Down to some work at last

It's taken me some time but finally I managed to find time to actually do some sewing. I finished my January journal page which has eluded me for some time. I wasn't actually sure whether I wanted to do the 2009 challenge nor indeed whether I would have the time with Mum being ill. However things are looking better these days (cross fingers) so I've decided to plod on while I can.I still couldn't get away from music though and January's theme is "Fly me to the Moon". I finished February's early which was my response to the Australian bush fires. All I have to do now is think what I want to do for March's journal page.
I've joined the Book Page swap on the Mixed Media ATC-UK group which has a theme of 'flowers'. I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to do so I hope they are okay. The background is made from some fabric paper I made last Summer. I painted a section of a lace doily for the flower with Derwent Aquatone pencils. I've had these pencils for some time and am only just beginning to use them. I dropped a piece of lace for the edges into the teapot to stain it. I forgot to take it out and dh was a bit surprised to say the least when he went to make a cuppa.

The private swap theme this month was "What if you were a famous woman" Jennifer decided she'd like to be Queen Boudicca, a formidable lady. Jennifer has used a photograph for the card centre and framed it with a co-ordinating fabric.
I found this theme quite difficult as there wer quite a lot of famous woman I liked but would I want to be one of them. I decided no, I wanted to be the infamous Lady X. Lady X has more money, more men, more fun and everyone knows a Lady X. My ds made a metal template of this lady when he was learning CAD at college, I knew it would come in handy someday.

Six times a year my friend Jenny runs a Beading workshop and Monday was one of those days. The plan was that we would all make a crystal pendant, a fairly simple procedure you would have thought but poor Jenny was run off her feet unravelling our tortured threads and unpicking our work when we went in the wrong direction. She has infinite patience and we all had fun...

Linda and Margaret deep in concentration.
This was my effort, a red crystal pendant on a silver chain. Think it might be a Mother's Day present for Mum.
When I got home I made another one in greens just to prove to myself that I could remember how to do it. I'm going to keep this one for myself. The photo here shows the design better than the red one.

I read this week's title for 'Today's Title Is... ', which was 'soft folds', just after I'd added my eggs whisked to 'soft folds' to the orange sauce pudding I was making for dinner. Darn, too late to photograph but today while stopping at the Rheged Centre for a coffee break

look what I found.... Meringues, soft folds baked!!!