rubykittyruby

  Here's Badger, looking like the little cutie-pie he is.  He's settled in so well, is absurdly affectionate and eats anything and everything I put in his food bowl.  The only fault I can find is that he likes to sharpen his claws on the side of my sofa.  This is despite having two scratching posts, one of which is part of a cat tower that's taller than I am!  I may have to try trimming his claws, but I don't know how Badger will react to that.  Anyway, expect to see more photos of him, so sorry in advance for any of you who aren't feline fans.    Apart from gazing in admiration at the cat I've continued to experiment with embroidery.  I really can't decide whether this mainly pink piece of stitching is something I like or just a dog's dinner of a mess.   This is another embroidery I've been stitching.  Frankly, at the moment it looks like it should be lobbed straight into the bin.  I'd painted with a mix of watercolour pa...

  No, this isn't a saucer of sweets with holes in!  They're my attempt at homemade beads.  I'd wanted some chunky ones with larger holes in them for threading on to cord or ribbon, and saw an idea on Instagram.  So out came the pack of air dried clay and I rolled out these shapes.   I left them to thoroughly dry out on a sunny windowsill, then painted the beads with acrylic paint.  After that dried, I dripped some alcohol ink on them.  In order for the ink to dry I threaded the beads on to cocktail sticks and balanced them on an egg carton.   I want to add a layer of varnish, but don't want to buy a large tin from a DIY store, so I'm going to pick up a bottle of clear nail polish and try painting the beads with that for a glossy finish.  For a first attempt, they're a bit clumsy, but not too bad.  I bought something from a charity shop today that I might try adding to the next batch of beads I make.  It's a roll of rose go...

  Saturday's rolled around again, and it's not been the most eventful of days.  Cleaning and hoovering, a walk to the shops to buy groceries, an hour on the allotment, then home to do some odd tasks in the garden.  The strawberry plants are sending out runners, so I've been dealing with those, plus deadheading the perennial sunflowers, and cutting back the gone-over flowers on the sage and marjoram.  I'm sad to see those blooms gone as the bees loved them.  This afternoon I spent a few hours finishing 'Dawnlands' by Philippa Gregory.   It's a really good book, a page turner where you care about the characters and want to be reassured everything's going to work out well for them.  Plus you become enraged about the corruption of the so-called justice system at the time of the Stuart kings and queens, about transportation of prisoners to the West Indies, and about the vile nature of the sugar trade in the 1600s and the vast profits made from it....

  This year continues to race along at breakneck speed.  Already I can see the evenings are getting shorter, and it's darkening by 9.30 when it used to be light until 10.00.  It's supposedly full summer, yet the hedgerows are full of ripened blackberries.  Way too early, and the apples on my allotment trees look as if they're almost ready too.  The seasons are out of whack, aren't they?  Climate change is scary, and we've not even begun to experience the worst of it yet.  Maybe I'm burying my head in the sand by retreating into crafting?  But what can any of us do on an individual level, besides buying less, recycling more, trying to vote for politicians who'll respect the environment. I'll continue making things, meanwhile trying to do my bit to lessen my personal carbon footprint.  These little patches are just calico with lettering inked on them and watercolour paint around the edges.  I've slow-stitched this one to make a fabric tag,...

  Yorkshire's officially experiencing a drought, and I'm wilting from the heat.  It's that muggy, sticky kind of hot weather, and I'm lethargic and headachy.  So I've neglected the allotment for the last few days, just nipping down there to gather raspberries and the very last strawberries.  Instead, I've been spending my time reading the latest Richard Osman book - lovin' it - and messing about with junk journals.  These homemade books are my latest obsession.  I really enjoy making them, especially using up all that food packaging or scrap paper that'd otherwise be headed straight for the recycling bin.  Above is one of the journals I've been making and decorating, the cover being created from a tetra pack.  (That mess is my dining table!  I know, I know.) The other journal is much larger, and I reckon you can easily guess what the cover for this originally was.  That logo must be one of the most recognisable on the planet!  ...

(Photo of my front garden.  Everything's growing like crazy!) Finally!  I didn't think I'd get any decent strawberries from the dried out looking plants on the allotment.  But recent rainfall's meant they've grown and ripened, and I've had delicious bowlfuls of 'em.  I don't eat them with cream - can't afford to scoff all those calories - but natural yoghurt instead.  Last year I tried freezing some of the berries I picked, but they really are best eaten fresh.  I'll save the freezing for blackberries instead when it's their harvest time.  So it's strawberries in my morning breakfast of either porridge or overnight oats, berries for pudding and berries for evening snacking.  Yum!  I finished reading the Stella Rimington book I picked up in a charity shop.  It was a decent enough spy story, but rather dry and I won't be in a particular hurry to read any more of hers.  I'm about to begin the Barbara Kingsolver novel 'Flight Beha...

I haven't entirely deserted blogland, but have got out of the habit of posting anything lately.  I'm too easily diverted by sunny days and scrolling through Instagram and 'X'.  (Wish we could go back to the days of calling that Twitter.  Why trash a perfectly good brand name?)  Anyway, I'm here now, and just back from the allotment where I've been splashing water over wilting strawberry plants.  According to the BBC weather app we're due rain on Saturday, and if it falls you'll hear the sound of cheering from grateful gardeners and happy farmers all across the land!  On the crafty front, I've almost sewn together my Ann Wood stitchbook, just a couple more pages to go.  But I've mainly been obsessing over my new-found hobby of making junk journals and decorating them.   I'm making tags and journal cards and messing about with die cut butterflies and birds.  All a lot of fun and very absorbing.   At the moment I'm simply adding a...