This is The Tea Song (from Yorkshire Tea), full of amazing FACTS about the healing properties of the cup that cheers!
November 27, 2013
November 22, 2013
Call the cops - it's #StripeyFriday!
There is a small group of silly souls who make sure that every Friday, they are wearing something stripey. This dates back many years, to one Friday at the company several of us used to work for, when, quite by coincedence, a whole bunch of people turned up in stripes... and the tradition of #StripeyFriday was born.
These days the stripey solidarity takes place on Twitter. Join us! Don your stripes, tweet a photo to @stripeyfriday, tagging it #stripeyfriday, and the Stripey Police will decide if they pass muster!
* SONG OF THE DAY: Kit & The Widow - A Policeman's Lot Is Not A Happy One *
August 15, 2013
Art Everywhere: even at Crawley Bus Station!
Here's In A Shoreham Garden, by Samuel Palmer, its profusion of blossom adding some welcome colour to Crawley Bus Station. The real thing lives at the V&A Museum in London.
See also: Samuel Palmer: Vision and Landscape - review by Andrew Graham-Dixon in The Daily Telegraph, 13 November 2005.
June 23, 2013
Snail card for Isabel
Image (c) Kristen Bailey 2013
This birthday card for Isabel was inspired by my new hobby - catching snails munching holes in the plants in my parents' garden... and hurling them over the fence!
June 07, 2013
Free flowers!
(c) Kristen Bailey 2013
I can't afford to buy flowers at the moment but I spotted a huge swathe of germander speedwell (Veronica chamaedrys) growing in a shady spot at the side of the road, so I helped myself to a few (I only ever pick if there are plenty more left behind). They are so pretty, a beautiful purpley-blue. Not sure Cath Kidston would approve of the commemorative France 98 'vase' though.
* SONG OF THE DAY: George Gershwin - Rhapsody In Blue *
May 07, 2013
Portslade Mushrooms
Image (c) Kristen Bailey 2013
Spotted on Victoria Road, Portslade. Wonderful!
April 27, 2013
Scott & Bailey help Greater Manchester Police track down wanted boy
Gangnam Style for Joshua via YouTube
Greater Manchester Police has teamed up with the cast of cop show Scott & Bailey to help raise money for Joshua Wilson, a local boy who was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2004.
Officers from the Prestwich and Whitefield Neighbourhood Policing Team, the Chief Constable and cast of Scott & Bailey demonstrate their best Gangnam dance moves in a video for the Whitefield student.
Joshua was diagnosed with his first brain tumour when he was just three years old and intrusive surgery means that he now has severe neuromuscular disabilities that require a fully adapted home. His family needs to raise £25,000 to pay for a ceiling track hoist, special building work and other basic equipment.
GMP’s film features the Chief Constable fronting a mock press conference to help track down one of GMP’s most notorious villains, none other than Joshua. Inspector Mark Kenny from the Prestwich and Whitefield Neighbourhood Policing Team said: “Joshua loves the police and when he got in touch to see if there was anything we could do to help, we were only too happy to help out.
For more information or to donate, please visit www.superjosh.org.uk
© ITV - The Red Production Company
Amelia Bullmore, Suranne Jones & Lesley Sharp in
character as Gill Murray, Rachel Bailey & Janet Scott
April 18, 2013
Surprise package!
Awwww. I've been going through rather a tough time lately, things have seemed pretty bleak. But I was blown away when this care package arrived from my sister, full of things to cheer me up!
Magazines, chocolate, bubble bath, comedy film Pitch Perfect, a lavender candle, some dinosaur socks, Rae Earl's My Mad Fat Teenage Diary (I love the TV version) and a Quentin Blake James & The Giant Peach bookmark. Thanks, chuck! Kxx
March 13, 2013
Big Issue vendors design their own adverts
A group of Big Issue vendors have got together with ad agency M&C Saatchi and independent typographer Stephen Kenny of A Two Pipe Problem Letterpress to design and create their own adverts, using 19th century letterpress equipment.
The national print and outdoor campaign, #SupportLocalBusiness, aims to highlight the fact that Big Issue vendors are small businesses in their own right, earning their living rather than receiving charity. The video above documents the project and includes interviews with the vendor designers.
* SONG OF THE DAY: Towa Tei & Kylie Minogue - GBI (German Bold Italic) *
Designs by vendors (c) The Big Issue
Heartease for Kids Company: knit something special for deprived kids
The Heartsease project is a collaboration between R&B Handknit Designs, The UK Hand Knitting Association and the charity Kids Company (www.kidsco.org.uk). Kids Company supports 18,000 children and young people who live in exceptional poverty and have experienced chronic neglect and abuse.
Through Heartsease, knitters can extend care to children they have never met by sending them special heart-shaped bags. There are two patterns, one very simple and one slightly more advanced - you can download them from the Heartease website. You can add any trimmings you like to make them really special, and even include an encouraging note for a young person if you want to.
The bags will be used by the Kids Company team in therapy sessions with the young people they are working with. The bags will contain messages of hope and the 'pockets' can hold small keepsakes and treasures.
Heartsease runs until 14th February 2014 (Valentine's Day).
* SONG OF THE DAY: Adele - To Make You Feel My Love *
Images 1&3 (c) R&B Handknit Designs, Image 2 (c) Kids Company
February 18, 2013
Miranda Hart in Absolutely Fabulous
In which our vertically illustrious heroine appears as Yoko ("I'm Japanese..."), assistant to Nathan Lane's Lagerfeld-esque gallery owner. Love that sequinned beret. Not sure about the monobrow.
* SONG OF THE DAY: The Pet Shop Boys - Absolutely Fabulous *
Miranda Hart in BBC's Absolutely Fabulous (c) BBC
February 11, 2013
Wizard of Oz card for Cathy
Design and photo (c) Kristen Bailey 2012
Cathy's favourite film is The Wizard of Oz, and she does seem a long way from her English home now she has a new one in Alberta, Canada - but there's still no-one like her.
The Bible verses I included are Psalm 139:13 and Luke 12:6-7 (I like the The Message translation).
* SONG OF THE DAY: Elvis Costello - Red Shoes *
February 10, 2013
Bear brooch by Gabi Reith for Small Stories
This is my beautiful new brooch, handmade by Gabi Reith of Small Stories. I've been ogling her work for a while now, especially her limited edition, handpainted wooden brooches, which are inspired by fairy tales and nursery rhymes.
I promised myself that if I got some birthday money I would buy one! I did, so this 'The Bear Went Over The Mountain' brooch is all mine. It's gone on my new winter coat and it makes me happy every time I look at it.
You can buy Gabi's work on Etsy and Folksy.
* SONG OF THE DAY: The Shamen - Move Any Mountain *
February 09, 2013
February 06, 2013
Portrait of the Artist as a Tea Drinker
All images (c) Kristen Bailey 2013
Today I stopped off at the hospice shop's cafe for a brew. Sat by myself, I was gazing round the room when I suddenly noticed my own reflection in my steel teapot! I don't usually like taking my own picture but here I am almost unrecognisable... and I love that my teacup is in the shot. I *am* a pretty dedicated tea drinker :)
* SONG OF THE DAY: Elbow - Mirrorball *
January 30, 2013
November 25, 2012
Christmas Jumper Day for Save the Children
All images (c) Save the Children 2012
Friday 14 December 2012 is Christmas Jumper Day! People up and down the country will be wearing a Christmas jumper to raise money for Save the Children's life-changing work with the world's poorest children. You can wear an old Christmas jumper, decorate a plain one to make it festive, or...
Save the Children would love you to knit your own Christmas Jumper and have unique patterns available (see below) to download from their website, when you register for Christmas Jumper Day. Wear it yourself, give it to a friend or family member in return for a donation, sell it on eBay, or donate it to a Save the Children shop to sell on.
For more ideas on how to knit for charity, visit my Knitting for UK Charities page.
*SONG OF THE DAY: Tom Jones & Cerys Matthews - Baby It's Cold Outside*
October 15, 2012
Sheep loveheart for Sean & Aileen
Design and image (c) Kristen Bailey
This is a gift for Sean and Aileen on their first anniversary. Aileen loves sheep.
When she was getting married, Aileen sent me a swatch of the fabric of her dress, so I could match it with some satin flowers I was making for her (to be fashioned into a beautiful hairslide - see below - by our friend Cathy). I still had this little piece of material a year later, so I used it to back a heart cut-out on the reverse of this loveheart (but I seem to have forgotten to take a pic of this view before I put it in the post!).
* SONG OF THE DAY: The Housemartins - Sheep *
September 10, 2012
Knitting for new mums in Sierra Leone (Freedom from Fistula Foundation)
Mother and baby doing well thanks to the Freedom from Fistula Foundation
In Sierra Leone, the Freedom from Fistula Foundation manages The Aberdeen Women's Centre. This centre currently provides free surgeries to women injured in childbirth, runs a children's clinic, and now has a maternity clinic.
The goal of the new maternity clinic is to provide mothers in Sierra Leone with quality care during childbirth which will have the double benefit of reducing the number of childbirth injuries, as well as helping to reach the worldwide Millennium Development Goal #5 which aims to reduce maternal mortality across the developing world.
The Aberdeen Women's Centre now has the capacity to: deliver 1,500 babies each year in the maternity clinic; treat up to 500 women each year in the fistula clinic; and treat more than 6,000 children each year in the outpatient clinic.
The Freedom From Fistula Foundation has pledged to give each new baby a cardigan, jumper or blanket as a gift before they leave the hospital. They're extremely grateful for all donations in all colours* and sizes!
Completed garments can be sent to:
Freedom from Fistula Foundation
Robertson House
1 Whitefriars Crescent
Perth PH2 0PA
For more ideas on how to knit for charity, visit my Knitting for UK Charities page.
* Please avoid white, as it is associated with mourning in many African cultures.
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