Cat blanket anyone?

One of my great pleasures in life has been sewing of all sorts, but in particular, patchwork. It has been in and out of fashion with me since the seventies when I started my first patchwork quilt, a huge kingsize bedspread - talk about starting with a small project, definitely got that wrong! This 'little' starter project took me five years and could nearly have put me off patchwork for life I think! However, the mish-mash hexagon centre eventually took on a life of its own and evolved into a passable bedspread, which was finally finished during my son's baby months when I couldn't go out much. Shame eh?! We've all been there I'm sure - baby years I mean not patchworking!

I digress. From there I moved on to cross stitch, smaller projects for a start, though sometimes they seemed to take as long and once again I started with a fairly complex piece - a mother cheetah and her cubs, which hangs on the wall today. I love wildlife - especially cats (big and small) and spent many years happily sewing and creating pictures until I eventually ran out of wall space. And when I moved and had more wall space I had also bought more pictures!

So it was back to the patchwork for a while, a bedspread for a friend's marriage, one for my son, another wallhanging that was sold and went to Canada and several other small cushions and bags along the way. As well as visits to shows etc. to maintain the interest and gain inspriation from the wonderful creations of others.

Eventually 'life' took over and all things crafty paused for a while. I do think you have to be in a certain mental place to be able to create such things. Well I travelled back to that place lately and have begun once again to 'piece' as the hand sewing version of patchwork is called. Again hexagons - my favourite shape I think - but this time connected to the new addition in our lives, Sonny the cat! At least not specifically for him, but my friends' cats.

I decided last summer to make a dear friend a small patchwork blanket for one of her cats, the first of four (as she had four cats!) as an ongoing birthday come Christmas present. Seemed like a good idea at the time ! One thing led to another and now I spend a lot of time making cat blankets, or cat mats for short. If you are interested in any more photos etc. please visit http://www.cat-mats.com/.

Even for those who love cats - and I know we can be an obsessive breed - this is a bit off the wall. Patchwork blankets for cats?! But then again, why not? I am sure I am not the first to make the connection. They are quick to make, easy to wash and can be placed anywhere around the house to save on the furniture. They are also so personal and unique to the cat and its 'staff' (!), that I have discovered they become quite a talking point, especially when you get into the history of the material used, if secondhand. And a lot of patchwork is made from the scrap ends of other projects or clothes. This beautiful Rag Doll puss called Oliver certainly took to his pretty quickly!

So, anybody else out there with similar stories? Til the next time.

Sylver Zone Vintage Prints

When I started blogging (not very regularly admittedly) I was exploring things associated with the over fifties, relationships, families, some health issues etc. A sort of logical extension of that was another form of income in case all things went pear-shaped with the jobs, recession, and anything else related to paying the bills of life!

I have spent many years exploring different ways (usually through the Internet), usually unsuccessfully it has to be said, and mainly because of a lack of focus and perhaps a lack of interest in the subject I was pursuing. However, last year I developed an interest in Antique and Vintage Prints. I love books of all kinds, fiction, non-fiction, coffee table books, recipe books, travel books, craft books - so it was a small leap to then start looking at vintage books with a view to reselling the beautiful prints and illustrations that could be found in them.

To that end the Sylver Zone Vintage Prints was born. Through eBay mostly, with small success so far, but building. And I am confident enough now to start to market the whole process more, which in turn should help build the sales. If you're reading this and are interested in such things click on the title for more information and some downloadable brochures. Let me know what you think!

New Grandchild

Another new addition to the household was my partner's granddaughter, who arrived on 26th January after keeping us all waiting for over two weeks (typical female!). This delightful baby will no doubt keep us all on our toes for some years to come, and I am (apparently) an official Step Nanny, or whatever she decides to call me when the time comes! The advantage for grandchildren of split families is they invariably end up with more sets of grandparents than the traditional two! More spoiling. I'm sure plenty of you can relate to that.

Household addition

Last year on Remembrance Day, we lost our dear old dog to a chronic condition called CDRM. I have shared my life with several pets - cats and dogs - and have never had to watch such a heart rending deterioration in my life. This beautiful German Shepherd with the most generous nature (unless you were a stranger in the house!!) gradually lost the use of his back legs and rear end, with its inevitable tragic end.

Our house has been decidedly empty ever since, not least because he was a large dog (!) in a big house. But now we have a new addition.

So, meet Sonny - a delightful black and white, two-year old tom cat. A stray brought in to the local Animal Rescue centre and just what I was looking for. Over the last couple of weeks he has gradually gotten used to us and the house and now trots around with us, exploring as he goes. He has yet to tackle the outside - we live on a very busy road - and will not do so until the summer I think. But he seems to be settling in pretty well considering he was a stray and, I suspect, did not live in a house. Although he seems pretty Ok with people.

He has some funny little habits, like laying against furniture - like a dog would, or in doorways to watch you. A great time waster, as are most animals! But already much loved and a welcome addition to our household.

Recessionary tactics

Recession seems to be the buzz word of the last few months. If you turn on the news all you hear is how the latest bank has taken a dive or a major retail outlet has closed its doors - Woolworths for heavens sake! An institution.
A recent article about the 1930s Great Depressions sparked some interest in that the author covered a more realistic outlook. Tim Price writes for the Price Report at Fleet Street Publications and was summarising a book called America’s Great Depression by Murray Rothbard.
'Rothbard, who died in January 1995, was something of a Renaissance man: scholar, economist, historian and philosopher. He was also a leading member of the ‘Austrian’ school of economics – which amongst other things maintains a healthy cynicism about the value of mathematical modelling in markets, and prefers ‘sound money’ to more speculative and ultimately dangerous credit creation. It is the perfect read for our time - not least in its suspicion of the role of banks. (You can read more about Rothbard and the Austrian school via the excellent Mises website here: http://mises.org/about/3249).'
I mention it because in his summary he states that Rothbard considered the Government's intervention in our current crisis a major obstacle to our eventual recovery, an opinion I entirely agree with. The tinkering that is going on at the moment does nothing more than lull everyone into believing that things will soon return to normal. Nothing could be further from the truth.
If we are to sort this mess out, we all need to start being more realistic, accept that everything must be deflated in value and find its natural level, before we can move forward again.
I heard on the news last night that some retailers didn't even pass on the VAT reduction to the consumers - something I would have thought was illegal - which simply means that the recession will continue for longer. Short-term tactics such as these will not improve the situation and will only make the population angry at being used yet again to shore up ailing businesses. This coupled with Gordon Brown's generous use of tax payer's money to shore up the ailing banks - isn't it our money in the first place? - makes you feel that as usual the general populous are at the bottom of the list for recovery.
As I watch my pension slowly dwindle and hope that the state pension will still be around by the time I retire, I once again feel that at the end of the day the only person you can rely on is yourself in such times and continue my search for the additional income streams to help prop up finances.
So far my vintage prints on eBay (search on eBay name 'sylverzone' if you are interested) are proving to be a slow but possible route and a website may be the next step.
Till the next time . . .

Cycling

Well a new bike was definitely an improvement on the old and the open road has become a major attraction these days. We are starting to explore further afield and now take the bikes on a carrier to the likes of Cambridge - excellent cycling territory. Loads of cycle paths, loads of pubs and loads of other cyclists (who will, given the chance, mow you down!). It seems there is the same hierarchy on the cycling tracks as there is on the main roads. Worse there is no 'stay on the left' rule such as on our main roads! But in the main it is still great fun and excellent exercise.
The down side has been the dreadful British summer! Cycling in the rain is definitely not fun, and can be positively dangerous in heavy downpours. That 'drowned rat' feeling has hit me more than once lately.
We now have two friends encouraging us to train up to try out the London to Cambridge cycle run - mmmm. I'll sleep on that thank you.

Cycling anyone?

When in my early teens I used to cycle a lot - didn't we all? Well it was a cheap mode of transport and in Singapore - where I lived at the time - the weather was more suited to two wheels. When I married I moved to Devon - well that put paid to cycling - Devon hills are not something I am equipped to deal with, so the cycling went on hold - for a while - until my son reached the age of wanting to cycle. Then it was going to be a family thing, mountain bikes had just become really popular and more and more cycle routes were being created in Devon at least. My husband was the first to cave in and decide that we couldn't have a dog and do cycling. Not sure why they were mutally exclusive, but there you go. My son kept it up and I did my best to follow - occasionally! But I was no match for a 14 year old, so eventually the bike was sold, and that was that until I moved to Hertfordshire on the borders of Cambridgeshire. Flat roads! Wonderful. So when my partner suggested we give it go, apart from some reservations about my dodgey knees, I thought why not.
Now we have had the best early May for years they say, so it was a great time to try out the knees and see what future there was in cycling for a pastime. What fun - the knees were not as bad as I had feared and indeed I think this may be the saving of them, as the exercise is strengthening the muscles around the knees and actually makes them less painful. There was a pain barrier to go through first! But now I seem to be past the worst and have rediscovered a pleasurable form of exercise that doesn't involve expensive gyms and could be the answer to drink driving! There's a thought!
So having decided that this form of exercise is likely to be here to stay, the next step was to buy a better bike - hand me downs were all very well while I sorted out whether this would be a permanent thing, but since this particular hand me down is about 15 years old, rusty and rattlely as well as only having 5 gears, I have decided I deserve something better. Even the relatives are showing sympathy for the ancient lump of metal that should be put down. The brakes announce themselves to the world every time I use them and the whole bike shakes itself to bits every time I go over a bump - of which there seem to be quite a few!
A new bike is on order from the local cycle shop and will be here by the weekend - what fun. Front suspension, 24 gears (I'm not sure they will necessarily be an advantage!) and quiet brakes! I am assured it will be considerably lighter than the present heap. Still mustn't complain - it allowed me to try out the knees and decide that this was something I could do. And my partner has landed himself a real bargain on eBay. I'm not sure whether he quite expected to win his first ever auction, such is the power of eBay! But his new bike arrives next week - then there really will be no stopping us. Watch this space . . .