crafts

On a Schedule

| Mairead

(There’s an area for campers on the left of this car park, we’re on the extreme left)

We’ve moved on again, just an hour south to a pretty little town. The aire is in the market square and if we’re still here on Friday night we may turn into traders because the whole place becomes a market on Saturday morning. Which would be a nice thing to see… so long as we’re not accidentally parked in the middle of it! I suppose we could sell tea and coffee? And I have been making cards… although I might need more than eight… unless they’re not popular… ok stop, we’ll be gone by Friday.

(The church bell chimes every hour)

We’ve got into a bit of a routine this week which is very pleasant. Sometimes when I’m stuck in a rut I dream about having no routine at all but it turns out not to be as attractive as I thought. For the first week before I found one I was sleepy all the time and that’s no fun. Now I set the alarm for 7am, hop out of bed to turn it off (it’s on the table overnight so I am not tempted to turn it off and turn over for another snooze – I have been there…) get dressed and start my meditation.

(It might be autumn…)

Twenty minutes later (well, twenty if I’m very good, ten if I good-ish) it’s time for breakfast. As always I’ve brought two bags of Flahavans porridge from home and that’s what I have every morning with nuts and seeds. By that time it’s almost 8am and Denis is up so we lock all the cupboards, turn off the gas, roll in the step and drive off. Within the hour we are parking up for the day. There’s room then in the schedule to find a café and have a real French coffee or we make an Irish/ French one. After coffee I’m off to find pictures and Denis is off to work.

(Love French shutters)

There’s time for me to get some work done before it’s lunchtime, which we usually make ourselves. By 2pm it’s back to work for Denis and I start the blog. When that’s done it’s on to crafting. I’ve brought just enough supplies to keep me satisfied but not enough to confuse me. What I mean by that is if I have so many supplies I can’t decide which one to do I’ll hop from one to the other, not quite finishing anything. Lately I’m very interested in finishing.

(My ceramic white buttons are a work in progress, next step gluing on clasps)

So I’m concentrating on card-making (small enough to fit on a lap tray) and mixed media journaling (messy enough to get me out of my head) and pin-on ceramic buttons (to sell for a charity project.) After an hour I’m ready for reading and planning work projects which brings us up to dinnertime. Dinner’s usually around 7pm.

Right, it’s 3.30pm, time for crafts! Mairead.

Blue Skies and Craft Tables

| Mairead

2018 1

(Free motorhome parking beside the fishing boat harbour)

Yesterday was sunny and warm. We stayed at a fishing harbour. Even from the pictures I think you can see how it’s so different from the previous days. That’s another thing about Portugal, the variety. Each day can be different just by moving. Yesterday it was blue and green.

2018 3

(Little beach beside the motorhome parking)

I spent the whole day crafting. Even though there was a cycle path. Even though there was a town less than a kilometre away. Even though I could have written a blog. All because there was a picnic table… I mean, there was a craft table right beside our spot. Although it was warm and sunny, there was a breeze coming from the water so I was all bundled up but it was still fun. And it must have looked like fun because people kept coming up to me to ask what I was doing.

2018 4

(I’m not wearing the hairband to be fashionable… the wind was hurting my ears. Look at all the other craft tables!)

It’s hard to describe what I’m doing. Even in English. I’m playing? I’m working? I’m making cards of encouragement for others or for myself? I’m feeding some part of me that likes that kind of thing? The next time Linda and I run Mindcraftie (probably July) I’ll be making these cards. So if you want to come and watch me make or if you want to come and play or if you want to feed that part of you too, I’d love to see you there. I’ll remind you closer to the time but in the meantime if you want to see crafty stuff on your facebook feed click here and like us.

2018 1 1

(You’re a little treasure)

We’re still moving slowly out of Portugal through places we’ve never been before and seriously thirty kilometres or so the scenery changes and it all looks so different, the variety constantly surprising. As we leave we are soaking up every last sight, feel, taste, smell and sound of this country before it becomes just a memory.

A lovely memory. Mairead.

One stitch after another…

| Mairead

2018 1

(This is an old Roman road at the entrance to the olive farm)

Still here at the house with the oranges, in the town with the olive farm, waiting for Ruby to recover. The mechanic has started holding his head in his hands when he sees us… no translation necessary. It seems there’s still a problem. My mother reminded me that this is when I do craft stuff. I left the crafting stuff in the van.

2018 2

(Yummy yarn)

Then I remembered I had two balls of yarn and there was probably a crochet needle in my pencil-case. When I searched I found the laundry bag. Oh yes, the washing… thinking there would be a washing machine I carried our laundry the twenty-minute walk to the house with the oranges. There was no washing machine. First I hand washed the clothes, then I started crocheting.

2018 3

(It says Camel Wool…)

On the first day we arrived in this town we saw a shop with a sign offering accommodation. The lady explained the rooms were a bit far outside the town unless you had transport and we didn’t. As we chatted my eyes wandered to a colourful display – yarn. I realised she sold yarn. She had wool and cotton and a camel wool mix! Camel wool? Really? Anyway. Beautiful colours. Irresistible. I wanted one ball of every colour – just to look at. I bought two balls.

2018 4

(Granny square)

Crochet is very forgiving. Well at least it is the way I do it. My sister-in-law, Kate, taught me that you can join odd unmatched pieces of crochet work together like a patchwork quilt. So that’s what I have been doing ever since. Before that I was stockpiling squares, hiding them in cupboards, finding them when I was looking for something else. Taking them out to marvel at their colour, their texture, their comfort. Wondering how I could have forgotten them. The first one I pieced together made me laugh and cry, it was so surprisingly lovely.

2018 5

(Looks way bigger close up)

I kept crocheting over the weekend. I have no crochet books with me but I know one pattern off by heart, so that’s the one I’m doing. It’s called granny square and it starts with six stitches which are joined together to make a circle. By the third row it starts to look like a square and the square gets bigger as you continue. You can keep going until you run out of wool… or you decide this piece is done. I decide a piece is done when the work in my hand feels big enough, which is different each time. When it’s done you have to close it off so the yarn doesn’t unravel. The piece is actually finished when the yarn is cut. There is a moment when I realise something has been accomplished. Sometimes I notice this moment and sometimes I don’t but when I do it brings a feeling of contentment. Imagine if contentment was so simply attainable.

What if it is? Mairead.

Sunshine and Breeze in the Countryside

| Mairead

2018 4

(Sunset by the lake near the mining town)

We’ve moved on again, just 90 minutes south of the mining town to the middle of the countryside. There’s no town nearby just sheep, although they could be goats, they are very far away. Our neighbours have a binoculars but we don’t know them well enough yet and we don’t speak dutch… But I am incentivised.

2018 5

(Our view today)

Because in the distance I can see Spain again. It’s probably about twenty kilometres away but without the binoculars I won’t be able to patrol the border. I can just make out a line of small trees, possibly olive trees, very close to the Spanish side of the river bank so there may well be a Spanish man doing some gardening. How would I know for sure though without those binoculars?

2018 2

(That’s Spain way, way over on the left.You might be able to make out the river)

Our view from the door is just lovely again so I may just keep my attention on what’s right in front of me. I’ve been making more cards and painting the pages of a book to make it an art journal. It’s a tricky process because you can only paint two pages at a time and then you go off and do something else until they dry and then turn the next page over and start again. It takes days, weeks or months to cover even a small book. But here the pages dry really fast because of the combination of sun and heat.

2018 3

(The sheep (or goats) are out there somewhere)

That’s probably what put the washing into my head. I was on my fifth page of paint/dry/turn when a thought struck me – we are running out of clean clothes. Now I’m third in the queue behind two french ladies for the washing machine. I only hope I can get the unmentionables on the line before the sun sets… If we didn’t need to fill up our gas tank, I’d be happy to stay here for a long time. Unfortunately the nearest petrol station that sells gas (for cooking and heating water and the fridge when we’re not connected to electricity) is close to the coast. We will leave in the morning.

They’ve left the binoculars on the table outside their motorhome… Mairead.

You can see Spain from here…

| Mairead

2018 1

(The view today)

We finally moved on from Serpa. We’d been there ten days, the longest time we’ve spent anywhere on this trip. We were still missing it when we arrived at our new spot on the Spanish border… until we opened the door and saw our view. There are no facilities (no water, no dumping, no bins, no toilets) but it’s completely free and beautiful and the sun is shining. It is also really peaceful.

2018 2

(If you can see a road going up the side of the hill on the left… that’s a Spanish road.)

There could a problem with the internet and phones… but I spotted a cafe when we were winding our way down here, maybe they have wifi. It’s the weekend so one night without internet connection will be fine, right, Denis? I can hear hens crowing and pigeons cooing and tiny birds chirping. And just over the water is Spain. There’s a bridge, we could even visit.

2018 3

(What’s this?)

There’s a strange fruit growing at the far end of the car park. Could it be figs? Well, there’s another thing to imagine – figs growing in the car park by the river. The man in the yellow boat from the first pictures is working in his vegetable garden in Spain. He must have dropped over to Portugal earlier to have a coffee. I see he has a chair waiting for him when he’s finished work. Oh hang on he’s taking out a fishing rod. He’s moving the chair closer to the river bank. He’s taking a long time to sort out the fishing equipment.

2018 6

(There’s a rusty old winch machine near us)

I took my eyes off my man in Spain for a moment and he’s disappeared. I am feeling a strange sense of responsibility for him, no one else is watching him. What if he falls into the river? It’s ok, he’s back in the garden. Must have just been taking a break with the fishing rod.

From my patrol station on the Portuguese/Spanish border, Mairead.

ps Linda (remember who gave me the craft kit?) is running a great workshop in Glendalough next weekend (21/04/18) called MindCraft. There’ll be mindfulness and stories, you’ll learn how to make pebble craft pictures and quilling and you get a lovely lunch. Find out more on MindCraft.ie (or on the Facebook page.) It’s a fun day and you go home with your very own work of art! Tell Linda I sent you and she might forgive me for swanning off to Portugal!

pps My man in Spain is safely sitting in his chair, fishing.

Inner Wellbeing

| Mairead

2018 1 5

(Flower seen on the indirect route)

The rain has stopped! I see the light! Well… not sunlight but light nonetheless. It’s time to get more input (I mean take more photos). So when I woke up this morning instead of turning over in the bed, I got up, had breakfast and did my meditation. It’s still fleece, hat and raincoat weather so I shoved everything on and waddled out the door. Then I took a different route to the old town. Made me realise it takes time to get familiar with a new place. A similar thing happened in Beja.

2018 2 4

(Can’t have too many flowers…)

Here in Serpa the old part of the town is very easy to navigate and it’s not really possible to get lost in there because if you keep walking very soon you’ll arrive at the wall. When you find the wall you won’t be lost anymore. We are parked in the campsite and the campsite is situated outside the wall, so normally I take the direct route to the old town and wander around safely inside the wall. Today I took an indirect route and found some pretty input (you know, pictures) outside the wall.

2018 4 3

(I think this is an orange flower bud! It was on a tree that looks like an orange tree)

There was a park getting a makeover, a little flower garden outside someone’s house, very, very old olive trees and a place to sit down for coffee. I was surprised to realise that it was warm enough to sit outside which is my very favourite thing to do at the moment. While I was sitting outside I wrote in my notebook. Writing always helps me understand what’s going on in my inner world and since this has been a frustrating week I was definitely looking forward to finding out what was going on in there.

2018 6 1

(Huge urns seen on the indirect route)

What was going on was craft related. I know how important crafting is to my general wellbeing but usually when I need it the most I don’t choose it. It’s like meditation is most useful when you’re feeling stressed or upset but that’s the one time you couldn’t be bothered doing it. Or going for a walk is great for clearing your head but it’s the last thing you want to do when your head is full of junk thoughts. We are our own worst enemies.

2018 8

(There it is! The Wall pops out to tell me I’m not lost! It gets sucked back into that house when I turn my back…)

So my inner world was grateful for the cards I made this week and told me to keep making them. I have often been dismissive of card making, wanting the time I put into making to yield something longer lasting. My inner world told me that it really doesn’t matter how long the thing you make lasts. It does it’s job during the making. (Like a Sand Mandala (google it) that takes a week to make and is then swept away.) What job does making do? It nourishes your inner world.

Nourish your inner world, people! Mairead.

A Question of Collage

| Mairead

2018 1 1

(Close close-up of Cherry (or Apple?) Blossom)

It’s been cold and wet here the last few days. Both of us are feeling less than 100% and the cracks are beginning to show! So I’ve returned to crafting and specifically to cutting and pasting but with scissors and magazine paper this time. Much more satisfying than the digital version! It is a bit messier, takes longer to dry and the glue might be dangerous in such a confined space, but otherwise, grand. (Note: just joking about the glue.)

2018 3

(The tools)

I thought while I’m doing a collage I might as well add some meditation and a little intention to it and it was a lovely experience. Chased away the grey clouds for a while. The thing about collage is that it introduces a whole different way of looking at things. When you start cutting images and words out of the magazine you have no idea what might turn up. Then it’s done and it has drawn out some of your own wisdom to answer the question you had when you started. I think it’s a great way to find out what you want when you don’t know what you want, if you know what I mean.

2018 5

(The result)

Fortunately, other people can’t read your collage, only you can because it comes from your unique wisdom and creativity. That means it’s possible to hang it up in full view and no one will know what your thinking!! Also, the resulting collage can be a very long answer that most people aren’t interested in reading about someone else anyway. It has been fun in the making and in the reading. I think I’ll do more of this.

And the sun is back, Mairead.

Crafting Sunday

| Mairead

2018 6

(Surely no one would attempt to drive up this lane?)

Today is an indoor day. The rain came back so it’s become Crafting Sunday. I brought a cupboard full of craft materials from Ireland. Not a big cupboard by house standards but we could have fitted a small washing machine in there… Fortunately we don’t need a small washing machine because more and more of the supermarkets have laundry facilities. Lucky.

2018 7

(Love these balconies)

But the problem with bringing so much kit is I have to sort through it all to work out what I will make. That’s why Linda’s craft kit was so useful. It had enough but not too much. Too much of a good thing isn’t better… it’s clutter. The great thing about living in the camper is there’s no room for clutter. At home I’m always tempted to leave things hanging around until tomorrow or the next day or next week. After a month of that you can gather a lot of clutter. If we did that here there’d be no room to sleep or eat or cook… or drive away.

2018 8

(Walking through Serpa)

So I tidy after each activity. One thing that used to stop me even starting a craft session was that I’d never get it finished before it was time to tidy up. Today I really needed to make something. You know that feeling? The need for colour or paper or glue or scissors? Maybe it’s not being able to take pictures in the rain. Whatever it is I had to unpack the craft cupboard.

2018 9

(No idea)

I uncovered some supplies and worked away until it was time to go for a walk. Exercise is important, even in the rain. Then it was time for writing. Writing is important even when there’s glue on your fingers. And soon it’ll be time for dinner. Dinner is important… it just is. Anyway I got about an hour of play and I haven’t tidied it away yet but when I do I’ll have a kit of half-finished cards to work on next time and that will make it easier to get back to crafting even when there is very little time.

Happy Crafting Sunday, Mairead.

Linda’s Craft Kit

| Mairead

2018 1 1

(The craft kit Linda made up especially for me so that I would always have something creative at hand when I am away❤)

When I woke up this morning I was thinking about the craft kit Linda gave me the week we left Ireland. I was thinking, it’s a great kit and isn’t she very smart and doesn’t it look so neat and didn’t I get great use out of it already… Then I realised I was thinking and I was doubly pleased! Thinking for me is talking to myself and it starts first thing in the morning and goes on all day until I fall asleep. There’s brief moment or two of no thinking/talking when I am meditation or napping or engrossed in a craft. Other than that the day is full of me talking… to myself. And I rarely notice I’m doing it so when I noticed this morning I was chuffed.

2018 1

(Close up of some quilling I made using my kit)

When I first encountered meditation (and for many years after that) I thought it was all about clearing my mind, making it completely silent in there. It’s not. It’s just about noticing when I’m thinking and then going back to whatever I’m doing, like breathing (something else I do all the time.) So in fact every time I find myself thinking when I should be meditating I am actually meditating! (Did you get that? The “finding myself thinking” is the key! My sister has a term I like: the gift of failure.) But there’s even more important things about meditation. It’s not just the sitting there practicing… it’s what happens when I’m not sitting there meditating. Like this morning when I woke up thinking about Linda. The fact that I noticed that I was talking to myself is a BIG thing.

2018 3

(These are the quilling papers from my kit)

Because if I notice I am talking to myself then I can notice what I’m saying… this morning it was something nice. Often it’s not something nice, often it’s something horrible… about me! So imagine the scenario, you’re sitting there looking at a beautiful sunset and from nowhere comes the thought, you should be doing something more productive! Which leads on to an uncomfortable feeling and another thought, you’re a lazy lump! Which feels even more uncomfortable and leads to another thought, this is completely useless, in fact you are completely useless sitting here! Well, you might as well be sitting with someone who hates you! But no, you’re with the person you’re going to spend the rest of your life with – You! Don’t be mean to you! But how can you stop being mean to you? You don’t even know you’re talking to yourself!

2018 4

(Here are the stones and glue that I can use to make pebble art)

And that’s one of the gifts of meditation! A different thought pops in to tell you, that’s a thought! At first you can’t hear this new thought and you carry on being mean to you. But one day, you hear, that’s a thought! And your eyebrows rise and you smile and you say, yes, that’s a thought, I’ll go back to looking at the beautiful sunset, sigh.

It’s just a thought and you are not your thoughts, Mairead.

PS If you want to hear Linda’s thoughts go to https://www.facebook.com/mindcraftie/