all five horizons

Conversation between me and a four-year-old yesterday:

Me (in a cheery tone): Hello there!  How are you?

Girl (with barely veiled disgust): You’re almost fat.

These the sort of stories you were thinking of, Emily?

I started a temporary job as an admin manager today at a local children’s centre.  I am not sure how long I will be there but it means that whilst I am waiting for other things to sort themselves out, I have something meaningful and interesting to do.  When I registered with the agency, I expected filing or reception work to be the best on offer so I was delighted that I was able to apply for (and get) something a bit more challenging and altruistic.

Oh and Monkey and Homer share some down time…

but hell, did I have a good time at V2007!

I am sorry I have been rather absent of late. I would like to say it is because I have been too busy but I think the problem is in fact the opposite. The less I have to do, the less I get done - if that makes any sense. I have perfectly enough things to keep me occupied during the day but I end up doing less and less until I am completely inert. Anyway. I am back! And I want to tell you all about our weekend at V.

Looking at the brilliant sunshine today, it is hard to believe that just seven days ago we were wrapped up and getting drenched and generally wondering why we were doing this to ourselves. The bad weather really started on the Saturday which meant that we at least had a dry Friday to put up the tents and chill out. Although the bands start on the Saturday afternoon, you have to get there early on Friday morning to have any chance of a decent pitch. There were eight of us in our group which means we needed a site big enough for four tents.

Saturday morning started damp and got progressively wetter as the day went by. Other than the obvious downsides of the rain, it also meant we had nothing to do before the bands started except drink and play cards. Whilst this is all well and good when you are twenty, we just couldn’t hack it!! After far too much vodka/fanta, we ended up sleeping too much. I managed to get down to see The Goo Goo Dolls and The Fratellis. Both very good but not good enough to keep me down in the arena. We enjoyed a slightly distant and muffled Kasabian and The Killers from the dry comfort of the tent.

Sunday started the same - wet and more wet. But the bands were much better this day and so we had a bacon sarnie, found a half-decent cuppa and then got stuck in. This is who we saw:

• The first band of the day was a newish British band called The Hoosiers (have you heard Worried About Ray?) - they were great. Very excited to be there and fun to watch. Plus they were in one of the tents so we were dry for half an hour!
• From the Virgin Union Tent we headed over to the Channel 4 stage and caught the end of Juliette and the Licks. She is great. We saw her when she and her band supported the Foo Fighters at their Hyde Park gig last year. Lots of energy, an unusal voice and kick-ass rock tunes. I may even look into getting her album. Plus it is quite strange seeing a movie star (Juliette is Juliette Lewis) getting soaking wet on a stage in the Staffordshire countryside.
• Staying at the Channel 4 stage, we saw The Thrills. I really hadn’t heard that much of their stuff: just Big Sur and Santa Cruz. The gig was immensely enjoyable all the same and was capped off by a superb song caleld Midnight Choir complete with Gospel backing singers.
• Next on the same stage was a band we were particularly looking forward to -The Fray. We had just downloaded their album. Seeing them live was not a disappointment. Plus the guitar player Joe King is a hottie which helped and the rain continued to come down.
  
• We had a much needed loo break which involves a long queue and a questionable portaloo (although the arena loos were nothing compared to the fearsome campsite loos…) which meant that we missed half of Kanye West on the main Virgin Stage. What we did see was OK but the sound (at least where we were) was dreadful. The bass was distorted and the vocals too quiet.
• After Kanye, we wondered over to the JJB stage (the largest tent stage) to see Ocean Colour Scene only to find the schedule was out so either they were late or we were late. In any case, instead of some pleasing 90s indie rock we were treated to the garage/hip hop/shite of Dizzee Rascal (you see what he did there? Not Dizzy. Dizzee. Genius.). We left.
• We caught some of Pink’s set (I was quite surprised that she was a) considered a big enough star to follow Kanye and b) popular enough with the rock/indie/festival crowd to be there at all but she went down very well. She had plenty of energy and catchy tunes so I ended up quite enjoying what we saw. We were all about the final two acts though…
• After Pink, we got into a decent position for Snow Patrol. Although I had played a couple of their albums and knew their singles, I wasn’t too sure what to expect but I had a feeling that they were going to be awesome. They didn’t let me down. The lead singer, Gary Lightbody, was charismatic and charming. The music soared. The atmosphere was superb. It was a brilliant gig which was made even more special by a surprise appearance of Dave Grohl after Gary dedicated Chasing Cars to him. Dave came on stage at the end and gave Gary a hug which clearly blew him away and since the Foos were on next, sent the audience wild. Gary looked starstruck - it was awesome!
  
• So then - finally - the band we really had been waiting for. In fact, if I am honest, they are the reason I weanted to go to V at all. The Foo Fighters had a bit of making up to do with us. As I mentioned earlier, we went to their rather expensive gig last year at Hyde Park. After a few too many support acts (did we really need to waste an hour of our lives listening to Angels & Airwaves?), the Foos finally took the stage only to be too quiet (the sound had been turned down during Motorhead - perhaps Her Majesty is not a fan?), too brief and too much Queen (they played a half hour tribute to Queen). Now I love me some Queen. Freddie is a musical genius. But we had paid to see the Foos. It was billed as their biggest gig ever. And we wanted to hear them play their songs. We ended up with an hour of their songs, tops. So hopes were high at V for them to redeem themselves. And WOW did they! It was just awesome. The gig blew me away. I actually felt emotional. The whole band was just amazing. They played all our favourite songs. We had managed to get even further forward so were joslting with teenagers. When Dave asked if anyone had been rocking with them twelve years ago, I was the only one around me to scream - I saw them at Reading 1995 in the tent when they were shiny new and Nirvana was still very much a recent memory. I am more in love with Dave Grohl (totall platonic, honest) than ever.  I don’t even mind the hair.  They are playing in November. Damn, I want tickets for that.

See my photo blog for some more pics from the weekend…

and more from me about: my new job, my craft projects, my bank holiday weekend and what I have been watching on TV (Buffy, mostly) soon.  Have a good weekend!

Look where I am going tomorrow. Ricardo entered me for a competition and I won two tickets!! I am going with Mum.

And then I promise a post about something other than crafty-nonsense. For instance, I will be able to tell you all about V2007 as we are going on Friday. Three nights in a soggy field at my age with a load of long-haired beared up students? Perfectly sensible. You never know, I might bump into my boyfriend. He is on my list, after all. Anyway, there’s still a bit of rock and roll in the old girl yet. Now where did I leave my winnebago…

I have been making some cushion covers to match my quilt (and it’s all going horribly wrong at the moment so I have left them for the time being) but I noticed very quickly that I lacked an essential piece of sewing kit - a pincushion. I have seen tons on fabulous pincushions on the web and decided to knock up a quick one so used the tutorial I saw at both Turkey Feathers and Coyote Craft which came from here originally. This is the baby blue furry felt top:

And this is the baby blue and white cutesy gingham bottom:

My mum has requested one. They are fun and quick to make so I am only happy to oblige. My only problem - sewing in a circle with my machine is not as easy as it looks!!

I have finally finished my patchwork quilt and I am quite proud of it. All the patchwork was hand stitched and the quilting was also done my hand. I used my old machine to sew on the binding.

I decided to go with large flowers as the quilting design as the quilt top was very busy and the back was so plain. It is kinda reversable as it is, so I am glad I went with this.

Here is a close-up of the flowers - try not to notice that my quilting stitches are not very even.

I have already bought the material for my next two quilting projects: a mini-quilt for fenicle and a large king-size sampler quilt for our bedroom. I can’t wait to get started!

craft desk, originally uploaded by kate1976.

to my little crafting corner. The drawer is full of notions and scrapbooking goodies. Above the desk is a shelf with…

So many lovely books - four were birthday presents so I have not had chance to make anything yet.

I love my corner of the house. I have ordered some pictures from Aunty Cookie and cannot wait to put them up to finish the area off.

Tea and Cake tagged me for a gardening meme which will amuse my mother-in-law no end as she is determined to make a gardener of me yet.  Much to her disappointment, my fingers are not particularly green.  In fact, they are the opposite of green.  They are red fingers.  However, MIL’s efforts have not been in vain and we have made some nice progress in our little garden.

So here are 7 things about me and gardening:

1. I love roses. It is such a cliché, I know but it’s true.  I love the way they look.  I love their smell.  I even love their thorns - it seems to me that roses got moxy.
2. We have just planted a new bamboo plant at the end of our garden.  Bamboo looks fantastic instantly which is probably why I like it.  I am no good at using my imagination when it comes to gardening.  I find it so frustrating having to wait and see how things develop.  It is strange because I am usually a patient person but with gardening I want instant gratification.
3. We have a new shed which is just lovely.  Ok, it is just a shed.  But it is has double doors, a window and lots of room inside.  It is the type of shed I would have loved as a kid.  My favourite shed was my grandpa’s shed which was always covered in cobwebs and had lots of pots and plants and projects on the go.  It was always warm in the shed (which is surprising given it’s location just on the edge of the Peak District).  Sheds are traditionally meant to be a man’s domain but I can just see me having my own stationery store (the storage kind, not the shop kind) or a craft area where I could squirrel treasures away.  Shame it is full of gardening tools.
4. I am not a fan of slugs.  We went outside to grab a piece of parsley from my very new herb garden (garden may be pushing it - it is actually just 4 herbs in a trough) and the trough was covered in slugs.  There was not ONE leaf of parsley left and the mint, sage and thyme didn’t look too happy either.  MIL has kindly since provided egg shells to fox the little buggers.  SOD OFF SLUGS!
5. I like having a lawn but I cannot seem to care too much about it.  Ricardo sees every flaw, every bare patch, every bit of moss.  All I see is green and that is good enough for me.  Yet another reason why I will never make a very good gardener.
6. I have started to water our pots regularly.  Now this may seem rather basic but I honestly thought that if it rained, my job was done for me.  Yet after all the torrential rain we have had lately, our poor potted plants were still a little thirsty so I will neglect them no more.  Well, that’s the plan anyway.
7. Much as I didn’t expect to feel this way, our recent garden improvements are very pleasing to behold.  There is a real satisfaction from seeing things grow and flourish.  I still don’t think I can ever be that passionate about my garden but I certainly have an affection for it that I have not had before.

So that is my lot.  I love being tagged for memes but am hopeless at tagging so if you would like to play, go right ahead but let me know so I can read it!

So today was my first day as an unemployed slouch and I spent it with my mum in Manchester visiting my very elderly great-aunties. It feels strange not having a job to go to but at the same time it just feels like I am on holiday. I suppose it will really hit home next week when I get up on Monday with nothing to do.

Yesterday was quite an emotional day and I nearly shed a tear when my boss said some lovely things about me but I managed to keep it in check with a stiff upper lip like the good little British girl I am. I was bought the most FANTASTIC present as a leaving present - a sewing machine!!!!

I couldn’t believe it. I am so excited and I cannot wait to have a go at it. I have not had chance yet today although I have read the manual cover to cover. I have admired it. I just need to get it set up and actually try it now. Maybe tomorrow! I also got a bit of money which I will use to buy some material for my new quilt that I want to make - a sampler quilt. I have just one more edge of binding left on my patchwork quilt so I want to get that finished tonight so I can concentrate on my next project!

I just got my Open University result - a grade 3 pass (equivalent to a 2:2) which is pretty good considering I did one day of revision for the exam but of course I am still not that happy with it as I would have preferred to get a grade 2 pass since that is what I got with my essays alone. Oh well. Now I need to decide what to do about a new course.

I feel a bit all over the place and think I am actually worn out so I will pop off now and relax for the evening.