Button Heart

The last few days have been full of challenges and I must say I will be glad to see the back of January. We enjoyed a pleasant but muddy afternoon out watching the Wylam Whippett and Elswick Harrier friends compete in the Northern cross country championships. We met up with friends and enjoyed the spectacle of the norths best runners battling it out in the mud. 

On Sunday Robyn fell off her skateboard at speed and broke her arm, whilst giving her friend a skateboard lesson! She is now carrying her arm in a sling and its quite painful for her because no cast can be put on a break at the top of the arm.Its quite delicate and isnt to be bumped around so I'm not sure when she'll go back to school.

 Later that evening we narrowly escaped having what looked like a chimney fire. We have been running the stove at a minimum level ever since. The chimney sweep is coming tomorrow morning, thank goodness. Luckily the weather has been slightly milder today. We burnt some of the christmas tree in the stove yesterday and I think this may be to blame for the thousands of large sparks eminating from the chimney and the alarming bright orange glow around the cowl on the chimney pot. Our heating and hot water is soley wood powered from our Clear View 650 woodburner, so the sooner the chimney is swept the better. Hopefully there will have been no damage to the steel flexi flue we fitted several years ago when we installed the stove.

 These are the wood stores in our back garden, we will easily use all of this wood over one Winter. Touch wood it will get milder soon and we'll have enough to see us through. Last year we spent £120 total on winter fuel. (wood that wasnt split in to logs). Far less than anyone using gas would spend .

 

The woodstore In October

Not much has been going on on the crafting front, I was set to weld some steel hearts for wreaths on Sunday, but events took over. Nevermind. I have finished this little button heart and given it to Lee as an early Valentines present.

Slow Day

Its been a busy week. I have done supply at Ovingham Middle School,  ran a hard session at Harriers,Rowan had his eighth birthday and a party. I did my longest run for 25 years, attended the Wylam soup lunch, so it has been a relief today to slow down a bit. I even sat outside in the sun with a cup of tea this afternoon, which was bliss. Creativity is often an allusive feeling that comes in waves. Dont feel I've got much of it at present. I have made a small decoration for the house today and it looks quite vintage on 'grannies bureau'. It reminds me of Kellogs Corn Flakes.

Dragonfly Pendant.

We've had a generally bright ,sunny but cold week here in Wylam with some very hard frosts that have lingered all day. With Januarys end now somewhere in sight I am keeping my eyes peeled for signs of Spring and the warm days to come. Something I look forward to every year is the blossoming of Witch Hazel shrubs around the village. The flowers are unusual and bright and carry a beautiful fresh and sophisticated citrus scent. Maybe this will be the year that I'll plant one in my own garden . The photograph here is from a shrub in the front garden of a house on The Dene. It is a very cheery sight, and I stop to have a sniff everytime I pass by with the dogs.

One of my favourite insects has to be the Dragonfly. This week I made myself a Dragonfly pendant from felt and used beads for its eyes.

Poodle Brooch

I must be on a roll today,cos here's my second post for the day. Its a Poodle brooch that I made early this afternoon. Its strong shape make its a pretty funky brooch. Dog badges are my best selling item on Etsy, and as a  pretty crazy dog woman myself I can understand the desire to have a brooch like your own pet dog.

Dogwood and Pussy Willow Heart Wreath

Now that spring is temporarily in the air I thought I would use some of the lovely Pussy willow that has burst from its buds during the recent milder days. I have combined it with some beautiful red dogwood around a heart shaped steel frame. I have listed it on Etsy but would be quite happy to put it on our own front door. The extra sunshine is most definitely welcome and as the ground has thawed I think this is a good week to plant the garlic in the allotment.

New Banner

You may have noticed that the blog and the Etsy shop have a brilliant and striking new banner. This is the work of my talented sister Elaine. Elaine can do in ten minutes what it would take most of us hours to achieve on the PC.
Elaine has her own blog http://northernhi-lights.blogspot.com/  which is well worth a visit. Elaine chronicles her adventures with the crochet hook, her passion for baking,charity shop finds and the general ups and downs of family life in the North of Scotland.

Pixie Peg Plans for 2011

Today I have spent some time updating Pixie Peg Crafts Etsy shop. I have put some new brooches in there and had to settle for only one photo of each one. The low levels of daylight at this time of year make it harder to get a natural shot. I would like to photograph someone actually wearing the brooches so that potential customers can see how they would look on. Maybe that'll happen this weekend.

I've got some new ideas i'd like to try out soon and feel now is a good time to put more energy into the Etsy shop. Ultimately it is a far handier forum than craft markets for selling things. I should probably make more effort to network on Etsy and in blog land. But there are only so many hours in each day.

I have done a couple of hours of supply work at Ovingham Middle School this week, which was very pleasant. I rode home on the school bus...much to Robyns delight!

I have also completed some good running sessions this week and feel hopeful that my running will continue to get better over 2011. I have set my sights on going sub 50 mins for 10km and doing the Guisborough Moors race in April. I love my weekly run with Elswick Harriers and the social side to running that this has given me.
But sometimes its better not to plan too far into the future...the future is now and I will try hard to live in the moment. Wishing everyone a great 2011.XX