Last rose of summer!  

Too tired to write!

Today has been totally exhausting. Added to the tiredness that still hung over from yesteday night I find that now I am all played out. And I've done a batch of dyes. These are all browns. Browns for tree trunks, leaves, wood, anything that's brown. Some greyey browns, some blue browns and some tans. They are washing out now and I really can't wait to see what they look like but as soon as they come out of the washer I'm outa here and off to bed. There will be some pictures tomorrow and hopefully I will be more alive. But I couldn't spoil my record and miss a day by not writing anything!

Thursdays are long days!

Have I said that I find Thursdays long? Well I do! They go on ALL day and well into the night and then I'm exhausted! And its not that I dislike Thursdays because I don't. The morning is all mine, the afternoon passes and the evening is the first one of my classes and always goes by quickly. It is just that there is so much to do and also I am teaching three different things in my two hour class of 13 students. Most of them are making sampler quilts which is no hassle, two are doing crazy patchwork which isn't difficult and one is making an applique quilt which needs a lot of input from me. By the time I get home I've lived three lives! But its fun and I do sell them oodles of my hand-dyed fabric so I'm not complaining. I'm just tired!

Yesterday I watched the first DVD of Gabrielle's Hand Applique Masterclass. To see the link go to yesterday. There are two DVD's in the pack and I was going to watch the second one tonight but I just can't do it. I don't have the strength. So it will have to wait until tomorrow night. I am very impressed with this Masterclass. It is definitely worth having and watching. Nicely set out and Gabrielle has a yummy accent. Very classy! lol It was just like having her in the room with me and explaining all the things I know I ought to do but don't. Well lets face it I don't do hand applique if I can help it! I am a machinist through and through. But this was a treat to watch and I even learnt a few things! Wowie! If you are into hand applique rush and get this 'cos its just what you need and Gabrielle telling you about background fabrics and colour is so useful and informative. I have absolutely no affiliation with her and this is said because I like the DVD and not because I'm getting a hand out! lol Mind you I now feel as if I know her! And she is so skinny! Don't you just hate that? Tomorrow I shall be able to order the Tools II DVD and if it is as good as this one I shall be over the moon as the subject matter is more up my street.

I spent the afternoon tracing and photocopying my moon shapes for my project. I did several sizes and played around with the placement of them. It was interesting as I cut them all out in white paper - no colour at all - and the effect was completely different. I now have to pull some fabrics and then use the colours to colour the shapes and see how I like it. The size has crept up to a piece about 24 inches. Possibly not square but I don't know yet. Until I am happy with the whole shape I won't worry about the size and colour of the background. This will be dictated to a large extent by the colours I choose for the 'ball'. I am thinking that I will dye a graduated piece in the chosen colour. So that the orb shape will be rising up with the colours of the background. This is the main project I'm doing now apart from fibre postcards. I really love doing these tiny pieces as they assuage my thirst for creativity and immediacy.

Now I'm going to go and collapse before I lose the will to live! There is too much potential for this in my life at the moment so I'm trying to be very up! Onwards and upwards! Into a delicious bubbly scented bath! Ooh yes!

Sorry no pictures but I will post the project pictures when I've done a bit more to it.

Curate's Egg of a Day!

So many things going on! Firstly this morning a training session in Truro for my new post as a Tutor Observer. A bit like being a new girl and going off to big school! So much paper work! I rather feel that doing all this form filling in might make me lose the will to live! Grin! However there was a lot of pertinent stuff and I did learn a lot. So could be I'll enjoy doing this and then again..... Time will tell! I had to leave at 12.30 before the session was over as I had to dash back for work. My bread and butter! Traffic was amazingly heavy so I was unable to make a right turn and had to turn left. Fortunately I did vaguely know the way home going this way as Martin uses it all the time. There were some hairy moments when I wondered if I was lost in the wilds of Bissoe but I eventually came out onto a road I knew and then it was downhill all the way. Not literally as Cornwall is a place of hills but I'm sure you knew what I meant.

Dashed in the front door with not a moment to spare as I still had to have some lunch and refresh myself. Was expecting to find a heap of post on the floor so took an extra big step to avoid treading on it with muddy shoes (its been pouring with rain all day!) and landed on a padded envelope which made an ominous crack! Typical isn't it! Normally the post lies neatly on the mat under the door but today it has to land a good two feet out! So very gingerly I opened the package expecting to find I'd broken something. But no the gods were smiling on me and all was fine! And the package contained............ the DVD from Gabrielle! YES! And can you imagine my chagrin in knowing that I couldn't look at it immediately because I had to eat and dash to work? I bet you can't as it was immense! I contemplated taking it to work to watch but decided discretion was the better part of valour! Now I am treating it like a gift that is waiting for me to be completely ready to watch it...clothed and in my right mind! lol So as soon as I've done the dinner I shall be engrossed but you'll have to wait until tomorrow to hear what I have to say about it! I also got some more Stewart Gill paints and some new scissors in the post which the postman left at my mum's for me as they wouldn't go through the letterbox. So just like a birthday and I'm glad I decided to live this long!

Too much thinking!

Again Gabrielle has got me thinking. I really wish you wouldn't do this Gabrielle. I have things to do! Eggs to lay! Grin (The chicken song for the uninitiated) Fortunately I had to go into town so I was able to think as I went my busy round and it didn't interfere with what I was doing. What is art? What is an artist? Well to be bluntly honest I really couldn't say for definite and I have come to the conclusion that I don't care! Is it important to know these things to be creative? In my opinion NO! One just does! You can call lots of things art but just by giving them a name doesn't make them art. Having thought about this in depth while in the bank I decided that art makes you think and stimulates the senses. So is a hand-made card art? Or a vase of flowers? Or a designer garden? They will all make you think but do they stimulate the senses? And will they make you think in depth? To me this is veering into the craft versus art land and I don't want to go there. So basically I decided that I just don't care. If I like what I do; if it gives me pleasure; if I'm satisfied with the process; if my time has been well spent; if I've learnt something along the way whether about the process or about me then that is what makes me happy and that is my art! I am confident enough in what I do to show it to the world; if they like it then great; if they don't I'm not going to cry though I might look at what I've done again with fresh eyes to see if I've missed something. After all one is always learning. And part of the process is asking for critiques from fellow 'artists'. There is no end in creativity, it goes on and on, growing all the time. At the end of the day the pleasure and need for me is to create something. So I have decided I am not an artist. I am a designer! That's what I am. My work is my original design, created by me primarily for me but available for anyone interested to see. By now I was back at the car and felt just like I did when at Art School and having to write a thesis by Friday! Grin I did better in those days too as I was more direct in my thinking but now with age I realise that there are many shades of grey and no one size fits all answer. Also my eternal Gemini attitude keeps veering off at a tangent and seeing things from the completely opposite direction just to make life difficult. So I shall go and have coffee with my mum and leave with the statement that I believe as long as there are people in the world creating something that gives pleasure, wakes up the senses and adds to ones perceptions then we will have gold at the end of the rainbow! No matter what that creativity is!
Post Script: Interesting book to read is The Meaning of Art by Herbert Read which was first published in 1931 and reprinted several times.

Freehand application - reminds me of sardines swimming in the sea!  

Silver on black playing with alphabet stamps 

Two pieces with different prints  

Close up of another colour way 

Painted fabric sitting on the ironing press 

Monday again!

At least after the hectic weekend today will be calmer. I hope! I have two friends coming for coffee this morning so that will be fun and we can stitch and bitch and show and tell for an hour or two which will be relaxing.

Lisa (from Procrastinator Extraordinaire) if you are reading this I'm getting all my emails I send you back as undeliverable. Are you getting ANY of my emails? Did you get the one about cob cottages for example? I have this problem with my friend Mary in Ohio. Often my emails come trailing back unless I reply immediately using her latest email to me. Oh well such is life! But it would be interesting to know!

So with coffee on the agenda I'm not going to get a lot done this morning. I need to photocopy handout sheets for Thursday/Friday classes. I'll use the photocopier at work so all I need to do is sort out my master sheet. Also need to iron the fabric I stamped with the Stewart Gill paints. I was quite pleased with these as they came out better than I expected. The one I painted freehand is really good. I used a 40" x 20" piece which was already streaky dark blue to light blue up the length and painted curving lines from the bottom up stopping about a third of the way from the top. I was going for a sea theme as I thought I could turn the piece into a hanging with fish and seaweed.

I'll try and take some pictures if there is time and post them later.

Sloes...good for sloe gin!  

Blackberries in the hedgerow. 

Old man's beard - truly a sign of autumn!  

Blackberry flowers. 

A gorgeous flower complete with bee! 

This is our nearest beach Swanpool with the pool in the background. This is part of a nature preserve and there are actually swans there. Often they can be seen swimming in the sea. The beach is a five minute walk from where I live.
 

Interesting patterns made by the sun on the water.  

Very overgrown! 

Cruise ship in the bay. 

Sequel!

So when my man got up I told him the sad tale of the demise of the microwave. He was disbelieving! The conversation went like this:
Me: And there was black smoke pouring out around the door so I quickly turned it off and opened the back door so that it wouldn't go all over the house. So that you wouldn't wake up and think the house was on fire!
Man: Hm! Very considerate of you. You probably put it on too long and it burned your porage.
Me: No when I opened the door and cleared the smoke the porage was fine. Still porage sitting in a bowl of COLD water!
Man: Looks alright to me.
Me: Well that's because I got to it before it burst into flames. It was quite awful!
Man: Obviously you did something to it!
Me: Well you try it then! (said in complete exasperation)
So he puts a bowl of water into it and turns it on. It works and nothing goes wrong. Wouldn't you know that would happen! Open the door and the water is tepid. Neither of us can remember if we used cold water or not so we try again and put it on for longer. The water boils and nothing goes wrong! I could scream!

However when later he decided to use it to scramble some eggs he did say that there was a strong smell of burning so I think there IS something wrong with it even though he thinks its alright, and I won't use it again but will change it over with the smaller one! Because it means otherwise I will have to stand and watch it every time! I' m sure all kitchen appliances are male! Got to be! lol

After this domestic incident we decided to go for a walk to enjoy the sunshine. And anyway it is good for him to get out and be active at the weekend's as he is sitting all week. So we walked down to the beach and along the coastal footpath. I took my camera and took loads of pictures which I will post later with the aid of Picasa. Took a coat which I didn't need as although there were a few drops of rain as we left the sun came out and I was much too hot. Just like a summer's day though it is now cloudy and cold. That is the trouble with autumn, it gets chilly in the evenings. Picked up the papers and I will now have a quiet moment catching up on what has been happening in the world. I was very pleased to see that hurricane Rita wasn't as fierce as expected but she still did a vast amount of damage.

Disaster!

First I overslept and I was going to do so much. Trouble was I woke up and looked at the clock, decided it was too early to get up, turned over and lo and behold when I woke again it was LATE! Like 9.30! Got up, eventually got to the kitchen and put my porage and sultanas in the microwave as I do every morning, went to turn the computer on, smelt burning and thought....oh gosh I've over timed the porage and its gone thick as glue, rushed into the kitchen to see plumes of black evil smelling smoke coming from the microwave! Aaghhhhh! Turned off the microwave. Opened the door and the smoke poured out so rushed to open the back door so that it didn' t go all through the house and then went to look at the remains. Well the porage wasn't even cooked, still swirling around in its liquid so it wasn't an overtiming on my behalf. Looked into the microwave and saw that it was all black and burnt round the overhead vent! Tried turning it on again and immediately heard nasty crackling sounds so hastily switch it off and cooked my porage on the stove. Funnily enough it had a nasty burnt taste to it...I wonder why? lol So I rather feel that is the end of my microwave! Malheureusement! BUT I do have another one that I keep for microwaving dyed fabrics when I'm using acid dyes on silk fabric or ribbon. If I scour that out....and it hasn't been used that often as I don't do much silk dyeing now and it was new after the old one gave up on me and refused to work....then I could use it and need n't buy a new one. Also this one is smaller and will give me more room! I'm not a microwave person. I use it primarily for cooking my porage in the morning and defrosting things because I can't remember to get them out of the freezer in time! So I don't need anything special and the old one owes me nothing as I've had it for over ten years. It has an electric cook facility as well as microwave but I've never used this part of it since I bought it. At the time we didn't have a cooker as we were going through an extremely poor time and I thought this would double up as cooker as well as microwave and be far cheaper. But I found it difficult to use and so that side of it wasn't utilised at all. I suppose I should be thankful that I hadn't wandered back upstairs as I could have come down to find the whole thing ablaze and the kitchen full of smoke! I shall be thankful for small mercies!

After that I went up to the workroom and played for a couple of hours with my Stewart Gill fabric paints. With the ones that I already had I now have quite a good selection but as is always the way not all the colours I want. After working with them and being quite pleased with the results I decided that I really preferred working with water soluble pencils, paint stiks and oil pastels. The finish they give is more in line with what I want. But then horses for courses! Both mediums are good depending on what one wants at the end! I shall try over-dyeing some of the pieces I've done to see what happens. Now I need lunch! Something that needs no heating at all such as a salad! lol

The result of my buying spree! The paintsticks are two deep! Crinkle paper is on the right in front of the fabric medium.  

I'm broke!

Wowee I've had the most splendiferous morning spending money! This is always fun! I had arranged to go over to Sue's house this morning instead of her coming to me as usually happens because the art shops I wanted to go to are in Redruth not Falmouth. So I duly set off and arrived only to find that she, silly moo that she is, had gone over to me! Grin So after phone calls back and forth she eventually arrived back home! Then we set off on the great buying spree. First we went to Lawrence's on the industrial estate at Barncoose. I'm putting all these geographical references in for anyone local who wants to go and see! Lawrence's is an amazing art store and I used to visit them regularly when I was in London but now they've moved out of London and are very handy! Couldn't have chosen a better place to re-locate to! While Sue drooled over card making stuff and hand made paper I got stuck in to choosing some more Markal paint sticks. It was hard so obviously I had to buy quite a few in case when I got home I found that I just needed the one colour I hadn't bought. Brought out my plastic friend and then we were on our way again. This time into Redruth town where we parked in the Flowerpot Car Park and walked halfway down the high street to Arts and Graphics. This shop has moved and although in smaller premises since I last went there it still seems to have everything I wanted. Bought way to many Stewart Gill fabric paints and some more Glitterati Fusible film which is like Angelina but isn't! I had to avert my eyes from lots of interesting things as by now the plastic friend was beginning to feel tired! Laden down now with packages we started back up the hill (Redruth is on a hill and if you go down you have to go up! Very tiring!) and hit all the charity shops on our side of the road. I bought a book.....I am a sucker for books. This one is trivial and will be ideal for odd idle moments if I get any! I also bought two grey skirts. One is to wear now and is long, jersy and slightly flared. The other is a size smaller than I usually wear and is buttoned up the front with large buttons, is made of a ribbed corduroy type fabric but isn't corduroy and has a welt top and fitted waist. The other one had an elastic waist which is good! Having bought this small....and it looks minute!...skirt I shall have to be very very good and stick with the new regime. So far I have lost nearly 6lbs! But looking at myself I think it must have gone from inside because the outside of me looks the same! I also got some lovely crinkly shining plasticky kind of paper/foil which will be lovely for sewing over. Or burning/melting. Or fusing or just anything that comes to mind.

So a good time was had by all. I was careful not to elaborate too much when asked what I had bought when I saw Martin. Its always better to fudge these things in the first instance. And if he's not too sure of exactly what I have in my workroom he can't ask me searching questions as to when I'm going to use any of that expensive such and such I bought several days, weeks or months ago. And I do remind him from time to time that searching amongst my goodies I am often able to help him out with a piece of rubber tubing or a specific glue for THE CAR!

Its time for tiffin now and then I shall go and play. New project has been put on hold because I tried enlarging with my printer; telling it to print as poster and all it did was enlarge the middle and print that and only that. So I shall take it into work and do it there. There are compensations at having to work at a normal job. Here is a small picture of where I'm starting from. This is the original cut out and stuck on tatty original plan. More work to do on it as I have ideas!

Gorgeous postcard from Arlee. This makes 5 to date. Love the autumn colours!  

This is bad!

This is bad! Two quizzes in one day! The world will end! But I couldn't resist and I am that pink person! Grin!

Your Power Color Is Magenta

At Your Highest: You energize yourself and push others to suceed. At Your Lowest: You feel frustrated and totally overwhelmed. In Love: You are suprised by who you attract. You're a love magnet. How You're Attractive: Open and free spirited, people want to explore the world with you. Your Eternal Question: "What is my next source of inspiration?"

What's Your Power Color?

And I am starting a new project and getting my swap postcards done. So I'm allowed to be frivolous for a bit. Now that classes are underway I feel more liberated. Time has become mine own again. The class this morning was very good and most enjoyable for me and all concerned I hope. I do like Friday classes ...they always move so well. It was good to see you Pam! I like putting faces to names.

So I have had a million ideas over the past month and one of them has clicked and I've actually started working on it. I had already done some tentative playing around with the concept of the idea before I went to Scotland, and produced something tangible to work with but pressure of work stopped me from continuing with it. So now to enlarge on it. I feel re-born. A good feeling. I shall write more about it tomorrow and post pictures of my early drawings. This I feel could provide inspiration for several pieces of work and I've got ideas in my head for a group piece as well.

My step by step processes for a new piece of work are simple. I go through a staring into space period and just muse and then I play with shapes, cut them out, colour them and stick them on paper in an integrated fashion. I'm now going to enlarge the pieces and use proper colours rather than the six tatty coloured crayons we have at work. If I can organise some strength I'll do this tonight but otherwise I'll do it tomorrow. Actually I think I shall go and soak my feet in a bowl of warm water with lovely soothing lotion in it and then lie on my back with my feet in the air. By Friday I am normally tired but when I'm teaching as well I'm shattered! Its all the standing and the yacking! Going to buy art supplies in the morning. Must be restrained! Grin

Hey! Hey! A postcard from Lisa!

When I arrived home from work it was to find a postcard on the mat from Lisa! Now I don't know whether this is the first or substitute postcard. Hopefully Lisa will know. I did notice that the stamp wasn't cancelled on it. Hilarious message on the back. Sorry haven't got $50 so your counsellor will have to stay in jail! Grin! Superb postcard all round. What really neat blanket stitch you do Lisa.....so even! And did you print the message on the back? What a treat though to end the week with!

Postcard from Lisa! At last! 

Amazing!

I actually did the tattoo thingy quiz at work and this is what I got:

No tattoo
BORING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


What tattoo would you have?
brought to you by Quizilla

Which is amazing because I wouldn't have a tattoo. I think they are naff! So yes, I am boring! But for once a quiz has got it right! Now that I've found how to get onto blogger at work there will be no holding me! Grin!

Arise and shine!

Well this getting up early seems to be ongoing. I can only think it is a by product of the detox which is going well. I found I had lost 3lbs this morning! So onwards and upwards!

I had violent dreams about my last nights students. Dreamt that I was trying to run them down in my car! Now what does that tell you? What would Freud have to say about that? Grin! They are a lovely bunch! Really they are! And I'm looking forward to this morning's lot as well. Actually this morning is a cinch as most of the students are returnee's and I know them well. This always makes a class start with a bang when one hasn't got to get to know the foibles of a whole new selection of people. It is pouring with rain which is a bummer as even though the distance from the car to the classroom is short it is still long enough for me to get absolutely soaked and my stuff. I always seem to take everything but the kitchen sink with me. An inbuilt fear probably of not having the right stuff. And this even though I make copioous lists of requirements. The first lesson of the term I don't give out handouts but expect students to make their own notes. This way they have to think about what they are doing! It was interesting to note for my assessment sheet last night that very few of them took any notes at all! Sometimes all the students are scribbling away and take masses of notes. There is a happy medium! And that is another thing that irks me, this necessity in what is supposed to be a 'fun' class, to make constant assessments which have to handed over to the powers that be and the session observers when they arrive. I did enough paperwork and assessments when I was teaching City and Guilds to last a life time. I do not think it is necessary for purely recreational classes. It is another symptom of government control and interference in all walks of life. After all if you can't teach well, if your students don't like you or your class is boring, then the students will vote with their feet and not come back! OK moan over for this morning. I must get me to the car and be on my way. Fridays is a very rushed day as after teaching this morning I have to rush to work! But joy of joys its the weekend again tomorrow! Yippee!

Avocado plant on windowsill in water.  

Shattered!

I am totally shattered. I'd forgotten how exhausting teaching can be especially on the first night. All I want to do is lie on the floor and expire! There are both novices and intermediates in the class and I've ended up with some doing sampler quilts, some doing crazy patchwork and one doing machine applique. I don't know how that last one slipped in there as it wasn't on my list of things to do. But I'm sure it will all work out in the end if I haven't died in the meantime!

It was interesting to see that no one had any thoughts on influence as pertaining to one's art. Obviously it isn't something of interest though I find it a fascinating subject. Oh well on to other things.

Before I completely flake out I must say that I am over the moon because my avocado plant has grown! I've been meaning to say this for a week or so now and forgotten. But it has leaves and roots and I'm really chuffed! Way to go! Now I really need to put it into soil and pot it up but I'm not quite sure how to go about this. Do I bury the original seed even though it has a split in the top? Any suggestions would be greatly welcomed.

It has lots of leaves and little ones coming all the way down the stem. Not at all as I expected!

What's with this early lark?

For the second morning running I've been unable to sleep and have been up at the crack of dawn. Is it angst over getting ready for classes or am I just getting more energy from the detox which by the way I am still adhering too. Hard at times but I've made sure I've got lots of the right foods in the fridge and larder.

Things to do:

Sort out Husqvarna sewing machine for taking to class
Make sure I've got everything I need ready as I won't have time tonight
Update class list on laptop
Colour sort fabric for class
Quilt some more sampler blocks
Make a casserole for dinner tonight

Busy day looms so I must be away. My thoughts are with everyone in the Gulf states as Rita advances. It is the first item on the news this morning so will follow its progress throughout the day on the hourly updates.

Sampler quilt. The kind of thing I do with my beginning students using the 'quilt as you go' method.  

Too impatient by far!

Since Monday I have been playing with the idea of buying one of Gabrielle Swain's DVD's and when I decided yesterday that I'd go for it I was non-plussed to find that the DVD I wanted wasn't available until September 30th. Wah! I like immediate. Like yesterday! So today I ordered the one on Hand Applique and am now going to wait very impatiently for it to arrive. Three to six weeks! How will I contain myself! And then on the 30th I will order the one I want on Tools! I have to tell you I'm not a hand applique person but the spiel on Gabrielle's website is such that I just knew that this disk would work wonders for me. I'll keep you posted when I've watched it! Gabrielle even says I can watch it in my jammies! Oh joy of joys I can be a slob! Grin! But I would say go and take a look. It's worth it for the read and if you arn't hooked then I will be amazed! Grin! I'm usually very wary as to what I buy in the way of books or DVD's as I don't want to be influenced in any way or find that subconsciously I am picking up on someone else's techniques so that my work takes on overtones of someone else's style. When I once went to a writers class one of the things the tutor said was not to read any books in the genre that one was using oneself so as not to influence the writing. Well I think this applies to art and design too. It is easy at a show to see which exhibitors attended the same workshop or copied the same ideas from a book or picture. With my own students I encourage them, no, force them, to be original and think for themselves. So what do you all think? Do you think too great a reliance on books and lessons from other artists can colour our own work? There is nothing new under the sun but there is individual style. Anyway I'd be really interested in what you think.

My first class of the new Autumn term is tomorrow. It is full and already I am getting phone calls from last years students who can't get registered asking me why I didn't enrol them. Excuse me? I didn't know you wanted to come. I'm not a mind reader. Two of the replies that hover on the tip of my tongue! But its nice to be so popular that I have a waiting list! Grin! I get a real buzz from teaching and look forward to the new term with great expectancy. The fact that I am totally behind is not important as I have my notes done and the first lesson prepared. I shall take it from there. And then there is a longer repeat class on Friday morning! Oh what joy! It will be good meeting up with some of last year's students again and getting to know the new students. Who knows I might get something finished this year for me!

Early in the morning!

Its much too early in the morning but I was just quickly reading my bloglist on Bloglines and just had to do the quiz that Gabrielle had found! I am such a sucker for quizzes!

Your Hidden Talent

Your natural talent is interpersonal relations and dealing with people. You communicate well and are able to bring disparate groups together. Your calming presence helps everything go more smoothly. People crave your praise and complements.

What's Your Hidden Talent?

Now I must go and get on with quilting the sampler quilt. Only one more day and falling!

Tuesday again!

I really don't like Tuesdays. Don't ask me why but they just don't work for me. My best day apart from the weekend is Monday. It seems all fresh and ready for a new start whereas Tuesday is a bitty day and I don't get a lot done. This is probably due to the fact that I have to go into town to go to the bank and then the shopping has to be done. Both chores that I could do without. Though saying that today with the detox/diet in mind I did indulge in some lovely things that I'm allowed to eat on my self imposed regime. Some gorgeous Russian recipe Rye bread which is delicious toasted and eaten dry! Yes dry! Lovely avocados, lots of yummy salad things and peaches. I adore peaches whizzed up in the liquidiser and with added cranberry juice and whey protein powder makes a good snack for lunch. Quick and easy! I have now had two good days so I'm feeling positive. And just with two days of this I've got more energy!

What really cheered me up today was getting a wonderful postcard from DebR. See the photo above. Wonderful sun with rays that remind me of octopus legs complete with suckers. What a gorgeous piece of fabric. I really like this Deb.

Wonderful postcard from DebR. This makes 3! 

Side view!  

Dinky little bag made out of flower fabric which has been stiffened