Friday Smiles 2026 # Week 11

It is one of those weeks when I have very little news, though a few things have made me smile.... Some lovely sunny days; chats with folk in the park; friends who really stepped up for me when I asked for help, discovering more flowers in my neglected garden; success in getting a few projects finished.

Today, I thought I would talk you through a new project that I attempted for fun. Paper Weaving. My son Tom knows I like trying new things, so at Christmas he gave me a set of three kits to make hot air balloons, one red, one blue and one green. Tom lives in Denmark and apparently paper weaving is a popular hobby there.

They have sat on my desk nagging me to have a go but they looked a bit daunting. You get eight sheets of pre-cut paper 'snakes' which you pop out and sort.

Next you pair them up and twist each pair together to make stripey snakes.

As you can see they form a sort of an 'S' shape, and six of each colour curl to the right and six to the left.

I decided to watch the video suggested for the next bit and that's where it became confusing. I had six of each colour curling right and six curling left, while the demonstrator on the video had all twelve of one colour curling right, and all of the second colour curling left. So having watched it through a few times I had to more or less do my own thing. 

The first round was fairly easy and I soon had this 'star-fish' shape.

The second round was much more difficult but I got there eventually. If you look closely you may see that some of my legs are overlapping the wrong way so I need to sort that out before I begin to weave them.

My first attempt was the red balloon and it is not very well done. As you weave each pair of strips you hold them with a paper clip, but they didn't hold well and sometimes my weaving lost tension so the pattern isn't perfect, but it is not bad for a first attempt. I am hoping the blue one turns out better and by the time I get to the green one I should be a pro!

My only other achievement was buying a clock mechanism and fitting it, with Chris' help, to the clock I made last week. It is now installed above the mantle piece mirror. I would like it to be a little bit bigger but I am confined by the size of wood I can buy, and the size of my machine. The kit came with gold hands so I sprayed them black to make them show up better.

Now I shall have another go at the blue balloon and then tidy my room a bit because Tom is coming over for a few days, and the bed sette is in here. He has tickets for the big rugby match in Bristol on Saturday and then he is coming to us on Sunday and staying until Thursday.

For a week when I have little news, I have managed to ramble on for quite a while haven't I? So that is it for this week. Thank you to all who came to visit me last week. I do appreciate your comments.

Friday Smiles 2026 # Week 10

I have been struggling this week to update my blog, with very little success, so please excuse the incorrect side bar. I will keep trying and have enlisted the help of another blog friend, so it might improve soon.

I didn't expect to be posting this week as Chris' op was scheduled for 6th. Unfortunately his last test showed he needed some blood work first, so the operation is now postponed until the end of March. So here I am after all.

I have also returned to my craft blog after a year's break and wrote a post about my first Christmas card for this year.

This morning we woke up to a thick mist/fog over the park. I couldn't even see the bandstand. Of course it soon burned off and we had a lovely sunny morning so I walked across and did my monthly grocery shop. Now it is raining!

However, yesterday the sun shone all day. It was so warm I felt confident to walk to my knitting group wearing just a thick cardigan. (I only wear a coat when I really have to). In the morning I stripped the bed and washed the sheets and they actually dried out on the line. That always makes me happy.

There were lovely streaks of light and shade on the grass as the sun began to sink at teatime.

Last Friday my daughter-in-law came over for the morning with our youngest grand-daughter.  She is such a sweetheart, and didn't cry once all morning. Ella brought me some flowers and they look so pretty together.

On Sunday I got a message that Chris was meeting our son Jonathan in the park to collect some paperwork from him, so after church I walked across to join them. We had a little shower of rain although the sun was out, so there was a complete rainbow over the playground.

Jonathan brought baby Niamh and her big sister Aisling with him and he challenged Aisling to climb the high cone with him. She is only four but she got up there with no help. She turned to smile at me, but then looked down and wasn't at all sure how to climb back to ground level. But Jonathan got behind her and helped her find each rung and she was soon back down with us.

Although I finished making the motifs for my wall hanging back before Christmas, it had not got any further, so this week I got it on poles and hung it on the hall wall. It makes a lovely splash of colour as you walk out of the sitting room. But it is a bit creased here. It needs to be stretched and steamed and I hope I can do it where it is, without steaming the paper off the wall!

I also woke my laser cutter up this week. I miss having a clock on the wall, and although I almost always have my smart watch on or my phone with me, it is nice to be able to glance up at a clock to see the time. So I made one. It is only 30cm, (12") high as that is the largest size I can cut with my machine. I made a solid back layer from a piece of mahogany ply and the more intricut front layer from basswood ply, and glued them together. Today I have given it a light spray of varnish and now I need to buy a clock mechanism with the right length of hands, and then we can hang it up above the fireplace mirror.

I have quite a folder of 'park' photos now, but I need some spring and summer ones before I can make a scrapbook page of them.