Getting Creative in Red Corrner

Hello all!!

How has your week been?
How did you spend your time in the past seven days? Productively? Lazying around? Spending time with friends and family? Most importantly, did you enjoy what you were doing?

I have, almost every single thing I did this week. Mainly, because I made a point to enjoy the moment, enjoy the things and people around me. A friend told me two people I know of (I don't know them personally) dying of cancer in the last week and that made me stop and think: all this could end so quickly, I better make sure I am giving it a good shot whilst I am here on Earth. I know, somewhat heavy, but I guess, that is life. 
So, I made sure that every time I felt getting annoyed at something unimportant, to change the way I think, to stay positive and to think of things I can do and people I have in my life. That instantly made me feel better and made me feel grateful for what I have.

Then today, I met up with my favourite people for lunch at a fantastic Turkish restaurant in Stretham Hill. We had this older, most charming and delightful waiter from Cypress. As I walked into a restaurant, he came towards and gave me a hug. Who does that? Fabulous people, that's who. I saw a woman at a neighbouring table rolling her eyes and sort of judging the situation. I thought, you are missing out on a lot lady!! The cheerful waiter was the most charming man I have met in a long time. His laugh was infectious (he laughed A LOT) and he did his job with such satisfaction, it was really nice to be offered food by him. Then I thought, this man is happy, because he works on it; he wants to be happy, he is making sure that he is having a good time engaging with customers to make his own life happier and more enjoyable, not only ours. It turns out, he came to London to see a friend, and the friend asked him to work in his restaurant for three days. And he thought, why not? I like people like that. They make me smile. This particular man has taught me a good lesson as well as served really delicious food. I ate so much, I will never eat again :-)

But onto other things. I have been rehearsing a performance piece with a lovely director I have not worked with in a long while, but have luckily reconnected with again recently. About that very soon, when we have some pictures from our rehearsal process.

I have also been busy knitting and crocheting. I am one of those people that start doing at least three things at one time and then it takes me forever to finish them, because I switch from one piece to the other, until the crunch time comes and I have to start finishing things. So this week I have finished an iPad cover that I have been working on for months. 

I am travelling tomorrow so I needed to have it for my journey. I am not sure if I totally like it. I feel that I should have used more colours. I'll come back to it and maybe add something else to it, not sure. What do you think?

Then I did a little Oyster card holder for a friend. For my overseas followers, Oyster card is a card you top up with money and then use it to travel with. Everyone in London who travels has it and most holders are grey or yellow with IKEA written on them. So, I make my own and I make them for friends. Just to brighten up the London travel a little bit (trust me it is a grey experience travelling on London transport). A friend I am travelling with tomorrow is not expecting it. It is a little surprise I hope she will appreciate. She has become a very good friend in the past 12 months and we often talk "life" stuff and feel very wise whilst having a good laugh too. We get on ridiculously well. She is going away on a big travel adventure in January, and I am going to miss her very much. So, here is a little surprise I made for her:

Of course, this little holder can be used for credit cards too. I have people ordering it for that particular use. It is versatile, just like me :-)

Some months ago, I wrote about making a baby's blanket. Well,... I am still making it. The good news is that I am almost done with it. I enjoyed doing it, but I have to admit, it was not easy. The pattern was easy, (the easiest one you could do), but I am not an experienced knitter, so I made lots of mistakes and had to rip what I did and start over again. I have about 3-4 hours left on it. Here how it looks at the moment; finishing stages:

Once I have finished this baby blanket, I am going to embark on a large one for me. I love blankets and I love projects. I am not a fan of watching TV without doing something at the same time. Who knows when I'll finish it?! It doesn't matter, I am excited about the project.

And before I go, here is a picture of my new jacket. Well, not exactly new. I bought it a few months ago. I saw it in Top Shop but it was expensive and I didn't want to give a £100 for it. However, I never forgot it. So, a few months ago I was walking around Brixton Market and saw this girl selling interesting stuff. What do you know, she was selling my favourite jacket, practically new, in amazing condition, for just £25. What's more, it was my size. Well, it goes without saying that I had to have it. 

I am going to the country side tomorrow to a very sporty trip. I am a city girl through and through and I will not be made to wear unfashionable sporty things :-) I am wearing my skinny Diesel jeans and my new "gorilla" jacket :-) And I will do a trapeze and zip wire and abseiling and I will look fashionable even if it is not exactly comfortable :-) 
As the duchess in Alice in Wonderland says: "And that's a fact."

I started this post thinking I will just show you the bags and the blanket I have made. But I ended up writing a whole story about cheerful waiters and gorilla jackets. Never mind, you can always stop reading if it gets boring. 

I hope you have enjoyed spending time with me this week.
Whatever you do in the next seven days, make sure that you stop and appreciate at least one thing that you see or experience. I am going on a school journey with forty 10 year old kids and I cannot wait. I know it will be hard work and it is a big responsibility but I will make sure to let myself go and enjoy the excitement of others. We will all be doing things we are very scared of, and we will be emotional, but in my mind, that is the way to go.

Have a lovely, lovely, lovely week, wherever you are.

Red xx