How dreadfully boring it must be for you to read here that I have been too busy and not in the right frame of mind to create this week.  Although, I mindlessly started knitting a 1x1 rib scarf from some homespun yarn....  I really like the texture of this scrap of knitting.  It has soothed me.

The saddest thing is that I'm working this weekend too.  Although, for the first time in my life I am being paid overtime... normally I would take time in lieu or flextime... but I already have so much flextime accrued that it was starting to become ridiculous. And really, this is a case of a manager far removed from me making last minute decisions which significantly increased the workload of my little group at a time when I just couldn't-fit-any-more-in.  So they can pay the workerbee to make this all happen for them - they'll meet their bonus targets this year LOL.

In addition to "The Fun Adventures of Claire's Engineering Career" - we played and lost our touch football final on Tuesday, I went to an exhibition opening on Wednesday, had a hairdressers appointment on Thursday and last night watched the touch football grand final in the wintery rain, then had pizza and talkies with friends at their house.See.  The excuses never end.  I hate excuses by the way, never use them if I can help it... no one wants to hear them.  Least of all you I'm sure.

So.  Onwards.  Here are a few links I have recently enjoyed:

Meabh Warburton: A tapestry weaver who currently lives in the South of France (sigh).  Lots of glimpses of her life and artistic process.  I'm glad I re-found this blog.

Rag and Bone: Books, book art, bookbinding, paper craft, paper making, box making, journaling, design, print & patterns, textiles, origami, art events - the blog of a bookbindery.

Design?DNA: The blog of Amy from Nashville; I love the mix of stuff that has come up on Amy's blog - especially the textile and architecture related bits :-)

I seem to be going pretty well with painting in my journal at the moment so I decided to buy some pre-stretched canvases and to do some paintings for our bedroom.  The painting of the bottle above came together pretty quickly and I like it.

The bowl has been hard, I've repainted it a few times and it still isn't right.  And all the photos I've taken of it show a terrible rubbed halo around the bowl, which I can't see in real life. 

But regardless of this, the two paintings go pretty well together because I used a similar palette for both and the same horizon (or whatever you call it).  I'll probably tweak around with the bowl a bit more before I call it done. 

I've got another canvas and I want to paint something along similar lines, probably of one of my painting jars.  I like painting transparent things, I think.

Here are a few links I have enjoyed recently:

How to make a felt Rug.  A visual treat from Festive Fibers from New Hampshire.  I had to google NH to work out what it meant LOL.

Strange Maps:  Do you love maps? Old maps, new maps, silly maps or any maps?  This blog is for you.  I'll probably be hunting through there for months to come.

Zimmermainia:  This blog is for people to post about knitting from Elizabeth Zimmermann's patterns/books/writtings.   You may nor remember it, but I am knitting a jumper (sweater) for myself using a 'recipe' from EZ's Knitting without tears.  I picked it up to knit a bit more last night, but cant find the colour chart I made for the yoke.  I may have to do another design.

Illustration Friday: The blog, lots of great links about illustration and art.