Clare's Rebel Badge Blog

Craft Part 2 has begun! Having discovered a small hole in my favourite grotty cardigan I decided to make it bigger, edged it using eyelet hole stitching and added petals and leaves with fishbone stitch. I am quite pleased with it! I am also rather startled by the amount of positive comments I have received for it, my favourite being 'Miss, you've got a flower on your bum!', as well as by the number of people who said they would have no idea how to do it. I guess I still naively think that everybody learns to sew in childhood - I should know better! I have completed Detective Badge so have made a slideshow full of information about my favourite detective, Albert Campion, whom I have loved since a teenager after seeing Peter Davison portray him in a BBC series. I have since read all the original books by Margery Allingham many times. I made a slideshow rather than a scrapbook as I am trying to declutter the house and am not fond of scrapbooks really. I have discov...

I believe that private gardens and public spaces should be havens for wildlife, as well as being pleasant for humans, with imperfect lawns containing patches of long grass and wildflowers, weeds in the borders and between the cracks in the patio. So many gardens are sterile and clean, perhaps for convenience; I understand this - people are busy and don't want their kids or pets getting muddy and making a mess, don't necessarily have the skills to maintain a garden or think that these skills are not for them or something they could not learn. I realise that this is a gross generalisation! I trained as a horticulturalist and landscaper many years ago, so have the confidence and skills to grow my garden and know why some things work and others don't. I have been fascinated by nature for most of my life, and still get excited when I see spiders or slow worms, or snakes, or frogs or eagles! I'm rather fond of ants and woodlice too, but slugs are my horticultural nemesis. How...

As you may have guessed from my subtle title, I gained Ultimate Rebel status this week by finishing some Wild Rebel badges; I finished Palaeontologist a few weeks ago, and this week finished Nature Lover and Observer. Neither were too much of a stretch as they encompassed many things I already do. I highly recommend sitting in the window of a coffee shop for an hour and actively watch the world go by; it's fascinating what and who you see. I went for a slow nature walk as it was too cold to sit in the squirrel hide for long, and saw several bird species, a horse being taken for a stroll (I got to pat it and I am usually scared of horses, so yay to me!), lots of lichen and fungi and a glorious variety of ivy leaves. There were lots of early spring flowers emerging, and to top everything off I saw a red squirrel scampering up and down a tree and along a path. We only have red squirrels here and I always get excited when I see one. I feel I have lost my Rebel mojo a bit in...

I have updated the merit badge section on my Rebel Camp Blanket, and am now dithering about the layout of the challenge badges - I may keep dithering for a while! I finished January's Exercise Every Day challenge, and am now having a go at February's Love Challenge; I am not keen on February - it is my least favourite month - so this is particularly challenging, but I got the badge in the subscription so now I have to earn it! I made some heart-shaped shortbread biscuits for work, which went down well, and knitted a very dark rose. I made a Galentine's card for a chum, and wrote myself a love letter - hard to do! I also sat and researched the origins of the heart symbol and the history of St Valentine, both interesting tasks. I just have to continue treating myself and then I am finished! I have been working through 'Coding for Beginners' for my Maverick Challenge and boy was it a challenge! It has been a bit of a slog in all honesty, but I have finally ...

This week started with a weekend in the New Forest helping a friend. We managed to squeeze in some clauses for the Nature Lover badge between jobs by visiting a small nature reserve on the edge of the New Forest and immediately afterwards going for a walk in the New Forest for an hour. The nature reserve had a large pond that had frozen over, and we had a splendid time throwing stones on it and listening to the fantastic 'booooiiiiing' noise that happened as the impact of the stone reverberated through the ice. The walk in the New Forest provided frozen puddles for us to slide on, and magnificent views across the heathland as the sun was setting. There were also many more frozen ponds. The countryside was glorious and we appeared to be the only humans about! I must go back and explore further when I can. We also visited a wool shop and a craft shop and I have spent the rest of the week learning to knit on the round and create a cosy cowl to wear in the winter. This ...

vecteezy.com Well this was a nice badge to do! Any excuse to watch TV is good, and this pushed me to watch a few things that I wouldn't usually watch. Sally Phillips talks about Christmas I turned this on by accident, but as I like Sally Phillips and Richard Cole, who she was interviewing, I stayed tuned. This was a gentle interview about what Christmas meant to the Reverend Richard, and ranged in topic from his days in the Communards to his life as a Vicar, with anecdotes along the way ranging from the AIDS pandemic of the 1980s, communal Christmasses in New York, his conversion to Christianity and subsequent theological studies and training as a Vicar, his civil partnership, and the alcoholism and subsequent death of his life partner. The interview was gently and sympathetically done, with a good mix of pathos and humour. I am sadly, really rather jealous of the reverend's book collection and armchairs! I shall endeavour to watch the rest of the series. Wednesday There was a ...

This has been rather a quiet Rebel week for me as it was the first week back at work after Christmas and it has been somewhat full on. However, I have been pootling along with a few badges. 'Exercise Every Day' has continued with some walks with my daughter; these last for about half an hour and give us a lovely, relaxed opportunity to catch up and have an uninterrupted natter. There are always distractions at home, so hopefully we can make this a habit. We haven't managed every day due to tiredness, work shifts and weather, so I have interspersed these walks with a bit of yoga and some solitary strolls. I have finished a clause of the Foodie Badge by having a third meal out - I just have to review them now! Here goes: Chesil Rectory, Winchester I went here for a memorial lunch with family in November; The Chesil Rectory is an OLD building at the bottom of Winchester not far from the Cathedral or Kind Alfred's statue. The restaurant is spread over two floors...