What Katie Did

It's OK Martha!

....the 'how tall' chart is fine. Hell would have to freeze over before I painted over that.

(what will happen when John sees it?)

Goodbye Sunshine

Thirteen years ago Kirsten painted this sunshine at the top of our stairs. She was inspired by an illustration in Jane Ray's book 'The Story of Creation'. But when you live with something every day for so many years, you stop seeing it and the stairs were long overdue for repainting. And there's a crumbly bit of plaster that had to be filled at the top. So the sunshine had to go.

There goes the sun. Obliteration Paint. Does exactly what it says on the tin.

What a Lovely Birthday!

I had a fabulous birthday. Instead of listing all the things we did I'll tell you the story of this picture. We went to the sea. The North East of England has the best and emptiest beaches in the UK. We went to Alnwick and found a favourite stretch of beach nearby. We live 40 miles from the sea, and even further from the scenic bits, so I don't go as often as I would like to. So when I do get there, I like to walk straight down to the sea to say hello.
I was standing on the edge of the sea when I turned to watch Poppy who was sidling up to another dog in an anxious way. I watched their progress for a while, long enough for the seventh wave to come along and dump itself down my wellies.

A pint of sea water in each wellie.

Thank you to everyone who wished me well. I am blessed to have such friends.

The mat is finished and photos will be posted here very soon. I think it looks lovely!

My Year As A Fifty Year Old

Today I am Fifty One.
Here is a look at this momentous year

That is an awful lot of candles, Thea has never seen so many in one place. I had a lovely surprise birthday supper with my friends and a freezing cold walk along the beach with Poppy.
 
and this stack of boxes from my Mum and Dad which revolutionised the way I am able to compute.

I had my real birthday celebration in March when we took a coach load of lots my friends on a mystery tour which included a Five Rhythms Dance Session, fun and games at the Druids Stone Circle in Cumbria followed by a wonderful meal at the Watermill

This was the most fantastic cake! Thank you Caroline, one of the best cooks I know.
I am enjoying reviewing my year!
The Knitting Group has been a wonderful thing for me and this year we added extra sessions on the occasional Satuurday, here is the first at my house

We have knitted some strange things. Hats for drinks?

The Hexham Wave for Knit a River

This is the latest, a blanket for Nancy, the newest Knitting Baby, after Angus and Cala and George.

My 50th year was the one when I lost two of my children to adulthood, an inevitable next step, but a tricky one for me nevertheless. I went to visit Martha in Bristol a couple of times.

Here she is freezing on the Clifton Suspension Bridge, that 'must see' tourist attraction for all visitors to Bristol, regardless of the weather.
John phoned me from South Africa to sing 'Happy Birthday' on the 27th Jan last year. In July, we went to see him. The bit where I got to hug him again after nearly a year was more exciting than the elephants and whales!

So here are my oldest two children at the extremes of cold and heat.

It's been a good year with a great workshop in Whitstable with Ali learning how to make strange papier mache people with Julie Arkell

a trip to Foolfest and the Knitting and Stitching Show for essential supplies!
I ran a workshop of my own for the Garden Station which was very interesting and not a bit like the usual teaching I do at work. None of them were pregnant for a start!

Oh - this is all a bit overwhelming - I've spent the last hour looking at photos from the past year. So rather than try and link them all together in some sort of order, here are a few of my favourites, a random selection of my fiftieth year.

Mum and Dad on their way home

Poppy enjoying the woods

This was half an hour before John shaved the beard off. Why?

My lovely sunny shed. This is before the great curtains and shelf. I'll have to take an update.

Cala yesterday.

Thank you if you are still reading. This has been a very indulgent post. I wrote it yesterday and asked Typepad to post it on my birthday. So at the moment I am on a freezing cold beach with Poppy, Geoff and Owen, enjoying my 51st birthday!

Postnatal Visiting....and a new haircut

It was only a matter of time....

Everyone I visit is being tagged to reveal six weird things about themselves. I have a bit of a problem with the concept of 'weird' as I have said in some of the comments I have left here and there. One woman's weird is another woman's normal. So I think that all my strange habits and preferences are completely normal. I will try and remember some of those that have provoked reactions from others and see how far I get.

1. I like to wear odd socks. But is that really weird? I just find two socks in the morning and put them on. Who ever said they had to be the same?

2. I finish people's sentences. This isn't weird - it's downright annoying if you are the other person.

3. I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night, say 3.00 am, and go to my shed and listen to the World Service whilst doing a bit of crafting. This isn't weird either - it's just pragmatic use of time.

4. I save two pound coins. I don't like to spend them because they are so lovely. But if ever I am stuck with only £2 coins and I need a latte, I have been known to use them. Otherwise - if you take this to it's logical conclusion, I would have a bucket full of two pound coins and I haven't.  So more accurately, you could say I like two pound coins. That is a bit weird.

5. I also like postage stamps - not to collect, but used ones that come on letters and packages. If they are lovely, I will tear them off and stick them on my wall - either in my office, or the shed. Is this weird?  No - I think they are little works of art and it's a shame to just chuck them out. I don't want to start a collection though - just keep the ones that appeal to me. This is why I don't like the Post Office thing where they print out the posting label - I would much rather get half a dozen stamps of different values and stick them on. In the dim and distant past I used to be a postlady - (Newcastle's First Full Time Woman Postie) and I wonder if my stamp obsession comes from there?

6. Every time ... and I mean EVERY time ... I make an appointment to have my hair cut (as I can no longer see and have begun to resemble an Old English Sheepdog) I spend the few days before the appointment really liking how my hair looks and regretting deciding to get it cut. But them I do and its look fine. I think that may be a bit weird.

I have this strong feeling that all my family and friends who know me well may read this and start screaming at their computers ....'but what about this? and what about that?'  ... weird things that I am unaware of. Maybe you would like to nominate your particular favourites in my comments?

And Now For Something Completely Different...
The mat is coming along nicely. I will be able to put the last of the 'shape squares' in very soon. Please will people have another look and choose edge colours and then i will Finish It!

Love to you all out there - weird or not - have a happy Tuesday.

I can't tell you how much I'm enjoying this...

Here it is as far as I can do it until I get more instructions - remember - it's YOU who will determine what happens next. Check the link on the top left called 'Design my mat!'. If you need any clarification, just comment or email. For the edge colours - choose locations and three colour choices please. And Martha - be a poppet and choose your outline colour as I can't put the other two colours in without it. It's not very green is it? Maybe as I didn't give enough choice! If anyone feels I have left out yellow - the original has a dollop of yellow - just request it - I only have that one shade of yellow in my stash and I'll use that. 
I have taken a couple of design liberties - Zoe, I reversed your colour choice to prevent there being two similar purpley backgrounds together, and Mum, I had to choose another shape as the 'tulip' one was so popular.
So - two more big squares waiting for design choices and all the edges.
I await your instructions.

Progress so far

Here is the work so far. Top right is also taken - that's Julie's and bottom left is about to be worked as soon as I know what colour green Martha wants for her outline. (the blue and pinky strips are Martha's choices for her shape) I have posted three new greens and a fab orange in the side bar 'Design my mat!' which should be on the top left - seems to have vanished - oops - no there it is! One more large square is taken - that's for my Mum. That leaves two large squares still to be chosen and all the outside edges. 18 more decisions, including four very tiny ones!
I'll have another chance to work on this tomorrow - so give me your instructions!

Off to see this little treasure now - and they call this work!

Nancy

What could keep me away from Tuesday Afternoon knitting I wonder? Well, Nancy, that's who. I have been on call for my dear friend Lara's home birth since she was 37 weeks pregnant. Today was her due date. Only 4% of babies actually come on their due date, did you know that? Nancy is one of the 4%. Being a midwife is a great honor and privilege, especially when the couple are so completely in tune with the process and allow the hormones to flow and the birth to happen as it should.
At ten to one this afternoon this little baby made her way into the world. A good days work for all concerned. Such a bright sunny day, no mad dash in the middle of the night, all very civilised and good. I will post pictures here when I can.

Nancy wearing the Baby Yoda Sweater from Dogs Steal Yarn a cracking good pattern for a newborn Jedi.

In the meantime, I will absorb all the comments about the mat-a-long and get to work as soon as I can. I am really pleased by the rapid response and the general feeling of 'joining in' you early contributors have - it will be very interesting to see how it all looks. I can't wait! But for now I am going to have a shower, a glass of red (the first for three weeks of on-call!) and an early night. Postnatal visiting to do now!

An Invitation To Design

Now then... here is the idea I've been brewing for a while. If you read here from time to time you will know that I like making hooky and proggy mats. Look at Ali's link under 'inspiration' (on the right) if you want to know what I'm talking about.
Last year, I made this mat

I would like to make another along the same lines, but different. Using my wonderful new mat frame, I have marked out and worked a black edged grid the same size as this. It's about 42 cm overall - each small square is about 12 cm.

Then I have numbered 30 of my jumble sale scraps. Finally, I have sketched 12 possible designs for each of the squares.
All of this is over in the link 'Design My Mat!' up there on the left.
Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to choose the colour, shape and position of something to fill each of the squares, including the edge sections. As I get suggestions, I will mat them and post progress here. The end result will be a mat that will sit beside my first one as a pair, but will be completely different.
If you are up for this, my dear blog friends and family, go and look at the 'Design My Mat!' then either email (k@tejackson.fslife.co.uk) or leave a comment. This is how I would like the information
1. select a position - Grid number 1 to 25
(if you have chosen an edge location, skip the next step)
2. select a shape - Shape a to l
3. select a colour - Colour 1 to 30
4. tell me which colour is to be the shape, the background and the outline colour
send me this information and I'll get matting.

If more than one person chooses the same things, I will use a bit of judgment and make one of the suggestions, post the result and invite you to choose again.

I hope I haven't made that sound too complicated. Let me know if you need clarification. Or just run with it and get choosing! I can't wait!!

I've just had a look at the colours. I have given you too many reds and pinks. I will add more colours when I get the camera back from Owen! But there is enough to get us started.

So what are you waiting for?