More Bear, and Mouse Repairs and Return to Work

I went back to work yesterday as I tested negative and felt mainly better. It was a hard day though as once I got there I realised I didn't feel that great and it was also very hot so I was moving at a very slow pace! I feel much better today though and have almost returned to my normal level of activity. I didn't do much last week, apart from sewing-making little sampler type things with scraps and embroidery thread. They were relaxing to do and I like small projects. I also repaired the cardigan of my Mum's bear, and made her a little dress from some vintage Laura Ashley fabric I got for a pound in Greenwich recently. She looks really pretty in her new dress. The other repair is of Mickey, my companion since I was three. I did it a while ago now. He is sitting on the left below, next to charity shop floor rescued blue bear with no nose. He was face down on the dusty charity shop floor a while ago and I couldn't leave him there. I have a problem leaving bears on the floor! He was 50p! I still have not given him a nose though. 

Mickey has been repaired numerous times, by my Mum, Nan and Gran, and also by me. He has had a few recoverings and bears no resemblance to his original self. 

Once I had taken all the coverings off, what remained was a very threadbare body with no arms, and big holes everywhere. There were a few wisps of fur, and a little original foot fabric. The knitting is part of his repairs in the past. 

First of all I used cotton fabric ro fill the holes, and reconstruct his nose and arms. This meant I was able to stuff him. I used Kapok as it seemed more suitable than polyfill. He was originally stuffed with that horrid foam stuff in small pieces. I think it was the stuffing of choice in the 60s.

It took a long time to get around to this repair as I couldn't find the right fabric. Then I found a grey needlecord miniskirt in the charity shop which was a little stretchy and was perfect. I already had the mohair fur fabric. The red fabric is from Hobbycraft. 

The card on the right is from my parents' friends who I think gave me Mickey. It is hard to believe that he looked like that at one time! It was great to have a reference picture. I didn't recreate the hands and feet. 

Once he was stuffed I made each part of him separately then sewed him in. It is like a suit really! I like how he has turned out, and hopefully I won't need to repair him again!

Here is Mum's bear in her new dress and darned cardigan. You can see how lovely the fabric is. It has a lovely sheen to it. 
 

Time on my Hands Due to Covid

I have let months go by without writing or sharing anything here. Somehow I just didn't feel like it and there is no point doing something if you don't feel like it. But tonight, with at least another five days of nothingness ahead of me, I suddenly feel like it! Andy had covid last week and is still testing positive today, and I now have it, starting from Sunday so cannot go to school for at least five days. I found out yesterday afternoon that my school have Ofsted this week so lucky timing of finally catching covid. I felt ok yesterday, but have felt worse today. Mainly aching, and a bad headache and headachey eyes. I took paracetamol which has helped. Also very tired. I had a long sleep in the middle of the day today as nothing else seemed viable. Anyway, have perked up slightly now. 

Eyeless (temporarily) bear from the floor of Deptford market. I was there at closing time one evening a couple of months ago and the stall holders just leave stuff behind on the ground. There were a couple of people searching through it for anything worth taking and at first I didn't join them, even though I wanted to. I was way too early to meet my friend so was walking circuits of the area, and twice walked past sad panda lying on the ground. I went back to my car to get a bag, then swooped in to rescue him. Only five minutes later the bin lorries were there scooping up all the stuff so he was saved from ending his furry days in a litter crusher. He was destuffed, machine washed, restuffed, combed and is now awaiting eyes. I have some, but have not yet sewn them on. Him and eyeless bear have been waiting a while. His fur came up pretty well and is very soft after washing. 

Large faced lady drawn with alcohol markers on a gessoed background in my current journal. It is made out of packaging paper and an Amazon cardboard envelope. I have made a few handmade books this year. Two of them were from old envelopes.

Polystyrene tile print based on large faced lady. 

                   

This is the view from my storage container on the Isle of Sheppey. It is pretty full now. I don't honestly know where all the stuff fitted in the flat. And the flat is not at all empty looking. But it is better. And is allowing me some space to gradually do jobs. Gradually being the word. 

Poor ratty was nearby on one of my visits. The containers are hopefully rat proof. They seal pretty well. I guess he or she was a victim of poison. I had to get rid of a much smaller rat, but still a rat from the bedroom of one of my cat clients recently. They were away for three weeks and their house was being shown to potential buyers so lucky that I spotted the rat early in the morning!

This was a recent discovery whilst cat sitting in a different part of Greenwich. It is a really lovely little area with lots of hidden alleys and paths and some lovely buildings. The cats happened to be next door neighbours so that saved me some travelling time!

I moved a large piece of furniture out of the kitchen so can move the remaining things around more easily. There was detaching plaster coving around the room and peeling lining paper on the ceiling. Both of which came off much more easily than expected. I now need to remove paper residue and then paint the ceiling and whole room. Then do the flooring. 

It was fun peeling the paper off!

I am making a baby blanket for Sophie who I used to work with. Her baby is not due until September so I have a while. I am doing a wavy pattern and have done about four rows of colour. 

Deptford market painting that I quite liked but not enough to bring it home. 

Cat friend. He is not scratchning me here but saying hello!

Finally is this picture of Andy wearing a wig I got in Deptford market. I got it for mannequin head purposes but Andy tried it on and we laughed a lot at the change in appearance it brought about!

 

Birdwatching

House Sparrows in the dogwood the other day. They kept flying off and coming back again like a little gang. There must have been insects in the branches though I didn't see them eating. We used to call them Spadgers at home. Andy used to call them Spuggies. I am from Kent and he is from Northumberland. Apparently they are called Spyng or Spurdie in the Orkneys, and Chummy, Craff and Hoosie in other places. They are the perfect LBB. (Little Brown Bird-I think that is a kind of twitcher joke for unidentified birds) A number of years ago there was quite a decline in their numbers, and I remember noticing there were not as many around. They are on the endangered species list in the UK I think but their numbers are gradually climbing. Another good excuse for being a fairly messy gardener!

They only weigh around 25-35 grams!

 

Foggy Muddiness

Lower Halstow at 2.30 this afternoon. Fog, bird calls, and thick clay mud, pushed up by machines into a large mud pie for a giant. Not sure what work they are doing there. We only popped by on the way back from Antony's. Unlike the first time we visited, the tide was low and the water wound through the mud until it disappeared into the fog.

 

Danger Electricity

I would like to be one of those Mudlarks who finds tiny and precious thngs, which will all fit inside a shoebox, and not involve heavy bags dripping with stinking mud and river water on the long walk back to the car. I am not. I see big things and blue things. Blue glass stands out beautifully so can be tiny and I will see it. Bricks with lettering have a strange fascination and I have got a small collection. In this box are all my partial electricity cable bricks. I have one that is nearly whole, and I like the small piece that says CITY. The Ramsay brick is from Rotherhithe. I saw it on a gloomy winter afternoon and decided to be sensible, and leave it embedded where it was. Then I got all obsessive once I got home, and went back early one morning, possibly the next morning but I can't remember. That is one of only two times I have been on the foreshore in the dark. It was very early in the morning, about 5.30 or 6 and a bright full moon. It was a bit scary and spooky but magical at the same time. I knew exactly where it was buried so could go straight there and then home again. The piece of carved marble is from the foreshore at Woolwich. There are lots of pieces of lovely marble there. I still have not been to the foreshore properly for ages, but I did pop down there on the way to Esme the cat on Christmas day. I picked up one thing, a piece of china with a wing on it, possibly that of an angel.

Sheerness

Another trip to the storage unit today, and time for a coffee on the beach! It was a beautiful day. I picked up pretty stones, strolled along for a while, then off home again. My storage unit is now very full. We are having some damp curing work done in the bedroom next week, so I have been trying to clear even more stuff. My routine is to go there, then to go on to Sheerness which is about two miles away, and get breakfast from Tesco's cafe, then go to the beach. Last time I went I didn't get to the beach as it was absolutely pouring down. Today was much better. 

 Hi Again! 

The last picture is the remains of a wooden post. So worn but still there! The small piers are called groynes and are there to limit coastal erosion, trap sediment and stop longshore drift.

Boaty McBoatface

It is not Boaty Mc Boatface, but the Sir David Attenborough. (I think some people voted to name it the first name but the more sensible choice was taken!) (Here is the story of Boaty McBoatface)It is owned by the British Antarctic Survey and is a polar exploration and research ship. It was in Greenwich in October, and I was there early one morning after a cat visit so went to have a look. The light was beautiful and I wanted to post some of the pictures I took, but never got around to it.            A much older ship, The Cutty Sark, and the dome is the Greenwich foot tunnel entrance. 

The Shard and the Post Office Tower, which are about six/seven miles away. Convoys Wharf can just be seen behind the ship. The foreshore there is one of the places I go sometimes, not that I have done that for a while. The site itself is the focus of a local campaign to get it developed into something good for the community, rather than yet another exclusive and expensive property development.

Some pretty hefty lifting equipment.

Happy New Year to anyone reading. I have had a long blogging gap but want to come back now!