Recent Lifebook Paintings ~ Sophie

I'm still pretty much keeping up with Lifebook this year and feeling rather pleased with myself as a result.  There is a monthly theme and February was courage/bravery.  I got a lot out of this and my pages are really all about life with disabled kids....

 

 

 

....March is about Celebrating Connections. To good things......

 

 

......and bad!

 

 

 I loved doing this one, it was really good fun!

 

I've also finished this doodle mandala from last year...

 

Artful Readers Club February ~ Sophie

I have no idea what possessed me to think it was a good idea to read my longest Artful Readers Club book during the shortest month of the year when half term was also going to be happening! I finally finished 'Game of Thrones - A Song of Ice and Fire' by George R. R. Martin on Saturday.

I wasn't sure how I would get on with this book.  I have watched the first season of the TV series and loved it so I thought that might influence my feelings about it.  I was pleasantly surprised to find the book and TV series very very much in alignment - it does annoy me when TV/films change plots!

So the actual book.....'Game of Thrones' is an epic fantasy, set in a land which has similarities with ours and yet is also very different.  Seasons are long, lasting years and their is a hint of magic and magical creatures which I imagine will be expanded upon through the series.  This first instalment introduces us to many characters and the prominent families to whom they belong.  There is also a lot of extra information in the form of maps at the beginning and family history sections at the back of the book to help understand the different characters and families' relationships to each other and status within the kingdoms which is helpful. The book is structured so that each chapter is focused on a particular character.  I liked this as it helped me get to know the characters but I think there was also a downside in that I would start to get into a particular characters viewpoint and story and then the book switches focus and at times I found myself losing interest because of that.  The last part of the book however became much more enthralling so I raced through it at the end.

 

What I enjoyed most about the book was how much understanding I gained about different characters motives and intentions.  Almost all the characters have good and bad in them and although it's a fantasy of Kings, Queens, Lords and Ladies, there are no heroes as such.  The behaviour of a lot of the characters can be seen to be a direct result of their own experiences which in turn leads to bitterness and pain for other characters and I ended the book thinking 'what a mess this lot are in!' All the time they are fighting amongst themselves and we are being shown that the real threats are elsewhere.  I did really enjoy reading this and will probably go on to either read or listen to the audio books of the rest of the series at some point.  At the moment I'm waiting for the second TV series to land on my doormat so will probably cheat with that for a while!

 

This is the artwork I ended up with....

 

 

 

....I wanted to show the dangers being shown to us from 'Ice and Fire' and the families somewhere in between. In the end, after a few messed up attempts at trying to get all the family banners drawn small enough, I cut them out of the information sections :)
 

Wool Against Weapons ~ Sophie

 

I have started doing some crochet for this amazing pink peace scarf.  If you are a knitter want to join in you can find more details at

 

http://www.woolagainstweapons.co.uk/

 

Here's my first piece, just over half way done.....

 

 

....it is pink lol, dodgy photo! I'm doing this one plain but I think I'll get a bit more adventurous for the next one - I could become a little obsessed with this project!

 



Yarn Along ~ Sophie

 

 

I'm joining in with Ginny's Yarn Along for the first time in a few weeks.  Before Christmas I joined 'Loving Hands', a charity knitting website, so I've been knitting a few bits for them over the past month or so.  I started with some scarfs and I'm currently trying a baby hat.  Despite having had 3 babies and knitting for all of them, I never did hats! I couldn't knit in the round back then so they all got cardigans!

 

Reading-wise, I am nearly half way through Game of Thrones Book 1 - 'A Song of Ice and Fire' which is my February book for the Artful Readers Club.  I loved the TV show and the book is great too so far.  I also have an audiobook on the go, 'A Discovery of Witches' by Deborah Harkness.  It's a bit of a 'Twilight'/'Trueblood' type book.  It's a good one for having a bit of lighthearted entertainment going on in the background whilst getting on with other jobs.  It has witches, vampires and yoga so appeals to me :) 

Creative Pay-it-Forward

I'm joining in with the Facebook creative pay-it-forward which was going around last month.  I have 5 friends to make gifts for and this is my first, a ruffle scarf.

I've haven't knitted with this type of yarn before and whilst it is easy, I think it's also not easy if you are a long term knitter. I found I was knitting much slower with it than I would with normal wool. I think the colours of this scarf are lovely and I'm pleased with how it turned out. Hope my friend likes it!

Lifebook January ~ Sophie

I have been managing to pretty much keep up with Lifebook so far this year. Here's what I've done for January's lessons...

 

 

There's another lesson which I was going to pass on as 5 seemed a lot to get done, but then I watched the video and I'm tempted as it looks fun. 

Rocking Your World Friday-ish ~ Sophie

 

 

A bit late for a Friday, but here's what's been rocking my world over the past week....

 

Meeee! I fixed the washing machine.  Ok, maybe there was a massive flood in the process but I unblocked the blockage and it works again.

 

Suprise gifts.  I am taking part in the Facebook 2013 Craft Pay-it-Forward thing and yesterday my lovely friend Rachel came over with this beautiful bag for me.  Rachel is brilliant at everything she makes, I love it :)  Later in the day my mum arrived with these hyacinths. This is lovely because I usually do some of the water jar type ones with the children during autumn half term but that was quite a difficult holiday week and I just didn't get it together.

 

 

Respite care for our boys, it's giving us a much needed rest and some time to do ordinary things.  Last weekend was mainly resting!

 

Birds.  I did the RSPB Big garden Birdwatch.  We don't get many birds here.  We have 3 cats, next door have 2 and there are more further along our terrace.  I do however get regular pigeons in the trees behind our garden.  What I learned from the Big Garden Birdwatch and getting my binoculars out was that some of them are not pigeons, some are collared doves.  I also learnt that not a lot bothers them but sirens make them become alert and go from 'puffed up' to, well, 'not puffed up'!

While the Birdwatch was predictably minimal, I got a big suprise later on in the day when I looked out of the window whilst loading the dishwasher to see the staring murmuration, a beautiful sight :)

 

Ducks.  Our local park has been shut due to flooding again.  It reopened this week but there is still a lot of water everywhere.  I saw ducks swimming around a tree in a bit of floodwater - sweet!

 

 

A fantastic full moon, Jupiter and Orion in the night sky.

 

Jasmine.  I love jasmine essential oil, particularly in the bath and ordered some this week as I was getting low. The day my parcel arrived, my new jasmine plant flowered and my kitchen now smells divine. 

 

 

Artful Readers Club.  I'm so glad I joined in with this.  This week I have read nearly 40 blog posts and received some lovely comments on mine.  It's great fun.  And if I hadn't joined in with that, I wouldn't have found Virginia's blog to join in with this which I also really like doing!

 

Linking up with Virginia at

 Celtic House