Highlandhearts

Chepstow Castle These doors were so tactile Terri X

We joined CADW as they had a membership offer of £10 off the normal price of £61 and they took the parking fee and off so we paid just £48 for the year.  This also gives us half price off entrances to Historic Scotland as well as free entry to places in Wales and 10% off the price in their shop.  We intended to get our moneys worth in Wales alone. This is the best preserved medieval abbey in Wales. Our friends strolling around This Abbey is in a lovely location The three amigo's! Amazing place Terri X

We set off at the end of last week to visit a few friends in Wales.  Its such a long journey from the Highlands that we decided to stay overnight at a Travelodge in Penrith and because we arrived in good time we went to have a look at the castle ruins. The weather turned really warm, the car said it was 22 degrees, phew! Heres the history bit if you want to expand the photo. OH walked into the frame as i took this photo. Look at that blue sky! Me taking a photo of OH taking a photo! It was too hot to eat a big meal so this was our dinner and it was pretty scrumptious! After a good nights sleep in a nice comfy kingsize bed, just as Travelodge advertize, we set off on the rest of our journey towards our first friend who lives in a village just 10 minutes from Cardiff. What a fabulous city Cardiff is!  The millenium stadium is right in the centre So is this castle.  On our next visit i am going to do an open top bus tour round but no time this trip.  T

I am pretty proud of myself tonight.  I have never been able to draw very well but i always liked playing with colours.  I have been to an art class for an hour for the last three weeks and the picture above was a still life I did in pastels.  It may be amateurist by anyone elses standards but i think it is the best thing i have done for years!  I think i might frame it and put it on the wall in my craft room. Week 1 was colour me calm and this was as far as i got with my picture.  An hour goes pretty quickly when you're doing this.   Week 2 we were learning different techniques as above and practising them.  It also makes you look at how artists have painted their pictures and notice the techniques they have used. Week 3 was the still life and also was unfortunately my last class as I am now away and will miss the last one. I have been inspired though and encouraged to do more so i think i will buy some pastels and just have a go. Terri X

Monday mornings I usually go to a  craft group in another village but this week three of us decided to get together in one members home as the weather was so windy it wasn't good for travelling.  In fact i nearly took off as i went down my steps, it was wild! I took a cardigan as i wanted help to shorten the length and it had a ribbing around the bottom and we worked out a way to do it. To be honest its turned out a bit shorter than i wanted but is wearable now.   I was also given a basket full of odd bits of material and this lovely book. We also had a good chat, putting the world to rights and the time flew by.  Luckily OH rang me to see if i needed picking up as a young friend was due round to do a bit of crafting with me at 2.30 and i was only just in when she arrived.  We started a new project so that she can learn to sew, making a hot pad to put a saucepan on or it could be used as a mat. This is as far as I got with mine.  A bit more sewing by hand or machine to do a

Well its taken hours of sorting and having to be ruthless when deciding what just has to go but my craft room is definately looking a lot tidier now. I have sorted my containers and my favourites on this shelf are the sheep tin which hold all my embroidery threads, my Cath Kidson tin next to it and containing my favourite new buttons, the lilac tin which holds my most used ink pads and stamps and the latest addition of the pink tin mug holding felt tip pens.  It says "this is my happy place"  and thats how i feel about my craft room :-) The addition of these drawers given to me by my Sis-in-Law has made it easier to clean up.  I have labeled a few drawers and the bottom four hold toys and bits for the Grandchildren, the next three are full of my knitted crafts.  There is one draw full of presents I am putting aside and the top one has photo's.  The larger wicker baskets hold my wadding and stuffing and the little basket is full of costume jewellry that now belon