It has been a bit of an odd couple of weeks. I think it comes from not eating properly and I think I am mostly back on track now.

Today I have been packing Ebay parcels, catching up on my emails from the weekend because James' brother Alan came to stay, we had a nice time, ate bad food and drank too much. It did make us realise how much food plays a part in our mood and we are making a special effort to eat well from now on. We then went into town for lunch and to go and see the design for my new tattoo. I can't show you because the chap did not want me to show anyone in case I took his design and got someone else to do the actual tattoo, but hopefully it will be on my skin soon and then I will be able to post pictures.

When we got back from town I did more on my stole, I am so far behind on it, but it does not have to be done until April. I will put some pictures up tomorrow to show the progress.

I have been making lots of amigurumi (crochet) creatures for a demonstration in Hobbycraft on Thursday. I have been having trouble getting the eyes, but hopefully they will be here in time.

I have been drifting a bit recently and I have decided to do more work in the day so I can get more done and feel I have achieved something, otherwise like today, I would have just packed parcels and got no work done at all. I am also keeping a food and mood diary and trying to cut out the junky food. What will be hard is finding something we like to do that is not going out for food as there is nowhere that serves good vegan food here. Maybe if we eat better, our heads will be in a better place and we won't need to go as much.

Hopefully I will get back to posting what I have been doing each day

I am doing a stole commission at the moment. The sample I did of half the design is pictured below and it was accepted. I have until April to finish it as it is for an ordination.

The calorie counting didn't work, I just kept getting grumpy! It was very interesting to get a better idea of what you are actually eating, so I am using it as a guide and trying to eat consistently with no 'oh stuff it' moments. I started yesterday doing an exercise video which is extremely well reviewed on Amazon and it went well. It claims I could lose 20 pounds in 30 days which would get me where I would like to be, but I am not sure.....

I am working on a crochet pitcher plant at the moment, it is going quite well, but I have gone wrong at the top and so I am starting again. The Glock pattern seems to be very popular and now I am looking at doing more guns. My friend has leant me a P 90 (replica!) which I will try to copy, but I really want to do an AK 47 which you can buy on Ebay (replica) for less than £10!

I think I haven't posted for a while because I didn't want you to see the new work! Here it is anyway. The little pieces are based on the seasons, and the eyes are too small which is a shame because I was really pleased with the way the background worked out. Oh well, it did not take long and I am sure I could copy it and get it right next time! Sorry the pictures are not great.

The wren has been successfully framed and posted to its owner. Hooray!

I am now working on some kits to take to a Hobbycraft demonstration, They will be on the website soon. When I have done that I am working on a stole commission. I have started going to a group called Itchy Fingers a group of textile artists who are very enthusiastic and are very supportive.

I am trying something new with my food again because I was feeling miserable.  I am currently 68.4kg after spending the last few days binging on junk and beer. Now I am going to try calorie counting.

I am getting on well with my canvas work that Betty bought for me for my birthday

I finished the two stripy snakes I was doing yesterday as today is a day off. We are meeting my mum for food and maybe going to the cinema as well.

Not much to say really, but I thought I would show you the snakes

I have not been feeling great for the last few days so I thought I would do some crochet. I finished doing the second Snakey and put the pattern up on the internet. I sold one straight away. Wahoo! Yesterday I made a stripy snake in black and white, but the colour change method I use was too messy. I am trying a new technique with a new snake in black and green. Emo Snake!

I made a kit this morning and I got paid for my seahorse article. Unfortunately we need to stay in for a parcel to arrive because it would be nice to go out for lunch to celebrate, this also means no Wednesday trip to the cinema :@(

We were talking about how we would eat differently if we were on our own, so we decided to eat our meals separately (except supper) and eat what we fancy depending on how hungry we are. I am currently munching on a salad for lunch instead of a full meal and it is lovely.

The canvas work is coming on.....

I have done some more work on the canvas work yesterday. It gets very addictive!

I wrote up the patterns today for Thingamejig and Thingamebob and also Snakey. Snakey's pattern will need to be tested by making another snake to make sure it is correct and the other pattern was ready so PDFed and put up on Etsy, Ebay and my website

I have been making another Seahorse kit today, they are selling steadily which is nice. Last time I had a rush and it was very hard to keep up!

We are having a meal tonight to celebrate Betty's birthday. We are in different countries, but the idea is we all sit down to a meal at the same time.

I finished Muffin the Puffin today and I am going to make another one today (hopefully!) to check I have written the pattern up correctly. Yesterday I was making a rabbit in the evening with a different body shape to most of the others and it seems to be coming on well. (I will put up pictures when he is ready)

I packed and sent my first Seahorse kit out today from Stitch magazine and I will post it on the way to the library.

I weighed myself today as I have been trying to lose weight for a while now. I am now stopping eating when I am satisfied (not when my plate is empty) and I now have fruit for breakfast instead of rice cakes. The current weigh in is 68.5kgs

I spent the day putting Yoda together, I was not feeling very well, so I was a bit slower than I thought and so he will not be finished today. It is better to do him properly than rush it. I have done all the head detail which there was a great video for on Youtube, but unfortunately the body and clothes have to be done using the picture and guess work and I can't really do that today.

I went out for lunch with my mum today which was lovely, but I am coming to the conclusion that vegan food at a restaurant does not do me much good, it is not very balanced and tends to have a lot of white carbs which make me feel odd, but it was lovely to meet up with mum.

Hopefully I will get Yoda finished tomorow and I will be able to put a picture of him