Slow Sunday...

 

Today I decided to take it easy. I have had a very busy week, culminating in an even busier weekend and so today it was time to ReeeeLaaaax. My husband went out of town to a guitar show and I decided to stay home and get the shopping done and just take it easy.

 

This time of year is always busy. On Friday, it was my daughter's 12th birthday. Yes 12!! Can you believe it? I think she was about 3 or 4 when I started this blog. And boy has she grown. We took her and her four school friends bowling and then to Frankie n Bennies - usual hob. She wanted an Ikea bookcase for her birthday and lots of books and so that is what she got. We did get her a few other bits and pieces too. I also made her something which was last minute and I nearly broke my wrist doing it as it was on a 10mm hook. I have the "during" picture but no after picture just yet. You will have to wait to see the finished product in my next post. All I can say though is that it has something to do with the Hunger Games.

 

So after the big rush of birthday madness, Saturday arrived and with it the annual School Christmas fair. As some of you may know, a couple of us teachers have been running an after school club for the kiddos to try and teach them some new skills. We teach them crochet and cross stitch - last term then made Biscornu. This term we have been doing a bit of Decopage. But it all costs money. So, it was up to me and Mrs B to try and raise some funds at the school fair. We dressed our tables up as best we could - Thank you Pinterest! and we managed to get a few sales and raised just over £30. Not a lot but every pound helps. I thought you may like to see a few pictures....

 

 

Blurry pic of my DD helping out behind the stall!

 

My lovely little coffee cup cosies with hand made buttons.

 

My pencil pots - I used Tesco value lemon curd - 22p Bargain then threw out the curd.

 

My granny tissue box covers. Pattern can be found here but I adapted mine slightly. Also some of the cross stitch key rings the kids made in after school club.

 

Bobbles galore! These were the best sellers.

 

Star and tree ornaments. These sold quite well as well.

 

All sorts of bits and pieces. It was a fun day and I loved the feeling of being part of the community. Our school is like a big, extended family.

 

After the fair, we surprised the kids with a trip to see the mew film Paddington. I absolutely loved it. Great British film with a wonderful, Christmassy feel to it. I really recommend it if you have kids and even if you don't! It was so nice to hear all the young people in the audience laughing along at the humour.

 

 

 

So this is me. signing off till another quiet day when I can get my head together a bit. Now you can see why I needed a day of rest. I have managed to catch up with the Cosy CAL and now I am on part 5 which makes me very happy. Oh so happy. The colours are so therapeutic.  

 

Have a lovely week everyone.

 

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The Giveaway that never arrived :(

A couple of months ago I felt very moved to do a giveaway. It had been a while since I had done one and it was my way of saying thank you to this lovely blogging community for the years of friendship and support that many of you had given me.

 

The lovely Cucki had won it and so I set about choosing a design I thought she would like and thinking of small trinkets to go with it. So you can imagine how my heart dropped when I had sent it off only to discover that there had been a post office strike in South Africa and poor Cucki did not receive the pretty gift I made her. :( :( :( :( I was completely devastated and held off until now to show what I had made - just in case that little gift appeared and spoiled her surprise.

 

But no - I think it has gone for good. And so, I have decided that I will show and tell what I made anyway. I am so sorry for you Cucki but this is what you should have got :( :( :(

 

It is a Barbara Ana design called Fall Biscornu. Cucki had said she loved fall colours so I tried to match the design to her likes.

 

These are a few extras I put into the package. Again, I tried to match everything to a fall theme.

 

 

A last look! I am so sorry this did not get to you Cucki. I am very sad.

 

So you can imagine what with the last exchange I was involved in with the certain person not coming though on her part and then this happening... I have lost the heart for exchanging and giveaways at the moment. Hopefully, in the new year, I might get back the big and offer another one out.

 

And just for an update, here is my Cosy CAL update:

 

 

 

Oh the colours!!! They are so vibrant and I have to say that I am enjoying every single row. They remind me of a Moroccan Bazaar. My husband thinks this is for him and keeps wrapping himself up in it. Errrr... don't think so mister. This one is for keeps methinks.

 

Other news is that I have managed to tick off a couple of things from the list of to-dos but there are things that now need adding on.

 

My dd has developed an interest in The Hunger Games and has decided that I need to make her a Katniss Cowl. Well, I have seen several here (too complicated) and here (tad too expensive?) but have decided on a slightly different design which you can see here. I have had a look at the pattern and think I can do it. I can do FPDC and BPDC but I might get myself a bit stuck on row 7 but I will deal with that when I get to it.

 

I have also decided that I want to try and make my sisters (I have 2) a blanket each. I have decided on two of Lucy's lovely ripple blankets as it means I don't have to think about patterns and colours. The Cottage one and the Coast one.  But, and here's the but, one of my sisters has fallen out with me and I am not even sure she will appreciate a blanket. I mean, what if she throws it away? or hides it in a cupboard? or just doesn't receive it from me? Hmmmmm. I am umming and ahhing over this. On one hand I thought it would make a nice peace offering but on the other.... pah! I don't know. What do you think?

 

Well that's all from me for this week. I really REALLY need to get some ornies finished for Christmas gifts and I also want to make sure I am ready to go for the next stage of the CAL at the weekend.

 

Hope you are all fine and dandy.

 

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Smoooch!

That's how I feel about the new Cosy blanket I started today. The colours look amazing laying next to each other - really warm and cosy. Thought I would share a quick post with my newest start for you all.

 

I also managed to take a quick snap of my gorgeous DD whip stitching her first biscornu together! I am so proud.

 

 

That's all from me today!

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Storms blanket finish

On Friday evening and over the weekend, I took part in FNWF over at Gone Stitchin' blog. I decided that this was the weekend I was going to finish my Storms blanket.  You can click on the image to find out more about it.

I began this blanket some months ago when DROPS were having a sale on their merino. I think I got it for about £1.20 a ball which is a ridiculous price for merino so I hastily took up their offer. Once the wool I had ran out, the blanket lay folded up waiting for another sale to come along and eventually it did so I bought the remaining balls and continued on slowly and surely.

 

And here she is.......

 

Neat ripple pattern courtesy of Attic24

 

Drops merino colours used were:

 

Pistashio

Steel Blue

Light Greyish Green

Grey Blue

North Sea

Denim Blue

Light Grey Blue

Medium Purple

 

It was a nice warm blanket to snuggle up to in the evenings especially now it has started to get colder. This has to be my favourite time of year. There is nothing I like better than to pop the fire on and cosy up with some long term blanket making.

 

It was an absolute joy to work and I feel that it is finished now. My starting chain was too short to fit vertically up my bed so I just made sure it was long enough and turned it around so it fitted on width wise. I think it looks good like this and it fits fine.

 

So now my mind turned to... what next? It is an absolute must to have a blanket on my knee now the nights are drawing in and the rooms are getting colder. I happened to notice that Lucy from Attic 24 has gone and done it again with another beautiful blanket CAL and this time, what I particularly like, is that she is showing us what colours she is using in what order.... as we crochet along! This is a fab idea, especially for someone as lazy as me who can't be bothered to think about colour placement. As you will notice I did a set pattern for the Storm ripple although I do much prefer random colour placement. The CAL is called the Cosy CAL and it uses the most joyful autumnal colours. If you would like to check out the pattern then go here. My wool is ordered and I am hoping I will get it tomorrow so I can make a start and catch up.

 

I have been doing some stitching of late too. I have been diligently working away on A Quaker Christmas and have almost completed page 1. I love the Wine Red from Threadworx that I am using for it. It is super rich and warm and the design is actually quite quick to stitch up.

 

 

The other piece I have been working on is a square for Love Quilts. Love Quilts is a charity whereby you donate a stitched square and it contributes towards a quilt that gets given to very sick children. It is a most worthy cause and I have felt guilty that I have only ever completed one square in the past several years. So I made a decision and I am working towards completing my second square. If you are interested in joining in then please look here for more info on Love Quilts.

 

 

I have also been busy making these pretty tissue box holders for our school Christmas fair to help raise funds for our after school craft club. I have made 3 different ones so far and really hope they sell as we are desperate at the moment.

 

So you can see how very busy craftwise I have been and why I needed to make a list in my last post. I am getting there slowly and surely.

 

To finish off I thought I would show you my new Christmas present that I got early from my husband. Well, truth be told this was on offer at a really really great price and I asked him to fork out for it which he kindly did. It is a Tassimo! This is an amazing drinks machine as it not only makes fresh coffee within seconds but also other hot drinks including tea and hot chocolate. All made at the touch of a button. It is so easy and so yummy. A real treat during this cold weather snap.

 

They even do Costa coffee Latte and Cappucino. Oh yum. I truly have been in coffee heaven this last week, playing around with it and even the kids have enjoyed some Orea hot chocolate and Cadbury's too. Now, I am not going to say the drinks are cheap but much cheaper than if you were to buy them in the coffee shop. Here's one of the Costa Lattes freshly made up.

 

Deeeeelish. Now if you'll excuse me for a bit, I have a Cappucino waiting.

 

Love to you all.

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My November stitchy/crafty goals..

Just a quick post. I feel the need to write down a list. I am really a list kind of gal. It has got to the point where I have so much stuff to do that I do need to make a list to keep track of it all. Since going back to work, things have definitely gone by the wayside and stitching and crafting has slipped into the sidelines. However, that said, I do try to make a determined effort to keep going with it even if it is just a little bit of stitching and crafting to keep my finger in so to speak.

Now, I seem to have taken on a few things that have turned up the heat and the pressure is on so here's my list of things that I need to do. This might not seem very much to some but what with work and children and a husband to boot... well let's just say, it all adds up.

Stitching commitments:

1. Stitch Tracy's ornie  done
2. Finish Tracy's ornie.
3. Stitch Tina's ornie.
4. Finish Tina's ornie.
5. Finish Love Quilts square.
6. Stitch 2nd CCN ornie.
7. Finish page 1 on A Quaker Christmas.
8. Stitch and finish an ornie for dd and ds.

Crochet commitments:

1. Make more tissue box holders for school fair.
2. Make jar cosies for school fair
3. Finish white baby blanket for City Hearts.
4. Make pink baby stripe blanket for City Hearts.
5. Make mum potholders.
6. Crochet lily Katniss Cowl

I may well add to this list but at least it is up here now and I can use it as a tick list to mark things off and feel like I am making some sort of progress.

Does anyone else have a lot of commitments right now? Please share if you do and we can help spur each other on.

Till next time. Happy stitching.  xxxxxxx