Oooh another crochet blanket of gorgeousness!!

Don't mind if I do!! Here is my latest finish. I am soooo happy to have another finish under my belt before I go "back". Back to work that is. Now if I could just get Ann Taylor done as well....... oh and A Most Noble Pursuit and A Quaker Christmas and Helen Bell's Multiplication Sampler.... and ..... and.... oh you know.... all those ones I started way back in January....

But this will do for starters. I started it way back here.I was inspired by Lucy's blanket here although mine has two rounds in the centre not one. It is crocheted in Sublime Cashmerino Silk DK mmmmmm.... utter loveliness. Sublime indeed. Now I am manking a cushion to match withe the remnants. :)

I'll be back with an Ann update soon... very soon.

Muchas Lovas xxxxx

Summer 2012

I can hardly believe that this summer is nearly over! I have to say that this has been the best summer yet. Last year was a total washout. Weather wise it wasn't great. Kids were bored. Nobody was around. Holiday was, well, hard to endure. But this year has been great! Kids have played out lots and lots although there has been buckets of rain here and there. We have visited tons of people and been on several mini trips which has worked out brilliantly.

One day we headed up to Formby for a trip to the seaside and it was lovely. Golden, sandy beach. Hot sun. Buckets and spades. Warm sea. We could have been abroad.

One weekend we headed up to the Lake District for a mini trip and, once again, the weather proved glorious. We stayed in this lovely place in Eskdale. The food was great and staff were helpful and friendly.

We walked the kids up Irton Pike (one of the smaller mountains) and went to the beach and just crammed so much into 2 short days. It was wonderful. Just being together as a family and doing family things was refreshing and did everyone the world of good.

Wastwater views

View from the top of Irton Pike

A little spot of fishing in the river

Husband has been away a lot again and during one of his latest trips to Japan, I decided to do the four hour drive to South Wales to go and stay with some friends I haven't seen in a few years. It was just like visiting old relatives. They made us feel warm and welcome and it was a relaxed and restful time.

Llandovery in the evening

It is a beautiful part of the country and as our host's Uncle owns a lot of land and farm land down there we took ourselves off for a little visit.

There were plenty of dogs and puppies to go around and the children enjoyed the Quad bike rides and tractors!

Goodbye folks. Thanks for a lovely time. See you soon.

In between all the holidaying, we have visited Lyme Hall park, Staircase House (oldest house, now museum, in Stockport - well worth a visit) and Larkhill Place (victorian street and museum in Salford - free and definitely worth a visit). So, all in all, we have had a fun filled holiday and I am looking forward to getting us all back in to a routine.

Going back to work is going to be a major change for all of us this year. Daughter is moving to my school and son is just starting school as well so we will all be travelling together in the mornings. I am so looking forward to starting back to teaching. I have loved every minute of being a stay at home mum for the last eight years but I have a definite need to be doing something that takes me out of the home environment. I have developed a lack of confidence and insecurity and dependence on staying at home all the time. I became almost reclusive or was verging on it. This job opportunity has definitely come at the right time and has given me the kick up the butt I needed to move out and move forward in life. It is honestly God given and I feel well and truly blessed. It is a Christian school, which reflects all the values I want my kids to be taught, the staff are so supportive and it feels so very exciting. Am I prepared? No, not quite but getting there. Am I kitted up with uniform, children and myself? No, that'll be next week's job. Am I nervous? Oh yeah. Am I happy? Most definitely. A lot has happened to me this year but I can honestly say things are on the up and up.

So, it's onto pastures new and although I will do my very very best to keep up with stitchy and crochet projects, I think my posts will not be as many as they have previously been. I do hope though, that you will join me in my new ventures as I let you all know how it goes. I'll be back very soon with some crafty finishes. Thanks for the friendship and all the smiles.

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1st August Wipocalypse

It's been a while since I posted. Sorry peeps. Just been incredibly busy with children and summer hols and preparing to return to work - that sort of thing. I am okay though and enjoying the summer. So far we have picknicked, visited museums, baked, made friendship bracelets, decorated journals, watched "Spiderman 1, 2 and 3" several times over amongst other dvds during rainy days, visited the cinema, visited friends.... and were only in the second week!!!

In fact, I got so busy, I almost forgot that this month has TWO Wipocalypse posts!!! So I figured I better get my progress in pretty quick before the next one comes up.

I have been working steadily on Ann Taylor by Heartstring Samplery. I think I am just desperate to get at least one thing finished before I go back to work because I just don't know what sort of state motivation and energy wise I will be in once I go back. So here she is up to now:

A reasonable amount of progress I think.

And onto other crafty makes..... I learned to do the continental method of knitting! Quite by accident but seriously, this method makes me knit quickly!! I can knit fast. Well, faster than I was anyway. I don't feel like I am a knitter even though I have knitted longer than I have been crocheting, but this method is very much like crocheting and so cometh a lot easier for me. I learnt it whilst also learning how to do the log cabin knitted blanket which I was first inspired by Kirsten at Cozy Things who also provided a link to here which totally blew me away!!! So, although this little piece doesn't look like anything much now, I am hoping that it will do soon - very soon.

Crochet has had a little look in as well. I have been busy crocheting up some really simple squares that I want to make into a scarf with a nice edge along it. I was originally going to edge all the squares in cream but now I am not sure if a darker border might look better. Any ideas??

So that's me folks! Short but, hopefully, sweet. Thanks for all the lovely comments and bits of encouragement you send my way. See you all soon.

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Day out with the Girls and Flower Blanket Ta Da

On Saturday Lynn had organised a fab little meet up for some of the NH forum girls at Nimble Thimble near Oswestry. I took dd and Gran and Grandad had the boy for the day so I was able to go!! DD took knitting, a book, some stitching and some colouring in. I took my Ann Taylor and beavered away on her. It hasn't changed much since the last time I went so here are a few pictures of the shop from a couple of years ago.The shop is so quaint and set in the most stunning environments. As you can see these last pictures were not taken in the lush summer as it was on Saturday. The river was flowing, the grass and trees were green and lavender and flowers popped around each corner. It was stunning and I am sorry I didn't take more pictures on Saturday. It is a needleworker's haven and is filled will beautiful stitched pieces and some very unusual things too. If you need a day out then this is a great place to go.

And a few shots of US girlies!!

Tina, Leslie and Pat

Lynn's dd, Pat and Tina

Jane, Lindsay and Lynn

Michelle and Lily

Me and Ursh

Can I also add that Chris the owner made us all feel so welcome and treated us superbly! The food and cakes were most excellent and I would definitely go again should we have another meet up. Thanks so much for organising Lynn!

Finally, I have a photo of the Flower Blanket I have been making for dd. I could very easily, pop another few rows onto this to make it drape a bit more down the sides but it is fine for now and dd was harping on and on whether it was finished or not so I decided that, for now, I will take a wee break from it and let dd have some use of it.

I used Stylecraft Special in the following shades:

Candyfloss

Fondant

Wisteria

Raspberry

Cream

Violet

Grape

Lavender

Clematis

(I think that's the lot of them!)

Thanks for popping by to visit. Take care all.

ETA: The flower pattern is from a book which you can buy from this etsy seller:

here

It has the instructions in diagram form for the pattern and instructions for joining. She is a lovely seller and very easy and reliable to deal with.

July Wipocalypse post

I'm quick to get in my post this month! I have been working on Ann Taylor all week and have a fair bit of progress to show. Determined to try and get as many of these wips finished as I can, I have been beavering away, one at a time. I am loving this one. I especially am loving the eyelet alphabet I am working on right now. The fabric is my own coffee hand dyed though you probably can't see it properly in the picture. The original fabric was white (Brittney I think). I am using the called for DMCs.

Happy July 4th for our US friends and happy stitching/crocheting everyone else.

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Wonderful giveaway...

Pop on over to Nancy's blog for the chance of a wonderful giveaway.

Homey things

This week I have been busy baking these:

and these:

and I am feeling the pounds piling on!!

But most of all... I am so happy to have received this in the post today.....

My new petticoat!!!! I LOVE it!

Just thought I'd take a moment to share. What are your happy moments this week?

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Baby Blanket Ta Da!!

Well, it is only small - more like a car seat blanket or a pram blanket - not very big at all. But, a finish is still a finish. I did a lovely picot edge around it to finish it off and even managed to work out how to make the ripply edge straight. If you are doing Lucy's ripple pattern from Attic 24 then I worked 4 slip stitches along the peaks, 2 SC, 2 HDC, 2 DC, 2 HDC, 2 SC, 4 SS and just repeat it like that. Don't ask me about corners as I am rubbish at corners. Just try to put a few extras in with some chains!!

Anyways, here's the proof:

I'm on a roll here, better see what else needs finishing off. Take care all.
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Feeling rather inspired..

You know those days (and nights) where you start to blog hop and you just can't get enough and you get totally inspired??? That was me last night. 

It started here with Andamento's blog which led me here, The Crafte Nook, which led me here, Tiny Owl Knits and to that particular pattern which I just had to buy! Really looking forward to getting some Rowan Cocoon and crocheting those up. 

All this blog hopping got me thinking about my style as well and I really love the natural, floaty, earthy style of clothes that I see around such creative people. I always have a hard time finding clothes that I like and that suit me but I really think I am starting to find MY style. Ans so I happened upon this Etsy seller, Ooooohhhhhheeeeee yeahhhhhh. Totally fallen in love and will need to save a few pretty pennies I can tell you! And also this Etsy seller, who makes THEEEEE most gorgeous shoes I have ever seen. I MUST have some of these at some point in my life before I die. Yes I can see MY STYLE right before me. 

So then I started thinking about layering and all that and found these beauties and uh huh, I bought one. Bit pricey but its a start. I really hope it is as good as it looks and even more importantly, that it looks super fab on me. 

Today, I wore my hair half up and wore a dress and cardi and felt GOOOOOOOOD! 

I hope you have a nosy at some of the linkies. You can call me mad at any point! Off to crochet some flowers.

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Milly's Bunny giveaway

Could not let this opportunity pass us all by!!! Go over to Milly's blog to enter this great giveaway. xx

Wipocalypse June edition and a trip to a yarn shop

Finally, I have a little slot in one of my busy busy days to do a quickie post. I nearly missed the Wipocalypse for this month till I saw it on someone's blog. Arggghhhh!!! Hurry hurry!. I really wanted to finish my wip of The Sampler Girl's "Return to the Sea" and so last night, just after midnight, I put in the last few stitches. 

What a joy to stitch. I adore The Sampler Girl's designs. So sweet and simple and quick to stitch up. I love the colours too. Great choice. So, here she is...

Return to the Sea by The Sampler Girl

28 count Antique Cashel Linen

DMC as coded

I'll be off to my framers with her tomorrow to get her framed and up with the rest of my Sampler Girl collection. 

For some time now, I have heard and read online about a yarn shop in the centre of Manchester called Purl City Yarns but everytime I went into the city (which is never very often) I could never find it. We happened to be there the other day and struggled for a place to park - it was a Saturday, in the middle of the city (what were we thinking??) - but lo and behold, there it appeared. Just like THAT. BAM! Right in front of my eyes. I could hear the orchestra in the back of my brain playing this great victory song. Honestly, I couldn't believe it. I was going in...

I was not disappointed. This little treasure of a shop had tons of beautiful yarn in it. So much to look at but I didn't have long. I noticed they had some Debbie Bliss Angel and that it was reduced so I snatched it up. I had been thinking of doing some japanese flowers in it for a nice shawl but I was wanted more earthy, muted, natural colours so these are the ones I have gone for. 

and this was my first trial flower:

I am not sure whether to do single colour flowers or a combination of colours in each flower so I need to experiment but can you get the feel for what I am aiming for?? Something fuzzy and light and sweepy?? I can't wait to get going on this but I really need to keep on with the flower bed blanket I am doing for DD. I will be all flowered out in no time. 

Well, I haven't been so well for about a week or so but starting to get on the other side of it now I think. Feeling generally very positive about life, the universe and everything although DH goes away tomorrow for 3 weeks and I had a bit of a nasty altercation with one of the other  mums today. So unnecessary and hurtful. What is wrong with people??? I have been into school as well and all is good on that score too. Really looking forward to starting there properly. 

So it's a quick one but I'll be back soon with more pictures and yarny love. God Bless lovely readers and friends. 

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Been hacked

Just a quick one to let you know my email got hacked by spammers last night. So sorry if you got something dodgy from me. Most of you who know me know I wouldn't send stuff like that out. Obviously don't click on any links etc. Its all okay now so don't worry if I do email you now.Back to business! Xxx

Birthday celebrations

My life feels like I have been in a whirlwind of a race these past few days and I am only just able to sit down and catch my breath. Last week, our family took a short break to a Haven site and it was wonderful. Just what we needed. There was so much to do - we got to see the Olympic torch  go through Pwllheli, in scorching hot sunshine too. We went to the beach, swam in the pool, slid down the slides umpteen times. Daughter went roller blading and water walking and we all had a go at pot painting.

We enjoyed - yes really - the evening entertainment and all got up for a boogie on the last night. We weren't there for very long so we tried to fit in as much as we could but we are definitely looking forward to returning. It was fab fab fab! 

Yesterday was my birthday and I had a blast! My dear friend Tracy had come down to stay for a couple of days and we had a great time stitching and starting new projects. Tracy even managed to learn to crochet! Finally!! And she didn't throw a strop once! Great going girl. I started a new Sampler Girl one, "Return to the Sea," which I have had kitted up for a while now and wanted it as a companion piece to the "Staying Home" piece I did. 

I got some lovely gifts from friends and family and there seemed to be a bit of a butterfly theme to them all. If they didn't contain butterflies in the actual gift itself, then the card or wrap had butterflies on it. It was really quite strange and now I am bent on wondering what all these butterflies symbolise. Freedom? New start? Short life??? So, if you don't want to see what gifts and goodies I got then look away now.

Here are my gifts from Tracy. She also sent me a mahoosive cut of wichelt for a chart that I am hoping soon to get from Edgar in exchange for another - (Edgar - I am onto my neighbour and she is stitching away on it!) I just had to take a close up of the cute bookmark with the sewing charms on. They're gorgeous. The chart is simply superb and she even kindly bought me the CC threads to go with it as well. Thanks so much dear friend. Love it all.

I also took part in the Friends Through Threads Birthday exchange and I have been paired up with Jill who sent me a wonderful parcel of stitching goodies. 

The stitched piece is BBD's Rose Garden which is on my wishes and she also sent me a chart from my wishes too along with notebook, linen, pins, threads (including some of her own hand dyed) and glue and walnut shells which is fab as I don't have any of this great filler and can't wait to use it. The stitching pouch was made by Mama Joan. Everything is perfect and lovely Jill. Thanks so much.

Non stitchy gifts included this beautiful Yankee Candle wax tart burner - butterfly themed - from my kids.

A butterfly umberella and scarf and a homemade butterfly picture and homemade candle from my sweet sisters.

Some lovely perfume and recipe book from my friend.

Beautiful necklace from my husband.

So lots of lovelies for me!

In the evening, we all went round to our friend's house as it was her partner's birthday on the same day too! We had a BBQ and a few drinkies and stayed over and it was a lot of fun. Really great to be able to let my hair down and not worry about getting back in time for the babysitter. Although they don't have kids they seem quite alright to have us over from time to time so all the better. Here's some pics from the happy night:

Little craft update. Here's where I am up to on the flower blanket:

It's growing!

And a snippet of my new Sampler Girl start:

Just had to finish on a Jubilee with this pic my husband took of my son and me which I thought turned out rather well. I'm not very photogenic so when I see a reasonable pic of me I don't mind showing it. This was taken round at the sister in law's house where she put on a little Jubilee House party for family and friends. What a lovely, thoughtful idea. 

Hope you all had a lovely Bank Holiday weekend.

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