E is for Embroidery

I started an Embroidery City and Guilds course because I wanted to learn a bit more about textile art, the process of design and to meet some more like minded people. I first learnt some basic embroidery stitches as a young child. My first piece of stitching ever was a mat which I did in infant school using stranded cotton and a wide spaced counted thread fabric. Other embroidery projects were rather old fashioned - a half finished dressing table set and an antimascar. The latter which I finished and gave to my grandparents, which, they did use it for the rest of the life of that chair. My Grandparents loved me very much.

Oh yeah - I DON'T DO CROSS STITCH (even in irony). Most counted thread techniques don't appeal to me at all. I prefer more contemporary and abstract designs especially if it means it doesn't matter if I lose count.

"And needle point aside
I always find
Embroidery leaves me blind
Cos I'm too weary to rest"
Goldfish and Paracetamol, Catatonia

E could also be for enjoyment, easy, education, encourage

D is for Dentist

For some people its spiders, some cows, others open spaces for me my pet fear is going to the dentist (well one of them anyway). It probably stems from some of the fluoride treatment my mother insisted my sisters and I had. One treatment session ended up with me vomiting over the dentist performing the work - justifiable revenge. I didn't mind my orthodontist so much but that was probably only because he didn't pull any teeth out, drill any or ever scrape them.

As soon as I went to Uni. I didn't keep up my appointments and succeeded in not visiting the dentist for 5 years. However, I had to find one very quickly when I had infected wisdom teeth. I got away without having too much work being required but the wisdom teeth got pulled at the General Hospital under local anaesthetic and a bit of "jungle juice" (the only time I ever got high - and it was legal). I think the consultant recognised trouble when he saw me and made sure my worry levels were kept to a minimum.

I now don't worry too much about going to the dentist - can I really be scared of a man who once danced along to Abba in my next door neighbours kitchen at midnight. On the other hand don't answer that! No, he is a reassuring chap as well as patient - he spends a lot of time gradually coaxing me into the chair.

"The dentist's chair is the only time
That anybody ever looks at their mouth
Let the dentist give their teeth something to chatter about"

A Little Piece of Advice, The Beautiful South

D could also be for diet, doodling, Dorset buttons

C is for Curry

When I was a little girl, curry meant a generic sauce in which my Mum would mix cold roast meat and serve on the side an assortment of things such as banana, sultanas, apple slices, peanuts and other stuff I can't remember because I probably didn't like them. The first time my parents took me to the local tandoori house I realised that curry was much more than the dish served back home.

After I moved out of home and started cooking for myself more I found myself cooking for the new man in my life. He always appreciated my cooking, anything curry related especially. Now we are married I still cook him curry.

Favourite curry books:

The Indian Pantry, Monisha Bharadwaj (reprint here)
A Taste of Goa, Mridula Baljekar
The Balti Cookbook: Fast, Simple and Delicious Stir-fry Curries, Shehzad Husain
50 Great Curries of India, Camellia Panjabi
Thai Home Cooking: Quick, Easy and Delicious Recipes to Make at Home, Robert Carmack & Sompon Nabnian

I am currently watching this lady on the Beeb.

My Favourite Curries:
Balti Chilli Chicken
Thai Red Chicken Curry
Jhinga Caldeen
Murg Rashida
Navratan Korma

"Me and me Mum and me Dad and me Gran
We're off to Waterloo
Me and me Mum and me Dad and me Gran
And a bucket of Vindaloo"
Vindaloo, Fat Les

C could also be for cooking, couching, cycling (yes I'm addicted), craft

B is for Bicycle

Every day I grow more in love with my bike. Sometimes I refer to it as my baby, but I think that is taking things a little too far. I bought this after my first fall off my previous bicycle which was a hybrid with no front suspension and stupid pointless hybrid tyres which are only any good for road riding (so you might as well have a bike dedicated to uh road riding). I realised that if I wanted to do any more cross country bike riding I needed something that didn't give me back ache and gave me a sense of being in control. After a test ride on a friends bicycle I knew I had met the perfect bike for me.

I pootled around on my new bike at weekends for a while and then M suggested riding to work on it. To encourage me further he even bought me a luggage rack and some slick tyres which he puts on my bike during the week. Year or two later now and I have improved my journey time to work by skimming 10 minutes off my original time. Door to desk (with a shower included) is just under an hour. So I get my exercise boost and travel to work all in one and I don't even have to go to the gym - just one reason why I love my bike. Others are:

• I have lost 16 lbs in the last year and still eat like a horse.
• A bit more independence - not reliant on a car all the time.
• Weekend rides means I get to see a lot more of the countryside - I didn't realise how beautiful Hampshire was until I started riding off-road.
• It is a great way to socialise and gossip with your mates whilst being "virtuous" and getting some exercise.
  
• I feel like a kid again.
  

"Bicycle bicycle bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle bicycle bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride my bike
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride it where I like "
Bicycle Race, Queen

B could also be for blogging, black dog, buttonholes, blue

A is for Asthma

I have mild asthma, I have had it ever since I was a child. As it was not as severe as my older sister's nobody really took it that seriously. I was never in and out of the doctor's surgery or took time off school because of it. I did, however, try to avoid exercise for most of my childhood and teens because of it. Especially when the air was cold. The tightness in my chest was excruciating and put my lack of performance down to being lazy, unfit or just plain rubbish at sport. It didn't affect playing tennis (the only sport I liked) very much but that was probably due to the fact that I didn't bother running about much and I could get a lucky break with a killer back hand and a natural top spin.

I only had one major asthma attack and that was after a particularly exhausting PE lesson on a hot day and then going into the drama studio where the windows were open and the grass was being mown outside. I requested for windows to be closed but the english teacher was a bit scathing. Minutes later I was being sent to the sick room and somebody was tracking down my sister to get her inhaler. I returned to the class later feeling much better, to find a slightly pink & guilty looking english teacher and the windows closed. I was then taken along to the doctors where I was prescribed some inhaler which I didn't take as it didn't work. A few years later when registering with a new GP on arrival at Uni. the first thing they did was prescribe me a Salbutamol based inhaler. A puff of that before exercise and I could cycle, row or ballroom dance to my hearts content. I am still rubbish at sport.

"And don't forget your ventolin
So a hammering in my head don't stop
In the bullet train from Tokyo to Los Angeles."
Hammering in my Head, Garbage

A could also be for: Appliqué, Awkwardness, Art

Back from the impromptu hiatus

I realise I haven't posted in about a month and I have let things slip a bit since the end of year exhibition.

My main area of focus has been my at-least-a-page a day sketchbook some of which I have shown in some previous posts. Since the end of April I have kept up to date and have now finished my first sketchbook. I am pleased with a number of pages, indifferent to some and embarrassed about others. They are all staying as they journal my life from spring into, erm, summer. It has also, I hope, improved my hand and eye coordination with regards to drawing and painting. Though I have been only too happy to just doodle with the pen or do something abstract with my dye paint palette.

There have been a fair few entries making reference to rain.

A lot of pages were done when I was on holiday in Tuscany during June.

A bit of food

and some collage.

For my new visual journal I will be taking my inspiration from Bella Dia with her Encyclopedia of Me meme. So during the month of August, I will make my way through the alphabet and blog for each letter, with an accompanying doodle, painting, drawing from my sketchbook. As the alphabet is only 26 letters long and August has 31 days it will give me a little leeway to achieve this - I will need to choose my days off wisely.

As this started this all, I think I now have another book to add to my must read list.

New Toys

I treated myself to a top notch mounting system (at a top notch price too). I already had a rule and cutter but it was rubbish, it originally cost me 1/4 of the price of my new kit, so I guess in this instance you get what you pay for. This came in handy for mounting up a few of my samples for the end of year show. Which, for those interested and in the Hampshire area, is held this week:

Thursday 5th July 6-8pm
Friday 6th July 10am-3pm
Saturday 7th July 10am-1pm

Cranbury Centre, Cranbury Road, Eastleigh.