Life, the universe, everything - but mostly crafty stuff!

 Trying to to a write up more regularly now. It isn’t so easy when I’m also doing other work - which also counts towards other badges. Anyway - this is about the Craft badge. You may remember that I did a needle-felted robin earlier in the year, and then I posted about the other three clauses I had completed - patchwork, appliqué and quilting. Last week (or maybe the week before) I decided to finish a piece of weaving that I had started at a class I did a little earlier in the year. I had attended a workshop in a local shop, where we were provided with a wooden frame of about 20cm square (or 8 inches), we got to bang the nails in ourselves, and we were given some other tools to keep as well - a plastic fork, a piece of dowel (useful for making loops), a smooth piece of batten (to help lift up the threads) and a wooden skewer (useful for smaller loops, and also for hanging. I’ve liked the idea of weaving for some time, and when you know the basics, it is easy. I remember doing it i...

 I wasn’t planning on doing this badge any time soon. However, when I was given the chance to go along to the Calvert Trust on Exmoor, at a reduced rate, I jumped at it! I’m a foster carer, and I did have to persuade our charge that it would be fun, that he wouldn’t have to do heights, that he wouldn’t be made to do anything he didn’t want to do. I did try to turn it around a bit as well, and tried to encourage him to have a go at things even if he was worried by them. The Calvert Trust, Exmoor is situated at Wistlandpound reservoir, near Kentisbury in North Devon. It caters for people and families with physical, learning, behavioural and sensory disabilities, making all the activities accessible to all. It is in a quiet location, and when having a look around we saw rabbits happily sunning themselves! The rooms have cupboards, wardrobes and a wet room. There is a bar, and food is provided with good sized portions, and two choices for lunch and evening meal.  Once at the cent...

 Getting from there to here. It’s been a long time….yes, that is quite enough of that thank you Christine. I do seem to have a bit of a propensity for using a phrase and then finding a song that has that phrase in it and singing the song. Anyway - it has been a while since I last wrote, and to be honest I’ve been feeling a bit…lost almost? A bit …meh? Everything seems like a big effort, and then I wonder if I’m actually making any progress at all. I’ve decided that today is that day for a fresh start in all sorts of ways; I’ve not run much in the past week, although I have done some wild swimming. It is funny to me that people call swimming in the sea ‘wild swimming’. To me it is just swimming; I grew up on an island, and my dad loved sailing, so from a very early age I was around water, and was regularly swimming in the sea - that was just normal! Anyway - as a result of me buying a new swimming costume, and joining the Facebook group for the Bluetits in our area, it would appear ...