ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 14TH OF 2017

Good Morning lovely people tis time for

Time to take a step back and look at the last 7 days, find the positive moments and the silver linings!

First up these flowers in my Mum's garden, they were a bud only a matter of days prior and now look at them - beautiful, it also meant another catch up with my Mum which is always a positive!

We had some cooler nights, which meant we could still have an evening fire.  I was sat reading my illustrated Harry Potter book, but it seemed too lovely to put a main light on! 

Said 16 year old was away on a weekend revision retreat (the joys I can hear you say), he wasn't actually geographically far away (although you might have thought differently when we were stuck at school for over one and a half hours waiting for his return), but it meant a weekend with hubby on my own, something that doesn't happen often.  As we've been so busy helping on the revision front, plus we haven't felt like venturing out for a fun day - when he is stuck in with his nose in a book, we thought we'd make the most of it and get some fresh air. 

So on Saturday morning we set off for one of my favourite places - Chatsworth and our first visit of the season!  It is about an hours drive over to Chatsworth from where we are, we've been members for about 3 years and it is honestly the best money that we spend each year (we are also English Heritage and National Trust members).  We get to visit the house whenever we like, we don't have to wait for timed entry at Christmas.  We get to enjoy the Beyond Limits sculptures in the Autumn, we get free tickets to the members garden party, free tickets to the International Horse Trials and free tickets to the Chatsworth Country Fayre and this year they are also having an RHS show and we will get reduced ticket prices if we venture to that too!

However, before we headed to the house, we had breakfast, which was lovely as always! 

Chatsworth always puts on something additional to the beautiful house for the visitors to enjoy as they wander around.  This year they have the most amazing fashion through the ages exhibition - simply breathtaking! 

Everything from Alexander McQueen dresses as in the photo below, to the coronation robes worn by the family and they don't mind you taking photos, provided you don't use the flash!

The whole house is filled with these amazing costume creations.  There are ball gowns from a fancy dress ball in 1897 to wedding dresses worn by the family and this continues through the tour of the house.  

As members of Chatsworth we were relieved because this means we can revisit over the summer to really get to enjoy the entire collection and read all the information that accompanies the items. 

This was hubby's favourite dress, known as the lovers

I adored this amazing hat! 

But the creme de la creme - had to be the portrait of the Duchess Georgiana, the dress in front was designed by Galliano and made by Dior. 

I also loved this book like dress as well, I imagine the pages flow when the dress is worn

Back out in the sunshine and I found a few fun photos to post on Instagram

We enjoyed the beautiful spring flowering bulbs

I still love this view of the maze, I always imagine coming across Alice and the Queen of Hearts when we get closer! 

And the evening sky on the way home was breathtaking!

So had we had enough culture for one weekend - of course not!  We headed up to Yorkshire Sculpture Park on the Sunday to get some better photos of the Tony Cragg exhibition and to get some fresh air!

This was my favourite piece (and hubbies)

A better up close shot of those dice that I mentioned the other week! 

The sun was lovely and we got little bits of blue sky!

And one of my favourite permanent sculptures

The Camellia house had a few blooms!

I still love the bendy wood! 

The chapel had a new exhibition!

And some people were still confused with this one - another permanent and another favourite! 

More Tony Cragg work outside!

This one reminds me of a tooth

The blue skies were much appreciated, apparently Bretton Hall that stands in the middle of YSP is being converted into a hotel, hubby was a little disappointed at first, but I can't think of a nicer place to stay for a weekend! 

More Tony Cragg up near the Bothy

And we found new art down by the lake - it is still being set up - but I love the faces! 

Said 16 year old eventually arrived back at school on Sunday afternoon and we headed home, he was utterly shattered, but as well as the revision he had managed, he'd also enjoyed a lasersoft type game, archery and high ropes - apparently he thinks he may have conquered his fear of heights!  He sent us a photo of his morning cuppa - black coffee - they had apparently run out of milk - now said 16 year old on caffeine really is a sight to behold, thankfully the effects had worn off by the time he arrived home!

Monday morning loomed and his first GCSE exam - art - 10 hours - 5 hours Monday and 5 hours Tuesday! 

He went prepared, canvases, Powertex, styrofoam head, bottom board, fabric, angelina fibres, embroidery thread, fabric cord, styrofoam egg, acrylic stamps, acrylic block, hinges, screws, screwdriver, hot glue gun, felt, silhouette, letters, ink, glue sticks, mirror foil fabric, needles, quilters grid, uv paint, glow in the dark paint, uv torch...

At lunchtime we got a message "way behind" on his plan!  This made for a nervous and anxious wait Monday afternoon.  Hubby thankfully picked him up and we had a happy child on our hands, not only had he managed to hinge and screw the item together - but he was ahead of plan! 

Tuesday therefore was a more positive day as he went in feeling he could achieve what he wanted to!  Needless to say it was still to the wire - I think he had about 15 minutes to play at the end - but the piece is exactly as he had expected it to turn out and he was really pleased with it! 

The piece is based on his dyslexia that wasn't diagnosed until he was 10.  The background are two mirrors, the left hand side for those that don't have dyslexia and the right hand side for those that do.  

He used smocking to distort the mirror foil fabric, free motion stitching on the statements on the right, as well as fabric pens.  The letters are stitch and slash and spell the word LEFT which he often mistook for FELT when he was younger, he has added UV paint to the L and F so that when you shine the UV torch on the letters the L and F become an F and L. 

In front of the final piece is the little Maquette that he made a few weeks ago, this was to give it some sense of scale!  Apparently his was the largest art piece created during the exam - why am I not surprised!! 

Now all he has to do is improve on his first and second pieces over the Easter holiday - no small feat as I honestly don't think he can add anything to the second piece, but apparently he has been told yellow flowers! 

The first piece though was his art doll and he intends on making a bigger and better one over the holidays, I've told him to crack on ASAP, so that he can get it out of the way and then it is just revision for the rest of the holiday!  I'm also considering making one whilst he is, as it is fun to have an arty day doing things together, we usually put a film on and put the world to rights!

The rest of the week has been work work and a bit more work, but then its year end so what was I actually expecting in all honesty!  I did enjoy a brew the other day though when I was working from home, using the cup my friend bought me a while ago - it is still one of my favourites!

I've also been somewhat melancholy and reserved (most unlike me), I have very few 'firsts' that happen these days in relation to my Dad, he passed away when he was only 40 years old and I was only 16 so that feels like a million years ago.  April is always a tough month because it is his anniversary, but I've found it really hard this week, because my Dad was gone when I sat my first GCSE exam, in fact I sat my first exam (which was French speaking exam), the day after his funeral.  So said 16 year old sitting his first GCSE exam this week has hit my quite hard, remembering where I was all those years ago, being grateful that I'm still here to support him as I know my Dad would have done.  So I've been teary and on the brink pretty much all week - like I said there aren't many 'firsts' that happen these days, but crikey when they do come along, they really affect me, not really a Rocking moment I suppose - so where is the silver lining in this one, well the fact that said 16 year old still has both of us, if that makes sense! 

On a happier note, I did manage to finish a mini book for a work colleague who is getting married this weekend, hubby made a box for it, but it didn't go according to plan when I started to paint it up and the colours didn't really work, so I wrapped the book in tissue paper,  tied with a ribbon and then popped it in a gift bag.  I shall however be using the box for something else! 

Said 16 year old has been enjoying the front garden when he has been revising - bless him

I had an appointment with my consultant last night, who has signed me off as I'm managing my fibroid pain at the moment, so nothing more to do on that front! 

We had a fire last night on the log burner, it was cool during the evening, me and hubby curled up reading and said 16 year old blatted things on Xbox at the other end of the room - wearing headphones!   This is how I envisaged the room being used and it works perfectly!  With an uber messy craft desk in the middle of it!  

And then you find me at Friday morning, said 16 year old still fast asleep, hubby at work and I'm sat typing this up in my PJ's with a hot steaming cup of Yorkshire tea! 

I hope you've had a great week, if you fancy joining in pop a post together, pop back and link up and I shall come and visit! 

Until next week TTFN

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 13TH OF 2017

Good Morning lovely people time to count the blessings/silver linings and positives from the week that was 

First up was catching this photo when I got into work last week, the sun was shining and this is one of my colleagues view from her desk - my view is no where near as pretty! 

Next up the grape hyacinths in my pots outside, I grew these when we lived in Stafford many years ago, as they are a corm and not a bulb they continue to increase in numbers year on year and I love love love the colour.  I hadn't realised that even the bees manage to get pollen from them as I managed a few bouts of sitting and enjoying the sunshine on the front of the house over the weekend watching the bees enjoying themselves!

As you can tell from the light levels, the sun was really bright

I had a giggle at the weekend trying to find my foam dots on my desk! 

Said 16 year old presented me with a gorgeous bouquet of flowers for Mother's day, so I grabbed this photo of him!

Here they are close up - aren't they pretty! 

Hubby and said 16 year old went to get supplies for his final art exam, I sat on the front waiting for their return!  Note they both roll their sleeves up - 2 peas in a pod I tell you! 

And then the weekend was art art and a bit more art - not in a fun crazy expressive kind of way, but in a gathering supplies and cajoling said 16 year old to get his art book up to date ready for his exam on Monday next week! 

He even tried a bit of smocking - something I've never done, but he seemed to manage quite easily. 

Trialling coloured Powertex proved challenging! 

Trying out ideas on a mini maquette for him seemed to be quite fun though

I was treated to a beautiful morning sky when I put my make up on before work on Thursday

We got this on Monday and watched it that evening - we saw it at the cinema and loved it, but said 16 year old didn't.  He was of the same view as us after the film though - we want to own a niffler - the cutest of creatures in the film. 

I had a day this week where I just forgot to make lunch.  Thinking I would be OK and survive a rather long day I was offered this - all I can say is life saver!

The rest of the week has been busy busy busy, mainly ensuring that said 16 year old is as ready for his art exam as he can be, last night he was gathering supplies and bagging them up according to his plan.  This morning he has taken said supplies, canvases, board etc to school with hubby together with the world's heaviest bag for his weekend revision residential and I am now trying to reclaim the house.  My next task is to attack my art table - which has been used as a general dumping ground as you can imagine this week! 

I hope you've had a great week too, that the sun has been shining for you and that you have some positive elements to focus on.  If you fancy popping a post together, come back and link up and I can come and visit, comments are always lovely to - it means I'm not technically just talking to myself! 

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 12TH OF 2016

Good Morning lovely people tis Friday

So it has been a busy week overall - has it been full of photos and fun - well not so much, if I'm brutally honest, said 16 year old and his revision schedule is making for rather a dull life for all of us at the moment, but lets wade through the last seven days to see if we can find those silver linings. 

Last Friday I was strictly instructed to craft not clean!  So I went searching through my 'alterables' box - anyone who crafts will know that hoarding box of things we really must alter by attacking with paint, paper, glue etc, the box contents tend to continue to grow but our lack of progress on tackling the alterables is a standard.  So I dragged out a few pieces.  This one had already been 'started' I initially was going to repaint and start again, but I decided to just attack it with some paper that was on my desk.  The downside of concertina fold in this style is the lack of depth that you can use on the pages before it starts to distort - alas this is still the case, but I had fun nonetheless!

I had to go and purchase a few items from certain craft shops and my Mum asked if I needed some company, so we got to spend a couple of hours together.  When we got back, my Mum's cat Murphy was very interested in having his photo taken, however, he wasn't so keen on standing still!

He did enjoy getting very close to my camera on my phone!   I think the noise it was making made him more inquisitive!

Saturday morning and despite said 16 year old having so much to do in the way of revision, we decided to take an hour out and let him try on some prom suits.  Needless to say I can't share the chosen one but I did grab this rejected suit one! 

I'm sure I'm not the only Mum to suddenly wonder where all the years have gone when said 16 year old is stood in front of me wearing a 3 piece suit!  Having tried on various, trudged around many stores, he still preferred the second one he tried on, thankfully we were able to purchase with the help of my Mum on Sunday (because he has great taste in suits which means expensive!).  My Mum welled up which made me smile, as she said she didn't think she would! 

After we left the shopping centre, we headed into town as Gemma from the Button Tin has recently had to move business premises and had an open event.  We weren't sure we would find it very easily, but we did.  Her new studio (despite being underground) is actually very light and airy and enabled her to show off her amazing textile creations.  We did a class with Gemma a couple of years ago in her old studio and had a fabulous afternoon.  So I'm hoping we might be able to do the same again in the future! 

We didn't actually get any photos of any of her new studio space unfortunately, however when we came back out into the bright sunlight, we spotted a gallery across the way - not that it was open.  We had a peer through the window - I loved the metal sculpture, hoping to pop back when it is open. 

Saturday afternoon found us rugby watching, we'd missed the first match and the Tivo box had decided it didn't need to record it! Argh, but watched the second and third matches.  No guesses at which match this one was hubby was mighty frustrated at the England game

He did calm though, but I'm not sure sitting that close to the TV wasn't warranted!

I did attempt to craft whilst the rugby was on, but look at the size of the space I was working on! 

Sunday found us back at the shopping centre to pick the suit up and then we spent a very enjoyable few hours catching up with my Mum, sister and niece putting the world to rights.  Always fun!

We managed a fire as it has been mighty chilly some evenings in particular at the weekend.

In fact Saturday night was just a perfect night, roaring fire, glass of red wine and the second illustrated Harry Potter book, I loved the first illustrated one, the book is beautiful and I'm giddy to note that they are bringing the third one out near Christmas!

Work has been mighty busy - but then I'm gearing up to year end so that isn't really a surprise if I'm honest. 

Me and hubby commenced yet a new eating plan on Monday, desperately in need of shifting some of the excess before the warm weather and holiday season is upon us!  Mind you got loads to lose so be glad just to make a dent as it were. 

Evenings have been spent without said 16 year old on the whole as he is battling to revise for his impending exams.  We were somewhat stressed out on Wednesday to discover the 10 hour art exam, that we thought was after the Easter break is in fact on the 3 and 4 April, then we had a sigh of relief that at least that gives him 2 weekends to finish his sketch book, only to find that he has a revision weekend away next weekend!   Argh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  So he stayed to a long art session on Thursday evening from 3.30pm until 7.30pm.  He also stayed for maths revision on Monday, Science revision on Wednesday.  Today he has his usual DT Food, Art, Media and RE, but he also has his speaking exam at lunchtime, a meeting about his revision weekend at break and an RE test last lesson.  Stressed - can you hear me stressed, not only is he counting down the days, but so are we if I'm honest. 

I think once the art exam is out of the way that may actually help as it is one less thing to worry about as it were.  But the time really can't come soon enough. 

Whilst he was at art yesterday we went to a parent's evening for the NCS - National Citizens Service.  He has signed up to it for 4 weeks over the summer.  A week at a youth hostel doing outdoor activities, a week at Leeds university, living the student life (minus the sex, drugs and alcohol - that's one of the rules) learning to manage on a budget, gaining a First Aid qualification, speaking to University people about putting a good personal statement together and general teambuilding.  And the last two weeks doing some sort of social action project for a local organisation, whether that be fundraising through sponsorships or as one group in the area did last year, recording and releasing a single.  There is a graduation ceremony in September and the chance to continue helping in a volunteer capacity going forward! 

So that's his summer sorted! 

Well lovely people, I think that is it for this week, I actually had more positive than I had initially thought! 

I hope you've had a great week, if you fancy joining in pop a post together, come back and link up. 

Remember to leave a message so I can come and visit.