Props Award!

Well I have just spent the afternoon photographing a 'haep o' shtoff' for the Etsy shop. Long overdue.

Much as I love taking photos, and trying to do them well, I'm always putting off doing the shop photos. I guess its the old notion of better to not do something than fail to do it perfectly- serious problem of mine, which I am addressing but...

Anyhow with the idea of adding verisimilitude to the photos I assembled a cast of thousands to aid the artsy-fartsyfication thereof...well, hundreds...well, put it this way, I scoured the flat to find items which looked like genuine props rather than just junk left on the counter!

And so, since we are entering Award Season here is my

Props Award Acceptance Speech:

'I'd like to thank my Apple and my Orchid, my Granny's Vase and Gardening Book.

I'd like to thank Youngest for not nicking all my cheapo bangles and leaving me one bead necklace (I'd like the rest back please)

and Home base for having a sale on tea-light holders at the weekend wave.

I'd also like to thank my lovely Address Book and Biro for being such good sports during a long and gruelling afternoon: I wouldn't be here without you kiss kiss.

And most of all I'd like to thank my millions of readers for putting up with

this preposterous guff sob sob.

Thank you!'

So whaddya think? Will I make it as a star???

Or just an eejit?!

Aren't the ridiculous posts the most fun to write?

Stephen's Green photos, Dublin

So here are some not very good photos from last week! This is part of the band I came across outside the Thrater...and below is the pond in Stephen's Green.

James Joyce, a bit o' culture fer ye...
and another Bandstand! Hey! I like Bandstands- they are so old-fashioned!
...and ditto...
I'll take some more this week and h-edu-macate yez further!!

Minimalist? or Boring?

D'you know what? With all the lovely comments yous have been leaving me this week especially, I'm becoming the most inflated head this side of the Irish Sea! Its very kind of you all and I really appreciate it!

I especially love when a sort of repartee arises in the Comments of a post- it amuses me, and also it somehow draws the big wide world in a little. Is that selfish? For instance yesterday I discovered that Jane gets her buttons from Ruth whom I just discovered, and she's here in Limerick! How 'small world' is that? (sing together now- 'It's a small world after all, Its a small world after all...small,small,world!')

And another thing...
(whilst I'm on the subject of Connections)
(yeh, yeh, there always is 'another thing')
...if Amanda thinks I'm a bad influence, Jingle is WORSE!
There's me all chuffed with myself for starting a facebook site, and then I visit Jingle and she had a 'fan page widget' so, not to be outdone, I trundle off to get me one of them yokes too! Which is all very well, but somehow, on the information section I managed to get NIGERIA into my location???? Hours later (and much blue air) I still hadn't got rid of it, so when BBug returned from town she finally managed to ditch it!
Ok, so I'm not saying Jingle is responsible for my stupidity, buuuuut, if she hadn't had such a cool fan widget....
And do join if you feel so inclined!

Now, here's what I wanted to ask yez-

These are three of the photos I retook for my Etsy shop:
...A Red Wall-hanging or Table-topper...

...A 'junk collection' Handbag...

...and another Wall-hanging or Table-topper.

But what about this Handbag- is it too boring? Should I decorate it somehow? And if so, with what? Beads? Buttons? Ruffles or cotton lace?? I really need to know- the fabric isn't corduroy but its quite heavy so its a fairly solid piece.
This is the other side.
So do I stay with minimalist or do I add something? Opinions please??

Home again-jiggety jig!

We got back from London yesterday with no hitches, though I have to say that Aer Lingus' check in routines in Gatwick were a bit chaotic, but we found our way, really by Mum accosting people and asking. Then she was most put out when we went downstairs to go to the Departures gate to discover another level of shops! So she did a quick detour whilst we went on!

Monday we each spent doing errands, I had to buy new music for the School Nativity this Christmas as I have used up everything I own. I found two suitable books in Chappell’s which was great. I also visited John Lewis, Liberty, HMV, and then, as I had nearly two hours before meeting the others I headed to the V & A Museum, which is one of my favourite places! I visited the Theater Exhibit, Textiles and the gallery housing Owen Jones’ sketches. I took quite a few photos to work from, and lots of ideas for quilt patterns are milling around in my head. (Don’t you find Ideas take on a life of their own and the jostling can become fairly noisy and acrimonious? Sometimes I wonder who is in charge of the inside of my head- me or the Ideas?)

On Monday evening we went to see the Musical ‘Wicked’, a recent prequel to the ‘Wizard of Oz’. It was brilliant! Set design and costumes were phantasmagorical and intricate, and the technical side was spectacular. We were sitting right up in the gods and I think we lost nothing by being so far from the stage. I’d go again, and in fact it was the bro’s second time.

ceiling of the Apollo Theater, Art Deco design and very evocative of that era, I thought.

Victoria and Albert Museum
Theater exhibit- the detail on this was beautiful but the photo is not good; it gives an idea though.
part of the Theater exhibit
this and below, some of Owen Jones' drawings. They were meticulous, detailed, and the colours really vivid still- I'm going to research him further.

inner courtyard of the V & A Museum

chandeliers in Liberty. Its such a beautiful building.

galleries in Liberty

The Royal College of Organists by the Royal Albert Hall, I had to take a photo of that!

Kew Gardens

canna lillies outside the Palm House, just look at the pattern on those leaves!

the Water Lily House- it was beautiful and a lot of lillies were flowering.

agapanthus and phlox, can't remember which section

eucalyptus bark

rock pool in the Alpine section with the Princess of Wales Glasshouse behind

anthurium in the Palm House.

waterlily.

It was wet and windy at Knock, but more rain on the wind than lashing, if you see the distinction! I was quite amusing as the plane taxied to its place a loud and indignant small (English) voice exclaimed: 'It's raining!' Everyone laughed. Anyhow, as soon as Mom had the case, we opened it and got out jerseys and anoraks, before even leaving the baggage hall! Yes, well, we knew we were home...

Inspiration, Totem-poles, and a walk in the woods.

Today was a creative mish-mash. Lying in bed this morning (the Hub is on early shift so gone to work by 5.30 am, good opportunity for thinking) I had an idea from an article I was reading in 'Quilting Arts Magazine' yesterday, so jumped out of bed to try it. You can't see very well but I was adding thread embellishments to patches on postcard-sized fabric. To be continued...

I then went over to the folks to persuade Dad to come out to Hazlewood and play with the (his!) camera. I want to do a piece of work based on totem-poles so printed out this photo from his computer, taken in Vancover a few years back. I love totem-poles, the scale, carving, colours, myths connected to the animals and birds portrayed...When I was very little we visited this same place and Dad bought me a tiny totem pole which, believe it or not has travelled with me and now sits on our mantlepiece here! (pack-rat? me?)

Oops!

Dad and I then spent about an hour and a half out at Hazlewood, on the shores of Lough Gill, 'playing' with his camera. I brought the book of the words along and we had great fun. I think I took most of these, but it was easier to see errors once they were loaded onto the computer, so many were subsequently deleted. I only fell in the lake once, but luckily brought a spare pair of shoes. We used to say of B that she would either fall into any available liquid, or spill it on herself. I wonder where she got that tendancy from?

Aren't these ducks funny? They look like miniature speed boats with the wake they are leaving!

This afternoon Sos and B had things to do in Sligo so I went into my favourite bookshop, Book Mart on the Mall to see whether they had anything on Gaudi or Klimt, both of whom I want to study. (The Library was closed) They had no books but Donal found several old postcards of Barcelona which he let me have! Sorted! I've been doodling and studying them as these photos were loading and it looks promising.

Sos very kindly made supper this evening, and then I discovered that B has chewed my drawing pencil all the way along. Honestly she's worse than a puppy! Had some texts from Dilly last night to say she was in the middle of a load of errands around Dublin center for work yesterday when one sandal disintegrated. She 'limphopped' (her word) to the nearest Penney's to buy another pair so she could continue! Later she bought a packet of red hair dye, and a cheap beanie hat in case it turns out badly! Honestly!

Photos!! At Last Long!!

Ladies and gentlemen,
Umbrellas and walking sticks-
I'd like to show you something
I've been learning about!

(to paraphrase the old doggerel)

I've managed to upload photos, but they're in the wrong order and I can't figure how to re-arrange them.



Meet our nearest neighbours: Mary Horse and Foaly. Foaly was three weeks old yesterday and has learned to leap in the air this week, he makes us smile just to watch him! They belong to a farmer down the lane but the girls have carrots for them on our shopping list. Before we were married the Hub's Dad always had horses, and the Hub worked as Assistant Trainer in a Racing Stables in Nairobi. He and B are horse- mad even yet!

These three photos are of the hedgerows along the road outside our gate, are't they lovely? I don't think I got the exposure right but haven't figured how to do it. Also Dad said I can change the number of pixels used in a photo for greater clarity, but I haven't figured how to do that either! I'm used to an old SLR Minolta camera with extra lenses and huge variety of exposure options and shutter speeds to get the effect I want, I'm really starting from scratch here! And the third photo is the right way up although it looks sideways, the little ferns are growing at a funny angle.

Here is the wall hanging I finished last week. Its about 9" x 27", and this photo IS sideways! I can't figure how to rotate it!

The veg bed which is mostly behaving itself, except for the french beans, but they're behind the broad beans. If they won't co-operate and grow, then I'm not taking their photos.


And her is the deep bed the Hub built last week, which was meant to be at the top of the post. Oh well! The tomatoes will be taking up residence there this afternoon, and possibly the stubborn beans, if they ask nicely. Its awfully tempting to just fill it with folwers and shrubs but I can grow them anywhere, its the veg which needs shelter.

I was out most of yesterday as the girls wanted to go to the cinema, and we needed to go round to the folks and see their visitors who are family friends. Dad was watching Wimbledon, with Mum running in and out between kitchen and living room whenever there was a roar from the crowd. It was too tense for her to sit and watch!

And just to amuse you I had two mishaps yesterday: in the morning the loo seat abruptly came apart and threw me off, most startling! Later, when I was out my jean zip broke, luckily up, and I was stuck not able to go to the loo until I got home. I wondered if there would be a third thing but there wasn't!

Anyhow, hope you enjoy the photos, Dad finally found the camera instruction booklet last night so I am reading it now which should help a bit. B has been very patient with all my ignorance and very kind too. Sos managed to drop her camera yet again in Spain, and although it still works, the zoom doesn't. Huh. I'm working on the fourth and fifth squares of the next little quilt, I was cutting out Sunbonnet Sue and Overall Sam applique bits whilst waiting for the photos to upload, now I'm going to sign off and sew them all together. I was very good and raced through most of the chores before breakfast so I could do my own things this afternoon...oh no, tomato seedlings first!