Autumn things..

Rainy days mean....



(just for you Berit ;-)) and a cosy up with...



Check out the blanket..



and the towel..



and the crafts..



I tell you I just love this magazine! I could look through it for hours. Many of you know that I don't celebrate Halloween and really usually start getting uncomfortable this time of year when things start displaying in the shops and ahem.. magazines. But lookie what caught my eye in this magazine...



Not a witch, jackolantern or devil in sight! Just a lovely article on celebrating Bonfire Night. This is a custom in the UK that dates back to 5th November 1605 where a man named Guy Fawkes attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament and overthrow the King. He was caught, tortured and killed and every year we celebrate the night of his capture with having bonfires and fireworks and lovely food. See more here about the history of the night. I guess the modern day equivalent would be to celebrate the end of terrorism. Well, that is how I like to think of it anyway!



Gorgeous leaf lanterns!! How adorable are these?



Mmmmmmm...... do you think I could? Just a bit? Speaking of food, the usual fare comes by way of jacket spuds - cooked on a fire if poss, chestnuts roasting in the oven, corned beef hash, treacle toffee, chilli - lovely hot, warming kind of food just right for outdoors.

So I showed this fab article to Husband and pleaded, "Could we have a little party - just us - and the kids - a little fire in the back - please, please?" And he said, "Maybe". Yeeeeeaaaaa!!! That sounds most definitely positive, doesn't it?

The weather brightened up today so off we went to Bakewell. We stopped off at Monsall Head to take a pic of the stunning view.



I feel truly blessed to live here. I really do. The Peak District is a stunning place and there are many gorgeous places like this to go to. I really want to get back into walking but I think I will have to wait till the little lad is a wee bit older first as he would probably just run off the edge of a hill right now.

Onto Bakewell..





and my favourite shop...



which is really the reason I went afterall to get my hands on this years copy of..



Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornaments edition 2010!!!!! Oh it is all fabtastic. I like so many of the ornaments this year. Sweet daughter has already chosen her ornie for this year but that will get its own special post when I stitch it. I must say I do rather like the red collection here:



Oh yes, I can see many red ornies in my red room this year! So is this the Pledge coming to an end???? Well, I promised no new starts till December which is two months away. Hmmmm.... I'm not sure I can resist that long. Would I be condemned as a failure if I succumbed and stitched an ornie??? On a positive note, I have been ploughing away at CDC and have page 4 finished and now onto page 5! I am determined to get this sucker finished this year. I'll save this for another post though. I think I have probably posted waaaaaayyyyy too many photographs on here already. I kind of feel that pictures seem to tell my stories and life in a much better way than my words can and I quite like being able to glance at pictures and not have to bother scrolling through reams of words.

Anyways, time for me to get off this computer which has been playing up a lot recently. Thank you so much for your kind words and comments and wowza followers have appeared and nearly up to 300 now!!! Well, do you reckon another giveaway is in order??? Hmmm, I better think about that one.

Love you all. Have a happy Sunday. We're off to see Postman Pat at the theatre tomorrow. Ho hum, that shoud be fun! xx

Giveaway winners....

Well it's that time. I have to say I really enjoyed putting this giveaway together and thank you to everyone who participated. I know most of you but I was very happy to meet new peeps and those who have been following me but have never left a comment before. It is always great to meet fellow crafty bloggers. I always get inspired.

So, without further ado...

I used the random number generator and got two winning numbers.....

Just so's you know anyone who entered got one entry so if their names were on more than once then I counted over it.......


Sooooooo......


Winner of the BIG package is........

NUMBER 15....


GAYLE


and the winner of the smaller prize is.......

NUMBER 35......

VALERIE

Congrats to you both and I really hope you enjoy what I have put together. I will be in touch by email but if you get to me first then please send me your address details. Thanks everyone.

Holmfirth, Rowan and not being able to sleep

Hello sweet bloggers. It is 1am here and I cannot get to sleep. So I have come downstairs to spend some quality time in Blogland. This post might be a little all over the place due to me being half zombified. I am not so well and I went to bed early to try and sleep it off but little man woke up coughing and so that was the end of my sweet dreams. I am not very good at the sleep thing. I am a very light sleeper and then once I get woken up I find it very difficult to get back off again. This might be a bit of a wordy post which is unusual for me as I'm not so good at wordy posts. I much prefer to let the picture tell the tale but I haven't got many to show so I am going to have to rely on my ever decreasing, since having babies, vocabulary.

Yes so I am a light sleeper. I think perhaps a glass of red wine might do the trick but I'm not allowed it. You see, since many moons ago I have been on an eating plan called Slimming World. I can't knock this plan. It is one of the most flexible eating plans I know. Unlimited food, healthy extras and then some more treats like chocolate, cake, wine or whatever is calling to you. 4 years ago I lost over 3 stone on it in 7 months. However, recently, the weight seems to not want to move and has been shifting but ever so slowly. In the last 10 weeks I have lost 8lbs which is very slow - just under a pound a week. I am figuring that my body is so used to this plan that it is no shock to my system and is taking a helluva time to go away. However, I HAVE to remain positive. It is going, albeit slowly, in the right direction and I just have to stick with it. A little bit of excercise wouldn't go amiss either :-( not so good at that one. So, hence the reason I can't have that extra glass of wine to send me sweetly to sleep. Perhaps I should do a proper post of all the lovely food I get to eat on this plan. I have spent a long time adapting recipes and really there is nothing I miss. I get to eat chips and pizza, chilli, rice, pasta and bolognaise. I even have a recipe for ice cream. Now I am speaking UNLIMITED here. Yes I think I should do a foodie post. Not now though. I have other news to tell.

Today, well, yesterday now, I met up with the lovely Lisa in Holmfirth. Now stupid eejit that I am took my camera but didn't take any photographs! So I guess that means I will have to take another trip over just to show you all some lovely pics of this gorgeously sweet little town. Oh what a hardship. You knwo I can't believe I have left it so long to take my self there as it is only 25 (if that) mins away. So I will do my best to give you a little decription of my journey. The journey takes you through the hilly areas of the High Peak in the Peak District in Derbyshire. It is very rural, rugged and beautifully stunning. There are farm animals dotted from field to field and reserviors starting to finally fill up again. After 25 mins of this scenic driving, you come into a quaint little town called Holmfirth. Yes, please click on the link then you will get to see some pictures. Pictures really do speak a thousand words don't they? So, I finally arrived and eventually found the Rowan shop and Lisa was waiting inside for me. The shop is fantastic and I will have to go back as there is so much in there to see. The lady was extremely helpful as well. It was great to meet another stitching blogger and after I took ages choosing the yarn for my next project, we had a short mooch around the cute shops and then went for a coffee, or in my case it was a camomile tea as my tum was feeling slightly off. We had our own little show and tell and I was wowed by Lisa's newest finish which was stitched on 40ct. Her Lizzie Kate Christmas ABC. You really need to go check it out. Her HAED was stunning too. I loved the bright colours. Lisa then surprised me by gifting me with this chart off my wishlist!



I taught her a little bit of crochet and showed her how to hold the yarn which she said REALLY helped. Hmmmm... maybe another crochet convert?? I'm holding out for you hun!

After that we headed off home where I got to drool over my yarn purchase. So would you like the see what I got??



I wanted to go for the Autumn look to go with the warm, red living room. Do you think it will work?? Well, I started some circles in squares and I did a few tonight before I started to get very, very uncomfortable.



I have come down with a really sore, stiff neck and a sore throat. Lisa, I hope you are okay and haven't come down with anything. So that was when I decided an early night was in order and I headed off uptairs with a hot choc and some inspirational, Joyce Meyer words. Off I drifted. Ever so slowly. Then...... cough cough cough. Little man wakes up and here I am wide awake.

There. I think I have got it all out of my system now and perhaps, just maybe, I'll trot off upstairs and go stright to dreamyland.

Or should I do just one more row of my ripple???

Thanks for listening to my ramblings dear friends. xxx

Lovely Things

This week I got a few lovely things through the post. So I thought I'd share!

The first thing was this gorgeous pair of Gingher scissors which I won from Deb from Cranberry Samplings. I love Gingher scissors and this is my second pair of them. They are quite difficult to get hold of over here in the UK so I was really really happy when I won. Thank you so much Deb, I adore them. Deb is also doing another giveaway so get over there and have a look.



The second thing I got this week was this wonderful piece of art from the fabulous, Julia Crossland. Julia's prints are fantastic - such cheerful colours and she packaged it really well. Thanks Julia!



I have hung it in my bathroom where it looks fab blending in with my driftwood boat.

The third item I purchased this week was this:



A Moleskine recipe Journal! I saw this first on Sue's blog and fell in love with it. Please pop by this link to see some of the lovely recipes Sue holds in her journal.

Well, I did actually do a bit of stitching this week. Not much but a bit. I worked on CdC and here's my progress this month:



I have touched the bottom edge of this design so I can see the finish line now thankfully!

And..... I did start another crochet blanket - doh! I know I know but I just had to you see. It was calling to me. Really loudly in fact. And it hasn't stopped calling me. Every evening when the children are sweetly sound in their beds and I settle down to do some stitching, this blanket really calls to me and, well, I just can't help doing another row or two, or three. Here is The Ripple, complete with furry cat tail:

This week I will be heading over to Holmfirth to the Rowan shop to drool some more over the lovely pure wool DK they have and hopefully buy some! I am meeting up with the lovely Lisa all being well so hopefully we will have a fab old time.

On the house decorating front, we have begun and have three red walls now although two of them need a second coat. We have the curtains too and the cushions but no curtain pole up yet. Oooh can't wait to have a little show and tell on that one. So you see I really do need to buy that wool to make a throw to go with it! The only problem I am having is in deciding which pattern to use. Do I go for a traditional granny square throw or do I do circles in squares? Not sure. There are so many options and so much inspires me. It really is hard to decide.

One day last week we had a massive storm - I think it was Thursday. I saw the clouds move in and took a pic as they gathered momentum. It was a real downpour. I had to pick up daughter from school with little boy in tow so we opted for wellies and just had a good old splash in the puddles.

I actually really love storms and the sensation you get when everything suddenly goes dark just before the rain comes. I don't know why I like them, I just do. I get all tingly and excited. I could sit by the window all night and watch a storm.

Thanks for the amazing response I got in my cushion post. Wow! I don't htink I have ever had that many comments before so thank you thank you. It means the world. And it is so nice to get to meet new bloggers.

Have a good week. xx

Oooh yeah eta don't forget the giveaway I'm doing at the end of the week. Not long now. Just click on link to the right ;O)

Flower cushion - I love you!

Okay, remember the scraps of Stylecraft leftover from my Granny Stripe:



Wellfirst of all I made a stack of these - 25 to be exact:



I crocheted them together but realised they needed blocking. Arghhhh I have never done this before. Can you see how they all puff out in the centres. Here, the bottom row is pinned down - on a towel, onto the carpet.



So, pinned it out as best I could. A little bit of pulling here and there and I got this:



Then on went the iron, hottest setting, lots of steam, don't touch the acrylic - just steam it all over till nice and moist and then leave overnight to dry:



Will it work??? Yes! It really really worked. I'm converted. So I had crocheted lots of little flowers - with the scraps - and......

Ta Daaaaaaa!!!!



My very own Attic24 inspired Flower Cushion.



I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you!



The Back! I had to use up those scraps.



Buttons along the edge. The one on the left is red - must have been the flash made it look white:



Clever secret flap with secret picot edging.



Gorgeous buttons from John Lewis - 6 for £3!! but oh so worth it.



Home sweet home on my bed with Stripe:



Well, I hope I haven't bored you with all the blocking and all the loved up pictures but I can't tell you how excited I am about this. I feel very liberated and creative all of a sudden. Yeah I know I was inspired by Lucy but I did the back myself and the flap was my own idea too. Utterly and completely liberating. Now you'll understand why I love this cushion so much.

Thank you all so much for the ACE comments on my Granny Stripe blanket finish. Comments are getting hard to keep up with but I'm trying!! Loving all the inspiration I am getting from you bloggers. Don't stop blogging and creating. xxx

Granny Stripe Ta-Daa!!

I have to admit that I finished this just after my last post but only just getting around to posting about it. I absolutely loved every single bit of making this blanket and am so pleased with how it has turned out. Much much better than I imagined or expected. It took less than two months to do in total and was made with total bargain acrylic in gorgeous colours. This acrylic is called Stylecraft Special and is the softest acrylic I have ever worked with. You know how with some cheap acrylics you can get a squeekyness with it? Not so with this. It is super soft and lovely to work with.

So without further ado, here is Granny Stripe:











Do you like it??? I love it! I keep going up and stroking it! And what will happen to all the spare balls??



Well, that's for another post ;-)

ETA: Linda - You have left me no way to get hold of you. I would be glad to help you out if you leave me your email. The pattern can be found in Jan Eaton's book 200 squares or you can also find it on Attic24's blog