Craft Update

I seem to be hampered by a lack of swarovski crystal

I made the Lucrezia bracelet but ran short of 4mm bicones.  I only need four more....

I started making the butterfly but on nearing completion of the first wing, I realised the drops I have are way to big.  They are out of scale and they weigh the wings down.

I still need a navette for my Cleopatra's Eye.

I am still avoiding my scond enchanted lake

I still need to put a clasp on my necklace to go with my snake print top

I still need to put legs on the beetle brooch

I still need to put feathers on the red dream catcher.

Lots going on but not much to tick off....

Except the occuli bracelet, one enchanted lake, a berry necklace for the multi coloured dress and the lariat for the black top with the waistband in purple and blue.

Lots to do...

Also waiting for the ingredients list for the Athena bracelet...

Sea Time

So I have been visiting beaches.  Last weekend we went to the Lizard, ate food, wandered the shops.  Then we took a wrong turn on our way to Kennack Sands and decided to explore Church Cove. 

Part way down, there is a sign saying no parking or turning further on down the hill, please park here.  So of course we did, quite a few others didn't though.  We walked down.  Past cute character houses, some of which probably cost a fortune to do up. Near the bottom we crosed the coast path and we could see the little cove we had come to visit, down a very steep incline that somehow or another peaople hauled boats up. 

The old lifeboat house was there and part of the rail that the boat would have launched down.  It was a beautiful little cove, perfect for swimming and larking about in.  I felt a bit sad because most of the houses are probably holiday lets, or second homes.  Maybe a few older people who have yet to move on.  I doubt many of those who stay here have kids.  The sort of cove that half a dozen children of assorted ages should have been playing in on a hot day like that.

I didn't go all the way down the slope but I did climb all the way back up again.

Then we went to Kennack Sands.  I was looking at rocks, serpentine and I was really surprised to be able to identify shiny white veins of chrysotile, one of the types of asbestos.  I could see the little fibres.  Talking to geologists, although it is known to be down on the Lizard, it is pretty unusual to actually find any...  Bit scary really...

Friday night I went to Mousehole and walked round the harbour.  Inside the harbour are two small sandy beaches.  The far side of the harbour is a rocky beach that looks like it has had stone added to keep it eroding away.  While there I met a ferret out for an evening walk and ate chips. :-)

I got an impulse on the way home to go track down the merry maidens, a stone circle of 19 uprights.  When I started walking up the hill, there was a magpie between the two entrance stones ad on the way back down the hill there was a magpie sat at the field gateway.  I took photos, one of which is a bit strange, very overexposed, white.

I sat in the grass and enjoyed the sun

Make Believe

So after Duran Duran, I spent the rest of the weekend sore and not doing very much at all...

I made a lariat.  It has an Octagonal donut made of delicas to which many long strands of beads are attached.

I have nearly finished my beetle.  It just needs some legs.

A beady friend posted some pins of jewellery which combine folded shibori silk with bead embroidery.  They were very beautiful and I decided to follow the link to their etsy shop.  It turns out there were lots of tutorials, not just the embroidery stuff which I would find pretty tricky but beadweaving patterns too....

I fell in love.

Seriously... go see....

I brought three patterns.  Cleopatra's Eye, Lucrezia and Sea Waves.  So beautiful.  And not beyond my ability either...  Lucrezia will go with a blue and pink flowery wrap around tunic I have.  Cleopatra's Eye will go with a lot, I think I will wear it endlessly...  Not sure about Sea Waves yet.

I also decided to make Heather Kingsley Heath's Butterfly as a hair comb to go with my butterfly top.

I also signed up for a workshop to make Shona Bevan's Athena Mauve bracelet....

Duran Duran

Both himself and I love Duran Duran and we were aware they were playing at Eden.  We looked up the date and it fell in the middle of his relief weeks, which meant we had no idea when his shifts would fall until the tickets were gone.  So we both forgot about it.

Until last week when two very excited colleagues were talking about it.  By this time I knew we could actually go.  Then they said there were some tickets on the company website for sale.  I woke J up to see if he still wanted to go and he was really excited.  And then equally gutted when I discovered they had been sold....

Later, after work, I stayed on to have a look, having remembered how great our company site is, when it has lovely blue leather sofas and Duran Duran tickets. I was very startled to discover that another pair of tickets had appeared!  I rang up and went to get them pretty much straightaway.

So Friday.  BBC Music Day.  We found ourselves at Eden.  We sang along to the Beach Boys for the One Show.  Generally stood around for a very long time.  But by the time they came on stage we were in a great spot - and pretty unable to go anywhere...

It was an amazing show.  Not much else I can say.  He can still sing.  Their songs are great, even the new stuff.  Amazing night.

Absolutely great.

Like really, really....

We even found our backs on TV.

Trip Away

So, on the Monday I found myself looking up things to do in Plymouth.  Himself expressed a desire to go and look at a bike there.

I realised that I really don't know Plymouth at all.  I went to college there, commuting daily.  I have been on a couple of works courses.  Shopping twice and the National Maring Aquarium once.

In order to get to Plymouth from Cornwall, you either go on the Torpoint Ferry or take the Tamar Bridge.  I have never been over on the ferry either.... Plymouth sits surrounded by water.  In this part of the country, a number of river valleys became flooded by the sea as sea levels rose after the ice age.  The Tamar is one such river that got flooded.  Plymouth sits on what would have been hillside, overlooking the river valley, with a good view downriver.  Now Plymouth has a good view out to sea, many harbours and lost of tidal water.

Despite the stunning location, Plymouth isn't a hot tourist destination.  It has to compete with the rest of Devon, including Dartmoor and Exmoor, as well as the wonderful Cornwall. A large part of Plymouth was bombed in the war as it was a valuable target given the dockyards.  The Navy still has a heavy presence there.

That said, there are areas of Plymouth I have never visited that look pretty cool.  Royal William Dockyard, to the Hoe then the Barbican and Sutton Harbour. While looking all these up, I discovered that right in this area there is a grand old hotel called the Duke of Cornwall.  It happens to be a Best Western, which got me thinking....  Our tesco clubcard vouchers have three times their value if transferred into Best Western vouchers.

Tuesday, a colleague started talking about staying in Plymouth for theatre trips in the past.  That was enough synchronicity for me.  I rang the kennels and discovered when the next available weekend was, compared it with the shifts of my working man, and Bob's your Uncle.  Two days in Plymouth with an overnight stay in a very grand hotel.

There doesn't seem to be anything on in the theatres that night but that might change.  What they have got is Wimbledon final on a big screen on the lawn at Royal William Yard and the boats for the La Rochelle Revival Race docked at Sutton Harbour.

So I have some more things on my list of possibilities...

63) Take the Torpoint Ferry

64) Watch Wimbledon at Royal William Yard

65) Visit the Hoe

66) Visit the Barbican

67) See the La Rochelle Revival Race boats at Sutton Harbour

68) Visit Smeaton's Lighthouse