Crafty...

I should be deep cleaning the house really. Getting it ready for a little inactivity on my part. Instead I keep pausing at my work table and making things with small scraps of leather. I chose the thinnest, most supple pieces for the two drawstring pouches. They are still fairly sturdy, it's the gathers I guess. I think they make better little bowls than pouches but they'll function as both.

The little red leather tray was a total experiment. I made a paper template but it was tricky to know whether the sides would form themselves with just a pinch of the corners. I did little knotted ties but studs would have worked too. In fact lacing the corners right the way round would also have been quite clever and helped the sides stay up too.

I've been upcycling leather belts galore into wrist cuffs and hair barrettes. M, E and J have been very encouraging about my efforts. Commenting as each new design rolls out. J likes to do the maths for the quantities I've made and the unit price I suggest. He's extremely quick with numbers. E likes to wear a sample for a few days just to make sure they are fully road tested. M came with me to a nearby small town to research a craft market and see if my goods might fit in there (they wouldn't, it was wrongly billed as a craft market when in fact it was fruit and veg, bread and junk).

The plan for actual selling is to wait for the cricket season to finish, by which time I should be fully recovered from my keyhole surgery later this week. We will have free weekends once more and I'll be fighting fit. On my travels through the Internet trying to find suitable events at which to sell I came across an American couple who travel around in a campervan selling handmade jewellery to fund their lives and travel. Oh yes, I could totally cope with that lifestyle! Trouble is I don't think the UK would be quite as successful for that type of thing. I can't see a cheerful hand painted campervan rolling up in Skegness having quite as much success with that line of goods. Now 'kiss me quick hats' or Candy Floss, maybe.

In the meantime there's more cricket. E is playing in a ladies match tonight which makes a change. It's just the right weather for it too. This is one match I won't be watching from underneath a thick blanket!

Wondering...

We were wondering today, E and I, just where those lovely small, slender wrists and hands came from. It certainly wasn't me. This happens a lot, this wondering. About her Dad. How can I tell her that he used to hold his hands up to mine and be constantly amused that mine were so big? How can I tell her about the hours I used to spend watching his hands pluck strings on his guitar? How can I tell her that those hands of his made the most beautiful marquetry boxes that I sometimes helped him design? How can I tell her that it breaks my heart to remember the two of them walking down the garden path when she was two, hand in hand, each with a watering can in the other hand, sharing their love of gardening?

E recently admitted she had reached that age where she'd quite like to ask him a few questions. So would I. Not even questions really, just another perspective. It's clear from the outside just how much she's inherited from him. They were always like two peas in a pod. It's the rest that I'd like him to make sense of for me. She is an incredible human being with so many amazing qualities, quite a few frustrating ones too, but I see those as short term phases. If he were alive today he'd totally understand her.

I stood in an art gallery this morning and It was weird because the space used to be his offices. I feel like I'm living a whole other life, in a time travel kind of way, if that makes any sense. A parallel universe maybe. Lots of 'if only's' which aren't useful.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, E asked for her own set of made to measure leather bracelets, and of course I was happy to oblige (more road testing ya know!). I made a whole bowl full of those wider leather wrist cuffs by upcycling an old belt with the same bead and lace fastening and she snaffled one of those too! I traded photos for my blog for leather goods. A fair deal I'd say because it's a devil of a job trying to photograph your own wrists!

Distracted...

It's a bit of a mixed bag this British weather at the moment isn't it? Saturday was a glorious quick-get-the-cricket-chairs-out kinda day. OK so there was a bit of 'on and off with the coat' but for the most part we sat and watched a whole match without diving into the car for warmth and shelter!

Sunday was a washout. Cancelled match. Cancelled gardening. Cancelled good mood.

Today I consulted my trusty iPod for a weather breakdown and it looked like the best slot for dog walking without getting drenched was between 9am and 10am so with breakfast barely digested I bundled two clean dogs into the car, trundled up to our favourite spot, walked in fantastic sunshine, swam in lovely clear blue lake (them, not me) and bundled one angelic intelligent dog (H) and one stupid and stinking dog (R) in the boot to trundle home. The season for eau de fox poo has started with a vengeance. In case you're not familiar, this is a scent that still makes your eyes water whilst driving at fifty miles an hour with all the windows down. Cough cough.

We all had a laugh about the fact that another dog has won Britain's Got Talent. Ours have talents but I can't really repeat what M and E said they were here! Mind you Harvey makes an exceptional cricket fielder if you can persuade him not to collect the ball before it has reached the batsman!

So, with the bare minimum of housework out of the way I've been sitting at my sunny desk whacking holes in leather again! It's so therapeutic. I got sidetracked today and made a couple of leather bracelets for myself. It started out as an experiment in fastenings which happened to work first time so I ended up making three. I whacked holes in the dark brown one for a pattern effect, I can see me getting carried away with eyelets too. These leathers are so soft. I can't imagine them being able to cope with the demands of a sofa, but they are indeed upholstery leather offcuts. They smell great too, I guess I'll have to make some to sell alongside the earrings now.