​I put up with the foxes digging up the garden until one bit chunks out of my cat as she tried desperately to get in through the catflap.  There are holes in the lawn, flower beds and the crushed plants everywhere. The war is ongoing... I think I'm losing it though.

The rain and wind has kept me away from the allotment for the past few days so I’ve been doodling instead. I’m sure the bugs, slugs and snails are having a feast on my carefully nurtured seedlings as the sea of blue slug pellets will have all washed away by now. But hey ho it looks like I'll have a bumper crop of strawberries and watching the robin chicks nesting in my shed while an anxious parent swoops in and out is a delight.
​At the moment I seem to have more wildlife on the plot than green stuff but it’s early days…

My mum loved crockery and in particular anything blue and white. She had masses of it everywhere. So when we sadly had to clear her flat last year it was a dilemma as to what to do with it all. We each took a few pieces we liked and passed on lots to various charity shops but there was so much left that we just couldn’t bear to thrown away as junk. 

My sister Liz had a great idea based on something she’d seen and so she asked her friend Sarah if she’d make up 4 mosaic pieces, one for each of us. I picked up my piece at the weekend and I love it. It’s a lovely reminder of Joan and she would definitely have wanted one for herself! 
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Sarah has written an interesting piece about how she made the pieces on her blog and you can read it here.
​Sarah also make great jewellery.

This is my first linocut following an operation  on my right hand. It's been a slog trying to get my fingers moving but lots of physiotherapy, ultra sound and hours of exercises every day are slowly getting results. I can at least grip the gouge now. Result!

I’m quite pleased with the final print which started life as a quick idea on my iPad using Sketches II app and an Adonit Pixel stylus. I worked up the sketch using good old pen and ink and a bit of photoshop until I was happy with it for a relief print. 
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Tracing down the original image onto the lino block is always a pain and I'd like to know of a more accurate way of doing this but I used tracing down paper and then inked it in.
For me it’s worth spending time on this, especially the inking in
​as I  can easily get carried away and cut out the wrong bits
if I don’t have it clearly marked up.