Looking back...Looking forward...

2012 was an eventful year for me. Lots of bad things happened but also lots of good things. I have spent a fair bit of time going over my blog posts from this last year due to having to re-upload my photos from Webshots deleting them. It made me a little emotional. I browsed through holiday shots and crafty bits and bobs and read through posts which were deeply unhappy posts but some were cheerful and upbeat.

This last year has seen me cope with my husband leaving me and then returning. It has seen me having to cope with the aftermath of serious revelations I never thought I would have to hear. It has seen me going through the whole job application process and interview and me getting a job which I LOVE. It has seen me going away and spending time with friends and family. It has seen me completing some projects and learning new skills. 

Looking back at last year's post where I had so many great expectations about all I would accomplish, I can see I really didn't get very far with much of it. I completed a few of those Wipocalypse projects but not as many as I had hoped to. I completed Ann Tayor, Sampler au Bouquets, Here we come Wassailing and Dandelion Dreams, Morning Star as well as some crochet projects.

Next year I am going to have to cut right back on projects. I have to be realistic. I am working full time now with two young children to care for. I am exhausted which has shown in me spending the last two weeks of this holiday asleep!! So I have a bag... a very nice bag that my dear neighbour Sue gifted me with this Christmas that she made herself....

 

And in this bag are my projects for this year....

 

 

These are:

Lizzie Kate ABC of Christmas

A Most Noble Pursuit

CHS Helen Bell's Multiplication Sampler

Bygone Stitches A Quaker Christmas

Just Nan Nan's Garden

Macintosh Samplers Elisabeth Lillie

Yiota's Cross Stitch Poppies and Daisies

 

And that's my lot! My intention is to stick with these projects and when I finish one of them then I can add another into the bag. I am not holding out much hope to be honest what with life so hectic and all but it's good to have some sort of focus. Whether I stick to this plan or not, only time will tell.

 

Well I had a lovely new year spent with dear friends of ours. We're home now but then of to my sister's this afternoon. Hope you all have a wonderful and blessed 2013!

 

Michelle, Mark and Elijah!

 

Rugrats!

 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

Squeezing another one in???

Two little makes for you today. 

First up is the lovely chart Tracy gifted me with for my birthday. It is called Morning Star by Blackbird Designs. It took me a total of 3 days to stitch. It uses the called for Crescent Colours threads. It was a fab stitch. Loved it. I think I can put this as my last Wipocalypse post too!

Secondly, I had a go at making a quick cosy for dd's new tablet. Just double crochet in rounds using cotton yarn. Thankfully she likes it so it will be put to some use. 

I'll be back in the new year with a proper round up. 

Take care sweeties. 

xx

Did you all have a merry Christmas??

I did. It was a lot of fun waking up with the children so excited and opening their gifts. They loved what we had got them and hopefully there were a few surprises too.

I was a bit saddened to see news reports of fatalities yesterday in car accidents. So sad at any time but especially devastating at this time of year. I pray everyone drives a little slower and safer today.

Well I can finally show you the secret crochet doll's blanket I made for dd. She really REALLY wanted a La newborn doll for Christmas. I thought she had grown out of dolls but no. So I got her one and set ion making a little blanket for him. For quickness I just used 3 colours and made block squares which I then used the continuous join as you go method. I made a lovely edging from the Edie Eckman book Crochet borders. It makes it lok as if there is ribbon going through it. Here it is.

 

 

Hubby and I decided that we would not buy each other gifts this year but give each other some money to spend so apart from a pair of slippers and a dvd set, we didn't get many other gifts. My dear, sweet friend, Tracy got me some lovely things including these great charts which were off my wishlist. This was the only crafty gift I got this year so I think a little crafty spend is definitely in order!

 

 

On Christmas Eve, my dd was desperate to have her hair curled so I cut up one of my ds's vests and made them into rag curlers. Here's the before:

 

 

And here's after!!!!

 

Wow!!! They actually worked. How cool is that! A proper little Shirlee Temple! She reminds me of me when I was a little girl. My mum used to curl my hair very often.

 

Here's a picture of our happy family!!

 

 

 

We went to the inlaws for Christmas dinner which was wonderful as usual and had a lovely time seeing the other half's family. We don't meet very often so it is nice to spend the day with them.

 

Today, the weather has perked up a little and for once it has stopped raining so I think we are going to take oursleves off for a little jaunt somewhere. Then it is off to the brother in laws as he wasn't there yesterday. Hopefully I will get in some stitching time today before I have to start thinking about going back to work and all the planning I have to do!! Eeek. Oh I have also slowly started to put all my photos back onto my posts. I won't be able to put them all on as I just can't plain remember which ones should go where. I have started with this years posts as I need all my Wipocalypse posts back up and then I will do the most memorable ones and the ones that got the most traffic. It is a pain but if there are any posts/pictures you want me to do in particular then please let me know. Thanks for being patient. Stupid webshots. grrrrrrrr... 

 

Hope you all have a lovely Boxing day holiday. xx

 

Last Wipocalypse post and end of year round up.

Well I think I have just made the last Wipocalyse posting! Here is my finish of Glad Tidings by The Sampler Girl. It has not been ironed or framed yet as I was in such a hurry to get a snap of it and get it up on my blog. It was a wonderful stitch as with all the others in the series and I am happy to have this finished in time for Christmas. It was great fun SALing along with Tina, Sue and Tracy too.

So I don't have very much to show other than that. Life has just hit me with hectic and so stitching and crochet have taken a back seat. I do have something else to show but I can't post it until after Christmas.



 

 

So Christmas is looking sweet as usual in my house. Same old tree and same old decs but I love the look. Tonight, I have friends round to celebrate with good food and a kid-friendly film so my little ones can join in too. Carol service first though and quite looking forward to that.

 

I am trying to not get angry about the way Webshots has behaved in removing all pictures from their site when it changed to Smile. Smile????? What have they given me to smile about when they have removed 6 years worth of blog photos from my posts!!!!!!! Grrrrrr. Very very cross. I still have all my pictures but it won't quite be the same but I will try and put some of the posts right.

 

So its a short post - sorry about that - but I will try and write again before the new year. Until then, I wish all my lovely readers and commenters a Wonderful, Peace Filled, Gift Laden, Joyous Christmas!

 

Oooh I forgot about my new cushion cover!

I completely forgot about showing you my new cushion cover I made using the remains of the cashmerino silk stuff I made with this blanket. 

Well the cushion cover (from a very well known, high class shop you may know) was absolutely done in. It was a mess. I cannot understand how something could get in that sort of state but there it is. Before pic:

So I made this for it:

Do you like it? I have to admit that I ran out of red on it so had to use the Lipstick from Stylecraft but you can't really tell. I love it. So very pleased with myself. 

Sorry this is short and sweet.

Time and work and kids and house and crafting and all that!

One WIP, two WIPs...

Hello all. Goodness me, I can't believe how fast the time is going! Christmas will soon be upon us. I am currently getting ready for DD's birthday which, although not until a few weeks time, she will be celebrating next week with a pool party at the local swimming pool. She has invited friends old and new and, fortunately, I have a couple of great friends who have offered to help me out as DH is not around. He is off touring with a band around the UK. 

So, what with work and childcare, you would imagine, quite rightly, that I have had little time to focus on crafty pursuits. Life has been incredibly busy. Even the half term break was busy and I decided that instead of tearing my hair out at home, I would trot off to my friends in Wales and do it there instead. 

Just a few images of local places of interest.

We had a great time, going to the quaint, little shops in the village, skipping down to the park but mainly just relaxing with good friends and good food. I did a little crochet too and taught my friend a few new tricks. 

One project that I had already started - I mentioned it in my last post - was my Cath Kidston inspired blanket. I decided to start it so that I could just carry on with it whilst I was down there with no fiddly starting chains to do. I wanted to try my hand at a blanket I had been inspired by in this blog. (Karen you are soooo my inspiration!). You can find the pattern here. I decided it would look lovely in CK colours and so I set about choosing my colours. I went for the Stylecraft Special DK range. 

So this is where it is up to right now and I am pretty darned pleased with it if I must say so myself! I think I have got the colours and the style right for once. 

I am using the following colours:

Lipstick

Cloud Blue

Lemon

Fondant

Meadow

Cream 

and I am sticking with a repeated pattern. I am thinking that a Blooming Flower cushion would go very well with this as well - you know- as a matching set type thing. This blanket is great to snuggle up under as the weather has been getting so very chilly of late. This is what I adore about this season. It allows you to stay home and snuggle. You don't need an excuse!

So my other WIP is my SAL with Tina, Sue and Tracy. We are stitching The Sampler Girl's Good Tidings for Christmas and I am pleased with my progress on it as I have hardly spent any time on it at all. I think I chose the best pattern as a Christmas SAL as it is such a sweet design and simple to do. I love the colours - all those golds! 

Please excuse the hoop marks as I do not iron my projects until I have completed them. 

In other news, I woke up this morning to this:

It is so nice to see my blankets in use!

Also thought you might like to see what I have just made for our tea tonight. At work, one of the mums comes with bags of fruit and vegetables for the staff to take home as a way of expressing her thanks and gratitude to them. This week she gave us courgettes and mushrooms and parsnips. I looked on the internet and that trusty Good Food website and found this recipe. Courgette, mushroom and mozzarella tart which is made with puff pastry. We have just demolished this and it proved a winner with the kids too. Bonus! The only changes I made to the recipe is that I used some red onion also and sauteed them in olive oil for ten mins before I put it on the pastry. Deeeelish!

So now we are just polishing off some Shreddied wheat and sultana chocolate crispy cake type thing! 

I hope you have enjoyed reading my little catch up post. As busy as I am, I really do not want to give up blogging my bits and pieces of life. Thanks for all your lovely comments and hello to all my new followers. It is great to see you! 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

October WIPocalypse

Here's my WIPocalypse post for this month. I didn't actually think I would get around to any stitching at all this month so these two pictures are pleasantly surprising.
First up I'd my Elisabeth Lillie sampler. Such a sweet design with lovely bright colours just right to brighten up these dull autumn days.

Secondly, here's my little SAL start of the Sampler Girl's Glad Tidings. Really loving how this is working up and I am thinking there is a possibility of getting this finished before Christmas! One can hope!

Speaking of Autumn, we had a wonderful walk round Yorkshire Sculpure park on Saturday. There are some quite bizarre sculptures but the weather was exceptional and autumn was out in all her glory. Here's are a couple of snaps. 

 

 

 

 

Other news is that I have ordered some more yarn for a new blanket I am going to be starting. One can never have too many blankets. It is going ot be Cath Kidston inspired so look out for that soon.

Also want to say a big hello to all my new followers. I have been taking some time to visit your blogs back. Loving the inspiration.

Have a good week everyone.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

iPod touch blogging? Let's see if it works.

Well hello! I am seeing if I can blog via my iPod touch this morning. I have downloaded the google + app and have downloaded all my pictures onto it so I thought I'd see if it actually works. It's a bit of trial and error tbh. Please let me know if you can see my pics okay.

So pic above is some of the Tiny Owl Rosie wristies I made for dd. I also made some for myself with two roses on. Really love them and they are so warm. Made mostly from Rowan Cocoon yarn.

Also been making a gorgeous rose brooch which was so quick and easy to do. Pattern can be found on my Pinterest in Crochet Stuff. I have made this for a dear friend and I hope she loves it as much as I. I think I could see myself making a few of these for Christmas gifts for people.

Well it's just a quick post to see if it works. Back later folks. Xxxxxxxx

New SAL starting and what I have been up to..(linkies sorted)

Hi all. I haven't found the cable for my phone but I have found another one so all is well and now I can pop my pictures onto the computer at long last.

Well, what a miserable month this has been weather wise. The air in the UK has gone decidedly chilly and downright drizzly to boot. Just the right sort of weather for scarf wearing I figured so off I went and gathered up supplies.

I continued to work on the flower scarf and although it is just long enough to wear, it is not quite long enough for me so I will hold off from posting until I have got that one fully completed.

I did manage this one though:

It's from Nicky Trench's book "Cute and Easy Crochet" and took me about 3 nights to put it together.

I also made up this one:

Now I cannot remember where I got this pattern from so I will let you know as soon as I find it but it was super easy and took me an hour to make. Gorgeous snuggly cowl using a hand dyed yarn I bought from Woolfest a couple of years ago.

Edited to add: This is the Pavement Infinity Scarf but I only made it short.

I also got those pinky/purpley squares together and made not only one granny cowl but two! I found the inspiration for finishing this from here.

I can wrap it around me three times!

Here's the other one I made for DD as I had enough squares left. This time in the cream I originally wanted to do. Not as thick as the purple one. Just a simpler design.

I look very tired in these pictures!

Okay onto some stitching if you are still with me! I recently took part in a birthday exchange on the Friends Through Threads blog and I was partnered with Jill. Here is what I sent her. I made a pincushion with a Blackbird Design from One of their books - again I am so tired I have forgotten and need to check! I looked at her wishlist and got her a few things I thought she would like and fortunately Jill seems very pleased. So Happy Birthday to you Jill for the Big day. xxx

I stuffed it with some walnut shells that Jill had actually given me as part of my birthday gift.

Right, onto something a little bit different then. I decided not too nlong ago that I wanted to stitch a design for Christmas that wasn't too taxing or too ambitious that would be a fun stitch. Tina (no blog) and I decided we would do The Sampler Girl's Glad Tidings design together as an SAL. Then Tracy agreed to Join in and then my neighbour Sue - a recent convert to the needle also said she would join in too. I have set up a little SAL board over on Needlecraft Haven - a YUKU board so if anyone wants to stitch this wonderful design then hop over to Tanya's shop and buy it and then come along to Needlecraft Haven and join in the fun! No rules. No pressure. You know me ;) Just a bit of Christmas fun before the big day. If you need any other info then feel free to email me. Please don't ask me for a copy. The designs are available through Tanya for, I would say, a very reasonable price. Anyway, you are all very welcome to join in with us. The more the merrier. Here is my before pic:

We are planning to start this very soon - possibly even this weekend so if you want to join in then don't delay!

Right. It is late and I am tired and I have to be up and out early so I will publish this then pop back tomorrow evening to put in all the missing links to people's blogs and patterns etc. Please forgive me for the delay but I will get it sorted for tomorrow.

PS What on earth has happened to Webshots???? Arggghhhhh I could scream!!!

xxxxxxxxxxx

just a quickie..

...to let you know I am okay - if not a wee bit tired - but I have lost my cable to download my photos onto my comp. As soon as I find it, I'll do a post of all the lovelies I have been making. Soon peeps. xxxxx