Friday 24 May 2013

It's here in black and white



A friend has recently lost weight and was clearing out his wardrobe, so I asked him if he'd got any brightly coloured t-shirts for a project I'd got in mind.  He duly came round with two big bags of clothes; but I think he has a different idea to what brightly coloured is, as they were mostly muted or dark colours, so that idea is still on hold.

However when I saw this black t-shirt (it really is black, the lighting wasn't very good), I had a great idea for combining it with one of the (many) white ones


I mean, what girl doesn't want an oversized t-shirt advertising lager?  

Well not me, so I changed it to this....




The first thing I did was cut out the Carling sign, which left a rectangular hole.  Then I cut the neckline lower,took off the sleeves, and using a t-shirt of mine as a guide, cut down the sides and resewed them.
I then cut half inch wide strips out of the white t-shirt and pulled them taut to make them roll up like so
I just used these strips and a darning needle to sew the lines and 'darn' the hole.  I thought I would have to make holes in the t-shirt first but it just pulled straight through.

Now I've got a little confession to make.  I'd intended the darned hole to be at the front, but it turned out to be indecently low, which is why it ended up at the back, (but if anyone asks - it was intentional).  To add a bit of interest to the front I did running stitch lines with the t-shirt tubing to carry on the theme.



What a game I had taking the photos of myself.  I used the camera on self timer and had it on a chair, which meant that I had to kneel in front of it for the right height.  So I it was - set the timer, walk round and kneel, get up, check photo (no good), set the timer, walk round and kneel, get up, check photo (no good) etc., etc..  I lost count of the times I had to do it, but I got a bit of a workout!




Sunday 12 May 2013

Elephant feet in tree and other wonders of nature


While I was out walking the other day I came across a tree which appeared to have a pair of elephant feet hanging from it


I don't know what happened to the rest of the elephant but it reminded me of the joke....

How does an elephant get down from a tree?
It sits on a leaf and waits till autumn!


As I was about to climb over a gate I spotted something moving along the top, which on closer inspection turned out to be a small striped spider carrying a fly




Remember my year in a life of a tree?
Well on 6th May last year the tree looked like this

On the same day this year it looked like this
Spring has been so slow to arrive that the tree is still only in bud.  You'll notice that there's a different crop in the field.  Last year it was barley and this year it's oil seed rape.  The rape is flowering which is normal for this time of year but the plants are about half as high as they should be, and there's bare patches from where the field was stood in water for months earlier in the year.

I saw some some celandines

and cowslips


I think the lambs of these sheep look more like deer


The farm where they live have sheep in various colours






Friday 3 May 2013

Mysterious Fairy Glade



A few weeks ago I decided to check out a local footpath that I hadn't been on before.   It zigzagged round the edges of fields, until about a quarter of a mile before the next village, it went through a little wood and I came across a fairy glade!  I didn't tell you about it at the time because although I thought it was enchanting, my photographs didn't do it justice.





There was a very friendly robin there




and this fairy door in a tree, complete with rope ladder
which is why I'm telling you about this now because something really strange has happened...

when I saw the list for May's photo scavenger hunt and saw 'door', I knew straight away I would use this photo of the fairy door.   Then I got thinking that it would be so much better if I could get a photo of the friendly robin standing in front of it.  So off I went this morning with a pocketful of bird seed and the intention of sprinkling it on the doorstep to attract him.


But it was not to be.....the fairy glade I had just happened upon before, was now nowhere to be seen!
I could see the little wood where I thought it would be, but the footpath didn't go near.  As I got nearer the village I thought I didn't recognise the footpath and maybe it had been re-routed but it was well worn and the sign posts weren't new.  I don't know how I could have possibly strayed from the path the first time because it was clearly marked.

  The only possible reason I can think of as to why I came across it the first time, was that fairies or pixies had moved the marker posts and directed me there .  Probably pixies - I've heard they can be mischievous.  
Or maybe I wandered into a parallel universe.

Can you think of any other explanation?






Wednesday 1 May 2013

April 2013 Photo Scavenger Hunt



As usual Greenthumb from Made with love organised the monthly photo scavenger hunt.  Here is my selection (click to enlarge), some taken on holiday, some when travelling through London on the train and of course some at home.

Pink




6




Your City/ Town
Gainsborough is the nearest town to me, and this is Gainsborough Old Hall

Sport
Arsenal football ground



Night Light
King's Cross station.  
The figures on the left hand side remind me of the film 'Close encounters of the third kind'!


Something You Collect




Big
The reception area of the hotel we stayed at in Tenerife


Dinner
When it comes to food photos for the scavenger hunt I always think "that's easy, plenty of opportunities for that", and then I always forget to take any photos of the interesting stuff.   So this is what I had yesterday


Texture
A ploughed field


Curl


Take Off


Plastic
Ironically it says 'don't throw me away' on this plastic carrier bag.


You can see more entries here, and next month's list if you fancy joining in.