The village fete

Each year the village holds a fete to raise money for the local church. Considering how small the village is, 2,000 people, there's always plenty to look at, listen to and throw things at.

Such as the skittle alley...

No win this time.

Or you can listen to the local brass band.

Or admire the view.

Or win a coconut.

Or have a nice cup of tea and a slice of homemade cake while you admire your coconut.

And when we tired of the fete, we went to collect no 1 son who had arrived back in the UK after a week away on a school exchange trip to Germany. Apparently it all went very week and we don't know how he did it but he managed to bring back a gift to warm any father's heart.

 

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Handmade Silk Paper

Nearly a year ago, I bought some silk fibers at the Malvern Quilts and Needlecraft Show with no idea of what I was going to use them for.  Luckily, my ever enthusiastic sewing teacher Catherine at onefatquarter.co.uk knew exactly how to use them and she kindly turned the usual weekly sewing class into a silk paper making session. Within an hour we had transformed a bunch of loose fibers into the papers below ready to be stitched into and used as if it were a piece of fabric.

We added a few thick pieces of wool across this piece.  Once it was fully dry I sewed some French Knots along one of the pieces of wool and added some beads along another length of wool.  I'm not sure exactly what type of silks we used on this. 

The piece pictured below was made with 2 textured silk fibers called Carded Cocoon Strippings and White Noil bought on the internet.

I'm already thinking of ways to use this new skill perhaps to make cards or as covers for handmade scrapbooks. We have lavender growing in Himself's garden which I'd like to try adding for texture, colour and if I'm lucky maybe scent too.  

Father's Day

Our tradition says that on birthdays and Father's Day, the person having the day gets to choose the activity and everyone has to join in. And no one is allowed to complain.

The cards were from one very organised son

And one less organised and slightly confused son

The day began with a trip to not one but three motorbike shops

Where we played the "how much?!" game on the price of accessories

And guess where it ended? I'm hoping this much patience around motorbikes has earned me a lot of brownie points the next time I want to visit a craft shop :)

 

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Bird search

Up early this morning to look for kingfishers near Slaughterford. We didn't find any but we did find a beautiful walk along side a river.

And this pretty bird....

And then some more walking.

We are really making the most of this weather, more time is being spent in the garden and very little on the Internet or blogging or crafting. Our activities at the moment are focused almost exclusively on the country house because...we are finally moving in together! After 5 1/2 years of weekends in the country house and week days at the week day home so I can commute to work, we've decided we will both live in the country house. Putting two (fairly full) houses into one is taking time, thought, sacrifice and wall plugs and doesn't leave any time or space for crafting. We've cut back on camping and not gone anywhere so far this year because our weekends are full of painting, sanding, packing, e-baying and trying not to feel too daunted by all we want to achieve while still working. This morning's escape to spend time soaking up some scenery blew away the cobwebs, even if we didn't find our kingfishers.

 

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Busy times

The relaxing break from crafting continues while other things take over my time so recent weeks have been filled with de-cluttering the Week Day Home. Books were spilling everywhere and I've tried to weed out those I know I'll read again and those just taking up shelf room. Anyone else who crafts will know how easy it is to drown under papers and stuff you bought years ago with an idea in mind which has been long forgotten.

This weeks distraction from uber spring cleaning has been a work trip to Glasgow for a couple of meetings. The first morning's view from the hotel....

And a view of the trip home to more extreme tidying....

 

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Scrappin' Books

It's been a busy few weeks and I've been juggling work, housework (!) and interests which has lead to me neglecting my blog and I must admit, I half expected everyone to have deserted but you didn't!  In fact - there are loads more of you so hello!  Grab yourself a cuppa, make yourself comfortable and I'll bring you up to date.  

Mostly the past month has been about making scrap books.  I've nearly completed one about our recent trip to Morocco in these fabby hot colours which I rarely use so it was nice to drag myself away from my usual blues and greens and explore something so vibrant.

The front cover with my favourite paper flowers ....

And a couple of inside views....still got some work to do.

These look like loads of slippers but they're magnets.  When we were trying to make sense of the maze of Medina streets we nicknamed places Magnet Corner or Carpet Alley to help find our way around.  Didn't work.

And having spent some time with hot colours, I wandered back to the soft shades and made the shabby, demin and lace inspired book below.  This isn't for anything in particular but when I've got a shabby, lacey, denimy theme it will be perfect :)

And once again - you guessed - more of those flowers made with the papers used for the pages.  I just love these, you can make them as pretty or as grungey as you like.

Other activities have included trying to be better at my German studies.  (Fail)

And trying to learn how to use this camera.  That's going to take some time.  There's sooooo many buttons :(  But regular readers of this blog know how much I love photography and that I take pics of everything.  Upgrading to this is a challenge but once I am more confident about it (and have developed bigger muscles to lug it about) I hope to share the results!

A camel called Ray

I really wish I had a photo of the funniest Berber we've met but I haven't so I'll just set the scene...
We'd been hanging out, lounging around and drinking mint tea on the beach about a mile south of Essaouira.

We were heading back to the Medina, weaving and dodging the beach sellers offering us genuine Rolex watches and rayban sunglasses at knock down prices when we met Mr Berber. We'd developed a good dodge. Whenever a seller approached us, we'd part and walk either side of him. He didn't know if he should persuade Himself to buy for me or chase me as the likely decision maker on purchases and by the time he'd worked it out we'd gone and the next tourist/ victim was coming along.

So we did the swerve on Mr Berber who immediately spun round and called "Heyyyy, where you go?!" His reaction was so surprised I started laughing and turned back to say we weren't buying today. That was all he needed to start a conversation. Pointing to some distant palms he told us that was his Berber village where he lived with his 2 wives and 9 sons. Of course we looked sympathetically at him about the two wives and he looked sad too. "Yes, I marry the first one and she very pretty, very slim. Then too much cous cous and..." He puffed out his cheeks and made a fat gesture. "So, I get another wife. She very nice, very pretty but then the cous cous..." By now we were laughing and he asked us if we were English, we said we were and he looked surprised. "You English? But you laugh, English not laugh, English are miserable!" Then talking to Himself, Mr Berber asked "Your lady, she very pretty, she your secretary or your wife?" Then he pulled out a raggedy wallet, "Look, look here, is a picture of my camel." I blinked and asked why he carried a picture of his camel and he explained he worked for the local hotel and they made him carry a camel passport to show he was official, not just a street hawker. "My camel is beautiful, he is called Ray and he has big blue eyes." By now I was more than happy to sit back and enjoy the show. "See how he smiles? I give him chewing gum and it makes him smile, he loves chewing gum." Then he very gently tried to persuade us to buy some jewellery but we moved off thanking him for his time and he waved cheerily to show his pic of his camel to the next tourists....

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The Windy City

We escaped the heat, dust and crush of Marrakech to fetch up on the shore of west Africa at the small fishing town of Essaouira, a former hippy heaven visited by Jimi Hendrix among others. Life is more relaxed here. There are still the crowded narrow streets but there is less pressure to "Look, yes? English yes? Is free just to look!"

We were told to do our touristy shopping here as it would be cheaper and easier than back in Marrakech.

Everywhere you look is a photo opportunity and so far we've spent more time doing that than we have shopping. When you tire of the souks and port area, there is a long beach to walk along. The powerful wind belting straight off the sea makes this a popular place for wind surfers and surfer dudes. You can't escape the sales patter for long though, this time you will be encouraged to ride on a camel for 100 dirhams for one hour. That's probably a good price but neither of us are fond of camels!

There are men in horseback too and these are the tourist police patrolling the beach and streets. I took a very sneaky photo of this one because I'm not sure they'd appreciate being seen as a tourist attraction....

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Marrakech moments

Marrakech is a crazy place. It took us 24 hours to begin to get to grips with how to handle it. The stall holders in the souks are not pushy and accept your "non merci" with good grace and move onto the next tourist. (An easy species to spot with Northern European sun-denied skins and floppy rucksacks ready to be filled with leather slippers, kaftans and wooden camels.) We quickly learned to walk on the right and keep close to the walls of the narrow streets filled with donkeys, carts, motorbikes, bikes and people.

We also learned to be wary of the "guides" who pounce as soon as you stop walking and look around to get your bearings. Theirs is a cynical skill to get you as lost as completely as possible so you are reliant on them to get you back to the main square and give them "money present". We got ourselves lost several times but managed to get ourselves out of it again without giving in to these unofficial guides and without paying for the privilege. At one point we hooked up with a lost German family and a couple of French girls and by combining our maps and newly acquired street wisdom made it back to the main square.

You can't stop to take in everything around you or not from street level anyway so you either take pics while on the move (see above example!) or find a cafe with a terrace panaromique where the mint tea is hot and sweet and get your pics from there.

The people we've met have been warm, friendly and welcoming. They want you to enjoy their town and are delighted when they learn it's your first trip. "Enjoy, enjoy!"

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Riad Haven

When you've walked around all day in the heat and dust it's good to have a cool, quiet place to go and for our trip that's a small riad a few minutes from the main square of Jemaa el Fna.

Our hosts here are attentive, friendly and sensitive to exactly what is needed after a long day out in the souks. Whenever you return you are offered a mint tea and some calm time up on the terrace far above the street noises. The riad is tastefully decorated and the sound of running water and scent of orange blossom fill the air. There are huge bowls of local oranges and tangerines placed on low tables surrounded by comfy seats to flop into.

And in the cool of the evenings, we've been to visit the storks who make their nests high on top of the main city walls and anywhere else they fancy.

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