Sarah Downton Beads and Jewellery

Monday afternoon

So this is it, my last post before my surgery tomorrow, by lunchtime it should all be done and then I can start getting better and looking forward to a healthier, more active lifestyle like I used to have. I still have 99 things to do, of course, but then I have spent more time organising things for my daughter who isn’t really old enough yet to sort out her own stuff. Anything else to do with my business will just have to wait until later next week if I feel up to it. If you’ve sent me a contact form lately and I haven’t replied yet I hope you won’t mind waiting a couple of weeks, I can’t quite get my head around them at the moment, not sure why!

I plan to start teaching again in September, and dates are booking up quickly, so there will be more opportunity during October for beadmaking lessons. That sounds such a while away, but I’m sure it will slam into us real fast, as time generally seems to have a way of sneaking certain dates up on us, no matter how well prepared we thought we were.

I must go now and finish packing my bag for my stay in hospital. Bye for now.

Thursday morning

It’s Thursday again, how did that happen so fast? You can see my hip hop day is fast approaching, and in case you hadn’t realised is filling my mind most of the time, well, it would really wouldn’t it. Maybe it’s the thought of hopefully being able to do all those things that I’ve been unable to for the last 14 1/2 years or maybe it’s the thought that a very clever surgeon (and I’m happy to say that I’m privileged to have one of the best in the country again (he also has an international reputation)) will be cutting into me next week and chopping away one of the rubbish bits of bone that has been causing me so much grief over the last few years. This thought is good but also scary, as I know it’s not going to be nice, and that I’m going to be in post operative pain for several days, if not weeks going by past experience. The good part is that I know I have to go through this to achieve a happy outcome.

We attended my pre op appointment yesterday and it was fab to hear the physiotherapist talk about not needing my walking stick after a certain number of weeks. This is something that I never thought I’d hear as my internal view of me has been with a stick until my old age, so I’m elated about this. So, it is with very mixed feelings that I travel the next few days until my surgery, happy, excited, nervous, hopeful, apprehensive, sad that I will be loosing a bit of my body that can only be replaced a couple of times (as current medical practice stands).

So please excuse me for getting more personal about me today, but I think I have good reason, and I want to share my good news and nervousness, as this is such a BIG deal for me. I’d better get on, I have 101 jobs to do before next week.

Thursday tea time

Another stunning hot day, the weather is just obscenely gorgeous at the moment, but too soon, the heatwave should be coming in June when I’m back home from hospital and recuperating in the garden. Ooops, looks like I’ve let it slip that I’m having my operation at this time of year so I can sit and enjoy the weather, well, the choice was now or in October and when I sat and thought about what I’d be doing, it turned out to be a real no-brainer. Add to that the thought of being normal again sooner rather than later and we have our date. OK, so stop being rude about me never being normal.

So I’m sat here outside on the bench again, and I realised that I had my clock set wrong for the blog entry times, 2 hours too early. Did anyone notice? nah. Oh joy of joys, the phantom nose hooter is back, tootling his nose (or maybe her) like a magnificent trombone, and just listen to the birds. It’s actually quite noisy here one way or another, but in a natural way. The garden’s not looking too bad either. I actually managed to get Rick to do some gardening on Saturday and Monday this week, goodness knows what happened to get him to change a habit of a lifetime. He did say yesterday that he realised I’d have to look at the mess outside if he didn’t do something about it, I’m just hoping that the impetus continues, and doesn’t end when I’m able to do the garden later this year. Although what does bother me slightly is that he thinks it looks OK now, whereas I think it needs much more time spending on it. Oh well, better trot off and check on our lamb shanks roasting in the oven. TTFN.

Tuesday morning

What a lovely day. It’s so nice that I’ve taken up my old habit of sitting outside on the bench in front of my studio to type this entry. It’s truly lovely, and it’s days like today that make me so glad that I don’t work in an office for someone else any more. Being self employed is hard in itself because you seem to work loads of hours for not much profit,well, that’s the case with most art related designer makers, although if I was in another line of business I’d make real sure I was making a decent profit, but then art is about so much more than making a quick buck. However, I digress, yes, it’s days like today that make you feel glad to be alive and happy to be at home.

So 2 weeks to go, and my jobs are getting done even though I haven’t planned their timing to the nth degree. I’m hoping to get into my studio and make beads for my Open Houses jewellery again today, even though I’ve almost managed to fill my cabinet with pieces made previously. I now have the mind numbing chore of making earwires and headpins to make up my earrings and pendants, yawn! I do like making jewellery, it’s just that some jobs get a wee bit tedious and the fun part is making up the pieces and looking at all the lovelies! Today I’m hoping to make some more hollows to complete some fun fab necklaces, along a similar design idea to my large hollows necklace that featured on all of last years Open Houses literature. Oh, my tea mug is empty, that means our time is up for today, must pop off and fire up the kiln.

Tuesday morning

The sun is shinning today, and it was 8 deg C in my studio when I turned the kiln on this morning. I love how the temperature rises as we progress to the summer, although it has been higher, at 13 deg C a few weeks ago. I have masses of work to do and lots of little jobs to finish at the moment, and I’m wondering how I’m going to fit it all into the next 3 weeks. Oh, did I mention it’s 3 weeks to go? lol. Maybe I should do a project plan bar graph thingy, like I used to do when I was engineering….I used this also to plan our move when we moved house several years ago, I was so terrified of opening a door and finding a room I’d forgotten about absolutely stuffed with ‘stuff’! Of course this wouldn’t really have happened as we had a titchy house with a total of 5 rooms but you get the drift of my nightmare, which had actually happened to my in-laws when they’d moved a few months previously, well, it wasn’t a room but it could have been, as it was one of the many cavernous lofts they used to have, stuffed to the gunnells on moving day. Couple that with the 2 full kitchen cupboards and you have my worst dream for moving day. Mind you they were moving from a huge 2 family house with about 22 rooms, I think they can be forgiven for forgetting a couple of places.

So, I promised to tell of our adventure going to Oxford the other week, maybe it’s time for part 1?…….nah, I’ll keep you in suspense, I want to be able to add some photos as we go along. have good day.

Wednesday morning

How do I start this post? I keep typing this one and deleting it! You see it keeps getting too heavy and sounding way too serious, and you know I like to try and keep my blog light-hearted if I can. So I guess the game is up, all this time it’s been hidden from you that I can’t walk very easily and this is due to something called clicky hip (or DDH) which is a condition that they now check for in newborn babies. Although I did mention it exactly 2 years ago (21st April 2006 ER….me too the episode where Weaver, the lady Dr with a crutch realises she needs a new hip, incidentally it completely changes her life for the better) Anyway, I have big news, as I realised just before Christmas that I could really now do with a hip replacement and that the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages.

So, there is is, and I now have my date, 4 weeks from now, yikes. I now have to stuff in as much work as possible to be ready for 2 lots of Open Houses in July and maybe the exhibition in Winchester if I can manage it. There’s also plans to be made for how to run the house when I get home, raising chairs, making space for me to live in my recovering state. And of course I have to treat myself to the obligatory new nightie!

I have lots to tell you also of our adventure visiting my consultant in Oxford, but I’ll save that for another post.

I should also point out that this will impact on my teaching schedule. I am planning to take a break from the end of May and start teaching again in September. August is way too complicated with school holidays, weddings, lazy days out etc. and it can get very hot making beads in August.

Wednesday morning

The holidays are almost over, yay, then I can get down to making beads again. We have had some interesting days and had a great time out on Monday when we went to Brighton for the afternoon – that’s me and my 9 year old. She’s got to the age where she’s interested in looking in shops other than toy shops and enjoys looking in jewellery shop windows, hurrah! You know what it’s like with a younger child in tow, they just kick the ground and look bored all the time unless you’re walking. I think we spent the most time in an amazing percussion shop where he sells all sorts of obscure imported instruments and rhythm making things. We succumbed and bought a mini accordion for her to play tunes on, great fun.

Friday morning

Ah, what was that I said about having the urge to keep going through stuff and get rid of it? Seems the urge left after I told you guys about it, and no further progress has been made, also it’s been progressively harder to be organised as the holiday feeling has come over me, and I can’t really tidy all day again or my daughter will explode as she wants me to do stuff with her. It’s very difficult to be arranging days out and activities to do with your kids at the same time as running a business, it’s sort of 2 different states of mind, very Jekyll and Hyde. I have however been ploughing through the hidden wash pile in the cupboard, gradually whittling it down to a couple of miscreant towels, and making full use of the garden to dry things. Today’s rain has stopped that abruptly. Now we need to re plan what to do today. Ho hum.

Tuesday morning

The sun is shining and all is well with the world. Ok, so all is not well with the world, what with people abducting their own kids and lying and smirking about it, and the Olympic torch being attacked, together with the honoured bearers, when the protests are supposed to be peaceful. But on a happy note, the sun is shining, as is my kitchen sink, which I’ve actually cleaned again with my marvellous ‘Shiny Sinks’, I don’t know what’s come over me, that’s 3 times in a couple of months….yes I know, most people do it everyday, but I’m really not the type. I also spent most of yesterday afternoon and evening getting rid of paper ‘stuff’ again, and can’t believe I have the urge again today to go through even more ‘stuff’ and get rid of that too.  There must be something in the air. Well, there is lots of something everywhere, and that’s what the main problem is. lol.  All you guys who’ve come here for tuition know what I’m talking about, and have very kindly turned a blind eye to the state of our house.

So, what’s on the cards at the moment? Well, it’s school holiday for this week and the next, and I’m having a bit of a break, but saying that, and I’m also spending a couple of hours every morning and evening just to keep things ticking over, so please, if you want to send me an email, or request tuition information, please keep the mails coming.

Friday morning

Wow it’s so lovely outside today, and it was yesterday too. I had a better session in the studio, even though I’m suffering with a throat infection, and think I have my Tempest bead at last. I’m hoping to go out and make more lovelies today, although I’m not sure yet what I need to do……..goes off and rummages in bead boxes. I should probably be good and start getting organised for Open Houses and the Ardingly Bead Fair this summer, but I feel like experimenting today, something that I don’t feel I get much time to do. I’ve been playing around with my new press that I swapped with someone, it’s a lentil, which I thought was going to be difficult to use, but actually it’s not as bad as I thought it would be. That’s it, I’ve decided, I’ll do some experiments and some production work, a good compromise. Have a great weekend.

Wednesday morning

Isn’t it fantastic having longer evenings now? I’m starting to get itchy feet and want to get lots of things done, and go abroad, it must be the spring thing. I love this time of year, there’s so much of a feeling of new beginnings. We have several projects that we’re hoping to do here this year, I expect we’re being too optimistic, but we will achieve half of them probably, although it’s already April, how did that happen? and the next 2 weeks ahead are school holidays, I just don’t feel ready for that.

Fridays bead session was fun, although I made 2 rather long beads (the longest being  70mm, although I just about managed 82mm last week before it cracked at each end, I won’t be trying that again!) that took absolutely ages to do, 1 and 1/2 hours each start to finish, then one of them had a nasty crack up the centre at one end, so disheartening. It’s always the same when you have a deadline, these beads are attempt number 5 and 6 for the Tempest invitational exhibition that I’m taking part in, and I only have 3 out of the 6 beads to choose from due to various cracks and problems with this design. I can see I won’t be doing many more of these, but I will try and do a smaller version that is quicker and easier to keep in one piece while I’m working on it.

I filled the rest of my time with quicker things, experiments with pleat beads, I’d always wondered how Nicole Zumkeller and Eric Seydoux did their close lines, and had worked it out for myself then came across a great couple of threads on Lampwork etc . I had fun with this technique, taking it further than the tutorials for my first bead. Pics will follow later if I can persuade hisnibs to get them ready for me.

Friday morning

I love 4 day weeks, they seem so……short. The downside is that they reduce my days available for bead making unfortunately. I shall be going down the garden to my studio shortly as I have a mammoth 8 hours available to me today that I hope not to waste, although I do have some ‘paper’ things to do first. I have to say that the weather is putting me off somewhat, but I’m sure I’ll get over it.

So T5 (or Terminal 5) at Heathrow is up and running. lol. I can’t but help laughing, but I do feel sorry for BA as the whole project has gone so well, to time etc., and it’s not like they didn’t test all the systems rigorously. Having worked as a project manager and engineer in Industry I know what an achievement this is. Of course they forgot to factor in the mass of people problem with parking and getting in the way of the staff. Life would be so much easier for them and British Rail if there weren’t lots of pesky passengers around to get in the way and mess things up. It’s the same with the hospitals really, which reminds me of an entertaining episode of ‘Yes, Prime Minister’ where they had a hospital fully staffed with all sorts of management, not so many medical staff and absolutely no patients. Ahh, the old ones are the best……tongue firmly in cheek.

Now I have to go and decide what to make today, an arduous task, not. I think I might break out the silver foil again today and makes some real jewels of glassiness. Yippee I can’t wait.

Wednesday morning

It’s Wednesday morning again, and am I smugly doing my accounts? Am I heck. I did that once only, then reality took hold and strangled all the hope out of me…..not really, but there’s always a more important job to do than accounts. It’s a bit like housework in that respect. The thing is, I do think about doing it every Wednesday, then I realise that there’s something more important to be done. Take today, I have a big deadline I’m working towards on Friday, well 2 actually, so I MUST work on that job or I will miss it, as it’s actually a Thursday deadline for the post, which means the deadline is actually tonight as I have to have everything prepared this evening. So should I be number crunching? which if truth be told is only there to support the main event, which is my bead and jewellery making. I don’t think so. Mind you when these dates are past I will have a bit of a breather, and look, it’s then the start of the new financial year, which brings with it the joys of stock taking, whoopee. I think I’ll leave any attempt at counting my stuff until the school spring break.

Thursday morning

Today’s big question is…..how long does it take to cook cauliflower? This is not a veg that we normally have, but my parents brought around an exceptionally good one and it’s been sat in our fridge for several days hoping to get cooked. A quick look at my oldest (but more often than not) most useful cookery book ‘Margarite Paten’s Everyday Cook Book’ revealed a section on cooking vegetables that had us hooting with laughter. The cooking times were on the long side to say the least. Take fresh peas in the pod, once you’ve removed them how long do you boil them? I’d say about 1 minute, maybe 2 tops, my old book says 10 to 15 minutes. Oh dear. It says cauliflower sprigs take 10 minutes, I’d guessed at 4 to 5 minutes, so we used carrots for a point of reference. We normally cook them cut up for 3 to 4 minutes, but Margarite quotes ……..wait for it……25 to 30 minutes. EEEekkk. Even good old Delia, in her ‘How to Cook’ series says 20 minutes for small whole carrots. All I can say is ‘no wonder there’s so many people out there who hate vegetables. The poor things must have grown up with over cooked soggy piles of cauliflower and carrot, that just mush to a sodden mess of yukkiness. Urgh.

Fortunately my mum never overcooked her veg when we were growing up, she did used to go a bit towards the longer cooking time, as it was traditional to use the longer times, but suddenly decide to shorten her times further. I remember having crunchy cooked carrots, I think she’d boiled the water and waved the carrots over the top! Now we all cook our veg to a T, just enough to keep the firmness, but not crunchy….. perfection. I love me vegetables.

Tuesday morning

Who knew last week would be so busy and exhausting? It was a sad and also happy week that passed, as we attended a funeral one day, followed by arranging and attending a birthday party the next day.

We’re also in the process of having a real good clear out at home, anyone who’s come here for tuition will understand what I’m on about and probably wonder why we didn’t do it sooner, although time and will power do play an important role. Anyone who knows me will know that I hate housework, and that there is always something more interesting to do than tidy up, but the time has arrived, I need to cleanse my soul and the house, and purge the extra baggage from my life. This includes the old settee that we bought when we got married and that didn’t really fare very well, it was one of those where the cushions are all loose and flop and sag just when you look at it. It’s a real shame, but it would have cost a fortune to re-upholster and re-pad everything, just to end up with another saggy seat! Rick took great delight in taking a saw to it so it would fit in the car on it’s journey to it’s final resting place, also known as the dump – something they show very well on the new DFS advert actually! I’m not quite sure how long this eagerness to rid the house of old trash will last, I hope it lasts long enough to actually make a difference.

Monday lunchtime

What horrible weather we’re having today. I decided to stay home and avoid the wind gusts and lane closures on the M25 today, and now the wind is picking up and we’re having thunder and rain as I type. Yuk. I’ve spent the morning tidying my studio and desk, dipping mandrels, attacking the washpile and updating my website slightly, by this I mean that I’ve added a couple of  recommended B&B’s to my tuition page and 2 links to sites listing accommodation. Now it’s hailing and blowing a gale, and what’s the betting that it’ll be at it’s worst when I have to collect my daughter from school?

Friday  morning

It looks like I stuffed up my last entry, unfortunately Rick came home and picked holes in my discussion instead of smiling. OK I know some of the bits were not technically correct, but when you’re having a  bit of fun is that really important? What about artistic license? and this isn’t Wikipedia where we have dubious statements with more research necessary (and yes, I know that’s not what they say, but for your information I have just spent a futile 5 minutes or more trying to find an article there that has these notes so I can quote the correct phrase). Maybe I should start putting a disclaimer at the bottom of every post stating that I haven’t checked all my facts and that some events are fictional and not based on any person living or diseased……oh no, that should be deceased. You see it’s very hard, for me anyway, to blog quickly, because I like to get it right, so I find myself zipping off in cyberspace checking things that I’m unsure of, like the spelling of someone who’s dead. So I ask myself the question, is it more important to post regularly and quickly, or less frequently and more factually? OOO, sounding a bit like Carrie Bradshaw there. I think I’d rather post more often and not get too bogged down with accuracy myself, especially since I haven’t been here as often as I’d like recently. So, my conclusion is, get on with it!

No trees were cut down for the creation of this message, however a rather large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.

Wednesday morning

Mothers Day…what’s that all about? Or should I say, who on earth sets the date as it always seems to be completely different? Is there a group of insignificant people who get together in a small dark room and decide what Sunday to pick, or is it a representative from all the major greetings card manufacturers who choose the best date to fit in with their around-the year-marketing? Have you noticed how there’s always something to send a card for lately? Even St Patrick’s day has got in on the act…..perhaps the gap was far too gaping between Mothers day (which we’ve already noticed has a very moveable date) and Easter. A quick look at Wikipedia tells me that Paddy’s day is also one of these moveable dates, as it’s normally 17th March (not long now) but can be moved also. In 1940 apparently it was celebrated on 3rd April, so it didn’t clash with Palm Sunday. Now this leads me nicely on to Easter…why is this always different? I appreciate that as it falls on a Sunday that it can’t always have the same date, but the difference in dates always seems to be huge, so again, I ask the question, who decides this and why is it always so different? Also why are we celebrating the resurrection on a Sunday rather than the Sabbath which is a Saturday? It’s always puzzled me that one. Of course if we chose the correct weekdays we’d then have Holy Tuesday, Maundy Wednesday, Good Thursday and Easter Saturday……hmm, maybe it doesn’t have quite the same ring about it.

Thursday evening

I have let this blog go over the last few months, but it’s time to get things on track, so I’m hoping to come here and chat with you 3 times a week like the old times. lol. So what’s been happening in my world? All sorts of stuff, mainly masses of glass beadmaking teaching, so much that I’ve had to abandon my poor beadlog for other pressing jobs. Also I seem to have had a few mini migraines or precursors to Migraines. Yuk, but I think I may have found the latest culprit, and it’s……drum roll…..my favourite tipple……drum roll……..Southern Comfort….boo hiss boo. First Pimms, now this, and what’s the problem? why it’s good old orange. Honestly, I never could be bothered eating the things, too much peeling and pith (yes that’s pith, not the other word) but I love the flavour in just about anything, chocolate oranges, now there’s a fine partnership, orange liquor,  lemon and orange cake,  and they stuff it in all the fruit cakes and mince pies at Christmas, so I’ve had to resort to cooking my own. We’d had a few tipples in the last couple of weeks, and boom, another few days with a numb left side and niggling headache, not enough for a full blown humdinger of a migraine, but enough to throw me off my game. I quizzed myself as to what I’d ingested lately and then the horrible thought came to me. A quick bit of research on t’internet and Wikipaedia comes up with a list of ingredients. Southern Comfort is unfortunately for me a blend of whisky, lemon, orange, vanilla, cinnamon, cloves, cherries and honey. Rat, rats and double rats. Oh well, at least I can still drink white wine……….for the time being.

Tuesday afternoon

We are in the throws of half term once more, and I am reminded of the events of last February’s half term when I spent the week and longer in The Royal Brompton and Harefield hospital in Chelsea with my daughter who  was suffering with a very bad bout of pneumonia. I much prefer this February! Although it looks like I won’t actually be doing my accounts tomorrow morning as planned because I forgot the school holiday and I have a hair cut booked, oh, how easily my best intentions go to pot. At least I’ve managed so far to do something vaguely mummsy today, by making dough and getting my daughter and her friend to make their own pizza for lunch. Yum. And we have half the dough left, so we can have some fun with that tomorrow….maybe bread rolls or dough balls with garlic butter, very naughty but nice.

I’m getting very confused by the weather at the moment, we’ve been sweltering at home today (not really, I thought it sounded good) and yet if I turn the heating down or off altogether we totally freeze in the evening, what’s that all about then? Aside from that I’m revelling in the fact that the evenings are getting longer by leaps and bounds, hopefully I’ll feel like making beads in the evening when the evenings are even lighter and more importantly warmer. I am fast running out of time to make my own beads and jewellery for the events that I have planned for the summer, namely the Guild exhibitions, Open Houses and 2 bead fairs. Looks like I’ll be raiding my bead box for further bargains and clear-out beads to top up my stock.