​Day 20
​of #savouringjanuary2017 with @gabrielletreanor *Listen*
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I love Audio books, the spoken voice, and cannot listen to music for any length of time.
I am a huge reader but can't read and work, cook, iron, drive, et al, at the same time.
When doing my A-levels I discovered talking books, audio books and have been addicted ever since. The first 'book' I borrowed from the library was 'The Day of the Jackel' I can remember designing a sofa bed for my Design exam project whilst it was on. When I left home for Art college, I thought that I would listen to all the books I 'should' have read but hadn't, only when I went to Dundee's Public Library they had Dick Francis, so the Bronte's hit the dust and Dick Francis hit the spot!
This collection I bought from a secondhand shop and will pass them on to our local MS Centre who take books out to those on the islands who can't get them easily.
I get very frustrated with our local library as they don't have a very big selection and "can't keep up with me"!
I was spoilt by a previous library where, as I was the only person who took them out, they got in what I wanted to listen to. It was wonderful! ..
#savouringjanuary #listen #audiobook #reading #onthego #countryliving #littlestoriesofmylife

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​Day 21
of #savouringjanuary2017 with @gabrielletreanor *Still*
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The view from my studio window this morning. Clear blue sky, there was frost on the hill and, for a change no wind. Bloomin' cold though!!
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#savouringjanuary #still #countryliving #textileartist #winterweather #work #argyll #studio #lovesewing #sewingforme #littlestoriesofmylife

​Day 22
​of #savouringjanuary2017 with @gabrielletreanor *New*
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I have an exhibition opening at the end of March. My first solo exhibition. Rather appropriately it's being held in our local Carers Centre. I've been 'playing' a bit this week with some New techniques.
This is sample piece of reverse needlefelting on wool blanket with the beginnings of some machine embroidered detailing.
Long way to go and lots to do.
Only 67 sleeps till the opening ..... eeeeek!!
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#savouringjanuary #new #textileartist #needlotsoftea #needlefelt #sewingforme #lovesewing #besidethesea

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​Day 23
of #savouringjanuary2017 with @gabrielletreanor *Up*
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This is the Forestry/farm track Up which is my cabin studio. 3/4's of a mile it takes 10 mins to walk down and about three hours to walk up! Only joking, but it feels much longer than 3/4's of a mile.
One very snowy day some years ago I couldn't get the car up the hill and had to walk up, it took almost an hour to trudge, nearly knee deep in snow, to the top. The dogs loved it! Then I helped feed cows and sheeps. It took a week to thaw - the track not me!
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#savouringjanuary #up #studio #forest #countryliving #winterweather #textileartist #dogwalking #snow #littlestoriesofmylife

​Day 24
​ of #savouringjanuary2017 with @gabrielletreanor *Drink*
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Bodkin likes tea almost as much as I do!
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#savouringjanuary #drink #tea #lovesewing #catsofinstagram

​Day 25
of #savouringjanuary2017 with @gabrielletreanor *Smile*
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A smiling pair of horns! This lovely lady lives in the field just down the lane. Highland cows are curious and gentle beasts. I love walking past them, I love the smell of 'cow' and silage.
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#savouringjanuary #smile #highlandcow #countryliving #winterweather #littlestoriesofmylife

​Day 13
​of #savouringjanuary2017 with @gabrielletreanor *Work*
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Pondered over this one for a while what picture to share. In the end I thought I would share where #work happened. I am a very very lucky girl. The wooden cabin is my 'Studio'. My parents farmhouse just behind. This picture was taken by my brother from the hill opposite. Formally self catering/B&B cabin I took it over two years ago. Dad worries about the floor joists and jokes that it is sinking at one end due to the weight of fabric! I have started a clear up today which will include a but if a clear out! Honestly it will....
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#savouringjanuary #work #argyll #studio #textileartist #lovesewing #making #countryliving #textileartist

​Day 14
​of #savouringjanuary2017 with @gabrielletreanor *Fun*
.. After a successful day of sorting and tidying in the Cabin .... #Fun is ... me and B, (with Rosie in the middle) sitting on the sofa watching Dara O'Briain being very funny, having had dinner cooked for me, no dialysis, tea and #christmascake and maybe a glass of Bailey's ... ..
#savouringjanuary #fun #daraobriain #littlestoriesofmylife #itsthelittlethings

Day 15
​of #savouringjanuary2017 with @gabrielletreanor *Comfort*
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I thought long and hard about this post, I've no wish to offend, upset, enter into debate. It's not a popular subject and can & does create antipathy, antagonism and hostility. ..
Faith, my faith, is not something I talk about a lot, I don't feel the need to, but it is important to me. I derive a lot of comfort from it. Knowing that all through the country, all over the world, people are coming together to say familiar words. Words, actions, ceremonies, that have been repeated an uncountable number of times.
Last week I took the service along with a fellow Lay Reader this week I was a simply a member of the congregation. A congregation that has been meeting on that spot for nearly 170 years.
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I take comfort from that history, from the familiar, from my faith and beliefs.
.. #savouringjanuary #comfort #countryliving #history #church #faith #littlestoriesofmylife #scottishepiscopalchurch

​Day 16
of #savouringjanuary2017 with @gabrielletreanor *Grateful*
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I am grateful for many things when I sit down and think about it. But in light of the current difficulties in the NHS, and the criticism that can be levelled at it, I have many reasons to be grateful to it - I know things are slightly different in Scotland.
Not least because if it wasn't for the NHS my husband would be dead many times over!
But just at the moment I am most grateful to them for removing the cancer from this man. My daddy.
So, so, grateful for the news we received shortly before Christmas, that the last operation had been a success, and, that he was, for the first time in six years, cancer free.
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#savouringjanuary #grateful # #cancerfree #nhs #daddy #littlestoriesofmylife

​​Day 17
of #savouringjanuary2017 with @gabrielletreanor *Nature*
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On a very damp and dreich afternoon Rosie and I walked down to the sea. On the harbour verge the bulbs are starting to show, sprinkled with water diamonds the snowdrops are so nearly open. ..
#savouringjanuary #dogwalking #winterweather #nature #snowdrops #seaside #littlestoriesofmylife #Crinan #argyll

​​Day 18
​ if #savouringjanuary2017 with @gabrielletreanor *Eat*
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These four jars of 'basics' live on the work surface to the right of our cooker. Salt, sugar, (plain) flour and porridge oats even though the jar says Frijol which means beans!
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#savouringjanuary #eat #cooking #countryliving #littlestoriesofmylife

​Day 19
​of #savouringjanuary2017 with @gabrielletreanor *Old*
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Part of my collection of vintage Tala-ware. I love the cream and green set so much that I painted my kitchen in the same shades. I have a passion for kitchenalia. Love the used, well worn utensils.
The scales belonged to my grandmother as did the little tin of 'pastry cutters' on the right of the picture, they are actually blue and white but have special dispensation to be on the top of the dresser!
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#savouringjanuary #old #vintage #tala #kitchenalia #countryliving #littlestoriesofmylife

​*Read*
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I love @simplethingsmag and try to make it last as long as I can and it's such a lovely cover this month. Still cosy. Unlike a couple of other ones who have jumped into spring way too quickly. We have too much winter to get through yet before thinking about spring.
 
Also reading my new #DreamPlanDo Planner and getting scared by the questions for which I don't yet know the answers!
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#savouringjanuary #hygge #winterweather #inspiration #simplethings #thinking #countryliving #thedesigntrust #creativebusiness

Day 7
​*Move*
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Evidence that the earth moved! Moles at the edge of a field.
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​#savouringjanuary #move #countryliving #winterweather #quiet

Day 8​ *Warm*
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A day late as I burnt yesterday's porridge and had shredded wheat instead. So today I'm rather more warm this morning with a steaming bowl of porridge. I don't like it too stiff, or too hot, nor with sugar. A bit of a baby bear, I like it just right!
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#savouringjanuary #warm #countryliving #winterweather #hygge #littlestoriesofmylife #

Day 9  *Nourish*
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This view to some might look cold and grey and not v inspiring, never mind nourishing. However walking Rosie dog along the Canal side, and looking out across the River Add and Crinan Ferry even on wet or foggy days, as it was the other day when I took this pic (it was like walking through a cloud), this view with the solitary heron patiently waiting for lunch to swim past, nourishes my artists eye. The beauty in sepia monochrome.
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#savouringjanuary #nourish #countryliving #winterweather

Day 10 ​*Kindness*
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The kindness of strangers (& friends) who took the time to leave comments on a friend's FBpage in response to a couple of pictures she had posted.. They were of Christmas presents I had made, handpainted lampshades. For one which I had used a photograph of hers as inspiration and the other an imaginary scene with a boat. .
It was #kind of her to post the pix of her present, and #kind of others to leave the messages which were so heart warming.
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#savouringjanuary #kindness #textileartist #pictures #lovesewing #making #christmas #lampshade

Day 11 *Soft*
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The soft light of weird winter weather.
I was on my way into town the other day, in a bit of a hurry, but I had to pull over to take this picture.
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#savouringjanuary #soft #countryliving #winterweather #inspiration #textileartist #simplethings #littlestoriesofmylife

Day 12 ​*Love*
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A heart made from mussel shells set into some haily snowy stuff!
I love snow, although living so close to the sea means that we don't get very much, it's always magical when it does arrive and if it stays around...
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#savouringjanuary #love #countryliving #winterweather #besidethesea #coast #argyll #simplethings #inspiration #textileartist #littlestoriesofmylife

#Savouring January 
I spotted Gabrielle Treanor's post on Facebook on her 'Live Happy Your Way' page "Welcome to the new year and #SavouringJanuary2017! Let’s begin the year with a little mindful intention, noticing those small moments of joy and pausing to savour them. Feel free to share the list, join in as much or as little as you like on Instagram, whatever you’re comfortable with."

​And decided I would try and join in as much as I could.  So far so good.  You can follow me (and others using the hashtag #SavouringJanuary2017) on Instagram.  Needlesmiths on Instagram

Day 1​
I have spent much if today wondering how I was going to illustrate 'Quiet' as part of the #savouringjanuary with the lovely @gabrielletreanor. Which part of today was quiet? When I was writing my #morningpages ? But I photot'd that yesterday. Wld it be when I sat down this afternoon for a cup of tea and a piece of #christmascake ? Or when I was gardening briefly this afternoon? Actually that wasn't very quiet as the birds were making a racket, very pretty but not what could be called quiet. But then this happened. ... B is on his machine, we've had dinner and I've cleared away and up, candles and the fire are lit, the TV is off and Rosie went to sleep. Now it is quiet. She has been very barky, mostly due to boredom and lack of exercise. She it still limping on one leg and skips it, or walks on three, when out so walks have been short. Also, B was watching Planet Earth and she felt the need to see off, and protect us from, the bears, and the fox, and the lions, and the bison, and all the other creatures, except for the bugs.
When she's good she's very, very, good but when she is bad she is very, very, noisy!

​​Day 2 of #savouringjanuary2017 with @gabrielletreanor *List*
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Today's was an easy one I am the Queen of list making and have been known to make lists of the lists I need to write!
This was this mornings list. I broke part of the day down into half hour slots, working on the little and often bitesize chunks theory. Started off well then went a bit awol, tried to catch up but then a friend called for a chat and that was far more important than chores! .
#list #littlestoriesofmylife #chores

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​Day 3 of #savouringjanuary2017 with @gabrielletreanor *Soothe*
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How to soothe a fretting mind and a calm a panicky heart? Bath, bubbles, candles, tea and an unread magazine. Although the @countryhomesmag magazine got the mind hamster running so I swapped to a book instead. Now sat in front of the fire in brushed cotton pj's & fluffy bed socks, a hygge moment, calmer, soothed.
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#savouringjanuary #hygge #littlestoriesofmylife #countryliving #bubblebath

​Day 4 of #savouringjanuary2017 with @gabrielletreanor *Energy*
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Woke up this morning without any, at all, totally lacking any oomph. So, how to illustrate? I've decided to share this pic of my new #DreamPlanDo book. 'Business Energy' (on the way!)
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#savouringjanuary #energy #dreaming #planning #starting #smallbusiness #countryliving #textileartist

And so to the the 'Adventures of Dora and Dymph'.  Who are they?  Well actually it is simply me, Dymph a pet name used by my dad, and my bicycle, Dora, (does anyone else sing Be-Eye See-Why See Ell Ee when spelling bicycle? Remnants of spelling tests).   I wanted this to be the Adventures of Dora and Rosie but Rosie has a sorely leg at the moment and isn't up to running alongside the bike,  and for the purposes of alliteration, Dymph it is.
Anyway, a couple of months ago I bought a new-to-me electric bike and I've named her Dora.  'Dora the 'splorer', 'A-Dora-ble', 'A-Dora-bike'.... 1950's styled, with a basket, wide leather seat, British racing green, and she's 'electrically assisted' with a go faster button (look no pedals!).  After a bit of a hiccup, I couldn't get the electric bit to go and being built along the lines of a Volvo, she's a very heavy peddle only bike!  But a friends other half came to my rescue and sorted it out.  On my third trip I popped Rosie dog into the basket.  She sat beautifully, ears streaming back in the wind, front paws on the edge of the basket ...... then she decided to jump!  Even though she was attached to  the basket by a lead, she broke the clip, I tried to avoid cycling over her, so headed in to a grassy bank where I landed on my shoulder and bashed my nose on my glasses.  Shakily, I retrieved dog and bike and we walked home again!  That was the last time I went out as it took a wee while for my shoulder to heal, and then the weather turned vile. Although I have a new dog house, for the back of the bike this time, and it zips her in completely, Rosie has a 
So, today, sunshine and frost and New Year determination, I decided I would go out along the canal as far as Bellanoch to  'run myself in'.

Just a short ride that cleared the pipes and got the blood pumping and maybe waking the odd endorphin.  
​Along with picking up blogging and generally writing regularly again, and Morning Pages, and Artists Day I'm also embarking on the 100 Day Goal with the Business Bakery.  My Dream Plan Do planner is on the way from the Design Trust.  Designed for cretive types by the inspirational Patricia van den Akker, I'm looking forward to developing'Needlesmiths' with it's suugestions and guidance; and then a couple of gentle, more personal, 'happiness', online courses with lovely Gabrielle from The Green Gables; and a some creative online courses with the incomparable Marna Lunt's Illuminating Embroidery and I'm very excited about going to Cambridgeshire at the start of February when I'm going on the 'Making Winter' creative retreat with the fabulous Emma Mitchell aka Silverpebble.
So, a lot to look forward to and to be positive about.  
Sincerely hoping that 2017 will be happier and less stressful than 2016 was.  As a family we rounded off the year with the wonderful news that my dad is cancer free for the first time in 6+ years.  
Thank you to everyone who has dropped by to see what Needlesmiths is all about attened courses, followed me on the various social media oulets I find myself on.  For now I am off to bed so that I can get up early to write my Morning Pages.  Then it's up to the Cabin/Studio to start sorting out and tidying up...
Wishing you all a very Happy, Healthy, Creative, and Fabulous Year. 
​Kx