Abi at Creating Paper Dreams had this lovely idea of inviting us, at around this time each month to catch up over a cup of tea…

November 2013

“Hi! Come in out of the cold. Gosh the temperature has plummeted in the last day or so. I’ll take your coat and put it by the radiator to get warm for you.
Come in and sit down.” You ask where the dog is.
“Oh Pepsi is here but she thinks you are one of the painters and doesn’t bother to get up for them anymore. I know you’re not a painter of the decorating kind, but she doesn’t! She is such a daft dog, when she hears me talking with you she will be along and bounce all over the place as usual.

So, how’s you?”

And you tell me what you have been doing, preparing for Christmas, listening to Christmas Carols too and crafting of course.
It is really lovely to talk about crafting and blogging to someone who doesn’t look at me whilst trying not to shake their head in total bemusement. Have you ever tried to explain to someone who doesn’t blog what a blog swap is? I think my one little word for next year could be ‘secret’…as in, keeping my blog activities a secret. We laugh, because of course, you know exactly where I am coming from.

You ask me about my festive swap and I am able to tell you that all parcels have been posted and a few have started to drop through letterboxes all over the world. It has been a great journey but a journey filled with mixed emotions really. Fear of asking, fear of rejection, pleasure when people started to say yes, excitement as the numbers built, anxiousness as the posting day approached and absolute joy when people started to let me know they had posted and then on the day I received Jacky’s gorgeous little robin I had the biggest smile on my face.
You ask if I would do it again
“Yes I would love to do it again; a couple of people have asked already if I might do it next year”.

Then I tell you about this mad idea I had: I decided to make 23 little tree decorations to post out to say thank you. And yes, I did it, they are all wrapped now and some have been posted. Although it was a lot of work, of the nicest kind, it distracted me from posting on the blog which was a good thing for me as so many people have been feeling ‘Meh” about blogging I could so easily have been sucked along with it but I’m fine doing what I do. I try hard to remember that comparison really is the thief of joy.

We talk about the various December Projects around blog land every year and I tell you that I’m looking forward to my December Days project which I have been doing for a number of years now. It started off with Shimelle’s Journal Your Christmas but as the years have gone along I go my own way. I have the book ready and I’m hoping to be able to join in with Sian’s last Story Telling Sunday of the year, which will be on the first of December and will become my first page.

“Are you doing a December project?” And we talk about the joy of doing it on the one hand and the time constraints on the run up to Christmas on the other.

“Would you like to meet up at the end of December? My brother will have just returned home and I won’t have tidied but the kettle will still be warm and I will have found the perfect mince pies by then so do come…”

And as I help you in to your toasty warm coat we hug each other, wish each other a Merry Christmas, and I will wish you didn’t have to go as I wave you into your taxi. Pepsi comes by to see what the furious nose blowing is all about and I hug her too.

Linking to Abi where you will find lots of tea and chat, do pop over to see her and I’ll see you back here on 27th December?…all being well of course.

“How lovely to see you, come on in out of the wind.
I am sorry I had to re-arrange our garden centre visit. We will try again next month.
It is so good to see you, how have you been? You look well and I see you have brought me some of your artwork to hold in my hands.”

I show you into the sitting room, past Pepsi who wants to say hello and over to my chair.
“Throw the cushions on the floor if you don’t want them, there’s only me & Peps who like them, the boys don’t understand cushions and re-arrange them on to the floor in the evening” I say despairingly.
“Would you like tea this afternoon? I have the tray ready and have some mince pies!” The look on your face makes me smile. “I know, but I can’t resist them once I see them in the shops”.

“I found this lovely box of teacups the other day when I was having a tidy up and thought of you. I won them in a raffle some years ago. I was running a stall raising awareness for the Alzheimer’s society and these cups in their pretty box were in the raffle. I bought a ticket and said that I wanted to win them; nothing else would be suitable, just these… and I did! I nearly fainted. I have never used them until today”.

I would tell you how excited I am that I took your advice and asked on the blog if anyone would be interested in a swap.
“I have 24 names on my contact list! I can’t tell you how thrilled I am. I am busy making my tree decoration right now.”
You ask me what else I am doing and I launch into the madness that is my craft room.
“I have a fabric bowl to make for another gift, this time for my lunch group. We have decided to exchange gifts but they must fit into the jam jar we have been given.
I am weaving a small wall hanging on my peg loom, Paul bought it for me, he thought it would be fun and maybe I would use up some of the fabric I have stashed away…Ha Ha, foolish man! I saw some beautiful recycled sari yarn and bought 3 balls of it to weave! Leaving my fabric stash at the same height.
I have quilted some Christmas fabric squares together to make a couple of heart decorations”… and we talk about how to finish them.

As we drink our tea we talk about our family plans for Christmas. Mine will be here as usual, my brother will stay over for a few days and some more family will visit between Christmas and New Year. We all love being home for the holiday.
We laugh because everyone seems to be talking about Christmas already! We decide that it is because the shops have their Christmas stock out that’s made us think about it and it is November!

“I seem to have so much on at the moment, that’s why I’m not blogging much I sometimes get overwhelmed, then I will begin to have strange dreams”.
I make you laugh when I tell you how I deal with that. “If you have another mince pie I will show you”.

I go up stairs and underneath my printer I have an A3 piece of paper with a mind map drawn on it. Mind maps are new to me. I found that once I had completed it on the day I learnt how to do it, I felt so much better so I folded it up, put it away and only refer to it when I am overwhelmed! I read it, maybe cross off a few things, maybe put some colour on it , maybe re-route a few things and as I read and amend it, Hey Ho I magically feel better, and in control. How mad is that? But, it works for me.

“Oh my, look at the time; the afternoon has flown by. I must collect my car from the garage before they close. I have had three things break down on me in the last week or so; My car, my Mac and my sewing machine. I don’t know which was the worst? I’m not sure I could choose.

Oh! just before you go, a few days ago I posted a picture and twenty words (another of Abi’s great ideas) about the wind and my neighbours garden furniture covers?

“I think they have disappeared for good as it’s been like this for a few days now!”

With thanks to Abi for this lovely idea of sharing a virtual cup of tea and a catch up once a month.

“…It’s so good to see you.
I’ll take your coat and hang it over the door to dry, and put your brollie in the sink.

Would you like a cup of tea today? It might warm you up! Although I do have the heating on.
I’ll go make our drinks and put some biscuits out. No I didn’t bake them, as one of my sisters in law says, I don’t know how to bake but I do know how to shop”

While I am in the kitchen I can hear you talking to Pepsi, I bet her ears are alert and she will be tilting her head to one side and then the other. Dogs are such good company.

“How’s the family?”

We chat for a while about our families yours are well as are mine, which we are both thankful for. I tell you about my friend who’s mother has only a few weeks left to live. I wish I could do something but all you can do is keep in touch. I send her texts to let her know that I am thinking of her.

You have brought me some of your latest makes and I am inspired as always. I thank you for the postcard that arrived last week; I love having a piece of your art on my wall.

“I have signed up for a stitched postcard challenge with the theme Celebration.”

I show you what I am going to try to do we talk about the different ways I could approach it and we begin to brainstorm some ideas for you, which makes us laugh.
I saw some Christmas things in a supermarket at the weekend and it has made me think about something I have on my mind.

“Do you think anyone would be interested in a Christmas decoration swap? Like Sian’s Great Big Swap of Very Small Things? I was thinking, something small to hang on the tree.
I’ll ask on my blog even though that feels scary, what if no one is interested? Oh I know you will be and we will do it anyway…

Thank you for coming, stay safe.
Oh and 27th of October is a Sunday, is that OK for you?”

With thanks to Abi for this lovely idea of sharing a virtual cup of tea and a catch up once a month.

If you are interested in a Christmas Tree Decoration Swap leave me a note in a comment? Thanks.

Once a month Abi at Creating Paper Dreams invites us to share a cup or glass of something and catch up.

This is where we were, I took this from the other end of the beach after you had gone.

27th August 2013

“Hello! How lovely to see you again and you have brought the sunshine, thank you. We have had so much rain lately I was thinking we would have to be inside”
You choose the table and I will order, I’m having a glass of iced coffee how about you? No water for me today… Paul & I came here a week or so ago, I ordered water and he had an iced coffee and after looking longingly at his drink he gave me a sip, it was so lovely. Do you ever do that? Order something and prefer the look of someone else’s?”
You have brought me some of your latest projects to see, I have seen them on your blog of course but to hold them and touch them is so much better. We chat about how you have put them together and I am inspired. I have brought a couple of my things to show you and you are kind enough to say how much you like them.

I finished my fabric journal and fabric pages which was a Carla Sonheim class, I still have the purse to make but at least I haven’t started it so it doesn’t belong to the PHD (Projects Half Done) pile.
I bought a new book by Kirsty Neil called 100 Things to do with Embroidery Hoops and couldn’t resisit a felted rainbow. I needle felted a landscape, the foundation was hand felted, then I machine felted it all over. I finished it with a little more hand felting and stitched on some beads. I re-discovered my love of needle felting and have something else on the go at the moment.
Deb at Paper Turtle inspired and encouraged me to have a look at Christy Tomlinson’s “She Art Workshop.” and I made a mixed media piece with paper, glue, paint, beads, thread, wire, and felt! what’s not to love? It was the first time I had attempted a piece of art like this. My first but definitely not my last.
And I put last years Month in Numbers pictures into a kraft note book. Very simple but so nice to see 12 months all together. I like it.

We finish our drinks and our ‘show and tell’ and sit a while looking at the boats bobbing on the water. It is so peaceful and lovely, the sun is bright over the hills and the gulls look magnificent soaring in the sky.

There are a few people strolling with their dogs on the beach, they have tempted us to walk on the sand. It looks warm and inviting…
As we walk arm in arm I tell you how I am enjoying my blogging break, I need the time to finish a few projects, do a bit in the garden, gather my thoughts and ‘just be’.
We talk about catching up with blog reading after a break. Do you read them all? Just a few? Just the latest? What about commenting? We laugh at the absurdity of these concerns but belonging to a community means contributing to it doesn’t it?

The town is much quieter today than at the weekend when my sister in law and her husband came to visit. You couldn’t put a pin on the beach!
We have been friends for what seems like forever, since we married in the early 80’s. Our children are the same ages and are great friends; we did so much together when they were young. These days, as Jane is about to become a grandmother, we reminisce and laugh…alot!

Look at the time!
Oh! Thank you so much for coming, for showing me your beautiful pieces and for your friendship.
Shall we do it again?
The 27th of September is a Friday, is that OK with you?

Hi! It’s so lovely to see you, you look well, and so summery in those colours. They suit you.
Come on in, Oh! don’t mind Pepsi, she will settle when she has said hello. No she won’t remember you, she is a Greyound; beautiful, but only one brain cell.
I’ve set the table in the garden, is that Ok? It is so much cooler today, I was afraid we would have to sit in and I do so love being in the garden.
Let’s have our drinks first. Yes, just water for me. Would you like some elderflower Presse? It is so nice if you like sparkling.
So, tell me all your news, I know it’s only been a month but it seems so much longer.

I will ask you about your family and pets and how they are all coping with the heat and you will laugh when I say how very British it is, talking about the weather.

I will ask you how you are getting on with The Scavenger Hunt and we will swap finds. My latest is Clouds, we will laugh and exclaim over some of the fabulous cloud pictures that are appearing all over blogland.
We might talk about Instagram and how impossible I find it. Maybe if you have the hang of it you would teach me?

You remark on the noisy gulls.

“Yes the gulls are terribly noisy today, they are my brothers, he has sent them over to me, as he has obviously had enough of them”. I see your forehead tighten, you are wondering if I have totally lost it!
I tell you that my brother, who lives in Wales, just across the bay from me, has the noisiest gulls in the world. I think it’s because he lives near to the docks and the gulls fight over the scraps from the boats. Anyway if the gulls are extreamly noisy I say that they must be his. Yes I am very close to my youngest brother we are always in touch and always laughing about some thing or other…

“Shall I put the lunch out now? I have made my newly named ‘World Salad’
I thought that would make you laugh. My family say that I am the fussiest person in the world. My mother always said I was born fussy but I don’t have a problem with that”.

“So, in this pretty blue glass bowl, we have;
Lots and lots of gorgeous Italian pomodorino tomatoes
Huge juicy black olives
Garlic and coriander naan bread; heated under the grill and cut into squares
Olive oil, which soaks into the bread beautifully
A little garlic, fresh thyme and black pepper
No salt. You may need to add, as I can be heavy handed with it…
And Feta cheese”.

“So why isn’t it a Greek salad?” you ask me.

Smiling and screwing up my nose in a kind of embarrassed way “I can only eat feta if it is made from cow’s milk
I don’t put cucumber in it (cucumber doesn’t like Paul and it’s become a habit to leave it out)
And I use Naan bread instead of Pitta bread.
So, it’s been upgraded from Greek to World! There is extra virgin olive oil out on the table….”

We are both laughing now as you have mentioned the film ‘When Harry met Sally’ with Meg Ryan and her ‘on the side’ arrangements.

Oh I do so love it when you visit.

Next month, shall we go into town? There is a nice cafe right down on the sea front, we could have an ice cream and walk on the warm sand in our bare feet, arm in arm laughing like old friends…
Oh and I’ll bring my ATC’s/ICAD to show you, bring something you have made? Show & Tell, just like at first school, do you remember?….

The 27th of August is a Tuesday, is that OK with you?

Once a month Abi at Creating Paper Dreams invites us to ‘have tea and a catch up’ This is my second invitation and I have fallen in love with the idea. Thank you Abi.