How sad am I?

Thank you all for the words of encouragement.  Just a little addendum:

Anne - I did go and buy some lovely wool (and a new vacuum) - have a couple of cushions to get on with now - should have one of the made by the end of the Rio trip.

Francine - I wish it was a break but it's another work trip. There are worse places to go in the world though and the weather should be warm.

Missy - I got a new Dyson - no Hetties or Henrys in my local electrical store and although I am having a little trouble with the tools I realise how badly my old one was behaving.  It didn't owe me anything after 10 years of very hard service.  I have lovely clean carpets now!

Bibbitybob (so sorry but I don't know your real name - must have a read through your old posts) - see above.  I already spent £50 replacing the clutch last year and I thought it might be better and safer to invest in a new one as the old one was pretty much held together with electrical tape.  It's a bit sad but it has given me enormous pleasure testing it out throughout the house.

I'd post a picture of my very perky looking carpet but there's a limit...

Hope you are enjoying some fab weather like we are here in North Yorkshire!

Jules

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Seven years bad luck coming my way :(

Thank you ladies for your kind and thoughtful comments.  I may be very much in need of support in the coming months, nay years.

When I got home from work tonight I thought I'd do a few jobs to try and get the upstairs back in some semblance of order.  I should have opened a bottle of wine and put my feet up with my crochet but no ....

.... instead, I decided to put the bathroom cupboard back up - no idea why because I don't even really like it that much.  I took the mirror off the wall, removed the toothbrush mug from the glass shelf and hey presto, one cupboard on the wall.  Mirror back up on the wall... then I'm not sure what happened but the glass shelf collapsed, the mirror fell off, made a nice dent in the loo seat, shattered into many pieces and the toothbrush mug also shattered.

Ho hum, resigned to my bad luck I started to clean up and phut, drrrrrr, pop, funny smell of burning and one dead Dyson stood forlornly on the bathroom floor. Sigh.  I hope that counts as three bad things.

I do have one small tah-dah moment though ... hot off the sewing machine yesterday just seconds before big sis came through the door, one homemade gift to go with my birthday purchases from Finland for her..

I wasn't allowed to take any close ups or any of her face because she said she had .... very dirty hair!  

So, I have 3 days to buy a new vacuum cleaner, sort the bathroom out and gather something together to occupy me on the long flight to Rio.  Ash - yes, travelling and seeing new places, different cultures, nice people - all very lovely but completely and utterly exhausting.  I'm getting too old for this game! 

Note to self: put more than one lucky dip on the lottery this weekend.

Jules

x 

Another week, another country...

I've been in Finland this week as my favourite work colleague is leaving and going to pastures new in Helsinki so I headed over for some meetings and her farewell party.  I didn't even take any wool with me such is my lost mojo status!

However, before I went I spent a few hours with my sewing machine to take my mind of Will going away to uni.  I made this bunting on request for one of my sister's colleagues whose daughter was going away to uni too

reversible

Those are my new bedroom curtains - also hastily made!

Will's girlfriend was also off to dance school in London and had been looking for a laptop case.  I wanted to get her something to go away with so I made here this

using lovely Tilda on one side and some fabric I picked up in the States on the inside

I didn't have a pattern so made it up as I went along and think I made it a bit more complicated than it needed to be, with a lot of hand finishing but she was thrilled with the result and it has been much admired she tells me so I am happy.

I'm sure that like a lot of empty nesters around the country there has been quite a lot of soul searching going on, taking stock and wondering what to do now.  I am at such a crossroads and really don't know what I want.  I did have a long chat with my boss this week though so now have some things to think about.  I was even brave enough to tell him that I was sick and tired of this kind of attitude:

It's a bit small but the caption reads: 

'that's an excellent idea, Miss Triggs, perhaps one of the men would like to make it'

I used this as the cover for a dvd I put together for Ulla of all our travels we'd made together with work since 2007.  She totally got it!

Only a few days at home for me this week and then it's time to pack my bags for Rio - but I get an oernight stop in London do I can see how Will is getting on in his new digs.  But first, I must go and make a belated birthday present for my favourite sister....

Hope the world is treating you well.

Jules

x

Light and fresh...

That's not describing the wind that is currently battering the UK with gale force but my new window treatment.  Since my creative mojo seems to be absent without leave I have turned my attentions to the home.  Instigated by the sorting and packing I've been doing for my two younger sons - one as he leaves uni and sets up in his first home and the other as he makes ready to go off to uni, and the knowledge that I will have to down size I took to the decorating.

The bathroom is always the easiest to do as it's pretty small and can be done in a day.  As I took the old blind down for a wash I was horrified at what lay behind it.  Out came the cleaning products, the elbow grease and a lot of sneezing!  Even after a wash the blind wasn't really fit to put back up - well, the bits you can see look fine but I know what lurks on the back so I had a little think and then knew I had the perfect place for the bit of cotton heart crochet pelmet I'd been making with no real idea as to what I would do with it.

A bit of snipping from my fabric stash, a length of ribbon from my extensive ribbon collection, a pleasant evening spent hand sewing the edging on whilst watching last night of the proms and hey presto....

light and fresh I think you'll agree?

I've also given my bedroom a bit of an overhaul - Will declared it very nice and much warmer feeling than before - praise indeed.  I'll post some pictures when I've finished it.  In the meantime, it's on with the hall, stairs and landing in between shopping for 'uni stuff'.  

Hope you are all staying safe, warm and well.

Jules

x

Changing times....

Thank you for your lovely comments.  My flu is on the wane thank goodness - a couple of days in bed and several days doing very little indeed seems to have put me on the road to recovery.  I even managed a little time out in the garden to mow the meadow and do some much needed weeding, snipping and pruning.  My crafting mojo has not returned at yet so I'm just going to seek inspiration and bury my nose in a book for a while. I think I'm hanging fire starting anything as I know I have a lot of things to do round the house.  Once Will heads off to Uni  I need to get the house in shape for selling and will be spending most of the autumn away from said home on some pretty long haul trips.  I can't see past that at the moment.

My god daughter posted this on her facebook wall.  I thought it was really nifty so wanted to share it with you if you haven't already seen it. 

Times, they are a-changing.

Have a lovely weekend.

Jules

x

Here comes the Autumn

and there went the 'Summer"!  As I write this the sun is actually shining but I have been laid low with a nasty virus I brought back with me from Rio.  Their Winter was pretty nice apart from the wind and rain triggered by the earthquake and hurricane Irene in the second week of my stay.  Fortunately, no flight disruptions ensued and I got home without incident apart from the inevitable jet-lag.

I did a tiny bit of crochet on the train and plane on the way over but after that the hook and wool stayed tucked up inside my suitcase as the Brazilian team were very welcoming and sociable so much eating and drinking occurred.  I did no shopping as the place was very expensive but did manage to get in some sightseeing - a very nice bonus for a work trip.

View of Copacabana from my 23rd floor hotel room

and at sunset - the clouds were gathering and since it was dark by the time we got back from Guadalupe each evening we didn't get much chance to enjoy the beach (I did dip my toes in though).

A high rise ride on the cable car up to the top of Sugar Loaf mountain - no sign of James Bond or his enemies fighting atop the cars thank goodness.

A chat with the big man to see if he could possibly keep the clouds off until we had finished our sight-seeing.  It kind of worked - the rain held off but the wind got up so we didn't do the helicopter ride around Sugar Loaf and Corcovado (I was secretly pleased as I had the kollywobles at the mere thought).

Followed by a mammoth meal complete with 'mixed at the table' Caipirinhas (falling down water to you and me) at Por Cao where the waiters basically fly around the restaurant practically force feeding you various cuts of meat.  Suffice to say that after a couple of hours here we all needed a lie down and never made it out that evening!

After many evenings eating meat, meat and more meat, Tatiana and I went for pizza in an Italian restaurant just along the beach from our hotel.  By this time I had lost all interest in food but loved the tiled floor!

Then for a little shopping at Leblon - just of the window variety as the prices were almost as staggering as the views in Rio!

I met a couple of interesting chaps on my trip ...

this one,  Carlos Drummond de Andrade  wasn't terribly interested in my blogging chat

This one was a little friendlier - he let me sit on his lap but wasn't interested in a night cap...

Oh well, back to the crochet but before that, mental and emotional preparations are under way for my last baby to fledge ... maybe it's a good thing that I have a lot of travel coming up so I won't have time to think about my empty nest.

Jules

x