August Creative Challenge: Day 2

I've been raiding my bookshelves looking for a project I can complete in a day. Today's activity was from the June 2014 issue of "Love Patchwork and Quilting" magazine - a little mouse by Jo Carter from Two Owls design.

Actually, the pattern was for a mummy mouse and 2 babies, but I just stuck with the one for now. It was a really well written pattern, I might have to try her polar bear too...

Not quite sure how I'm going to something in during the working week - I'd like to finish a project each day, but appreciate that may be ridiculously over-ambitious.

August Creative Challenge: Day 1

Don't expect every challenge day to be this fancy - it was mere serendipity that Day 1 fell on a Saturday with no other activities planned!

Awwww! Isn't he cute?

This pattern was in the Summer 2013 edition of the "Made in Felt" magazine, so I've been wanting to make it for - well, 2 years, by my arithmetic. Today, I felt (haha), was the day!

No idea what to do with him now though...

#MandalasForMarinke - My Mandala

As I'm sure I've mentioned before, I am not usually the best at sticking to a project, however I was determined to take part in #MandalasForMarinke.

I finally decided to sit down yesterday and make one, and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. This is my mandala, based on Marinke's Picots and Petals pattern.

Now, I just need to actually post it off - possibly the most tricky part of the challenge!

Speaking of challenges, my sister, husband and I have all challenged each other to get creative in August. I do like a time-framed initiative, and this one is quite simple - do something creative every day! We are checking in with each other daily to ensure we're all on track. 

Officially, the mandala was made in July, so doesn't count towards August's challenge, so it can be Challenge 0.1!

Adventures in macarons

We had a cake sale at work today, so I decided to be real fancy and make some more macarons - with varying degrees of success!

These plain ol' vanilla ones were the stars of the show - they were genuinely pretty decent, if I do say so myself.

I tried, unsuccessfully, to make some strawberry ones with freeze-dried strawberry powder, which I was disproportionately excited about. Unfortunately, I think that the mixture was too damp - I got a nice rise, and cute little feet, but they cracked horribly and would not dry out.

The last ones were some chocolate ones. They looked... ok. However, I think I baked every last hint of moisture out of them and they were distinctly, well, hard. Very disappointing. Some very kind people told me they were nice, but I think they were simply trying to spare my feelings!

Moral of the story - let's try and get the plain ones down pat first, ok?

Marvellous Macaons

The macaron bug has bitten again!

I made my first macarons about 2 years ago, baking hundreds of them in the space of a month, then haven't been near them since. I was inspired by an abundance of egg whites, and made some this week. I'd forgotten how much fun they were & I'm already plotting the next batch...

These ones were a plain macaron shell, filled with a lemon and lime curd.

If you want to try your hand at them, the macaron recipe was from BraveTart and the lemon and lime curd was from The Kitchn.

Enjoy!

#MandalasForMarinke

I know it's been ages (I think I've been avoiding here as it's a constant reminder of all those ends I need to weave in), but I just had to pop in to share #MandalasForMarinke

Marinke (Wink) of A Creative Being tragically took her own life last week, after suffering from depression for many years. I was a huge fan of her work, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about her all week.

I read about a crochet mandala project being run in her memory by Crochet Concupiscence, and decided that this is something that I really want to take part in.

I know I don't have many (any?) followers, but just in case anyone sees this, I'm spreading the message to raise awareness of the horrific impact that depression can have on individuals and their families.

If I were to make a creating resolution for 2015...

It would be to weave in the ends as I go along!

I am working on 2 crochet blankets at the moment & weaving in the end en masse is somewhat soul destroying... You would think I'd learn, but apparently not!

With grand fanfare, may I present... the complete #100DaysOfNature album!

I realised today that although I had updated the album on Google+ (and Flickr), I hadn't actually made a post here about finally finishing #100DaysOfNature.

So... Here it is!

I've pulled out a few of my favourites to highlight here as well. I'd like to do something like this again (in Spring or Summer though, no more stumbling around the garden in the dark in search of photogenic slugs...)

It's quite funny looking at these all together - I seem to have a bias of placing the subject of the photo on the right hand side. Maybe I need a left aligned challenge?

What's this? Something new?

Ok, so I do Zentangle now. Zentangle is cool (to paraphrase Dr Who).

I bought the other half "One Zentangle a Day" a couple of Christmases ago and he never got further than reading the introduction. My head has been all over the place recently, so I thought, "Hey! Why not give it a go?"

These are some of my favourite so far. These are just quick snaps from my journal - I'm not doing the whole official Zentangle "tiles" thing - it seems a little commercial for something which is supposed to be all about mindfulness. Just my opinion.

Still, it's fun. I am more than a little rule-obsessed - even when it comes to doing anything crafty or creative. I can follow the hell out of instructions - you want instructions followed? I'm your gal. But trying to do something "off the grid"? Well, that's a whole other issue... I like that with the "Zentangle system" you get a series of predefined doodles *ahem* tangles, so I have some structure to work within, but how you apply them is down to you. I feel like it's a good learning exercise for me!

Hexagons are go!

Yes, the hexie blanket is finally finished! Actually, I finished it a few months ago, but I couldn't share it until I saw my sister and gave it to her.

Despite finishing it months ago, I didn't take any photos until the evening before I gave it away, hence why they are not the best!

If there was some way to update blogs via telepathy, I would have about 4 updates a day. I can't tell you how many posts I compose in my head, but never actually get around to writing.

I still haven't finished processing my #100daysOfNature photos - I am pleased to say that I did actually complete the challenge, but the last few weeks were hard - I was leaving home in the dark and getting home in the dark. Trying to find something interesting to capture was interesting. I've processed up to about day 84, but I think I'm lacking the inspiration to do the others at the moment. They will get done at some point...

I am all over crochet again at the moment. I have been making owls like a woman possessed from the lovely pattern at Moji-Moji Designs. I have also decided that blankets are one of my most favourite things in the world to make, so I have 2 of them on the go. More on those to follow...

100 Days of Nature - Day 37

I found a very accommodating dragonfly on my walk today...

100 Days of Nature - Days 20 through 36...

It's been a really rough few weeks. My mom was diagnosed with stomach cancer last year, about 10 months ago. Despite her stubbornness and positivity, she sadly passed away on 28 August.

I know it sounds peculiar, but I have kept up my "100 Days of Nature" throughout this whole time. It's been a cathartic release, having a project to work on which actually made me get out of the house and think about something else.

I have been avoiding most forms of social media over the last few weeks, but I am feeling a bit braver now, so I am catching up!

Day 20 - my first frog. Dedicated to my mom

Day 21

Day 22

Day 23

Day 24

Day 25

Day 26

Day 27

Day 28

Day 29

Day 30

Day 31

Day 32

Day 33

Day 34

Day 35

Day 36

100 Days of Nature - Day 19

Another day of trying to keep to a semblance of normality. Found a little ladybird today.

100 Days of Nature - Day 18

Very sad day today, but trying to retain some sense of normality, so tracked down a bug for Day 18.

100 Days of Nature - Day 17

It hasn't stopped raining all day and, despite my camera claiming to be weather-sealed, it's new, so I didn't want to push it. I took a little wander around the garden after putting food out for the birds this morning and found this rather lovely web, heavy with raindrops.

100 Days of Nature - Day 16

I tried out another new park today. Now, it may just be because the weather wasn't as nice, but I wasn't as impressed as with yesterday's park. Better spaces for Frisbee, certainly, but lacking on the critter diversity side of things. Still, I managed to get a few decent captures. This was my favourite for the day - I like her face.

I am sorry to say that I haven't even touched hexagon blanket is almost 2 weeks. Tracking down minibeasts to photograph takes up a disproportionate amount of time!

100 Days of Nature - Day 15

So, it's been a bad weekend. Won't go into details, but when it rains, it pours. I know no-one reads this blog anyway, but I'm still reluctant to spill my metaphorical guts on a public forum. Anyway, I must have spent about 4 or 5 hours walking today - some people walk to think, I walk to stop thinking. When I have my camera and I'm looking for critters, it just seems to push everything else out of my head - almost like a moving mediation - which was exactly what I needed.

I finally got around to visiting a park near us which has been on my "to-do" list for a very long time. I am so glad I did - it was wonderful! Full of lethargic dragonflies, just begging to have their photos taken!

100 Days of Nature - Day 14

I spotted this little guy on my orange blossom tree, which is right next to my rather sad looking rosemary bush. Looking online, I think he is the cause of my rosemary's sadness! He's a rosemary beetle, and an invasive pest, which I guess means I have to try & get rid of them. It seems a pity, as they are so pretty!

100 Days of Nature - Day 13

I worked late again tonight, so had to contend with little light, over cast skies AND wind. I was poking around in my neighbours leylandii, looking for critters which were sheltered from the wind, and was so focused on the abundance of webs that I almost walked into this girl. I'm not scared of spiders, but I think having her crawl over my face would give even me the heebie-jeebies...

100 Days of Nature - Day 12

I went for a walk just before sunset today. I love walking at sunrise or sunset, on the cusp of the daily shift-change. I am lucky enough to live near a few patches of woodlands, so took advantage of them this evening. The light wasn't good enough to get a decent photo of the few spiders I found, but I did find a little patch of vibrant green moss, which I thought was rather pretty.