November Journal

What I saw, felt, made and learned.

November was filled with sparklers, excitement around my eldest son’s birthday and all the calamity that involved, knitting, drinking Baileys, turning the lamps on and lighting candles and cosying up, and making soup.

A few tidbits…

1) I painted the lounge

When we moved into our current home in 2013. I manically painted any walls I didn’t like that horrible builders white emulsion that I think is meant to be a base layer? I thought it would feel minimalistic and calm but in reality it’s cold and horrible looking and makes me feel like I’m about to have a colonoscopy.

My time is stretched thin, what with my boys being little and juggling their care with my work. But each evening I’d find myself slumped on the sofa having survived bedtime and just staring at these white walls and RAGING and decided enough was enough.

I ordered a sample pack of pink paints from lick paints, eventually settling on their pink 08 shade. It was a bloody nightmare - the house is Victorian, the ceilings are high…. but it’s so worth it. The pink looks wonderful with the olive green wall, the shelves painted in arsenic by Farrow and Ball. It looks nice with foliage, wooden furniture, and I must admit my piano is looking very handsome too. (I’m a piano teacher, so this is important!)

I still need to pop my artwork back up, and I’m currently teaching from what feels like inside the Christmas tree - more green and pink - heaven.

I’m a firm believer that colour makes a massive impact to how you feel in your home.

2) The Knitting and Stitching Show

Each year I go to the knitting and stitching show in Harrogate with my aunt. It’s heavenly, and a tradition I really look forward to. There’s something so wonderfully heart-warming about being surrounded by crafters and people who love the tactile things in life. I saw so many wonderful outfits, bought myself some new wool for knitting a Sophie Hood

Then I saw a quilt that stopped me in my tracks:

You’ll recognise the image as Boreas by John William Whitehouse. I love the pre-Raphaelites. But oh my god - this is a quilt! I stood and stared at it for probably five minutes. Truely breath-taking. The artist is called Andrea Les McVoy.

I’d love to one day take up quilt making. I currently can’t stitch in a straight line and get into a blind rage every time I go near a sewing machine, so maybe one day…

Above are the sketchbooks of artist Anne Kelly which I poured over.

I love looking at artist’s sketchbooks. They inspire me massively. I can’t quite put it into words but I just adore the tactility of sketchpads, and it’s inspired me to get into a more regular sketchbook practice.

3) Craft night

My friend Isabella invited me over for a craft night with some of her friends. She is a really close friend, that I met at a playgroup a few years ago (our kids are similar ages) we have a lot in common besides parenting. She loves all the witchy things that I do, but I don’t share any mutual friends with her, so I was a bit nervous to go along to the craft night…

After giving myself a bit of a pep-talk (come on Heppy - crafting is what you love doing!) I went along with a bag of paper crafty bits shoved in my bag. I didn’t end up using these because I was too busy nattering and having a go at making Christmas decorations by embossing the inside of some tomato puree tubes (this sounds ridiculous I know)

Above is the Pinterest inspiration and what I actually made wah wah wahhhh

Alas, I jest. I had SUCH a nice time and I’m really pleased I went along even though I was a bit anxious about it

4) Preparing a treat for my future self

I’ve always been an avid reader. Obviously this goes in seasons. When I’ve been experiencing high stress levels, or the kids were tiny I didn’t read much, but I’m delighted that my reading is back on track.

If you’re interested, here’s my book tracking page from my Hobonichi where you can see my reads this year:

For more on how I use my Hobonichi you can check out this post:

How I use my Hobonichi Techo for daily journaling

Anyway, despite feeling a bit smug about my reading, I’ve got bloody loads of unread books kicking about the house, some which have been there for years. I’ve noticed I can be reluctant to pick up something longish that’s been there for a while, favouring the new and shiny instead.

So…. my solution:

I chose six books of similar length that I want to read and wrapped them up for myself to open one a month next year.

Ooooh this feels so exciting! We’re ticking a few boxes here: it’s giving me a dopamine hit of having a little present to open each month, I’m challenging myself to read the longer books or (or ones I deem hard) and also I’m keeping them wrapped all excitedly on my bedside table.

Tip: choose books of similar length and use the same wrapping paper otherwise you might spoil the surprise.

I’ll keep you posted on this one… I’m considering also adding a wrapped craft book to each month… I have loads of them lying around but I like the idea of selecting a craft/art book of the month to actually study in some detail rather than just flipping through and buying another.

Honourable Mentions

Here are some other bits I’ve enjoyed/would recommend from this month:

The Safekeep

My favourite book of November was The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden

Stranger Things

Of course.

We rewatched all the previous seasons in the run up to the new one… Eeee it’s so good. I love it so much. I was a fanatical Stephen King fan as a teen (still am) and this series ticks all the boxes of horror, sci fi, nostalgia, friendships, character growth, impeccable acting, superb plot, great soundtrack. I just love it.

I then fell into a satanic panic rabbit hole and discovered

The Devil You Know

This podcast is such a good listen alongside Stranger Things, especially season 4 when the Hellfire Club get accused of being satanic. Brilliant listen.

Well that’s it from me for now, that felt like a very broad reaching post so hopefully you found something that tickled your fancy.

Until next time,

Heppy x