So. It's been two weeks since my last post - as I warned you, last week I went home for the opening of the Carbon Footprint Project exhibition, which was a subset of the larger Lovely Weather project. You've already heard about the aims of the Carbon Footprint project, and the whole exhibition wad similarly themed around the notion of climate change, environment, etc etc. How was it? Well.....look. This is my blog. I can express my opinions, my honest opinions, which can sometimes be hard to express in person without being  unnecessarily rude and perhaps hurtful. I thought the rest of the exhibition was pretty crap. With the exception of one piece which had turf samples taken from different areas, different depths, and had some literature discussing how turf is one of our great natural resources and must be protected, I really did not get what the other projects were about, or how they were supposed to be illustrating the given theme. They had no literature or posters discussing the concept behind their pieces, and consequently I had no choice but to take them at face value. And at face value they seemed like not a whole lot for what I'm sure was quite a sum from the Donegal County Council. Some photos of people running around Donegal. Footage of seagulls projected against a wall. Woot.

The Carbon Footprint Project was definitely one of, if I hesitate to say, the most popular piece at the exhibit. As well as large posters telling you what the bleedin' idea was, the touchy-feely nature of the piece really grabbed people's attention, and it also had the benefit of being the very first thing you saw when you came in the door.

I think everyone who attended the exhibition, or participated in the project, or in any of the spinning, knitting or yarn dying workshops which preceded it, would join me in saying a heartfelt 'Thank you' and 'Congratulations' to one Ms. Ruth McCartney. Yes, she is my friend, but I can objectively say she put a sheeee-it load of work into this project, not only by spinning an awful lot of the yarn used in the project, but running the workshops, staying at the drop-in studio to educate any and all who were interested, as well as knitting up a storm. Indeed, upon entering, several ladies came scurrying up to her, gleefully pulling their knitting out of their bags, given that it was she who convinced them to participate, with her natural people talents and obvious enthusiasm for the project. Ruth, you played a huge part in this project, and me and the others you educated thank you!

Now we're entering the danger zone. Don't panic now, all I mean is that it's coming up to the big 'C', and like it or not, people are thinking about it. I, at least, have an excuse at least - given that I make an awful lot of my gifts, I have to get started early. This does mean that a significant portion of what I craft over the next few weeks will cruelly be kept secret, being intended for one of the few (but much appreciated!) people who follow my silly little blog. This does give me a good excuse to do some selfish crafting at least once a week though - heehee! Thank you little blog!

I returned to my heart obsession this week, although you may be relieved to hear not in necklace format. 

My embroidery skills leave a lot to be desired, but I like to have a go at it once in a while. The above piece did inspire and motivate me to have a go at some machine, well, embroidery seems like the wrong word, but artfully placed stitching.

I am super pleased with how this turned out, I didn't think it would work so well. I love how it looks like a pen sketch, I'll have to try and source some more plain white cotton type material to repeat this experiment.

And now. It is Friday. I am tired. But I have some delicious wine by my right, much adored company by my left - I am happy. I hope everyone has a wonderful week.