll look after her.

and tomorrow is...... yes friday....happy days!!!!

Amanda:-)

Rediscovering

It is such a lovely lovely spring day!!!

This morning we went for a bit of a walk downtown........wandering around with no purpose really which is such a relaxing feeling and returning to some favourite old spots,the port,Town Hall square and the old quarter of the city where my husband was born and grew up.
They call Alicante the city of light and it lived up to its name today! I was thinking as I took some photos that Alicante must be a photographer's paradise because the light is incredible. Then I thought of June on Catsdogs and eiderdowns and her hobby, as I am sure you know she always delights us with some really impressive photos of different places in the Uk and of her family.
If your ears were burning this morning June than I am the culprit, as it was me talking to Sr P about your photos and also we both agreed that you would be sure to love the light here.:-)

WARNING ......image heavy!

The surfer ...in Alicante harbour

Alicante Harbour and Hotel Melia in the background. Personally I think that is an eyesore as it blocks the view of the Postiguet beach and sea.

 Carbonell House which faces the harbour

The Town hall.....some lovely weddings are held here.

The other door!

Alleyway leading from the Town Hall to Mayor Street....sometimes people just don't remember to look up ....there's some very interesting ironwork under the balconies and lovely ceramic tiles under the eaves of the roofs.

On the other side

front view of the Town Hall .....the balcony where public proclamations are given from. I wouldn't mind one of those door knockers on my front door!

  walking up into the old quarter where Sr P is from.

 

up ,up,up huffing and puffing   into Santa Cruz 

 a bit more.... still huffing

jeez!!! I forgot how far it is....

 

Looking back down!

Having a bit of a rest!

The castle...nearly there!

At the top!

 and ......... now I need a nice cold cold glass of white wine and some tapas :-)

Welcome welcome to my new followers!  I haven't been able to find out exactly who you are on my friend connect lists. Its getting a bit confusing now there are 178 followers. I really don't know how those bloggers who have 500 or more manage!  However when you have the time please pop in to say hello. I always love to receive comments on my posts. 

Keep well

 Amanda :-)

Door slamming!

and exactly that.... all due to the door slamming and poor Willie the cat couldn't get into our bedroom at night to be with his beloved friend Sr P.
We put a cushion there at first so the door was drawn to but there was still sufficient space for Willie to get in but that cushion had got old and squashed and wasn't allowing enough space for Willie to get in anymore. That meant we were back to the scratching and meowing again at 3ish in the morning tut!!!
That's when Sr P asked me to make a doorstop and I have, as you can see in the photo above but now my daughter has seen it and she wants it and Sr P has given it to her and asked me to make another one not so elaborate!!!
Which  I will do ...but....grr!!!!

I had no intention of doing all THIS!!! 
The whole turret house just sort of developed after having sewn the main body of the door stop together and filled it with a bag of rice and also placed a few pebbles in the bottom to keep it steady.
I sewed the bottom up and thought it looked rather plain and I thought I could crochet a something top to it to make it look a bit taller.

I merrily crocheted away in single crochet and it just sort of went cone like.  I thought of a turret and of course I had just seen the Hobbit film so perhaps that was what inspired me.

It looked better with the turret but then it needed a door and then a few windows and the turret needed a few little round windows too!

 

Then it came to me that no good turret house could be without a chimney so I made a chimney ,

but the back of the house looked so bare .....so......I added a curly crochet button tree. 

All country turret houses have ,as I am sure you know,some wildlife nearby and as this is a country turret house I decided to stick some felt rabbits near the tree and a felt butterfly hovering near the tree too and a flower near the front door.

and then I thought a couple of toadstools under a window but 

.....naaaa ....I thought it was getting a bit crowded and so I stopped......

to rest and  to contemplate it.

keep well!

Amanda :-)

Relief from the mojo loss!!!

Stimulated,motivated anddddd ready to get those creative juices moving......... Tra la la la!!!....thats how I feel at present!

All thanks to my marvellous giveaway gift that arrived yesterday!!!!

A card from Helen

I won the fabulous giveaway on Helen Philipps' blog and I am very happy about this because I really wanted that book so bad!!!!
Oh! but its is everything I expected it to be and more!

Let me tell you just a little bit about it :

First of all my husband,Sr P,who is a master bookbinder, has looked at the book and commented  Bien (good) neat binding,nice size and good paper for this sort of book. Now you may feel that description is rather spartan but please allow me to assure you that is a compliment AND he even looked inside the book and not just the centre pages to see if it was stitched or glued but he tested the quality of the paper between thumb and forefinger.  His usual comments about the type of bookbinding to be found on today's books are rather much more explicit ; powerful and precise to be exact so much so that I would hesitant indeed to repeat those comments to you dear bloggers.
Now you know that extremely important information about Helen's book Pretty Patchwork Gifts, I'll continue on to give you my views on the contents:

I must start with the front cover first of course because it draws your attention straightaway as  Helen's gorgeous little stuffed houses fill your eyes and that's just the prelude for more, as those lovely houses entice you to get inside that book as quick as possible! In fact I was so eager to see all of the contents that I skimmed through stopping for a moment here and there to admire ,to sigh and to sip some tea,all the time I was already choosing what I was going to make and lots of thoughts of other projects flittered through my mind. I of course had to go back to the beginning and start over. This time pausing to read, to contemplate the lovely photographs in more detail

 and also reviewing the very easy to follow instructions. I found them so easy to understand I really think I could have a bash at making some of these projects even if I have never done patchwork before.

Unfortunately I do have one complaint ........   there wasn't enough ....... I got to the end far too quickly LOL!

BUT wait!...........  what light from yonder window breaks......
methinks not a light from the window ,she said, but the sparkle and shine of the multicoloured buttons,sweet ribbons and bobbles and the glitter from the minute golden scissors laid out on floral fabric ..... all received as well in this generous giveaway.

Can you see that adorable card Helen sent me? Even this tiny sticker on the bag denotes Helen's style.

Tiny sticker

I love it all.

Thank you Thank you Helen :-)

I feel so motivated now I really MUST try some of these projects. I have done some hunting on the web and found this blog "Sew many Yarns"  which gives you really easy instructions on how to do some hexies. You can even download templates for the hexies here too on this other blog,Snippets & Blabbery".
Excuse me! I meant English Paper piercing to call it by its proper name.
I've had to save these pages for the moment because I have a make underway that my husband requested and that holds priority. He never never asks me to make him anything in fact he often looks at my craftying with a sort of bemused look....you know a raising of eyebrows sort of thing!!!!

Keep well

Amanda :-)