Susan A Penny

Rose-coloured Specs

There are days when I find juggling my work as a writer doesn't fit well with being a mother - and today is one of those days! We are having a teenage daughter love crisis. I should be checking proofs, but after spending several hours listening to my daughter telling me how unfair life is, I have found it difficult to keep my mind on the job in hand. I will give you a rough outline of the plot:  daughter fancies older boy, and makes a serious play for him without finding out if he is attached. Boy takes the bait, but then informs daughter of his live-in girlfriend, who he says he wants to finish with as things are not right between them, but he is a coward and will need time to sort things out. Daughter is smitten and tells him she will wait forever - the coward bit seems to have made him even more attractive. I think he's a cad, wants both girls, and she's needs to take off her rose coloured specs! But hey, what do I know! I, even though a wife and mother with many years experience, apparently I do not understand how she feels.  'What about your father', I say.  Apparently that's not the same. So here I am writing my blog.

Mamma Mia!

I've loved making Knitted Cakes for my latest book, but since I waved goodbye to them last week, I have had trouble sleeping. In the middle of the night, even though I no longer need to think of ways to construct a slice of Battenburg or a Swiss Roll, I still can't sleep - I've tried counting sheep, and even worked on story lines for the children's book I'm writing. Still the clock ticks...one o'clock, two o' clock...

A friend told me I needed to relax, so passing on her flotation tank suggestion - never been good with water, particularly when I'm up to my neck in it - I decided to go to the pictures to see  Mamma Mia. I think it's the first time I've been to the pictures in the afternoon since my college days - when skiving off with the latest boyfriend, for a snog in the back row, was considered part of growing up. With my husband otherwise engaged, I spent the afternoon with my second daughter, who loves Abba music. After a bit of hassle claiming our booked seats from two ladies from the blue-rinse brigade, we settled down with our popcorn. I was ready for a snooze, because somehow Meryl Streep doesn't really make me think of an easy going, athletic, single mum, singing her way around a Greek Island. Well, how wrong can you be ! We laughed, tapped our feet and sung away to the 22 Abba hits.  I can honestly say it's a pure joy to watch - and if you do go, don't leave the cinema before the end credits, because that alone is worth the ticket money!

My Hoarding Instinct!

Sometimes I get the urge to try something new, and after spending almost a year working on knitting books for Search Press, I have been desperate to stitch. A couple of weeks ago I spotted a wonderful vintage bag in an antiques market, but being the meany that I am, was not prepared to pay the asking price for something that would probably only get an outing once or twice a year. So, needing a change from the knitting needles, I scrabbled around my workroom looking for fabric. I never really considered myself a hoarder, until I uncovered bag after bag of beautiful fabric and trimmings squirreled away- some from my days as Editor of Needlecraft Magazine - beautiful vintage silk, Victorian trimmings, 50's spotted and dotted cotton and pretty shabby-chic florals. Recently I have added to my collection when I found that an old friend (kids went to the same infant school), has started a business selling antique fabric www.countryhouseantiquetextiles.co.uk - this hasn't helped my hoarding instinct. So, spurred on by my need to declutter, and a creative urge, I have created a selection of bags made with vintage fabric. As soon as I get my shop sorted I will be putting them up for sale, so do keep reading my blog.