New Crafting

The road to recovery can be slow and as a result of sitting around feeling sorry for myself I decided to check out a new craft and complete another that I have been playing around with since returning from my jolly holiday.
Free form knitting and crochet intrigues me simply because being one of those people who likes to abide by the rules of a pattern, this type of craft is totally alien to me and quite frankly I find it a bit messy and unpredictable.
Anyhow I decided that as I am sitting in bed a lot at the moment this mindless type of activity might be right up my street.
This was my first attempt.  I started by following a few basic instructions I found here and this gave me the confidence and structure I needed to get started. 

Second attempt

I'm not sure if this is the creative path you are supposed to follow every time e.g. think of something, think of a number etc or if you just sit with your yarn and needles and just let the juices flow.  I am a bit of a book junkie and might send for a manual to help me get my head around it all.  There are some lovely images on Google if you type in free form knitting and crochet and these show you what you can make with the finished piece.  Some projects are like works of art.  Sadly mine are works in progress and will remain so for a long time I suspect.
The other thing I have been doing is making a holiday picture.
Whilst away I decided that it would be nice to take a picture, buy a frame and collect some shells all from the same place and then put everything together as an armarge (not the correct spelling but spell checker is being particularly unhelpful today) to the lovely day spent by the sea.

So I took a lot of beachy photos of Wells, collected lots of different sized cockle shells and a few other interesting ones and bought an unloved photo frame from a charity shop in the same town.
I painted the frame with 'sand' coloured acrylic paint and stuck the shells on the frame with my glue gun.  Unfortunately the picture I so lovingly chose (see above) kept sticking to the inside of the glass which made it look like it had greasy marks on it so I had to chose a picture taken in Blakeney. 

I actually preferred the boat picture as it happens but now the completed project is an armarge to the holiday rather than the day.
I am happy with the result though and it sits proudly at the top of the stairs on a little seaside themed window sill.

The window will soon be subject to a makeover of its own as I am currently designing something to hang there as a little crochet curtain.
Is there no end to this crafting addiction?

Back to Normal - almost!

Here I am at long last.  I had my operation yesterday which went well.  There was an awful lot of waiting around but that couldn't be helped.
I went straight to bed last night after eating a lovely meal prepared by Joe my son.  He is a really good cook and I was hungry enough to eat a scabby donkey.  Not that that was what I got!
Sleep was a problem as I kept getting twinges but I still feel refreshed.  I recomend being rendered unconscious to everyone.  You definitely get a better quality of sleep.  Fortunately the anaesthetic didn't bother me at all and I felt really well afterwards.
Today is a take it easy day with a short walk just to make sure my legs don't seize up or get these nasty DVT's the nurses have warned me against.
The Norfolk photo's follow just so this post isn't all about me, although I could talk about me all day you know.

Little nature reserve at Blakeney

Holkham Beach

Holkham again

More to follow.
Thank you for dropping in. It is great to see how many visitors stop by. 

Reasons for my absence

Firstly my apologies for not being in touch.  Life has certainly got in the way lately and unfortunately I may be away again in the next couple of weeks as I have to go in to hospital to have a Fibroid removed.  I was told that I would have to have a Hysterectomy but that is hopefully not going to happen.  Anyway the op is a week tomorrow.
Secondly I have recently bought a Fitbit One which is basically a pedometer but way more expensive and clever.  I watched the Horizon programme about three weeks ago which talked about how phone aps are the future in terms of health and as part of the theme all the people involved were given these Fitbits to try out.  I have a more advanced version but my hubby has the tiny Fitbit featured and both are amazing and so cute.

This one not only counts steps it also calculates calories burned, stairs climbed and distance covered.  At night I strap it to my wrist and it tells me how long it took me to fall a sleep, how many hours I slept, how many times I awoke and how efficiently I have slept. I can then connect it to my computer wirelessly and monitor my food intake.  It even tells me how many calories I need to eat and burn in order to lose weight at a pace I choose.  I can't praise this product enough, it is really cool.
And finally I have just got back from an amazing holiday in Walsingham, Norfolk.  This will be our third year but we still had a great time.  I will post many more photos but here are a couple to whet your appetite.

Sand dunes at Wells on Sea

Blakeney

Back to work tomorrow so I will be back in to a routine and should hopefully blog more frequently.
Bye for now and have a great day.

Creake Abbey

Whilst away we decided to visit Creake Abbey.  I can't remember if it was the Abbey or the little craft shops we were headed for but we spent a couple of hours there and enjoyed it greatly.

By now I'm sure that you have guessed that I have a weakness for pretty little cafes and the one there was lovely indeed.  All the crockery was Cath Kidston and the walls were wood panelled with original artwork sourced from a couple of the craft shops.
We had the full English breakfast of course and it was delicious.

The history of the Abbey

There was a little nook in the wall of the Abbey where people over the years had left prayer books, bibles and crosses.  It was quite moving and I couldn't help but wonder why these had been left and what thoughts and prayers had been in their minds at the time.  It was a very powerful experience.

I'm not really in to ruins but this place had a certain atmosphere about it which I liked.

I'm off to pick up my new contact lenses now so wish me luck.  I haven't had them before so I have to have a lesson in putting them in and taking them out.

Wildlife in Norfolk

I thought I'd give you something different this morning, mainly because I have already posted about Norfolk last year when we visited for the first time.
This year we had a slightly different agenda mainly because we felt that we wanted to do things that we hadn't managed to get around to doing on our last trip.
That said we visited one or two nature and bird reserves and rekindled our twitching interest.

My little Canon Ixus did me proud this holiday producing some very nice photographs using the zoom.
This one was taken at Titchwell Marsh Reserve.  The facilities at all of the RSPB places we visited were outstanding.

For some reason I love this photo.  Can you spot bird number 3?

I absolutely hate beetles.  They give me the shudders but I couldn't resist showing this as I was impressed by the sheer detail.  Look at the legs and feelers.  How amazing is that?

Tiny Frog

If you get chance to visit a nature reserve please do so.  You can always hire binoculars if you don't have your own and you can sit in the cosy hides and easily loose yourself in the marvellous nature.  We find it a great way to wide down.

Holidaying in Norfolk

Hello again.
You may have noticed that I haven't been around for a while.  This is because I have just spent a very relaxing week in Norfolk.  In Little Wessingham to be precise.

Holkam Beach

It has been just amazing.  Even the weather behaved itself most of the time.
I haven't much time to talk about it this morning as it is my first day back at work unfortunately.
No doubt over the next few days I can share some of my photos with you.  Thanks as always for dropping by.

Longing For Peace

I was considering what to talk about this morning as it has been a pretty hectic weekend, and then whilst scanning through my pictures I found this lovely picture of my husband disappearing towards the horizon. It was taken at Holkham when we were in Norfolk on our holidays.
Don't you just long for the lazy, hazy days of summer when the weather is bleak and cold outside?  I know I do.
My list of things to make gets longer and I am becoming more and more frazzled.
2 Hooded baby jackets
1 Pair of pink/green bootees
1 Pair of lemon frilly bootees
1 Pudsey Bear
3 Dog jackets
1 Baby blankie (Comforter)
1 Christmas pudding hat
1 Red Christmas hat
Head band
1 Tidy bag
1 Silk necklace
1 Make-up holdall
1 Table runner
1940's Snood
1 pair of childrens socks

One or two things are well on the way to being completed.  I like to have more than one thing on the go at the same time so that I don't get bored.  It's strange because one minute I feel as if I'm not getting anywhere and then suddenly I have several things all finished at the same time.I envy these people who start a project and refuse to do anything else until that thing is finished.  I'm not that focused I'm afraid.
Right I'm off to do a couple of rows of knitting before I go to work.  Have a lovely day and try to find time to relax.  Goodness knows we need it.  Paula x

Pensthorpe Medieval Festival

King Arthur

Hi and welcome to the next instalment of my Norfolk holiday.  Please don't think for one minute that I am boasting about my week away.  I just would like to show you what Norfolk has to offer.  I was totally blown away by how much there is to see and do in and around the area.
On bank holiday Monday we went to the Pensthorpe Medieval Festival.

In the tents above there were lots of exhibitors showing their own particular talents, be it making beer and wine the medieval way, making dipped wax candles and my particular favourite was the Mulberry Dyer who gave a demonstration on making paper and also how to spin wool with a drop spindle.  I of course had to have a go and it was inevitable that I had to buy the spindle, the unspun wool, a hank of ready spun undyed wool and a dying kit.  Oh yes, as you can imagine I was in my element.  This was definitely the best day of the whole holiday as far as I was concerned.

The farewell battle at the end was very funny with this lady (or rather man) really playing to the audience.
There were a few pretty impressive sword fights and at one time we actually thought someone had been hurt but it was all play acting.

As you can see the costumes looked authentic too.  The attention to detail was amazing.
Finally though I had better show you a couple of photographs of the birds to reassure you that we were at the Pensthorpe Nature Reserve.  You may remember that this was where they filmed Spring Watch.  I'm not sure if it was this year of last though.

Stork stood on one leg

Well that's all for tonight. I have had a new book delivered called Low Cost Living by John Harrison and I want to read a couple of pages before bedding down.  All the best. Paula x

Norfolk

Hello everyone and thank you for dropping by.
Well, we're back after an absolutely wonderful holiday.  Norfolk is amazing with so much to do and see.
When I have told people that I was going to Norfolk they automatically thought we were going on the Norfolk Broads.
We actually stayed in Little Walsingham which is a small village best known for its Shine which we didn't visit.  Lots of people did though and I have never seen so many Priests and Nuns wandering around the streets and in the local restaurants,  It made me wonder who were looking after their Churchs. The place was very atmospheric and extremely picturesque.

On our first day we went to Wells-next-to-the-sea which is a sea side town with a large harbour which leads out to sea.  This picture was taken whilst we walked along the path which lead to the end of the harbour where the sands were together with a long row of beach huts.  Amazingly these beach huts sell for upwards of £70,000.  Can you believe it?

They are so charming but they are only glorified sheds, as my husband pointed out.We had some delicious fish and chips from French's which must be quite famous as the queues to get in were massive.  I felt quite sorry for the other eating places as they seemed to be suffering from the popularity of Frenchs.  They were good though.
Anyway I'm off now to make our evening meal.  I know it's a bit late but we've been catching up today.  I've been gardening, baking, making jam and pickling beetroot and Steve has painted the bathroom ceiling and floor.  The new bathroom is lovely and I will let you see it shortly.
Bye for now. Paula x