My Family and Other Animals

My Family and Other Animals is a charming novel by Gerald Durrell, where the author pens his adventures as a young boy. He moved to Corfu with his eccentric family; mother, 2 brothers and a sister, and a number of pets. Gerald has an unsurpressable interest in nature; namely all things that move, slither, swim, fly etc. Slowly the family home is taken over with new additions to the family pets, becoming more like a zoo. The novel is a charming comedy which follows the lives of the family, their unusual visitors and a young boy's adventures as he runs around the island trying to capture all creatures in his path.

Quilt for Baby J

As I think the recipient of this quilt is unlikely to look at my blog, I thought that I would upload some pictures of the final product. If you do look at this blog and then receive this in the next couple of weeks, please try to look surprised.




The quilt is bound with royal blue binding, and most of the fabric is from my somewhat limited stash (a couple of things were purchased especially for the purpose of this quilt). It came together pretty quickly and I'm pleased with how it appears overall. It was quite hard to choose colours as we don't know the sex of the baby, so I tried to keep it as neutral as possible, although I think I may have made it look a bit more boyish by adding the blue binding. Still, you live and learn.

Well, this is my first completed quilt! :-)

An unexpected weekend of productivity

Just in case the recipient of this quilt looks at my blog before I give this to her - this is just a teaser. Considering I have a big interview coming up in three days time, I didn't think that I'd have a productive weekend! However, in between reading government documents and doing research, thanks to my housemate's sewing machine (and a Facebook fast because of Lent) I managed to finish sewing together a quilt top and have even basted it. Whilst doing that I've been listening to my itunes and enjoying listening to whole albums instead of just snippets of songs, and have been contemplating my answers to questions that I think may come up at my interview. Sewing has been a really good way of taking my mind off my nerves.

I don't know if anyone reads this, but please pray or keep fingers crossed (and toes if you can manage it!) for the interview.

Signs of Spring

Spring is finally here - bulbs that were planted in October are beginning to poking their heads out of the near freezing soil, daylight is lasting beyond my working hours, buds are appearing on trees with the promise of blossoms and leaves, colourful flowers are bouncing in the breeze breaking up the dull grey of winter, days are beginning to be filled sunshine that contains warmth that cuts through the cold. Welcome Spring - you've been missed!

Ulysses

Tonight I have just finished reading James Joyce's epic Ulysses. Wow! Wow for two reasons - one: I managed to finish this, and two: I actually enjoyed it! Well, parts of it. I enjoyed some narrative voices more than others, I'll have to admit, but there were parts of the book that I couldn't put down. It's a very risque book, and must have been very controversial in its day. I was surprised that the final chapter (section?) of the book contained a female narrative voice, having got used to following Mr Bloom around with his various voices: question and answer, hallucination, religious prose etc, it was a bit of a shock to end the book with the rambling thoughts of Molly Bloom, the wife who is alluded to but often absent from Bloom's day. The final chapter was written as a stream of consciousness, rambling sentences that don't have any punctuation, endless sentences that roll into one - thoughts that merge and then move on. Ulysses is one of the most complicated novels I've ever read. This might have something to do with my lack of knowledge of Greek mythology (Ulysses being based on Homer's Odyssey) but possibly on the acknowledged fact that Joyce wrote this epic as a challenge for his academic peers. Having managed to complete this - I think it might be time to read something a little bit lighter! Comedy anyone?