All in a day

Yesterday started quietly enough.  Having no plans until late afternoon, I decided to start sewing together the small felt shapes that have sat on my desk since I got the urge to make these little Russian Dolls

They are so cute and in spite of there being several free versions around on the internet, for just over £3, the very detailed pattern was well worth downloading.  Being me, of course, I had to make them half size which might not turn out to be as good an idea as I thought, since felt isn’t the most robust fabric for a teeny tiny seam allowance.  Oh well, they’re meant to be decorative !

Whilst sewing Russian dolls together, several emails came in and needed serious consideration, for this was the day of the Big News.  Would I still have a job or would my work be considered a luxury we no longer have the budget for?  Having read confirmation of what I had already understood to be about to happen, I settled back and made a start on our Christmas Cards by punching out a couple of hundred circles.

That took me into my Christmas box, which was put away at the end of last January and contained one or two treasures I’d forgotten about.  I thought it was about time I began to prepare my Christmas Journal and gather together a few new things I’d squirreled away, including a sheet of chipboard shapes I bought online.

I was a bit disappointed by the quality of the print registration though and emailed the company to say so.  Full marks to them however, for almost by return I received a concerned email reply and an offer to replace, which was more than generous I thought.

After lunch and a little light ironing, it was time to get my act together and buzz off to Gloucester, where we had a tutor evening scheduled on a “cultural” theme.

Called into Staples on the way to get supplies for our Christmas cards and forgot how much traffic there is in a city centre at five o’clock!  Still, I arrived at the warehouse in the nick of time and enjoyed a chat with colleagues before the main event.

A salsa lesson! 

Mario, a young man from Cuba, ably assisted by our tutor Laura, did his best with the assorted bunch of women whose ability didn’t quite match their enthusiasm!  We stepped heavy-footed from one leg to the other, trying to match his rhythm and keep up with the steps.  He shimmied and swayed, his arms moved in sync with his legs whilst the crowd behind him wondered how something which appeared so easy could be so difficult.  We had a great time but after half an hour, we were exhausted, our brains full of side steps, rotations to the right and to the left and that last travelling “step three” to the left and right followed by a turn.

We stood back and watched the masters dance as it should be done, marvelling at their ease of movement and total coordination.

I’d love to learn more!

But the evening didn’t end there.  The second Thursday in the month is my WI meeting and we had a flower arranging demonstration planned: “Christmas on a Budget”. I rather wanted to see that that so I left the culture evening early, missing out on the chance to learn a bit of Mandarin or Japanese to drive to Avening, where our speaker showed us a few ideas of how to make great decorations using greenery form the garden and a few supermarket flowers. What magic she created from hardly anything at all and we all left inspired to go home and raid the garden for a bit of this and a bit of that, in the hope that we might manage something similar.

You know the day that began so quietly?

Cottonopolis

Where better to spend a weekend?

A couple of weeks ago,  we were offered the chance to go to a recording of Rufinatscha’s 6th Symphony at the BBC’s Oxford Road studios and immediately looked forward to spending a weekend in a city which neither of us knew at all.  We booked our hotel – the excellent City Inn – and off we went.

The recording was terrific – it will be on Radio 3 sometime soon and on a CD as well and having listened to the existing recording whilst driving north on Friday afternoon, we both felt the new interpretation to be far more dynamic.  Good stuff!

As for the bonus of exploring the city, well, we had a great time.  Friends had recommended a restaurant for Friday evening, which looked promising and having been whisked up to the 6th floor to join the smart set in the bar, I enjoyed one of the best mojitos outside NYC.  We admired the view of the city (with Salford screened behind frosted glass!) with the occasional firework lighting up the sky.

Sadly, however, the food didn’t live up to expectation – neither ours nor that of our somewhat embarrassed young waiter, who dealt with the whole situation in a most professional manner.  He offered immediate redress in the form of complimentary desserts and coffee, in addition to the offer already made for the main course blunder…

The weather was fantastic all weekend, which made pottering about a real pleasure.  We met friends for lunch on Saturday and sat until well into the afternoon, catching up and sharing news. 

We had tickets for the theatre last night, to see Ibsen’s “The Lady from the Sea” at the Corn Exchange.  We are not theatre goers generally, so this was quite an adventure and we remembered the Corn Exchange to be rather special from a previous visit.  Whilst not exactly a bundle of laughs, we both enjoyed the play and it continues to pique our curiosity in that we have both googled to learn more about the work.

Best of all was the city itself, though.  Less than two hours drive away, it’s hard to understand why we haven’t spent longer here before.  For sure, we’ve passed through, we’ve made short visits whilst staying nearby but for some reason the motivation to make a specific visit just never happened.  But I have a sneaky suspicion we’ll be back before long.

I took photographs of things which amused me: the sign outside the jeweller which has a small disclaimer underneath to say that it no longer applies, the ironwork of the Barton Arcade, the big wheel with poppies attached to each cabin, the bad tempered expression on the first Duke of Lancaster and the rather more curious face of James Joule, both in the foyer of the Town Hall.

A Night Out

We went to A Do last night.  One of those occasions that require a surprising length of time primping and preparing, especially when staying overnight.

The party shoes were out of the box and then there was the age old question of what to wear

Yes, there is a theme, isn’t there?

Anyway, the occasion justified a bit of bling – the kind that can be spruced up in soapy water and doesn’t need collecting from the bank.  It’s about now that I am reminded of how easy the men have it at a black tie do, because no more than half an hour before leaving, my hero begins and completes his preparation and is ready to go.

It was an awards dinner, held at a museum venue we’ve been to on several occasions – not that we’ve ever seen an exhibit!  We were sitting with people we know and whose company we enjoy and counting ten chairs around the table and twelve bottles of wine on it, it was clear it was going to be a jolly evening.

I wasn’t the only one recording the occasion.

In fact, there was a photographer, a video cameraman who was filming the former government minister giving his address, showing on the large screen and other smaller screens around the enormous room.  Occasionally, there was one of those moments where the video was of the photographer taking a shot of the cameraman filming the photographer and it all got a bit much.

Especially since the music was loud.  Very loud.  And guess who was sitting right in front of the huge speaker?  At similar awards ceremonies, Tina Turner’s “Simply the Best” used to be cranked up full volume as the winners were announced but we’ve moved on to Take That and “The Greatest Day of our Lives”.  With flashing lights and moving spots following the winners around the room, the atmosphere was….pumped !

There was a token beautiful lady on stage to add, ahem, visual interest to the overwhelmingly male ceremony.

The cabaret was very popular too – who’d have guessed that a string quartet would go down well with this audience?!

siren from Siren Electric String Quartet on Vimeo.

Actually, it was a fun evening in the company of our generous host, dinner was good and the conversation flowed as freely as the wine.  The star of the evening was undoubtedly the last announcement, the special award, often given to one of the industry great and good to mark a lifetime’s achievement.  But last night it was different – the winner was someone almost everyone in the room could relate to, the local manager of Stagecoach in Cumbria.  When faced with a challenging situation – and there have been several in his part of the world in the last year -  he had taken the initiative and acted quickly to keep everyone involved safe and comfortable as he could.  It was good that his quick thinking actions were recognised and rewarded and he was a worthy and popular winner.

Good Man.

Sparkling

Interesting things hang in trees around here

Fresh from the success of cutting the paper doll and with an hour to spare yesterday, my mind wandered to the next challenge.  What else did I fancy making?  Well, some time ago, I came across paper chandeliers cut from music paper.  They were rather charming, quite pretty but fragile and I didn’t really want to spend a few pounds on such frippery.  But now, we have the technology…

Rather than dive straight in and draw a shape, I decided to google for an image of a suitable chandelier to inspire.  Lo and behold, not only did I find exactly the thing I was looking for, can you believe it was there as a cutting file already?  As if to confirm that there’s nothing new under the sun, Cheeky Magpie had shared the project she’d created and I was able to download it there and then.  Within minutes I had four paper chandelier shapes on my desk, just waiting for a bit of bling.

 

Of course, taking advantage of someone else’s work does mean that I didn’t get further practice in creating a file of my own.  But that’s not to say I didn’t learn from the process, or at least, relearn something.

Glitter gets everywhere.

Thank you, Sheila, for sharing your work.  I love it!

Still playing

My challenge today was to get to grips with the program which appears to be the best choice for cutting my own designs using my CraftRobo.  It’s a free, open source Scalable Vector Graphics progam called Inkscape and as is the case with many of these niche-interest machines, there’s a really helpful forum where generous souls share their experience and knowledge.  A good job too, because I need plenty of that!

I began by drawing a paper doll template in the Inkscape program.  I followed all kinds of tutorials and help files and finally made it to the cutting bit.

 

I sat and watched as my small paper doll template was niftily cut from the corner of my card.  Well, I wanted it small, but…

Did I really want it this small?

Perhaps I did! 

It’s not right yet, there were one or two places where it didn’t cut and I needed to separate a couple of bits with my scissors.  I’m hopeful that one or two expert Inkscape and CraftRobo users will be able to explain where I went wrong.  But hey, for now, I’m thrilled!!