are you there Spring? It’s me, Anne

well, looky there, it’s already Thursday!

and what have I done this week??

nada

ok; a tiny lie

I have started on a bigger piece - and yes, it is yet another bird........

the deadline for the submissions are Monday

and frankly, don’t think I’m gonna make it

silly goose......had MORE than enough time!

oh well

things I HAVE done this week?

been to bootcamp......in my third week

it is really hard, but am so glad I started it

now, if all my effort would manifest itself into actual weight loss;

or even better;

easier fitting clothes.......

today, I inexplicably bought orange nail polish and lipstick!

what the.......??

must be the pollens in the air

oh, and yes; have started taking allergy medicine already;

a bit early, isn’t it?!

need to get some local honey and start in on that

I got a mystery package in the post today

well, I know what it is.........or where it is from

but

you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to see what is inside

and what I am going to do with it

and where it will go next

all will be revealed!!

and hello to my new followers!!

how exciting!

thanks for joining

and to all you commenters - thanks to you too!

see you tomorrow

hope the sun is shining where you are

__a

valentines

I finally finished a couple of heart pieces to put in the café next door

almost missed my deadline!

they take so much longer than I think they will......

but I like they way they came out

hope everyone else does too!

I am going to try and maybe do a couple more

maybe make them less elaborate (if possible) so they won't take so long

it is a grey and rainy, rainy, rainy day today

boo

and now.......back away form the computer, Anne - and get to work!!

so much to do.........

so little focus

thank you to each one of you that takes the time to come by my blog - and especially to leave a message

and a BIG HELLO to those of you who have recently started “following” my blog

welcome -

really appreciate all of you

__a

that is so nice!

I had the most amazing thing happen the other evening!

I came home and found an envelope had been shoved through the letterbox; addressed to the homeowner

At first I thought ; "oh no, we have annoyed our neighbours"

but then again, we aren't the ones with the screaming toddlers (both behind and next to us!)

then I thought; maybe someone wants to buy our house and were leaving their details

I opened it and here is what it said:

how nice is that?!

I had the biggest grin on my face for the rest of the evening

the funny thing is; I have only done two displays

the first one is the photo of the cyclamen at the top of my blog

the other was the scene I did for Xmas (below)

our house opens right up onto a small alleyway

a pretty popular throughway into the centre of town

there are only 4 houses on the street

(can't really call it a street.......but you get it?)

anyway - I thought it would be nice to put something

in my window, for people to look at as they go by

but I was starting to get a bit discouraged

noone seemed to pay any attention

until I got this note!

someone has noticed

so, of course, now I have to come up with something

for the next display! no pressure.........hahaha

I got the go-ahead from the café

they'll display my valentines - so am working on them

have almost finished the first one -

I hope all my US friends are keeping warm and watching out for ice

and to everyone; I hope for you a creative and inspiring weekend

__a

finished

I am sure you are all kinda sick of seeing this piece- well, never fear; it is finished!

I just wanted to show the last bits of hand stitching I did

It now goes off to the States

oh; and to answer your questions, Susanna; the background is an old cotton sheet

that I have cut.....then a sheet of music that I put a bit of gesso over;

actually, too much gesso as you cannot really see the score

I only knew that it had to have a cardinal in it

so looked on the internet for a nice image -

and use that as a guide to free machine stitch the bird

everything else just sort of happens

I don’t really have a plan

yikes, it is almost 3.30pm.......and what have I done today?

paid bills, filled out a form to get extra pages added to my passport

(I know; weird - but have run out of space for stamps -

the passport control people are getting quite annoyed

every time I come back into the country)

things I haven’t done:

arranged my studio.......I have a new big table and wanted to see if I could rearrange

the furniture in here......haven’t done it so am sitting here with stuff and

boxes and storage containers and piles of paper and piles of magazines and

piles of books and piles of cloth all around me

oh, and a bike I brought back from France

in the middle of the room (long story)

I have two more bird commissions, but they don’t have a pressing deadline -

so before that, I would like to do a few Valentine’s like I did last year

and see if I can put them in the café next door again

I also have a huge pile of magazines I have been collecting but never take the time

to look through them - they all look really inspirational

maybe schedule in an afternoon where I just sit and look through things;

without feeling guilty for "not doing anything" (even tho I know it is actually doing something)

hm.......all jumbley, jumbley, jumbley

__a

friday

wow

first off, I would like to thank everyone for such nice comments on my “wishing wednesday” post

I have never done something like that before - so thank you for your messages!

now........I had planned on finishing this today - but somehow got sucked into

internet/bloggyland and........well; didn’t finish

needless to say - I also didn’t start the one I had planned on starting

when I finished this one......if you follow me

we have a printing job to do tomorrow, so maybe in between tasks, I can finish this

hope everyone has a nice weekend -

and again - thank you so much for coming by.......and especially for your nice comments

__a

wishcasting wednesday

um.......ok, I'm a little late with this one, but:

What do I wish to enjoy?

I wish for the energy and gumption to keep creating while constantly looking and learning

I wish for a quieter mind that will allow me to roam freely

I wish for a lessening of the feeling of helplessness and sadness that creeps into my days and nights

and; to appreciate all the amazing people and opportunities I have in my life right now

And you?

click here if you want to add your wishes

new work

I have actually started doing something creative!! woo hoo

I realised I have at least 3 little commissions to work on.........duh, better get going

then I was about to submit my work for a local show when I realised

that I didn’t actually fulfill one of the requirements......oops

but there is another show I want to try to get into - so will set my sights on that one

anyhoo;

here is what I have been working on......

it of course will have more embellishments and stitches....just as soon as I figure out what that will be!

on another note: I was finally able to get some photos off an old camera.......

taken a few years ago - but lovely images! (well, I think so)

so. bear with me - you are going to have to go on another trip with me to the coast

Dungeness and Camper Sands to be exact

a beautiful, lonely, mystical area

Prospect Cottage - Derek Jarman’s house - now a rental property, I think

a beautiful, sparse seaside garden; full of all sorts of stones and bits he found on the beach -

making little sculptures

how beautiful is this?!

below are pictures I took at Camber Sands, which is not too far from Dungeness

thank you for stopping by!

__a