TizDuster

March Reading

Well it's the last day of March so time to list what I read during the month:

The Help - Kathryn Stockett. This was chosen by my book group as their March read. It's a number one bestseller. I can see why, as it is easy to read and quite a page turner. But for me it was a bit superficial, the characters were very stereotypical and I was exceedingly uncomfortable with a white author writing about black women's experiences. And giving all the black characters dreadful down home accents written in the vernacular made the whole experience rather squirmy. 

Close-Up - Sherry Ashworth. I enjoyed this teen book. It was a little predictable but raised some interesting questions about loyalty and family. The characters came alive and Sherry knows how to structure a good story. Yes, I'd recommend this one.

Thyme's End - B. E. Collins. Another teen book. An exploration of good and evil - I think. It's compelling but somewhat incomplete. For me I needed the end to tie in with the beginning somehow. This could be a flaw in the structure. I have read some other reviews that agree with me.

and finally....

Solar - Ian McEwan. I have been wanting to read this since it came out last year and I was not disappointed. A few of my friends have not got on with it but let me tell you it's hilarious. Laugh out loud funny. The main character Michael Beard is such a pompous arse.

There are shades of early Tom Sharpe in there. It is such great writing -  a combination of humour, pathos and some excellent characterisation.Put all that with a finely structured plot and you have an excellent book on your hands. But then what else would you expect from Mr McEwan?

 

 

 

Wet- Felted Vessels

I've started making wet-felted vessels for an upcoming art show I'm helping to organise. More of that in later posts.

I'm quite pleased with how they've worked out. I've already made a third (not photographed here). My friend Claire on Quirky Dreaming doesn't like the way I've shaped the top of the brown one. I can't quite decide if I agree with her or not. She studied ceramics so I feel she should know about shape and form. It would be easy to alter if necessary.

The brown one (above) is about 7 inches in diameter and the blue one (below) 9 inches.

I am itching to try something bigger but I need to set aside a good few hours for that  - I think it might have to wait till after our trip to the States.

By the way thank you for your help re the crochet hooks/knitting needles and flying. I have decided to take a plastic crochet hook and chew through the yarn when I need to change colours!

 

Crochet hooks and airplane travel?

Next month I have to go on a long flight with all the family over to Portland,Oregon USA for my mother-in-law's funeral. She lived to be 98 years old. I can't imagine what that must have felt like. To have seen so many changes, to have watched the same mistakes being made time and time again and to have survived when so many others didn't. In the end her body was tired and worn out, but her mind was as sharp as ever. However all that is another story.

This picture taken on one of our visits over to America with the kids. I think she was about 85 years old and about to be taken on a daring wheelbarrow ride by her grandchildren!

But my question here is - can you take crochet hooks on an airplane? On the ten hour flight from Amsterdam to Portland it seems like a great opportunity to do lots of hookie but I don't want it all confiscated at the security check.

I'm sure that many of you crafty types out there have the answer. So many of you travel around and I can't believe you sit for hours on end without doing some crafting or some sort or another.

Please let me know - many thanks.

Fiona

Getting ready for a sale

I do so few sales that I get into a mad panic when I have one coming up. I agreed to do an evening one this Friday to raise funds for our local primary school.

I got cracking on making these necklaces but have sold the green one already!

Jumble sale trawl

Saturday I went to a jumble sale in our village in aid of the local school.

I spent just under £5.00 and came away with:

A Boden skirt

A Great Plains skirt

A man's Cotton Trader sweatshirt

A Gap check blouse

A Hobbs black blouse

An M and S sports T-shirt (bnwt)

A natty hat

New pair of tights

A duck beany baby

And three brand new vintage tumblers.

 

An undaunted knitter

Undaunted by my abject failure on my last cardigan I have begun knitting again. Initially I went out to buy some red wool  but couldn't find a colour I liked in the little knitting shop in Cromer so I opted for this.

It's not really red, is it? It's Paton Fab!

I'm pleased with the way it is knitting up and think it will be just right for the slightly hippy look I am aiming at this summer. I just hope it fits this time.

Japan is suffering again

Laura over at Bugs and Fishes is donating half of the sales of her Japanese cherry blossom headbands and brooches to the Japanese Tsunami Appeal. I think this is such a generous idea that I bought one immediately.

It is such a dreadful thing that happened over there. The footage was ghastly, especially seeing people in cars trying in vain to flee the ever advancing wall of water.

And now with a possible nuclear catastrophe unfolding, one wonders what next for a nation that has surely had it's fill of nuclear explosions in the past?

I have had the picture above pinned to my noticeboard for some years now. I can't remember where I picked it or who it is by, but it depicts two children sitting happily on a wall surrounded by flowers while the huge mushroom cloud of the Hiroshima explosion gathers in the distance.

It seemed fitting to share this with you at this time.

Copper sheets

This morning I drove to the metal shop and picked up two pieces of copper to make some more copper hares and new designs.

Jen from Painted Fish Studios loved the hare so much that she is wearing him around her neck. And she is right he looks great that way. Hop over there and take a look. Also she does some lovely punched cards and albums.

Now to cut into my sheets of metal. But I think I'll take a close look at them for a few days first!

Have a lovely weekend.

Felt slippers

A couple of weeks ago I made these felt slippers at one of Maria's (Creative Bumble Bee) Workshops.

I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out really. Unfortunately, the back was very thick so I had to cut it down. I'm building up to making another pair. 

They look really small in this picture, don't they? I can assure you that although my children call my feet trotters they are not quite that small! 

This pullover - that I made for you

Not everything turns out as well as you'd like it to. And sometimes it is just plain awful.

Predictably my new blue pullover didn't turn out as planned. But it has at least found a good use.

Maisy finds it quite comfortable as a bed. 

I've started knitting another one  and I wonder if she'll like the colour of that one as well!

Sometimes records end up being awful as well - especially ones about knitting! Just what was Jess Conrad thinking when he made this one? It's so bad that it made it into Kenny Everett's World Worst records.

Give it a listen. It's a classic!