Doiregirl

Please forgive me if my swaps are late for a while. My husband came to the end of his journey tonight. He died peacefully after months of advancing disease. Our home will be very empty without him.

Please be patient if my swaps are late over the next few months. My husband's condition has deteriorated and he is in perhaps the last stages of his cancer journey. Swapping has been and is one of the few ways I have of managing stress during this time but we get unexpected events which may lead to me not always getting work finished on time. If you are one of my partners, in a swap, I WILL contact you if I am going to be late sending, and I will NEVER flake on a swap.

My husband has been very ill over the past few weeks. It was touch and go but he has made something of a recovery, weaker than he was and more in need of care but hopefully we will celebrate Christmas as a family. A million thanks to my swapbot partners who have patiently waited for their swaps and to those people waiting for ratings, I haven't forgotten you and will rate ASAP.

Hi, my name is Gloria, I live in Derry (Doire), N. Ireland. I am a retired clinical psychologist. The last ten years of my working life were spent in cancer care. It was a real privilege to walk with cancer patients on their journey, whatever the outcome. Their courage and dignity was inspirational. During my years in cancer care I used art and crafts as a channel for my own stress, and it have to say I was looking forward to the day I could retire and devote my time to 'arting', as my grand kids call it! Unfortunately since retirement my partner was diagnosed with cancer and we are now on our own cancer journey!

But, my life is very busy, as I like it. I am a mother, grandmother and a great- grandmother. I'm very young at heart and like to keep up with the times. I like the internet, I spend too much time there!

My interests are wide and varied. Aside from my family, my other two loves are my animals, Gracie and Huckleberry, adorable Schnauzers and Ruby, our cat, and my camper van which I love. I travel around as much as I can great inspiration for creating works of art as well as meeting new people.

I'm a crafter/artist. I love to draw and paint and I'm always on the look out for new techniques to try out. I use most mediums in my work, watercolour, acrylic, prismacolour pencils, alcohol inks, pastels etc., not much into oil paints though!

I make dolls, mainly from material but also polymer clay and paperclay. I like to make healing dolls and my friends love these. Another favourite is Dotee dolls. My cloth dolls, have needle sculpted faces and wired hands as well as button joints for posability.

I make felt and felt art, bit like painting with wool, I love the colours and textures of felt paintings, especially when embellished with stitching.

I love to crochet and knit and can manage to make most things. Afghans, toys, bags, gloves, tops, dresses, baby clothes etc.

I like to embroider and I like to create original prices of work by hand drawing and embroidering onto material, original sketches from my sketch books.

I also roam the beaches with my dogs and collect driftwood and sea glass both of which make great materials for craftwork.

You can find me on Pinterest where I have numerous boards including a 'my art' board. I'm also on Flickr Http://www.flickr.com/photos/ rubyragdoll/ And on Facebook Www.facebook.com/RubyragdollArtsAndCrafts.

Other interests: reading, I love fantasy and si- fi books. My fav authors are Stephen King and Anne Rice and Haruki Maurakami.

I love fairies and am currently making a fairy garden in my garden. I love mermaids and folk tales.

I love colour but also black and white. I like Zentangles and I especially love to create black and white tangles with accents of vivid colour for contrast.

I love summer, I love the beach, I love mountains and rivers and the sea. I love bluebell woods when the bluebells and wild garlic are in bloom, I love the smell of pine.

I'm not so keen on winter, don't like the short days, ice and snow but I do love Christmas and especially when all the family are around.

I collect things, dolls, doll houses ( making and furnishing, another hobby), I love car boot sales and I buy anything I think might come in handy for some creation!

My children are very tolerant and don't complain about the time I spend crafting but they would love to get rid of my "stashes" if they could. I have a great group of crafting friends and most of my grandchildren are artistic and creative so all in all I consider myself blessed.

As I read over this I wonder how I ever found time to work!!!

Looking forward to swapping with all you swappers!

I would like to get ATCs, postcards, stuffed envies. I like any fantasy but not monster type things. I love the colour green, and I love green, aqua and blue together.

I meditate when I can and I love gentle, soothing music. I also like, folk music, country music, swing, irish music and almost anything which my ears find attractive.

I like Leonard Cohen, Adele, Christy Moore, Paul Brady and Van Morrison.

I love foreign films, Japanese and Chinese being my favourites. Also like Polish and other Eastern European films.

I'm a vegetarian and I stick, as much as I can, to an alkaline diet, I find it works for me.

I love early morning before the house is awake and the world is still silent. The early birds and their morning songs are so beautiful and the world feels peaceful. Best time to meditate! I always rate as soon as I can. If I miss anyone out, it will be by mistake or life circumstances so, if I owe you a rating please contact me and I will correct the situation ASAP. Likewise, I appreciate ratings from my partners, it's good to know my work has arrived also, I put my best effort into all my work and I enjoy getting feedback about the end results. While I try to send my swaps on time, and I usually do, there may come a time when I'm not able to do that since my husband is ill and his circumstances are unpredictable, however, if I can't get a swap out on time I will contact my partner(s) and explain the situation ASAP.