Peaceful creating

Everything is quiet here - the busy week at work is finished as we tried to cram 5 days worth of appointments into 4 - two weeks running! Will is away in Norfolk visiting with Alex's grandparents. The household chores are done and I have a few hours to satisfy my soul. I've been working on creating a digital version of my Strawberry Patches Logo

It's what they call a steep learning curve but I'm enjoying it much more than I thought I would, considering how much I like to get my paints out and dabble. I need to work on how the light hits the strawberries. Good old YouTube!  In the end it will look the same as the design I painted but very much clearer and Web-friendly

The original was painted on to mdf and photographed with my phone a few years ago!

It's a pretty fuzzy image and was painted when I was still getting to grips with the idea of shading. Creating the image digitally is, surprisingly, equally as enjoyable and certainly not a quick process - it took about twice as long to produce the digital strawberries as if I had painted them - all those strawberry pips! I'm still trying to master the drawing pad - looking at the screen and moving your hand as two separate tasks is quite alien. I quite often end up using the track pad and keyboard to draw. You have to really concentrate and also need to be organised with the each layer you create.

The crochet projects provide a creative activity which requires very little concentration - almost like meditating as you repeat the mantra - chain 3, treble 3, chain 3, treble 3. Now the yarn has arrived I'm on the last leg of my moorland blanket and loving it. I wanted a curvy edge - I'm afraid it wasn't planned. I just started crocheting. I feel like I need to take a trip out to the local fell and take some pictures, but it is so muddy...

I'll probably stretch it out on my bed to photograph in all it's glory.  It's taken over a year to do (not much crocheting in the summer months) but it was never a must-finish project. I just enjoyed the process.

I've been busy making food for the week because I get home after work and eat cheese on toast because I can't be bothered to do anything else.

Broth is always a good way to get a good mix of vegetables - lunch today with a cheese topped bun. I'll take some to work too but without the bread. You can't have a nap after lunch at work!  The vegetables change each time depending what's in the fridge.  Ideally I like to cook a little piece of ham for the stock but sometimes I just fry some bacon.  This one has leeks, onions, celariac, potatoes, white snowball turnip, and a little sweet potato pinched from the roasted wedges I cooked last week.

Chicken thighs are always a good choice - sticky glazed, yum.  These will go into some fried rice for Will's supper and with some salad leaves for  lunch.

There's beef roasting in the oven for dinner tonight and plenty left over to make some boxes for the freezer for Will's lunch/dinner during the week.

So now I'm going to get hooking and watch the Bahrain F1 and eat the little chocolate present I was given - heaven!

So rich and utterly delicious - very sweet so I'll make a little pot of tea to wash it down. Considering how sweet this is I always surprise myself that I can't tolerate tea with sugar in it!

I might need a little nap first though - how a love a quiet Sunday at home!