Some flowers

I was at my nans house and these were sitting around. Thought I'd mess about and take a few photos of them. The first and third ones are my favourites, although I think I'd like others more if they were edited, but I don't have any editing software and have never edited a photo in my life... if turning one into popart on paint doesn't count. I have a point and shoot camera, I changed the setting to 'foliage' and turned the flash on. Think they worked well.

I'm linking up to Live, Love, Travel

 

 

Rowen

I Am Number Four - Pittacus Lore

This is a book which I first heard about when it was being transformed into a film. I saw the trailer and wanted to go and see the film. I never saw the film at the cinema but still hope to see it.

I then came across the book at a Charity shop, this was very late December when I was stockpiling books for the reading challenge and didn't anticipate being able to read it for over a year. But I wanted to know the story so badly that I still had to pick it up.

I'm glad I did.

I was enraptured.

I've had a tough couple of weeks trying to get through my latest reading challenge book, Austerlitz, and I Am Number Four created a very welcome break which definately helped my motivation. I read it in less than 24 hours. Possibly less than 12, I'm not sure.

It is a fast-paced book, packed with action, but it's not only that which makes this book special. You can empathise with the characters, you can feel genuine joy, pain and fear.

It definately deserves it's description as the next in the legacy of Harry Potter, I feel it's a series which will leap from strength to strength. My only criticism is that perhaps talent comes too easily to the protagonist, perhaps he has too many strengths and not enough weaknesses.

Read it. You'll enjoy it.

Rowen

Book Three: Cranford - Elizabeth Gaskell

Cranford was the third book I read for the reading Challenge. I finished it on 16th January, in just 2 days. This is mostly because I'd anticipated it being about 400 pages long, but hadn't read the cover of the book which said 'and selected short stories' of which there were six, so the actual story was only 150 pages long.

Cranford is a very traditional type of place. The book doesn't seem to have a strong theme or story arc but is more a compilation of short stories about the life of the women living there.

I really enjoyed reading it, and you can read my original post about it here.

Rowen

Book Two: Fanny Hill - John Cleland

Fanny Hill was the second book I read for the challenge. I finished it on 14th of January

I have little to add to my original review except to say that it really is the single most explicit and dirty book I've read in my entire life. I would still recommend it, but not to anyone a little bit delicate :)

Hope you're enjoying my updates. There's still many more to come.

Rowen

Book One: A Room With A View - E.M Forster

Did I mention that a Friend and I were having a book challenge? We plan to read 52 books over the course of a year, that's one book a week. Not unheard of, but all of these books are planned and selected from the 1001 books to read before you die. I've planned the order of my first several books to hopefully give me some motivation to get through some of the duller ones.

A Room With A View was my first book which I finished on 5th January and I posted a review of it on our challenge blog here.

I have nothing to add to my review and can only reiterate how funny I personally found it :)

Rowen

Money Matters

While I was growing up the economy was pretty much stable. Nothing bad ever seemed to happen to it, my parents both had stable jobs, with my dad in the same one he'd had since he'd joined the workforce age 18.

When I was 14 the first recession in approximately 17 years struck. Apart from the week or so following the Twin Towers disaster the economy had seen very few tremors of a serious nature in a very long time.

I guess human nature crept in and people started to gamble. They thought they were safe and the recession hit. In the past four years I have seen the world I grew up in, which was a safe and stable environment where it was fairly likely you'd be able to get a job, transformed into a crumbling wreck. Part of this is simply the veil of childhood being lifted from my eyes. I can see clearly what was there all along, but that certainly didn't lead to the fairly solid town centre I knew turning into streets of boarded up windows and crummy seasonal stores which seem to be the only things which survive, perhaps due to the fact that they emerge already with a limited duration.

When the recession first hit people said it'll recover quickly it's strong. And then the second recession hit so we're now in a place where no matter what qualifications you've got you'll struggle to find a place as a newcomer in an already developed world. I know this, despite being qualified my boyfriend has been struggling to find permanent work for three years now, relying on a series of temp jobs and hoping to come across something he can keep. In the past year it's looked hopeful he's had a series of longer term temp jobs with smalller breaks in between them.

As of today however the future looks bleaker. It was today announced that the UK economy has once again shrunk. Shrunk at a smaller rate than previously, but none-the-less a negative turn after the apparant growth over the previous quarter. It could be a turning point, with the economy shrinking less it is only to be hoped that soon it will pick up and begin to grow again.

That is all I can hope, because if not, then in three or four years time I'm going to leave university with a degree which may be all but worthless and enter a world of work unable to find a job which is worth the hours of study put in to earn it.

Rowen

My First Quilt - The work of 2011

These are the squares for my first Quilt which I managed to get finished last year. 

The centre of this one was actually from the lid of a Jar of Jam my boyfriend bought me.

There will be 23 of these hearts.

There will be 24 of these friendship stars.

This centre was some curtain fabric my mum was sampling.

This centre was some curtain fabric my mum was sampling.

This heart is the wrong way round, I made a piecing error, but I think it'll add some quirkiness that I at least will love to look for.

This centre was some curtain fabric my mum was sampling.

I have no idea where this centre fabric came from but I used to use it to make barbie things as a child learning to sew.

This block will be unique in the quilt as my signature block, My thread ran out and I really should get round to finishing it, it's just laziness as there're only about 3-5 loops of chain stitch to complete it. It's the crest of my Guild in World of Warcraft, which I happen to think looks really pretty.



It doesn't look like it at the moment but I'm actually hoping the quilt will be primarily bluey green. Hopefully it will tend that way more with the completion of the heart and star blocks. Also I'll hopefully also become more selective with the fat quaters I pick.

Rowen