Sunday, 1st January: Day 1

So, to kick us off, here's a picture taken in the new reading room at Murray's (as is, it will have a new name really soon) - what do you think?

I've got a full panorama of the room going up on Facebook as soon as I finish this post. You'll be able to see it at:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150450958836752.354320.580876751&type=1

I'm including this shot because this is one of those spaces that just oozes creativity! - It's quite difficult to explain, but being in this space gives you tingles - almost crackles of some kind of creative static electricity. It would be hard not to be creative in this space. Which is extremely handy given that the various rooms are open for projects, as well as tea/coffee/cake from the vintage tearoom in front. There's also a flea market on every Saturday where crafters and artists can come to showcase (and hopefully sell) some of their wares.

We were up there this afternoon for a little drink to toast in the new calendar and the start of all the wonderful projects this space is affording for our town. It was a great afternoon with good company and great craic (fun, the Irish way). We even took some of the silver streamers from the party poppers and danced in the fizzy energy of the place. (That was wee Olivia's idea - it made me think at the time, while trying to work out how I would explain the whole feeling of the place to you, how interesting it is that children seem to have an instinctive 'feel' for these things and always seem to know the right way to respond to it.)

One of my aims for this year is to use my Teaching Certificate more. As soon as there are people interested, I'm going to be offering classes and one-on-one workshops in Textiles and related crafts from somewhere in here.

***

On the creativity front, I'm really chuffed to have managed to complete TWO small items today.

The first, was this adaption to my watch. (left)

Our littlest cat, Shadow, (below left) has had a thing for my watch for quite some time now and regularly steals it in the night. The upshot of which is, as of this morning, the strap was completely unusable through the sheer amount of being grabbed in kitty teeth and hauled about.

I removed the old yellow (my favourite) faux leather strap and upcycled the watch itself with this keyring fob to give (I hope) a slightly more durable piece that I can interchange between belt loops, or even attach to my bag strap or purse when I'm out and about.

Left is the man himself - our wee stowaway who we discovered had moved in when we got back from our summer trip.








We've established he's about the same age as our other kitten, Mogwai and was roaming ferrol having lost/left his Mum around 6wks. Now that he's been treated for the worst case of worms I've ever seen, he's healthy and happily become a part of the family and is now more at home in a cosy domestic setting than out roaming.

The second thing that I have made today doesn't look like anything very much does it? (above right)

It's actually the start of a much bigger piece I've been putting off for MONTHS now, on the grounds that I "can't justify time working on that because it's for me" (- a habit I plan to loose for good this year!)

We were given a new (to us)

three-piece-suite about four months ago. It's ridiculously comfortable, but as you can see in the background of the photo, it's a very, shall we say, 'particular' sort of colour scheme and pattern, as well as in some hidden away areas, really rather worn. (Not to mention we'd just finished redecorating the living room, with a predominant palette of plum and yellow-gold-ish) So the plan is, that I will gradually recover it.

Having played about with various ideas, we've settled on making large patchwork throws that will either remain loose, or may be fixed in place to cover the suite.
The reason we're opting for patchwork, is that we have large blocks of colour on each wall, so any more big blocky colours would start looking wrong in our small room, so the patchwork will be made of very small pieces, in varying shades of both purple and yellow, to complement the other decor.

This piece then, will become the core piece of the settee cover. I've incorporated some left over streamers from our trip out this afternoon. Not sure why I did that - it was a whim. Perhaps I'm trying to conserve some of that wonderful creative energy we danced in this afternoon.



I'll be putting the rest of the photos up on Facebook in the next few minutes.
Tune in again tomorrow to see how we can build on this flying start!

Square One

Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

If you answered anywhere along the scale from "Eeeeep!" to "What AM I thinking?" then you're just about on the money.

my Darling Love, Christophe has extended a challenge in two parts to me.

The first part is here, today - now in fact, as it's currently 21.52 on Saturday, 31st December 2011.

It's going to sound a simple task, but part one is to celebrate Gregorian New Year with him.

So here I am, Baileys in hand, compiling my list of resolutions for the first time in 11 years, since I resolved never to make any more resolutions and to stop commemorating the date pope Gregory decided to get time and space into (his) order.

I was flitting about on Facebook earlier (as we all do when uninspired and thinking round things if we're honest) trying to think how to begin and my friend, Music World Radio's (www.musicworldradio.com) own DJ Destiny, posted an image that for me, pretty much summons up the decade, Hel - the century so far. It was this one (caption is PG for language):

Cute little lass isn't she?

Well, ths was me at this point in 2007. The last four years have been (in short) a sort of process of hibernating and putting the pieces back together, including an International move in the January of 2009, following the fabled "Call" of Ireland.

Three years down the line, it's time to re-emerge, stronger and better than ever before.

"So what's new?" You might well be asking. Well, for me, this year - all bets are off!

You see, I've just turned 29 two weeks ago.

Don't panic - I have absolutely NO problem with 30 - this is not going to descend into a messy, cliched, nervous breakdown - in fact, in due course, I'm rather looking forward to 30.

No, my issue is 29! Beyond the births of my precious three children, (none of whom are with me now) the twenties have thus far been, for the most part, an exhausted stumble from one heartbreak and crisis to the next. So now, it's my task, with these last 50 weeks, to emerge from my hibernation and truly define this decade for myself, the people who matter to me and for my children. - To set myself up to step into 30 in much better shape and ready for everything!

There are some things I've already decided I want to do as sideline quests this year, but I'm hoping to also collect more as we go along.

I'm still really not quite at home with this "New Year" thing, so rather than resolutions (I understand about 2/3 of those get broken within the first fortnight of January anyhow) I'm just going to dub them my Twenties Bucket List (the things I want to do before I'm 30) - some will be big, some will be little, but all will be productive and all will add to the adventure.


The list itself, however, is likely to need another Baileys and a wee bit more consultation with my sweetie, so I'll sign off for now and post that up in a bit.




Ooooo - should add as a PS: I'm enabling that AdSense thingie on this blog - I know, ads drive us all crackers, but one of the things I'm definitely decided on is I want to raise at least €500 for Dogs For The Disabled Ireland (D4D) this year and any revenues I might at some point in the future get from this, I plan to donate straight over to them, so I hope you'll be able to put up with some sidebar ads for this fabulous cause!