Friday Smiles 2022: Week 8

Hello again on a lovely sunny Thursday morning. As I am preparing this post to publish tomorrow I took a break to hang out a line of washing. I try to do the laundry at the weekends when the electricity is cheaper, but we have rain forecast everyday from tomorrow until next Thursday, so today's sunshine was too good an opportunity to miss. I have no indoor washing line and cannot justify having a tumble drier when I only get half a dozen weeks a year when I cannot dry everything outside.  It actually makes me happy to see the sheets blowing on the line in our back yard, or a line of coloured clothes shining in the sun. Today it is the sheets and they will be dry, aired and back on the bed by tonight!

Rain or shine, Spring is definitely on the way. As I walked around the front garden this morning I saw lots of new buds on the hydrangea...

...and on the climbing rose. The Mandevilla, which we planted on the trellis with the rose, I was told was not very hardy and doesn't usually survive the winter, but mine is looking quite healthy still.

And the orange hibiscus has its first flower bud.

We had some fun on Monday. While feeding the dogs at the side of the house, I heard some banging around and van doors shutting, and when I went out the front to see what was going on (i.e.to be nosey!), I found a huge parcel on our front porch. It was the new TV stand we ordered a while ago that had been delayed en route. Amazon had offered to send a replacement but we think this was the original, so maybe they just told the courier to get it sorted. Anyway we were surprised to find they had left it without ringing the doorbell to see if anyone was in, but we were glad to have it and soon brought it indoors and unpacked it. Of course it needed to be assembled, but as soon as we unpacked it we could see the quality was good and it was well packed, so we were hopeful it would also go together without too much trouble. And really it did. There was a strip of plastic in the box, divided into little compartments each clearly labelled with a code, and each containing a different set of screws, bolts, washers etc, which saved a lot of sorting out. Chris did the main work and I was his 'woman Friday', handing him tools and the right pieces of wood, bolts etc. 

A few screws were difficult because they were in tight corners and neither of us have very nimble hands these days, but by lunch time it was up and in place, and the TV was mounted on the bracket that came with it. It is now a much better height for watching, and we are loving the bigger, clear screen. (The jumble of wires beside it were no longer needed and have all been taken away now).

I did another small crochet project and made last week's dolly a little teddy bear. He is made to the same pattern as the doll but with thinner yarn and a smaller hook. They will be parcelled up this week ready to send to my grand-daughter.

This week Tuesday was quite a special day. Its date, written as 22.02.2022 is a palindrome meaning it reads the same forwards and backwards. Written in square digital numbers it is also an ambigram which means it is the same upside down. But for our family it was a special day as it was our youngest son, Ben's, 35th birthday. You may remember that he is a keen musician and especially likes singing and playing the piano. This is the card I made for him.

I went to town on the inside using a card I had seen on Youtube for inspiration. My Silhouette Cameo, cutting machine did a great job of cutting the pop-up section and all the script, notes etc from glossy vinyl. I was pleased with it and he loved it, which is what matters.

You can see the details of how it was made on my craft blog.

On Saturday he went down to a bar near where his brother lives, on the border with Wales, and some family members and his old school friends (we also used to live near there), came to celebrate with him. Of course there were several photos taken but I particularly like this one. In the centre is our second son Mike, and on his left are the oldest and youngest of his sons. On his other side is his daughter, my first grandchild, who is soon to give us our third great-grandson, and on the end is Ben. They all look so happy together, and that makes me happy too.

And that is how my week whizzed by as usual. So I will link up with Annie's Friday Smiles and see what everyone else has been up to.

Friday Smiles 2022: Week 7

Looking back on this week, I can't think of anything very significant that has happened! That said, the insignificant things have been good. I have completed two small projects and this is the first one.

I decided I would try to keep a photographic diary of the year, making one double page each month. I am using a set of page templates by Andrea Gold, and this is my pages for January. 

The photos will mostly be familiar because I used them on my blogs through the month, but they are presented differently. They are not in chronilogical order so there are no dates on them. I just grouped them as I thought they went together. The patterned papers and elements all come from my vast collection of digital scrapbook kits. I had the option of doing one double page or two half pages, and I realised I needed them separated so that I could print them as 12" x 12" pages and file them in an album bought years ago, (before I came here I think). It has been languishing in my top cupboard all this time. I was glad to see it still had enough large page protectors but I had 'borrowed' two out of the three posts for binding it, so I had to send for some from Amazon. I like my pages to go into an album so I can look at them from time to time. Just a digital file on the computer tends to get forgotten about.

My second finished project is the little extra piece of crochet I mentioned had side-tracked me last week. It is a wee dolly for my grand-daughter's first birthday on April first. She looked quite odd at first. Her stubby body and big head makes her look like a little alien.

She is made from a set of crocheted dolls by Laura Tegg called Weebie dolls. Her patterns are on Ravelry. There are three sizes of dolls, a wide range of outfits, plus teddies, rabbits etc. I kept mine fairly simple and went for the shortest hair curls, I embroidered the features rather than use safety eyes, and I sewed all her clothes on, including her undies and shoes! I thought that was the safest for her while she is only one year old.

When my grand-daughter gets bigger I may make one she can dress and undress. Of course I haven't posted this to her yet, but I feel quite safe writing about her on here as my son and his wife do not use social media except to message the family on WhatsApp or Signal.

And while on the subject of crochet I thought this little bit of news may have passed you by. I am not a devout follower of the Winter Olympics, though I have watched some events almost by accident, but I was interested to read that all the bouquets given at the flower presentations, were crocheted by a group of elderly ladies at an activity centre for the elderly in Shanghai. It took them three months to make 4,400 realistic red roses, plus many other flowers. Each flower has a significance such as joy, peace, understanding etc.I hope the winners keep them and treasure them after all that hard work. It was part of Japan's sustainability plan.

We have had some lovely weather this week and have eaten lunch outside most days. This afternoon it was so warm that I shed a layer of clothes, and sat for a couple of hours with just a teeshirt and trousers on. Our thermometer registered thirty degrees. Of course it is chilly now, and the layers are back on, but it certainly feels as though Spring is here.  The little birds are singing. I listened to a pair of collared doves cooing across the green zone at one another all afternoon. Then another one joined in, and one much further away could also be heard. But mainly it is the spotless starlings that have a wide variety of songs, and the little sparrows that fill the air with their chattering. They are getting ready to settle down for the night by the time I feed the dogs, and I saw this group all meeting up in the bougainvillea on the corner of our neighbour's house. The starlings go off to roost in the taller trees and I think the doves do too.

I lightened the image so I could see them better and make sure they really were sparrows, and they were. It is the little things that bring us joy!

Today there was not a cloud in the sky, but yesterday there were a few that all seem to come together at sun-down. I love this picture of the sun hiding behind the clouds, with rays shining up above it. 

Of course it doesn't stay like that for long, and soon the sun was peeking out at the bottom. 

It moved so quickly, and within minutes there was a blinding glare, and then it was gone behind the hills.

And that was the week that was! So now I am off to link up with Annie's Friday Smiles.