Yippee!

Well - I don't know what happened to my blog, but I lost all my text.  Hopefully, by some miracle, words have returned....so keep fingers crossed.  In order to celebrate, I have picked two very happy pics of flowers which are growing along the side of the beach at Eastbourne......so here goes, will it work??

Wow!!!   Have I got my text back???

For some reason I seem to have lost all my text..so here goes...

I'm just playing around with ideas for using my little crochet pieces....I leave things laying around waiting for the 'aha' moment of inspiration!! It does come sometimes...in the meantime I'm off to the Lewes art trail today so I should receive inspiration by the bucketful!

A bag in the making....yes, I've actually started a bit of knitting but I am still enjoying snatching moments to do some crochet with my single ply hand spun wool.  Also - I couldn't resist adding the photo of my granddaughter up on the downs near Beachy Head.  We had a lovely walk there the other day.....I never tire of Sussex by the sea!

I have to say that I am proud of my 9 yr. old grandson who produced this picture within minutes.....I think it's brilliant...and I definitely think the hen is about to lay an egg! 

Spinning is definitely one of my favourite ways of 'unwinding' (!) and relaxing - so an hour in the garden yesterday on a wonderful summer's day was a winner!  As you can see, the ball of yarn produced is now sitting in the basket waiting to be a part of a new bag...I thought I'd go a bit crazy with a mix of colours and I think it's worked........another fabulous day today so kids, dogs, grannies will go out and enjoy the fresh air!

Not sure what I'm going to do with this needle felted house, but I enjoyed making it!!  I got my original inspiration from Elizabeth Armstrong at the Studiofelter website.  Do take a look at her work...it is truly delicious.  I'm going to enjoy my last few hours without more grandchildren by planning winter projects.  It's a bit sad really because this morning there is definitely an autumnal hint in the air...and it feels as though we are all still waiting for summer.  I feel so lucky to have had some time on the Continent - at least I have experienced some hot weather.  I'm now going off for my dog walk, but it looks as though I'll need my anorak on!

Not sure what I'm going to do with this needle felted house, but I enjoyed making it!!  I fot my original inspiration from Elizabeth Armstrong at the Studiofelter website.  Do take a look at her work...it is truly delicious.

Just to prove that I'm not being idle...every spare moment I'm crocheting away - on trains and buses - and of course at our cake eating group (formerly known as the knitting group).  Somehow I can't get my head around knitting in the summer .... Yesterday's group was brilliant - yet another birthday to celebrate, with cakes and candles and bowls of delicious Eton mess - and of course lots of chat!  Today I hope to grab an hour or so to start joining the crochet squares together.  I have decided to do this bit by bit rather than waiting to join the whole piece together at the end - I think this would be rather daunting!

As you can see, the animals in our house have rather a hard life!!  Still, they do give an enormous amount of pleasure.....and work......this morning good old George (the clean-looking golden retriever) had a wonderful time rolling in freshly laid fox.....you know what!  Yuk!  Quite disgusting - so the next half an hour was spent shampooing and generally scrubbing her down.  What I do for love!

Still grabbing a few moments to play with watercolours.  It's certainly a lot easier using water based paints with the children....I was frequently severely reprimanded when I sent various offspring home with acrylic and dye splodged clothes!!  Water colour tends to wash out - so, so far there haven't been any major disasters!!

Summer in Sussex:   aren't these stone sculptures brilliant.  We were talking to the guy who builds them (every day) on Worthing beach.  How does he manage to balance them??  I really don't know - but I really enjoyed looking at them.  I just love to share in other people's creativity .... the quirkier the better.....And, what do you think of the horse and carriage??  The horses were so patient while they were waiting for the wedding service to be over..I just couldn't resist taking the pic.  Yesterday we walked miles and today promises to be another major dog walking day - a brilliant way of enjoying the sun, sand and sea!

I hope you like the way the paints and dyes ended up on the tee shirt. It was great fun and we are considering going in to production.  Apparently it's all the rage amongst the young ones to have tie dye shirts (seems a bit old hat to me!!).....but if that's what they want..... We went to the Air Show as planned yesterday, but unfortunately the sea mist rolled in and didn't roll away - so we didn't see a single plane!  I guess that is just part of being British!!

I've no idea what I am going to do with these painted strips, but I enjoy looking at them!  It must be something to do with how the colours react against each other ....anyway I shall keep them until I become inspired.  Haven't had much time to do anything very creative recently.  Yesterday we went to the cinema and saw 'The Diary of a Wimpy Kid'.  I really enjoyed it - but then I always do like the children's movies.......Today looks like it's going to be good weather which is great because we are off to the Eastbourne Air Show.......enjoy your day x

More delicious view of Linda's shop...I'm so pleased for her as she has sold so well her shop is rapidly becoming empty!! On the home front we are all busy and enjoying the holidays.  Yesterday we went fruit picking.  I was planning to take a photo of all the delicious strawberries, raspberries, broad beans that we picked, but by the time I had remembered, it was all eaten!!  The art room is continually being used (so we eat meals on our laps) and some pretty amazing creations are being made.  Have a good day!

More works of art from the young people.........I am really enjoying seeing their use of colour.  Becky (11) painted the top pic and Jack (9) the bottom 2.  We had a break in the middle of the day and went to Battle Abbey which was good. We saw an impressive display of falconry - except one particular kestrel decided she didn't want to play and so went on a flyabout into the next field!!  We then returned to the chaos of the art table (note the glass of wine.....) before watching the spectacular winning of three gold medals in the Olympics!

Art is all around.....wherever you look there are sources of inspiration.  These pictures are all taken at Linda's shop over the road.  She always has some new display and her shop really is a work of art.  I must take my camera over again today to capture the latest displays.....yesterday I noticed it was looking exceedingly french and scrumptious! Amongst loads of other things I have been plodding on with knitting, spinning and crochet.  Yesterday we tried dyeing some tee shirts...more of that tomorrow...but it was great fun!

I think that Becky and Jack are doing brilliantly with their art.  Art things are left out on the table during the holidays so we make do with alternative venues when it comes to meal times.  Tonight we hope to have a barbecue.  Back to the painting.....I love the way Jack has added fingerprints to his tree, and I love the way Becky's paintings are freeing up.  It's great for me because it makes me paint too and I continue to explore watercolours with my fruit bowl.  Not sure yet what today will bring, but at the moment I am revelling in a few moments peace before everyone wakes up!!