Day four in the big wooden shed

So much for weekends being for resting - no such luck in this shed!

To be fair I only did half a day, as by the time I got up, messed about for a bit and wandered myself the long 13 steps to the shed door, it was gone 12 noon.

But this is where we are at at the end of play today.  Another few boxes emptied, one of them being yet another box of buttons, which are now all wall mounted :)

Also a dozen or so boxes of cord reels, which Hubster popped onto the stand for me - he was careful not to kneel on the floor mind you, we didn't need a repeat of the 'bead insterted into knee cap' incident of yesterday!

And what do you make when you have loads of loose odd beads?  SOUP of course - gorgeous, colourful bead soup.

But before you think how well I am doing, take a look behind me, still got all this to sort yet  :/

Today's find, which will be finding it's way into the Birthday Blog Box is a series of tutorials for basic beadweaving.  So if you have never had a go and fancy trying, this is just the thing for you :)   They are step by step tutorials with colour photos so you can see exactly what to do.

I wont be in The Shed tomorrow as have a shift at work, so that's me until Tuesday now.  I'll be pleased of the break I think  :)

February Workshops / Classes

Sunday 2nd Feb (11.00am-4.00pm)  Have A Go Hobby weekend. at Hobbycraft in Carlisle.  For just £10 you can try out FIVE (yes really, FIVE) mini workshops of your choice. I will be there doing a Crochet Workshop, but you can choose from the following:

• Illustration & Sketching with Nair Morna.
• Zentangle with Helen from A Little Bit Askew.
• Crochet with me from SoozInTheShed.
• Earrings or Memory Wire Bracelets with Shona from The Bead Shed.
• Patchwork with Marie from Nim & Num.
• Needlefelting with Julie from Community Based Art.
• A tray of Fimo miniature chocolates with Helena from Heevis Miniatures.
• Decopatch with a member of the Hobbycraft team.

 Call 01228 812362 to book.  

Mon 3rd Feb (5.30pm-7.30pm) 'Crochet & Craic' - a tutored crochet group at Hobbycraft, Carlisle. £5.00, bring your own projects.  Call 01228 812362 to book.

Tues 4th Feb (10.00am-3.00pm)  'A Day Of Crochet' a workshop for beginners, I will take you through all the basic stitches, granny squares, how to increase and decrease and other stuff too.  Bring a packed lunch, or there is a Greg's & MacDonalds across the car park.  Hobbycraft, Carlisle. £25.00, including all materials.  Call 01228 812362 to book.

Wed 5th Feb (10.00am-12.00pm) 'Zen Tangle Doodling' - come and learn how to art doodle Zen-tangle style. £10.00, including all materials. Hobbycraft in Carlisle.  Call 01228 812362 to book.

Wed 5th Feb (1.00pm-3.00pm) 'Spiral Rope Beadweaving' - Learn a lovely beadweaving stitch called Spiral Staircase so you can make your own beaded ropes. £10.00, including all materials.  Hobbycraft in Carlisle.  Call 01228 812362 to book.

Thurs 6th Feb (5.30am-7.30pm)  'Granny Squares Crochet' a workshop suitable for beginners, using the popular Treble Crochet stitch, learn how to make your own Granny Squares so you can make a blanket, cushion cover, bag or more...  Hobbycraft, Carlisle. £10.00, including all materials.  Call 01228 812362 to book.

Tues 11th Feb (10.00am-3.00pm)  'A Day Of Beaded Jewellery' a workshop for beginners,Learn hot to make earrings, bracelets, necklaces and more in this full filled jewellery making day.  Bring a packed lunch, or there is a Greg's & MacDonalds across the car park.  Hobbycraft, Carlisle. £30.00, including all materials & the use of tools.  Call 01228 812362 to book.

Thurs 13th Feb (5.30am-7.30pm)  'Beaded Charm Bracelet' suitable for beginners, come and make yourself a jingly beaded charm bracelet.  Hobbycraft, Carlisle. £10.00, including all materials & loan of tools..  Call 01228 812362 to book.

Mon 17th Feb (5.30pm-7.30pm) 'Crochet & Craic' - a tutored crochet group at Hobbycraft, Carlisle. £5.00, bring your own projects.  Call 01228 812362 to book.

Tues 25th Feb (10.00am-3.00pm)  'A Day Of Beadweaving' a workshop for beginners,Learn the popular beadweaving stitches using little seed beads and a needle & thread.  We will cover Peyote, Spiral Staircase and RAW.  Bring a packed lunch, or there is a Greg's & MacDonalds across the car park.  Hobbycraft, Carlisle. £25.00, including all materials.  Call 01228 812362 to book.

Wed 26th Feb (10.00am-12.00pm) 'Polymer Clay Cane Beads' Using Fimo or Sculpey, learn how to make a cane to decorate bead forms with.  - . £10.00, including all materials. Hobbycraft in Carlisle.  Call 01228 812362 to book.

Wed 26th Feb (1.00pm-3.00pm) 'Decopatch Tissue Box'  The craft of covering a blank form with tissue paper to create something very pretty for your home.  - . £10.00, including all materials. Hobbycraft in Carlisle.  Call 01228 812362 to book.

Thur 27th Feb (5.30pm-7.50pm) 'Peyote Stitch Beadweaving' - Learn a lovely beadweaving stitch called Peyote so you can make your own beautiful beaded bracelets. £10.00, including all materials.  Hobbycraft in Carlisle.  Call 01228 812362 to book.

Day three in the big wooden shed

It seems to be messier at the end of today, I know it's not, I know it is because there are empty boxes laying about and stuff moved around until it finds it's final home - it just seems to be much messier.

I had Shona & Marie helping today, neither wanted their photo taken but this is the wonderful work they did.

Four huge boxes of buttons all hung up in sections, looking very smart indeed.

Hubster came in for a few minutes, but left after burning my ears with a barrage of foul language.  Obviously it must really hurt when you kneel on a bead  ;)

We have a path right around the table now, which is a novelty.

Say 'Hi' to the resident monkeys, they are still hanging there quite happily.

I lost track of time in there today, only came out when I got a text asking if I had forgotten to have lunch - at 5.00pm!!

I found these beads, they weren't really lost, just buried deep under lots of other stuff.  9 little pots of various shapes of glass beads, in 9 different colours - all going in the Birthday Blog Box - which one lucky reader will win mid February.

I've had enough now for the day, off to do some housework instead.  Blimey, it's never ending!

Day two in the big wooden shed

I hope you read that title in the Big Brother stylee it was typed in :)

Anyway, day 2, and I had Mother Vera's help today, which was very helpful as she is a little speed demo when it comes to tidying up.

Her job was to hang anything that had a hanging bag. She emptied a good few boxes and the walls are looking plump with beads once again.

We only did a couple of hours as I was booked in to go and do a demo at Hobbycraft this afternoon, but we can see floor!!

I found a load of coloured jump rings which I took along to the demo to do chainmaille with - might make a kit out of them :)

Getting there...

The big tidy

Following on from my recent news, the time had come to lock myself away in the Shed and do some serious tidying up! 

In the last year this space has become a dumping area for anything that doesn't have a home - "Where shall we put this?", "Oh, just shove it in the shed"  You know what I mean, right?

So yesterday, deep breath, and in I go.

I am almost embarrassed to show you this photo, but it might urge me to get it sorted quicker.

Five hours I grafted, hanging things on walls, sorting out boxes, redicovering bags of stuff that I had totally forgotten I had.  Finding a box of 50 pairs of pliers was a bonus too!

See that box up there, under the table?  With the orange yarn in?  That is FULL of yarn - about 30-40 balls, so full I could barely lift it.  The shame of it all.

Three black bin bags, 7 broken down cardboard boxes and a huge box of "I am not sure where to put this" later I had had enough.  And to my dismay my 'after' photo doesn't look much different from my before one!

Still, I have my Mother, Vera, coming to give a hand tomorrow, she is a little speed demon and will soon shift some stuff.

In the meantime I found a couple of bits that I am going to throw in The Birthday Blog Box.

First of all this little kit from The Crazy Wire company.  It's for a beaded wire bracelet, so someone should have some fun putting that together.

The second is a little handmade glass pendant, made by me  :)  and strung on a waxed cotton cord.

I will let you know how the 'big tidy' progresses, hopefully by the end of tomorrow we should see some floor!

A change in direction

As you may know, for the last year I have been working at Hobbycraft in Carlisle.  This was a job I managed to get almost by accident. I was so happy that we were getting a Hobbycraft in our fair City, that I logged onto the website to find out when they were opening and ended up applying for a job!

A few people (family, friends, etc...) were a bit confused, after all I had a job, working for myself, running an online bead shop, but you know what, it was obviously time for a change and the opportunity presented itself.

I had been thinking for a while that I was going to run The Bead Shed down, with the influx of cheap overseas sellers and the huge hikes in UK postage prices it just wasn't as lucrative as it was when I started it in 2005.

Obviously I thought I was very well suited to work in retail - and I guess on a one-to-one basis with the customer, I am.  But working for a big retail store is very very different to running a little local bead shop, having said that, it was great fun learning about it all, I have to say.

So a year later and I am starting to think about my working life, I am always trying to take the next step - and although the opportunities are there within Hobbycraft, for me to work up I had to really think about whether I wanted to work up the corporate retail ladder, or go back into what I love which is crafting.

Thinking about it, I was at Hobbycraft for the products, I would never had applied for a job at B&Q or WHSMITHS  (even though I do love power tools and books) It was all about what was on the shelves, and I realised that I didn't really have any urge to work up within the company.  Once I had realised that I had to then decide if I wanted to stay this job for the next 20 years or so, ......... or something else....

Something else won, as I remembered a plan I had over a year ago to change The Bead Shed into a more generic craft platform - selling Craft Kits.  Nice craft kits, with nice packaging and quality products.

So that is where I am right now.  I am currently working my notice period at Hobbycraft, which is rather sad as I am going to miss all my work colleagues loads, I have made some good friends there. BUT.... I will still be there running craft classes on a self-employed basis very regularly  :) I will also be teaching crafts in various other places, keep checking on my workshops tab to find out where I will be and how you can book.

 I finish Hobbycraft at the end of January and I will be launching head first into my new business - SoozintheShed Craft Kits.


I have got loads to do and organise, I need to make some lists and not get stressed out by it all, but it is really quite exciting.   I have to master Zencart for the website too, which I keep putting off, any tips on that would be most useful  ;)

Obviously the kits are going to be gradual as I design, collect components and build them up so watch this space.... as the saying goes.

In the meantime I have to go and tidy the tip that I call The Bead Shed and make some space to work in, wish me luck on that one!

Urban Glam Snood

Way back in October I reviewed the DMC Urban Glam yarn, and although I was quite unimpressed by the 'hand knotted' effect  (with not so strong knots), the yarn itself worked up really nicely.

At the time I couldn't show you the finished item as it was a Christmas pressie, but now I can  :)

It is a Snood.

I crocheted it using a series of Treble Crochets and Chain stitches.  Nice and loopy and lacy looking.

Then I sewed it into a tube.

Easy peasy  :)  The patchwork effect works really well with this pattern, but I did have to undo and redo all the knots.

My Secret Santa makings

Following on from the post where I showed you what I had received for my Secret Santa gift, I thought I should also show you what I made for my recipient, Tricia.

This was my selection of beads - everyone got the same, but in different colourways.

It took a lot of fiddling about to decide how I wanted the necklace to hang.

This way?

Or this way?

Or maybe this way?

In the meantime I got to work on the beaded part.

I strung beads on then wiggled in and out of them with seed beads.

This was the formation I finally decided on in the end, after lots of umming and ahhing.

I wanted something slightly different for the centre, but it also had to hang properly.  Things can look very different when laid on a table.  Cue: lots of trips to the mirror.

I used the large triangle button as a clasp.

As there was so many beads left I added in a simple coil bangle.  Rather understated but matches perfectly  :)

Then some earrings....

... and a bag charm.

Hope she liked it  :)

Tips when visiting Malta

After having our trip away, I thought it might be useful to put a tips page together in case any readers are going to Malta sometime soon.

TRAVEL KETTLE

Maybe not so important to you, but was to me, I really struggled with not having as many brews as I usually do.

BUS TRAVEL

Grab yourself a weekly bus ticket, €12 (around £12) at time of writing and jump on and off that bus to visit as many places as you can.  You can even download the time-tables to your smart phone by visiting.....
Be strong when it comes to getting on the bus, as Brits we often stand back in amazement/annoyance as others push their way on board, but you will only find yourself having to wait for the next bus if you do that.

MAP
Sounds obvious, but those little maps on the back of the bus timetables are fabulous for popping in your pocket.  Take some time and circle where you want to visit, then carry it with you.

GOOD SHOES / BOOTS

If you like exploring rather than sitting on a sun bed then I would recommend a good pair of shoes or walking boots. The pavements are a little uneven away from the promenades. Also watch out for dog poop, there's a lot of it about in the back streets.

BRITISH TOUTS

Yeah, British, we got caught by a few of them. Because they are fellow Brits they get you into conversation then ask if you'd do them a favour by going to have a look around a hotel, they'll get paid so you'll be doing them a favour (they say), and you can have a bottle of wine/massage/harbour tour/gold Maltese necklace.... The gifts get bigger the more you decline. We didn't go as we didn't want to spend two hours looking round a hotel we had no interest in, but it is a hard sell.

TRY THINGS
Have a look and see what the native dish is and give it a go, the Pea Cakes from the Patizzerias are divine.

4 BAR EXTENSION CABLE
This is a genius idea from Hubster, he always takes a 4 bar extension cable (or two) in his case.  It means we can charge all our gadgets and batteries in the one go.  Some hotels have those cards that turn the electric off when you leave, so if you are out and about all day sharing a plug socket when you get back is a bit awkward.  Don't forget the adaptor for that particular country though  :)

LUNCH TIMES
Remember, the Maltese have their main meal at lunchtime, and they don't hurry about it either. It is worth booking if you need to go somewhere specific or you may find yourself settling for second, third or forth best!

MEMORY CARDS AND SPARE BATTERIES
For your camera, loads to photograph here  :)

CHECK RUNNING TIMES
If you have to travel a little way to somewhere it is worth checking that whatever is it is open/running.

Malta - Sliema

Last night there was a most ferocious storm, lightening lit up the room and the wind battered the balcony doors so hard I thought they were going to blow in!

This morning it was still lashing down, a puddle formed by the doors reminiscent of our first night here, there is no view as the rain has hidden it like a thick net curtain.

We resigned ourselves to a day stuck in the hotel, bored. We are not afraid of going out in light rain, but this was belting it down & we really didn't fancy the idea of having to pack a whole load of wet clothing for our journey home tomorrow.

Just after 10.30am the sun stuck its head out and smiled. Shall we risk it? Well of course. So we did. But on the way I managed to pull a muscle in my calf - no idea how I did that but blooming heck it was painful. Still, gritted my teeth and ploughed on through the day.

We decided to go to Sliema, as we hadn't been that way in the bus before, it was a lovely coastal ride, in and out of the bays.  We jumped off at what we thought was Sliema, it was actually right on the edge and we walked back to St Julian's Bay, quite a long walk, but very beautiful. We stopped here for a late lunch then was just about to head back when for no known reason we decided to grab the bus and carry on.

Back round the bays we had just walked and up & over a hill when the setting sun caught our eye, time to jump off & take photos of the sun setting over Valletta - so we did.

Getting a different view we walked up some steps onto a bridge like structure, fixed to the bars of the bridge was hundreds of padlocks with love messages written on them. How cute. We didn't have a padlock with us so couldn't add one, I did have a safety pin but didn't think it would have the same effect.

I spent AGES photographing them, they were fascinating. If you want to see more photos click HERE.

As the sun set we walked around the next bay, that's when we realised we hadn't been in Sliema at all, but now we were. In a way we were disappointed because its so lovely there and we missed it all! Loads of little shops/cafes/boats, most unlike Bugibba where we have been staying that has a couple of rubbishy gift shops & a few uninspiring cafes. Now, it might be better during higher season, but we wished we had stayed in Sliema instead.

Our last meal tonight in Malta, we went to a little Italian placed called La Stalla as we found a voucher on a tourist map for a free glass of wine with a meal. Nice meal, and I got bought a birdy toothpick dispenser at the end off Hubster as I was enthralled by the one in the restaurant :)  he's called Pecky Pick Picker :)

Our last night, I'm rather sad :(

Malta - Mosta Dome & The Blue Lagoon

The weather was a bit grumpy today, grey clouds formed overhead and the rain drops threatened to plop down on our sun-hatted heads.

So, what to do today then? I've got loads of things left to tick off on my 'must see' list, so we go through & see which ones are better for a grumpy grey cloudy day.

We start with the Mosta Dome.

We jumped on the bus with our bargain €12 weekly ticket and quickly arrived in Mosta. You can't miss the church, it's the 4th largest unsupported dome in the world and it's huge!  You can see it from miles away,

There are certain visiting hours 9.45-11.45am and then 3-5pm. We arrived at 11.15 to find a service happening, you're not allowed to tour round when a service is ongoing - for obvious reasons. So we waited. The worshippers all started to leave at around 11.30pm and there was hundreds of them, it took 8 minutes for them to file out of three doors there was that many.

Which left us around 7 mins to visit. Quick.... run round, snap, snap, snap. Done.

I would have loved more time, but one by one the lights were being turned off & we were turfed out.

Missed seeing the replica of the WW2 bomb that pierced the dome & failed to explode though, which was a shame.  But here is a photo of the inside of the dome.

When leaving the church I spotted a Pastizzeria (pasty shop) and trying one of the 'pea cakes' was also on my list.  

They didn't look that big in the booth!

Nom nom, mushy peas & curry. Blooming delicious.

The weather had lifted a little by now so we decided to travel on the The Blue Grotto. As the bus was Sunday service there was a bit of a wait & I needed a pee (as you do when you've drunk 2 brews & 2 orange juices for breakfast, so we decided to head back to the bus station at Bugibba where I was sure there was a public toilet...... I was wrong, and Hubster started doing that "quick, quick, this is our bus" thing and in a mini panic I jumped on before asking how long we would be on this bus. EIGHTY EIGHT MINUTES!!! What???

Yep, 88 minutes of me whining like a 6 year old coz I needed a wee.

88 minutes later we arrived at the Airport to change buses & I ran in like the sprightly, fat, forty-odd year old that I am. Blissful.

It was going to be an hours wait if we missed the connection, but luckily, even with wee stop, we made it. So onto The Blue Grotto we went.  The sun had broken through the clouds & was quite warming.

It was gorgeous scenery when we got there, the crashing foam against the rocks was a most unbelievable colour - imagine when your washing machine is going round and your new denim jeans have left a blue hue in the froth - that.

Alas though, when we went to buy a boat ticket to sail into the caves...

Gutted.

Instead we went and took a lot of photos of those beautiful waves......

 ...then sat in a restaurant when I had egg & chips.

Actually I was a bit embarrassed to order this, it was so British, but I just couldn't face another pizza.

After our late lunch we were going to walk around the coastline, but once outside the wind was blowing so hard we could barely breath, so we caught the next bus back.

We didn't get many things ticked off our list today, but it's the winter season in Malta so everything closes early, plus the sun sets around 4.30pm so there's nothing much to see after that.

The weather forecast for tomorrow is not looking great :/

Malta - Gozo

What a great day today, the sun was out & shining so we decided to go an visit Gozo, a smaller Maltese island.

After breckie, which happens to be a cheese & jam toasty each morning (I'm Northern, I'm allowed) and a bucket of tea we went to grab the bus, using our weekly ticket.

Straight off the bus at the ferry port and straight onto the ferry. We didn't need to stop and find out where we were going, we just got swept along with all the other people going in the same direction.

Then, we were on board! Hang on, we haven't paid! How do we pay? Who do we pay? Is it free?  We eventually found out that you pay on the way back.

Once there we jumped on a 'hop on, hop off' tour bus. We worked out that the whole tour was 3 hours in total, and we could do four stops at 45mins each time before we were on the very last bus.

We chose:

Ggantija Temples

Arts & Crafts Village

Azure Window

Savina Creativity Centre

The Ggantija temples was ok, it was bigged up to be 7 meter high walls built by giants. Older than the pyramids. It was interesting enough, but it did only take half an hour to look round yet it cost €8.00.

However I did spot a lizard which totally made my day!

It was now about lunch time but there was nothing about but a gift shop with an ice-cream fridge. We shared a lolly thing covered with nuts.  I'm not a lover of ice-cream & Hubster is diabetic, so it wasn't the best choice.

The Arts & Crafts Village was another let down, this place boasted a candle maker (shut) lacemakers (lots of doileys, no demos) glass blowing (the furnaces were all cold) gift (imported cheap jewellery & murano style glass) pottery (proudly made in house we were told, personally I wouldn't have admitted that!!) foodie stuff (didn't go in as didn't want to try all the samples & not buy anything) and a tin ornament maker. Now this chap was sitting working away & quite happy to chat about his craft, so we bought a butterfly for €19.

Here it is on on my dining room wall to show you the size.

There was nowhere to eat or drink, the cafe was closed! Good job we had a bottle of sun heated water to share.

The Azure Window was a wonderful place. They don't expect the window to be there in a couple of years time & it will be renamed the 'Azure Pinnacle', there are signs to stop you walking over the top as it could collapse at any time - there are some blooming big cracks in it, but still people walked over the top.

Took LOADS of photos, trimmed down to a few half decent ones that you can see in my Gozo album HERE if you like.

Then we trotted up to the cafe to get lunch (4.00pm) only to be told all they has left was two single pieces of pineapple cake. They'd been busy - not surprised, nowhere else was open.  We ended up with a small tin of Pringles from an ice-cream van with an highly inflated price tag, as they were the only savoury thing they had.

The next stop, Savina Creativity Centre, didn't happen, the bus just breezed on by and back to the ferry.  But we got a bargain brew on that ferry, just 60 cents!  Tasted ok too.

Tried to grab some nice sunset photos as we sailed on back over to Malta.  (can you spot the tiny moon?)

Normal we go back to the hotel to freshen up before heading back out to dinner, but we were hungry & knackered so we stopped of at Tal Kaptan on the way back.

I had a walnut, honey & ricotta pizza, having spotted it earlier in the week I thought it sounded amazing. It was supposed to have blue cheese but I hate it, so swapped for the ricotta.

It didn't work, I love all those ingredients, but they failed to harmonise in my mouth. The first bite was not too dissimilar to a pecan Danish, they you were hit with the tomato & cheese. My taste buds got well confused.  Safe to say I won't be having one of those again.  You can read my Trip Advisor review HERE.

I did get a bucket of tea though, which is good since I'm still boycotting the hotels offerings at €1.50 a teacup  :)  (Look, two tea bags  :)  )