August Bullet Journal Layout

August is the first month I am going to plan completely in my bullet journal. I started it by the middle of July and made only half a month. Still I don’t feel very confident in drawing, lettering, etc and that is why I am going to plan a minimalist August layout. I am practicing some lettering and doodles as training to make more beautiful layouts.

August is the month when the first harvest festival (Lammas) is celebrated. That is the reason I chose a cornucopia full of fruits for my August cover page. Just after the cover page I introduced the monthly calendar for August.

Two collections very useful for me are the habit tracker and the sleep log. I think I improved both compare with the trackers I did in July. I left more space between lines in the habit tracker and I am using a different colour for each day track. I reduced the size of my sleep log to have space to have more information. I fixed slots of sleeping time instead hours and a space for quality of my sleep.

For the mood tracker I decided to draw 31 leaves in a cup. I like the design and at the same time it is easy to draw mainly when I am not very good in drawing (hope to improve with my training). That is going together with a mood graph where I track my mood (good, normal, bad) in the morning and evening. I included also a space to write or draw what make me feel happy or bad and finally the Level 10 Life which I will fell by the end of the month.

After that there is a page for doodles (or I should say rubbish as I am terrible drawing). I am following the August Doodle Challenge in Instagram hosted by Christina77 (@christina77). The theme for this month is zoo, but looking at my animals it seems to be a joke……

After that I will include the weekly layouts. I am changing them because I don’t know which design is better for me. That is something I will keep changing until I find the best for me.

Do you have any idea, suggestion or comment? They are all welcome.

Starting my Bullet Journal

It is done. I finally started my bullet journal with a mixture of excitement and fear. I have seen very beautiful bullet journals on Instagram and Pinterest and I know mine is not going to be like them. But my hope is that someday, after drawing and practising a lot, I can also do something nice.

I don’t like the plain cover of my elephant notebook so I decided to change it. I chose an adhesive paper in white and red diagonal stripes and I covered my book with it. For the inside part I chose a flower paper from my card making supplies and decided to make a small pocket in case I want to carry stencils with me. I cover all with a transparent self-adhesive book cover to protect it. In the inside part, I included something which resonate with me.

I started as it is advised for bullet journal, with an Index and Key pages. In my notebook there are two pages for Index, but I left two more pages just in case. After the Index and Key pages I prepared a Password Log layout.

I have included after the password log all the collections which will be in use the whole year. First I made a future log for half a year, from July to December. I prepared after that a spread to track if my monthly bills are paid and I dedicated a page to my lovely Luna (when she needs her pipette, anti-worm tablet, vet appointment ...).  I dedicated couple of pages to my embroideries, one of them containing all the projects I am working in or I am going to work in and the other page is for tracking the advances on my WIP.

I made a page for the books I want to buy during this year once they come to the market and other to keep all the ideas I have to improve my journal.

After that I will be including monthly layouts and collections. I hope I can improve in the future and have a journal that I can proudly show,.

Back After a Break

I have been away from the blog for quite a long time now. I never stopped stitching but I considerably reduced the amount of time I am dedicating to that. I will explain the reason later on because first I would like to show you the advances I did on my project during my absence, even they are not too many.

I am really delayed in the Blackwork Tangram SAL organized by Lakeside Needlecraft. All the parts have been released no but I am still struggling to finish the third part. I finished the second one and for that I chose yellow thread (DMC 444). Hope finish soon with the complete job.

I continued with the fifth part of the Connie Gee Design SAL. That one is quick and easy and I did it while watching my favourite programs on tele.

May and June flowers are done. May’s one is a nice rose in pink color similar to the ones I have in my garden. The flower representing June is a daisy. I love daisies. I remember when I was a girl removing one by one all the petals of a daisy thinking in the boy you liked at that moment and telling ‘He loves me, he doesn’t love me’ for each one of the petal. The last one was the one deciding if the boy loved you or not. Obviously it is something silly but it was funny when I was a girl.

Why I have been far from my blog and my craft? The reason is that in May I got an allotment plot. It wasn’t in very bad conditions when I took over, actually it had few raised beds covered with black plastic ready to cultivate. But nothing is 100% perfect and other areas were completely covered with weed. It took me long time and effort to clean it up, it is not completely cleaned now, but at least I have some space where to start planting and later I will finish with the wedding in the remaining parts.

This picture shows how it was when I took over.

On top of the weeding, there are a lot of tasks to do in a plot. You need to dig before planting, plant, water, support some species,.... And what it is more annoying, fighting against the birds and pests. I planted my onion sets and when they start spouting pigeons ate some of them. Luckily I am going to the plot daily so I could notice soon and cover them with a net.

Something similar happened with my beans, broccolis and kales. I don’t like to use chemicals as I like to grow organic veggies. One day I reached there and I saw all my beans and kales eaten by someone.

I thought quickly in slugs or caterpillars so I add some coffee grinds to avoid slugs and sacrifice lettuce leaves to attract caterpillars. But I couldn’t see any sign of them and my plants were eaten over and over. Then I decided to put a net covering the kales and they are now growing healthy. Finally I realized that the one eating my plants were again pigeons, so after fitting a net over the beans they are also growing nice.

Anyway it is really rewarding when you see the veggies for the first time. I have now tomato, pepper and courgette fruits

Hope my amount of job in the plot decreases now and I can come back to my embroidery and blo 

The Blogger Behind..... The World According to Agi

Agi (Agnes Palko) is an hungarian lady living in Sweden. She is cross stitcher but also does other type of embroideries. In her blog The World According to Agi you can see all the techniques she uses as patchwork, quilting, knitting, blackwork,.... She is offering also an important quantity of freebies (I stitches already couple of them, thank you Agi).

She sells some items in her Facebook page as toys and ornaments made on felt as well as cross stitch pattern.

Let's know a bit more about Agi.

Why did you start writing this blog?

I started the blog in 2011. By then I had already been doing lots of knitting and cross stitch embroidery, and I started to get interested in other forms of needlework and textile crafts as well. I was following some blogs about these and I thought perhaps it might be interesting for others to read about how I am learning new things. I also started to design simple cross stitch patterns and wanted to share them. 

What is this blog about?

 It is mostly about how I am trying to develop my skills in textile crafts. I show what I work on, what are the new things I am learning. Recently I have been doing lots of experiments, and I share those too.

In what environment do you write your blog?

When I started, I was working as an English and Hungarian teacher, was very busy, and it was only a hobby, a small part in my life. Now I work as a textile teacher and I basically spend most of my time with textiles. This should mean that I write more on the blog but unfortunately it is not so. Doing embroidery, sewing, knitting etc is quite solitary, so the blog is supposed to be a way of communicating. I should spend more time on it.

Who do you think would love to read your blog?

People who are afraid to try themselves in new things. For me it took a long time to admit that I want to become a textile artist. But now I understood that it is nothing to be afraid of, or ashamed of. Perhaps there are some people out there who will use my example  and will gather the courage to do what they love to do, learn new things, try things and see where they lead. Ten years ago I wouldn’t have believed that one day I will live my life like this. But hey, it is possible.

Why should people follow your blog?

Most of my followers like to come back for the free cross stitch patterns. Which is fine, cross stitch is still one of my biggest loves, and I enjoy playing with the pattern making program. However, if you are learning to quilt, like I do, you can follow me and learn with me. Same about eco-dying, recycling textiles or creating art and finding your own language. For me, following other crafters blogs was a great inspiration, and I hope to become inspiration for others, too.

How and when did you start crafting?

I was embroidering a lot as a child, and then came back to it about 12 years ago. I have knitted almost all my life, for about 35 years. I learnt to weave when I was 23 but didn’t do it for a long time. And a lots of other things, like crochet, sewing, patchwork I only learnt in the last 10 years.

How often do you craft?

All the time. Almost every day. If not, I feel empty. :)

Where do you get inspiration?

 I love folk art, I look at old textiles and old clothes a lot. I also love Pinterest and other peoples craft blogs. And nature is a never-ending source of inspiration for me.

Why do you craft?

Crafting for me is a way of relaxing, a way of finding myself, finding peace with myself. People often ask me how I find the patience to do this. I usually answer I don’t need patience for crafting, just the opposite: crafting gives me patience to endure the rest of life.

How did you learn?

Some things I learnt from my grandma, my mum and godmother. Other things I learnt from books, on courses and recently, from the internet. I love watching Youtube videotutorials.

What do you do when you are suffering a creative block to unblock?

I sort my yarns or embroidery threads. Look through my books or magazines. Or just do something less creative, like knitting socks or a scarf. I get back to my project later - it is all right for me, I usually have lots of things on the go at the same time.

What are the crafting tools that you cannot live without?

This is difficult. It depends. Mostly I am quite all right with a needle, thread and a pair of scissors. I love embroidering, sewing by hand, I have even tried to learn hand quilting. But of course, I would be devastated without my beloved sewing machine or my knitting needles. I have lots of toher things, but these are the most important ones. 

Thank you for letting us know more about you and congratulations for your nice jobs. Hope you continue with your blog soon.

Pann Mill Visit

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The 14^th May is in UK the National Mill Day and majority of mills in UK were open for free to people to visit them. A working mill is something very simple but interested to see, mainly because nowadays most of the mills you can visit are not working and few times we have the opportunity of see one.

One working mill is situated in High Wycombe, in one end of the big park The Rye. This park is a huge extension of grass with 1 mile perimeter where people can go to walk, run, cycle, play with children and do sports. It is a very nice place beside the river Wye where I have been multiple times and didn’t know that a mill was there.

Rye Park

Mill surroundings.

When I knew there was a working mill in the park and that it was open I quickly decide and have a look. I was greatly surprised. At one time there were 37 water mills on the River Wye and Pann Mill is one of the few remaining and the unique still in operation. The mill is located on the A40 London Road, at the Eastern end High Wycombe (Buckinghamshire). The first record of a mill in this site is on 1086. From that time ownership of the mill changed several time and the mill was rebuilt few times. Last mill was built in 1759. Commercial milling ended in 1967 and in 1971 the mill buildings and house were demolish as a part of a road widening scheme. The restoration of the mill has been carried out until our days and the mill is now operating and looking nice.

Front and side views of the mill.

The way the mill works is very simple.

Scheme representing how the mill works.

The mill is powered by a cast iron breast shot water wheel where the water feeds into the wheel at breast height, as opposed to an overshot wheel where the water falls from above onto the wheel. The water wheel is approximately 5 metres in diameter and has 48 buckets around its edges. It turns at about 5 revolutions per minute and it is believed that the wheel generates around 7 horse power.

 

Water wheel working.

The water wheel turns a large cast iron cog in the mill called the pit wheel. The pit wheel is fitted with 60 oak teeth. Although most of the machinery bin the mill is made from iron, the teeth are generally wood and these mesh with a smaller cog called the wallover. This is because the wood is more easily replaced than iron. A modern drive belt transfers power from the wallover shaft to the second shaft, the spur shaft. The spur shaft turns the grinding stone on the floor above.

Mill machinery

Mill stones are on the first floor. The stones work in pairs, one above the other. The lower stone is fixed while the upper stone rotates driven by the water wheel. The mill stones were not open to visit as they were continuously working but a miniature scale representation of them is outside the mill. The working wheels look the same but so much bigger than the one shown.

Miniature scale representation of the grindstones.

A very important part of the mill is the part which feed the grain into the grindstones. That part is called the Mill Furniture. In this part we can define different parts, one to store the grain ready for grinding, and other to send the grain into the centre of the stones and finally the support for all of these. This part is operated by the miller. The miller has to control three things, the speed of the water wheel, the gap between the grindstones and the amount of grain fed. The grain need to be moisture before going to the grindstones to avoid blockages on them. Each of these duties has an effect on the others and the miller need to coordinate all of them to produce the flour in the required quality.

Mill Furniture were the grain is fed and miller.

After being processed by the grindstones the produced flour come through the tun to the collection box, where is ready to be packed and used. The flour produced in this mill is wholemeal wheat flour. This flour seems to be fantastic, it has a nice touch and smell. I bought few kilos to taste and make my breads.

Collection of the produced flour.

Flour produced in the mill packed for selling

I would like to thank the Pann Mill Restoration Team, who kindly show me the mill and gave all the information necessary to write this article and the Pann Mill Society. Their unique source of income is public donation and flour sales. If you want information for visiting the mill or make a donation send a mal to manager@pannmill.org.uk.

Urban Knitting

Urban Knitting or Yarn Bombing is a relatively new phenomenon which consists of the art of decorating public spaces with items made of thread or wool, as Leanne Prain defines it.

The origin of this art is quite confusing as some sources say that is coming from Europe, from Holland in 2004 while others mention its origin in US when Magda Sayeg decorated her shop door handle with a knitted cover to complaint about the ugliness of her city, Houston, in 2005. This origin can be from many other places, as there are few more other examples, but all dating from the beginning of 21st century.

Deadly Knitshade, a Londoner street artist, went a step ahead when she started to tell a story when decorating the city with her creations in 2009.

Nowadays, from Canada to Chile, from United Kingdom to Dubai, colour explosions appear everywhere, form very famous places with millions of tourist per year to remote non touristic places nearly forgotten by people.

Urban Knitting can be something as simple as a knitted square surrounding a tree or as complicated as a piece of knitted cover to use with a bicycle, car or even a bus. For example, in Murcia (Spain) a sculpture in the centric Flower’s Square was “dressed” with a hat and some flowers, something very simple whereas in the other extreme we can see the Craft and Folk Museum in Los Angeles covered with hundreds of grannies.

Sculpture in Murcia with simple hat and flowers and Granny Squares Project finally covered the Craft and Folk Museum (Los Angeles) with small colourful squares.

The name given to that art suggests that in addition of being an art it is also a way of social and political discomfort. It is remarkable that even when Urban Knitting is performed as social discomfort it is done in a very pacific way. It is really a very peaceful way to attract the attention about something that the society wants to change. An example of that was shown in Bilbao (Spain) when people against bull fighting “dressed” a bull sculpture with a colourful knitted cover.

Bull decorated in Bilbao (Spain) against bull fighting.

Art or social tool, this way of expression has become extremely popular to the point that you can find it in any corner of your city or town. In High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire (UK) this art has been used to promote Wycombe Fringe Event, a festival taking place during May and June 2017. High Street bollards have been decorated with nice knitted designs as part of mentioned festival.

High Street bollards in High Wycombe.

Is the Urban Knitting an art or a social way of attracting politician’s attention? Let me know your opinion on this, all comments are welcome.