Cancer threat (CT)

The sharpened dagger enters
Not once, not twice but thrice
Bruising, purple
As the robe of Christ.

Colourless dye
All-seeing, all-knowing
Search out the deadly sin
Seek out tortuous, moving guilt
Wrapped invisibly to naked eye.
Strangling and killing.

Rush your warmth, cold comfort borne
Shake fear and pain inside the tomb
Liquid death knell do your deed
Seek out cells and shade them
A rainbow, a myriad of colour.
No room to move, no breath to take.

A picture, snapshot
Of how it appears to man who
Cannot see the gram of death
Behind the weary bones.

Growing, enveloping,
Rushing, destroying
Tiny, tiny, tiny specks
Breaking free, multiplying
Destroying equilibrium
Destroying hope
Destroying joy
Destroying peace.

And when finally
The result appears
It’s clear and safe
- this time
Will not anxiety reign free
To begin again another day?

Isle of Wight

A little break last week amidst the anxiety of C being in hospital. We had chosen a hotel on the seafront at Sandown and had a balcony room. It was lovely to wake to the waves gently rushing forwards and to the sunrise over the sea. We pretty much covered most of the island in travel apart from Yarmouth area and Newport. My favourite village was Godshill - a kind of grockley Miss Marple place.

And here's a photo of Bembridge Windmill too.

Uni - is it week 4 or 5?

Hmm work for Uni is piling up and I've had to organise two sessions to 'shadow' work colleagues in preparation for a reflective essay due in in early December. Additionally we must produce a presentation on an aspect of our work to the group in a few weeks. For the shadowing I've chosen to focus on the reason why/how they use the pupil achievement data and of course the reflection will be about my part in it and how I could better support these colleagues in their role. The first unit about education is very useful and today we looked at good teaching and learning styles.
I think it must be week 4.

It's a girl thing

Purchased these stamps from Sugar Nellie for making cards for breast cancer awareness month. They were beautiful stamps to use and I was pleased with the result. Money raised I have sent to Breast Cancer Campaign. I marketed the cards at the craft fair as being for people to give to someone they knew who had had or survived cancer or just to let a friend know they cared. There was lots of interest and I have sold about half of the ones I made.

I bought a stamp which said 'it's a girl thing' and stamped this on the back of every card.

A little stamping

Made a card a couple of weeks ago for my sister who was moving into a bungalow. I've used background papers and various stamps and acetate pictures from Crafty Individuals. Also printed some quotes and photos onto Safmat and burnished them on to make a kind of collage effect.

Heat Transfer Dyeing

Further to my post about Jackie's workshop here are the photos of the work we did. And I made one piece of material into an engagement card for my sister and fiance. You can see they are all 'happy accidents'.

Jackie said we could buy them through Fibrecrafts and I've ordered the catalogue but whilst waiting I looked up on Google and came across Ario website which does cheaper transfer dye - I don't know if it's any good but it might be worth a try.

A kind of help

It's funny when you are feeling like the proverbial '**' how if you are not looking something helps a little tiny bit to make you feel like things could just be okay for just a very little while. And so it is with Jackie's textile workshops and how it is with Gina. It doesn't last however and by the time I'm part way down the A340 (and sometimes just getting in my car) I'm in floods of tears again.
After a particularly horrible week at work I had a little hour or two of calm with Jackie and we did some hot iron fabric transfer work using leaves and lace as masks on fabric. It became clear that you didn't have to be good, the 'happy accidents' just worked and you ended up with a passable result that seemed to please. Experimenting was the key and for a short while I began to breathe a little freer. Back in my car, my house, my work, reality is there and I am me and there is no getting away from that fact that I have this huge pain in head and heart and body and I don't know how to make it all go away and I can't breathe and life is overwhelming and why did Andrew go and why did Janet leave and why is she so much in my head it is so very very painful I can't bear it.

Craft event

I was invited to have a table selling my cards in aid of breast cancer research charities at a church Harvest Festival in Ashford Hill. I made approx £90. By all accounts a very good two days and the 'photo cards' sold really well. I met the Bishop of Winchester. He looked at my book and had a copy. It seemed a funny thing for a Bishop to read a book called Flying Towards Hell, but well he said he would and he would use it in his chapel. I wonder if he will.