September's gone already

The Summer continues which is lovely - warm days and cool nights with mist and fog some mornings.  Just love those last few Summer days, with Autumn biting at the heels.  A few of the chimneys have started to smoke in the evenings around here - a sure sign that Winter is on its way.

Ben did well in his two GCSEs and is studying two new subjects, Chemistry and Astronomy for next Summer's exams.  He's into both subjects in a big way, but my teaching only extends to the Chemistry as he's doing a distance learning course for Astronomy (although I'm still sourcing interesting websites and I'm around for night sky viewings etc).  Both are taking up a lot of time.  In the mornings, when I sit in the car at stupid o'clock having dropped Katie off for the college coach, I spend an hour studying Chemistry (not a subject I know at all) ready to teach Ben when I arrive home from the yard.  We're doing well, and as always, I'm loving the fact that I'm learning something new too.  Astronomy for me kicks in when I'm ready to turn in for the night.  Tripods are set up, binoculars are focussed, sketch books out and much toing and froing (and choice words) trying to get decent photos of the moon.  Ben talks non stop about galaxies and what have you - my head becomes more of a fuzzy muddle that it is already.  I can't complain, I'd prefer him excited about his learning than not.

Katie, having completed her first year at college, is now looking at University courses for September 2015.  She's not sure which route to go down - at present it's a toss up between Game Art and Illustration.  Having visited one Uni last weekend and being completely bowled over by the enthusiasm of all the tutors, I think her leaning is more towards Illustration, but after the next three or four Uni visits, who knows - she may end up doing something completely different!  She's very tired at the moment - her course is full on and she knows (thanks to my constant nagging) that she needs to start her own portfolio of art work to present alongside her college work when interviews start from January next year.  She also knows (thanks again to my constant nagging) that she needs an impressive Personal Statement.  She'll be fine I'm sure, she always is, but it feels like a constant worry at the moment.

On the work front things are ticking along nicely and I'm working hard to build up my shops ready for Christmas.  One customer has requested a catalogue as she finds it hard to use the PC so I've just started making some new goodies just for this and hope to get it out to her (and anyone else who requests one) within a month.  At the back of my mind I'm thinking that Katie could help with the design as that, together with the business cards she designed for me not so long ago, would look good in her portfolio

One big down that we had this month was the loss of 7 years of photos from our PC.  We've lost a disk load of photos before (which was tragic), but 7 years worth seems 10 times worse.  Luckily some are still on blog postings, facebook and instagram, but a lot of videos of the children and pets have been lost which brings a lump to my throat.  I'm not really sure how it happened either - deleted one photo and suddenly (in that moment when you go completely cold with fear), the whole lot vanished and couldn't be found, not even in the recycling bin.  Ho hum - these things are sent to try us.

A post without pics is a little dull so here's a bright and cheerful fabric wallet that I made recently and is available at Ellie's Treasures.  It's been cut from gorgeous vintage fabrics - the brightest of which (the blue and orange) was brought over to the UK from the Far East in the 1970s.  Love it!