Hello … I’m back! I‘ve been away for a while. M.I.A. (Missing In Action) for what feels like years, and although I kept trying to pick up the blogging ropes again, real life kept coming up with other stuff and *threw a spanner into my plans and thoroughly messed things up.
*’threw a spanner into . . .’ [normally ‘the works’] is a British term, used when something upsets your plans or messes around with anything you might be doing and generally puts a stop to your plans or ideas etc.
Where have I been and why? Well … I’ve not been travelling the world (sadly). I’ve stayed right where I am, – and I thankfully haven’t had Coronavirus or Covid 19 – so I count that as a massive blessing. Although health problems did come into the equation.
Originally I lost my crafty mojo. It was as if my brain had forgotten how to be creative! I have a craft room of amazing incredibleness, and couldn’t seem to be able to bring forth the creativeness which lives inside me 100% of the time. So to have lost my mojo, for what felt like forever, was upsetting to the point of depressing. How the heck did I lose my mojo? It was attached to me like Peter Pans shadow was sewn to him by Wendy Darling.
Then . . . I had a flare up of medical problems. … I suffer with the ‘amusing’ problem(s) of nerve damage, caused by a road traffic accident some years ago in which I injured my lower spine. Added to that, a beautiful combination, my body developed diabetic neuropathy a few years ago (another nerve damage thing) and these two things decided to gang up together in order to have a little fun of their own making, and it caused horrible havoc in my body for rather a long time. Miserable pair of beggars. (grrr).
Then … with the belief that I am a Superwoman who can achieve ANYTHING I WANT, (I’m not and I can’t), I tried to shift the garden bench roughly 12 inches, by shoving it with my thigh. The result of this unbelievable stupidity was a great big, massively HOT, KABOOM, felt in my lower spine, – reminding me that I’m not ‘Super’ anything, other than SUPER STUPID! Which Mr.Cobs confirmed, with those exact words too!
Then … (as if that wasn’t enough), three weeks later, I only went and injured my knee by giving it a thoroughly good whacking on the corner of our big wooden bed. “Darn it!“, “Oh dear me!” and “For Goodness sake!” were sort of the words which popped out of my mouth, … followed by some tears. Mr.Cobs called out an enquiry of:- …. “What the heck was that big bang?” from the living room, to which I could only tearfully shout back:- “It was ME!”.
So anyway …. ‘Real Life’ was also going on at the same time, with it’s Coronavirus Lock-down and social distancing; Mothers Day; A Grandchild’s Birthday (I’ve spent every birthday with him since he was born… in fact, I was there when he was born!); being confined to the house like a prisoner; etc etc. The result was a situation of dreadful fed upness, and some things just had to go onto the back burner until I was ready to pick them up again. So … that’s where I’ve been and that’s some of what kept me ‘busy’ and not blogging!
But anyhoo . . . . Moving forward ... I felt the desire to create something. But it wasn’t the normal paper, paint, clay, card designing or any of the things I normally create.
I’d seen some really lovely creations made by Textile Artists and had the greatest desire to have a proper ‘go’ at this magical art form. I had a bit of an idea about using textiles for things other than their intended use, as I’d done a short textiles course about twelve years ago. But the important thing was that I wanted to try something. I wanted to create. My creativeness was putting in a phone call, and I answered the call!
Sooooo – I am now officially a self taught Textile Artist. I’m creating art works using fabric and textiles.
I’ve made some things which I want to share with you, but I haven’t taken any photos yet, so that’s my job for this week.
I’m also having a ‘go’ at writing a book. Yup, me! Some of you said I should write one, and I knew I had a book inside me, waiting to get out, and finally it’s happening. It’s only at it’s very beginning – but that, according to a song I know – is a very good place to start!
It’s so lovely to be back chatting with you. OH MY GOOD GARDEN CABBAGE! I almost forgot … during my ‘away from blog land’ time, a knock came at the door one day and Mr.Cobs went to answer it. It was a police lady. She’d come to enquire about me. Where I was? and How I was? Was I there? Could she see me, please? Oh.My.Goodness! – what had I done to cause the Police to come to the door asking to see me?!!! Totally freaked me out!
I hobbled to the door with the help of two walking sticks and the lovely Police lady reassured me that I hadn’t done anything wrong, but they had received an enquiry that they had to follow up on. Apparently someone via my blog and WordPress, had contacted the authorities and asked for someone to check on me and make sure I was still alive!
I have never felt so guilty for doing nothing than I did right at that moment!
I didn’t even know that you could ask the police to go and check up on someone in this sort of circumstance!
I had to confirm it really was me by giving my date of birth, place of birth, and various other questions which I can’t now remember, and then she very quietly asked if everything was OK at home? Flippin’ heck… she thought Mr.C might have been knocking me about, or keeping me from blogging! I laughed raucously … and the police lady began to laugh too. Well, the end result was that I told her I felt very guilty that valuable Police time had been wasted all because I hadn’t blogged for a while, and I couldn’t apologise enough to her for all this wasting of police time.
She was so sweet, and said that if they receive an enquiry like this, they have a duty to investigate. She said that someone associated with WordPress and my blog had made the enquiry and she could now send re-assurances that I was indeed alive and it was merely real life and some health problems which were keeping me from blogging at that time.
So .. to whoever it was who made the initial contact with the police – I do hope that you received the confirmation that I was Ok and still alive and that life had simply been a bit of a trial! Please let me know if it was you, so that I can be re-assured that your concerns were answered.
This all sounds like the last few months of absence have been dreadful, and in some ways they have … but there have been wonderful moments too. I had a significant birthday (ending in an 0), which, despite lock down, was so very lovely. The nicest anniversary – with bunting put up in the garden and afternoon tea. Some really beautiful, magical changes in our little garden. Oh! … and … there has been a new addition to the family. But … I’ve blathered on for more than long enough, so I’ll tell you about that another time.
Right now … I’d better get going on some photographs so that I can share the evidence of actually being a ‘Textile Artist’! (I’m sure I’ll still be working with papers, clay, paint and card again at some point so please don’t give up on me!).
In the meantime, I send my love and one huge bucket of squidges to each of you.
The Art of Cobwebs 